PRM Faction: Fungus

PRM Faction: Fungus

 The Mycus, also known by the more common name, 'The Fungus', is a hive mind race of homogenous invaders and terminally infected victims.  The fungus does not expend energy trying to 'conquer' areas or organisms; instead it focuses the vast majority of its efforts trying to reproduce as much and fast as possible.  Defense and offense are largely limited to key organisms; typically those that can spread fungus the fastest or coordinate the fungal spread in a rather general manner.  Even the controlling members of the race exist only to aid the spread of the fungus, and those underneath it have even less individuality than the zombies do; being made of one material.  Only a handful of 'true' fungal monsters exist; the rest being victims controlled by the fungus.

In the core game, there are only 6 types of true fungal monster; the small fungal sprout, the mature fungaloid, the fungal queen, the fungal tower, the fungal bloom and the omnipresent fungal spore. Although many creatures can be affected by the fungal infections, namely (n)pcs, ants, and zombies, the fungus deals outright damages any other organic life their spores touch. Many fungal structures regularly eject spores, and most will explode into a cloud of spore upon death, leading to several of its attackers becoming fungal monsters or becoming infected. This will often lead to a cycle of infection, where whole colonies of ill-prepared creatures will die or become fungal spawn. This is the strength of the core game Mycus faction. They spread by dying or being attacked, and even if left in peace, their spores will cover the ground and breed an armada of mindless spore spreaders. Once one fungaloid exists in an area, it will propagate until the whole region is unlivable.

In the PRM mod, the fungus retain much of this strategy. There are currently only two new types of 'pure' fungus; the tender and the boil. The fungal boils spawn fungal tenders, while the fungal tenders function as a more aggressive 'defense', injecting fungal spores into wildlife and hunting down disturbances. Many creatures now have a fungal form, which will also attempt to use physical attacks to spread spores. Fungus proliferation has expanded to such an extent that, although the fungus don't have much physical prowess on their own, they will amass hordes of infected defenders, such as fungal dionaea, fungal tardigrades, fungal shockers, fungal survivors, and even fungal marloss men. The fungus in the mod is more insidious and subtle than in the core game, and they creep into areas with the help infected animals that migrate. The fungus is a problem that, if left to grow, will become harder to root out with every passing second. Even after the exsanguination of a fungal queen, the base fungaloids will continue to reproduce and continue to attack. Every single monster must be purged to end a fungal threat, which unlike zombies, do not require new victims or combat to spread. Fungus and infected creatures do not share the same faction, though they are not hostile to one another.

Fungal strength lies in its insidiousness, how it creeps across the land almost as a function of time. They do not need to fight, and are undoubtedly the weakest combatant of any faction of the game. They can reproduce without their queen structures, and use native species to spread themselves by controlling the behavior of their still-living hosts. Their death will eliminate huge threats to other fungal structures, and so are surprisingly some of the most secure encampments of the game. Fungus is an ever-expanding threat, and when left alone and within the reality bubble for any length of time will grow to menace whole regions.

Roster

The vast majority of the new fungal monsters are infected animals and humans, though a very limited degree of evolution can occur for specific creatures within the faction. Being largely non-combative in nature, the fungal critters simply take longer to adapt to threats and are largely capable of smothering an area with microscopic spores.

Evolution

The evolutions that do happen are listed here.

 -"Fungal Ant" --> "Fant"

 -"Fungal Boil" --> "Fungal Tender"

 -"Marloss Man" --> "Marloss Man 2.0" (tba)

Monster Summeries

Fungal Hedgerow

Variant	Speed	Damage	Health	Dodge	Aggression	Morale	Physical Armor	Special Armor	Special Attacks	Angered By	Fear Of
Fungal Hedgerow	100	3d3 bash, 4 cut	50	Zero	Total	Average	Moderate	Low acid, Low fire	Bristle, Tentacle, Spore, Boil
Fungal Wall	100	0 (can throw back players when they spawn)	30	Zero	Total	Average	High	Low acid, Low fire	Bristle, Spore, Boil, Regeneration

Fungal walls and hedgerows are defensive structures that provide a physical barrier against melee attack. They also produce spores, although the hedgerow is equipped to defend its parent structure while the wall merely deters attackers while produce vastly more spores and boils.

Neither is a huge threat in combat, but will increase the difficulty of killing a fungal structure. They are both extremely flammable and will spawn so fast around the fireproof queens that they will create an eternal fire that will not self extinguish. It is not recommended to use fire to clear the fungal patch around the queen if you want to melee or loot the area.

Fungaloids

Variant	Speed	Damage	Health	Dodge	Aggression	Morale	Physical Armor	Special Armor	Special Attacks	Angered By	Fear Of
Fungal Sporeling	70	2d4 bash, 2 cut	70	Poor	Very Passive	Average	Low		Grow-up	Hurt, Faction Attacked
Fungaloid	40	1d4 bash	80	Zero	Passive	Average	Low bash		Spore	Hurt, Faction Attacked

The only changes to fungaloids are their levels of agression. They have been transformed from 'completely passive' to 'merely passive' and given triggers about getting hurt and their faction getting attacked. The fungal faction consists of 2 subfactions, the proper fungus and the infected monsters. Infected monsters are considered 'neutral' by the fungus proper, however the infected will defend the fungus like normal.

