Difference between revisions of "Dryads"

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(→‎Trivia: Revised my information, the dryads do disappear.)
 
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{{Rewrite|reason=Cleanup - unclear, contains contradictory information, needs comparison tables}}
 
{{Rewrite|reason=Cleanup - unclear, contains contradictory information, needs comparison tables}}
 
{{Disambiguation}}
 
{{Disambiguation}}
'''Dryads''' are connected to and spawned by a [[Gauranlen tree]]. They begin as [[immature dryad]]s and then specialize into different castes:
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{{TOCright}}
* [[Carrier]]: These chunky helpers will haul things where they need to go.
 
* [[Clawer]]: Vulnerable but fearsome, the clawer specializes in damage dealing.
 
* [[Barkskin]]: Slow but tough, the barkskin soaks hits for your other fighters.
 
* [[Woodmaker]]: Generates wood over time.
 
* [[Medicinemaker]]: Generates herbal medicine over time.
 
* [[Berrymaker]]: Generates berries over time.
 
* [[Gaumaker]]: Produces Gauranlen sprouts to make new Gauranlen trees.
 
  
==Dryad Spawning==
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'''Dryads''' are a caste based species introduced in the [[Ideology DLC]]. Each dryad is subservient to a dryad queen that lives symbiotically with a [[Gauranlen tree]]. Colonist are able to exploit this subservience and symbioticity by connecting with the tree itself, granting partial control of the dryads it produces for a colony's benefit.  
All castes will start off as an immature dryad that will spawn up to every 8 days according to an invisible bar. If there are empty dryad slots, a timer will show counting down to the spawning of the immature dryad. The timer will still run even if there aren't empty dryad slots and will be picked up once a new spot becomes available, either by a previous dryad dying or maintaining a higher connection status with the tree.
 
  
An unconnected tree will produce up to two immature dryads, which can immediately enter cocoons upon the tree gaining a connection.
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{{List|Dryad}}
  
==Behavior==
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==Summary==
Dryads will automatically have the [[Animals]] training up to their trainability level upon emerging from their cocoon. The barkskin and clawer dryads have an intermediate trainability, the hauler dryad has advanced trainability, and the rest have no trainability. They can only have their Gauranlen Tree's connected pawn as their master and can form bonds with their master. They do not require regular handling to maintain tameness or other skills.
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All dryads are produced by a [[Gauranlen tree]]. They have no need to eat, are immune to disease events, and have a 100% [[Toxic Resistance]], rendering them immune to [[Toxic fallout]] and [[Toxic buildup]]. Dryads will bleed, but cannot bleed to death. They have a sleep need requirement and tend to sleep at nighttime, not maintaining a normal sleep schedule.
  
They have a sleep need requirement and tend to sleep at nighttime, not maintaining a normal sleep throughout the day.
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Dryads heal abnormally fast, and can be commanded anywhere to enter a healing cocoon, which will heal all present injuries (not including lost limbs). Alternatively, they can retreat to a gauranlen tree. This takes 3 days and heals all permanent injuries, lost parts, and bad conditions.
  
Dryads will attempt to put out fires on nearby Gauranlen moss that is in the home area.
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Dryads will automatically have the [[Animals]] training for their respective caste. The barkskin and clawer dryads start with Guard and Attack, the carrier starts with Haul, and the rest have no trainability. They can only have their Gauranlen tree's connected pawn as their master, but can form [[bond]]s with their master tends to them. They do not require regular handling to maintain tameness or other skills.
  
Immature dryads will attempt to immediately form into a cocoon upon spawning, as long as their sleep need is met.
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All dryad castes have a meat yield of 3 immature dryad [[meat]], despite being mature. Immature dryads give 4 meat.
  
While not following a drafted pawn, dryads will meander nearby their Gauranlen tree.
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===Dryad Spawning===
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All castes will start off as an immature dryad. Immature dryads will spawn every 6 days, according to an invisible timer. If there are empty dryad slots, this timer will be visible; it'll still tick down if there aren't empty dryad slots, waiting for an opening.
  
