Sarin

Auto-walk. Especially flyers would appreciate that.

Tusoteuthis going rampage through the ocean is your best bet, assuming you do not need prime fish meat.

In my game, and based on google searches, it isn't just my issue, global illumination is responsible for many strange and jarring effects. I'd be happy to play on low, the game looks great even that way....if I could see the beacons. So I suggest adding a simple effect, perhaps just one lifted from ASE, to beacons when global illumination is set to low. It'll make the game instantly more accessible to people with lower specs, which is important, as the polishing and debugging the graphics will obviously be a long haul.

I've bought ASA a few days ago, and I spent more time tinkering with graphic settings than playing. And I still can't clear some issues. For example, global illumination. Low-no beacons. Medium-jittering of plants and structures in shadows. High or Epic-weird pulsating light, ground and rock textures blurry unless textures set to Epic. I can't find any way to tune my graphics to eliminate all jittering, jarring transitions, pixel dancing and other such effects. Okay, my laptop isn't greatest, but it IS capable of running the game on okay settings. Specs: i5-11400H 2.7GHz, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 Laptop 8GB, Win11. Current settings: Resolution: 1920x1080, windowed fullscreen, 100 scale (been,for some reason, locked today) Advanced graphics: low AA: low View distance: epic (won't get rid of that, ever) Textures: medium Post processing: low Shadows: high (gets rid of some weird shadows in buildings) Global illumination: medium (need to see the beacons) Effects quality: low Foliage quality: low Blur: off Bloom: on Shafts: on Low light enhancement: on Foliage and fluid interaction: on, distance multiplier 0.5, distance limit and quantity limit 1 (gets rid of floating rocks, need to set distance multiplier to decent level to make the visible horizon not so jarring) Footsteps: particles off, decals on Disable HLOD: off GUI widget 3d quality: 0.5 console commands: r.nanite.maxpixelsperedge 4 , r.volumetricrendertargetmode 3, r.VolumetricCloud.SampleMinCount 10. Can someone help optimizing this?

You know that this round is for The Center and not Aberration, right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryodrakon Introduction: Oceans are, sadly, the least fleshed out biome of the ASE, and in desperate need of some creatures. The Center is, with its large ocean, one of better maps for such suggestion. I wanted to do something that would be useful in the water, but not only there, as there are some players who, for various reasons, avoid oceans. There are many amphibian suggestions out already, so I wanted something different, something useful in the deep or in the air, but not that much on the surface. Name: Cryodrakon Scientific name: Cryodrakon centralis Era: Cretaceous Diet: carnivore/piscivore Temperament: aggressive Wild: Cryodrakon is a rare but unmistakable sight over the cliffs of this Ark. But one should not admire it for too long, because unlike its more gracile cousin Quetzalcoatlus, Cryodrakon hunts everything that could be swallowed whole and many things that can be torn into bite-sized shreds, and that includes humans. It doesn't seem picky though, and has been observed employing variety of hunting strategies, from pursuit to diving for fish, a behaviour unique among azhdarchids. They're also known to play with their prey, and some tribes managed to win trust of these creatures by playing along. Tamed: Stronger and faster than Quetzalcoatlus but possessing less stamina, Cryodrakon can be employed as excellent cargo carrier even without saddle. But that seems to be a waste of these beasts, whose capacity for underwater diving can be amplified by specially designed saddle. With two small hydrojet engines, oxygen tank, fully enclosed cabin with two seats and torpedo launcher for defense, Cryodrakon can be utilized to dive into significant depths. Description: Cryodrakon is an azhdarchid pterosaur similar in size to Quetzalcoatlus, but more robust, stronger and with body covered with thick coat of short pycnofibers (hair-like filaments). In wild, it's capable of landing on water surface or diving straight in, although it cannot remain submerged for long. Abilities: Cryodrakon is faster (can keep up with snow owl, although it's nowhere as maneuverable) and stronger (base weight 1000) than Quetzal, but suffers from higher stamina drain, giving it shorter range than Quetzal or Argentavis, and its melee damage is also lower than either. It's capable of landing on the water surface or diving for prey on command even without saddle, although the oxygen won't allow it to last long underwater, and swimming speed is slow. The full potential is realized with a saddle. If powered by gasoline in its inventory, the saddle's engines will vastly increase underwater speed, allowing it to outrun wild Mosasaurus and other large marine threats. The oxygen tank included in the saddle will slow down its oxygen consumption down to 1-2% and will replenish oxygen of both riders in enclosed cabin. In addition to that, the saddle is equipped with rocket/torpedo launcher. Utilizing Rocket Propelled Grenade as ammunition, it can switch between proximity and contact fuze. Proximity will detonate when close to target, inflicting only explosive damage, and contact will detonate on impact, inflicting both explosive and impact damage. It can fire both underwater or in the air, but will detonate on the contact with water surface. Explosive damage is also amplified underwater. If there is only one rider, the launcher will only fire straight ahead, but the passenger, if present, can take control of it and aim it anywhere above and forward of the cabin. Taming: if you want to tame Cryodrakon, you must first play the most dangerous game with it and become a prey. Gain its attention while on foot, and after you manage to avoid or absorb a few attacks, it'll let out a screech and from that moment, you'll have its full attention. It won't attack anything else unless attacked first (and as a large carnivore, few things will dare) and will be able to track you even over considerable distance. Survive long enough to exhaust it, and it will land and allow you to feed it. Don't go too far away, as once it regains its stamina, the game will continue. But don't dare to net or trap it, or mount any other dino, or the game is off. Using trees or other natural obstacles to give yourself some respite is allowed. You might also attempt this while swimming. Although it'll tire faster while diving after you, you risk getting entangled with some nasty sea critters. And I apologize for the lack of original artwork. My skills in that area are, sadly, nonexistent.

