Abductors

[Fox McCloud]

 

It's actually finally happening. Abductors game mode is getting implemented and ported https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/4233

 

Shout out to Tiger, Crazylemons, Fethas, DZD, and Tastyfish who all laid the groundwork for this mode being even remotely possible (and special thanks to Fethas, Tastyfish, DaveTheHeadcrab, Jayfeather, PseudoUnicorn, KitsaKatsis and DarkPyrolord for helping test+bugfix this).

 

For a rundown of how the game-mode plays out, see this wiki article for details: https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Abductor

 

 

Abductors are a unique type of antagonist that aren't inherently lethal, in nature---their prime directive is to study and catalogue every single species in the known universe. To this end, they usually kidnap individuals and perform experiments on them, then observe the results of those experiments.

 

Abductors are always in pairs--an agent and a scientist. The scientist's job is to scan subjects for the agent, mark the agent (or abductees) for future retrieval, and is usually tasked with manning the abductor's special camera console and typically handles surgeries. The agent is the muscle of the team; he has a special vest that has two modes: stealth and combat. The stealth mode of the vest can disguise him to look like any crewmember that the scientist has scanned---it's a fairly weak disguise though; something as simple as a hug will break it (and examining them closely will reveal their true clothing). The combat mode of the vest offers heavy protection against every damage type in addition to a long cooldown anti-stun adrenaline injection.

 

Typically they'll try to find an isolate target then send the agent in to incapacitate them. Once they're incapacitated the scientist will teleport in and mark the abductee. Once marked, the scientist can return to his vessel with a special implant (has a 30 second cooldown between uses). Here he can retrieve the abductee and perform surgery on them.

 

The first team to perform 6 successful experiments will then trigger a shuttle call---now the clock is ticking; the other team now has until the shuttle docks at CentComm to finish completing their objectives; they still have the chance to win, as well, if they can complete their objectives, in time.

 

This isn't just a game-mode though; it's also an event; abductors can happen as a major, one-time, late game event---so any round could potentially have these guys.

 

Feel free to ask any all questions!

 

[saywat_the_15th]

Finally an interesting round type.

[Farya]

[Coldflame]

 

So can the scientist defend themselves or escape, or are they pretty much worthless in combat without the help of the agent?

 

Are there mechanics to prevent this turning into heist, with 'friendly abductors' taking willing susbjects and turning the gamemode into extended that ends after an hour?

 

Can abductors speak or understand common?

 

[Farya]

 

So can the scientist defend themselves or escape, or are they pretty much worthless in combat without the help of the agent?

 

Are there mechanics to prevent this turning into heist, with 'friendly abductors' taking willing susbjects and turning the gamemode into extended that ends after an hour?

 

Can abductors speak or understand common?

Abductors are completely mute. They communicate with telepathic link same to changelings instead. They have headset which intercept all channels like nuke ops ones.

Abductor scientist have teleport impant which allow him to teleport to safety instantly. But it have a cooldown to prevent abuse.

Abductor agent have advanced stun baton and decloner.

 

[Jguytriple5]

 

The first team to perform 6 successful experiments will then trigger a shuttle call---now the clock is ticking; the other team now has until the shuttle docks at CentComm to finish completing their objectives; they still have the chance to win, as well, if they can complete their objectives, in time.

 

Teams? So how many of these duos are there kidnapping crew at one time? And can they kidnap eachother if you're robust enough?

 

[Farya]

 

The first team to perform 6 successful experiments will then trigger a shuttle call---now the clock is ticking; the other team now has until the shuttle docks at CentComm to finish completing their objectives; they still have the chance to win, as well, if they can complete their objectives, in time.

 

Teams? So how many of these duos are there kidnapping crew at one time? And can they kidnap eachother if you're robust enough?

You can try. But its very hard if pair is experienced.

And there could be 4 pairs of them if I remember it right.

 

[PhantasmicDream]

 

 

This sounds like it'll be fun.

 

[Fox McCloud]

 

The first team to perform 6 successful experiments will then trigger a shuttle call---now the clock is ticking; the other team now has until the shuttle docks at CentComm to finish completing their objectives; they still have the chance to win, as well, if they can complete their objectives, in time.

 

Teams? So how many of these duos are there kidnapping crew at one time? And can they kidnap eachother if you're robust enough?

 

Up to four teams---multiple teams only really occurs during the game mode---most of the time your experience/interaction with abductors, though, is going to be through the late-game event---which only has a single team.

 

So can the scientist defend themselves or escape, or are they pretty much worthless in combat without the help of the agent?

 

Are there mechanics to prevent this turning into heist, with 'friendly abductors' taking willing susbjects and turning the gamemode into extended that ends after an hour?

 

Can abductors speak or understand common?

 

Already been covered, but I'll re-iterate. No, they cannot speak common. They can understand all languages, but cannot speak anywhere but their mindlink (they can only speak to their team-mates, by default).

 

The scientist has no weapons and no armor (aside from his boots); he's primarily tasked with manning the consoles on the ship and doing the surgeries--that said, he can quickly teleport himself back to his ship, with an implant, if he happens to get caught.

 

Mechanics? Well, technically I believe they're EoC; some of the organs they put into people kill them or cause harmful effects---also, abductee's minds snap when they've been fully dissected, which makes them act ....non-normal. Will there be peaceful abductors? Probably, but it won't be nearly as fun for the abductors or potential abductees, either (and unlike Vox raiders, abductors are more than capable of completing their objective if they go full out hostile).

 

[Renomaki]

 

I only hope that the event isn't too common, though. It might sound fun to get a chance to respawn late into a match and go kidnap people, but for everyone else just wanting to chill with a beer after surviving their third explosion, the idea of getting kidnapped and having cruel aliens turn you into a walking carrier of death against your will doesn't sound fun to me.

 

As for it being a gamemode itself, having up to 8 players forming 4 teams competing against each other to score the most points seems a tad frantic if you ask me. But then again, I haven't experienced this gamemode yet, so I wouldn't really know. After all, there were plenty of matches with 5-7 antags at any one time, so maybe I'm just worrying that it'll blow out of control.

 

Hopefully the whole alien implant thing wouldn't be too serious, though.. Reading up about it, a lot of them are really bad for the crew, with only one of them being rather kindhearted. If designers have time, maybe adding a few more implants that, you know, don't fuck you over super bad might be kinda nice, not only to give kinder antags more choices, but also for stealth reasons? Wouldn't want people to be aware of kidnappers, right?

 

But that is just me. I'll stumble across the mode soon enough, and hopefully it won't be too bad.. And if it DOES suck, well, hopefully it is rather uncommon, because I am more of a traitor kinda guy. At least those aren't too frantic and more mellow, you know?

 

[Doukan]

 

Ayyyyy

 

Hopefully this can be one of those not so serious modes where we don't have everyone playing to win, the aliens having to ensure their victims get back "alive" should end up with some funny situations even if they are EoC, maybe have their existence be officially denied by NT though? It'd be a good setup for the truth being out there.

 

[Boltersam]

Hah! this is one of my favourite modes from TG! Love it!