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+--- Thread: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) (/showthread.php?tid=305)
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Spy_Guy - 09-03-2013
I think the botanist who created them should be able to use the Help intent to pat maneaters on the head (or something) which will toggle their roaming. Right now they move about randomly every now and then, which could be good if they were left on their own devices, but it makes moving them a chore.
This idea came to me a couple of days ago when I saw Elder Muffin having made a couple of them and tried to move them into the medbay, only to have to backpedal a lot because the plant got loose. Letting the botanist suppress their wanderlust until they spotted a target (which they would then engage with more purpose) would make maneaters a bit more reliable and fun to use without making them overpowered.
Hackysack von Traitor would still do the same thing, pulling the maneater through the corridors until it spots Pubbie McSnack, which brings it out of its docile state and sets it on the chase at which point our intrepid botanist would have to subdue his intended target just as before (since maneaters are relatively easy to outrun in open spaces).
Another idea could be to have the Help intent toggle if the maneater follows the botanist, like a guardbuddy, which would make the idea of a plant army more viable. Considering that one maneater, while cheap, is not a very large threat coupled with the fact that it instantly outs the fact that a botanist is up to no good I think a usability upgrade would go a long way to make it a better use of a telecrystal without actually buffing its combat abilities.
A disclaimer would be that I have actually never used maneaters myself, so I'm mainly basing this on what I've seen of other people using them along with my experience of encountering them. I have no idea how difficult or how long time it takes to raise them.
TL;DR
Plant wanderlust is bad.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Sundance - 09-04-2013
Spy_Guy Wrote:Maneater Idea.
Welcome to the forum.
Also, solid suggestion. Maneaters are pretty buff critter but in the end, there just a critter really, and for 1 telecrystal to be spend on something that would be killed by borgs/captain with a laser rifle, even having 5 of them almost seems like a bit of a waste.
Tapping them on the head with the help intent for them to enter a docile stance is a pretty good idea, if it means that they go out of this stance if they spot something to eat.
Another possible idea would some form of attack stance, maybe when not in docile mode, if you *point at another player, the maneater would attack that player. This would be handy if you are stunned and the maneater is too busy eating someone else, you could have a bit of control.
Not too sure how the latter could be coded, but the docile mode where the critter doesn't move can be seen in others like George (rub that belly) like actions, so it shouldn't be too hard to implement.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - atomic1fire - 09-04-2013
If the maneater thing happens I imagine people start naming their maneaters various names.
E.g Audrey Jr.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Klayboxx - 09-04-2013
They should also speak in chat while in a docile state.
"Aw cut the crap and bring on the meat!"
"Does this look "inanimate" to you, punk?"
"You know I don't come from no Black Lagoon."
"I think it's suppertime!"
"Come on, boy!"
and when they die, "Oh, shit!"
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Embolism - 09-04-2013
Allowing Botanists to pet Maneaters and make them not wander around is a great idea. Another thing that would be nice is if Maneaters could open doors after standing in front of them for a while, like a lot of critters could (unless they could already do this and I just haven't used them enough). The AI would still be able to lock Maneaters down (which happens without fail unless the AI is dead) so it's not a big deal.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - LunaticLawyer - 09-07-2013
Item: Powered Magnet/Powered Crowbar
Cost: 2-3 Telecrystals
Jobs: All/Scientists/Engineers
The item would essentially be a battery-powered (or energy powered) magnet or crowbar. The item would allow the user to "un-anchor" any metal or electronic object that the user wants. They would then be able to drag the object around the station and clicking on the object again "re-anchor" it to the ground. I'm sure traitors could have an amazing amount of fun with this, such as pulling off doors and putting them elsewhere (an alternative to the emag, though definitely easier to spot), dragging along the chem dispensers and creating smoke clouds on the fly. The possibilities are endless.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Swagile - 09-08-2013
LunaticLawyer Wrote:Item: Powered Magnet/Powered Crowbar
Cost: 2-3 Telecrystals
Jobs: All/Scientists/Engineers
The item would essentially be a battery-powered (or energy powered) magnet or crowbar. The item would allow the user to "un-anchor" any metal or electronic object that the user wants. They would then be able to drag the object around the station and clicking on the object again "re-anchor" it to the ground. I'm sure traitors could have an amazing amount of fun with this, such as pulling off doors and putting them elsewhere (an alternative to the emag, though definitely easier to spot), dragging along the chem dispensers and creating smoke clouds on the fly. The possibilities are endless.
