Not-zard

Not-zards are hostile creatures that target storage in Ratopia. They appear by selecting from the list of all storage and spawning on one at random, which means their attacks are tied directly to the player’s storage layout rather than to a fixed location. They are blocked by gates and cannot pass through them, so controlled access to storage areas is one of the main ways to limit their movement.

A Not-zard is defeated by any amount of damage. They do not require specialized damage types or heavy weapons, and can be eliminated by the leader’s attacks, traps, or passive environmental damage. Soldiers do not react to them, so police presence is the more reliable defensive response when one enters a settlement. Placing citizens at a Police Station causes them to repel Not-zards automatically.

Practical ways to deal with Not-zards include:

• Use gates to separate storage from the rest of the city. Since Not-zards cannot pass through gates, this can prevent them from reaching valuable areas.
• Place many dummy chests or other non-essential storage containers. Because the spawn pattern chooses randomly from all storage, increasing the number of unimportant containers lowers the chance that a critical chest is selected.
• Avoid keeping food in storage that is meant to serve as bait or support for defensive setups. If a storage container does not have food, a Not-zard may move away from it before taking damage.
• Use Ash Blocks beneath storage containers. Ash Blocks deal 1 damage every 30 minutes in game, which can eventually kill Not-zards passively when they spawn on supported storage.
• Traps can also be used to kill them. Spike Traps are effective, and the leader can also defeat them directly if needed.

Because Not-zards spawn from storage selection, their threat level depends heavily on how many containers exist and how exposed they are. A settlement with a small number of important chests is more vulnerable, while one with layered storage, gates, and decoy containers spreads out the risk. Passive defenses are especially useful because the creature may appear at any eligible storage point and can be removed without constant player attention.