For this first try I tried to keep things simple: the Amiri are environment-immune (or rather averse, since everything but asteroid belts is hostile to them), and their ecological niche is at one end of the gravity spectrum: asteroids are best, then tiny planets, then small ones, etc.
Next one will try to mix gravity with one of the common environment, e.g. a species which prefers medium swamp planets will like large swamps a bit less, and medium oceans a bit more, than your usual gravity-immune swamp dweller.
What you need to play the Amiri (locations are all relative to the 'default' directory in your FO install) --
Add this somewhere in stringtables/en.txt
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LOW_GRAVITY_HABITABILITY_DESC
Prefer low-gravity worlds such as asteroids, and, to a lesser degree, the smallest planets.
EFFECT_MONSTER_CAPTURE
Suddenly, %ship% appeared at the gates of %planet% and wanted to fight for your cause!
EFFECT_MONSTER_CAPTURE_LABEL
Monster Joined
# Species: Amiri
SP_AMIRI
Amiri
SP_AMIRI_GAMEPLAY_DESC
'''Edible, winged gasbags.
Prefer low-gravity worlds, such as [[PT_ASTEROIDS]].
[[encyclopedia GASEOUS_SPECIES_TITLE]]
'''
SP_AMIRI_DESC
'''Description:
The Amiri have never been properly studied by other species, most of which just consider them as food. They are generally rather small, about the size of Capiona nymphs, although they can grow as big as Tussapiac larvae. Their shape remains about the same during their lifespan, but their size doesn't seem to be related to age, or gender (are they even gendered?), and can vary suddenly and unpredictably. The body is ampoule- or amphora-shaped, and seems to only contain light gases, like hydrogen. Attached to it are a small, round head and a pair of large wings. Given their anatomy and the fact that Amiri only live in low-gravity environments, it's hard to figure out if they're better described as floating or flying. Anyway, they never land on solid ground. Space Krakens consider them a delicacy.
Social Structure:
The Amiri are a very social species. They gather in large hordes - or swarms? schools? plagues? depending on whose xenoentomologist's work you're relying upon - and often accompany space krill during their migrations. Other than that, the only remarkable thing about them is that such a species achieved sentience.
'''
BLD_COL_AMIRI
Amiri Colony
BLD_COL_AMIRI_DESC
[[BLD_COL_PART_1]] [[species SP_AMIRI]] colony. [[BLD_COL_PART_2]] Amiri colony [[BLD_COL_PART_3]].
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EFFECT_MONSTER_CAPTURE_LABEL
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ASTEROIDS_BELT
'''EffectsGroup
scope = Source
activation = And [
Planet
Turn high = 0
]
effects = SetPlanetSize planetsize = Asteroids
'''
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Item type = Building name = "BLD_COL_AMIRI"
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("SP_AMIRI", "icons/species/aerial-07.png"),
________________ SPOILER ALERT ________________
On habitability.
- Asteroids are the same size to Amiri as their homeworld is to most species (e.g., Humans), except they can't be Gaiafied.
- All other planet types are 'hostile' and will remain so, as Amiri worlds can't be terraformed.
- Tiny planets are colonizable from turn 1, but will never grow huge: size 14 at maxed tech and with the HW on 'growth' focus
- Other planets will need some hab research and will always be worse than the tiny ones. Gas giants can theoretically be settled but will remain deadly at max tech unless they are in supply range of a HW on growth focus (then their max hab becomes an awesome... 1 )
- Realistically you only want to colonize asteroid belts and tiny planets, the rest is best left to conquered species. Unless you want to take advantage of the Amiri's special feature (see below), then it may be worth it to colonize small planets in systems that don't already have an Amiri colony and are close to an area where krill is likely to spawn.
As hinted to in their description, Amiri have an affinity with the Space Krill and Tree (floaters) monster lines. What this means is, when one of these monsters arrives on one of your Amiri colonies, there's a 50% chance it will join your empire - if your planet defenses didn't shoot it down first. Now, it's true that neither floaters nor krill are overawing, but at least they're free, if basically nothing more than chaff. Plus, they're fickle and will forget their allegiance as soon as they evolve to greater forms. Plus, they're super-fickle and will try to wander aimlessly if left on hold. That is, unless you let your krill mature to the last stage (Plague of Krill), which won't wander like their smaller kin. Those are awfully slow, but they have their uses - think of them as defanged Death Stars, with huge TIE fighters wings but no planet-busting big gun. If you feel patient enough to try this, you'd better set a staging area (preferably more depending on your empire's size) up somewhere in your backyard, maybe delay your planet defense research until after you've researched some planet stealth tech (to avoid shooting prospective recruits down), and keep in mind that -
- you need to bring 2 same-size krill monster to get the next upgrade
- sometimes a krill monster (any size) will spawn a small krill swarm