Deviation Actions
Quick note; Xiunus is almost entirely hosted on Xiun.us! You will need to make an account there to join the ARPG - use your 'username' as your desired Colony name!
--{{Also note I am a Player, not the Founder nor an Admin.}}-- - no longer relevant! I got prompted to Admin in Training! 
The information contained in here may not be 100% accurate, so please check official guides to verify. I've just made this to help out and offer recommendations!
This is a Getting Started guide. I may make more guides in future if people are keen beans :)
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Hey guys! So, I am in love with the @Xiunus game and have jumped on a hype train to hype town, and as such, I wanted to throw together a rough guide on how to get started in the group!
Now, this is just a personal guide and not at all official. The official guides are VERY in-depth, but I know that information can be quite overwhelming. Please read through the game guides for official (and up-to-date) ways on playing in the game.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me! I'm more than happy to help out!
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Contents of this Guide;
How to join
Your first colonist
Stat Points - What and How?
Research Points (RP); colony progression recommendation
MORE colonists!
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1. How to join
Joining is very simple! You just need to send a note to the @Xiunus group on DA with your username, desired colony name, and the desired colony region. As of writing this, there are 4 regions in which you can set up your colony and I believe you can request to change it any time.
Bonus tip; you will be eligible for a tiny boost in levels (and therefore RP) for depicting your colonists in the region their colony is from.
Once you've sent in your request to join, you will be rolled a starter colonist, 5 Colony Slots, and you can start participating in the game!
I heavily recommend making an account on Xiun.us, your username should be your colony name. This Xiun.us account can be linked to your DeviantART account to verify you are indeed the owner of that colony.
2. Your first colonist
Upon joining the ARPG, you will be rolled a random genome which will be referred to as your "Starter Colonist". This Starter is ALWAYS a Tsabhua (Tsab) as they are the common natives on Xione - the planet. You are eligible for a free re-roll of this starter colonist if you don't like the genes given.
Your starter colonist will be made into a "MYO Slot" on the website, this is your geno.
Tip; You can add your own background, or have no background at all. You're also able to modify the imports slightly to make it unique, or even make your own import from scratch if you would rather.
Once you have designed your colonist and wish to submit it, you will need to navigate to the MYO slot, you can find this by navigating to your Colony name on the top right of the navigation bar, then >"My Genos". Click on the geno, you will now see all the information you need. Follow the below guide.
- Submitting a Design, visual guide
3. Stat Points - What and How?
What are they?
Stat points are very important in Xiunus as they affect the success rate of various in-game activities. When you get your first colonist, you can assign the stat points in your "Stat Pool" in any of the categories, however you like! Stats affect Skills as modifiers (think DnD) and these skills affect gameplay.
Your Starter Colonist (Tsab) will have an additional +1 Constitution as a racial bonus.
Stat name (abbreviation) - skill [associated activity]
Strength (Str) - Affects Combat [>Spar] and Fertility (with Con)
Dexterity (Dex) - Affects Stealth [>Spy]
Constitution (Con) - Affects Breeding and Armour Class (AC) and Fertility (with Str)
Intelligence (Int) - Affects Medicine [>Heal] and Science [>Investigate]
Wisdom (Wis) - Affects Survival [>Hunt and >Farm]
Charisma (Cha) - Affects Social [>Visit and >Woo]
Pro Tip; ALWAYS make sure your Starter Colonist has at least 5 in Constitution if you plan on ever breeding them, as any less than that can cause problems in breeding, such as injured if a female, or stillbirths if the whelps are born with a 3 or lower. Higher = Better.
Constitution + Strength affect a stat called Fertility, which is used to determine how many breeding slots a colonist has. If you want to breed a lot, keep both of these stats high. Breeding slots are determined at birth and cannot be increased.
Bonus Tip; A skills modifier is equal to (BaseStat - 10) / 2, rounded down
In this way even numbers above 10 increase a modifier by +1, odd numbers don't.
You can have a negative skill modifier for stats lower than 10.
How do you get them?
Stats are assigned at birth and are inherited from both the parents. Higher stat parents breed higher stat whelps (offspring).
As a colonist levels up, they can be assigned more stat points! Levelling from 0-100 gains a total of +10 stat points that you can distribute however you like.
Stat increases are +2 at levels 30, 40, 60, 80 and 100.
Submit your stat increases in the comment section of a submission that will push them past a threshold! Colonists are capped at Lv 100, and don't gain more levels after this point.
You can also increase specific stats by submitting a Crucible entry - Crucibles are a sure-fire way to increase stats in a specific area.