Upon releasing a dryad to the wild, absolutely nothing will change, they remain connected to the tree and maintain their behavior. They cannot be re-tamed and your pawns will lose control of them.
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Immature dryads will attempt to immediately form into a cocoon upon spawning, as long as their sleep need is met. It takes 5 days for them to grow into a caste. Players can choose the caste for each specific tree, which future dryads will be. Changing a tree's caste will cause all dryads to become immature again, instead taking 5{{Check Tag|Verify|Verify 5 days not 6}} days to grow up.
  
Dryads cannot be assigned to any areas, and thus movement is only affected by proximity to their gauranlen tree, or if following a drafted pawn.
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An unconnected tree will produce up to two immature dryads, which can immediately enter cocoons upon the tree gaining a connection.
  
Following a drafted pawn, dryads will perform identically to other animals, they follow regardless of needs or health.
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===Behavior===
 
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Dryads cannot be assigned to any areas. While not hauling or following a drafted pawn, dryads will meander nearby their Gauranlen tree. They will attempt to put out fires on Gauranlen moss nearby. When following a drafted pawn, dryads perform identically to other animals.
==Changing caste==
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Upon changing the caste of dryads on a tree, the connected dryads will form cocoons nearby and spend 6 days morphing into the new selected caste.
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Upon releasing a dryad to the wild, absolutely nothing will change, they remain connected to the tree and maintain their behavior. They cannot be re-tamed and your pawns will lose control of them.
 
 
==Health==
 
Dryads heal abnormally fast, and cannot bleed to death (though they still leave blood while bleeding). They are immune to disease events. They cannot regenerate lost body parts on their own, but can fully recover after going into a cocoon to switch castes.
 
 
 
Dryads also have a button attached to the dryad(not the tree) to enter a healing cocoon, which will heal all present injuries to full (not including lost limbs)
 
  
 
==Gauranlen tree connection interaction==
 
==Gauranlen tree connection interaction==
 
{{see also|Gauranlen tree}}
 
{{see also|Gauranlen tree}}
If there are more dryads than the "mother" tree can support (i.e. by going under the minimum connection limit to support a number of dryads) the dryad will "return" to the gauranlen tree. A dryad returning to the tree will not have any effect on the spawn timer.
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If there are more dryads than the "mother" tree can support (i.e. by going under the minimum connection limit to support a number of dryads) the dryad will "return" to the Gauranlen tree. A dryad returning to the tree will not have any effect on the spawn timer.
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==Analysis==
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All dryads have a specialized purpose. Berrymakers, medicinemakers, and woodmakers all create resources that may be difficult, depending on [[biome]] and [[Ideoligion]]. Barkskin and clawer dryads fight, carrier dryads haul, and gaumakers can create more trees and thus more dryads.
  
==Economic potential==
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Tree pruning is a time consuming process - colonists connected to trees will need to dedicate all their time managing their trees. For the three resource -makers, just planting [[crop]]s (when possible) tends to give more yield per work. Haulers are more efficient than humans haulers, as 1 tree and 1 colonist will support 4 haulers who don't need to eat or recreate, and will work longer than prune time. Combat dryads are weak on their own, but have unique advantages and dedicated combat roles - see [[#Combat potential]] for details.
There are 3 Dryads that offer creating items of value, the woodmaker, medicinemaker, and berrymakers. In terms of raw financial output, each berrymaker produces $38.2 raw wealth (before selling), and both the other variants make $30. For the maximum value from the components; Berry makers: selling raw berries is most efficient, as packaged survival meals or pemmican require meat to craft. Woodmakers: The raw wood is more valuable than chemfuel, since chemfuel takes 2*wood ($2.4) and 1 amount of work to create 1 chemfuel worth $2.3, however, it is worth noting that chemfuel is significantly lighter, so you can transport 16xsa as much to a nearby settlement to trade, seeing as most wandering traders don't buy wood nor chemfuel. Medicine makers: selling the herbal medicine raw is most efficient, since buying Neutroamine can cost $8.4 at most, the herbal medicine will sell for at least $6, and the cloth will sell for $2.7 at least(or cost $6.3 if you don't grow it), and the industrial medicine will only sell for $10.8 at the least. Even good social skills can only marginally drive prices to be more efficient.
 
