Astrodelphis

The Astrodelphis or The Space Dolphin is a creature in Genesis: Part 2.

Dossier
"The crew saw one of those creatures swimming in the interstellar medium, and named it astrodelphis -- 'space dolphin'. Someone aboard figured out how to tame and ride them -- guess they must've had a lot of time on their hands. HLNA Astrodelphis Dossier sound.ogg"

Behavior
The Astrodelphis is similar to the, but smaller. Unlike its predecessor and like, they are a very curious species, and will often "swim" towards you and around you out of curiosity. However, if it gets too close, it will repeatedly bite at you. Unlike the ichthyosaurus it will fight back with full force if attacked.

Appearance
The Astrodelphis is an extraterrestrial creature that resembles an alien mix between a beluga whale and an orca, just sporting large iridescent scales, glowing appendages, four eyes, and a trail of astral energy.

Combat
This section describes how to fight against the Astrodelphis.

General
The Astrodelphis is a curious Creature. When approached by a Survivor, they will confront and headbutt them, doing little damage but considerable knockback. When attacked, any nearby Astrodelphis will become hostile, chasing the Survivor down and killing them with considerably more power.

Strategy
The Astrodelphis is a glass cannon, being rather fragile yet capable of heavy damage. Keeping your range and kiting it with weaponry is best, but a powerful mount can also dispatch them with utmost haste.

Weaponry
Ranged weapons such as the Pump-Action Shotgun or Longneck Rifle eliminate some of the risk of the Astrodelphis hitting the player.

Dangers
Astrodelphis functions similarly to Triceratops or Stegosaurus when attacked, as in every Astrodelphis in the area will attack the survivor. This can be noted by the reddish energy they will spout from their blowhole, followed by constant noises while chasing the player. They are also quite fast and will outrun slower players, though a player using the Federation Tek Suit can still outrun wild ones.

Weakness
They don't have a lot of health and can be dispatched by powerful weapons like the Pump-Action Shotgun or Longneck Rifle relatively quickly.

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

Astrodelphis are tamed non-violently, rather than through the usual methods.

Being a cordial and curious creature, it will slowly approach any survivor that is within radius. To tame it, you need to pet the creature twice, then feed it with. Be wary though, as it will try to flee or attack after the first pet. (Note that its attack while non-hostile is more like a "friendly" headbutt which will do 1 damage but considerably knock you back.) In addition, any other Astrodelphis that is nearby may become hostile towards the player upon a feed.

Each feed reduces its taming efficiency. To achieve the highest efficiency, one must feed and pet it in tandem. The faster you react to the creature, the more the taming percentage covers, but the more element you will need to feed it. If it for some reason decided to either stop aggro or flee on you, the momentum of taming resets back to 1 element.

Utility
The Astrodelphis Starwing Saddle comes equipped with thrusters, allowing it to shift between modes of flight, as well as laser cannons that instantly hit targets in front of it. The saddle also fires homing energy blasts when holding and is fired upon release. If grenades are in the Astrodelphis's inventory, fires a explosive shell that explodes when the attack is used again, upon hitting a target, or after a certain distance. When underwater holding X (PS4) or A (Xbox) will do a sonar that reveals nearby creatures. When killing a creature It'll drop a glowing buff which can be flown into to gain a buff that gives bonus damage, damage resistance and movement speed for 60 seconds. Get another buff during the duration you'll get the max version of the buff for 40 seconds. After 40 seconds it'll go back to the weaker version of the buff, but acquiring another buff will refresh the timer. The saddle is capable of also doing a barrel roll movement that can do a quick burst of damage if your astrodelphis is right next to it. Increasing melee damage can increase damage of the barrel roll attack.

The Astrodelphis also has a unique ability when underwater while the saddle is active holding down space bar will trigger an eco location like sonar, while above water holding down the space bar while the saddle is active triggers an E.M.P like effect causing some Tek creatures to freeze up momentarily.

Roles

 * End-Game Jack of All Trades: The Astrodelphis can easily make a main mount in almost every map, with high, Fast Speed with its Starfighter Mode, Average and  and extremely high all make it a perfect Travel, fighting and Transport Jack of All Trades.
 * Starship: With in the its inventory, the Astrodelphis can shoot Lasers ( Press // To activate) which are very strong and will easily kill anything, and it can reach great speeds (Press Sprint key) which make it a reliable and fast starship.
 * Scout/Space Transport: The Astrodelphis Starwing Saddle's thrusters allow for fast travel and aerial mobility allowing survivors to traverse the space biome very effectively. When the Astrodelphis is not using its thrusters, it can hover in mid-air, allowing a survivor to survey the terrain beneath it.

Notes/Trivia

 * "Astrodelphis", when relating to Astrocetus, is Latin for "Star Dolphin".
 * Additionally the saddle for The Astrodelphis was called The Starwing saddle in Community Crunch 269
 * The Astrodelphis can be referred to as "Space Dolphin".
 * It greatly resembles the Irrawaddy dolphin, a dolphin most well known for forming cooperative alliances with fishermen.
 * The Astrodelphis is commonly known to skid or glide after dismounting, this could be a result of its curious nature and inability to be controlled.
 * The Astrodelphis is the third creature to have two eyes on each side, first being the Megachelon and the second being the Noglin.
 * Oddly, concept art shows that the Astrodelphis was going to have two eyes instead of four.
 * The Astrodelphis and Astrocetus are the only creatures that have a tek tier saddle rather than a normal saddle.
 * The Astrodelphis is currently the only creature capable of flight that can swim underwater (recommended to test further)
 * The Astrodelphis is currently bugged (as of v329.49) to where after you tame it, it will drain its food at very fast pace. This is speculated to be where it's still considered being tamed, yet it's already tamed. This is not visible via the taming list, though certain mods that show a taming progress can show this. Cryoing the Astrodelphis does not help, and while some say that uploading/redownloading via ARK data fixes the problem, there's been mixed results on this. Even a server restart has mixed results on resolving this. Bred Astrodelphis do not have this glitch, so it's recommended to either keep non-bred Astrodelphis in cryopods when possible or have copious amounts of food available for them. The bug does seem to resolve itself but greatly varies as to when it will.
 * The Genesis 2 missions featuring the Astrodelphis, "Star Dolphin" and "Starwing Strike", appear to have been inspired by the Star Fox games, featuring similar gameplay and a reference to Star Fox 64. In addition, the Astrodelphis Starwing Saddle resembles and functions like the Arwing, a ship also prominently featured in Star Fox.
 * In the "Star Dolphin" mission, holding H to reveal extended info will reveal that the Astrodelphis being ridden is called "Peppy". This likely references Peppy Hare, a character from Star Fox most known for the quote "Do a barrel roll".