+- Goonstation Forums (https://forum.ss13.co)
+-- Forum: Discussion (https://forum.ss13.co/forumdisplay.php?fid=6)
+--- Forum: Ideas & Suggestions (https://forum.ss13.co/forumdisplay.php?fid=8)
+--- Thread: New Antagonist: Ancient Robot; Redux (/showthread.php?tid=24893)
New Antagonist: Ancient Robot; Redux - swinglow20 - 01-28-2026
Hello all!
Last October, I kind of quit work on a project to create a new midround antagonist centered around the Ancient artifact type. I still want to work on the project, but it definitely needs a more streamlined, concrete direction.
I have a few ideas I want to run by the community, and I'd love to hear what you all think and hear any ideas you all might have for the project.
Some background: from what little we know about them, the Ancient species are silicon based lifeforms with a particular disdain for organic life. They are tied to some secret content that I wont go in to here. Their artifacts are the blackish-grey ones that look like uqill.
Idea A) tweaked original concept:
The original idea for this was a midround boss antagonist. A derelict Ancient satellite would float by the station, pick up lifeform readings and reactivate, then send a drone out to search and destroy the crew.
This idea is pretty round disruptive, and I had a hard time thinking of a way it could be playable on RP. There isn't much interaction room with an entity that simply wants you dead and wont talk to you. Some changes to this concept that may make it more RP friendly would be a "bounty" system that gives the drone certain crew it needs to destroy. Almost like a mix of hunter and spief.
Idea B) "Snatcher" game mode:
A derelict Ancient satellite would float by the station, pick up lifeform readings and reactivate.
The player spawns in an Ancient satellite as a scout drone tasked by the central intelligence to collect data on the crew. This comes in the form of the drone latching on to the player's head and then teleporting away with it. (Just the head maybe). As the central intelligence gathers more intelligence from the minds collected, the scout drone would be able to upgrade and adapt to the crew's response to it's presence. The minds gathered could also serve a purpose as a new part of the "Collective" as they could be put in new drones and also snatch members of the crew. They could also potentially gather resources to upgrade the drones, as the central intelligence would need raw materials in order to upgrade the drones.
This method of the antagonist offers much greater counterplay while still retaining the core idea of "This thing is antithesis to human life". Instead of a directly violent approach, this would come off more as cold, calculated indifference. There's also a much stronger gameplay loop for the antagonist as opposed to "murder everything." Also, the higher the position on the chain of command, the greater the resource gain, as they would have better information on Nanotrasen and it's systems. (Also yes I designed the scout drone to look like a claw machine grabber)
Idea C) "Malf AI":
This time YOU spawn as the central intelligence of the AI satellite. The derelict Ancient satellite would float by the station, pick up lifeform readings and reactivate. You would have resources such as drone shells in order to explore and gather information on the crew, but you yourself would exist as an overseer. At first you could not have access to the station's systems, but as you hack their systems, you could gain access to things like cameras and doors. Similar to the "snatcher" idea, you could need to gather minds to fuel your drones, and it would have a similar progression as you upgrade your drones and start to engage the crew.
I'm not too sure how I feel about this one, as there's a reason we don't have Malfunctioning AI inherent to the antagonist pool. The AI is a very powerful tool for the crew that is bound by the law rack. Something with the same level of access as the AI without a way to disrupt it would be difficult to shape counterplay around. The good thing is, the central intelligence is locked out of the station at round start. Engineering might be able to modify station systems in order to keep drones and the central intelligence out while the crew searches for the Ancient Satellite.
On the topic of the Ancient Satellite.
Once the crew has destroyed a significant amount of drones, I want the crew to be able to confront the central intelligence. I think having each drone drop components the crew can utilize for weaponry or research would be pretty cool. To that end, once central command gives the go ahead, research can program the teleporter with coordinates for the Ancient Satellite and attempt to destroy the central intelligence. This would give the central intelligence a reason to not be so blatant with their drone usage, as each lost drone is one more edge the crew has over it.
Anyway, that's all I have so far! Below I have attached some sprites for the mid-range drone, the scout drone, and the worker drone.
(Also yes, if you couldn't tell, this is taking significant liberties to a certain Sci-Fi Franchise
)