  
Conclusion: if you're planning on making money off of dryads, berrymakers are the most efficient. They have only a slightly lower $/kg compared to chemfuel (chemfuel has $46/kg and berries $40/kg). They can also be sold to most settlements, and expire after 14 days. The main reason to choose wood over berries is if you cannot refrigerate the berries but for some reason can make chemfuel(in order to sell them in higher quantities, it is presumed the berries are frozen).
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===Economic potential===
This makes $11.46 (at 0 social trading advantage) wealth per day, per dryad. If you are pruning 2 trees with a 20 plant-skill colonist, they can support 8 dryads (working 11 hours a day), and thus make ~$8.33 per hour of work, plus transportation. Its worth noting that corn can be planted and harvested to make $605 per hour with the right bionics. To maintain at least one dryad, ~2.5 hours of work is needed per day, so more dryads per tree are more efficient than more trees.
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There are 3 dryads that offer creating items of value, the woodmaker, medicinemaker, and berrymakers. All three will create resources once every 2 days.
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*Berrymakers produce {{Icon Small|silver||38.2}} of raw berries in [[Market Value]].  
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**Selling raw is most efficient, as packaged survival meals or pemmican require meat to craft.
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*Woodmakers produce {{Icon Small|silver||30}} of wood in [[Market Value]].  
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**Wood can be fashioned into [[sculpture]]s, valued based on Art skill. However, one harvest is not enough for a sculpture, and they take a noticeable amount of work. See [[Money_making_guide#Sculpture_Production|Sculpture Production]] for more details.
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**Converting wood to [[chemfuel]] is a net loss ($2.4 wood makes $2.3 worth of chemfuel), but is 16x lighter.
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*Medicinemakers produce {{Icon Small|silver||30}} of herbal medicine in [[Market Value]].
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**It's best to sell raw - industrial medicine, their only product, isn't profitable as it requires buying [[neutroamine]].
  
(note that this only explores financial value, situational need will be more important if you plan on using the dryads for colony use)
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Therefore, berrymakers are the most efficient money dryad, giving the most value for no extra work. However, berries expire after 14 days, which may necessitate woodmakers instead.
  
==Combat potential==
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Berrymakers create $11.46 (at 0 [[Trade Price Improvement]]) per day, per dryad. If you are pruning 2 trees with a 20 plant-skill colonist, they can support 8 dryads (working 11 hours a day), and thus make ~$8.33 per hour of work, plus transportation. To maintain at least one dryad, ~2.5 hours of work is needed per day, so more dryads per tree are more efficient than more trees.  
Only Barkskin and Clawer dryads are capable of combat and will follow their tree's connected pawn into battle. The dryads cannot be brought off the map on caravans, nor loaded into pod launchers, therefore they can only be used for defense. They incur a -3 moodlet on their trees connected pawn upon death, and can bond with their tree's connected pawn, which can further increase this moodlet.
 
  
Between the two, both do what they are supposed to. Combat-wise, they are mediocre fighters, they can melee engage random targets, allowing your ranged pawns to sink in more hits. They are both prone to friendly fire, however, so be aware. They also have a small body size, making them harder to hit.
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For comparison, planting a ''single'' [[psychoid plant]] gives $28 in [[flake]]. Corn can be planted and harvested to make $605 per hour with the right bionics. This makes dryads a fairly poor method of making money, and more useful for their situational or Ideoligion benefits.
  
