Antenna Whip. I mean… really? Who in their right mind wants to use their sensory organs to hit their enemies? Does a human attack with their eyeballs? Wait… does the Queen have this Skill? I don’t think she did back when I modified her core… But it wouldn’t surprise me if she picked it up somewhere along the way. Not interested.
Slash Attack. Ah, the Slash Attack, I haven’t seen you for a long time. You were one of the first Skills I could buy, allowing me to attack with my legs. Which seems really, really unnecessary when I have powerful mandibles right on the front of my face. Besides, my legs aren’t really made for attacking… I could have mutated them for it, or attached blades to the end of them when evolving I suppose. It just doesn’t seem very… ant.
Come on, there must be some useful Skills in here!
56. Upgrading
Trawling through the list, there are tons of interesting, yet niche Skills that would be useful but would contribute to Skill bloat that I pass over after a glance. Do I want to have a digging active? Sure, it might sound nice to have Shovel Mandibles to work in tandem with the Dig Skill, but it’s just way too niche. I bet a lot of the carvers focused on construction have it at a high rank though…
There’s a few sensory passives that I spy which would probably be exceptionally handy to have. Sharp Eyes, Open Ears, Fine Touch, Particular Taste, Picky Smell are all passives that give a boost to their respective senses, and I have absolutely no doubt they fuse at almost every rank. It’s also possible they might turn into actives in the higher rank, allowing me to expend energy to enhance a particular sense.
This is really tempting, I’m just not sure which ones I would want… or at what rank I would fuse them. I need to avoid buying too many rank one Skills. I mean, if I picked up eyes and touch… would those be the most useful for me? Eyes is obvious, and touch would help my antennae pick up vibrations in the air. Ears… doesn’t really appeal, since ants have pretty poor hearing in general. Smell might also be good… since my antennae are so sensitive now… Argh! This is hard. Shelve it for now and move on.
Combat actives! Focus on the goal!
Oho! What have we here? Mandible Parry? Helps the wielder to use their mandibles to parry blows? Starts off passive, but I bet this turns into an active down the line. Not to mention, it provides another layer to my impenetrable defences. Gwehehehehe. This one is in for sure. I wonder when this chap unlocked? I’m not sure, but I’m very happy to see it now!
What else, what else… There has to be some more juice in here somewhere.
Mandible Spear? Are you serious? How do you even stab with mandibles? Well… again, I suppose you could mutate or evolve to make that less of an issue. Another one that is likely to turn into an active as it Levels up. I’m not sure I’m sold on this one, but is there a chance that it fuses with Charge? There could be something in that combo that is worth my while…
I keep flicking, evaluating and dismissing dozens of Skills until I find something like what I’m looking for.
Chomp Combo! A bite attack combo Skill similar to what Tiny has for his fists! This is good stuff! Tiny’s turned active at rank four, letting him turn it on to give a huge boost to his punching speed for an increased cost of stamina, and I’m fairly certain this will act in a similar manner, which will prove hugely useful. With my effectively bottomless stamina reserves, is there a chance I’ll be able to activate this together with Doom Chomp and unleash a torrent of potent bites in rapid succession? Gah! I’m practically salivating just thinking about it! So exciting!
With a number of Skills as likely contenders, I turn my attention to the mutation menu. The Vestibule and Nave are… particular and somewhat intimidating organs whose functions go way beyond what I might have expected of a biological component of my body. Which naturally makes me more than a little nervous when it comes to messing around with them. In all honesty, I can’t just ignore them. They are powerful, and will be more so with mutations, so I need to make it a priority to max them out. For now, I have enough Biomass to take both to +15, which means two mutations and a fusion for each.
Ideally, I want the options I choose for both to have good synergy, a multiplicative effect, if you take my meaning. But what aspect of the organs do I want to improve? Sigh. No point delaying, let’s get into the menu and take a look.
Hmm. Being honest, there are less options for the Vestibule than I anticipated, ditto for the Nave. Has it been reduced since the last time, or was it always this size? I honestly can’t remember. Perhaps this is a product of the reset? It wouldn’t shock me if Soul Crystal was perhaps a touch less mutable than a more base component.
No matter. If anything, this will help make things a little easier on me.
Starting with the Vestibule, what sort of options do we have? The range extension is there, just as it was before. Pretty straightforward—the Vestibule can collect Will from farther away. Something I’ve noticed since the reset, is that the Soul Crystal has already expanded the range of the organ from what it originally was before I mutated it the first time. It isn’t the same as the +25 range I had before evolving, that would be nuts, but it’s a significant boost nonetheless.
There are a range of other options that surprise me, such as the determination mutation, which would allow me to manually direct the energy to emphasise a particular aspect of the organ. Do I want increased stamina regeneration? Direct it that way. Increased healing? Off you go! Recharge my organs faster? Get on it! Obviously, pointing the energy at one thing makes the others replenish slower, but being able to push the resources in the direction you most need at the time would be handy indeed.
The Pure mutation will simply make the Vestibule better at doing what it already does, refining it and allowing it to collect and distribute Will more efficiently, increasing the regenerative effects. This is a straightforward option that is hard to criticise. Do what you do now, but gooder! Might lack the oomph of other choices, but it’s certainly a safe bet.
I don’t see the option to include more species in the Will collection anymore, which is odd. Not that I would ever pick it…
There’s an option that allows the gathered regenerative energy to be shared out as an aura, which is a cool one. I’d become a walking healing battery for all the ants around me, refilling their energy and stamina during battle. That’s a tempting option, but it’s not exactly how I see the Vestibule functioning for me. I like the Vestibule because it allows me to fight for my family, rather than help them fight with me. The whole idea is that they don’t have to fight! That’s what I want!
Wondering what else there is, I poke through the list and find various options that might suit my needs. Until coming across something that sounds decent. The Empowering Vestibule. Which allows me to convert the energy from restorative to strengthening for a limited period of time. Judging from the description, this essentially translates to a boost in my Might stat whilst the effect is active. Improving the mutation will increase the size of the gain, as well as the duration, which is fairly short.
I can see this mutation coming in clutch when I’m under the pump, so long as there are enough members of the Colony nearby, as well as helping me overcome my still somewhat lacking physical strength. It’s certainly tempting…