Terror Spiders: The Mode

[Tlc2013]

You are a Spider Smuggler!

You are a Syndicate agent implanted with many special eggs, designed to release varying kinds of Terror Spiders onto the station so that NT's presence aboard it can be eradicated. After [10~15] minutes, the eggs will hatch, releasing an above-average amount of spiderlings into the area, all of which will grow into Terror Spiders - and one of which will grow much faster, becoming a powerful Queen. Your objective is simple: find a secluded area for the Terror Spiders to nest in and allow the spiderlings to infest it, even if their birth kills you in the process. When the station is devoid of NanoTrasen personnel, it will become the Syndicate's and your clone will be greatly rewarded.

 

The Terror Spiders mode is, well, exactly what it says on the tin. It begins in much the same way as the Blob gamemode; one crewmember is chosen to become a Spider Smuggler, a Syndicate operative whose task is to infest the station with Terror Spiders. They're implanted with special Syndicate Spider Eggs, which can spawn spiders of any type (although it can only rarely spawn one or two Tier 3s, and cannot spawn Empresses of Terror at all) and will always spawn a single, fast-growing Queen Spiderling. These eggs will automatically hatch after a slightly varying amount of time; upon the timer reaching the two-minute mark, the Smuggler will be given a warning to get into a secluded area if they haven't already.

You feel the first of the spider eggs begin to wriggle around under your skin, as the spiderling inside tries to break free. You don't have much time now... find a secluded area, before you burst open!

Upon hatching, the Smuggler will be gibbed and release 15 spiderlings into the area, one of which will become a Queen Spiderling. Two others may be chosen to become one of the Tier 3 Spiders, one of each, but it's not guaranteed (25% chance?). The Smuggler can then choose to either inhabit the Queen Spiderling when it grows, inhabit one of the Tier 3 Spiders (if any spawned at all), or Ghost and wait for another Terror Spider to grow up.

From there... well, it plays out as you'd expect. There are Terror Spiders everywhere, and there are no other mode-specific antagonists. The round ends when the Escape Shuttle arrives at Centcomm, or when all spiders and spiderlings (and there will be a lot of them, unless the Smuggler gets unlucky) have been killed; whichever comes first.

That's about it. No fancy tricks, no new spiders, just one man and a lot of eggs.

NOTE: Special thanks goes to Kyutness, who came up with this idea originally during a conversation in DSay.

Edited July 26, 2018 by Tlc2013

[Kyet]

Thoughts:

• Queens are designed to be spawned alone, not in a group.
• Why not just spawn the queen directly, 5 minutes in.... perhaps inside the vent network?

TS could be a mode. But all that would really require is extended... plus a guaranteed event X minutes in that spawns a queen or mother spider.

Edited July 27, 2018 by tzo

[Kyutness]

Because the entire point was a roundstart, not admin-forced option, like for example blob being roundstart AND midround. Not extended until 5 minutes in. Plus, it just is in general more interesting than "BOOM! Queen terror. Sound the alarm." It's "That guy is acting weird. Huh..." People think it might be blob, until the guy gibs in a dark enclosed room in maint and spiderlings skitter around and grow. I did not specify the need for the queen to even be a guaranteed spawn. I just suggested someone being a carrier much like someone bit by a white terror.

Edited July 27, 2018 by Kyutness

[Threeinone]

Sounds fun. I think, though, that the terror spiders could use some more polish before they're put in a full on game-mode, but that's just me.

[Kyutness]

What needs polish, really? They are xenos, but people salt less about them because the only BS stun they have is terror webs, and if you get caught in one it's generally your own fault. Xenos were pulled because people got too salty about it either going entirely the xenos way, or entirely the crews way. With terrors the push and pull is more fluid as they can't just shove you over and GG you. They have to bite you. A fair amount at that. And if cargo starts ordering guns and science starts rushing advanced lasers, it is a perfectly fair fight at roundstart. On top of this they have only two, three if they get a queen ways to make more spiders and it is totally dependant on the other types of spiders not webbing corpses, and leaving the corpses for the greens. Or in the case of whites, biting someone, and making sure medbay cannot treat them in time.

Edited July 27, 2018 by Kyutness

[Rurik]

Terrors, from what I've experienced, feels to be a very balanced matchup when both the crew and spiders (mostly the queen) are competent. The only issues I see are as follows:

- Gray Terrors lack the breeding aspect of the greens, and the raw strength of their red brethren. This puts them in a odd position, as they cannot chase down prey either; their speed cannot outrun a human. This pushes them into a ambusher that must have the victim run into a web, or enclose them so they cannot otherwise run away. I know this is intended, but it should be noted that every spider can ambush with extreme effectiveness, thus making grays the least powerful caste by a considerable amount as a consequence.

