Remove genetic things from lings entirely.

[BlackPhoenix]

 

It's not "making up backstory", the game says their true form is akin to a shambler which looks like a bug. And they do a bunch of utterly inhuman things when in human form. And we know that genetics is good for human-y things because NT supplies medical with them. So, logically, a changeling should not work with SS13's on-site genetics technology.

I disagree that the horror form looks like a bug, and there is also nothing to say that is its "true form". If you really want to base your idea off of The Thing, we never really saw its true form, just the forms it took in order to best utilize the shapes and abilities of everything it had consumed. Your logic is bad, there's no reason it couldn't have human genes as part of its assumedly incredibly complex SCIENCE FICTION dna sequence, and that those genes couldn't be modified. Moreover, there is no reason it couldn't use the genetics genes in exactly the same way it uses an absorbed human's genetic materials. It's all genes, my dude. 

An antagonist is generally somebody who has been given special tools and a griefing license. Different antagonists are given different limitations and tools so they're different from eachother. The problem is, with the current tools ling has, it's not very different from traitors. This isn't a blob-exclusive thing. Except maybe like spy compared traitor, all of the antagonists have different abilities and limitations. And even those two are given different objectives. None of this is even the point. The point is you're moving goalposts. So far I've been told that ling is different from traitor, and that all of the antagonists are traitor. Which is it?

My point was that by your pointlessly broad definition used to try and claim Changeling is basically just a traitor, any antagonist could be called "basically just a traitor". I don't think really anyone would agree that Changeling is "not very different from traitors". 

When was the last time you saw a ling that didn't just use all the same non-uplink objects to kill everybody? Yeah sure ling has powers but they're not that big of a difference.
As noted, memestings are just a sleepy pen.
Shambler lasts really short and/or is almost only found on the shuttle.
Limb critters never do anything besides get ignored via crew apathy.
etc.

This is literally all wrong, and also the hell is a "memesting"? Neurotoxic Sting? That isn't a sleepy pen, it's a more limited in use but endless in supply ability. Shambler is most often used as an end of round rampage, yeah, but it is also regularly used as a "this has all gone to shit and I'm being caught" rampage ability to escape and get a few kills on the way. Limb critters...I don't think I've ever seen them "ignored". Crew try hard to kill them, and often get pretty badly wrecked by them. Plus, they're a way to let the victims of the Changeling continue having fun, that's a good thing and something Traitor can't boast.

So that loops us back to the objectives. Which are different from traitors technically but in practice it's about the same. It's still "kill people" but with the added step of eating them. Traitors are really the ones with interesting objectives, but they frequently just resort to killing everybody. Ofc they can get away with it since that's kinda their gimmick.

I mean, what exactly do you want the difference to be if not "do the changeling thing to some people" rather than "Steal X" or "Assassinate X"? If you care so much about the fluff and thematic nature of it all, the Changeling objective is quite literally the most fitting thing to them. Absorb DNA. Escape to a source of more DNA when the round ends. 

I'm not going to talk in loops with you, man. If you find somebody who agrees with this, I'll chat with them I guess? So far, nobody seems to agree, so maybe you should consider that if everyone else is wrong, it might be you that's wrong.