What's the lifecycle of the Fungus?... and how to end it

[Ice-o-metric]

So I started my newest character: A schizophrenic who has gone off the deep end and started living like a barbarian. It didn’t take me long to discover a few Fungaloids and spore clouds to the south. It’s early days, but i don’t want to let them gain a foothold where I intend on building my Grand Colloseum to play zombies v gladiators.

So my question stands… What’s the lifecycle of the fungus, fungaloids, spore-clouds etc? What can be done to stop them spreading? And what precautions should a survivor take when acting on the aforementioned?.. I ask out of 2 parts interest and 3 parts desire to put them to the sword :-p

[FunsizeNinja123]

What’s the lifecycle of the fungus, fungaloids, spore-clouds etc?

You have to kill the fungal spire, or else they will keep on spawning.

What can be done to stop them spreading?

You can’t. They will keep on spawning everywhere. And I mean everywhere, even inside buildings.

And what precautions should a survivor take when acting on the aforementioned?

Wear something that goes over your entire body, wear a mask (Gas masks will do just fine, but I’m not sure about filter masks and dust maks), and don’t fight them in melee. The spores will get stuck n your body and then you might get slowed (temporary), or you could catch a fungal infection.

[Ice-o-metric]

So the spire is the original source atleast… But is it the only source? Or do affected tiles modify/increase or generate spawns of their own? And how does one deal with fungal tiles, is Fire the only answer (Fire is the answer to most ‘how do you kill it’ questions :-p) or can i Till a fungal bed with a digging stick?

And the effects of a fungal infection?

[Fish]

Hoooo boy, he wants to know the life-cycle of the fungus.

GAAASSSSP

(In a docementarist’s voice) The fungus is spread by the triffid (Gamelore only ATM) in order to fertilize an area for triffid expansion. A fungal spire is set up and spore clouds and fungaloids begin to emerge from certain spore clouds. Spore clouds begin spawning from the nearby spore beds and they travel a short distance before falling to the ground. Enough spore clouds and more beds will spawn in the afflicted areas. They will continue to spread until winter or death of the main spire. The triffids battle the fungals after fertilization by using fungal fighters, hence the name (Thats what I “think” the life cycle is anyways, corrections are helpful).

[KA101]

[quote=“Ice-o-metric, post:3, topic:6292”]So the spire is the original source atleast… But is it the only source? Or do affected tiles modify/increase or generate spawns of their own? And how does one deal with fungal tiles, is Fire the only answer (Fire is the answer to most ‘how do you kill it’ questions :-p) or can i Till a fungal bed with a digging stick?

And the effects of a fungal infection?[/quote]

Any fungaloid can spawn spores. Spires are responsible for keeping up the dynamic spawn pool. Once you’ve whacked it, the population should die off but may take a few weeks at it. Feel free to help things along.

Fungal terrain can be torched, but you ought to be able to smash it too.

Fungal infection is bad news. You’ll get warnings, then start spawning spores of your own, and eventually lose your arms to Massive Damage from fungal stalks. You can splint/Mr. Stem Cell 'em back but unless you’ve got the hospital cleared already that may be moot (good luck fighting with both arms out).

Clear out a fungal infection with antifungals, royal jelly, or the blood filter aug to stop the problem.

[Fish]

It also doest help that you can’t stand with the MASSIVE amount of pain from your “Halo Flood Arms”.

[Paquito]

Heh, in my last game, I tried killing the Spire with karate. Didn’t go so well. So I grabbed a bunch of heavy sticks, dropped them in front of it, and lit them. HOLY CRAP that fire spread fast. So fast, that the surrounding forest went ablaze, and it was a full fledged forest fire.

It’s a shame my base was so far away, I think the fire was outside my usual “reality bubble”, so it didn’t really progress much when I went back there.

[HunterAlpha1]

Yeah you have to stick around for the job to get done.

