Board Thread:Off-Topic and Fan Made Slimes/@comment-4955085-20170412164339

(in response to this comment, moved here due to length and scope)

I really, really like the idea of mutant Tarrs, but... having two very specific largos be required to eat the same plort at the same time is a bit of an out-there idea on how to actually create them. Heck, I don't even think the system fully supports slimes "eating the same thing," it's either one or the other that gets it. In If anything, the method should be one that is observable in the wild like most other slime behaviors and interactions, so that regular players could effectively discover them without the necesity of a wiki. One method which might prove better and fit with the game's whole theme is to have a tarr eat three different largo consisting of three of the same components within its lifespan. (for example, a Pink Rock, Pink Tabby, and Rock Tabby) This could work because even from the very start of the game, multiple largo types are usually always around within the same cell. (especially at night with Phosphors) It would be rare to find naturally, due to the Tarr's limited lifespan and difficulty keeping track of what each Tarr has eaten, not to mention the duplication and their tendency to attack the player. However, it would eventually happen, which could lead to an entirely new tier of gameplay for more veteran players that have pretty much hit the ceiling at this point.

I'm sure a buch of visual styles and behaviours could be proposed and work for this kind of concept, but just for the sake of conversation, what I would envision such a Tarr would look like would probably be pretty much the same model, but various different textures and properties depending on the type of mutation created. The texture could be, instead of black with rainbow iridescence, a primary base of the slime with the highest dominance with an iridescent sheen of the remaining recessive slimes. The Tarr would still behave effectively the same, particularly in regards to attacking the player. This would keep the ranching difficulty even higher than the current highest tier, (including Hunter Largos) and require any players attempting to ranch them to be even more mindful of them. They would still keep their weakness to water, but after being mutated, would occasionally produce amalgam/alloy plorts, combining the prices of the three componant plorts into one plort and possibly even giving an additional 50-100% bonus on top of the price to account for the higher difficulty tier. The Tarr would produce these plorts in a similar manner to puddle slimes; intermittantly and without really being able to be controlled. However, if left unfed, after producing a couple plorts, (probably around 2-4 cycles, or about 1-2 days of neglect) the slime will have "expelled" the mutation and revert back to a standard Tarr, which would then simply perish shortly after due to a regular Tarr's limited lifespan. To feed the mutated tarr, the player would need to feed them all three types plorts of which they are composed. Eating one of each type would reset/add to the amount of plorts the Tarr can produce, effectively requiring the player to continually take care of their mutated Tarrs, and removing the ability to simply rely on a auto-feeder to keep them fed; again, effectively increasing the difficulty tier by requiring the player to already have a steady supply of the plorts prior to ranching them.

I dunno. Probably put more thought into this idea than I really needed to, but the more I thought about this the more I liked the idea, so I just thought I'd share. ^_^  