Astrocetus

The Astrocetus or the Space Whale is a Creature in 's Expansion Pack Genesis: Part 1.

Behavior
The Astrocetus is one of the Creatures that dwell in the Lunar Biome.

Contrary to it's normally docile nature it is quite territorial when approached and will attack if you get too close.

The Astrocetus is considered a high-tier tame because of its unique ability to warp through hyperspace.

When spotted, the Astrocetus will stay still for about 2 seconds, then start to move very slowly, moving its fins up and down like a modern whale.

In between intervals of eight seconds, the Astrocetus will shoot colorful cosmic energy from its blowhole, which may be a form of re-oxygenating, as do modern whales, by breathing through their blowholes, blasting out moisture. This colorful blast will momentarily allow the whale to gain speed. As it gains momentum, the energy emitting from its fins will get larger and glow brighter but dim when the creature slows down.

Appearance
At first glance, the Astrocetus bears a close resemblance to a modern baleen whale, such as the humpback, but it has 14 eyes, seven on each side, four pectoral fins, two pelvic fins, and small, slender wings that go all the way down each side of the body and ending in a point rather than two flukes. It also has translucent skin, thus enabling the player to see its insides.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Astrocetus.

General
Despite having a Docile temperament, the Astrocetus is anything but docile. Never get close to the Astrocetus unless you are in for a dangerous time or harvesting for materials.

Strategy
There is not much strategy required to kill or tame an Astrocetus. Most often, players will kill it during a taming attempt due to its relatively low health pool for such gigantic size. Moreover, using a tek skiff with any good quality firearm or turret makes it ridiculously easy to kill.

Weaponry
Any good firearm like assault rifles to even the classic rocket launcher will do the trick just fine for an easy kill. Cannons on tek skiffs are by far the most effective way to either killing or taming your space whale. They are so abysmally slow that you will have no problem positioning your cannon and shooting even in single player.

Dangers
Due to its territorial nature behind the docile temperament, it will bite or tail slap at the target that got too close to it. The range of hit from both of its attacks is huge, making it difficult to withstand the knockback from the lunar biome it resides at.

Weakness
Due to its sheer size, slow movement, and surprisingly low health, the new weaponry introduced (especially the new Cruise missile) allows the Astrocetus to be easily targeted and killed if many players aim for it. Its attacks do little to absolutely minimal damage to a player well-equipped to withstand the lunar biome's harsh conditions, so they should not pose much of a problem.

Taming
For general information about domesticating a wild creature, see Taming.

KO Strategy

 * The best currently known way to tame an Astrocetus is by crafting a TEK Hover Skiff and placing cannons at the skiff's very front tip. Foundations are not needed but will make a good attribute since the cannons have a chance of shooting the skiff rather than the Astrocetus. Once the skiff is complete, lure the Astrocetus towards you with aggro. The Astrocetus is a slow creature with a large head, so you will have no worries of missing it once it is in place. Try to keep 20–30 meters away from it, and shoot the cannons at the head (See: Unassembled TEK Hover Skiff). For the time being, this is the best taming method.
 * Another good alternative is via the use of a Megachelon, following a similar tactic as with the TEK Hover Skiff. Albeit slower, the Megachelon can be very tanky and well protected from the dangers of the Lunar biome. Once the Astrocetus is aligned with the turtle's back, have a friend shoot the cannons aimed for the head.
 * A Mek can tame a max lvl astrocetus with the M.S.C.M. module in 1 shot; however, the splash damage will dramatically lower the taming efficiency and is not recommended.
 * Build a tower with a pillar and a cannon, use the "air jump" to reach them closer, pull them with bow and arrows to your cannon, and knock him with the cannon.
 * The easiest option (although resource intensive) is to use a Bloodstalker and a several rocket launcher s, as the Bloodstalker can double jump every few seconds, this allows for pseudo-flying in lower gravity environments. The rider is then able to shoot rockets at the Astrocetus while remaining airborne, giving a similar feel to the grapple-Pteranadon/Argentavis method of Quetzal taming.