A big mistake IMO. FPP is better for survival game.. TPP is very limiting in tight spaces and not as immersive, and good melee combat can be done even in FPP, for example Mount and Blade series. Souls like is not a good option for ARK.

Turtle if you want it only for eggs, Anky or Sarco if you want some utility too.

I'm all for four walls high, open top behemoth gateways.

With the news of AMA, I think there's hope for some more maps, and especially for something that's been asked for several times, a map that would focus on aquatic life. Allow me to describe how I imagine that would look. Story: once, it was a large Ark similar to The Island. A large island with central mountain, surrounded by deep ocean with several smaller islands. But when the alpha tribe, which happened to include a couple of 22th century engineers, defeated the first guardian, they realized they can gather large amount of Element by repeatedly challenging the guardians. They quickly hoarded vast stockpiles and built a new city at the foot of the mountain. One of the engineers even improved on existing designs by including a self-repair ability. The overseer, recognizing the threat to Ark stability and purpose but unable to counter it by regular means, enacted extreme measures, initiating massive volcanic eruption, destroying the city, burying the ruins in lava and sinking it under water. Now, the Ark looks like this: a central feature is large, mostly flooded caldera of the volcano. On one side, the rim has collapsed, opening the caldera to the ocean, and that's where ruins of the city lie. Most of it is inaccessible, hidden under the solidified lava, but what's rest is somewhat similar to Sanctuary, but smaller and of course, under water. This provides survivors with a way to obtain some element early on, if they can survive. Due to volcanic activity, the area is known as the "Boiling Sea", and water temperatures can reach to the excess of 50 degrees Celsius, and the mineral content also nourishes large amount of dangerous organisms. On the opposite side, the tallest part of the rim and remnants of the mountain create a rain shade for one of the two largest landmasses, turning it into arid wasteland, where various desert and wasteland creatures like Morellatops or Velonasaur live. On the other hand, a couple of oases provide shelter and rare desert resources to players experiencing sudden bout of thalassophobia. The largest landmass, some way away from the caldera, is mostly tropical, with some swamps and a hill that holds what's left of the redwoods. Land megafauna is rare, with no Titanosaurs or Gigantosaurs around. Even Brontos and Rexes are very rare. Several smaller islands are scattered across the map, and there are some icebergs and arctic islands in the north. My intention is to make this map play quite differently from others. With most resources dispersed underwater, the common "anky+argy" mining duo isn't available and players are encouraged to adopt more nomadic lifestyle for most of their time. To that end, availability of most flyers and gliders is very limited. No gliders and only small mountable flyers-Pteranodon, Lymantria, Pelagornis and maybe Tapejara-can be transferred to the map, but the map provides quite a few engrams, features and creatures to help the nomadic lifestyle, including ships. All ships share the unique features that they don't draw aggro from any creature, and they can't have foundations built on them except for prebuilt area, but structures not needing a foundation can be placed anywhere on the ship. The unique feature would be seagrass and seaweed. A couple of types will grow throughout the map, harvestable by hand, sickle or most efficiently by some creatures. They degenerate quickly and can only be stored properly in special chest, or in the inventory of aquatic creatures, and even then they spoil quite quickly. They