Vampires

[Hondor23]

Vampires aren't really as unique or threatening as other antags- We have changelings and shadowlings, but vamps are kinda just- eh. I have some ideas for what can be done with them.

-When a vamp dies, they eventually come back to life after a minute, however, their skin tone will drop considerably. The blood within their body will be drained by 20%. If a stake has been forced into them, they will have to remove it before they die, as they cannot move while it is in them. They will still revive while the stake is in them. If they die and have no blood left in their system, they cannot revive, unless someone injects them with blood (for some reason).

-While they are dead, someone can force a "stake"(metal rod, makeshift bolt, spear) into any limb. They can stake as many limbs as they want, but it will take about 30 seconds per stake and only one stake per limb. The vamp can remove them in 15 seconds.

-A vampire with final form will simply tear out the stake in a single stroke.

-Crossbows can do major damage to vamps; it can even stake them if the bolt hit hard enough.

-Vamps normally feel very little pain, in final form they feel no pain.

[Bigtimetripod]

If vampires have enough blood, they are very hard to contain. No cell can hold a full power vampire. 

 

Capturing a full power vampire with enough blood is hard enough, if vampire knows what hes doing. Only weakness for vampires really are mechs and borgs.

[ZN23X]

Good vampires are one of the most difficult antags to deal with, they don't need to be buffed. As is obligatory with vampire posts, making it so they couldn't use humanized monkies for blood would be awesome. 

Edited July 18, 2017 by ZN23X

[Machofish]

From personal experience, vampires have a unique quality in that they are arguably the weakest 'infiltration' antag in the roster (when compared to changelings, traitors and shadowlings), and yet also the most ridiculously powerful depending on who is playing them. Depending on who is asked, this massive range between starting ability and lategame ability makes Vampires either one of the best antags on the server or one of the most aggravating. New vampire players probably have the hardest time, since early-game vampires have almost no wiggle-space when it comes to recovering from mistakes or being caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. What's worse is that oftentimes, new vamp players get wiped out mercilessly, as security players often deal with an antag based on their worst/most frustrating firsthand experience with an antag of that type.

On the opposite end of the scale, experienced or well-practiced vampire players are - though I am loath to admit it - terrifying and salt-inducing to go up against; especially if there's two full-power vampires working in tandem. I'd prefer not to go into specific examples, but rest assured that, at present, it's more than possible for a vampire to easily wipe out vast swathes of a densely-populated shift and succeed. There might need to be 'buffs' to early-game vamps, but fully-powered vamps are already impossible to fight as long as the vampire player doesn't make any fatal errors.

I agree vampires could benefit from more interesting mechanics, but I think that raising the 'ceiling' on fully-powered vampires is the last way I'd go about it. Personally, I feel that one of the worst qualities of playing against a cult or vampires is that they all rely on the chaplain's competency or presence, which often bottlenecks anyone who doesn't want to become a cultist or vampire-chow.

Again, while I think it's undeniable that the dramatic difference between an early-game vampire and a late-game vampire makes them unique, I think a significant proportion of the community do not find that this uniqueness makes vampires a particularly fun experience in practice (save for the few people who know how to consistently reach full-power: I'll bring that up later). New vamp players find that it's nearly impossible to reach full power without getting caught, and on the other hand new and regular security players find that it's nearly impossible to survive the one or two experienced vamp players who know how to consistently reach full strength: it's a gamemode that rewards a very small group of highly experienced players over and over again, at the expense of whoever else happens to be playing at the time.

 

To the specific ideas of staking/reviving vamps, I would be more open to the idea of vamps being more-or-less unkillable, if in return, their unique vulnerabilities were more severe. Currently, being exposed to starlight may deter newer vamps, but does absolutely nothing for actually blocking off spacefaring tactics - time and time again I've seen vampires escape pursuers by jaunting out into space with an EVA suit, which I think makes a lot of players feel cheated - since there's no significant punishment for doing so as a fully-powered vampire. Holy water, undeniably, is already a round-ender for vamps that have not reached full power: I would suggest that it be toned down in its' effects against unpowered vamps in return for keeping some effect on fully-powered vampires.

[imsxz]

I don't have any specific suggestions for this, but I believe vampires need their early game strengthened and late game weakened. Currently, vampires as super imbalanced(in both ways) in that when one gets rolling, it's nearly impossible to stop them, but getting rolling is really difficult to begin with. Additionally, I'd like if they provided a bit more of a threat to the station as a whole rather than just maint dwellers. That said, vampires are my personal favorite antag to play due to the freedom their playstyle grants, similar to changeling without needing to permakill, and I wouldn't like to see that gone.

[Anticept]

The big issue with late game is how mist form doesn't have a hard cooldown, but rather it's a ramp up recharge. Activating sooner means you travel shorter distances, but once mastered, you know exactly how much time you need to jump small gaps to you, but huge gaps to sec. It makes it very very hard to pin down a vamp for any real length of time.

There is a couple ways to defeat end game vamps with relative ease no matter who they are, but it's such a pain to get scichem/medchem to cooperate under even the best of circumstances, and you will still need some backup.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Anticept

[Hondor23]

Thanks for your criticism! I suppose I've never really been in a TRUE POWERGAMING VAMP ROUND. In the majority of the vamp rounds I've been in, the vamp was really just a nuisance, at least from my perspective. After I made this post, I saw this video (by BoatBomber or some other youtuber) in which they and their thralls were the only ones to survive. I myself have never played as a vamp, so I admit I should've waited till I actually played as one before making this post.

But I would like to see stakes added, it would definitely be cooler than just 'throw it into the incenerator XDDDDDDDDDDD.' for changelings and vamps alike.