Goonhub
09-03-2013, 11:07 PM
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.
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.