Grey Mechanics

[Crom]

 

Wryn brains are linked together by a hive mind allowing information exchange between wryn without a headset. Use this in-game with :y

 

Wryn can sense when one of their kind has died.

 

We need to put this into our greys

 

We could prolly influence our greys to be more behaved roleplay-wise like the little green aliens from buzz lightyear. Hell we all know they need a bit more love.

 

"We are oooooone"

 

Tell me you dont think thats a good idea.

 

Edited January 18, 2015 by Guest

[Spacemanspark]

It might encourage more metafriending, sadly.

[Crom]

 

metafriending is not really a problem in my opinion. I watch players all the time with this, and honestly most of the claims that 'metafriending' is awful appear to be mostly baseless. I see these supposed individuals still interacting with players a fairly usual amount. It can also be determined that it only makes sense. If you truly think that feeling a bond between recurring players (which can be construed you have a light foggy memory of, or more) species watching eachothers backs, and general communication to create bonds is BAD, then play the mime. He is wholly unloved and isolated. unable to even trust a bond with the clown. That's the kind of stuff i think of when i hear complaints of metafriending.

 

And yes, you are allowed to say that you know someone from a previous round. With how the station rounds work, it is logical. The game loses charm if you sit there and think your just in an endless timeloop each game of ?what-if's?. Create those bonds! Live a little!

 

[Qinetix]

 

Well if the water weakness has been removed it should be added back in as a counter measure.

 

I like the idea tough sensing when your others grey die and being able to speak in a hivemind, they needed their own language anyways.

 

[Streaky Haddock]

Being able to speak in a hivemind sounds great. However, Greys should be able to disable it just like a radio. Instead of sensing when dead, they should sense when a Grey stops recieving. Which can occur when loyalty implanted, travelling through different z-levels, death and unconsciousness.

[Fox McCloud]

 

Greys are effectively humans with telepathy and increased darksight---all with a virtually non-existent weakness to make up for it; this race is not in need of buffs in any way, shape or form.

 

While this is a neat idea, in theory, I do agree that it's just going to lead a lot of abusive long-range buddying and antag-ruining. Effectively you're giving a changeling power to a regular race.

 

There's been an ongoing effort to normalize races so they're balanced against each other; having one race be the standard go-to powergamey race that all the robust players want to play as (example being old slimes) is not healthy for game balance and is something that is to be actively avoided.

 

[Spacemanspark]

 

Every race should have its pro's and cons.

Weaknesses and strengths.

That's typically how it is in most games with different races, it's not just aesthetic.

 

[Streaky Haddock]

I kinda dislike humanising all the races and making them all average in the name of balance.

[FalseIncarnate]

 

Every race should have its pro's and cons.

Weaknesses and strengths.

That's typically how it is in most games with different races, it's not just aesthetic.

 

IPCs (Machine People) are a fantastic example of this point. While they are immune to a lot of things, they also have a number of weaknesses and drawbacks such as their EMP vulnerability, alternate revival (arguably more difficult), and recent exclusion from some antagonist roles.

 

A common practice is to try and balance every bonus with a drawback if you are aiming for something considered "fair". In many games this may be as simple as "well, this is a really strong weapon, so let's make it really expensive/hard to get", or as complex as "using this powerful sentient weapon too much will corrupt your mind and slowly turn you into a slave to it's own will" (cursed weapons are great).

 

While the special "radio" for Greys would be interesting, giving them the ability to sense the death of other greys is going to cause more race gangs to form than someone calling a Tajaran a "filthy catbeast" in the bar.

 

[Streaky Haddock]

That's kinda why I wanted loyalty implants to suppress their telepathy.

[belarion]

 

Could just make it a local hivemind that's view wide instead of map wide, like telepathy was a short while ago.

Then you could have a gossip in the bar without anyone hearing, but not meta the lings.

 

[johannhawk]

 

Could just make it a local hivemind that's view wide instead of map wide, like telepathy was a short while ago.

Then you could have a gossip in the bar without anyone hearing, but not meta the lings.

 

i like it! short range LOOC but its IC!

 

[Streaky Haddock]

It's also worth mentioning that Greys don't treat water as acid anymore, and instead take 20% extra damage from brute.

[Fox McCloud]

 

That's correct.

 

This was done to give them an actual meaningful downside to the power they currently have. Being able to see super well in the dark AND the ability to communicate to anyone, regardless of z-level, without a radio is a very powerful asset in many ways, both antag and non-antag--making them take a little extra brute actually gives the player a reason to stop and think "is this race's upsides and downsides something I want to utilize?" as opposed to "It's a human with extra abilities and a non-weakness, hell ya, I'll play that!".

 

Yes, I do realize that some people play greys/kidan/tajaran/human because they want to play that race, but in this case--it doesn't matter how overpowered or underpowered they area; if someone enjoys a race for the sake of a race, they're going to play it anyway. That said, I strongly suspect a lot of people play races for their strengths/differences rather than aesthetics, in a number of cases; afterall, how many Skrell and Unathi players do you really see? (and yes, I do realize there are still a large amount of people who play a race for the sake of playing that race; not saying those players don't exist).