Monsters spawning in the light?

[The Infelicitous Monomaniac]

Anyone else having this trouble? I kept having to Alt+F4 because I mine out a 15x15, just enough for a single torch to light the whole area, and mobs come flooding in after I got below -30.

I actually watched a clay golem spawn on -40, in a light zone. (As in I had Show Darkness on, and there was no red, especially not where he spawned: 6 to the left of the torch and two down.)

So what gives? There's no ramps, the stairs say they're lit, the floor says it's lit, and yet time and time again I get 2+ golems, 2+ zombies, or 3+ skeletons appear. What's worse: They only spawn when my regular gnomes show. Every single time my miners are untouched, my torch-bearers do their job easily, and then I send gnomes down to clean---and Poof! Enemies everywhere!

Am I the only one having this issue?

[lPaladinl]

Make sure there's no little hidden dark spots anywhere. Just because you see an enemy appear in a lit area, doesn't mean they spawned there. That just means that's where they are spotted and became visible to you and your Gnomes.

[astralprogenitor]

+1 to the post above. Sometimes ramps are hard to see too, especially if they're bordered on three sides by walls. I've nearly missed some several times. You could also try grid-mining instead of straight digging out the squares - as in, dig out the borders and place your torches around the corners you'll need to light. This has a benefit of letting you get an idea if a plot of land actually has ore in it or anything, too. I usually use a 10 path + corner grid, with torches every other intersection.

http://i.imgur.com/1PwEqA8.png

The 10x10 unmined squares will usually let you reveal any goodies hiding within, since most veins will touch at least one edge. The opened areas in that pic, for example, were where I had at least one piece of ore on the corner, so I stripped the whole area out.

Of course this doesn't work very well if you end up with giant caves at -50 and below, so for that I'd recommend just double-checking for ramps and putting more torches than you think you need to make sure there's no dark edges in any corners. Even just a tiny corner of darkness could be enough.

Edit: And actually that screenshot makes me realise I have a dark spot on that floor. |8

[SilverRose]

also a 15x15 will have dark spots in the corners if you place the torch in the center best setup is 13x13

[The Infelicitous Monomaniac]

Originally posted by lPaladinl:

Just because you see an enemy appear in a lit area, doesn't mean they spawned there.

By 'I saw them spawn' I mean I had gnomes constantly going through to mine or place torches. After I sent some down to clean up the area while I watched the level. Boom! Golem spawned 6 to the left and down two from the torch. My gnomes didn't even spot him because he was one floor down, so I sent my military to teach him a lesson.

Originally posted by SilverRose:

also a 15x15 will have dark spots in the corners if you place the torch in the center best setup is 13x13

Really? I use the 'Show Brightness' button and it never shows red in any space of the 15x15 square... but it could be an issue with the show darkness option. That might actually explain alot, thanks.

Originally posted by variablenonsense:

+1 to the post above. Sometimes ramps are hard to see too, especially if they're bordered on three sides by walls. I've nearly missed some several times. You could also try grid-mining instead of straight digging out the squares - as in, dig out the borders and place your torches around the corners you'll need to light. This has a benefit of letting you get an idea if a plot of land actually has ore in it or anything, too. I usually use a 10 path + corner grid, with torches every other intersection.

http://i.imgur.com/1PwEqA8.png

The 10x10 unmined squares will usually let you reveal any goodies hiding within, since most veins will touch at least one edge. The opened areas in that pic, for example, were where I had at least one piece of ore on the corner, so I stripped the whole area out.

Of course this doesn't work very well if you end up with giant caves at -50 and below, so for that I'd recommend just double-checking for ramps and putting more torches than you think you need to make sure there's no dark edges in any corners. Even just a tiny corner of darkness could be enough.

Edit: And actually that screenshot makes me realise I have a dark spot on that floor. |8

That doesn't sound like a bad way to mine, I'm just mostly digging 15x15 to make the most use out of every torch. My main objective is to get to -65, so I have a chance of getting all the ores.

[astralprogenitor]

I would recommend digging to about -25, making sure to dig out a small square to leave a torch on every floor you're not touching, then start grid mining there. That should generally get you a good collection of the lower tier ores (feel free to mine -25 to -30 if you need more ofc ;p) then make a shot down to -50 to -55 to scrounge up iron for your soldiers. Head down to -65 once you've gotten them geared up.

I only say this because the super precious metals are just horrid on your KW and if you don't take the time to prep your military you'll get overrun, ahaha.

