Scavenger



Scavengers are tribal creatures found in nearly every single region. They are capable of wielding s,, s, s and other items in a manner similar to. They are some of the most intelligent and social creatures in the game.

Appearance
Scavengers are humanoid quadrupeds, possessing long, lanky forearms, which they predominantly use to move, and short legs. They have mask-like faces with a variety of antlers and horns protruding from them, and may have tails and spines or frills of varying lengths. They come in a wide range of colors, but most commonly in browns, blacks, and whites of varying tones. Their eyes (which may or may not possess visible pupils) can also be a wide range of colors. They are very expressive, and can exhibit many emotions.

Personality
Whilst many creatures have personalities, Scavengers make the most use out of the six personality modifiers that control and influence Behaviors - aggression, bravery, dominance, energy, nervousness and sympathy.

Aggression impacts dominance.

Bravery impacts aggression, dominance and nervousness.

Dominance does not impact any other personality modifiers. Energy impacts aggression, dominance, and nervous. Nervous does not impact any other personality modifiers. Sympathy impacts aggression. It should be noted that the impact these variables have on moment to moment gameplay may be very subtle, and thus these cannot be used to accurately predict a Scavenger's behaviour.

Reputation
Scavenger behavior has the most notable variation under the Reputation system, allowing them to become either the player's most potent allies or most fearsome hunters. There is both a local reputation value for the Scavengers in a given region, and a global reputation value, the latter of which can be observed through the Chieftain passage. Unlike other creatures with reputation, local actions affect the global reputation scale greatly.

By trading with Scavengers and saving them from harm, reputation can be gained with them. As reputation rises, Scavengers become less aggressive, may actively attempt to save Slugcat from harm, and, once trusted enough, begin allowing for free passage through Tolls and items to be taken from Treasuries without consequence. The benefits of positive reputation do not extend to any tamed Lizards the player may have, and Scavengers are aggressive towards them like any other Lizard.

Inversely, if repeatedly stolen from, harmed and ignored when in danger, reputation is lowered, and Scavengers become more aggressive. This typically only manifests in more protective and hostile Scavengers, potentially even killing Slugcat on-sight, but if infractions are committed repeatedly, reputation can eventually drop to a point where Scavengers actively seek Slugcat out, even sending kill-squads to the player's general location.

One more intricacy to note with Scavenger reputation is that individuals each have their own opinion of Slugcat, meaning that if care is taken to be friendly to a particular Scavenger they may be more inclined to follow and trade well compared to others in their pack. This can also lead to random reputation changes when the leader of a group dies and a new scavenger with a differing opinion takes over.

Scavenger reputation is measured on a scale of -100 to 100, and reputation may only change by a maximum of ±50 each cycle. Any reputation gain becomes exponentially smaller as reputation goes lower into the negatives, but is linear from 0-100. When reputation is below 0, a small amount of reputation is gained passively each cycle provided no interactions with Scavengers are had. This passive increase scales up the closer reputation is to the default 0, maxing out at +10 reputation per cycle. Reputation loss is multiplied based on the number of witnesses, but reputation gain is not, unless saving a Scavenger from a threat.

At ≥50 reputation, Tolls can be passed without paying, at the cost of reputation.

At ≥90 reputation, items may be freely taken from Treasuries and Tolls may be passed for free without reputation loss.

Survivor

As Survivor, reputation with Scavengers starts neutrally, and reputation gain behaves normally.

Chieftain progress is mapped on the range 10-80.

Monk

As Monk, reputation with Scavengers starts neutrally, but reputation gain is greater than normal.

Chieftain progress is mapped on the range 42-90.

Hunter

As Hunter, reputation with Scavengers starts at -35 - low enough to be considered kill on-sight. This means when confronted by them, often there is no choice but to resort to combat against them, as Farm Arrays and the surrounding regions all have large and/or unavoidable Scavenger populations, plunging reputation even further to the negatives and making it increasingly difficult to regain their trust.

Chieftain progress is mapped on the range 10-80.

As with all reputation values, Scavenger reputation is artificially lowered on all difficulties in Subterranean.

Trading
    When neutral or friendly, Scavengers are willing to trade, provided items they are given are ones they have an interest in - typically things they can be seen carrying. Their willingness to trade, and the amount of items given in exchange for offerings are dependant on reputation - the higher, the better. For example, if attempting to give Scavengers an item they do not value very much when on neutral reputation with them, they most likely won't give much, if anything in exchange. However, they always drop all items when given a regardless of current standing with them.

When playing as Hunter, friendly Scavengers occasionally steal back-spears when passing by. This may be seen as theft, but Scavengers can often be observed sharing their equipment, which could be considered trading between them. They do this only if they do not have a Spear or two of their own, so willingly given up Spears to arm them or avoiding those without any is advised. Below is a table demonstrating the value to Scavengers of each item. Any item not listed is not worth anything to them, though they may still pick it up if they want to.

