Biomes & Nature The (better) Desert

zimberzimber

Terrarian
Hello and welcome to my (already suggested on the previous forum) suggestion where I would give ideas on how the desert could be improved in various ways.

♥ I will try to compare it to the pre-hardmode jungle because that seems reasonable and I don't want to make the player to jump from biome to biome to get better loot. (Well... at least lessen it)
♦ Note: I will NOT add specific numbers because I am bad with balancing, and if anything suggested and added to the main thread will be given specific numbers I will most likely remove them.
♣ Credits for sprites are at the end of the post.

The desert right now is dull and well... deserted, and could use some more life and content.
Right now all it has is:
♥ A total of 7 mobs
♦ A very rare world generated building which may or may not contain what you want (aka the pyramid)
♣ Cacti and Waterleaf
♠ And a lot of sand

So, let me show you what I think the desert could have.
@ Let us begin with the Mechanics and Basics of it.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
Why does it rain in desert?
Instead of rain a sandstorm could occur to fit the sandy environment of the desert, and on top of that, it could come with a few effects on the player such as lower light levels, and occasionally take minor damage of ~5 every 5 seconds while exposed to the sandstorm.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
The underground desert
The underground sandstone will mostly consist of sandstone (not sandstone bricks) and pockets of sand which will be generated similar to the way underground dirt pockets generate.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
The underground desert will also have small caverns which will function like the bee hive.
It has a big egg sack like the bee cocoon, and when smashed, it will summon the giant sandworm which I will talk about in the mobs/NPCs section.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
The pyramid, and infamous structure which frustrates a lot of unlucky players with either not spawning or spawning with only one thing, the Pharaoh set.
Instead of the pyramid, burial chambers across the underground desert can spawn.
They are made of gold blocks, contain a sarcophagus which functions like a chest, and a yellow torch so they won't be so easily missed.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
Now for the pyramid
The pyramid can be turned into a Lihzard temple equivalent, but sadly I have nothing in mind about how it will function and what it may contain.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
Oasis
Every desert will have an oasis which will occasionally attract nomads and will have palm trees growing around it.
It can also have its own unique fish.

Quicksand(DarthMorf).png
Quicksand
Quick sand can spawn around the desert and it functions like a semi-solid blocks.
When you step on it you slowly begin to sink, when your lower body is inside the block you will have decreased mining speed so you wont so easily escape, and once your head is submerged you gain the suffocation and blindness debuff.
If the pool is 2 blocks deep, the player will only drown 2 blocks but if its 6 blocks deep, the player will keep drowning until he reaches the bottom of the quicksand pool.

Sandstone(Darthmorf).png
Sunburned
Sunburned is a debuff caused by certain sources which will increase the brightness levels by a lot so the player could hardly see, and cause damage over time.
Think reverse blackout + Frostburned

@ Now that we covered the basics, lets move on to Mobs and NPCs!

NPCs:
Cacti Nomad.png
Cacti Nomads:
Cacti Nomads occasionally spawn around the oasis.
You can chat with them, some may offer you things to buy, some may offer their services as mercenaries and some might even ask you for a favor for which they are willing to pay.

♥ They can sell you all kinds of random stuff, ranging from dirt to a Nazar, although they will not sell some special relics such as boss drops, or anything that the Traveling Merchant sells.
They also sell special emblems which allow you to tame camels.

♦ Once the world has told you an invasion is approaching, you can quickly get to them ask for assistance, and depending on the type of invasion you will have to pay. (This also includes blood moons, solar eclipses, non-player triggered boss fights and event moons)

♣ They can ask you for all kinds of things when asking for a favor, you can never know, they are nomads after all.

