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The Scavenger Room in Dungeon Keeper enables creatures to steal others of its kind for their master, by telepathically convincing them to defect.

Description[]

Dungeon Keeper scavenger eyeball animation 2

Scavenger Room eye

The Scavenger Room is the most advanced and expensive room in Dungeon Keeper. It allows you to steal enemy creatures and turn them to your side. It can also draw creatures out of the Creature Pool— ones which may, or may not, be otherwise able to join your side through the Portal. Its presence attracts Hounds.

Dungeon Keeper Scavenger Room wall

Animation of the walls in a Scavenger Room

After placing a creature into the Scavenger Room, it will begin to dance around the room, casting its evil influence around the map as it searches for a target to telepathize. Once contact is established, (s)he will keep attempting to teleguide the target to leave its current master (if any) and join the scavenging creature's master. As long as there exists a valid target for scavenging, there is an ongoing cost to keep creatures engaged in the task. This can be seen by the number that appears above the creature; if no number appears, there is no target for scavenging, so nothing is actually happening.

Dungeon Keeper Scavenger Room tile

A Scavenger Room tile

Creatures can only scavenge others of its kind, but having Vampires in a Scavenger Room facilitates the scavenging of other creatures if there are no Vampires elsewhere that are valid as scavenging targets.[verification needed] Imps, Knights, and Avatars cannot be scavenged.[1]

Scavenging Table[]

The time and money it takes for level 1 creatures to scavenge is as follows:

Creature Time Time
(Mins)[Note 1]
Wage Cost
Beetle-icon Beetle 18 2750
Bile-demon-icon Bile Demon 18 10,300
Dark-mistress-icon Dark Mistress 6 2850
Demon-spawn-icon Demon Spawn 9 2750
Dragon-icon Dragon 3.5 2400
Fly-icon Fly 18 1375
Ghost-icon Ghost 6 1150
Hound-icon Hound 6 1825
Horned-reaper-icon Horned Reaper 4.5 2575
Orc-icon Orc 9 3450
Skeleton-icon Skeleton 18 5150
Spider-icon Spider 9 2075
Tentacle-icon Tentacle 9 1375
Troll-icon Troll 9 3100
Vampire-icon Vampire 2.5 1075
Warlock-icon Warlock 3.5 1725
Archer-icon Archer 9 1375
Barbarian-icon Barbarian 18 6200
Mountain-dwarf-icon Mountain Dwarf 18 2075
Fairy-icon Fairy 18 1375
Giant-icon Giant 9 4300
Monk-icon Monk 6 1725
Samurai-icon Samurai 6 3450
Thief-icon Thief 9 1375
Tunneler-icon Tunneller 18 3450
Priestess-icon Priestess 620 2300
Wizard-icon Wizard 4.5 2150

[2]

Scavenging Mechanics[]

Creatures possess three attributes relevant to scavenging.

Scavenging Skill
This is the number of points a minion contributes per Turn while at work in the room, so about 20 times per second, towards scavenging a target. It rises with experience level, linearly, by 35 percent of the base score. The usual work stimulants, Speed Monster, Must Obey, Slapping, and torturing kin, all apply. All minions of the same species operating in the Scavenger Room amass their Skill against one target.[1] Having a Vampire present in the room augments their point acquisition by 50 percent. The final rate will be modified downward by the room's efficiency, if this is less than perfect.[1]
Scavenging Requirement
The defense against scavenging points, this appears to be set at 22,000 for every type of creature. This is the cumulative point threshold needed to capture a level 1 target. It rises with experience level, linearly, by 35 percent of the base score. Having leveled the stat up 9 times, a level 10 target therefore has a Requirement of 91,300. The Scavenger Room will target creatures on the map first, starting with the lowest-leveled one. When none are present, the room will then target the Creature Pool (whose occupants are treated as level 1) as long as the Keeper's forces remain below his Creature Limit.
Scavenging Cost
Doing scavenging deducts this quantity of gold from the Keeper's treasury every 64 turns. It does not rise with level. If there is no valid target, creatures will remain at work in the room, but there will be no cost.

Concluding from the above, a level gap between the scavengers and their target has a dramatic effect. Trained creatures perform the job faster for the same quantity of money, and are themselves much harder to capture. Using numerous untrained creatures to make up for this requires lots more gold to pay for a larger room and ongoing cost.

Defense[]

Bear in mind that opponents often can and will try to scavenge your minions. The Mentor issues a sharp warning on these occasions. A creature under threat of scavenging eventually ceases its task and wanders around in delirium with a scavenging icon thought bubble.

Creatures held in the Prison cannot be scavenged. Official documentation says that placing one type of creature inside the Temple will immunize that creature and two others of its kind;[3][verification needed] e.g. if you own six Warlocks and one is being scavenged, placing two Warlocks inside the Temple to pray will protect all of your Warlocks.

However, what actually happens is that the Temple occupant blocks two enemy scavengers, rather than defending two of your own creatures. This means that if there is one creature of a type in the Temple, all of its kin can still be scavenged if there are three or more enemy scavengers afield. While this effect may appear troubling, it can actually result in an airtight defense as long as you've at least half the creatures to spare for the Temple as the enemy can muster for his Scavenger Room.

When a creature switches sides, it instantly becomes happy as it has a new master.

Trivia[]

The Scavenger Room is a room filled with flailing eyes chanting "join us", "come with us", and "we will teach you things of evil".

  • When a creature is scavenged, there is a sparkle of the scavenging team's colour where the creature was, and a scavenged team's coloured sparkle in the Scavenger room it is transported to. Unclaimed creatures on the map will appear with a white sparkle.
  • Good anti-scavenging tactics include shielding your creatures by placing them in the Temple or Prison, while using Sight of Evil (if available) to find their Scavenger Rooms and disrupt the creatures inside using spells such as Cave-In or Lightning Strike.
  • If you are watching over a creature with the Query tool and they are scavenged, you will still be following them and have information about them, but this does not allow you to see through the Fog of War.
  • The Scavenger Room was originally called the Observatory,[4] and got its final name because a company called Scavenger was taking Bullfrog employees.
  • The word 'Scavenge(r)', when taken literally, does not accurately describe the function of the room. This likely made it difficult to translate accurately, and could explain why different translations have different literal meanings (many of which more accurately describe the room's function):
Language Translation Meaning
French Salle d'enrôlement Enrolment room
Spanish Sala del predador Predator room
Italian Sala Avvoltoi Vulture room
German KÖDERRAUM Bait room
Dutch Aaskamer Enticement room
Polish Oczyszczalnia Treatment plant
Czech Očistec Purgatory
Swedish Asätarrum Scavenging room
Russian Зал растления Hall of corruption
Simplified Chinese 招募中心 Recruitment centre
Traditional Chinese 迷亂室 Confusion room
Japanese 洗脳室 (せんのうしつ) Brainwashing room
Korean 추적실 Tracking room

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Prima's Official Guide To Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition. pp. 120,121. Prima Publishing. (1998). ISBN 978-0-7615-1581-4.
  2. Prima's Official Guide To Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition. p. 36. Prima Publishing. (1998). ISBN 978-0-7615-1581-4.
  3. Prima's Official Guide To Dungeon Keeper Gold Edition. p. 122. Prima Publishing. (1998). ISBN 978-0-7615-1581-4.
  4. Dene Carter. (18 April 1996). Dungeon Keeper Resurrection Diary. p. 39.

Notes[]

  1. At 20 turns per second.
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