Goonhub
01-18-2023, 01:10 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2023, 01:14 PM by RelentlessGarbage. Edited 1 time in total.
Edit Reason: just realized that blood regeneration rate is very low lmao
)
Hey all! Here's an (admittedly long!) suggestion that I doubt will be considered seriously, but I've been thinking about it for a while and if I don't write it down it will continue to bother me.
I'd like to propose a new type of gene that can be found exclusively in human crewmembers: Genetic Knockout. It's an uncommon/very uncommon gene, and always starts as being inactive in a crewmember's genetic potential. (Read: it cannot be activated by the Mildly Mutated trait.) It can only be removed via the GeneTek console (unaffected by mutadone and the like) and has no associated stability penalty if injected. Also, you’re twice/three times as likely to find the gene in the pool of people that signed up as Botanists at the start of the round or upon being hired for...reasons.
If this gene is active, the person will constantly produce a new chemical called "Genetic Knockout Serum" in their bloodstream. The replenishing rate of the chemical is tied to the rate that a mob regenerates blood, so if they have Filgrastim in their bloodstream they will regenerate knockout serum more quickly. It should regenerate up to a small set point, such as 30u in the bloodstream, potentially being doubled if the gene has the “Power Booster” chromosome. Harvesting this from crewmembers or mobs with the gene active is the only way to get more of it…that is, besides glass chicken eggs – here’s to making ranching more relevant!
Genetic Knockout Serum has no addiction chance or overdose effects, and decays at a normal rate. While it's in a person or a mob, it has a chance of removing genetic mutations per life cycle, like mutadone. However, it has a priority in what mutations it removes; it targets harmful mutations first, followed by neutral mutations, then beneficial mutations, and, lastly, mutadone-resistant or "reinforced" mutations (e.g. the clown's Dyspraxia). As an example, if a player has both Gamma Ray Exposure and Frontal Gyrus Suspension, it will be impossible for Gamma Ray Exposure to be removed until Frontal Gyrus Suspension is gotten rid of, but once that happens Gamma Ray Exposure can be removed with enough time. I’d also imagine that it’s slower-acting when compared to mutadone, so that careful dosage can allow for targeted removal of unwanted mutations. If a mob has no mutations, having the chemical in the bloodstream protects against getting induced genetic mutations (from radiation, splashed unstable mutagen, or even gene injectors) by giving any mutation-inducing event a 75% chance to simply fail and not give you anything.
Now, while this chem would have its own niche compared to mutadone – namely, by allowing for hardened genes to be removed and letting people with mutant superpowers cure unpleasant mutations without losing their abilities through small doses – I was mostly thinking about a potential application for Botany. When put into a plant’s tray, Genetic Knockout Serum would work similarly to having it in a mob; harmful or negative genes are removed at a random rate per cycle, followed by any other genes. (If a plant is a mutant, however, it stays a mutant - Dawning Venne won't become regular Venne with enough exposure.) If there are no genes left to be removed, one of the plant’s contained reagents or chemicals will be removed instead. This change persists in the seeds and offspring of the plant, allowing for the creation of things like marijuana without THC, or limes without lime juice. The offspring can mutate and gain genes as normal, but will never recover their original reagents, allowing for botanists to – finally – splice plants together to get all the best beneficial genes without creating offspring with unwanted chemicals in them. Infusing would remove one gene or reagent at a time in a similar manner.
I’d also suggest that, both in the tray and while infusing, there’d be a chance to move all stats towards 0 in increments of one, with it being more likely to increase negative plant stats rather than decreasing positive ones. It’d provide a unique kind of trade-off to using the chem that isn’t exactly the same as mutadone’s insane in-tray growth stunting effects.
The obvious cost to botanists is that they’d have to actually interact with genetics to get any of this stuff (I’d strongly argue against ever having it accessible in GardenGear vendors or via the QM), and collecting a substantial amount would require a lot of blood donations, mutant monkey blood farming, or production with the aid of Ranching. Botanists would be especially motivated to get scanned at genetics because they’d have a higher chance of having the gene, potentially benefitting themselves and giving genetics more research materials to work with and people to talk to (in what can otherwise be a fairly boring job, so I’m told). Overall, the hope is to increase the amount of cross-departmental cooperation without strictly requiring it, since you can do just fine without this stuff, both in botany and genetics.
Making the serum sufficiently rare and annoying to produce also means that it’ll probably never be used, and the status quo will go relatively unchanged. It also isn’t so novel that not having it would be actively detrimental, as mutadone works just fine as a broad-spectrum anti-mutagenic medication. However, it’d allow for the production of all manner of wacky plants in theory, plus being a potential QoL thing for people that frequently take mutations.
Some balancing concerns regarding the ability to remove reinforced mutations are worth considering. I'd suggest that certain infections that transform people (i.e. vampiric transformation from vampire serum, clown or cluwne transformation from rainbow/painbow serum, etc.) should be undone by Genetic Knockout Serum, but if you're a certain type of character from round start or spawn (i.e. you spawned as a vampire/werewolf antagonist, were turned into a Vampiric Thrall, etc.) your character type should not be alterable with the serum. I know that some people will be upset, since removal of hardened mutations allows for clowns to escape their eternal clumsiness punishment, but personally I don’t think clowns or mimes that try to escape their self-inflicted handicaps are a serious concern. A little lame, maybe, but that’s on them, and they shouldn’t significantly affect the play experience of others.
