Scavenger



Scavengers are tribal creatures found in nearly every single region. They carry spears, rocks, bombs, and other items in a manner similar to slugcat, and are one 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 colours, 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 colours. They are very expressive, and can showcase many emotions.

Personalities
Whilst all creatures have personalities, scavengers make the most use out of the 6 personality modifiers that control and influence behaviors - aggression, bravery, dominance, energy, nervousness and sympathy. The scavenger with the highest dominance value is assigned as the leader of their group.

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 will affect the global reputation scale greatly.

By trading with scavengers, saving them from harm and killing lizards, the player will gain reputation with them. As the player's reputation rises, scavengers will become less aggressive, will actively attempt to save the player from harm, and, once the player is trusted enough, will being allowing them to pass through tolls for free and take items from storerooms without consequence.

Inversely, if the player repeatedly steals from, harms and ignores scavengers that are in danger, their reputation will lower, and scavengers will become more aggressive. This will typically only manifest in more protective and hostile scavengers, but if the player repeatedly commits infractions, their reputation can eventually drop to the point where they will actively seek the player out, sending kill squads to the player's general location whenever they are near.

One more intricacy to note with scavenger reputation is that individuals each have their own reputation with you, meaning that if you are very friendly to a particular scavenger they will be more inclined to follow and trade well with you. This can also lead to random reputation changes when the leader of a group dies and a new scavenger with a different opinion of you takes over.

Scavenger reputation is measured on a scale of -100 to 100. The player's reputation can change by a maximum of ±50 each cycle. Reputation gain becomes exponentially smaller as your 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. 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, the player can freely take items from storerooms and pass tolls without reputation loss.

Survivor

As survivor, your reputation with scavengers starts neutral, and reputation gain will behave normally.

Chieftain progress is mapped on the range 10-80.

Monk

As monk, your reputation with scavengers starts neutral, but reputation gain is greater than normal.

Chieftain progress is mapped on the range 42-90.

Hunter

As Hunter, your reputation with scavengers starts in the negatives - low enough to be considered kill on-sight. This means you will most likely have to resort to combat against them, as Farm Arrays and the surrounding regions all have large and/or unavoidable scavenger populations, plunging your reputation even further to the negatives and making incredibly difficult to gain 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 will be willing to trade with you, provided you have items they are interested in. Their willingness to trade with you, and the amount of items they give you are dependant on your reputation - the higher, the better. For example, if you attempt to give scavengers an item they do not value very much when on neutral reputation with them, they most likely won't give you anything in exchange. However, they will always drop all items when given a pearl, regardless of your standing with them.

When playing as the Hunter, friendly scavengers will occasionally steal the spear off your back. You may see it as theft, but scavengers can 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 giving up spears you find should solve the problem. Below is a table demonstrating the value to scavengers of each item. Any item not listed is not worth anything to them, though they will still pick it up if they want to.

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 character if scavenger reputation is too low. They will fight 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 with the player. 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 your reputation with the scavengers in the region the merchant is found in, the more items you will receive through trading.

Scavenger merchant rooms are usually a hotspot for nomadic scavenger groups. This sometimes means that scavenger merchant rooms will have no items on the ground as they've been taken by the nomadic scavengers.

Scavenger Tolls
Scavenger tolls are rooms in which a group of scavengers has set up base. A sufficiently valuable gift or gifts is required before scavengers will allow the player to pass the toll. When attempting to pass without giving a gift, scavengers will immediately become aggressive, and reputation with scavengers will decrease, globally increasing the chance that scavengers encountered will be aggressive towards the player. However, toll scavengers will always be neutral regardless of current standing unless provoked.

If the player's reputation is high enough, they can pass through any scavenger toll without being attacked, at a cost to global rep. At the highest levels of scavenger reputation, the player can pass any scavenger toll without any reputation loss.

Whilst the tutorial given in Garbage Wastes tells you to use a pearl, any items can be gifted as long as the cumulative item value adds up to 10, making it possible to pass tolls by even just trading spears.

It should be noted that when there is a threat nearby, using spears from the toll to defend it will not be counted as stealing.

Tolls appear in Outskirts, Garbage Wastes, and Farm Arrays.

Tribes
Although the differences are slim most of the time, scavengers group into a few different types of tribes, mainly depending on what structure is considered their home. The type of tribe a scavenger is in can affect it and its tribemates' behavior towards you and the environment.