[[File:Scavenger_Merchant_icon.png]] Scavenger Merchant
Scavenger Merchants are Scavengers with unique behaviors that can be found in Garbage Wastes, Shaded Citadel, Sky Islands, or Subterranean, in special rooms decorated with Scavenger graffiti and Lanterns on long pikes. Merchants usually stay inside this room unless scared away by a predator, or the player if Scavenger reputation is too low. They are capable of fighting back if not able to get away. Scavenger Merchants usually are fully stocked with Lanterns (other than in Sky Islands), Mushrooms, Grenades, and most commonly, Spears or Explosive spears. They are also more docile and more willing to trade. This being said, Scavenger Merchants still value items equally as much as all other Scavengers, and the items they'll prefer to drop over other items are the same as well. The higher reputation is with the Scavengers in the region the Merchant is found in, the more items can be obtained for each trade.

Once their current inventory is cleared out, Scavenger Merchants will return to their den to restock, meaning they will never run out of items to trade.

Scavenger Storeroom icon.pngnger Treasury
Scavenger Treasuries are rooms, often with hidden entrances surrounded by Scavenger graffiti, that contain a large amount of Spears, Explosives, Pearls and occasionally other items like Lanterns that randomly spawn each cycle. These are the only rooms with naturally respawning Pearls. Nomadic groups of Scavengers often visit these rooms to stock up on Spears and Explosives. Taking items from these rooms, unless reputation is already sufficiently high, incurs a reputation penalty - even if no Scavenger is around to witness it, though the loss is multiplied by the number of witnesses. However, stealing Pearls from Treasuries and trading them back to Scavengers can be an efficient way of gaining reputation as Pearls are worth slightly more than the reputation penalty (assuming there are no witnesses).

[[File:Scavenger_Toll_icon.png]]Scavenger Tolls
Scavenger Tolls (known as ScavengerOutpost in the code) are rooms in which a group of Scavengers has set up base around a toll post. A sufficiently valuable gift(s) is required before passage through the Toll is allowed. When attempting to pass without payment, Scavengers immediately become aggressive, and a reputation penalty is incurred. Stealing items from within a certain radius around the toll post is considered stealing and may also aggravate the Scavengers. Toll Scavengers are always neutral regardless of current standing until provoked.

It should be noted that paying the toll once is enough to be allowed to pass freely as many times as wanted until the end of cycle.

If reputation is high enough (≥50), any Scavenger Toll can be passed for free without being attacked, at a cost to global reputation. At the highest levels of Scavenger reputation (≥90), any Scavenger Toll can be passed for free without any reputation loss.

Whilst the tutorial given in Garbage Wastes recommends using a Pearl as payment, any items can be gifted as long as the cumulative trading value adds up to 10, making it possible to pass Tolls by even just trading Spears - Pearls just happen to be a convenient currency due to being worth exactly that.

Around a Toll, several radii are calculated and determine how Scavengers consider objects lying in the room.
 * Within a "property radius", which corresponds to the Toll radius plus 200 pixels, all spears belong to the Scavengers, and taking one of them will be considered as theft.
 * However, it is still permitted if the creature the Scavengers consider as the most threatening is within a 400-pixel "danger radius" of any Scavenger or the Slugcat itself, in order to allow helping and self-defense.
 * Within a "gift radius", which corresponds to the Toll radius plus 700 pixels, all objects given by the Slugcat count as payment of the toll.
 * However, any object the Slugcat was already holding when entering the room always counts as payment, regardless of the distance.

Two Tolls can be found in Garbage Wastes, and one in both Outskirts and Farm Arrays.

Pacifism
Scavengers can be very useful allies, and as such it is highly recommended to at least remain neutral, or get on their good side. Scavengers mostly leave Slugcat alone with neutral or good rep, meaning they most likely do not pose a threat, and can be actively beneficial once they like Slugcat enough to start forming groups to escort them around. However, this can also be a disadvantage, as friendly groups of scavengers often throw Explosives or Spears at threats, which can accidentally hinder or kill the player.

Whenever neutral or unfriendly Scavengers are encountered, it's a good idea to crouch on the ground and drop any weapons. This helps indicate that no threat is being posed to them, and giving up the Spears increases reputation with them. Moving around too much and throwing Rubbish and Spears needlessly may agitate them, potentially spurring them to become fully aggressive.

Combat
Taking the offense against Scavengers is harder than it seems - whilst Scavengers do not have very much health, they have overwhelming numbers, far more freedom with aiming and may also attack from off-screen. In addition to this, attacking them decreases reputation with them sharply, causing them to become more aggressive, thus, unless given no other choice, it is generally recommended to avoid fighting Scavengers. In the case of Tolls, Explosives are very often scattered around them, therefore if attempting to pass a Toll through hostile means it's recommended to use another Explosive or Cherrybomb to set off a chain reaction from a distance, and then pick off any remaining Scavengers with Spears.

Scavengers typically take 2-3 spears to kill, but a headshot often dispatches them instantly (unless playing as Monk).