- Since Greens cannot produce any spiders outside of tier one, and it takes two bodies just to make one small cluster of eggs, greens cannot sustain a hive on their own. They either need a queen to back them up, or several competent whites to help out and pull their weight. Once again, I believe this is intended, but it should be noted for if there are no whites and the queen dies a early death/not spawned at all.

[rb303]

Grays, in my opinion, are more support or nest-building spiders, they can build webs much faster than the other tier 1 spiders, so they work well for making quick traps in hallways.

[Kyet]

Greys also do massive damage to anyone caught in a web. Any web - not just webs created by the greys. Thus, they work very well at both solo and team ambushes. In addition, they regenerate health quickly, making them excellent for hit-and-run. You can still argue that they're weaker than greens and reds, but still, they do have some advantages.

Greens I may tweak later on to be able to produce a higher-tier spider under certain conditions.

[Rurik]

3 hours ago, tzo said:

Greys also do massive damage to anyone caught in a web. Any web - not just webs created by the greys. Thus, they work very well at both solo and team ambushes. In addition, they regenerate health quickly, making them excellent for hit-and-run. You can still argue that they're weaker than greens and reds, but still, they do have some advantages.

I was unaware of the latter ability to heal health quickly. With that included, I can see some merit to greys, and reason to favor them.

[Kyet]

Its complicated, but basically:

• Gray terror spiders without energy heal 50% faster, at 15 HP/minute, rather than the normal 10/minute most spiders get.
• Gray terror spiders with energy still heal at the normal high-energy rate (30 HP/minute), but their energy depletes more slowly. They can remain in the high-energy healing state for 50% longer. This also means they get 50% more healing from the same amount of energy.
• Overall, this means that grays, played in a hit-and-run style, are much harder to take down than their 120 HP health pool would indicate. If you do 60 HP damage to them, taking them to half health, they'll likely heal themselves right back up to full health inside two minutes.
• This makes grays much stronger than you'd expect when played as hit-and-run attackers, or as ambushers. The problem most people have with grays is that they just charge in and fight until they die... which is the exact opposite of how the gray is meant to be played. If you want to rambo, play a red. If you want to pick off a long stream of people, while recharging to full health in between each fight, play a gray.

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by tzo

[necaladun]

Some feedback from an actual play test of terror-spider-mode - the other day on extend I spawned myself in as 1 white terror spider, about 10 mins into the shift.

The crew was utterly unprepared for this, and it resulted in a huge amount of death and destruction. I think this would heavily change as people get used to the idea that terror spiders could appear before the 1 hour mark (People didn't quite seem to believe they existed...), and the meta grows and ebbs.

The exact amount of spiders and tiers and all that can be tweaked and refined endlessly as the meta changes. How well balanced X amount of Tier Y spiders is is something that will drastically change as people grow more and more used to the game mode - for both the crew and the spiders.

 

However, I think this is a really cool idea for a way to make terror spiders into a mode. Linking it specifically to a syndicate smuggler is just...cool, lore wise, and for the overall feeling. I think I'd be giggling evilly to myself with the idea of coming on board the cyberiad with a deadly bio-weapon payload.

It might also be cool to give the -exact same- warning to the crew that is given in blob rounds, at the same time. This means that for both modes, there is some uncertainty as to whether they should begin welding vents (And thus wasting time letting the blob grow), or search maint for the blob (and thus let spiders pick them off). 

I'd also advise that whoever is selected as the "smuggler", is the one guaranteed to take control of the biggest spider tier. This means they have a much more vested interest in picking a really good spot, rather than just wherever - and also lets us give more effective jobbans etc to people who fuck over their team.

 

[Kyet]

Ever played Starcraft 1?

Remember the psi emitter? The beacon that lures the zerg to a world?

I actually coded a version of that, which lures terror spiders to the station. I could add that as a syndicate item. Probably adminspawn-only.

[Threeinone]

4 hours ago, tzo said:

Gray terror spiders with energy

????

[Kyutness]

With energy. Aka when they cocoon corpses and suck out the fluids. 

1 hour ago, Threeinone said:

????

 

[Kyet]

Basically yes. All spiders accumulate energy over time, which they use to fuel their natural health regeneration.

You can gain a major buff to your energy by eating. To eat, wrap a humanoid corpse, and you'll bite into it to suck out the fluids.

Edited July 28, 2018 by tzo

[Rurik]

5 hours ago, necaladun said:

I'd also advise that whoever is selected as the "smuggler", is the one guaranteed to take control of the biggest spider tier. This means they have a much more vested interest in picking a really good spot, rather than just wherever - and also lets us give more effective jobbans etc to people who fuck over their team.

This would be a good idea, since there is little incentive to choose a 'antag' roll when it means you die 10-15 mins in without a guaranteed spider spawn.

 

5 hours ago, necaladun said:

It might also be cool to give the -exact same- warning to the crew that is given in blob rounds, at the same time. This means that for both modes, there is some uncertainty as to whether they should begin welding vents (And thus wasting time letting the blob grow), or search maint for the blob (and thus let spiders pick them off). 

