Rusty biome

An example of a rust bog in some flower fields

A rusty biome is a biome that can occur in almost any location. It causes the zone it occurs in to be littered with trash, and its walls to be infested with qudzu. Rusty biomes do not override existing biomes, instead coinciding with them.

There are three different "intensities" of the rusty biome: the rust patch, the rust field and the rust bog. These intensities usually occur in adjacent zones, with rust bogs often being bordered by rust fields, and rust fields by rust patches.

Intensities

Rust Patch

The rust patch is the first intensity of the rusty biome.

Rust patches are covered in 15-18 pieces of trash, and every wall within the zone has a 5% chance to spawn with a qudzu on it.

Additionally, every robot that spawns within the rust patch has a 50% chance to be rusted, and every creature that spawns within the zone has a 25% chance to have a rusted inventory, causing each individual item in their inventory to have a 50% chance of being rusted.

Zones that contain a rust patch will have "rusty" appended to the beginning of their names.

Rust Field

The rust field is the second intensity of the rusty biome.

Rust fields contain more trash than rust patches, about 20-24 pieces. Every wall within the zone has a 10% chance to spawn with a qudzu on it.

Robots are guaranteed to be rusted within a rust field, and creatures within the zone have a 75% chance to have a rusted inventory.

Furthermore, every creature that spawns within a rust field that is not a robot has a 25% chance of being a qudzu symbiote.

Zones that contain a rust field will have "rust-shrouded" appended to the beginning of their names.

Rust Bog

The rust bog is the third intensity of the rusty biome. Parasangs that contain rust bogs will be logged in the Journal under "Natural Features" when encountered for the first time.

Rust bogs have the highest volume of trash, about 40-48 pieces. Every wall within the zone has a 15% chance to spawn with a qudzu on it.

Robots are guaranteed to be rusted within a rust bog, and creatures within the zone are guarunteed to have a rusted inventory. Each non-robot creature within the rust bog has a 60% of being a qudzu symbiote.

Finally, rust bogs will have 2-3 rust-chewed lockers somewhere in the zone. Each locker will contain at least 2 random items from Artifact 4R, with a 50% chance of containing an additional item.

Zones that contain a rust bog will have "and rust bog" appended to the end of their names.

Qudzu Symbiotes

Creatures with the qudzu symbiotes modifier are red in color and have a 15% chance to rust a random item in the player's inventory when making a successful melee attack. Additionally, they are members of the vines faction; since the player's initial reputation with this faction is -475, this means the symbiote will usually be hostile, even if a normal creature of its type wouldn't be.