EntityGroups - Any way to set an entity to spawn in a given group/biome, BUT only after x gamestage or time is met?

[caverness]

Editing a bunch of different entitygroups files and realizing there's actually no visible way to set spawn according to level or playtime - I initially thought that's how ferals were working, not just being tied to a biome or group + probability.

example, I have a zombie with a special drop - one that doesn't belong in early game. However, it's a lumberjack spinoff so he doesn't really belong anywhere but forest. I'm not satisfied using % probability on the spawn and probability on the drop (ideally i'd like the drop to be almost certain but in in order to do that I need to ensure he doesn't enter that group pool too early)

 

[stallionsden]

You can add him to the wild forest spawning group only in entitygroups tho it is a animal group 

 

[Guest]

Here is one method:

- Create a deco spawning POI for just the Forest Biome through biomes.xml, or a regular POI restricted to the Forest and tagged wilderness using the rwgmixer.xml

<prefab_spawn_adjust partial_name="speciallumberjackpoi" biomeTags="forest" bias="20" min_count="#" max_count="#"/>

It could be something as simple as a 3x3 POI with a tree in the middle, and a sleeper at the base for a zombie to spawn. Make the sleeper volume around it about 40x40.

- Create a gamestages.xml spawner for SpecialLumberjack with a correlating GS1, GS50, GS100, GS200, GS400, and GS800 Gamestage.

- In the GS1 just add a grunt lumberjack or a regular grunt zombie. From GS50 or where appropriate, start to feed in your special type.

There is always the chance on a multiplayer play through that a higher GS will trigger him, retreat, and cause him to become dormant for a lower GS player. Something to test.

It's a shame spawning.xml doesn't allow GS groups since that is very useful for spawning around a POI without them needing any sleeper volumes at all.

 

[caverness]

Here is one method:

- Create a deco spawning POI for just the Forest Biome through biomes.xml, or a regular POI restricted to the Forest and tagged wilderness using the rwgmixer.xml

<prefab_spawn_adjust partial_name="speciallumberjackpoi" biomeTags="forest" bias="20" min_count="#" max_count="#"/>

It could be something as simple as a 3x3 POI with a tree in the middle, and a sleeper at the base for a zombie to spawn. Make the sleeper volume around it about 40x40.

- Create a gamestages.xml spawner for SpecialLumberjack with a correlating GS1, GS50, GS100, GS200, GS400, and GS800 Gamestage.

- In the GS1 just add a grunt lumberjack or a regular grunt zombie. From GS50 or where appropriate, start to feed in your special type.

There is always the chance on a multiplayer play through that a higher GS will trigger him, retreat, and cause him to become dormant for a lower GS player. Something to test.

It's a shame spawning.xml doesn't allow GS groups since that is very useful for spawning around a POI without them needing any sleeper volumes at all.

This is super helpful, exactly what I was after thanks a bunch

Agreed tho, I've noticed plenty of missing editable features while doing this. Hopefully they'll change that 

 

[zztong]

- Create a deco spawning POI for just the Forest Biome through biomes.xml, or a regular POI restricted to the Forest and tagged wilderness using the rwgmixer.xml

<prefab_spawn_adjust partial_name="speciallumberjackpoi" biomeTags="forest" bias="20" min_count="#" max_count="#"/>

Maybe I don't fully understand your advice, but a Decoration (which can be built like a POI) wouldn't use rwgmixer.xml. It would appear in biomes.xml where you can control which biome it appears based on where you choose to insert your entry, like this:

<append xpath="/worldgeneration/biomes/biome[@name='snow']/decorations">
<decoration type="prefab" name="zztong_hunters_trap_01" onslopes="true" prob=".001" />
</append>




But, if you were to build something substantial and really wanted a POI, then adjusting rwgmixer.xml to specify a biome would be cool. I would point out that messing with bias and using min/max counts is optional.

A bias of 20 is very heavy. By way of comparison, by default a POI has a bias between 1.0 and 2.0 depending on the tier. (Tier 1 is 1.2, Tier 2 is 1.4, Tier 3 is 1.6, Tier 4 is 1.8, and Tier 5 is 2.0. You see a high bias used for traders. A bias of 20 will see that POI placed as 20, 10, 5, and 2.5 before a Tier 5 will beat your POI in the competition for placement on a specific Tile and Marker. (Bias for a specific POI gets halved after each placement.) You can see why they're making the bias so high for traders since their goal is to place many of them on each map.

Messing with min/max counts is an interesting exercise as you can only specify one value for each and that value will likely be great for one map size and not so great for other map sizes. If you pick a minimum too large then you'll dominate and displace other POIs on small maps, for instance.

For both bias and min/max counts I suggest leaving them off unless there's truly a special or unique situation involved. That way RWG has a free hand to use it as needed.

(I hope this isn't outdated information about bias. I'm running on what I knew for A21.)

 

[Guest]

That's correct. It is one or the other.

The suggestion was a deco spawning POI through biomes.xml

or

a regular POI restricted to the Forest and using the rwgmixer for bias.

The min and max counts with a high bias ensures placement. Based on past testing this does not impede Trader placement since there are gateway, theme tags, distance between properties and other factors at play. Overall there is a layering rather than competing unless tags are conflicting.

As mentioned in the response though, something to test. That'll show what way things need to go with balancing for different world sizes and percentage sliders for the Forest biomes.