can be fed to herbivores, or cooked into quickly spoiling pastes that can be used in lieu of crops. New engrams: Wooden Ship-little over 4 foundations wide and about 12 long, wooden ship looks somewhat like a small, two masted carrack without any superstructure. Unlike other platforms, foundations can't be built on it, but there is prebuilt 4x4 foundation square behind the second mast. On the stern is a small platform where the pilot is situated beside the rudder. It also comes with its own cargo hold for 100 items, and materials for its repairs are taken from the hold, rather than player's inventory, due to sheer amount of materials required, as crafting it will require almost all slots in smithy. Another feature is that pressing space will lower (or raise) the railing amidships, creating a ramp for loading dinos but making the ship unable to move. Metal ship-approx. 5x15 foundations, resembling a large landing craft with a ramp in the front. Similar to wooden ship, it has a small wheelhouse on the stern and 5x5 buildable area in front of it. Like motorboat, it runs on gasoline, and has cargo hold for 200 items. Another feature is a remote controlled machine gun mounted at the bow next to the ramp for swatting annoying Ichthyornis and similar. Tethers-applied to the ship as a skin, tethers function in similar manner as dino leash, but when the ship is moving, they force the tethered creatures to follow it. If the creature is too slow to follow the ship, it'll be accelerated, and ship slowed, and both will take damage. There are two types, rope and electronic tether. Rope tether can only function on creatures up to the size of Basilosaurus, but is available earlier and is easier to make. Water Chest-used to store items requiring constant hydration, like seaweed. Has 600 water capacity and 30 item capacity and slowly leaks water at rate approx. 12.5/hour, thus requiring watering every 48 hours. Speargun-a primitive alternative to harpoon launcher, it can shoot several types of spears, but functions only underwater. Crafting or repairing it requires a new item, sauropterygian lungs, which can be acquired from several species of sauropterygians, including plesiosaurs, and degrade quickly if not stored in water chest. Obsidian spear-higher damage variant of spear. Sharktooth spear-this spear can cause bleeding if fired from speargun. Requires megalodon tooth to craft. Primitive breathing apparatus-a headgear, craftable early from simple components and sauropterygian lungs, that functions like Lazarus Chowder. Loses durability while equipped, and stacks with chowder, resulting in reducing the oxygen drain to 2.25%. Metal Cauldron-a heavy water container that holds 600 water. Unlike other containers such as canteen, it's equipped in hands like a tool. Left clicking on a crop plot or other irrigable object in melee range will deposit the water in the cauldron, up to the object's limit. Right clicking a water source in range, be it a body of water or a tap, will fill the cauldron. If the cauldron is placed into a cooking pot, cooking a recipe will drain only 100 water from it, not all the water. Tekgrams: Tek stove: powered by electricity from outlet or tek generator, it functions as merger of industrial cooker and grill. You can switch the modes between cook only, grill only and cook&grill. It also has 10000 water capacity, and comes with moisture condenser. That means, when powered and not attached to water piping, it will slowly condense moisture from the air to replenish the water storage. Tek miniforge: a compact, albeit slightly slower, variant of industrial forge that can also produce select small items that otherwise require either fabricator or replicator. Powered from outlet, tek generator or in the absence of electricity, by element/shards/dust. Tek hovercraft: largest ship available, runs on element and functions also as a tek