Anyhow, I'd welcome discussion on this idea. I doubt it'll go anywhere, but I'd love to see a similar ability to modify plants in a more sophisticated manner be given to botany.
I'd like to propose a new type of gene that can be found exclusively in human crewmembers: Genetic Knockout. It's an uncommon/very uncommon gene, and always starts as being inactive in a crewmember's genetic potential. (Read: it cannot be activated by the Mildly Mutated trait.) It can only be removed via the GeneTek console (unaffected by mutadone and the like) and has no associated stability penalty if injected. Also, you’re twice/three times as likely to find the gene in the pool of people that signed up as Botanists at the start of the round or upon being hired for...reasons.
If this gene is active, the person will constantly produce a new chemical called "Genetic Knockout Serum" in their bloodstream. The replenishing rate of the chemical is tied to the rate that a mob regenerates blood, so if they have Filgrastim in their bloodstream they will regenerate knockout serum more quickly. It should regenerate up to a small set point, such as 30u in the bloodstream, potentially being doubled if the gene has the “Power Booster” chromosome. Harvesting this from crewmembers or mobs with the gene active is the only way to get more of it…that is, besides glass chicken eggs – here’s to making ranching more relevant!
Genetic Knockout Serum has no addiction chance or overdose effects, and decays at a normal rate. While it's in a person or a mob, it has a chance of removing genetic mutations per life cycle, like mutadone. However, it has a priority in what mutations it removes; it targets harmful mutations first, followed by neutral mutations, then beneficial mutations, and, lastly, mutadone-resistant or "reinforced" mutations (e.g. the clown's Dyspraxia). As an example, if a player has both Gamma Ray Exposure and Frontal Gyrus Suspension, it will be impossible for Gamma Ray Exposure to be removed until Frontal Gyrus Suspension is gotten rid of, but once that happens Gamma Ray Exposure can be removed with enough time. I’d also imagine that it’s slower-acting when compared to mutadone, so that careful dosage can allow for targeted removal of unwanted mutations. If a mob has no mutations, having the chemical in the bloodstream protects against getting induced genetic mutations (from radiation, splashed unstable mutagen, or even gene injectors) by giving any mutation-inducing event a 75% chance to simply fail and not give you anything.
Now, while this chem would have its own niche compared to mutadone – namely, by allowing for hardened genes to be removed and letting people with mutant superpowers cure unpleasant mutations without losing their abilities through small doses – I was mostly thinking about a potential application for Botany. When put into a plant’s tray, Genetic Knockout Serum would work similarly to having it in a mob; harmful or negative genes are removed at a random rate per cycle, followed by any other genes. (If a plant is a mutant, however, it stays a mutant - Dawning Venne won't become regular Venne with enough exposure.) If there are no genes left to be removed, one of the plant’s contained reagents or chemicals will be removed instead. This change persists in the seeds and offspring of the plant, allowing for the creation of things like marijuana without THC, or limes without lime juice. The offspring can mutate and gain genes as normal, but will never recover their original reagents, allowing for botanists to – finally – splice plants together to get all the best beneficial genes without creating offspring with unwanted chemicals in them. Infusing would remove one gene or reagent at a time in a similar manner.
I’d also suggest that, both in the tray and while infusing, there’d be a chance to move all stats towards 0 in increments of one, with it being more likely to increase negative plant stats rather than decreasing positive ones. It’d provide a unique kind of trade-off to using the chem that isn’t exactly the same as mutadone’s insane in-tray growth stunting effects.
The obvious cost to botanists is that they’d have to actually interact with genetics to get any of this stuff (I’d strongly argue against ever having it accessible in GardenGear vendors or via the QM), and collecting a substantial amount would require a lot of blood donations, mutant monkey blood farming, or production with the aid of Ranching. Botanists would be especially motivated to get scanned at genetics because they’d have a higher chance of having the gene, potentially benefitting themselves and giving genetics more research materials to work with and people to talk to (in what can otherwise be a fairly boring job, so I’m told). Overall, the hope is to increase the amount of cross-departmental cooperation without strictly requiring it, since you can do just fine without this stuff, both in botany and genetics.
Making the serum sufficiently rare and annoying to produce also means that it’ll probably never be used, and the status quo will go relatively unchanged. It also isn’t so novel that not having it would be actively detrimental, as mutadone works just fine as a broad-spectrum anti-mutagenic medication. However, it’d allow for the production of all manner of wacky plants in theory, plus being a potential QoL thing for people that frequently take mutations.
Some balancing concerns regarding the ability to remove reinforced mutations are worth considering. I'd suggest that certain infections that transform people (i.e. vampiric transformation from vampire serum, clown or cluwne transformation from rainbow/painbow serum, etc.) should be undone by Genetic Knockout Serum, but if you're a certain type of character from round start or spawn (i.e. you spawned as a vampire/werewolf antagonist, were turned into a Vampiric Thrall, etc.) your character type should not be alterable with the serum. I know that some people will be upset, since removal of hardened mutations allows for clowns to escape their eternal clumsiness punishment, but personally I don’t think clowns or mimes that try to escape their self-inflicted handicaps are a serious concern. A little lame, maybe, but that’s on them, and they shouldn’t significantly affect the play experience of others.
Anyhow, I'd welcome discussion on this idea. I doubt it'll go anywhere, but I'd love to see a similar ability to modify plants in a more sophisticated manner be given to botany.