Goonhub
04-01-2013, 08:26 AM
Vampires have the hardest early game as compared to every other antagonist. Vampires have no offensive abilities to start with, get murdered if they ever go into space, can't aim punches for the head, and their shapeshift ability has a cost and can be ferreted out in seconds via the crew manifest, whereas a changeling right off the bat pretty much can't lose a one-on-one fight, has space available as a hiding place, and can turn into any victim for free and the AI won't be any the wiser. By the endgame the vamp is a lot more threatening, but still can't kill as many people as a changeling because all his awesome abilities either cost tons of blood or charge painfully slowly.
But most of all, it's the lack of a stun ability or way to stop people from screaming your name if you get unlucky and the fire extinguisher doesn't one-shot them into unconsciousness. Right now you have to risk basic combat (which gets you less blood), wait for a braindead, or beg a monkeyhuman off genetics and pray they don't rat you out later. I'd like to propose two changes for the vampire:
1. Stun people being bitten. The stun only lasts while you're being drained, if the vamp moves or you get moved and you're still conscious, you can run or fight immediately. (This may already be a thing? Been a while since I was a vamp)
2. Add a "bite strength" toggle to the vampire's abilities, between weak and strong bites. Weak bites would work exactly as they do now, with brute damage over time for blood. Strong bites will cause suffocation as his bite closes off their windpipe AND brute for the blood drain, but will reduce the amount of blood he gets because they will die faster from a combination of suffocation and brute, and he only gets blood from the brute damage. The advantage is that a strong bite will paralyze them and prevent them from crying out, even though they are conscious.
I suppose that it should also be that a vampire currently biting someone can't change the bite strength, to prevent people from strong biting until they can pull off the headset and then switching to weak, at least not without the risk of the victim running away or getting in one last punch (unless they're already in crit, at which point you're not getting much more out of them anyway). Think of weak bites as being fangs in a jugular, strong bites as being the entire mouth clamped around the neck, with no way to change them without first releasing his grip.
But most of all, it's the lack of a stun ability or way to stop people from screaming your name if you get unlucky and the fire extinguisher doesn't one-shot them into unconsciousness. Right now you have to risk basic combat (which gets you less blood), wait for a braindead, or beg a monkeyhuman off genetics and pray they don't rat you out later. I'd like to propose two changes for the vampire:
1. Stun people being bitten. The stun only lasts while you're being drained, if the vamp moves or you get moved and you're still conscious, you can run or fight immediately. (This may already be a thing? Been a while since I was a vamp)
2. Add a "bite strength" toggle to the vampire's abilities, between weak and strong bites. Weak bites would work exactly as they do now, with brute damage over time for blood. Strong bites will cause suffocation as his bite closes off their windpipe AND brute for the blood drain, but will reduce the amount of blood he gets because they will die faster from a combination of suffocation and brute, and he only gets blood from the brute damage. The advantage is that a strong bite will paralyze them and prevent them from crying out, even though they are conscious.
I suppose that it should also be that a vampire currently biting someone can't change the bite strength, to prevent people from strong biting until they can pull off the headset and then switching to weak, at least not without the risk of the victim running away or getting in one last punch (unless they're already in crit, at which point you're not getting much more out of them anyway). Think of weak bites as being fangs in a jugular, strong bites as being the entire mouth clamped around the neck, with no way to change them without first releasing his grip.