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Porcupine

2026-05-09T17:51:25Z

Drepab0: a

{{Odyssey}}
{{Infobox main|animal
| name = Porcupine
| image = Porcupine east.png
| description = A large rodent. While slow moving, it has a cloak of sharp quills which protect it from predators.
| type = Animal
| movespeed = 3
| min comfortable temperature = -30
| max comfortable temperature = 40
| toxic resistance = 0.5
| toxic environment resistance = 0.5
| flammability = 0.7
| marketvalue = 35
| filth rate = 1
| wildness = 0.75
| combatPower = 30
| bodysize = 0.35
| healthscale = 0.4
| hungerrate = 0.15
| diet = herbivorous
| leathername = Lightleather
| manhunter = 0
| manhuntertame = 0
| trainable = none
| petness = 0
| mateMtb = 8
| gestation = 5.661
| lifespan = 8
| juvenileage = 0.1
| maturityage = 0.2222
| tradeTags = AnimalUncommon
| offspring = 1-2
| avg offspring = 1.60
| attack1dmg = 3.6
| attack1type = Scratch
| attack1cool = 1.5
| attack1part = left claw
| attack2dmg = 3.6
| attack2type = Scratch
| attack2cool = 1.5
| attack2part = right claw
| attack3dmg = 6
| attack3type = Bite
| attack3cool = 2
| attack3part = Teeth
| attack3chancefactor = 0.7
| attack4dmg = 2
| attack4type = Blunt
| attack4cool = 2
| attack4part = head
| attack4chancefactor = 0.2
| isCoastal = false
| livesin_borealforest = 0.2
| livesin_temperateforest = 0.2
| livesin_temperateswamp = 0.2
| livesin_grassland = 0.2
}}

A '''porcupine''' is an [[animal]] added by the [[Odyssey DLC]].

== Acquisition ==
{{PAGENAME}}s can be found in {{Habitats}}. They can either be tamed by a [[Work #Handle|handler]] or self-tame in a random event.

{{PAGENAME}}s can be bought and sold in other [[Trade#Faction base|faction bases]] and from [[Trade#Exotic goods trader 2|exotic goods traders]]. {{PAGENAME}}s purchased from traders will be already tamed.

== Summary ==
When struck in melee, slaughtered, or when a porcupine attacks a creature, porcupines leave quills against their enemy. Attacking or slaughtering always leaves a quill in the attacker's torso, while being attacked by a porcupine leaves quills in whichever body parts were harmed. Quills cause {{++|5%}} [[pain]] each, but do not appear to have any other negative effects.{{Check Tag|Infections?}} Each body part can only receive one quill, although tiny parts like toes can each get a quill, and they can be removed through a [[Doctoring#Operations|medical procedure]].

== Analysis ==
Porcupines can be hunted safely using ranged attacks, and butchering them doesn't result in any quills.

Quills may be intentionally be left in [[Masochist|masochistic]] or [[Ideoligion#Pain|pain idealized]]{{IdeologyIcon}} pawns to improve mood, or to incapacitate [[prisoner]]s or [[entities]]{{AnomalyIcon}} that can feel pain.

=== Tamed animal ===
Porcupines make poor general tamed animals due to their high wildness, small size, and inability to be trained without a [[sentience catalyst]]. They have low HP, so they are ineffective in combat even when considering their quills. Instead, the main reason to tame a porcupine is to inflict quills onto a desired target.

=== Nutrition ===
An adult porcupine consumes {{P|Real Hunger Rate}} nutrition per day, and a female creates up to {{#expr: 1/{{P|Gestation Period Days}} round 2}} offspring per day.
* When offspring are slaughtered as babies, a female porcupine will produce {{#expr:{{Meat Production|{{PAGENAME}}|baby}} round 2}} nutrition of meat per day, giving an optimal nutrition efficiency of {{%|{{Meat Production|{{PAGENAME}}|baby}}/{{P|Real Hunger Rate}} round 3}}.
* If the offspring are allowed to grow to adulthood, they will consume an additional {{#expr:{{Nutrition Consumption|{{PAGENAME}}|adult}} - {{P|Real Hunger Rate}} round 2}} nutrition per day, but will instead yield {{#expr:{{Meat Production|{{PAGENAME}}|adult}} round 2}} nutrition per day as they are slaughtered, resulting in a nutrition efficiency of {{%|{{Meat Production|{{PAGENAME}}|adult}}/{{Nutrition Consumption|{{PAGENAME}}|adult}} round 3}}.
When considering a population of equal numbers of males and females, these nutrition efficiencies fall to {{%|{{Meat Production|{{PAGENAME}}|baby|1|1}}/{{Nutrition Consumption|{{PAGENAME}}|baby|1|1}} round 3}} for baby slaughter and {{%|{{Meat Production|{{PAGENAME}}|adult|1|1}}/{{Nutrition Consumption|{{PAGENAME}}|adult|1|1}} round 3}} for adult slaughter. This is further reduced in practice by the [[overeating]] factor.