Still, fungaloids make very poor combatants. They can soak damage, explode into spores upon death, and in numbers can wear down a survivor, but they can oly hear and smell, and will thus only drift towards the fighting.

Infected Ants

Variant	Speed	Damage	Health	Dodge	Aggression	Morale	Physical Armor	Special Armor	Special Attacks	Angered By	Fear Of
Fungal Ant	50	1d6 +4 bash, 1 cut	50	Poor	None	Suspect	Moderate bash, High cut		Inject, Grab, Spore	Hurt, Faction Attacked
Fant	70	2d6 +6 bash, 2 cut	70	Poor	Total	Average	High bash, Insane cut	Low acid	Bite, Grab, Spore, Inject

Fungal Ants are a little stronger than vanilla in PRM. They spawn in groups and despite having almost no ability to sense hostiles will defend the fungus the best they can. They make good target practice, although they are still contagious. They will release spores upon death.

Fants, the evolution of the fungal ant, is a still blind creature, but a much more potent blind creature. Not really a factor in most engagements, they can completely miss out on a fight due to the fungal overgrowth. That doesn't make them nonfactors, as monsters will continue to aggress towards fants.

Infected Zombies

Infected Zombies and Boomers are given more sight and slightly more spore-producing ability. They are largely unchanged. Boomers will produce small blobs upon death as well as spores though.

Fungal Boils

Variant	Speed	Damage	Health	Dodge	Aggression	Morale	Physical Armor	Special Armor	Special Attacks	Angered By	Fear Of
Fungal Boil	90	0 (Spore Kamikaze Attack)	3	Poor	Low	Suspect			Spore Explosion, Plant

Fungal boils are the progenator of fungal tenders. They are densely packed spore clouds, and will on occassion plant themselves and become a fungaloid or explode into a pack of spores. This latter is particularly devestating, and can wipe out lesser creatures.

Fungal boils are slightly hostile, and will path towards targets in the hopes of covering them with spores. They effectively have a timer, and are subject to the winds, meaning they are not the most mobile forces.

 It is possible for an industrious survivor to 'incubate' boils as weapons, and they make pretty good weapons considering all monsters will either take massive amounts of true damage or convert into a (less threatening) fungal monster.

Fungal Tender

Variant	Speed	Damage	Health	Dodge	Aggression	Morale	Physical Armor	Special Armor	Special Attacks	Angered By	Fear Of
Fungal Tender	60	2d3 bash, 1 cut, 7 stab	130	Poor	Low	Average	Moderate		Inject, Tentacle, Spore	Sound, Hurt	Target Hurt (placate)

Fungal tenders are the only proper non-spore fungus created by the mod. Capable of tunneling under the gorund, they can sneak up to unsuspecting monsters using their senses, injecting them with spores and defending the colony by way of aggressive piercing attacks. In addition to its uncommon stabbing damage (which can pierce weak armor) it also posesses a tentacle attack, which allows it to whip at targets from range, achieving an effective ambush. It can even do so at night through a single hull tile, hitting a player sleeping inside a car with its flexable limbs.

Not incredibly dangerous to even a mid-game survivor, the fungal tender nevertheless represents the fungus' interest in producing a stealthy attacker and screen against intruders. And is a step towards making moderately infested areas less habitable to non-fungal players.

Marloss Man

Variant	Speed	Damage	Health	Dodge	Aggression	Morale	Physical Armor	Special Armor	Special Attacks	Angered By	Fear Of
Marloss Man	125	4d9 bash, 5 cut (and a machine gun)	240	Superior	None	Average	Insane	Insane acid, Fire Immune	Spore, Impale, Inject, Bristle, Fear, Bite, Machine Gun	Hurt, Faction Attacked, Fire, Close

Marloss Man, based off the original exploits of the forumite TheFlame52, is a human who has converted into a fungal queen by means of using the mild spoiler of marloss. Being consider Post-Human, marloss man has little interest in talk, and is occupied with spreading and tending to whole fungal colonies.

Marloss man spawns in neutral to everything, and grows increasingly agitated as combat occurs. Marloss man's first line of attack is a machine gun fired from its shoulder; and yes it is lore that it can be this strong and steady. If it should fail to kill its target with this, either because it used all its ammo or the target has closed, it is a very strong melee fighter, capable of dodging and even knocking over its opponent. It still retains human-level intelligence, and will often ignore weak targets in favor of the more serious threat.

The best thing you can do if you see marloss man is run the other way. If you do manage to kill it, it drops its ammo and machine gun, and also some berries it uses as food.

PRM Wiki Page Table

Type	---	---	---	---	---	---
Factions	Ants	Doom	Fungus	Insects	Triffids	Wildlife and Mutants	Zombies
Statdump	PRM Radiation	PRM the Conglomerate	Spawn Lists	Evolution/Upgrade Trees	Faction Balance
Locations	Trapdoor Pits	Bumblebee Hives	Doom Structures
Items	PRM Marine Armor	Medicine	PRM: Miscellaneous Items	Recipes