Idea: Aquatic Creature Carrying Nets

[Palaeophis]

Hi everyone! I came up with an idea for something to transport your tamed water critters.
You know those net stretcher thingies that wildlife rescuers use to airlift dolphins to an animal hospital? They can be attached to helicopters and then the animal can be moved.

There could be something like that in two sizes in ARK: Small, for Ichthys and similarly sized critters, like Anglers, Mantas- maybe not Mantas because mantas die if they poke the shore with their fin, let alone flying- or perhaps the Electrophorus when it's released depending on how big it is(Maybe Piranhas too if you can ever tame them like the dossier says), and Large, for Megalodons and Liopleurodon, and other creatures around that size. Plesiosaurs, Mosasaurs, and other huge seabeasts are WAYYYY too big to be lifted by a net. Also in PVP it would be ridiculous... just a bunch of mosas being airlifted into someone's base...

They could be put on Pteranodons, Argents, and Quetzals with maybe a new slot in the inventory next to the saddle, and when added a net/stretcher would appear beneath the flyer that could be dipped into the water, where the creature would either be ridden into the net or made to follow the player through the net. If made to follow into the net, they could automatically stop when they get in the correct position in the net. The small would be the only one the Pteranodon and Argent can use. The Quetz could use the Large net because Quetzals are big enough to carry a Megalodon (maybe?).

When a critter is in the net, it will be fairly heavy, with an unsaddled Ichthyosaur being perhaps 100 weight, and a megalodon more like 250-300 or more. So your bird (Quetzals will probably be OK)will need to have upgraded weight to carry you, its saddle, the critter in the net, and what the critter is carrying.
Someone might have to be in the net with the critter pouring water on it so it doesn't die, or perhaps it could have a mechanism to keep the critter wet, such as a sponge thingy. If a critter isn't placed in the net correctly, they could slip out. If the net is above land when this happens, the critter will almost surely die unless it can flop over to a water source soon enough and not be attacked by wild carnivores. Mantas will die instantly of course, since if you even go within 6 feet of the coast the manta almost dies.

To free the critter from the net, simply dip down and place it in the water enough for it to swim out. If the bird runs out of stamina and needs to land, or if the bird lands for any reason, the critter can survive on the ground for a short time, and the net/stretcher will go to the side of the bird so the bird is not sitting on the critter.

This could be used to quickly transport water mounts from dangerous areas to safer areas, or to landlocked lakes for uses there, or any other uses. I got this idea after me and my friend had tamed some Ichthyosaurs and were taking them back to our base on South Haven, when we got jumped by Megalodons in waters we thought were too shallow! We managed to fend off the Megalodons, but sadly one of the Ichthys disappeared. I say disappeared instead of died because it didn't show a death message, and I checked the tribe log and it didn't say that she had died. Still haven't found her. Update: I found my Ichthy! She was burying her face in the sand... Glad to have her back :D Sorry about the super long post, and thanks for reading!



P.S. PLEASE TURN DOWN BRONTO SPAWNS ON SOUTH HAVEN. SO. MANY. BRONTOS.

[dragonsphotoworks]

thts neat idea. but what about instead of dropping a net. just have it work like grapling hook? already have one in game so slight modification graphicly would work for this.

[Palaeophis]

You mean having the creature dangle by a rope or something? That could work, but maybe it could show ropes wrapped around the creature so it is supported by something.

[忍者 Tortuga]

This is a great idea and I can see it functioning in game. Though I remember seeing the devs saying something about it being hard to programm ropes into the game and ensuring their functionality and good looks. Maybe that's what kept them from doing it so far. If they actually manage to find a way for nets to work, this would open up an entirely new area of combat and taming as well. Maybe even fishing nets ( though I highly doubt it ;D).
I definitely like this idea and hope to see it in game one day but if nets are too hard to programm maybe a simple cage or a large stretcher could serve the same purpose? You could lead an animal onto the submerged stretcher, maybe have an option to "secure animal with rope" if you have fiber or thatch or something like that in your inventory. Wouldn't be that hard to animate if you just add some ropes onto the body once it's fixed but the connection between the bird and the stretcher might still cause problems.
Just imagine the possibilities for bugs in this system. The collision detection would probably be a nightmare for the guys who have to make it work. Nobody wants to see that his mountain base has been raided by 20 megalodons who somehow glitched through the walls on a stretcher or inside a net ;D
There are a lot of pros to this idea and I'd love to see it but I wouldn't get my hopes up.

