Harbinger tree

Harbinger tree

A gnarled tree that grows a flesh-like covering. Harbinger trees are capable of feeding on corpses and raw meat, and will consume those placed nearby. If well fed, the grove will continue to grow.
In a tribal myth, these trees are the emissaries of a mad, shapeless god who rules an endless black ocean. The myth ends after the shapeless god reaches up from the water and tears down the sky.

Base Stats

Type

Plant – Tree

Beauty

-10 (-10)

HP

230

Flammability

0%

Path Cost

42 (24%)

Building

Minifiable

False

Passability

pass through only

Cover Effectiveness

25%

Blocks Wind

True

Ingestion

Nutrition

2

Plant Stats

Time to grow

10 days (18.46 days)

Min Fertility

50%

Fertility Sensitivity

50%

Min light to grow

50%

The Harbinger is a type of tree added by the Anomaly DLC. Harbinger trees can spawn randomly from an event after activating the Void monolith, spawned by the void provocation psychic ritual, or can be planted via a Harbinger seed which can be acquired as a quest reward or bought from traders. The random event that spawns harbringer trees will not trigger if Ambient Horror is selected in Storyteller settings.

Harbinger trees consume corpses, meat and skulls placed around them. They can eat both rotten and fresh corpses, as well as all forms of raw meat (insect, human, twisted). When a harbinger tree is selected with the mouse, a UI Button for creating a corpse stockpile will appear. This button will create a dumping stockpile within the consumption radius of the tree, and defaults to accepting all non-mechanoid or unnatural corpses.

When fully grown and harvested, they provide  30 Twisted Meat and a base amount of  15 Bioferrite. Trees that are not harvested and destroyed through other means will drop twisted meat but no bioferrite. The amount of twisted meat dropped is unaffected by difficulty setting and pawn plants skill, but the amount of bioferrite harvested is affected by both. A harbinger tree is not dangerous in any way and despite the flavor text does not cause any events or phenomena beyond consuming corpses.

The growth rate of a harbinger tree will increase up to a maximum 150% during the day while it is actively consuming meat. Each individual harbinger tree tracks the nutrition it has consumed, and upon reaching 100, it will spawn a new sapling, regardless if the original tree is fully grown. Upon reaching maturity, a harbinger tree has a chance to spawn another harbinger tree nearby. A body size 1 human corpse provides a harbinger tree 5.2 nutrition, meaning that ~19.2 corpses are needed to force a second harbinger tree to sprout. A single piece of meat has a nutrition of .05, requiring 2,000 meat total to spawn a new tree.

Despite both being dendrovores, thrumbos will not eat harbinger trees, while alphabeavers will.

Analysis

Harbinger trees provide a low-tech, no power method to get rid of corpses without using fire or an Electric crematorium. All gear worn by consumed corpses is destroyed, similar to cremation.

This is vital for tribal or low-tech settlements who want to reduce the number of potential Shamblers on the map during a Death pall or similar event, as there is no limit to the number of times a corpse can be turned into a shambler. Note that shamblers can still reanimate from corpses in the process of being consumed by harbinger trees, however said shamblers will be weakened since non-vital bodyparts digested by harbinger trees will not regenerate on reanimation.

Later on, harbinger trees can be used as a source of Twisted meat for mid and late game recipes like the juggernaut serum without having to fight and butcher dangerous entities like fleshbeasts. It is impractical to farm harbinger trees using meat farmed from ranching or hunting, although colonies experiencing massive raids may be able to meet their serum production needs off the yield from harbinger trees alone. A single Fleshmass nucleus produces significantly more twisted meat in a more consistent manner, but requires regular suppression and defeating a Fleshmass heart to acquire.

Harbinger trees will not consume pemmican or meals of any type.

Version history

• Anomaly DLC Release - Added.

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Entities

Basic

Void monolith • Harbinger tree • Fleshbeast (Fingerspike, Trispike, Toughspike, Bulbfreak) • Sightstealer • Shambler • Ghoul • Gorehulk • Death pall

Advanced

Pit gate • Dreadmeld • Fleshmass heart • Fleshmass nucleus • Chimera • Devourer • Noctolith • Noctol • Revenant • Metalhorror • Nociosphere • Blood rain • Twisted obelisk • Corrupted obelisk • Warped obelisk • Golden cube • Unnatural corpse

Ultimate

Void structure • Void node

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Plants

Domesticated plants

Cocoa tree • Corn plant • Cotton plant • Devilstrand mushroom • Haygrass • Healroot • Hop plant • Potato plant • Psychoid plant • Rice plant • Smokeleaf plant • Strawberry plant • Tinctoria • Fibercorn • Gauranlen pod • Nutrifungus • Toxipotato plant

Decorative plants

Dandelions • Daylily • Rose • Bonsai tree

Wild plants

Agarilux • Agave • Alocasia • Ambrosia bush • Astragalus • Berry bush • Brambles • Bryolux • Bush • Chokevine • Clivia • Giant rafflesia • Glowstool • Grass • Low shrubs • Moss • Pincushion cactus • Tall grass • Wild healroot • Anima grass • Gauranlen moss

Trees

Bamboo tree • Birch tree • Cecropia tree • Cypress tree • Drago tree • Maple tree • Oak tree • Palm tree • Pine tree • Poplar tree • Saguaro cactus • Teak tree • Willow tree • Timbershroom • Gray pine tree • Pebble cactus • Rat palm tree • Witchwood tree

Special

Anima tree • Gauranlen tree • Polux tree • Harbinger tree

Tree stumps

Burned stump • Chopped stump (Gauranlen , Anima , Polux , Harbinger ) • Smashed stump (Gauranlen , Anima , Polux , Harbinger )