Barkskin dryads boast high defense. They have similar armor resistances as a thrumbo, with 60% sharp and 30% blunt, thrumbos have 10% more blunt armor and also 30% heat armor. Although this sounds good in theory, the barkskin dryad can only take 3-4 shots from most firearms before they get downed or killed. They do 3.16 dps and have 13% armor penetration. They are better against enemies with low armor penetration that uses sharp weapons and can melee engage enemies. Most ranged weapons have around 12-15% melee armor penetration, while decent melee weapons have 25-40%. Because of this around 23% of ranged weapon melee attacks get deflected, 23% get halved, and the rest do full damage. Good melee weapons will have around 80% full damage, the last 20% will either be halved or blocked. Ranged weapons have around 20-30% armor penetration, and will do full damage about 60-70% of the time, and halved or blocked the other times. So while the barkskin dryad does have an incredible natural tank in comparison to other animals, they are only slightly better for combat than most dogs, as they can tank more hits and do about the same damage. Note that they have more tank than your average tribal. Their armor is comparable to a mercenary. They will do their job and soak a few hits, but are really only useful as secondary cover, since they can block enemy shots while not blocking ally shots.
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===Combat potential===
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Only Barkskin and Clawer dryads are capable of offensive combat. Either dryad can follow their tree's connected pawn into battle like a trained [[animal]]. Dryads have special advantages over normal animals: they can't die of blood loss (so don't need to be tended to immediately), can heal otherwise permanent injuries in 3 days, and do not contribute towards colony wealth (making raids smaller). However, they can't be brought away from colony normally via [[caravan]] or pod launchers. Other dryads (domestic or wild/unconnected) will attack when provoked, but have poor combat statistics. All dryads are small in size, and will be hit far less frequently.
  
Clawer Dryads, while they are not very resilient, have extremely potent attacks, dealing 18 damage with 80% armor penetration, and very fast attacks, giving them dps roughly equal to a monosword. Furthermore, they stun enemies on their first attack, allowing them to get in up to four attacks before the enemy can strike back. While they are a poor choice for open massed combat, they can be excellent for use in cramped hallways, or when facing a small number of powerful enemies like centipedes or thrumbos. In testing, they are typically capable of 1v1 against most human pawns.
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Dryads are good at fulfilling their role of supporting colonists and other pawns in combat:
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*Barkskin dryads boast high defense, with similar armor to a [[thrumbo]] (70% sharp, 40% blunt). They can take roughly 3-4 shots from most firearms. With 3.16 DPS, they are fairly weak at damage, but their armor and aforementioned healing make them useful. With such high armor, these dryads are good at distracting enemies while your colonists fire from afar. Alone, they are roughly equal to [[dog]]s in combat.
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*Clawers have a great DPS, out-damaging [[scyther]]s and [[thrumbo]]s, and their first attack will stun for a short duration. The opposite of barkskins, clawers have poor durability. This makes them strong when combined with other melee attackers (including other clawers), in a cramped hallway, or when facing a small number of powerful enemies like centipedes or thrumbos. Alone, they are typically capable of beating gun-wielding human pawns.
  
Conclusion: Even though they require a large amount of a pawn's time, without having to make food players may find them easier to keep than other pets. Additionally, if they die in battle a new dryad can take their place in about a quadrum, a full set of four can be replaced in 38 days.  Unlike other weapons and pets, they do not contribute anything to colony wealth, helping keep raid sizes manageable.
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Conclusion: Even though they require a large amount of a pawn's time, dryads don't need food or training. With strong healing and immunity to blood loss, players may find them easier to keep than other pets. If they die, the tree-connected pawn only receives a -2 [[mood]] debuff, and a new dryad can take their place in 5-12 days.
  
==Meat==
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== Pawns ==
Contrary to their individuals, all dryads have a meat yield of 3 immature dryad meat. The exception is immature dryads, which have 4.
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{| {{STDT| c_08 text-center}}
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! Pawn Type !! Image !! Armor (<abbr title="sharp/blunt/heat">S/B/H</abbr>) || {{DPS}} !! Move speed !! Additional Info
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|-
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! [[Barkskin]]
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| {{Icon Small|Barkskin|50}} || {{Q|Barkskin|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Barkskin|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Barkskin|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Barkskin|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Barkskin|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Berrymaker]]
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| {{Icon Small|Berrymaker|50}} || {{Q|Berrymaker|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Berrymaker|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Berrymaker|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Berrymaker|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Berrymaker|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Carrier]]
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| {{Icon Small|Carrier|50}} || {{Q|Carrier|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Carrier|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Carrier|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Carrier|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Carrier|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Clawer]]
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| {{Icon Small|Clawer|50}} || {{Q|Clawer|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Clawer|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Clawer|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Clawer|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Clawer|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Gaumaker]]
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| {{Icon Small|Gaumaker|50}} || {{Q|Gaumaker|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Gaumaker|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Gaumaker|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Gaumaker|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Gaumaker|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Immature dryad]]
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| {{Icon Small|Immature dryad|50}} || {{Q|Immature dryad|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Immature dryad|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Immature dryad|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Immature dryad|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Immature dryad|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Medicinemaker]]
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| {{Icon Small|Medicinemaker|50}} || {{Q|Medicinemaker|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Medicinemaker|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Medicinemaker|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Medicinemaker|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Medicinemaker|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|-
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! [[Woodmaker]]
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| {{Icon Small|Woodmaker|50}} || {{Q|Woodmaker|Armor - Sharp}}% / {{Q|Woodmaker|Armor - Blunt}}% / {{Q|Woodmaker|Armor - Heat|0}}% || {{Q|Woodmaker|Mob Average DPS}} || {{Q|Woodmaker|Move Speed Base}} {{CS}} || -
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|}
  