== Training ==
{{TrainingTable}}

== Health ==
{{Animal Health Table|QuadrupedAnimalWithPaws}}
{{Pawn Attack Table}}

== Gallery ==
<gallery>
Porcupine east.png|Facing east
Porcupine north.png|Facing north
Porcupine south.png|Facing south
</gallery>
<gallery>
File:Dessicated Porcupine east.png|Desiccated facing east
File:Dessicated Porcupine north.png|Desiccated facing north
File:Dessicated Porcupine south.png|Desiccated facing south
</gallery>

== Version history ==
* [[Odyssey DLC]] Release - Added.

{{Nav|animal}}
[[Category:Animals]]

Starjack

2025-08-16T07:49:01Z

Drepab0:

{{Biotech}}
{{Odyssey}}
{{Stub}}
{{Infobox main|xenotype
| name = Starjack
| image = Starjack.png
| description = Engineered for life among the stars, starjack are built to withstand the unforgiving conditions of deep space living. Their reflective pressure-adaptive skin provides insulation against extreme temperatures and allows them to survive brief exposure to hard vacuum. These adaptations make them invaluable for spacewalk repairs and emergency decompression scenarios. Most starjack spend their lives beyond planetary gravity, leading to lower muscle mass and reduced physical strength compared to baseline humans. However, their resilience in zero-gravity environments makes them essential for maintaining orbital platforms and working aboard long-haul vessels. As one of humanity's oldest xenotypes, starjack played a crucial role in the colonization of space. They are a common sight on deep-space stations and interstellar ships, where genetic modification is often a more cost-effective solution than upgrading spacecraft to support unaltered human physiology.
| short description = Engineered for life among the stars, starjack are built to withstand the unforgiving conditions of deep space living. Their reflective pressure-adaptive skin provides insulation against extreme temperatures and allows them to survive brief exposure to hard vacuum.

| type = Human
| type2 = Xenotypes

| can generate as combatant = true
| factionless generation weight =
| combat power factor = 1
| genes = No hair, Facial Ridges, Sheer white skin, Cold tolerant, Heat tolerant, Vacuum resistant, Weak melee damage, Indoor dweller, Great Construction, Poor Melee, Awful Mining, Awful Plants, Awful Animals

| defName = Starjack
| label = starjack
| iconPath = UI/Icons/Xenotypes/Starjack
}}
'''Starjack''' are a [[Xenotypes|xenohuman]] breed engineered to be more effective space crew maintenance workers. They are well suited for construction work outside the safety of space stations in the vacuum of space where heat and cold tend to fluctuate. However, due to being more adapted for zero-gravity environments, they make for terrible melee fighters.

== Lore ==
<onlyinclude>Starjack are one of humanity's oldest xenotypes and played a crucial role in the colonization of space. They are commonly seen on deep-space stations and interstellar ships, where genetic modification is cheaper than designing spacecraft that better support the unaltered human physiology,

Starjack are designed for stellar living, thus are able withstand the conditions of deep space. Their reflective pressure-adaptive skin provides insulation against extreme temperatures and allows them to survive brief exposure to hard vacuum. These adaptations make them invaluable for spacewalk repairs and emergency decompression scenarios. Most starjack spend their lives beyond planetary gravity, leading to lower muscle mass and reduced physical strength compared to baseline humans. However, their resilience in zero-gravity environments makes them essential for maintaining orbital platforms and working aboard long-haul vessels.<ref>[[Starjack]] [[xenotype]] description</ref></onlyinclude>

== Occurrence ==

== Summary ==

=== Genes ===
Starjack have a gene complexity of 11[[File:Complexity.png|20px|Complexity|link=Complexity]] [[complexity]]. With a {{+|1}}[[File:Metabolism.png|20px|Metabolic efficiency|link=Metabolic efficiency]] [[metabolic efficiency]], they have a hunger rate of {{Good|x90%}}.

All starjack have these xenogenes:

'''Assorted:'''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- align="center"
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene MinTemperatureSmallDecrease.png|64|Cold tolerant|Cold tolerant}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene MaxTemperatureSmallIncrease.png|64|Heat tolerant|Heat tolerant}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene VacuumResistance.png|64|Vacuum resistant|Vacuum resistant}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene WeakMeleeDamage.png|64|Weak melee damage|Weak melee damage}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene CaveDweller.png|64|Indoor dweller|Indoor dweller}}
|-
| [[Cold tolerant]]
| [[Heat tolerant]]
| [[Vacuum resistant]]
| [[Weak melee damage]]
| [[Indoor dweller]]
|}

'''Cosmetic:'''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- align="center"
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene HairStyleBaldOnly.png|64|No hair|No hair}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene FacialRidges.png|64|Facial ridges|Facial ridges}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|FanGene SkinColor White.png|64|Sheer white skin|Sheer white skin}}
|-
| [[No hair]]
| [[Facial ridges]]
| [[Sheer white skin]]
|}

