Goonhub
07-18-2024, 08:48 AM
I would largely agree that current genetics is very much a not paying that much attention to the game role right now, since half the time when I run geneticist it's to moreso sit there and not do much, except later into the round if I may decide to actually go out and do stuff instead of sitting around only half playing the game. The downside to that though is that if I go out to interact with crew or see/use the powers I spent maybe 30 minutes getting, I know nothing of what's happening but will probably be able to deal with most issues since at that point it's not terribly difficult to get at least a few powerful genes that aren't obvious or easily countered, even with the current stability since most of them still have noticeable effect when unempowered. Especially in the case of certain antags where genetics can just hard counter some powers with genes and they have nothing to do about it since it was fully up to random chance whether or not they were obtained, and usually have minimal downsides to being distributed freely or used against those antags.
To completely be an idea guy proposing what's (probably) a nightmare to code, I would like an entirely different system for genetics that isn't the current click and wait approach we have now:
Everyone has a 'string' of DNA, similar to how each gene currently is, and it has to be directly altered to get genetic powers, except the geneticist isn't directly told that a power is gained, relying on the person being scanned to see the ability, hopefully promoting more interaction and a form of proper 'testing'. On spawn there's maybe 4 or 5 predetermined stable/inert DNA strings everyone spawns with (outside of mildly mutated changing a part of it maybe) and each genetic power now has a random sequence that needs to be found and coded in to be added as a power.
EX: Spawn string is something like AACC-CACA, and cryokinesis is GGC while jumpy is CGGA, so the geneticist needs to change the DNA string to include those in it for them to get the ability. This could allow a form of 'chaining' the codes together to fit more abilities into a single DNA string than normal, while also allowing negative genes to appear if they don't manage it properly and put two powers next to each other that just so happen to be the start and end of a negative gene, and creates a cap for how many genes one person could possibly have.
For rarer or more powerful genes, you could also make it so after 'registering' (inputting a specific power's code into somewhere on the computer) you gain research points, which can be used to unlock experimental enzymes that don't occur naturally. This would also effectively be able to gate the more potent negative/positive genes behind some level of work instead of random chance.
Overall though I'm unsure how much an idea like this would go over with most people, since it's a very large step in a completely different direction from how genetics currently acts, along with there probably being some major downsides I'm not recognizing in it probably.
To completely be an idea guy proposing what's (probably) a nightmare to code, I would like an entirely different system for genetics that isn't the current click and wait approach we have now:
Everyone has a 'string' of DNA, similar to how each gene currently is, and it has to be directly altered to get genetic powers, except the geneticist isn't directly told that a power is gained, relying on the person being scanned to see the ability, hopefully promoting more interaction and a form of proper 'testing'. On spawn there's maybe 4 or 5 predetermined stable/inert DNA strings everyone spawns with (outside of mildly mutated changing a part of it maybe) and each genetic power now has a random sequence that needs to be found and coded in to be added as a power.
EX: Spawn string is something like AACC-CACA, and cryokinesis is GGC while jumpy is CGGA, so the geneticist needs to change the DNA string to include those in it for them to get the ability. This could allow a form of 'chaining' the codes together to fit more abilities into a single DNA string than normal, while also allowing negative genes to appear if they don't manage it properly and put two powers next to each other that just so happen to be the start and end of a negative gene, and creates a cap for how many genes one person could possibly have.
For rarer or more powerful genes, you could also make it so after 'registering' (inputting a specific power's code into somewhere on the computer) you gain research points, which can be used to unlock experimental enzymes that don't occur naturally. This would also effectively be able to gate the more potent negative/positive genes behind some level of work instead of random chance.
Overall though I'm unsure how much an idea like this would go over with most people, since it's a very large step in a completely different direction from how genetics currently acts, along with there probably being some major downsides I'm not recognizing in it probably.