 
==Trivia==
 
==Trivia==
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* When entering cocoons, the dryads will maintain the appearance of their previous caste.
 
* When entering cocoons, the dryads will maintain the appearance of their previous caste.
 
* If a tree with dryads has its connection to the connector severed, such as by kidnapping or death, all specialized dryads revert back to immature dryads.
 
* If a tree with dryads has its connection to the connector severed, such as by kidnapping or death, all specialized dryads revert back to immature dryads.
* Dryads can be taken off of the map when choosing animals to take with you when starting a new colony after obtaining a piece of the [[Ending_the_game#Awaking_the_Archonexus|archotech map]], and a master that is taken with them remains as their master. Dryads function without their Gauranlen tree if taken off the map in this way, but despawn after a period of about a little longer than a season.
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* Dryads can be taken off of the map when choosing animals to take with you when starting a new colony after obtaining a piece of the [[Ending_the_game#Awaking_the_Archonexus|archotech map]], and a master that is taken with them remains as their master. Dryads function without their gauranlen tree if taken off the map in this way, but despawn after a period of about a little longer than a season.
  
 
== Version history ==
 
== Version history ==
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* [[Version/1.3.3069|1.3.3069]] - Fix: Dryads can show up as animals for hospitality quests.
 
* [[Version/1.3.3069|1.3.3069]] - Fix: Dryads can show up as animals for hospitality quests.
 
* [[Version/1.3.3076|1.3.3076]] - Fix: Dryads are affected by disease incidents.
 
* [[Version/1.3.3076|1.3.3076]] - Fix: Dryads are affected by disease incidents.
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* [[Version/1.3.3101|1.3.3101]] - Dryad spawn days reduced from 8 to 6. Reduced dryad transform delay from 6 days to 5 days.
  
 
[[Category:Animals|#Dryads]]
 
[[Category:Animals|#Dryads]]

Latest revision as of 05:44, 27 June 2024

Dryads are a caste based species introduced in the Ideology DLC. Each dryad is subservient to a dryad queen that lives symbiotically with a Gauranlen tree. Colonist are able to exploit this subservience and symbioticity by connecting with the tree itself, granting partial control of the dryads it produces for a colony's benefit.

Barkskin.png

A dryad caste specialized in absorbing hits during combat. Barkskin dryads are covered by a thick bark-like hide which is partly formed by the Gauranlen tree itself. Under human influence, it can act as a damage-absorbing fighter.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Berrymaker.png

A dryad caste specialized in food production. Together with its Gauranlen tree, this dryad can generate nourishing berries on an ongoing basis. However, it is slow and ineffective at work or combat.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Carrier.png

A dryad caste specialized in carrying items. Under human influence, it can help haul things where they need to go.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Clawer.png

A dryad caste with huge claws that is specialized in aggression and damage-dealing attacks. Though it can do tremendous damage, it is vulnerable to attacks itself.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Gaumaker.png

A dryad caste with the unique ability to produce new Gauranlen pods and reproduce the Gauranlen tree along with its symbiote, the dryad queen. To do this, three gaumaker dryads must slowly merge.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Immature dryad.png

Dryads are small mammalian creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. This immature dryad can support and protect its tree, but its main purpose is to morph into more specialized and powerful dryad forms.

