Connergrey08

This iteration of the slime-mold is a bit different then the last ones. -Gameplay: This Element-infused lump of biomass can form its own mini-hivemind colony, akin to a smaller version of Corruption. In the wild, these creatures will try to shoot its spores to control anything nearby, but it has to be careful! Since if it aggro's anything too large without having proper protection, it'll easily be destroyed. No, this entity gains numbers in strength. If it infects smaller, weaker hosts first, it'll have a small army of cannon-fodder that can distract larger, more powerful creatures, while it itself shoots spores to said creature. Before it becomes infected. When tamed, this creature almost acts as a Plant-Species-X, but instead of killing targets, it converts them to your tribe. It has a limit though, and anything larger than a Rex can't be infected, but anything smaller is fair-game. Infected-creatures initially aren't as strong, as they are a half weaker then their original counterparts. But they have a modified version of a pack-boost called "Hivemind" anything nearby that was infected by the original slime-mold source gains bonuses, and has no cap-limit. At first this doesn't stack-up too much for the first 4 creatures, but the more you have, the more it doubles the boosted-stats. Lets say 3-infected rexes are the equivalent of a single 150-rex. But 8-infected rexes are the equivalent of 12 150-rexes. If done right, this could allow for stuff like Giga's to still be really good, but not the 'be-all, end-all' creature in PvP. The only limit to this pack, is how large your hivemind is. -Taming: taming a colony of this Element-infused slime requires you to "help" it infect other wild creatures. While it's trying to infect a creature, you can drag bodies to it, and it'll automatically harvest it from your hand and increase its biomass (very, very slightly though) The heavier the creature, the more it'll increase its taming-percentage, and the bigger it'll become. Even post-tamed, you can still feed it corpses to increase its mass, though it'll even heavily slow down in its growth-rate. (it'd be technically possible for it to grow large enough to engulf a map. But you'd need a comically large amount of Titan-corpses that not even unofficial would have, unless you're using cheats.) -Appearance: It's a blend between the normal, real-world slime mold. With a tinge of Element-like Corruption on it

-Wild: the slime-mold is found is moist environments, whether that's swamps, caves, damp-forests, etc. These creatures are mostly stationary. But over time they can engulf a 30-feet diameter if left untreated. When any lifeform steps on one of the slime's tendrils it has formed, it will give the creature a 5-second warning, before the tendrils will start to wrap around the entity and consume them. The entity is entirely engulfed in the molds tendrils, and melting away of their armor and flesh. Once killed, there's nothing but skeletal remains of where the creature last was, acting as a No-Man's-Land for anyone and everything to be warned. While any creature or weapon that isn't a firearm would work on the alien-like monster. It has acidic blood akin to arthropleura. The most effective way to dispatch slime-mold's is either a heat or a charge-lantern. Slime-Mold's do NOT like heat, so any form of flames will do, including torches on tames. But as for charge? The charge-lantern is over stimulating the creature, akin to electrocution. If killed, the creature can be harvested for Mold. Mold can be cooked and dried out to give something akin to blue-cheese. This food item gives more hunger then cooked-steak does, but the main use is to suto-wyvern milk. Due to the molds high resilience, the consumer can gain hypo and hyperthermic insulation for half of the time wyvern-milk gives. -Domesticated: To tame a slime-mold, you'll need to cut off a sample from the core of the slime-mold. Any sharp weapon will do, but once you cut off a slice, be warned. The slime-mold will not take kindly to that and will spread in a 10-feet radius almost instantly to engulf you. Once you get out of that sticky situation, you'll need to cultivate your now severed slime-mold in a petri-dish. You'll need to feed the mold to allow it to grow over time. Once large enough to stay out of a petri-dish, you can now place it where ever you want, and allow it to fully grow. Once fully grown, it'll start to spread its tendrils where ever it is. It can still be moved, but it'll have to restart it's spreading. The usage of a tamed slime-mold is to act as either a alarm-system, tied to your phone for all of the PvP players. But the main use of them, is to be used as traps. The tendrils of it will engulf any sized creature, from compy sized to giga sized. Tamed slime-mold's have settings akin to Plant-X's, but instead of 'kill or not kill' it's 'kill or keep trapped' The slime-mold will keep the creature still until it either breaks loose, or someone knocks out the creature. If it's a flier, they can grab the flier out of the sky if it's low enough, and force it to land. This could be used to even help for Reaper-Queen impregnation. Making the Queen stay stationary while impregnating players. Akin to player-made traps. Only downside is, a creature as large as Giga's or the Carchar don't immobilize it, but slows it down. Making it still hard to trap the ARK's highest existing apex-predators.

Just thinking of ways to add more unique creatures to ARK. ARK has strayed away from being a 'dinosaur game' since Scorched came out, and is more about adding cool unique badass creatures. Just an idea I threw out that wasn't just another Theropod or Mammal, and a species that hasn't been touched by ARK yet.

The Slime-Mold is a species of mold/fungi's. They're a species of mold that moves around, and has pretty high intelligence for something without a nervous system. PLEASE NOTE: THESE ARE ALL IDEAS AND CONCEPTS. NONE OF THESE ABILITIES ARE EXPECTED TO ACTUALLY BE IMPLEMENTED, AND IS TO ONLY SHOWCASE THE POSSIBILITIES OF A CREATURE LIKE THIS. Wild: the Slime-mold are naturally found in caves, or swamps. They're mostly stationary until something gets near them. Once something gets near them, they will latch onto them akin to a Thylo. To get them off of you, you'll need to bathe yourself in water, or burn it off. Once they consume something, it'll increase their mass, and once they reach max mass, they'll automatically split into two Slime-Molds. Domesticated: To domesticate one of these low-IQ slime-bois that look like if the King-Titan himself barfed it up. You'll need to feed it. While they themselves do not have enough intelligence to know you're taming them, the splitted off version of them are small enough to be swooped up in any empty jar or canteen. Once in a jar/canteen, you can bring them back to a safe zone, and start gaining the trust of the tiny slime. The slime will be scared at first, as it's 20x smaller then you currently. But the more you feed it, protect it, and stay within its vicinity, the more it'll warm up to you. Once you fully gain it's trust, it'll become tamed. A tamed slime-mold can vary of what it does. From helping increase the durability of tools by wrapping itself around them. Or wrapping itself around you to protect you from physical damage, and hypothermic insulation. A creature like the slime-mold can have so many ideas while being balanced, but those where just my own take on it.

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They already delayed it a Week after the Trailer dropped so i doubt it will be Delayed again since they have been getting better with release dates. (Extinction was only delayed for Console for a Week and dropped on PC the day the trailer said it would.)

ARK on Switch is dead dude. Except it and move to either PC, Xbox or PS4 ARK instead.