Burgeoning update + question

[Mars]

I really like the idea of plant tiers that scale with the mutation level! Burgeoning was one of the first mutations I played around with, but as I got better, I found it didn't scale so well into mid-late game. I'm a little excited that maybe now I can viably play as that half-plant, photosynthetic humanoid that started my adventures in Qud.

That being said, after seeing the update, I went straight in to test it. Using the in-game cheats, I gave myself experience so I could level the mutation and see how the scaling worked out. I found that at higher mutation levels, the area in which I cast burgeoning would sort of black out that area on the map.

Check the screenshot [oi66.tinypic.com]

I know there are a lot of new plants with the recent updates, but has anyone else had this experience in-game? My character is brandishing a torch and I still can't see the area. Maybe it's a specific plant type, I don't know.

[Pixel Peeper]

Looks like that flower in the middle may be eating light around it.

[Mars]

Yep, you're right .. the vantabud [oi65.tinypic.com].

I thought up two more questions::

1.) Are the plants summoned with burgeoning supposed to attack you?

I've had the experience of a thirst thistle targeting me once I left the screen and came back. I was also being struck by a red death dacca that I did not aggro (although it might have been aggroed by another plant spawned next to it, I'm not sure). The lurking beth too. In the past, I don't recall ever being struck by a young ivory, so wondering if this is new behavior.

2.) Was experience ever awarded in the past for enemies the plants killed?

[Pixel Peeper]

Hmm, thought that might be it since it's perfectly centered in the darkness. Haven't seen one of those in-game yet, though.

I've never actually tried Burgeoning yet, only seen some legendary creatures use it, so I know very little about how it works. Sorry.

[Water Ｖａｐｏｒ Merchant]

Originally posted by Molly:

Yep, you're right .. the vantabud [oi65.tinypic.com].

I thought up two more questions::

1.) Are the plants summoned with burgeoning supposed to attack you?

I've had the experience of a thirst thistle targeting me once I left the screen and came back. I was also being struck by a red death dacca that I did not aggro (although it might have been aggroed by another plant spawned next to it, I'm not sure). The lurking beth too. In the past, I don't recall ever being struck by a young ivory, so wondering if this is new behavior.

2.) Was experience ever awarded in the past for enemies the plants killed?

There appear to be select number of plants that are always hostile regardless of your reputation with the Consortium of Phyta. I'm also running a Plant Esper type build (Photosynthetic Skin and Burgeoning), and I've run into problems with berks and feral laras (the exploding pods aren't inheriting the relationship between myself and the lara and spawn hostile, though the lara stops producing them when there are no more enemies near). Also had the misfortune of dying to a pyro... something or other that basically caused anything in a certain area around it to spontaneously combust when provoked. Took me a couple minutes to figure out why I kept catching on fire.

Burgeoning surprisingly can also spawn certain fungi, like hoarshrooms. I've only got it at level 3 right now, so I don't know if it can spawn more dangerous fungi like jadepuffs or the like.

[Knight errant of the Holy Conker]

I was having fun with burgeoning for the first time last night when the patch dropped! I want to try and use it but with the new possibility of the plant summons turning/spawning hostile I can see it being worth the risk, especially considering I can use the cooldown and basically get a bunch of trees. I hope its a bug :S

[Pixel Peeper]

The elemental plants (aloe volta, aloe pyra, and I assume others named like them) are bugged and showing as non-hostile but still often attacking you regardless.

I don't know if all plants are supposed to be friendly by default, but since they can come from any of a large number of factions (flowers, vines, roots, trees) and the default creature may have eihter a peaceful or hostile attitude by default, there's a massive range of different attitudes that every plant type could have towards the player.

[Mars]

The aloe plants like the volta and pyra are activated if you step on their tile, so I don't think their damage to you can be avoided due to its AOE nature. But I think the more 'sentient' plants (in my case the thirst thistle) should not be actively seeking you out from across the map with ranged attacks if you were the one to summon them.

[Mars]

Also what's the deal with "holographic" plants being summoned?

[Shadowdweller]

Hmm...Thistles and Seed Pods have not been shooting at me when I've been using the power. They sometimes miss enemies and hit you accidently though. The Feral Lah's tumblepods, however, HAVE exclusively been targeting me :(

[Shadowdweller]

Originally posted by Molly:

Also what's the deal with "holographic" plants being summoned?

I'm not sure how precisely (maybe Star Trek holodeck-style holograms), but holographic ivory at least can still damage and/or kill things.

[Mars]

If that's true, I'm cool with it. In my current playthrough, an enemy was struck by a holographic lurking beth, and the caption read "enemy pretends to be bleeding" or something very similar.

[Knight errant of the Holy Conker]

Originally posted by Shadowdweller:

Hmm...Thistles and Seed Pods have not been shooting at me when I've been using the power. They sometimes miss enemies and hit you accidently though. The Feral Lah's tumblepods, however, HAVE exclusively been targeting me :(

The thistles definetly became "hostile" sometime after summoning for me. It could have been a tumblepod hitting them and causing them to go hostile maybe but I dont think it was me. No problems with seed spitters though.

[Shadowdweller]

I think maybe in retrospect that the tumblepods merely seek out the nearest living creature...which can easily be yourself. Kind of obnoxious. I also really wish auto-explore didn't suicidally wander over dangerous aloe plants summoned by one's self.

[Toroic]

Photosynthetic skin has always been bad, and is still bugged and useless since the cooking update. Burgeoning seems to be just as bad as it always was except for being able to create groves.

Unfortunately, unless you had some control over what you produce it's either going to be a 1 point wonder or useless.