This would be AWESOME for assistants.
Un-mag all the command airlocks and put them at the airbridge / all major hallways and force hop to give all access or everyone's gunna be stuck.
Bonus points if you space it after doing your dirty deed to make it harder to move the airlocks / have to decon it.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Klayboxx - 10-02-2013
I posted this in the SA ss13 thread, but I thought I'd post it here;
Quote:About the cloak;
Instead of screaming "REMOVE IT!!!" why not balance it?
I like the idea of a self-recharging battery, but I think if it weren't a large enough charge it would just become a huge fucking pain and doom it to the unused section of the traitor items - just like how it used to be when it didn't fit in your pockets. If it were to go to a self-recharging type thing, I think it would be appropriate for it to charge fairly slow but have a charge around five minutes long. If it takes about the same amount of time or even double that time would be good.
Another option would be to make a cloak detectable by more objects, or even make the objects that DO detect cloaks work better. T-ray scanners do indeed reveal cloakers but they flash in and out of existence so quickly you can hardly do shit about it anyway. They should be changed so if any cloaker is within the t-ray area they should be unaffected for a brief amount of time before the t-ray disrupts the cloak and the cloak actually physically turns off. This would make people with t-ray's immune to being stabbed in the back with a saber, but can still be shot or have something thrown at them by an unseen foe. I feel that the t-ray should turn off the cloak because the rays are jumbling the cloaks refracting power, and short circuiting it.
Flashes USED to reveal cloaks, but I'm pretty sure this was removed. I feel like that should be undone. This method was useful for security guards that hadn't grabbed a t-ray scanner and knew there was a cloaker about. I don't think this method should turn off a cloak, just make it not work breifly - since I feel like the reason this ever worked is because the cloak can't keep up with the bright flashing light.
It'd be neat if there was a PDA cart that had the sonar ability like pods do. This would allow you to at the very least know if there is some unseen force near you. I'll come up with other stuff later.
Also - cloaks aren't that good to begin with. I've said it before and I'll say it again, if you know there is a cloaker and you know he's murdering people - don't go out in open spaces. Stay in small areas where there is only a one or two wide gap and stay there until the cloaker is dead or comes to you. You can even put glass shards in your doorway and you'll hear the crunch noise and know they walked over it. I've caught/killed plenty of cloakers without having the ability to see them just by getting them into a one wide area where I KNOW they have to pass through and shooting at that area. The cloak shuts off after damage is done to them or they get tased, and the damage needed to do that is pretty small.
Further, most likely the cloaker is in the middle of murdering someone if you stumble upon them. Instead of staying and trying to save the person being murdered, book it. Run somewhere where the cloaker feels that they are over extending themselves. Run out into space and have a brief space walk - the cloaker most likely will turn around and go back to what they were doing before going on a station wide chase for one dude in assistant garb. Also remember just because they are invisible doesn't mean they can't be hit by things and can't step of things. Throw glass shards and move crazily around, maybe you'll get lucky and hit them a few times to slow them down. Put down mousetraps with foam grenades or crowd dispersal grenades to slip them up. Do stuff instead of submitting to the pain.
e: Also, the cloak effect could be changed to be similar to that of the ground cloaker, where you can vaguely see the object being cloaked but can't right click it or hit it.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Spy_Guy - 10-02-2013
As a person who's used a cloaker recently, flashes still disable it, but the area of effect is pretty small, probably just next to the person spamming the flash. Honestly, though, I really wouldn't mind having the first aggressive action disable the cloak for a small period of time to enable counterattacking. If the cloaker wants to continue fighting then they will have to remain completely exposed and if they want to hit and run then they will have to book it between every hit, giving the victim time to get help or run away.
