New Antag: The Yin

[HugoLuman]

 

(I've done a lot of coding and spriting for this, but I must defer to those more experienced with the balance of the game to design mechanics)

 

Locked in an eternal civil war, the Yin are one of the most technologically sophisticated powers in the Galaxy, though they rarely involve themselves in the affairs of others. Their organic forms are little more than wriggling masses of nervous tissue with a flagella, but they inhabit a wide variety of synthetic shells, their "bodies" being anything from small combat drones to entire starships.

While reluctant to involve outsiders in the War for fear of unpredictable escalation, one faction has seen a temptation too great to pass over: The NSS Cyberiad. Seizing control of the station and its assets would grant them an excellent production facility for their efforts against the others. And no outsider would know which of the myriad factions to retaliate against.

 

Mechanics

The Yin start in critter form (outside their shells) on their ship

 

 

One will then enter the empty control core in the center of the ship, enabling them to control the ship and its machines, and coordinate the invasion effort. The Yin will then use the Shell Fabricators aboard their ship and plan their strategy.

 

Shell Fabricators

These print out mechanical shells for the disembodied Yin to pilot (and perhaps items or upgrades). These draw from a point pool (similar to TC stations), which might be static or might be replenishable by loading in more resources. There are two kinds of shells to print:

 

• Invaders, a borg-like, heavily armed and armored shell for overt tactics

  Infiltrators, a humanoid shell for stealthy tactics. Possibly starts with implants, possibly spends points to print additional implants/equipment

 

Yin can eject from their shells at any time, and while in critter form they can ventcrawl. Their organic forms have a bluespace uplink implant that enables them to communicate with each other at any time.

 

Objectives

The Yin seek to claim the station as a new production facility for their war effort, seizing control of all it's assets (including the crew). To accomplish this, they must:

1) Install a Bluespace Shield, preventing BSA fire from hitting the station or its vicinity

2) Take control of the station's systems by subverting or replacing the AI

3) Prevent their new slaves from escaping

 

These really need a lot of work.

 

Unique Equipment

Not that many yet, and not sure about these.

-Morphic Disguise: a programmable disguise for the Infiltrators. Customize your false appearance then slip it on in the mask slot

-Armblade/Armgun implant: a weapon for Infiltrators to use. Not overly powerful

-Guns: Probably mostly energy based. Considering giving their weapons a plasma focus

-Yin Neurotoxin: Causes victim's brain to mutate into a Yin, exploding out of their skull. Probably not as an antag. Won't have the uplink implant (Probably not using this)

-Yin Nanoplastic: transforms the victim into a walking meld of flesh and machine, enslaved to the Yin controller.

 

Edited February 11, 2017 by Guest

[fludd12]

Cool. Sounds difficult to code, but really, really cool.

[necaladun]

I

[Vivalas]

 

Very nice, although I hate to play devil's advocate here (since I love the spriting), I would hate to see this suffer the same fate as heist and be doomed to fail as another nuke clone. Nuke involves destroying the station. Heist involved stealing but generally devolved into a shoot em up anyways. This gamemode mimics the other two but seems to be a "seize control" type, while not technically the same objective as heist or nuke, heist or nuke sometimes try to accomplish their objective by seizing control leading to a bloody but fun gunfight.

 

My suggestion is to strongly suggest against violence and limit the "overt" form to very powerful stun weapons. The idea is that they would want very little collateral damage to the crew or station. You can give them very overpowered lethal weapons if you like, but they should require something like admin approval to be able to be used.

 

Also I might be able to help you with this codewise if you need help on that end.

 

[HugoLuman]

 

I was thinking somewhere between nuke ops (guns blazin!) and xenos (taking over the station, making and expanding a base within the station). So, yes on replenishing their fabricator points by taking resources. And possibly yes on their enslavement chem.

 

Codewise, help would be highly appreciated. In particular, the code for the Yin Controller. I'd like them to behave somewhat like an AI core, with the player inside being able to move an "eye" around. At first, only able to see the area in and around the ship, but then patching into the station's cameras later.

 

[Da Dman234]

 

I really like your shield idea, that'd be an interesting objective that'd require defense. I could see them setting up a sort of base on station, and would love to see them alternating between offense and defense (This would be a great place for the invader shells to come into play). Replace the AI on the other hand... not so much. It's just way too easy to do, especially when it's as isolated as it is. As for the stop the escape of crew, I'm not against the idea, but doesn't that basically mean taking over the bridge and shooting the two comms consoles, then what happens? This could probably used for a new/more unique objective, but maybe I'm just nitpicking.