Types of Tribes

 * Nomadic Tribes - This is a tribe with no particular "home base". They typically wander around the region, and unless the Slugcat follows them, it can be difficult to locate them after first encountering them. They are typically the smallest and most aggressive of the tribes. They are also the most common type of tribe to be found. Befriending them will cause them to follow you into your hibernation chamber, which can get it very crowded but defend it at the same time. Regions: Drainage System, Industrial Complex, Garbage Wastes, Shaded Citadel, Chimney Canopy, Sky Islands, Subterranean


 * Toll Tribes - These are the tribes that manage the various scavenger tolls found around the world. They consider this toll a home base, and each toll will typically have a (inaccessible) storage room nearby. Toll scavengers will retreat to their storage room if significantly afraid, or if they run out of weapons. They are typically only aggressive if you cross the toll without paying, unless your reputation is high enough, in which case they'll leave you alone. When befriended, they will only send a small patrol to help you rather than the whole tribe following you around. Regions: Outskirts, Garbage Wastes, Farm Arrays


 * Stronghold Tribes - These tribes set up base in only a hidden storage room, they do not have a toll to operate. They are typically only aggressive if you set foot in their stronghold, though if your reputation with the scavengers is high enough they'll leave you alone, and with high enough reputation you can even take the equipment in there. They are more nomadic than toll tribes but stay near enough to their stronghold that they can return in time before the rains appear. They are likely the rarest tribe to find. Regions: Garbage Wastes, Chimney Canopy, Shaded Citadel, Sky Islands, Industrial Complex


 * Merchant Tribes - These are tribes that set up a camp inside of a Scavenger Merchant's room. They are more of a subclass of stronghold tribes than they are their own class. One notable tribe is the group that lives near the Shoreline gate in Shaded Citadel. They typically stay put around their room and when befriended only come out to follow the player a short distance from their home. They are typically very friendly and willing to trade. Regions: Garbage Wastes, Sky Islands, Shaded Citadel

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 the player alone with neutral or good rep, meaning they most likely will not be a threat, and can be actively beneficial once they like the player enough to start following them around. However, this can also be a disadvantage, as friendly groups of scavengers throw explosives or spears at threats, which can accidentally kill or hinder the player.

Whenever you encounter scavengers who aren't friendly, it's a good idea to crouch on the ground and drop any weapons you may be holding. This helps indicate that you are not a threat. Moving around too much and throwing rocks and spears needlessly will agitate them, potentially spurring them to become aggressive.

Combat
Taking the offense against scavengers is a lot harder than it seems - whilst scavengers do not have very much health, they have overwhelming numbers and can aim far more accurately than you can. They can also attack you from off-screen. In addition to this, attacking them decreases your reputation with them sharply, causing them to become more aggressive towards you, 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 the toll through hostile means it's recommended to use an explosive or cherrybomb to set off a chain reaction from a distance, and then pick off any remaining scavengers with spears.

Scavengers typically take 1 or 2 spears, but a headshot will kill them instantly (unless you are playing as Monk).

Stealth
Unless you have seriously aggravated them, stealth is barely needed against scavengers, and is barely effective against them anyway; they move through rooms exactly like the player does, therefore making it hard to manoeuvre around or hide from them. Additionally, toll rooms are designed to be chokepoints, leaving you with no option but to go through the toll.

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 will nearly always result in a spear to the face. Scavengers usually won't pursue you very far (unless your reputation is incredibly low) if you run away, but may catch up to you during 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 will usually prioritise attacking it instead of you. Vulture grubs, when available, can be very useful when dealing with exterior 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 will cause the scavengers to become aggressive.


 * When paying for tolls, the payment that lets you pass grants additional reputation on top of the value of the item. However, this 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 faster than the player in most cases. They do not have the ability to jump, rather they spontaneously gain vertical momentum when they want to move upwards, which can lead to some interesting physics interactions. Much like the player, scavengers can throw rocks, spears, explosives, 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 crucial to interacting with them.

Variants & attributes
Scavengers display the most colour variation of any creature in the game, being capable of exhibiting every colour in the rainbow. Whilst they are predominantly neutral, earthy tones, it's not rare to find a scavenger with some wild colours! They usually have 3-6 colours depending on their physical traits; body colour, stomach colour, head/gradient colour, antler/horn accent, eye colour and pupil colour. These may sometimes overlap (e.g. scavengers with the same antler/horn accent and stomach colour 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 scale of each body part can vary too. This is most noticeable in their tails, and scavengers will usually showcase a range of tail lengths within each group, but otherwise it typically remains close to average for other body parts. However, you may occasionally run into the odd scavenger who has body parts skewed to the extremes.

Decals
Scavengers mark all rooms in which they live with various types of decals. Though they are never seen in-game doing so, they paint the walls with blue and white symbols, which serve either as decoration or as signs. Notably, they may represent the locations of scavengers themselves or their hidden caves, of rain deer, or of echoes. 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 most scavenger tribes.

Interestingly, scavengers appear to have some knowledge of Ancient culture, as the glyph for karma 3 (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 symbol 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 will throw spears at overseers out of defiance, destroying that particular overseer for one cycle for that cycle 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 will 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 will always spawn in their respective rooms.
 * Garbage Wastes has the highest number of scavenger spawns, at 26 on all difficulties.
 * They possibly like Garbage Wastes in particular due to the large amount of pearls that end up there.
 * Scavenger antlers are referred to as "eartlers" in the code.