[KA101]

[quote=“Paquito, post:7, topic:6292”]Heh, in my last game, I tried killing the Spire with karate. Didn’t go so well. So I grabbed a bunch of heavy sticks, dropped them in front of it, and lit them. HOLY CRAP that fire spread fast. So fast, that the surrounding forest went ablaze, and it was a full fledged forest fire.

It’s a shame my base was so far away, I think the fire was outside my usual “reality bubble”, so it didn’t really progress much when I went back there.[/quote]

Yeah, fire only happens if you’re around to watch.

Worse: the Spire is made of rock, so it’s generally gonna survive torching the Bloom. The Walls won’t, though: once the smoke dies down enough to get a clear shot, the Spire is pretty vulnerable to your firearm of choice without its walls.

[Rivet]

A couple rounds from a M202 FLASH directed at the spire works wonders.

Kills the spire and torches the heck out of the bloom itself.

[dambuk1]

My strategy for killing fungal spires(only works if you set a high enough spawn rate):
1.Break into a military bunker
2.Grab one of 'em mininukes
3.Destroy one fungal wall
4.Set mininuke to 100
5.Drop it where the wall was before
6.RUN(but stay close enough to witness the beautiful explosion)

And yes, the dustmasks are enough to stop spores(that, or i have really good luck).
I have another question - if the fungi are left alone, will they build another spire?

[Arek_PL]

i do not think but you will be flooded with fungus everywhere seriusly if you want leave it alone prepare some pneumatic rifle or other infinite ammo weapon with 1 lvl of rifles i managed to get 11 lvl in rifles after 2 days of going to looting you can alslo make fast, big, powerfull machine with spikes and blades to clear your way

[i2amroy]

[quote=“dambuk1, post:11, topic:6292”]And yes, the dustmasks are enough to stop spores(that, or i have really good luck).
I have another question - if the fungi are left alone, will they build another spire?[/quote]
Current fungal infection goes through your skin, not just your breath, so unless you have enough full body protection to protect you from the spores you can still get infected. And not at the moment, though spreading fungi (and triffids, and other similar things) are definitely one of the dev goals.

HOLY CRAP that fire spread fast. So fast, that the surrounding forest went ablaze, and it was a full fledged forest fire.

Yeah, almost everything fungal based becomes flammable and will burn to ash if you light it on fire (which should lead to fun things once we get fungals taking over towns and other areas, since a tiny fire could easily put the whole town up in flames).

You can’t. They will keep on spawning everywhere. And I mean everywhere, even inside buildings.

Actually inside buildings is the one place that dynamic spawn won’t put monsters. (Though they could still spawn outside and wander in).

(In a docementarist’s voice) The fungus is spread by the triffid (Gamelore only ATM) in order to fertilize an area for triffid expansion. A fungal spire is set up and spore clouds and fungaloids begin to emerge from certain spore clouds. Spore clouds begin spawning from the nearby spore beds and they travel a short distance before falling to the ground. Enough spore clouds and more beds will spawn in the afflicted areas. They will continue to spread until winter or death of the main spire. The triffids battle the fungals after fertilization by using fungal fighters, hence the name (Thats what I “think” the life cycle is anyways, corrections are helpful).

You’ve got most of the story, but not quite all of it. Fungaloids, while used by Triffids in some scenarios, are also their own entity and are actually somewhat antithetical to triffids. Think of it sort of like the fungaloids are fire and the triffids are the forestry department. The triffids use the fungaloids much like the F.D. uses fire for controlled burns, to clear out terrain and make it more manageable. However the fire (fungaloids) can still get out of control, spread from a smaller fire, or potentially show up on its own (with fire this would be lightning, with fungaloids this is through marloss berries). The F.D. (triffids) use the fire under carefully controlled settings, but it’s also one of their greatest enemies. The metaphor also somewhat captures their approaches. Fungaloids just want to spread and cover, much like fire does. Triffids on the other hand take what they find and “manage” it into their system (though their “managing” is a bit more like “total domination” then the F.D.'s :P).