Moldier
A moldier is a type of monster that appears in SpliceHack and Hack'EM. In earlier versions of SpliceHack up to 0.8.2, they are known as mold warriors.
Moldiers are a form of mold that have humanoid bodies, and can use weapons in addition to possessing the same passive attacks as normal molds.
Contents
List of moldiers by variant
Below is a list of moldiers present in each variant.
SpliceHack
In SpliceHack, there are four types of moldier:
Hack'EM
Hack'EM adds the four moldiers from SpliceHack above alongside three new moldiers:
Common traits
Moldiers are medium-sized neutral monsters that have no MR score and a base AC of 8, move at 12 speed, and are capable of following the hero to other levels if they are adjacent. Each color of moldier has a passive attack of the same damage type as the mold that they share a color with, and they possess a resistance to that damage type if applicable. Moldiers also possess sickness resistance like all fungi and molds do in both variants.
Generation
Randomly generated moldiers are always created hostile. A mold can grow up into a moldier of the same color, though monster level mechanics typically mean that this does not occur in normal gameplay.[1]
A moldier can generate from a corpse that reaches 51 turns of age, is not acidic, and is not located within or on top of a square of water, ice or lava.[2] Corpses infected by moldiers may be transformed into moldiers themselves.
Strategy
Moldiers are a significant annoyance at best throughout the midgame, and can easily become threats as well - their speed of 12 (or 10 in the case of the gray moldier) allows them to pursue the hero much more easily, and their passives make facing them in melee difficult. They also introduce major wrinkles in dealing with groups of hostile monsters: if they are already present among the group it may be necessary to take them out first, as they will start making additional moldiers out of other corpses if left to their own devices. Even when none are around, killing a large number of monsters (e.g. in throne rooms and treasure zoos) will often necessitate loot stashing in order to prevent any moldiers that grow from using it against the hero.
Most forms of ranged attack are effective against moldiers due to their lack of MR score, though they resist sleep in SpliceHack. Copper weapons deal +d6 damage to fungi and molds, which can grant an important edge against moldiers as well. Effective corpse disposal and taking advantage of certain terrain can reduce the possibility of moldiers growing. Despite sharing the same weight, moldier corpses provide half the nutrition of human corpses; they can still serve as meaningful nutrition sources for vegan or vegetarian conduct heroes, or for any herbivorous pets.
Encyclopedia entry
Mold, multicellular organism of the division Fungi, typified
by plant bodies composed of a network of cottony filaments.
The colors of molds are due to spores borne on the filaments.
Most molds are saprophytes. Some species (e.g., penicillium)
are used in making cheese and antibiotics.