Utility
Astrocetus has the ability to warp to its destination, similar to a hyperspace jump. This warp will also take anything within the vicinity with it and can go through Creatures, Structures, and natural formations.

The provides the rider with three gun turrets as well as having a bomber mode that is powered by its natural space energy that it converts into bombs to destroy enemies below.

Leveling speed increases the "Cosmic Power" capacity used for the bomber mode and hyperspace jumps. The Hyperspace Jump also seems to have a relatively low range, equal to around the body length, so it's not really a method of travel. Its best use would be bypassing enemy structures or terrain obstacles or maybe dodging rockets with good timing. Hyperspace jump can be activated by the spacebar then left-click and is similar to Enforcer teleporting.

Leveling melee increases the damage for its bombs to a point it can do serious damage to massive groups of tames.

Roles

 * Surprise Raid Dino: Thanks to its warp ability, you could use it to warp into a tribe's vicinity with all your prepared dinos without the enemy tribe knowing quickly taking them out before they can react via bombs, turrets, and the other creatures you bring with you. Do note that when dismounting the astrocetus outside of the lunar biome, it may start taking damage for no reason. This usually occurs lower to the ground.
 * Titan Killer: You can easily kill with the Astrocetus by just flying over them and throwing bombs (Level up Damage).
 * Cargo Transport: Most Astrocetus also have a fairly reasonable weight, making them excellent flying Cargo Transports, and when transporting valuable cargoes, having friends mount the turrets and fly escort on war mounts such as wyverns or tapejaras can almost guarantee safe passage. Level Weight and Health for this to be efficient.
 * Lunar Biome Brute Hunter: Because the whale can't be affected by the gravity, the Astrocetus can float above the Brute creature while fellow tribe members mount the two bottom turrets to deal constant damage to it.  This role doesn't apply when hunting the Brute Astrocetus since it too can float.  Be sure to have it full of ambergris and Element before doing the Alpha level missions.
 * Base Destroyer: Because the Astrocetus Tek Saddle has multiple turrets mounted all over it and its ability to use carpet bombs and you can place a few structures on it, this role is perfect once tank tames such as paracers, carbonemys, and gasbags have absorbed all the bullets from the auto-turrets that dot the base.  Once the turrets have been drained of ammo, the Astrocetus can pull up and begin destroying the buildings and towers that consist of an enemy tribe's base.  Pair the Astrocetus with Meks for total base destruction.  This role is when a base becomes defenseless once the auto-turrets have been drained as turrets can shred through an Astrocetus' health.
 * Bomber "Plane": Using the Astrocetus bombing ability enables players to use it as a bomber plane. Paired with a few saddled and ridden tropeognathus or astrodelphis as fighter escorts, this can be an effective means of attack.

Notes/Trivia

 * "Astrocetus" is Latin for "Star Whale."
 * The Astrocetus can also be referred to as "Space Whale."
 * This was displayed instead of the correct name for a short time directly after the release of Genesis: Part 1.
 * The Astrocetus is the only creature with translucent skin in the game, showing its skeleton and internal organs.
 * Astrocetus is said to be an Alpha-tier tame, meaning that a Tribe or a survivor can only tame a few at a time.
 * Visually, the Astrocetus holds some similarities to real life baleen whales.
 * Like all Genesis exclusive creatures, the Astrocetus does not have a proper Dossier made by Helena, as Helena was not present as a normal survivor in the simulation.
 * Often, the Astrocetus will wander around regardless of the wandering setting.
 * Astrocetus can swim in the water, although it suffers a massive speed reduction when doing so.
 * Astrocetus is one of few creatures that play a death animation before going limp into a ragdoll.
 * Astrocetus is intended to be invisible when untamed and outside of the lunar biome. This doesn't affect hosts of non-dedicated sessions and single-player mode.
 * Astrocetus won't accelerate if filled above 55% of its max weight, making only slightly above half of its weight usable for fast transport.
 * Astrocetus is the only current flier that can directly level speed.