Stealth
Unless seriously aggravated, stealth is barely needed against Scavengers, and tends to have minimal effectiveness against them regardless; they have the exact same movement options as Slugcat does (other than jumping, which they make up for with creature tunnels), therefore making it hard to maneuver around or hide from them. Additionally, Toll rooms are designed to be chokepoints, leaving no option but to go through.

Evasion
Like stealth and combat, it's hard to outright evade Scavengers as they are meant to be evenly matched with the player in nearly every way, and moving around quickly agitates them - attempting to just run past them nearly always results in them becoming aggravated. Scavengers typically won't give much chase (unless reputation is incredibly low), but may catch up later on in the cycle as they move through the region. Therefore, the best way to evade Scavengers is to lure a bigger, more dangerous creature over to distract, scatter and take them out - they usually prioritise attacking the larger threat. Vulture Grubs, when available, can be very useful when dealing with exterior room Tolls.

Bugs & exploits

 * In the Outskirts Toll (SU_C02), when entering from the Farm Arrays side, exiting the room again through the left pipe before paying counts as a transgression and causes the Toll Scavengers to become aggressive.


 * When paying for Tolls, the payment that lets you pass grants additional reputation on top of the original value of the item. However, this effect can be triggered multiple times, making it easy to grind up reputation if there's enough tradeable items around.

Abilities & behaviour
Scavengers predominantly walk, climb and crawl, making them a bit faster than Slugcat in most cases. They do not have the ability to jump, rather they spontaneously gain vertical momentum when they need to move upwards, which can lead to some interesting physics interactions. Scavengers can also throw Rubbish, Spears, s, and other objects to ward off or kill any threats. They also have the ability to dodge objects thrown at them, though each Scavenger has a different level of skill in this regard.

Communication
Scavengers utilise a wide range of body language to communicate amongst themselves and with the player. Learning to recognise and interpret Scavenger body language is vital to interacting with them.

Variants & attributes
Scavengers display the most color variation of any creature in the game, being capable of exhibiting every color in the rainbow. Whilst they are predominantly neutral, earthy tones, it's not rare to find a Scavenger with some wild colors! They usually have 3-6 colors depending on their physical traits; body color, stomach color, head/gradient color, antler/horn accent, eye color and pupil color. These may sometimes overlap (e.g. Scavengers with the same antler/horn accent and stomach color are common).

Their main features can be broken down into a few categories - head decoration, stomach patch, gradients and back decoration. Scavengers can have a few variations of antlers/horns on different positions on their head, as well as "beards", and back frills of various shapes and sizes.

Lastly, the size of each body part can vary too. This is most noticeable in their tails, and Scavengers may showcase a range of tail lengths within each group, but otherwise it typically remains close to average for other body parts. However, the odd scavenger who has body parts skewed to the extremes may be observed every once in a while.

Decals
Scavengers mark all rooms in which they live with various types of graffiti and markings. Though they are never seen in-game doing so, they paint the walls with blue and white symbols, which serve either as decoration, communication or signs. Notably, they may represent the locations of Scavengers themselves or their hidden caves, of, or of. Apart from the last two cases, which are very situational, Scavengers' decals appear mostly in Garbage Wastes or next to it, as it is the territory of the largest Scavenger population.

Interestingly, Scavengers appear to have some knowledge of Ancient culture, as the glyph (representing companionship) is featured on toll posts and around their territory. Whether this is due to them finding relics featuring the glyph and adopting it, or a result of generational knowledge being handed down, is unknown.

Every Echo except the one in Subterranean has a marking near their location.

Trivia

 * Scavengers are one of the 10 backer-created creatures.
 * Originally, Scavengers were intended to be able to glide, but this feature was later scrapped due to issues with pathfinding.
 * Scavengers throw Spears at s out of defiance, destroying that particular Overseer for that cycle if it hits and dropping an Overseer Eye, which can be then used for trade.
 * Scavengers have three slots for holding items (two hands and a "pocket slot" on their side) and can hold extra spears on their back.
 * Scavengers have "off-screen" spawns, and spawn in a different room at the start of each cycle before doing their patrols through the region.
 * Exceptions to rotation of spawn locations are Merchant and Toll Scavengers, who always spawn in their respective rooms.
 * Garbage Wastes has the highest number of Scavenger spawns, at 26 on all difficulties.
 * The high number of Pearls that end up in Garbage Wastes may play a part in attracting them.
 * It's unknown why Scavengers value Pearls, but they seem unaware of the data stored on them, being unable to tell the difference between a Pearl that does and a Pearl that doesn't have any.
 * According to the code, some effects of personality modifiers do not work as intended.
 * Very high and very low dominance values are meant to make Scavengers more likely to be Merchants. However, Merchant selection is completely random in practice.
 * Energy is meant to make Scavengers narrow their field of vision for longer or shorter depending on value when first spotting a creature. However, Scavengers always have their vision maximally narrowed in practice.
 * Scavenger antlers are referred to as "eartlers" in the code, and their lower facial tufts are called "teeth".