♠ They also have some lines which may or may not cut straight to the point: (Credit to Zero-Exodus from old forum)
"Needless to say, nobody can call me spineless"
"You can't say I'm dull, I'm as sharp as they come"
"I love hugs"
"Watch your step, I'm shedding"
"1000 needles? I have OVER 9000!"
"Sorry I borrowed your pillow"

Pre-Hardmode:

Desert Slime by Méta'.png
Sand Slime:

Like the good old regular slime, except this one also inflict the slowness debuff!

Mantis Swarms:

Mantis swarms spawn above ground at day.
They can be quite the annoyance considering they dodge incoming projectiles and take no knock back.
Also they can fly ~5 blocks above ground. (highest block below them)

Camels:
Camels are passive mobs who are not here to kill you and devour your flesh while consuming the souls of your most valuable NPCs.
All they care about is finding something to eat or to drink.
♥ Unlike critters, they are too big to fit inside a net, so you will have to get a special emblem which you tame them with, and used later as a mount.
♦ They drop camel fur when killed.

Scarab(DarthMorf).png
Scarabs:
These little buggers live inside sandstone blocks in the underground desert, and once the player gets close enough all of the scarabs in the area leave the block and begin chasing the player.
♦ Can fly 3 blocks above ground like Wraiths.

Sand Sharks:
These sharks, unlike their aquatic cousins, don't need water, they can swim in sand freely and their only purpose in life is to find you, and eat you.
♣ Worm AI
♠ Drop shark fins

Hardmode:

Giant Scorpions:

They are big, mean, and poisons.
When they encounter the player, at first they will keep back or possibly buried in sand, and once the player comes close they will jump on him.
They cam also extend their sting to reflect blows on the player. While the sting is out the player cannot damage them from the front and if he hit them from close range he will get damaged and the venom debuff.
♥ High health and armor rating
♦ Two colors, yellow for above ground and black for underground
♣ Can extend their sting to reflect blows from the front
♠ Inflict the venom debuff
• Low chance to drop scorpion carpace

Sun Scarab(DarthMorf).png
Sun Scarabs:
They spawn above ground when its day, and they are stronger then the regular scarabs.
♥ Can fly ~3 blocks above ground
♦ Inflicts sunburned debuff when they hit the player or when he gets too close. (~5 block radius)
♣ Drops sun powder

Armed Anubis Warrior by Méta'.png
Anubis Warriors:

These guys are not here to play, they are quick, strong and cunning.
They know a lot about magic, and they know a way to dispel it.
♥ Fast, deal a lot of damage, low hp
♦ Every time they ht the player they burn their mana and inflict the mana break debuff which cancels mana regeneration for the duration of the debuff
♣ Magic damage causes only 50% damage
♠ May drop the Anubis Blades

Demon Mirage by Méta'.png
Mirages:

Your worst enemy is your mind when he starts playing tricks on you.
♥ Mirages spawn when the player is in the desert for a long time.
♦ They spawn with a few illusion which cannot be damage but can damage you, and when the mirage is the dead the illusions also die.
♣ There are different kinds of Mirages, and each acts differently depending on the AI it spawned with.
That means that a Mirage can spawn as a caster, a demon, or any other AI from a limited pool, making this a formidable foe.

Mummy Archer(DarthMorf).png
Mummy Archer/Warrior:
Exactly like the Skeleton Archer / Warrior from the underground, just wrapped in toilet paper and linen to fit into the desert biome.

Mummy Mage (DarthMorf).png
Mummymancer:
Rare, and very dangerous.
♥ Spawns a sarcophagus which spawns more mummies of all types except for other Mummymancers.
♦ The sarcophagus is channeled, which means if the player hits the Mummynacer the sarcophagus also despawns.
♣ Sarcophagus spawned mummies drop nothing.
♠ Will teleport away from player like other casters.
• May drop the Mummy Staff

Ifri(DarthMorf).png
Ifrit:
Ifrits spawn inside fake Genie lamps and can deal some damage to the player once released.
♥ Inflicts On Fire! debuff when touched
♦ Will occasionally stay in place and will rapidly shoot 5 fireballs at the player
♣ Insane burst speed*
♠ Drops sulfur

Snakes: (Shouldn't be limited to the desert)
There should be multiple snake types, while different snakes cause different type of mostly annoying debuffs such as everything on screen changing colors, to the screen flipping every few seconds, getting random debuffs and getting whirly screens.