 

Very nice, although I hate to play devil's advocate here (since I love the spriting), I would hate to see this suffer the same fate as heist and be doomed to fail as another nuke clone. Nuke involves destroying the station. Heist involved stealing but generally devolved into a shoot em up anyways. This gamemode mimics the other two but seems to be a "seize control" type, while not technically the same objective as heist or nuke, heist or nuke sometimes try to accomplish their objective by seizing control leading to a bloody but fun gunfight.

 

My suggestion is to strongly suggest against violence and limit the "overt" form to very powerful stun weapons. The idea is that they would want very little collateral damage to the crew or station. You can give them very overpowered lethal weapons if you like, but they should require something like admin approval to be able to be used.

 

Also I might be able to help you with this codewise if you need help on that end.

 

I'm suuuuuper against this.

I'd rather we didn't make Vox raiders 2.0. I think that's pretty much proved that non-violent boarding parties don't work well on anything other than high-RP. Plus if they're non-lethal what's the point of invaders, where/what would they do with stunned prisoners, ect. I think an interesting way to take this is to make them into a conversion boarding party that captures crew and turns them into abominations/slaves that assist them with their objectives, eventually leading to a hostile takeover. Obviously that's just my two cents though

 

[HugoLuman]

 

For the infiltrators, I've made an item, a mask that looks like a generic head of whatever species it's set to (it can change icon like a clown mask) and adjusts their examine text accordingly (it will say "This is Totalynotayinfiltator, a human/etc!"

 

Question is, should it disguise their skin as well, or should they rely on gloves, shoes, and clothing to do so?

 

[Renomaki]

 

What would be the counters to them, if they attack?

 

Every antag has a certain weakness of sorts that you have to keep in mind.

 

For normal agents, it is just a matter of having your detective gather evidence of crimes and security in general doing body searches when code allows it.

 

Nuke agents require the station to band together and survive the onslaught once it is detected, and to escort the captain to safety as soon as possible, or at the very least the disk.

 

Changelings are harder, though, but again, with good detective work, you could find them.

 

Blobs require you to find the main core and set up emitters to drill into it, while the crew does its best to slow down it's growth before it gets out of control.

 

And etc etc etc.

 

If we get attacked by Yin, what would be a good idea when dealing with them? Are they weak to EMPs? Would death tolls be high during an attack? How many will normally be on at any one time?

 

Skill as an antag is one thing, but what I'm talkin about is general stuff. If it is too easy for the Yin to fuck up the station, it wouldn't be much fun.. On the other hand, if it is too easy to fend them off, then people will just groan when they do come on. It's tricky to get the right balance of fun and challenge, you know?

 

[HugoLuman]

 

Yeah, I'm gonna need plenty of help on design here.

 

Currently they have MASSIVE weakness to EMP. An EMP will instantly drop the infiltrator shells (haven't coded the Invader or Controller shells yet). They're also weak to radiation, which will damage the creature piloting the shell directly.

 

I'm planning on having the transformed slaves be resistant to EMPs.

 

[Lolzyking]

 

give them a reliable way to convert the AI, only requiring them to invade the satellite.

 

Make an AI converted to them only repairable by carding, also an AI enslaved to the yin could be upgraded with yin technology maybe?

 

[tristan1333]

I'd be willing to help you code this if you need any help

[HugoLuman]

 

I could use some help indeed. Here's the code I have so far: https://github.com/QuinnAggeler/Paradise/tree/Yin

 

In particular, I could use help with the Yin Controller, and the gamemode code, though we have some design to do first

 

For the Yin Controller, it needs:

-The ability for a Yin to enter and exit it, toggling between object and structure like AI cores do

-The ability to see remotely. I'm thinking either through cameras (first just on the Yin ship, but then patching into the station network) or through the eyes of Yin shells, like the AI and its borgs.

-The ability to track the location of Yin

-A UI for flying the Yin ship

-Operation of the ship's teleporter (Need some design decisions there though)

 

[HugoLuman]

 

Here's the sprites for the Invader shells

 

[Vivalas]

Wouldn't keeping the Yin controller as a structure with a Yin stored inside be easier if you intend for them to be able to leave again? I don't see a purpose for having to create and destroy objects and mess with minds and all that.