generator for objects placed on it. Also, it can possibly irrigate plots and tek stove placed on it. Creatures: Nothosaurus: smallest sauropterygian on the map, Nothosaurus is an agile littoral hunter. Capable of slow movement on land, sprinting Nothosaurus in the water can leap from the water to grab a quick land snack, like a dodo or unwary Bob. Most common source of sauropterygian lungs for crafting. Saurodon: a common fish in the Atlantis' ocean, Saurodons are pack hunters. Although they can't be ridden, they can be tamed. Their strength lies in their quick breeding and related abilities. They're viviparous (or ovoviviparous, which is the same in terms of game mechanics), with quicker maturation, incubation and mating times than most other creatures. Also, they can copy imprint from other Saurodons, if they reach maturity without being imprinted and mate boosted, imprinted Saurodon owned by same tribe is nearby. This, in effect, creates a self-replicating swarm for your use...as long as you can feed them. Gigantatypus: like some of its extant cousins, this giant turtle is omnivorous, and acts like a general harvester of aquatic organic matter, similar to Therizino on land. Unlike other turtles, it's a social animal that, when mate boosted, can act as feeding through for other creatures, and can even feed babies like Maewing, although it does not have the related stat to boost efficiency. Henodus: Dodo of the seas, Henodus occupies lowest rungs on the food chain. However, it can efficiently collect seaweed while left on wander, and can even discover some surprises along the way. Cryodrakon: Quetzal's cousin. Cryodrakon is largest flying creature to survive the cataclysm, and provides an alternative to players who don't want to settle on a ship. Cryodrakon is slightly faster than Quetz, but has smaller platform saddle and lower weight. On the other had, it provides insulation to the rider and everyone else on the platform, and can land on the water like Pelagornis. They can only be found around the cliffs of the northern islands and high in the mountains near the caldera. Elasmosaurus: faster and more agile, but weaker cousin of Plesiosaurus. Its strength lie in the reach and flexibility of its neck, allowing it to attack annoyances like jellyfishes and eels from considerable distance from the body and strike targets to its side, and its saddle. Unlike Plesiosaur, Elasmosaur doesn't have platform saddle, but a hi-tech airtight cockpit with a torpedo launcher. Utilizing Rocket Homing Missiles, Elasmosaur can lock on to target and fire homing torpedo, or simply fire an unguided torpedo forward. However, while its reach is wide, the actual area of the melee attack is small and Elasmosaurus is easily swarmed. Endoceras: living in the Boiling Sea, years of exposure to the leaking element from the ruins had drastic impact on these cephalopods. Their shells are now hard, sharp spikes and they gained ability to launch themselves from the seabed like living torpedoes. On impact, they deliver massive damage, up to over 10000 for high levels, and bleeding similar to Allosaurus' Gashed, slowing the target down. Endoceras will use that time to either munch on the target, or disengage and prepare for another run. They usually lie in wait among ruins and seaweed, and the only defenses are either vigilance to spot the rising shells as they prepare for attack, or massive health pool and swarm of Saurodons that can eliminate them as they try to disengage. Bosses: I haven't really brainstormed that yet. Moeder could make a reappearance, and another boss could be some kind of giant octopus, utilizing camouflage while moving, so the only way to attack it while it's not grabbing one of your tames is to hit it with a weapon, revealing its position to your tames for several seconds.

SP, Lost Island. Tamed a level 150 (224 after taming) Quetz. Lime green.