01-21-2023, 11:19 AM
It'd be interesting to see what's normally just an admin-only thing get turned into a real game mode. That said, a proper win condition (like what's seen with Revolution or Nuclear Ops) seems important, else things might stretch out for a while. In my (limited) experience with what the admins do with Necro Virus, a bunch of people are randomly infected (with little to no direct warning) at some point in the round and allowed to turn. After nearly everyone or everyone on the station has been turned, you see Nanotrasen send in a team of heavily-armed operatives to put down all of the zombies, before having them escape on the shuttle.
Maybe it could be a timed thing, where the "Infection" wins if over 80% of the population is turned by or before the 30 minute mark, or if all human crewmembers on the station's Z-Level are zombies at any point. If all zombies are eradicated or sent off the station's Z-Level, the crew wins. If 30 minutes have passed and neither condition has been reached, a CentComm alert will be sent out declaring the detection of an "Infestation of Necrotic Entities" on the station, which will be dealt with by armed operatives. A pool of 4-10 ghosts will be offered the chance to respawn as "Nanotrasen Reclamation Operatives," and they will be spawned on arrivals shuttle with medical supplies and a TON of gun, with the goal of killing all of the zombies and saving any remaining crew. If a win condition isn't reached by 50 minutes in, the shuttle would be called to recall the operatives, and a brawl at the escape wing could then commence. This would keep an upper limit on the length of the rounds, and the time limits for the easier win condition for the infected gives some extra urgency to the zombies.
Only problem I see is where you get dead people from to play as the operatives if people who die are mostly being transformed into zombies. (Also might lead to "operative fishing," with zombies killing themselves to try and become operatives. Who knows.) Also, perhaps having an alternate means of staving off the infection other than the current method of Styptic injections (not topical application, as far as I understand) would allow for crewmembers to stave off the infection a little more easily. Robustissin and Spaceacillin seem like fair candidates.
(Personally, since I don't like Revolution OR Nuclear Ops, I'm not super enthusiastic about this idea in general, but I can definitely see the appeal. It'd be cool to see something more formal be done with the Necro Virus in general, even if that doesn't translate to a mode that shows up in the normal pool.)
Maybe it could be a timed thing, where the "Infection" wins if over 80% of the population is turned by or before the 30 minute mark, or if all human crewmembers on the station's Z-Level are zombies at any point. If all zombies are eradicated or sent off the station's Z-Level, the crew wins. If 30 minutes have passed and neither condition has been reached, a CentComm alert will be sent out declaring the detection of an "Infestation of Necrotic Entities" on the station, which will be dealt with by armed operatives. A pool of 4-10 ghosts will be offered the chance to respawn as "Nanotrasen Reclamation Operatives," and they will be spawned on arrivals shuttle with medical supplies and a TON of gun, with the goal of killing all of the zombies and saving any remaining crew. If a win condition isn't reached by 50 minutes in, the shuttle would be called to recall the operatives, and a brawl at the escape wing could then commence. This would keep an upper limit on the length of the rounds, and the time limits for the easier win condition for the infected gives some extra urgency to the zombies.
Only problem I see is where you get dead people from to play as the operatives if people who die are mostly being transformed into zombies. (Also might lead to "operative fishing," with zombies killing themselves to try and become operatives. Who knows.) Also, perhaps having an alternate means of staving off the infection other than the current method of Styptic injections (not topical application, as far as I understand) would allow for crewmembers to stave off the infection a little more easily. Robustissin and Spaceacillin seem like fair candidates.
(Personally, since I don't like Revolution OR Nuclear Ops, I'm not super enthusiastic about this idea in general, but I can definitely see the appeal. It'd be cool to see something more formal be done with the Necro Virus in general, even if that doesn't translate to a mode that shows up in the normal pool.)