Monsters are creatures which can be found on nearly all planets. Monsters can either be procedurally generated or unique, and may be either aggressive or neutral towards the player (except for critters, which are always passive). Aggressive monsters will attack on sight, but neutral monsters will only become hostile if provoked. Killing monsters will usually yield pixels and other resources.
Procedurally Generated Monsters
Many monsters that players encounter throughout the game are procedurally generated, meaning they are assembled 'randomly' from a characteristic set, like a planet. Monster attacks, physical features, and color are all assembled based on the seed of the planet, which allows coordinate sharing to include monster locations. The higher the threat is, the more powerful the monsters get.
Generated monsters are separated into classes of monsters based on two characteristics:
- Size: monsters are either large or small.
- Locomotion: monsters are bipedal, quadrupedal, flying, or swimming.
Monsters can spawn as either as either aggressive (attack on sight) or neutral (attack only when attacked).
The following are each procedural monsters' default stats at the lowest tier:
Bipedal Monsters
- Small Biped: 48 Health, 10 Melee Damage
- Large Biped: 75 Health, 15 Melee Damage
Quadrupedal Monsters
- Small Quadruped: 32 Health, 10 Melee Damage
- Large Quadruped: 75 Health, 15 Melee Damage
Flying Monsters
- Small Flying Monster: 32 Health, 12 Melee Damage
- Large Flying Monster: 72 Health, 15 Melee Damage
Swimming Monsters
- Small Fish: 4 Health, 0 Melee Damage
- Large Fish: 72 Health, 15 Melee Damage
Each planet that is not a Barren planet generates 1 neutral small flying monster, 1 large flying monster (either neutral or aggressive), 2 neutral ground creatures (neutral small bipeds and quadrupeds), 3 night terrors (aggressive small flying creatures and aggressive large bipeds and quadrupeds), and 2 aggressive ground creatures (aggressive small bipeds and quadrupeds) for use in its various regions. Most surface biomes use all of the generated monsters except for the large flying creature (which only appears in the planet's atmosphere layer); however, Garden surface biomes do not use any aggressive ground creatures, and they only use 2 night terrors, 1 neutral small flying creature, and 1 neutral ground creature.
If the planet in question is an Ocean, Toxic or Arctic planet, it also generates Fish to populate its liquid layer. Some of the small fish are unique critters, but other neutral small fish and both neutral and aggressive large fish are procedurally generated in a similar manner to other monsters. Despite their usual lifelessness, Barren planets will still have large flying monsters in their upper atmospheres.
Due to night terrors appearing to harass the player, surface traversal is much more difficult at night, forcing unprepared players to seek protection when the sun begins to set.[1]
Unique Monsters
Unique monsters are those that are pre-designed rather than being made through the procedural generation engine. They can be found on planets, specific to biomes or dungeons, as part of quests, as bosses or as boss minions.
Many unique monsters award progress toward the Pets Collection after being captured in a Capture Pod. These monsters have their collection entry number listed below.
In update 1.4 recolored rare variants of almost all Collection monsters were added. These rare monsters appear in bounty missions and have a very rare chance to appear in the wild. Capturing these monsters earns progress towards the Rare Pets Collection.
Biome Monsters
Biome monsters are only found in specific planetary biomes. They spawn alongside other procedurally generated monsters, so finding a biome does not necessarily mean the monster will be there. Many of these monsters are found in more than one biome.
Mini-Biome Monsters
Mini-Biome monsters are only found in specific mini-biomes. They spawn alongside other procedurally generated monsters, so finding a mini-biome does not necessarily mean the monster will be there.
Dungeon Monsters
Dungeon monsters are aggressive monsters found inside dungeons and microdungeons. Many enemies in dungeons are NPCs, there aren't procedurally generated monsters. These monsters can only be found in their corresponding dungeons.
Farm Animals
Farm Animals are a type of unique monster hatched from eggs purchased at Terramart. They allow players to harvest monster drop materials without killing any creatures. Each egg type hatches a different animals, each with unique resources for harvest. These animals cannot be captured, and can be killed by lava and monsters.
Space Monsters
Space monsters are monsters which are designed to operate in zero gravity space encounters. These monsters were added in update 1.3.0, and none are captureable using Capture Pods.
Most of these monsters are best countered with mechs.
Disabled Monsters
| These monsters were either in game at one time and removed or exist in the assets but have not yet been implemented. They may or may not be added back in the future.
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Bosses are very powerful enemies that require skill and strategy to defeat. They come in two types;
- Sub-Bosses (Procedurally generated) - Sub-bosses will appear on planets and in dungeons and will be different based on the location the player encounters them in. This type of boss drops unique equipment.
- Bosses (Premade) - Premade Bosses will be at the end of missions, and key story points in the game.
See the bosses page for a full listing.
Monster Mechanics
Monsters have a specific list of mechanics associated with them. This includes where they can spawn, their attack style, physical attributes, et cetera. Each world has a specific height limit for monster spawning. Ground based monsters on the planet surface spawn only a certain distance above the surface layer, while aerial monsters spawn until the start of upper atmospheric asteroids. Lighting up an area does not prevent Monsters from spawning. Monster spawning is goverened by Dungeon IDs. Ground-based monsters won't spawn on top of player-constructed blocks and flying monsters will only spawn into empty air marked as the default dungeon.
Monster Stat Scaling
Monster power and durability is determined not only by base stats, but also by multipliers which are applied based on planet Tier and any tier bonuses which may be applied on top of planet tier.
Monster Skills
Trivia
- Hypnare are the only neutral unique monster, being passive until they've been attacked.
- The Developers had a weekly tradition of showcasing procedurally generated monsters called Random Monster Friday. Most of the earlier monsters used parts that never made it into the final version of the game.
- Early in the game's development, there was a cancelled evolution mechanic where small and large procedurally generated monsters on a planet would appear to be the same species at different ages. Only the smaller version could be caught with a Capture Pod, but it could later grow into its larger, stronger form.[2] Though the evolution mechanic was removed, all parts used for monsters in the final game still have matching counterparts for large and small monsters from when the two were much more closely related.
References
- ↑ http://playstarbound.com/weekly-update-1122/
- ↑ https://playstarbound.com/2nd-july-progress/