Id love that. I'm a bit tired of seeing people yelling blob as soon as that message appears without the biohazard 5 alert, and without seeing one.

[necaladun]

One issue I can see here from testing, similar to nuke ops and blob - is the meta knowledge that there will be no other threats. Thus, giving every crewmember all the guns they want, all access, etc, I fear will become the norm, vastly shifting the balance in favor of the crew.

Even a tiny number of traitors would really mix this up. (Blob could do with that too, but that's for another time...). 

 

Alternatively....some kind of spider that can mind control crew. Either giving them the objective to start unwelding vents or something....or kill them, inject spiders into their skull, that then take them over and control them for a few minutes before they explode.

[Kyet]

Re: smuggler gets to be a spider, yeah, that is probably a good idea. My original beacon item called TS to the station, but there was no guarantee you'd end up as one of the TS, and they had no loyalty to you. Thus... you might get killed by your own creations. Good for a hijack item. Not really good for a game mode item, due to bad incentives.

Re: making both TS and blob use level 5 biohazard, I'm against this. Aside from the fact I think the current level 3 alert is cool, I also think that if we're going to merge 3 and 5, there's really no reason not to merge all biohazards into one generic 'biohazard' alert. Everyone ignores level 7s anyway. Personally, I think its cool that we have different levels of hazard.

Re: knowledge that there are no other threats... I could add a new, yellow spider, that infests corpses and uses them to sabotage the station, bursting out and back into spider form after a couple of minutes. Alternatively, I could add a queen ability that doses a crew member with strong hallucinogens that make them friendly to spiders for a limited time. Both of these abilities would require very strong limitations, in order to prevent a single person releasing the tesla, or whatnot. Not decided yet. Still at the idea stage on these.

[Biffthegreat]

4 hours ago, necaladun said:

Even a tiny number of traitors would really mix this up. (Blob could do with that too, but that's for another time...). 

 

This is 100% correct. 

Having a small number 1-3 of traitors or other threats would spice up "Terror Spiders" as well as all the other messy game plays we have at the moment such as Blob or Nuke ops".

 

Not only would it defuse trashy play such as giving everyone all access and throwing weapons out there it would give the few other antags opportunities whilst other crew were distracted and make sure departments still have to function at some level.

[ID404NotFound]

The thing I wouldn't like is a traitor using their gear to "be the hero" against Tspiders, to get the crew to be 'on their side'

[Threeinone]

2 hours ago, ID404NotFound said:

The thing I wouldn't like is a traitor using their gear to "be the hero" against Tspiders, to get the crew to be 'on their side'

That sounds awesome! Assuming they aren't immediately lynched by spiders or the crew themselves. Medium RP, baybee

[Rurik]

20 minutes ago, Threeinone said:

That sounds awesome! Assuming they aren't immediately lynched by spiders or the crew themselves. Medium RP, baybee

Using traitor gear as traitor to play hero when you are supposed to be the bad guy sounds like a bore to me. After all, its called antag for a reason. Perhaps that is just me though.

[ID404NotFound]

Like, using your gear to clear your path and others benefit passively, sure. But specifically gearing to save the day to say "look, I saved y'all, gimmie greentext" eugh.

[Threeinone]

5 hours ago, ID404NotFound said:

Like, using your gear to clear your path and others benefit passively, sure. But specifically gearing to save the day to say "look, I saved y'all, gimmie greentext" eugh.

I don't understand what you mean by "gimme greentext", being good is the exact opposite of completing your goal as a tator. And @Rurik I dunno man, there could be some fun interactions with people if you're obviously a traitor but being genuinely helpful. A full range from "No I want to kill that guy" to "You saved my life, i trust you". maybe i just don't know how people actually react to this because it doesn't happen.

Edited July 29, 2018 by Threeinone
not including the other person in the conversation oops

[Kyutness]

1 hour ago, Threeinone said:

maybe i just don't know how people actually react to this because it doesn't happen.

I've been a holoparasite once and my host and 2 others got perma-stunned by fastmos. So options were, I do nothing and all three of us die. I only save my host and they scream on comms before dying. Or my host explains they have a holoparasite that will save all of them in exchange for their silence. Needless to say we went with the last option, saved everyone, and they actually kept their mouths shut. So good-guy-traitors do happen rarely. 

17 hours ago, tzo said:

Re: knowledge that there are no other threats... I could add a new, yellow spider, that infests corpses and uses them to sabotage the station, bursting out and back into spider form after a couple of minutes.

I feel I'd like this idea most if yellow spiders cannot infest husks, and they do not gib people after their time is up, they husk them. Allowing them to not be guaranteed permakills. Also if controlled corpses behaved as though they have brain damage. Unable to work consoles or complex machinery. (They are still a spider piloting a corpse).

Edited July 29, 2018 by Kyutness
2 not 3 derp