AdenAbrafOfTheO Wrote:Also, you should be able to just control a headless body you burst out of for no upgrade costs but you move 15% slower and have low endurance.

Frank_Stein Wrote:(I saw this thread and it got me thinking about how a parasite game mode could work. I came up with an idea that while parasite themed, was pretty different from what they were describing. What I have here is something inspired by System Shock 2, and somewhat of a combination of Spy and Changeling, with elements of Wizard tossed in.)

Alternative idea for a parasite themed mode.

Parasites are small worms that infect humans, multiplying and mutating their host as they gain control. There are different stages to the infection, and mutations are based on a timer that starts at the initial infection time. At the start of the round, one player (Maybe more?) is at Stage 3 infection. Stages of infection, their length, names, effects, and abilities associated with them are as follows:

• 1. Stage 1: "Blessed" 0-5 minutes after initial infection
     No adverse effects
     
     Stage 2: "Disciple" 5-10 minutes after initial infection
     Victim begins to show signs of brain damage, makes occasional erratic movement, eventually passes out.
     
     Stage 3: "Missionary" 10-20 minutes from infection time
     Victim's mind is eroded. When victim awakes from sleep caused by Stage 2, they will now be under the control of the parasite. The player gains the objective to further the infection, and to protect the infected when possible. For RP purposes, players are to consider themselves and other players at Stage 3 and beyond one entity and to act selflessly towards the cause. They can communicate with each other through a hivemind channel using ":p". Crewmen in stages 1 and 2 are to be protected as a means to help the infection spread, though sacrifices can be made as needed. Crewmen in stages 1 and 2 of the infection will be highlighted with a greyed out "T". Crewmen in stages 3 and above with a red "T" At this stage, the infected crewman gains several abilities:
     [list=2]
     
  2. Bisect -The ability to produce a parasite egg in their empty hand every 3 minutes. The egg can be added to food, dropped into a drinking glass, or drawn into a syringe. The next person to eat or drink the food, or to be injected with the syringe becomes infected and enters Stage 1
     
  3. Bile -After having been in Stage 3 for 6 minutes, the infected crewman can, with a victim held in an aggressive grab, regurgitate into their mouths, rendering them unconscious and immediately putting them into the final portion of a Stage 2 infection. They can only do this once while in Stage 3
     
  4. Husk Bomb -The infected crewman can stab a victim, and implant the body with several egg clusters. This will rapidly decompose the body, rendering it into a husk. Using this ability will remove the ability to produce individual eggs during the rest of the duration that the infected crewman is in Stage 3. 5 minutes after the husk was created, it will burst open in a gaseous explosion that will infect those caught in it, immediately putting them into the early portion of a Stage 2 infection
     
  5. Psi Blast -The victim is overwhelmed by psychic energy and passes out. Essentially glare, but with a longer cooldown.
  
  Stage 4: "Acolyte" 20-25 minutes from infection time
  At this point, the infected crewman enters their first visible mutation, their skin becoming cancerous with odd growths. At this point, it is no longer possible to reverse the infection without killing the host. They lose Bisect and Husk Bomb as an ability, but can now perform Bile at will. The cooldown for Psi Blast becomes shorter, and they gain additional strength and stun resistance. The infected crewman's blood becomes a yellowish bile and passively infects people on touch.
  
  Stage 5: 25-35 minutes from infection time
  The infected crewman mutates again, losing their ability to perform Bile. However, they are given a prompt to pick from one of two forms which determine their new abilities and appearance:
  [list=2]
  "Paladin"The infected crewman grows larger in muscle mass, turning into a slower hulking mass of flesh. They lose Psi Blast as an ability, gaining the Hulk Genetic mutation, and increased Stun and Damage resistance. They gain the offensive physical abilities:
  [list=3]
• Charge - The infected crewman quickly dashes forward, knocking and stunning people that get in it's way to the floor
  
• Eviscerate - The infected crewman after putting a grab on a crewmember, tears their body into gibs.

"Bishop" The infected crewman's body starts to become frail, while their head enlarges. Using psychic energy, they hover inches above the ground. They return to the strength of a normal human. However their psychic powers greatly increase. The range of Psi Blast and it's the length of it's effect increases. They also gain the abilities:
[list=3][*]Psi Wall - The infected crewmate creates a psychic shield in the form of a wall directly in front of them, extending 5 tiles on either side.
[*]Sensory Scramble The infected crewmate creates field that scrambles the senses. The victims are unable to speak, and all infected crew stage 3 or higher gain temporary invisibility to the minds of the victims.
[*]Mind Melt - The infected crewmate focuses their thoughts into a harmful beam of pure psychic assault, exploding the head of their target.[/list][/list][/list][/list]

I was also thinking that possibly there should be a final stage of the infection, where the body starts to break apart, eventually exploding in an effect similar to the Husk Bomb. Infection times, and abilities might need to be adjusted. The idea would be to give the player options of being more stealthy with how they infect people, or quicker and more direct at the cost of a smaller infection pool as part of the early game. I think the trick would be to find the balance between not making the infection spread too quickly like with Zombies, or be too spread out before a response could happen. The later stages of the infection would be more to provide support for the people you infected earlier to infect others.

As for treatment, I was thinking that maybe the parasites are weak to heat. Catch the infection early, and you can heat up the infected to kill the worms inside of them. The later in the infection, the longer they have to be exposed/more heat required, to the point that Stage 3 would almost kill someone at full health. Health scanners should probably not pick up the infection until late in Stage 1, or maybe only sleeping beds would show it as was suggested in the other thread.

Anyway, I think the Gamemode could be interesting in that it can fake a lot of the symptoms of other round types, not letting people quite know what to be expecting and making metagaming harder. I also tried to use powers and abilities close to things that already exist to not make it overly complicated.

salix_catus Wrote:maybe not a game mode, but another antag for mixed?

robertmanbob Wrote:Also, what stops you from jumping into space the moment you discover you have the parasite?

Isilkor Wrote:

robertmanbob Wrote:Also, what stops you from jumping into space the moment you discover you have the parasite?

As I understand the proposal, the parasite turns you into an antagonist with full control (unlike a headspider) so nobody is going to kill themselves over it. I'm more concerned about people rolling around in the infect-on-touch blood.