But one snake in particular, the king cobras deserves some special attention, when you are bitten by it, it reduces you HP at a rate of 3% per second for 50 seconds. So yeah, if you don't take care of this, you will die. This can either be cured by anti-venom, or by curing yourself at the nurse.
♥ All snakes can drop snake skin, snake eyes, venom glands and snake eggs.

Cactimic(DarthMorf).png
Cactimics:
"It's just a cactus, nothing be to be... OMG ITS FOLLOWING ME!!"
-Last words of Bob the Unwary Adventurer, rest in peace Bob.

Cactimis disguise themselves as regular cacti, but as soon as the player gets close to them they will uproot and will try to give the player a nice and prickly hug granting the bleeding debuff.

Sand Warrior by Méta'.png
Sand Warriors:

They spawn during sandstorms and may prove quit the challange when being swarmed by them.
♥ The more sand warriors are on screen, the stronger they are.

Bosses:
♦ I did not rewrite the bosses because I am lazy, sorry... :dryadcry:

The Humongous Sand Worm:

This boss spawns whenever you smash the egg sack inside the sandy cavern. Basically, he will look like an overgrown version of the regular sandworm, but with a few tricks up his sleeve.(well... worms don't have shirts so... uhh... tail?)
All of his segments, except his head, tail and a few random don't have a protective shell around them, and only they can be hit, and whenever dealing enough damage to those unprotected segments other segments near it will reveal themselves until all of his body is exposed like a regular oversized worm.
While fighting him he will summon small sandworms to help him with the fight and might sometimes drop spiky shells, so watch your feet!
It drops spice, Worm Staff and Fertile Dirt.

Ra the sun god:
This guy spawns at the end of the pyramid using a Golden Sun Scarab on a Sacrificial Table.
Once spawned, the player will be teleported to a specific point set by the world in the desert, the time will be set to the second the day begins and time moves depending on Ra's HP. for instance, he has 24k/24k HP, time is beginning of day, he has 12k/24k HP, time is mid day, o/24k HP, beginning of night. Also mobs spawn normally during the fight.
The next day after killing Ra will be a solar eclipse.

Phase one: 24K HP
Creates big sun spheres around himself which circle around him until they are destroyed. They damage the player and cause the Sunburned debuff on contact. They also take hits for Ra, and when enough damage is dealt they are destroyed. He will try to get close to the player so the sun spheres would touch the player.

Phase two: 18K HP
Now he will sometimes hover in place and shoot sunbeams around in himself in a sun figure. The sunbeams will rotate around him in a clockwise motion and he turns into a ball of light while doing this taking reduced damage and causing the Sunburned debuff when touched. Also sometimes Sun Scarabs will be summoned from the middle of the light ball.

Phase three: 12K HP
Sun fragments will start to fall from the sky damaging and inflicting the On Fire! debuff to whatever they hit. He becomes ethereal and creates an orb that will fly around erratically and sometimes fall down to summon some Anubis Warriors. To damage the boss you need to damage the sphere.

Phase four: 6K HP
He gets a sudden buff of armor, the day turns into a solar eclipse and he does the three first phases all together. Good luck!

Note: I know this will be challenging, but what fun would that be without a challenge?

Drops: Sun Cloak, Sun Medallion, Celestial Pickaxe, Lightbringer, and Sunny.

@ so now that we have covered the mobs (with a nice and cozy blanket) we can move on to the Items section.

♥ All the current pyramid items will be moved the sarcophagi which would spawn across the underground desert inside burial chambers.

Scorpion Carapace can be used to make the beetle armor look like a scorpion instead of a giant beetle, and instead of beetles, scarabs will fly around you.