[HugoLuman]

 

Yep, I was coming to realize that today while chatting with other coders. The only tricky part there would be with the UI and verbs, as we don't want them to have access to the yin creature verbs while inside the controller pod (since they'd get in the way). However, we'll have to do UI/verb stuff anyway.

 

The way I see it, we should do it kind of like borers. Where the critter is stored inside the structure but the mind is transferred to the mob that handles all the Yin Controller stuff, and transfers back when ejecting. The only headache I see there will be how we handle the Yin Controller's health (What happens if someone manages to board their ship and attacks the Controller pod directly?)

 

[Boltersam]

 

By the way, I have the suggestion for a shell. Yin Terraformer.

 

The role of this one is essentially to establish a foothold after the Invaders clear an area, to start converting part of the station into a base to launch further attacks from. Big, lumbering, very lightly armed, but with many abilities similar to a cult Artificer, to create doors only Yin and their servants (the crew infected with the nanoplastic) can open. Possible structures could be turrets, resource and ammunition producers, rechargers (Sort of self-explanatory. The Yin won't want to keep returning to the ship for nanoplastic, recharging, or rearming.)

 

Two theoretical structures could be a turret, and an implanting facility for their nanoplastic slaves, which will give them an implanted loadout of tools and basic weapons to support their Yin masterminds with.

 

[AzyWng]

Is there going to be a "Yang" antag group?

[HugoLuman]

 

By the way, I have the suggestion for a shell. Yin Terraformer.

 

The role of this one is essentially to establish a foothold after the Invaders clear an area, to start converting part of the station into a base to launch further attacks from. Big, lumbering, very lightly armed, but with many abilities similar to a cult Artificer, to create doors only Yin and their servants (the crew infected with the nanoplastic) can open. Possible structures could be turrets, resource and ammunition producers, rechargers (Sort of self-explanatory. The Yin won't want to keep returning to the ship for nanoplastic, recharging, or rearming.)

 

Two theoretical structures could be a turret, and an implanting facility for their nanoplastic slaves, which will give them an implanted loadout of tools and basic weapons to support their Yin masterminds with.

Something to consider indeed. Though I'm not sure if letting them build turrets (as least, aside from the way everyone can build turrets) is a good idea.

 

[Machofish]

 

By the way, I have the suggestion for a shell. Yin Terraformer.

(...)

 

I agree with this idea. It would certainly give a sense that the station is being 'converted' piece by piece. I'm not sure how difficult it would be to code, but the station's conversion % could be made into a victory objective for the yin, such as "Convert 80% of the station" similar to the blob's objectives.

 

As for the discussion about an AI, I think it would be interesting if the Yin's Control Core had to be deployed to the station's power network before being able to help the Yin with anything, once hooked into the station's grid, the Yin Control Core could function like a mixture between a powersink and a malfAI: Once deployed, the Yin Control Core would slowly obtain control of the station's machinery by hacking APCs. However, the Control Core would need to maintain a direct wired connection to any APCs it's hacked, or else it'll lose control over hacked areas - this balances its powers against the NanoTrasen Station AI, which can control the station's electronics remotely. Not only would this allow the crew to 'protect' their areas from the Yin Control Core by severing wires between hacked/unhacked areas, but it would prevent the Yin from simply shutting down the Station AI remotely, since the AI minisat does not share a direct powerline with the station itself.

 

 

On the topic of the Yin's combat methods, I can get behind the idea of making the Yin force captured crew to join them - but the process must be reversible in some fashion. For this reason, I am deeply against the idea of Yin Neurotoxin; it sounds like just as much !!FUN!! as when a wizard wanders around casually using the staff of change on everyone - it essentially removes the victim from their chosen role in the round, with no hope of turning back.

 

[HugoLuman]

 

Here's what I'm thinking so far for those enslaved by the Yin:

 

-The nanoplastic changes their body, making them a more capable worker in addition to adding the machinery that enslaves them to the Yin controller

-Unlike Shadowling thralls or cultists, where their will is totally subsumed by the new purpose and from their point of view they are now willing devotees, they become more like resentful borgs. The Yin controller dictates laws that they must follow, but they are free to seek out loopholes in those laws, and even express their discontent (unless the controller explicitly forbids them to do so).

