Make genetic instability scale according to the mutations

[Crumplehat]

OK. We get it. People hate Genetics. There were a bunch of shitty geneticists who didn't do their job. I get that.

But some of these measures just seem more severe than strictly necessary. Getting rid of the portagenes? Fine, there's good reason for that. Shrink the office? Maybe a little bit more than necessary but fine, that was a good idea too. But this genetic instability thing has some consequences that I'm not sure were fully intended.

As it was relayed to me (since I don't see anything about it on the changelog), if you get more than around 5-6 mutations, you start deteriorating and eventually turn into a meat cube.

I get what the intention was. You're trying to prevent the assholes who want to be regenerating TK Hulks with Xray and laser eyes and can resist every kind of damage. That's good. Great even! Those kinds of guys are shitty!

But the problem is that this also applies to negative mutations and cosmetic mutations. So while power gamer up there gets meat cubed, so too do people who want to be shiny skeletons with horns who want to be able to scream REALLY LOUD in Funky Swedish while snapping crystal fingers. Same for people who get injected with a mutagen, as if that wasn't enough of a death sentence already, they'll end up gibbing into a meat cube before they can figure out what's going on.

What I would suggest is that certain mutations have a fixed "instability" rating. TK, hulk, etc, they all have really high ratings, while cosmetic stuff is lower, preferably negligible, but I doubt anyone will agree to that in this current atmosphere.

Additionally, a way to actually check your own genetic stability (without needing to be in the dna modder) would be nice, maybe with a genetics PDA or a health scanner mod or something.

I don't think the whole stability thing's a bad idea, I just want to be able to be a really fancy skeleton.

[Amuys]

Yes

[Erev]

This seems reasonable. Heck, maybe even give some stability for some of the nastier negative mutations.

[DyssalC]

This seems reasonable. Heck, maybe even give some stability for some of the nastier negative mutations.

I believe somebody proposed a system where positive mutations work towards instability and negative mutations work against it, so if you wanted to be superman you'd have to be deaf and blind superman who can't stop farting and coughing.

[Daeren]

The genetic instability was not my implementation but from my experiences it was a bit overkill. I might chat with ISN about it or see what I can do.

[Dauntasa]

Mutations that are purely cosmetic shouldn't have ay instability whatsoever, that's stupid. I think the entire idea of instability is a little stupid, to be honest. It seems like becoming a supermutant takes like at least 40 minutes of continuous effort and if someone wants to put that amount of time then they should get a good reward and not a big bullshit roadblock, and if they're a huge douchebag with it they should get banned instead of the thing being nerfed to death. But I dunno, maybe Genetics assholes were a big enough problem to warrant this.

If it really is necessary, I'd say give negative mutations and positive mutations scaling instability according to the severity of their effect. So, something like, say, Obesity or Midas Touch would give a small amount, Hulk or Blindness would give a large amount, and Horns or Flashing Skin wouldn't give you any at all.

[Crumplehat]

In my experience, most actual geneticists who dose full of superpowers never actually leave genetics to do anything with them anyway, frankly.

[Hulk Hogan]

I don't get why people hate genetics. Some Geneticists do their jobs. Besides that, if we are going to have instability, then a hard to obtain gene should prevent instability or make instability harder to get. A Geneticist that works very hard should be hard to kill, its just like a chemist that works hard and knows how too make secret chems. Make certain genes hard to learn.

[Dr_Bee]

I still think that making certain powers synergize for a diminished stability penalty would be pretty neat. it would give good geneticist something to more to search for. also I think there really should be some sort of benefit for handing out powers. right now the easy way to distribute powers is expensive, the hard and cheap way requires getting people to trust you not to kill them. consider this is SS13 think about how often the hard and cheap way is used.

[BaneOfGiygas]

I don't get why people hate genetics. Some Geneticists do their jobs.

In short, because when Geneticists don't do their jobs, it's really frustrating and is typically for no good reason.

A Geneticist that works very hard should be hard to kill, its just like a chemist that works hard and knows how too make secret chems. Make certain genes hard to learn.

The problem that a lot of people have is that the Geneticist's acquisition of those superpowers is, nine times out of ten, at the expense of Mt. Corpse just outside their office. Superpowers create a power trip in a lot of people and is much more simplistic when compared to stuff like research. Therefore, the genetic instability function forces geneticists to realize that there is more to life than become lasershooting, telekinetic Hulks.

right now the easy way to distribute powers is expensive, the hard and cheap way requires getting people to trust you not to kill them. consider this is SS13 think about how often the hard and cheap way is used.

This is an incredibly good point, and the latter option has its lack of viability further compounded by the ubiquitous sense of looming danger that seems to emenate from any non-Geneticists in genetics lab, to say nothing of the people who won't stop pestering the geneticists until they're aforementioned lasershooting telekinetic Hulks. Usually, geneticists are far more content to scramble more monkey genes to try and get more mutations.

Also, curiously enough, I've found that no one even asks genetics for superpowers anymore, and the number of people that play geneticist seems to have sharply declined, so that muddles the issue even further.

[Frank_Stein]

I think having a power limit encourages people to actually leave the lab and use those powers, rather than stick around trying to acquire more.

[Crumplehat]

encourages people to actually leave the lab

Wasn't the whole point of all this to make them actually do their job? Doesn't that entail doing the exact opposite of that thing?

The problem that a lot of people have is that the Geneticist's acquisition of those superpowers is, nine times out of ten, at the expense of Mt. Corpse just outside their office.

Geneticists have an all-time low motivation to actually do their job now that it's come to this. People are actively antagonizing them, the ONE ASPECT of the job that drew them to it in the first place has been shot in the kneecap, and even the admins seem to hate them, from the tone of the changelog. What reason do they have to clone people? To keep people from being pissed off at them? Why even bother playing the job anymore at that point?

Superpowers create a power trip in a lot of people and is much more simplistic when compared to stuff like research. Therefore, the genetic instability function forces geneticists to realize that there is more to life than become lasershooting, telekinetic Hulks.

It's not just about the super POWERS, though. I play genetics so I can make myself super-fancy and magical while helping people out. I don't want to be turned into a meatcube for trying to gain all the accents, for fuck's sake, man.

[Grayshift]

My suggestion on this matter was: The more people who have a particular power, the less genetic instability it causes in anyone who has it. It really causes the geneticists to become contributing members of the crew, out to mutate anyone and everyone with whatever they have on hand in order to increase their own genetic stability. They still get to pursue the dream of becoming a superman, but have to interact with the crew in a positive way to do it.

[Crumplehat]

My suggestion on this matter was: The more people who have a particular power, the less genetic instability it causes in anyone who has it. It really causes the geneticists to become contributing members of the crew, out to mutate anyone and everyone with whatever they have on hand in order to increase their own genetic stability. They still get to pursue the dream of becoming a superman, but have to interact with the crew in a positive way to do it.

To make that more viable, it would have to become cheaper/easier to actually give more people mutations. Also, I still think cosmetic mutations shouldn't count for this malarkey.

[atomic1fire]

Mass Production upgrade: Injectors prices get halved.