Camel Fur can be used to craft the nomad clothes which negate the sandstorm effects and prevent mirages from spawning, also work in the vanity slot.
Can also be crafted into leather and fur tents.

Nomad Tent.png
Outdoor Tent.png
Tents can be crafted from silk or camel fur to serve as an outdoor bed.

Sun Dust.png
Vial of Sunrays.png
Sun Powder is used to craft sun amunition like darts, bullets, knifes and the Sun Flask to allow melee and ranged players inflict the sunburned debuff.

Anubis Blade.png
Anubis Blade is a special weapon dropped by Anubis Warriors which not only attack very fast and hits everyone around the player in a 360 degree radius, but also burns mana and silences caster mobs.

Anubis Head Méta'.png
Anubis Headspike Méta'.png
Anubis Heads can be worm, or crafted with some wood and placed on a pike, serves as a decoration, but don't forget that nomads may ask for one of these one day.
Mummy Staff.png
The Mummy Staff is a summoner staff which summon mummies who are slightly stronger then pygmies.
Because they lack spears they throw toilet paper.

Sulfur is an accessory which when worm will knockback enemies who touch you and set them on fire.
Can be tinkered with the Magma stone for combined effect, and later on with the Paladins Shield to create the Fire Wall.

Fire Shield.png
The Fire Wall works like the Paladins Shield while giving you immunity to the On Fire! debuff while knocking back and setting on fire enemies who touch you.

The Snake Eyes is an accessory which looks like playing dice.
They increase your chances for everything ranging from critical strike chance, to chance not to consume ammo, and loot drops.
They can be tinkered with an Avenger Emblem to create the Hoarder Emblem which further increase chances for everything.

Vanom Glands are dropped by snakes, and can be combined with healing potions at an alchemy stand(bottle on a table) to create Antivenom which removes the venom debuff and any snake related debuff.

Snake Skin is used to create good looking purses. Not really, Its a joke.

Snake Eggs work like a captured critter, you can craft them with a terrarium to get a snake in a terrarium depending on the type of egg you got.

Spice is used like the bee wax for creating the worm kings armor. It gives the same stats like the bee armor except its set bonus would give you an extra minion to summon.

Worm Staff is a summoner stave used to summon worms. These worms function exactly like the regular worms but they cannot go to great heights, they will wait for you at ground level. While maybe above ground or in the sky they are not the most effective, they will go on killing sprees underground.

Fertile Dirt is used to summon a small pet worm which will follow you around like all pets do.

Sun Cloak.png
The Sun Cloak gives the player a permanent Inferno buff while aslo damaging enemies that are inside the ring instead of just setting them on fire.
Can be tinkered with a Star Cloak for combined effect and then with a Cross Necklace to create the Celestial Veil.

Celestial Veil is the combination of the Cross Necklace, the Star Cloak, and the Sun Cloak.

Sun Medallion is used to set the time to mid day.
When used it is not consumed and it can be combined with a Moon Charm to create the Night Medallion.

Night Medallion is used to set the time to mid night.
Not consumed when used and it can be combined with the Sun Medallion to create the Twilight Medallion.

Twillight Medalion.png
Twilight Medallion can be used to cycle between morning and evening. Not consumed when used.

Celestial Pickaxe is the Picksaws brother, although weaker pickaxe power, its slightly faster and gives off light.

Lightbringer is like a stronger version of the Starfury.
It drops powerful sun fragment where you point which cause severe damage and the sunburned debuff.

Sunny is a light type summon like the Fairy Bell or the Wisp in a Bottle.
Sunny is a small sun which like the wisp can be directed where you want him to be, gets there instantly, and is a lot brighter.
His brightness is also based on the amount of your current HP percentage, so if you have only 50% HP then he is half as bright as he would be at your max HP.

