The Devonian Expansion

The Devonian Expansion is an expansion in the history of the game which started with the Devonian Update (Update 1.4.1) This expansion was important for many players since it paved the way for the first terrestrial gameplay and introduced the first amphibians. The playerbase calls this expansion the "Age Of Fishes" since many fish builds occupied numerous niches and ruled the oceans.

## Diversification of Fish

With the proliferation of coral reef servers, many fishes began to fill new niches, from the herbivorous freshwater build Bothriolepis to the placoderms of the open ocean like the Dunkleosteus. This event started during the Siluran Expansion and continued up to the end of the Devonian Expansion.

## Spread of the Freshwater and Marsh Servers

The plant players have spread throughout the first terrestrial servers, creating marsh servers, which Amphibians easily took advantage of. However, with this advantage also comes the Hyneria build. Many builds have also took further inland in lake and river servers.

## A Unique Meta

A 2023 paper has significantly reduced the Health of playable Arthrodires, since they have to be measured via skull length. The last parts of the paper also suggested how the meta of this expansion is vastly different from other expansions. Builds cannot reach a size class greater than 5 meters, due to the unique [Vortex Bite] attack of most Arthrodires. This means that not only does it get rid of the incentive to grow big for predator builds, it also ends up discouraging packing up Evolution Points towards Health, since the ability simply means that Arthrodires can eat much larger builds than other builds of the same weight class. Even if the target is still too big, they can actually rip off great chunks of Health from their targets to turn into Loot. To put into perspective, the size range of the acceptable targets of a 3.5 meter Arthrodire and 5.5 Shark are the same, due to this ability.

## Rise of the Terrestrial Servers

The Devonian Expansion also had one of the earliest instances of terrestrial gameplay, after the plants spread through the land servers. The Arthopod guild was the first to fully utilize it, as the Amphibian mains are still stuck on the shore.

## Notable Builds

### F-tier

#### Trilobites

This build used to be a decent build, belonging at C-tier. However, there are more builds capable of dealing enough damage to bring down a trilobite main than ever before. These builds also have wasted all of their points on shell aestethics, giving them very low stats overall.

### D-tier

#### Hynerpeton

This primitive Amphibian had the ability "Swift Swim". However, this is to compensate for its low stats overall, making its only good matchups manifested in the lower-weight class builds.

### C-tier

#### Pteraspis

This build had decent Defense, armed with the head spike and great Mobility. Its small size however, hindered it from being an impact in the meta and was simply ignored by many heavyweight predators.

### B-tier

#### Bothriolepis

This build is made for being a forager and has high Defense. This build can channel [Dust Cloud], a Rock move that reduces accuracy to zero.

#### Eurypterid

Despite sustaining heavy losses to jawed fish mains,this guild was still viable during this expansion, even containing a predatory build.However, it was during this meta that they learned the valuable skill of sweep-feeding and specced to live in freshwater servers.

#### Cladoselache

A Shark build, while its decent Mobility was good at avoiding most predatory players of its day, it only had weak teeth and could only eat small targets.

### A-tier

#### Onychodus

A lobe-finned mainplayable in reef servers,fulfilling the niche of Moray Eels during the Devonian, but with tooth whorls, reminiscent of Eugenodont mains.They have a strong bite force.

#### Tiktaalik

One of the more viable fishapods in the entire game. It can move on land, and also has similar playstyle to Alligator Gar.

### S-tier

#### Hyneria

A great build for bodying Temnospondyl and Shark mains. This build had great stats and no bad matchups at all. This build could even use the terrestrial server to body builds like Hynerpeton., thus becoming the top predator in its habitat.

#### Dunkleosteus

The famous Devonian superstar, with great Power, Health and Defense.

## End

The devs decided to nerf the fish mains by buffing algae mains thanks to the vascular land plants, lowering the oxygen levels of the marine and freshwater builds, thus forcing many players to abandon their aquatic builds. The devs also introduces the builds which break down algae spawns and release toxins, thus dealing enormous damage to many aquatic builds. The plant mains also cooled down the entire game, lowering sea levels which could mean a game over to many aquatic mains. The same plants that gave rise to freshwater and terrestrial servers gave a strong balance patch. After the balance patch, ushering a new expansion known as The Carboniferous Expansion, with gameplay focused on the terrestrial server for the first time. The Amphibian mains try their luck at the Terrestrial server, only to get bodied hard by the supersized Arthopod players. The ray-finned guild also began to take the upper edge over the lobe-finned guild.

## Referrences

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/devonian\_period.html
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.livescience.com/43596-devonian-period.html
3. ↑ https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/prehistoric-world/silurian/
4. ↑ https://www2.humboldt.edu/natmus/lifeThroughTime/Devonian.web/index.html
5. ↑ http://www.devoniantimes.org/opportunity/upstream.html
6. ↑ https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/3/318
7. ↑ http://palaeos.com/paleozoic/devonian/earlydev.html
8. ↑ http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/p/pteraspis.html
9. ↑ http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/b/bothriolepis.html
10. ↑ https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/publications/copes-rule-and-romers-theory-patterns-of-diversity-and-gigantism--2
11. ↑ https://www.miguasha.ca/mig-en/pterygotus.php
12. ↑ https://www.gbif.org/species/165600337
13. ↑ https://amp.info-com.in/15208539/1/campylocephalus.html
14. ↑ http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/evolution/ancient.htm
15. ↑ http://www.elasmo-research.org/education/evolution/cladoselache\_feeding.htm
16. ↑ https://www.gbif.org/species/165473708
17. ↑ https://tanystropheus.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/weekly-spotlight-onychodus/
18. ↑ https://austhrutime.com/onychodontiforms.htm
19. ↑ https://www.deviantart.com/artbyjrc/art/Dagger-teeth-Onychodonts-845987767
20. ↑ https://www.nature.com/news/2006/060403/full/060403-7.html
21. ↑ https://animals.fandom.com/wiki/Tiktaalik
22. ↑ http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/h/hyneria.html
23. ↑ https://www.toptenz.net/10-prehistoric-fish-that-make-sharks-look-innocent.php
24. ↑ http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150624-the-day-the-oceans-died