Desert scorpions — example microfauna mod

Sample mod - Desert scorpions is on the Steam Workshop. Subscribe to it on the Steam Workshop (Options → Mods → Workshop), then restart Torreta. The microfauna is scenery, so this mod keeps the vanilla profile.

A desert scorpion, dark olive back on straw legs, claws and tail, wanders out from under its stone in the pit and on the plain, alone or in pairs. Now and then one lives in the ants' mixed nest too. Its tail and claws sway a little as it walks, and like the rest of the microfauna it runs for cover when insects pass or a storm comes. The mod also keeps butterflies closer to their stone: a landed butterfly flies on to another spot 40% of the time instead of 70%.

Edit it

• microfauna.json: the scorpion's behaviour, pace and size, its own group (scorpion_den), the vanilla mixed_nest group with a scorpion added, and the butterfly retune. Every field is described in ../MICROFAUNA.md.
• models.json: maps the new Microfauna/Scorpion key to the GLB, with material: game so it wears the game's cuticle shader and its legs move.
• Models/Scorpion.glb: self-contained, one mesh with linear vertex colours (cuticle finish in alpha) and the MicrofaunaRig UV map that tags its four pairs of legs and the swaying claws and tail.
• Source/Scorpion.blend: the editable model (Blender 5.1).

To make the scorpions nocturnal, add "hides_by_day": true to the species: they then stay under their stone until night falls, which in the day journey (difficulty 1) is never.

tools/mods/build_microfauna_example.py in the repository rebuilds the GLB and the Blender file from the stock microfauna builder's tools; running it replaces manual edits.