[Palaeophis]

The stretcher idea is EXACTLY what I was aiming at, I just wasn't sure how to describe it because I forgot the word stretcher existed :P I do see that it would be a major pain in the butt for the devs to animate and code and stuff. Maybe a way to prevent raiding with megalodons like you said would be that if the creature clipped through the walls of a base it would fall off the stretcher? I'm honestly not expecting this to be added at all, and I just wanted to throw it out there to see how you guys think of it. But it would be pretty epic if it was added. It could be pretty interesting for PVP too if there could be a way to prevent clipping Megalodons through walls, even though I don't play PVP. I'm more a singleplayer person. I don't think the nets could be used for wild critters except for Ichthyosaurs, because aggressive wild water animals like Megalodons would chew through it and escape. But maybe there could be a reinforced stretcher or metal cage that could be used for that purpose instead of a normal stretcher?

[忍者 Tortuga]

Making the animals drop as soon as you come in contact with a structure would indeed fix most of the problems about the PVP use of this function ( even or especially on PVE servers, where this kind of griefing could be tried with wild megalodons or stuff like that).
I've always wanted a villainy piranha-pool and since I'd prefer my base somewhere high up it isn't always easy to find a lake on a plateau which also spawns piranhas. In addition it could be nice to be able to lift giant coel out of the water and take them to your homelake now that they added different size of fish.
For the megalodons a metal cage would make sense, but considering the weight limit most flyers have, a metal cage would already limit it to being carried by a quetzal. It still could work though and it would definitely be a fantastic site for a new-spawn to see this enormous shark flying through the air in a cage, some dude with scuba gear is standing next to it, constantly pouring water skins on it ;D Just to keep it a little balanced and so noone goes ahead and just carries them over the entire island. Maybe even while keeping them wet there should be a time limit until they definitely die?

[dragonsphotoworks]

they already have graphle and they about to add retractable rope ladders. so stretcher that far far passed

[Palaeophis]

dragonsphotoworks, I'm sorry, could you rephrase that? I have no idea what you just said.

[Palaeophis]

Originally posted by 忍者 Tortuga:

Making the animals drop as soon as you come in contact with a structure would indeed fix most of the problems about the PVP use of this function ( even or especially on PVE servers, where this kind of griefing could be tried with wild megalodons or stuff like that).
I've always wanted a villainy piranha-pool and since I'd prefer my base somewhere high up it isn't always easy to find a lake on a plateau which also spawns piranhas. In addition it could be nice to be able to lift giant coel out of the water and take them to your homelake now that they added different size of fish.
For the megalodons a metal cage would make sense, but considering the weight limit most flyers have, a metal cage would already limit it to being carried by a quetzal. It still could work though and it would definitely be a fantastic site for a new-spawn to see this enormous shark flying through the air in a cage, some dude with scuba gear is standing next to it, constantly pouring water skins on it ;D Just to keep it a little balanced and so noone goes ahead and just carries them over the entire island. Maybe even while keeping them wet there should be a time limit until they definitely die?

These are all super great ideas! Especially the time limit for keeping them in there. Perhaps there could be two different air shark cages, one which is completely metal and is heavy, but the creatures can't bite it, and a wooden reinforced one, which is lightweight but the sharks will chew through it after a while, and slip out onto the ground and die/escape into the water to go terrorize the local Ichthys.
Maybe there would be an upgrade that is attachable to the air cages/stretchers which will automatically spray the creature with water so you can fly it solo, or your friend can do other stuff. It would also increase the time limit, and it would need to be refilled periodically. Or maybe you could just dip the cage/stretcher into the water to refresh the creature, but then any wild critters would escape and chew your bird if the bird is low enough and tamed ones could be nibbled if any predators decided that your pet is a tasty nugget. It would be pretty epic to see a shark just sailing over you like "don't mind me, just a flying shark" as you are taming your first dilo or having just spawned. Heck, it would be epic no matter how advanced you are to have a shark fly over your head!