The cloaker isn't overpowered because it makes people completely invisible or because it has infinite battery, it's overpowered because it lets people fight without fear of retaliation.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Klayboxx - 10-02-2013
Spy_Guy Wrote:As a person who's used a cloaker recently, flashes still disable it, but the area of effect is pretty small, probably just next to the person spamming the flash. Honestly, though, I really wouldn't mind having the first aggressive action disable the cloak for a small period of time to enable counterattacking. If the cloaker wants to continue fighting then they will have to remain completely exposed and if they want to hit and run then they will have to book it between every hit, giving the victim time to get help or run away.
The cloaker isn't overpowered because it makes people completely invisible or because it has infinite battery, it's overpowered because it lets people fight without fear of retaliation.
Well MOST people don't know how to retaliate - but seasoned players have a pretty good idea on how to deal with cloaks. I've given advice before and they work well for me.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - icarus - 10-02-2013
klayboxx the problem with your solutions is that everything there isn't available to anyone besides one crewmember (foam grenades to the janitor, crew control grenades to the hos) except the t-ray scanner (which you noted is kinda useless)
the best nerf for the cloak would be to not allow any actions with it on (including non hostile stuff like using computers or medkits) because as a cloaker it's super easy to tase/laser/vuzuvela bolt people when you're completely untouchable and have no way of being hit unless another person in the room has a shard they can throw and can follow the super fast bolt icon
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - APARTHEID - 10-02-2013
Klayboxx Wrote:Spy_Guy Wrote:As a person who's used a cloaker recently, flashes still disable it, but the area of effect is pretty small, probably just next to the person spamming the flash. Honestly, though, I really wouldn't mind having the first aggressive action disable the cloak for a small period of time to enable counterattacking. If the cloaker wants to continue fighting then they will have to remain completely exposed and if they want to hit and run then they will have to book it between every hit, giving the victim time to get help or run away.
The cloaker isn't overpowered because it makes people completely invisible or because it has infinite battery, it's overpowered because it lets people fight without fear of retaliation.
Well MOST people don't know how to retaliate - but seasoned players have a pretty good idea on how to deal with cloaks. I've given advice before and they work well for me.
Even then, if you know where the cloaker is, sometimes your gun of choice will decide to fire through them as if they were still invisible.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Morrigi - 10-02-2013
The cloak isn't really OP unless you know how to use it, which is true for most traitor items. For seven telecrystals, I think it's reasonable.
New traitor item for RD: Advanced Sleepypen
Pretty much a normal sleepypen, but with a configurable poison output. 5 telecrystals.
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Morrigi - 10-02-2013
Morrigi Wrote:The cloak isn't really OP unless you know how to use it, which is true for most traitor items. For seven telecrystals, I think it's reasonable.
New traitor item for RD: Advanced Sleepypen
Pretty much a normal sleepypen, but with a configurable poison output. 5 telecrystals.
Clarification: configurable injection amount*, like the hypospray
Re: Official Traitor Items Discussion Thread (Wonk) - Klayboxx - 10-02-2013
icarus Wrote:klayboxx the problem with your solutions is that everything there isn't available to anyone besides one crewmember (foam grenades to the janitor, crew control grenades to the hos) except the t-ray scanner (which you noted is kinda useless)
the best nerf for the cloak would be to not allow any actions with it on (including non hostile stuff like using computers or medkits) because as a cloaker it's super easy to tase/laser/vuzuvela bolt people when you're completely untouchable and have no way of being hit unless another person in the room has a shard they can throw and can follow the super fast bolt icon
You can still get mouse traps so you're wired for sound and know if someone has come through an area.
That nerd sounds awful - what would be the point of the cloak at that point?