-The Yin controller will have some ability to track, and possibly shutdown/punish, those enslaved to it

-An EMP will temporarily give a slave their free will back, until their control uplink resets. Their connection to the Yin controller can be permanently severed (I'm thinking through surgery, but possibly chems), setting them free.

-They could be restored to their original appearance, either through further surgery or a brain transplant.

 

[Dumbdumn5]

 

Here's what I'm thinking so far for those enslaved by the Yin:

 

-The nanoplastic changes their body, making them a more capable worker in addition to adding the machinery that enslaves them to the Yin controller

-Unlike Shadowling thralls or cultists, where their will is totally subsumed by the new purpose and from their point of view they are now willing devotees, they become more like resentful borgs. The Yin controller dictates laws that they must follow, but they are free to seek out loopholes in those laws, and even express their discontent (unless the controller explicitly forbids them to do so).

-The Yin controller will have some ability to track, and possibly shutdown/punish, those enslaved to it

-An EMP will temporarily give a slave their free will back, until their control uplink resets. Their connection to the Yin controller can be permanently severed (I'm thinking through surgery, but possibly chems), setting them free.

-They could be restored to their original appearance, either through further surgery or a brain transplant.

The Borg? Dis gon' be good.

 

[Keilden]

 

Here's what I'm thinking so far for those enslaved by the Yin:

 

-The nanoplastic changes their body, making them a more capable worker in addition to adding the machinery that enslaves them to the Yin controller

-Unlike Shadowling thralls or cultists, where their will is totally subsumed by the new purpose and from their point of view they are now willing devotees, they become more like resentful borgs. The Yin controller dictates laws that they must follow, but they are free to seek out loopholes in those laws, and even express their discontent (unless the controller explicitly forbids them to do so).

-The Yin controller will have some ability to track, and possibly shutdown/punish, those enslaved to it

-An EMP will temporarily give a slave their free will back, until their control uplink resets. Their connection to the Yin controller can be permanently severed (I'm thinking through surgery, but possibly chems), setting them free.

-They could be restored to their original appearance, either through further surgery or a brain transplant.

 

So like hacked laws borgs/ais angry player will find any loophole they can to validhunt their masters? I like it

 

[HugoLuman]

Well, I've just about finished coding the Yinfiltrator's disguise. It's a mask which, if clicked in the active hand, opens an appearance editing menu where they can design the disguise, being able to choose its race, gender, skin color/tone, markings (if applicable), and hair/factial hair styles and colors. When they wear the mask, they will take on this appearance (incorporating any items they might be wearing), and it will even disguise their species on examination (and the mask itself won't show up). However, they'll appear as "unknown" without wearing an ID, and there are subtle irregularities with the sprite accessories (equipment, hair/tails) that might tip off the observant. Also, it functions as a voice changer, but as with the syndicate one, they must remember to set the voice manually.

[liran424]

 

As I read this post I really like what you're cooking here... of course when you think you're about done or need any help in revising the work (if you think it's unbalanced or just want an opinion) just post it in points and we'll comment.

 

My thoughts so far:

Wouldn't keeping the Yin controller as a structure with a Yin stored inside be easier if you intend for them to be able to leave again? I don't see a purpose for having to create and destroy objects and mess with minds and all that.

I agree to this. Keep the Yin controller as a structure (a reskin AI core if you will) and keep a Yin inside it at all time. Coding reason, it's just more simple. Lore reason, the Yin ship doesn't have an "autopilot" or anything automatic at all seem that everything is already run by them anyways. So you would think they'll need someone keeping the ship stable in space and make sure to keep everything working smoothly at all times (may it be the life support system, coolant injectors, magnetic cuplers etc.). So they just sealed a Yin inside the Controller Core (I guess the only way to get him out is by destroying the thing). meta/player reason, it's basically an AI that can only interface with Yin tech.

 

 

And we need to change "Nanoplastic" name... maybe to naniteporbes? nanoprobes? Rezomorphers?[spoiler2](SPAZ reference)[/spoiler2]

 

 

And on another note: We'll need a wiki page for this, just tell us when you're finished or about to be.

 

[Taedra]

I love it so far. Last night I unknowingly joined in on a test run of a yin round. Had loads of fun fighting it and such. Hope the development continues!