Medicinemaker.png

A dryad caste specialized in medicine production. Together with its Gauranlen tree, this dryad can generate medicinal herbs on an ongoing basis. However, it is slow and ineffective at work or combat.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Woodmaker.png

A slow, bumbling caste of dryad which specializes in wood production. Together with its Gauranlen tree, this dryad can generate a wood-like material on an ongoing basis. However, it is slow and ineffective at work or combat.
In general, dryads are mammal-like creatures that have a symbiotic relationship with the Gauranlen tree. They reproduce together with their tree, which contains a hidden dryad queen. Dryads can morph into various specialized castes.

Summary[edit]

All dryads are produced by a Gauranlen tree. They have no need to eat, are immune to disease events, and have a 100% Toxic Resistance, rendering them immune to Toxic fallout and Toxic buildup. Dryads will bleed, but cannot bleed to death. They have a sleep need requirement and tend to sleep at nighttime, not maintaining a normal sleep schedule.

Dryads heal abnormally fast, and can be commanded anywhere to enter a healing cocoon, which will heal all present injuries (not including lost limbs). Alternatively, they can retreat to a gauranlen tree. This takes 3 days and heals all permanent injuries, lost parts, and bad conditions.

Dryads will automatically have the Animals training for their respective caste. The barkskin and clawer dryads start with Guard and Attack, the carrier starts with Haul, and the rest have no trainability. They can only have their Gauranlen tree's connected pawn as their master, but can form bonds with their master tends to them. They do not require regular handling to maintain tameness or other skills.

All dryad castes have a meat yield of 3 immature dryad meat, despite being mature. Immature dryads give 4 meat.

Dryad Spawning[edit]

All castes will start off as an immature dryad. Immature dryads will spawn every 6 days, according to an invisible timer. If there are empty dryad slots, this timer will be visible; it'll still tick down if there aren't empty dryad slots, waiting for an opening.

Immature dryads will attempt to immediately form into a cocoon upon spawning, as long as their sleep need is met. It takes 5 days for them to grow into a caste. Players can choose the caste for each specific tree, which future dryads will be. Changing a tree's caste will cause all dryads to become immature again, instead taking 5[Verify] days to grow up.

An unconnected tree will produce up to two immature dryads, which can immediately enter cocoons upon the tree gaining a connection.

Behavior[edit]

Dryads cannot be assigned to any areas. While not hauling or following a drafted pawn, dryads will meander nearby their Gauranlen tree. They will attempt to put out fires on Gauranlen moss nearby. When following a drafted pawn, dryads perform identically to other animals.

Upon releasing a dryad to the wild, absolutely nothing will change, they remain connected to the tree and maintain their behavior. They cannot be re-tamed and your pawns will lose control of them.

Gauranlen tree connection interaction[edit]

If there are more dryads than the "mother" tree can support (i.e. by going under the minimum connection limit to support a number of dryads) the dryad will "return" to the Gauranlen tree. A dryad returning to the tree will not have any effect on the spawn timer.

Analysis[edit]

All dryads have a specialized purpose. Berrymakers, medicinemakers, and woodmakers all create resources that may be difficult, depending on biome and Ideoligion. Barkskin and clawer dryads fight, carrier dryads haul, and gaumakers can create more trees and thus more dryads.

Tree pruning is a time consuming process - colonists connected to trees will need to dedicate all their time managing their trees. For the three resource -makers, just planting crops (when possible) tends to give more yield per work. Haulers are more efficient than humans haulers, as 1 tree and 1 colonist will support 4 haulers who don't need to eat or recreate, and will work longer than prune time. Combat dryads are weak on their own, but have unique advantages and dedicated combat roles - see #Combat potential for details.

Economic potential[edit]

There are 3 dryads that offer creating items of value, the woodmaker, medicinemaker, and berrymakers. All three will create resources once every 2 days.

  • Berrymakers produce Silver 38.2 of raw berries in Market Value.
    • Selling raw is most efficient, as packaged survival meals or pemmican require meat to craft.
  • Woodmakers produce Silver 30 of wood in Market Value.
    • Wood can be fashioned into sculptures, valued based on Art skill. However, one harvest is not enough for a sculpture, and they take a noticeable amount of work. See Sculpture Production for more details.
    • Converting wood to chemfuel is a net loss ($2.4 wood makes $2.3 worth of chemfuel), but is 16x lighter.
  • Medicinemakers produce Silver 30 of herbal medicine in Market Value.
    • It's best to sell raw - industrial medicine, their only product, isn't profitable as it requires buying neutroamine.