A maximum of 3 Colonists can be depicted in a Crucible entry and be awarded the stat point, more can be included for Levels but wont get the Stat.
Crucibles are a prompt - so submit to DA (or other image hosting site, like Imgur, Tumblr, etc), then put in a prompt request on Xiun.us, linking the appropriate submission!
You can submit 1 of each crucible type a month, and 3 colonists can get a +1 in that crucible type. There are prompts for each of the base 6 stats (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha).
4. Research Points (RP); colony progression recommendation
Research Points (RP) is a key feature in Xiunus and shows the progression of your colony. The easiest way you earn RP through submissions - and RP goes to the artist, not the colonist owners. In this way, even if you draw or write about another colony, YOU will gain all that sweet sweet Research!
RP is spent on Research - this allows you to unlock various aspects of gameplay. For instance, you need to research Slingshot in order to do Hunting activities, and need to research Breeding Permit in order to breed.
When submitting a submission on Xiun.us, be it a courtship image, a crucible entry, or just worldbuilding, you will gain RP. You will need to put the breakdown in your submission comments on Xiun.us in order to be awarded them into your account.
Recommendation; Start accumulating RP and spend it to get Research+ ASAP, trust me. A great way to do so is to start submitting Crucibles! This is because Stats are important and you want to boost that as soon as you can. Including other colonists from other colonies (or your own) or Natives from DPIP will speed up your RP gain.
RESEARCH PROGRESSION RECOMMENDATION
Now, this is going to be a personal recommendation, obviously if you have your own goals that deviate, do that instead.
1st - Research station (10 RP)
You will need a Research Station. This is a requirement that unlocks the Research Tree. It's cheap, so hardly a dent in your RP.
2nd - SCHOLAR | Writing Station (50 RP) + Research + (100 RP)
When you're just starting out, 150 RP may seem like a lot. But trust me, getting Research+ as soon as possible means you will accumulate research more rapidly, and suddenly the rest of the research tree doesn't seem too hard to get to!
Writing Station is a pre-requisite for Research+
3rd a) - Breeding / DOCTOR | Medicine (50 RP) + Breeding Permit (100 RP)
If breeding is something you're keen on ASAP, you'll want to go this route. Medicine is a pre-requisite for Breeding, but is also useful in case your colonist harms themselves in activities, or breeding!
Breeding Permit must be unlocked by the poster of the breeding, or the Dam's owner in case of a split.
3rd b) - Activities | Slingshot (50 RP) or Farm (50 RP)
As of writing this, both Hunting and Farming are not available in game, however if you want to be ready for when they do come (or even for lore reasons), get these! There's no rush though, since by the time they are released, I'm sure you will have plenty of RP to spare!
4th - ROGUE | Spy (50 RP) and Disguise Kit (100 RP)
The Disguise Kit is very VERY handy for when your colonists are depicted in a region that isn't the same as their colony. Every eligible submission is able to receive a "Random Roll", which is a bonus little tid-bit that can result in you obtaining Xen (in-game currency), finding something to Investigate (not yet unlocked), or even stumbling on a Native to Woo to join your colony (needs research).
If you're anticipating depicting your colonists in other regions, this is handy to have around.
Everything else from here on out is pretty goal-oriented. Do you want bonuses on Heal rolls? Or Hunting? Farming? Maybe you want to be able to Woo a Native and you need Diplomacy? Maybe you want to breed the most mutated whelps around?
Also to keep in mind is your colony limits. Everyone starts with 10 Colonist Slots, you can expand this by purchasing Colony Expansions for 50RP each, which give you an additional +5 colonist slots each time.
5. MORE Colonists!
So you want more colonists, huh? Well there are a few ways to obtain them!
- Purchase off other people
Some people sell colonists, or genos, in exchange for RP, Levels for their colonists, or other submissions like Activities and Crucibles. Check out the group's Advertisement folder, search on Xiun.us for those up for trade, or post an ad in the Advertisements channel on Discord!
- Breeding
You will need a Breeding Permit to breed colonists. If you have a male and participate in a Split Breeding with another person with a female, THEY must post and THEY must have the Breeding Permit, the male does not.
Keep in mind stats are important, as well as health of the mother.
Note; there are 2 species in the group currently, Tsabhua and Belemoid, and they cannot breed to one another - they can only breed with their own species.
- Native Encounters
You may rarely encounter a native colonist who wants to join you! You will need the Diplomacy research to unlock >Woo as an option. Natives will hang around for ~2weeks before you cannot claim them anymore. They can hang around for up to 1 month with the correct research.