Desert Key Mold.png
Desert Key.png
The desert should also have its own dungeon chest which will contain one of the items that were suggested in Baconfry's suggestion.
I couldn't decide which one to post here, so I'll just link you to it while posting some of the sprites there as eye candy! :p
index.php
index.php
index.php
index.php


Genie Lamp.png
Genie Lamps are scattered all over the underground desert and have a small chance to respawn randomly.
♥ But not every lamp you see is a geine, it might turn out to be an Ifirt! (which is bad)
♦ Lamps have a 50/50 chance of doing something good or something bad.
♣ Of the good things could be: Giving a free rare item, a special buff that stays for 1-3 Terraria days even if you die, giving the player a random amount of money, giving the hallow a spreading boost, or triggering an event for 5 Terraria days, or next day will be a solar eclipse.
♠ Of the bad things could be: Triggering a hardmode boss or an invasion, calling the dungeon guardian on you, giving you a special debuff which stays up for 1-3 days which cannot be cured and stays even if you die, giving the crimson/corruption a spreading boost, or triggering a blood moon for the next few nights.

The Sun Lilly randomly spawns as a plant around the underground desert
When equiped it will increase mana regeneration at day and it can be combined with a mana flower to although regenerate mana slower, but at night as well.

And now for nostalgia...
Remember this fellow?
Orb_of_Light.png

Shame he got replaced by a shadow orb...
How about re-implementing it but instead of being dropped from shadow orbs, it will be found in burial chambers around the underground desert?
While being a bit faster and brighter then the shadow orb, it would also be harder to obtain.

Credit for wonderful sprites:
Zero-Exodus: Nomad
darthmorf: Sandstone, Quicksand, Cactimic, Scarab, Mummy Archer, Mummymancer, Sun Scarab, Ifrit
Méta': Sand Slime, Sand Warrior, Anubis Head, Anubis Head on a Pike, Anubis Warrior, Demon Mirage

Support the idea?
Well now you can show your support by having the following banner in your signature!
30u4fwp.jpg

Simply copy and pase the following line of code in your signature and its ready!
Code:
[url=http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/the-better-desert.522/][img]http://oi60.tinypic.com/30u4fwp.jpg[/img][/url]

And so my suggestion has come to an end, I hope you enjoyed it and I certainly hope you have something interasting to say!
Have a nice day!

And another thing, Agent Zero had a pretty cool suggestion which may fit the desert quit nicely!
 
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I think it also needs it's own music, something Egyptian. Or does it have it's own already?
um... it does already have music...

Zimmer as I've said on TO,its not bad though I do have an issue with the biome chest item mainly that :
1)It isn't unique enough all the biome weapons act in an unusual unique way you even say that it acts similar to the Shadowbeam staff... more importantly as a Dunegon chest their the same tier... even adding a unique debuff isn't enough of a difference (cough cursed flames)
2)and well the real issue is there aren't anymore classes to put for a chest...
 
um... it does already have music...

Zimmer as I've said on TO,its not bad though I do have an issue with the biome chest item mainly that :
1)It isn't unique enough all the biome weapons act in an unusual unique way you even say that it acts similar to the Shadowbeam staff... more importantly as a Dunegon chest their the same tier... even adding a unique debuff isn't enough of a difference (cough cursed flames)
2)and well the real issue is there aren't anymore classes to put for a chest...
The music it has is only for above ground though...

And I think I may have missed that post.
The only thing that is similar between the shadowbeam staff and the sunbeam staff is that they both shoot a straight line an pierce, nothing else.
Its basically a nuke that shoots a beam which is limited in its movement.
 
What few changes?
Clarify.
I think that an NPC that help you fighting should be desnecessary. Would be a cool addition, but I don't think that fighting your side would be a good addition. Like... it would help as nothing, or help as god! What I want to say it's like that would be so much desbalanced, and would bug a lot. But logically, if they put it without making any of these things, it would be very very valueable.
 
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