Engulf/Swallow

[Davadin]

I have mixed feelings about size-4 units "eating" other size-4 units.

Discuss.

[Davadin]

Or Etheric troops...

[Althaea]

I see your point, though if Swallow was limited that way it would significantly reduce its potency.

That being said, I can see there being room for individual variation. When the Dryad Queen was released, a new trait was created to allow small-size Minotaurs to trample other small units - I could see Swallow working similarly to that, with units like Gelatinous Cubes being able to engulf units of their own size while some other swallowing/engulfing monsters or attacks might be unable to do it.

[oort object]

i actually assumed this was always the case, having never looked too closely at the swallow ability

[Davadin]

Hmmm... it's not with engulf. I'll try and double check swallow at some point, because my tired brain can't remember if I did that before posting or not.

[Althaea]

A lot of "Swallow" attacks are negated by the "giant" trait, but I don't think there's anything other than that which stops Swallow.

[Davadin]

And while that does make sense, I'm more concerned with what I call the "large" units: 4-square units. It seems weird to see them eaten by things the same size.

[Davadin]

(I checked- swallow states that it works the same way as engulf, which is to say the only modifier is that it doesn't affect giant-sized beings.)

[oort object]

which large units have attacks that eat dudes anyway, formless spawn and gelatinous cubes? those sort of make sense at least, one's an amorphous mass and the other's probably very efficient about its battlefield footprint and actually a good bit larger than the average 2x2 unit

[Davadin]

Those two off the top of my head, yup.

[Xelos]

See below for extract of monsters with swallow, engulf, and incorporate attacks. All of the units are "huge" so that is why they can swallow large units with exception of Gelatinous Cube but I think that's a fair exception since it is so damn slow and niche. There is a trait called "swallowres" that makes gates unable to be swallowed.

selectmonster "Abomination" # 301
meleeweapon 999 476 # Incorporate (value 999: swallow)
selectmonster "Purple Worm" # 431
meleeweapon 5 413 # Swallow (value 5: D5 acid damage)
selectmonster "Gelatinous Cube" # 460
meleeweapon 10 447 # Engulf (value 10: swallow)
selectmonster "Ancient Presence" # 465
meleeweapon 999 47 # Incorporate (value 999: swallow)
meleeweapon 999 47 # Incorporate (value 999: swallow)

[Davadin]

Remember though that some monsters have more of a bite-then-swallow attack, like the formless spawn.



In other news... can they eat doors? o.O
Update: They cannot engulf doors. However- they do "attack" and try, it just has no effect. This allows for things like Enchanted Gates to do damage.

[Xelos]

Originally posted by Davadin:

Remember though that some monsters have more of a bite-then-swallow attack, like the formless spawn.



In other news... can they eat doors? o.O
Update: They cannot engulf doors. However- they do "attack" and try, it just has no effect. This allows for things like Enchanted Gates to do damage.

Ah yes the formless spawn.

[Gilmoy]

There should be a class of monster called Seed that starts out weak and slow, and must get swallowed once and survive to morph into its final form :)