Therefore, berrymakers are the most efficient money dryad, giving the most value for no extra work. However, berries expire after 14 days, which may necessitate woodmakers instead.

Berrymakers create $11.46 (at 0 Trade Price Improvement) per day, per dryad. If you are pruning 2 trees with a 20 plant-skill colonist, they can support 8 dryads (working 11 hours a day), and thus make ~$8.33 per hour of work, plus transportation. To maintain at least one dryad, ~2.5 hours of work is needed per day, so more dryads per tree are more efficient than more trees.

For comparison, planting a single psychoid plant gives $28 in flake. Corn can be planted and harvested to make $605 per hour with the right bionics. This makes dryads a fairly poor method of making money, and more useful for their situational or Ideoligion benefits.

Combat potential[edit]

Only Barkskin and Clawer dryads are capable of offensive combat. Either dryad can follow their tree's connected pawn into battle like a trained animal. Dryads have special advantages over normal animals: they can't die of blood loss (so don't need to be tended to immediately), can heal otherwise permanent injuries in 3 days, and do not contribute towards colony wealth (making raids smaller). However, they can't be brought away from colony normally via caravan or pod launchers. Other dryads (domestic or wild/unconnected) will attack when provoked, but have poor combat statistics. All dryads are small in size, and will be hit far less frequently.

Dryads are good at fulfilling their role of supporting colonists and other pawns in combat:

  • Barkskin dryads boast high defense, with similar armor to a thrumbo (70% sharp, 40% blunt). They can take roughly 3-4 shots from most firearms. With 3.16 DPS, they are fairly weak at damage, but their armor and aforementioned healing make them useful. With such high armor, these dryads are good at distracting enemies while your colonists fire from afar. Alone, they are roughly equal to dogs in combat.
  • Clawers have a great DPS, out-damaging scythers and thrumbos, and their first attack will stun for a short duration. The opposite of barkskins, clawers have poor durability. This makes them strong when combined with other melee attackers (including other clawers), in a cramped hallway, or when facing a small number of powerful enemies like centipedes or thrumbos. Alone, they are typically capable of beating gun-wielding human pawns.

Conclusion: Even though they require a large amount of a pawn's time, dryads don't need food or training. With strong healing and immunity to blood loss, players may find them easier to keep than other pets. If they die, the tree-connected pawn only receives a -2 mood debuff, and a new dryad can take their place in 5-12 days.

Pawns[edit]

Pawn Type Image Armor (S/B/H) DPS Move speed Additional Info
Barkskin Barkskin 70% / 40% / 0% 2.25 3.2 c/s -
Berrymaker Berrymaker % / % / 0% 2.25 3 c/s -
Carrier Carrier % / % / 0% 2.25 2.4 c/s -
Clawer Clawer % / % / 0% 4.73 4 c/s -
Gaumaker Gaumaker % / % / 0% 2.25 3 c/s -
Immature dryad Immature dryad % / % / 0% 2.25 3 c/s -
Medicinemaker Medicinemaker % / % / 0% 2.25 3 c/s -
Woodmaker Woodmaker % / % / 0% 2.25 3 c/s -

Trivia[edit]

  • Immature dryads still appear as adults on the animals tab.
  • When entering cocoons, the dryads will maintain the appearance of their previous caste.
  • If a tree with dryads has its connection to the connector severed, such as by kidnapping or death, all specialized dryads revert back to immature dryads.
  • Dryads can be taken off of the map when choosing animals to take with you when starting a new colony after obtaining a piece of the archotech map, and a master that is taken with them remains as their master. Dryads function without their gauranlen tree if taken off the map in this way, but despawn after a period of about a little longer than a season.

Version history[edit]

  • Ideology DLC release - Added
  • 1.3.3069 - Fix: Dryads can show up as animals for hospitality quests.
  • 1.3.3076 - Fix: Dryads are affected by disease incidents.
  • 1.3.3101 - Dryad spawn days reduced from 8 to 6. Reduced dryad transform delay from 6 days to 5 days.