But yeah, I wouldn't rely on show darkness. I don't trust it. That method has worked best for me so far - until I get low enough that I can't but by that point I have more than enough torches to scatter around freely.

[The Infelicitous Monomaniac]

Here, this is where the golem spawned: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=235553470 (I was off by one on the floor, it was -39. Regardless, see how no gnomes are there? You can also see show darkness is on from the red tiles, but no red tile where he spawned...)

Originally posted by variablenonsense:

I would recommend digging to about -25, making sure to dig out a small square to leave a torch on every floor you're not touching, then start grid mining there. That should generally get you a good collection of the lower tier ores (feel free to mine -25 to -30 if you need more ofc ;p) then make a shot down to -50 to -55 to scrounge up iron for your soldiers. Head down to -65 once you've gotten them geared up.

I only say this because the super precious metals are just horrid on your KW and if you don't take the time to prep your military you'll get overrun, ahaha.

The unfortunate shame is the military easily took them out, but the gnome workers will usually get instantly killed. Here's what they did to a last wave of golems: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=235555416

Originally posted by variablenonsense:

But yeah, I wouldn't rely on show darkness. I don't trust it. That method has worked best for me so far - until I get low enough that I can't but by that point I have more than enough torches to scatter around freely.

Yeah, I think I'll stop trusting Show Darkness as well. I'll do 13x13 from now on and just put 2 torches in diagonal in the prior floors.

Thanks for the help!

[astralprogenitor]

Hope it does help!

As a question, do you have your non-military gnomes in military groups? I find that having all your worker bees (heh) set to no armor / no weapons and way of the gnome really does help them survive scrapes a lot better. Hadn't done it before, now in a year five with only three deceased gnomes (and one was because he fell to his death oops).

[The Infelicitous Monomaniac]

Originally posted by variablenonsense:

Hope it does help!

As a question, do you have your non-military gnomes in military groups? I find that having all your worker bees (heh) set to no armor / no weapons and way of the gnome really does help them survive scrapes a lot better. Hadn't done it before, now in a year five with only three deceased gnomes (and one was because he fell to his death oops).

Unfortunately they're not, though I should put them in a squad. Probably be the first thing I do next I get on the game. What would really help is if their stair-fleeing AI was better: rather than shuffling between two floors.

[astralprogenitor]

Originally posted by EndlessMayhem:

Unfortunately they're not, though I should put them in a squad. Probably be the first thing I do next I get on the game. What would really help is if their stair-fleeing AI was better: rather than shuffling between two floors.

Ugh I agree with that. I think the problem is that they get out of LoS of the mob, think they're safe, go back down to continue tasks, see the mob again, bolt back up ... repeat ad infinitum.

[Torres]

Golems spawn on zones where you haven "stockpiled" raw materials, no matter how well lit the area is.

If you leave a zone unattended with all the clumps lying on the floor a Golem will be spawned unless you have them in a stockpile.

[kevinshow]

I don't know if golems use light levels anymore, but let's say they still do, so it's still good to set up torches. They also now spawn where there are many un-stockpiled items. I forget the exact number but it is several hundred. So in your case of "why did the golem spawn here", it is because of the items on the ground, which I assume is not in a stockpile yet.

Now there is also a bug that you might face at some point, where they spawn at stockpiles also. I don't know what triggers it but it came in much later, so hopefully you have some good military that can take them out easily. The good thing is, because it is at a stockpile, it means it was usually somewhere near your gnome traffic, so everyone can help gang up on it, not just out by itself where it can corner a gnome by surprise.

[SilverRose]

Golems do not use light levels anymore. As posted above, if enough of the same type stuff (dirt, rock, logs....) is left about and not in a stockpile a golem will spawn.

[chaotix14]

Dirt, straw, logs, raw stone, ore and bars all generate golems if a bulk of them 500 units(250 for bars, and it must be one type of item, 250 birch and 250 pine logs don't generate a golem) is just laying around outside of stockpiles. Light level doesn't affect them in the slightest bit, but they do need a certain distance from gnomes before they can spawn.

Still lighting up the undergound is a good idea, to block the depth related spawns and to keep an eye on any golems that do form.

[Ishan451]

Originally posted by Torres:

Golems spawn on zones where you haven "stockpiled" raw materials, no matter how well lit the area is.

If you leave a zone unattended with all the clumps lying on the floor a Golem will be spawned unless you have them in a stockpile.

You replied to a 1 year old posting (OP posted in 2014 not 2015). Things were different back then.