'''Skills:'''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|- align="center"
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene PoorMelee.png|64|Poor melee|Poor melee}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene GreatConstruction.png|64|Great construction|Great construction}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene AwfulMining.png|64|Awful mining|Awful mining}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene AwfulPlants.png|64|Awful plants|Awful plants}}
| width=100px height=50px | {{Stacked image|GeneBackground Xenogene.png|Gene AwfulAnimals.png|64|Awful animals|Awful animals}}
|-
| [[Poor melee]]
| [[Great construction]]
| [[Awful mining]]
| [[Awful plants]]
| [[Awful animals]]
|}

== Analysis ==

=== Usefulness ===

The Starjack's [[Awful plants]] gene makes them ironically one of the worst-suited [[xenotypes]] for survival in space.
* A staggering -8 to plants and loss of all passion makes it extremely difficult to maintain a skill level which is not frequently hindered by botched harvests and sharply decreased [[Plant Harvest Yield]].
* Since there are no animals to hunt in space, this is compounded by the fact they also have the [[Awful animals]] gene, the other skill useful in food generation in space.
* In the early-game, when there are no or few [[gravcore]]s available to build [[gravcore power cell]]s, limited options exist for a space-faring colony given how many of the other power generators require a terrestrial environment in some capacity to run sustainably. A popular choice is to rely on [[chemfuel powered generator]]s powered by [[rice]] grown in [[hydroponics basin]]s using a [[sun lamp]].
* A pawn with low skill in plants will take more basins to self-power the system. This leaves less for food and wastes precious gravship space and colonist work; and could even render this strategy futile by decreasing the efficiency below the point where it is no longer sufficiently power-positive to turn rice into chemfuel to burn in generators to be useful as a power source.

Starjacks are not necessarily better at combat or work in space than other pawns.
* The Starjack's [[Vacuum resistant]] gene is less impactful than one might expect. While it does allow the Starjack to reach 100% vacuum resistance with only a helmet, avoiding the heavy speed penalty of wearing a [[vacsuit]], which theoretically makes Starjacks excellent at working and [[kiting]] enemies in space; clothing with a significant [[Insulation - Cold]] offset is required to prevent hypothermia in space, even with [[Cold tolerant]].
* Hypothermia decreases the utility of not wearing a [[vacsuit]] to do work outside of the confines of the gravship, as this is likely to lead to unconsciousness, frostbite, and death.
* Hypothermia risk also limits the potential combat effectiveness of this gene for kiting enemies in space. By the time such insulating clothing can be fabricated, enemies will likely start being equipped with [[marine armor]], which has a significantly lower speed penalty, lowering the comparative speed bonus for not having to wear armor.
* While [[Great construction]] is generally an incredibly useful gene, it is comparatively less useful in space than on the surface due to gravship components not having minimum construction requirements, compared to surface-only buildings such as the [[geothermal generator]] which has a minimum construction skill of 8.

Their combat utility is further decreased by the close-quarters nature of space combat.
* Space maps have a smaller maximum area of the maps and because the environment often consists of close-quarters of space stations, ruined buildings, or the gravship interior, which is less conducive to hit-and-run tactics.
* This makes any benefit they might gain from increased kiting ability is notably less effective.
* Their [[Poor melee]] and [[Weak melee damage]] genes are potentially more detrimental in for combat in space than they would be for combat on the surface, as the tighter environments make [[melee]] combat more likely, but not unavoidable.

They have some redeeming features that could make them useful, especially part of a colony of other xenotypes.
* [[Great construction]] is a very useful gene that is only found endogenously on the Starjack.
* While having an entire colony of pawns terrible at plants makes survival in space incredibly difficult, a pawn of a different xenotype can easily make up for this weakness.
* [[Indoor dweller]] is a gene that synergizes well with [[gravship]] travel, whether on space or surface maps.
* Although the Starjack's temperature resistance genes are generally insufficient to allow for spacewalking without a full [[vacsuit]], they are marginally useful in keeping the colonist alive in the event that the gravship's climate control is insufficient to fully handle the extreme cold of space. Alternatively, they help make the Starjack more survivable in the extreme climates one will encounter looking for [[gravcore]]s on the surface, allowing for less temperature-resistant pawns to take priority in being assigned more temperature-protective clothing.

=== Gene extraction ===

Remember that [[xenogerm]]s replace '''all''' xenogenes. If you implant a xenogerm into a starjack, all of their genes will be replaced. This also applies to certain other xenotypes. Don't install unstoppable onto a [[genie]] as part of an elaborate joke, unless you ''want'' to erase their other genes (or are prepared to replace them).

Starjacks are a great source of genes. They are the only xenotype with [[great construction]] gene. They are also a source of [[awful plants]], otherwise obtainable only from rare Highmates and Hussars. They also have two other awful genes, which while more common (with default faction settings) are still excellent to have. [[Poor melee] is the only negative melee skill gene that spawns on default xenogerms, and pairs well with [[weak melee damage]]. While temperature, vacuum and indoors genes are generally less useful, Starjacks still have a relatively low amount of rarely used genes and any extraction has odds to immediately be useful to any colony or gravship.

{{Biotech navbox}}
[[Category:Xenotypes]]