Saddle Upgrades

[Luux]

An idea for saddle and equipment upgrade/customization that is different from just the quality system and is more primitive and tribal theme friendly. Would let you get access to saddle Upgrades a different way and differs between creatures etc, good for maps that have an absence of tek or Industrial technology and want a more paleo, tribal, medieval or Ancient feel to the game.

War Saddle - A war saddle is a saddle version that can be crafted for many creatures that are rideable and comes with many ways to upgrade and augment it visually and functionally. Made by crafting an Artifact of any kind with a saddle, War Saddles have the unique ability to give a tribe-wide Alpha buff to all your dinos nearby when the creature uses their Roar ability, whether or not it has mechanics.

They also can be upgraded with Trophies found from slain creatures. All the leftover bones, skulls, eyes, tentacles, feathers and scales you collected can now be used to decorate and customize the saddle, which also adds additional armor, damage or speed to the dino (depending on the piece).

These are either added directly onto the saddle or crafted into items able to be added in the case of ones requiring multiple of a trophy such as Vertebrae, Feathers, Teeth or Claws.

Examples being

Alpha Raptor Claw - Damage

Alpha Rex Skull - Defense and Damage

Alpha Rex Tooth - Damage

Alpha Megalodon Fin - Speed

Alpha Mosasaur Tooth - Damage

Alpha Tuso Eye - Decoration

Alpha Basilisk Fang - Damage

Argentavis Talon - Damage

Sauropod Vertebrae - Defense

Therizino Claws - Defense and Damage

Thylacoleo Hook-Claws - Damage and Speed

Sarco Scales - Defense

Megalodon Tooth - Damage

Tuso Tentacle - Damage and Speed 

Basilisk Scale - Defense

Rock Drake Feather - Speed

War Saddles can be somewhat customized beyond just the Trophies too.

They each have 4 Slots. A head slot, a spine slot, and one for the sides (or hips/thigh/flank region on most dinos), and a 4th for banners or flags, the first 3 can be equipped with either a trophy or other items that can be used for armor, augmentation or pure decoration, which can all be individually painted before putting them on.

Shields are another item that can be equipped onto the Saddles, working as you might expect one too realistically, they block and stop projectiles entirely, and are subject to the strengths of the material they're made of, meaning they may need to be repaired and some will be better than others. Shields tier Riot and above cannot be equipped onto War Saddles.