"Dryads"

[AliceTheGorgon]

Considering the squat little quadrupedal (or slug like?) creatures that spawn from the trees bear little resemblance to mythological dryads, I'm not sure why they are calling them "dryads" at all (other than "they involve trees in some manner"). Seems like they could have taken this opportunity to come up with their own name, since the mechanics are pretty unique, and rimworld has a pretty decent variety of unique and uniquely named creatures already.

They definitely sound interesting to use, though. I do like the ability to get more helping hands around the colony without having to get actual colonists (with the various downsides that actual colonists have). I can't remember the name of it, but way back in either the alpha or early beta days there was a mod that let you build robots that could each do only one kind of task. That was by far my favorite mod at the time.

Additionally, I assume there's some soft limit on the number of trees you can have, so you can't just turtle up and get eleven quadrillion of the things. I'm definitely looking forward to playing with them. I'm not keen on the idea of an actual tree worshiping colony, but I'll probably have to do one at some point to see how being able to spawn more on your own mixes things up. Could be fun to go for an aggressive, cannibal, sect of tree worshipers, akin to starbound's Floran race.

[stevasaur]

Originally posted by ReverseNecromancy:

They definitely sound interesting to use, though. I do like the ability to get more helping hands around the colony without having to get actual colonists (with the various downsides that actual colonists have). I can't remember the name of it, but way back in either the alpha or early beta days there was a mod that let you build robots that could each do only one kind of task. That was by far my favorite mod at the time.

Misc Robots is still alive and kicking, and is probably the mod you're thinking of. They're great, although not in my current modlist.

[MortVent]

Read the last news update, there are dryads and then there are other things they bring into the world based on interactions...

[ShadowTani]

Well, Rimworld isn't fantasy, but sci-fi, hence the dryads don't look like fantasy dryads. However, humans tend to give things names according to what those things may be reminiscent of. A tree-like lifeform that sprout creatures tied to it in some sort of manner? Seems legit that humankind would end up naming those dryads.

[Koba]

Originally posted by ShadowTani:

Well, Rimworld isn't fantasy, but sci-fi, hence the dryads don't look like fantasy dryads. However, humans tend to give things names according to what those things may be reminiscent of. A tree-like lifeform that sprout creatures tied to it in some sort of manner? Seems legit that humankind would end up naming those dryads.

That's makes sense, since "Wargs" at rimworld are basically a weaponized wolf/dog breed despite all the traditional lore about wargs in fantasy RPGs.

[Kittenpox]

Originally posted by Koba:

makes sense, since "Wargs" at rimworld are basically a weaponized wolf/dog breed despite all the traditional lore about wargs in fantasy RPGs.

and in Norse mythology :-)

[BLAME! 40K]

And sounds you make throwing up

[Shadowskyt]

Nothing is preventing modders from making Dryads into what you'd expect from a fantasy setting.

[ichifish]

Yeah dryads is a weird naming choice. There’s no reference in fiction for dryads being haulers or helping colonists. On top of that they look… misshapen. Ludeon would do well to shell out for bit of concept art for these kinds of choices.

Haven’t played Ideology, of course, but “grow your own helpers” isn’t a mechanic I was looking for. Curious to see what comes of it.

[Krescentwolf]

Originally posted by Shadowskyt:

Nothing is preventing modders from making Dryads into what you'd expect from a fantasy setting.

Oh it's a pretty safe bet one of the very first mods post-Ideology will be turning Dryads into cute anime waifus and/or actual fantasy Dryads. There are a couple 'dryad' creature mods already floating around after all.

[Wrong Window]

Most anyone who is a fan of science fiction or fantasy will be able to get a general idea of what something is if you tell them it's a "dryad".

It's also easier and safer to sell something using Eurocentric sources rather than try to pull something from a source that the woke Twitter brigade could consider problematic.

[Lord Freedom]

Bare in mind, you might not need a 'tree-worshiping colony' to make use of the dryads. I was thinking about having an industrial, military style colony and just enslaving the dirty hippies in order to force them to grow trees for me. I don't see why that wouldn't work considering the strength of the dryads is tied to the worshiper and not the colony itself.

[Shadowskyt]

Originally posted by Krescentwolf:

Originally posted by Shadowskyt:

Nothing is preventing modders from making Dryads into what you'd expect from a fantasy setting.

Oh it's a pretty safe bet one of the very first mods post-Ideology will be turning Dryads into cute anime waifus and/or actual fantasy Dryads. There are a couple 'dryad' creature mods already floating around after all.

Looking forward for the Ideology version of a huge Dryad Harem.
All worshiping one single male Human, named after yourself of course.

[Astasia]

You never see the Dryad Queen, you can imagine she looks however you want. Perhaps she is the reason they are called Dryads. Perhaps there's also more to the system we don't know yet, maybe the little larval creatures we've seen are just that, larva, maybe they become somewhat more humanoid when given a strong enough psychic connection, or maybe that's not something we can't achieve on a Rim planet using leftover archotech devices. Perhaps when they were genetically engineered on a Glitterworld they had more advanced capabilities and humanlike forms, and these old feral versions are weak and deformed.

I would agree I would have rather seen humanoid Dryads instead of the bug-like creatures shown, but it's just a name, and ya, I agree there will be a mod to replace their graphics up pretty quickly. You know those modders who turn everything into anime girls are going to do something with them.

[Incidental_Fish]

I'm sure they went with the name because it is really easy for people to make the connection between these creatures and nature. Even if you don't know exactly what they do, a complete novice to the game can still read that and get an idea for their general place in the game.

In my head cannon I'll probably call them saprolings because the concept, as described, sounds very reminiscent of the creatures of the same name from Magic: The Gathering.

My concern isn't the name so much as I feel like this is a mechanic that greatly benefits a specific colony type. I, personally, don't want to play a group of tree worshiping hippies. So I'm hoping that there are other benefits like these for other play styles.

[Koba]

Originally posted by KomradeKD:

I'm sure they went with the name because it is really easy for people to make the connection between these creatures and nature. Even if you don't know exactly what they do, a complete novice to the game can still read that and get an idea for their general place in the game.

In my head cannon I'll probably call them saprolings because the concept, as described, sounds very reminiscent of the creatures of the same name from Magic: The Gathering.

My concern isn't the name so much as I feel like this is a mechanic that greatly benefits a specific colony type. I, personally, don't want to play a group of tree worshiping hippies. So I'm hoping that there are other benefits like these for other play styles.

As far we know by devs updates, anyone can use this mechanics but colonies focused on nature worshipers ideology will have additional benefits.

Actually, seems like Ideology DLC is about giving bennefits for focused playstyles, so you can create you colony to take advantages of other actions like charity, cannibalism, trade, war... seems that every playstyle with have his own set of beneffits and downsides.