Imp sleep schedule

[Skar1ath]

So, it seems that imps only sleep at night (between 7:00 pm and 6:00 am). This is is kind of an issue when they run out of energy during the day, because their ridgestone mining capabilities go from pretty good to 1 damage at a time, unless they crit. What I noticed was happening was the imps would sleep right at 7, then work all through the rest of the night with their energy, only to run out right after dawn. Then they would continue working all day while tired, and get very little actual digging done. They're happy to sleep on the ground, but napping during the day is highly frowned on it seems.

The thing is, with imps, it's basically a race against time, since they produce extra mining drops when they're level 6, but you might only have them around for 10 days to get them there and then do the mining. So having them mine at like 1/15th efficiency for half the time is a pain.

I'm guessing this is an issue with humans as well (though I haven't played them yet). The way imps work just makes it very noticeable.

[Sleipnir]

Hmmmm, I guess I could make it where certain animals don't care about day/night cycles.

[Skar1ath]

Could add something to the state of creatures that sleep that show when they need to sleep. Would be good flavor for cats to be nocturnal, etc.

Here's a little Wikipedia survey of the commonly used words:

Diurnal: active during the day
Nocturnal: active during the night
Cathemeral: active sporadically both day and night
Crepuscular: active during twilight (around dawn and dusk)

On a side note, it seems like imps need very little sleep, around an hour per work cycle. This makes a lot of sense for imps, but it might be a little strange for creatures that should have an obvious day-night cycle, as they'd sleep 7-8 and then stay up the rest of the night working.

[Sleipnir]

You rock! Thank you. Have you considered joining our Discord? Would be great to have you join our discussions. :)

[Skar1ath]

I joined, thanks for the suggestion.

Also, a little follow-up here: you could do the same thing with diet, if you want to implement food preferences. I assume these could specialize the normal metabolism status.

There are some pretty funny diet options popularized by NetHack:

Conventional terminology -
Carnivore: eats meat
Herbivore: eats plants
Omnivore: eats everything (well, meats and plants)
Inediate: doesn't eat anything (Ancients)

NetHack terminology -
Metallivore: eats metal
Lithivore: eats rocks and minerals

[Sleipnir]

Nice! The Tomek are actually Lithivores! :D

[Skar1ath]

Makes sense!

I was trying to think of a good word for creatures that eat magic - auravore? arcanivore?

You know, in case something eats void crystals.

[Sleipnir]

Haha. Ya, good question! Magivore. *shrug* xD

[Skar1ath]

How about nihilivore - "nothing eater" - for things that eat void shards or otherwise subsist on void magic.

Latin nihil (nothing) + -vore (from latin vorare, "to devour", like all the other vores.)

[milithorfx]

I like Arcanavore. To me it feels like the ancients should be consuming voice shards/crystals. Same with all their summons.