Necrovirus Implementation (Zombie Virus)

[Nidabutt]

Mutini Nerf: 

Hey y'all, figured I'd start this post off with what inspired me to make this post in the first place. A short while ago mutini was nerfed to remove all the permanent effects (werewolf, wizard stuff, zombie, etc...) completely, so they wont even temporarily effect you then disappear afterwards, preventing players from grabbing them with stable mutagen. This was due to the effect not being intented in the first place.

However, I did a round with zombie stable mutagen today and it was an absolute blast, I've always loved the zombies on Goon as a gimmick and greatly enjoyed being patient 0 of my own virus in that round.

The Suggestions:

So what can we do with this necrovirus to implement it intentionally? I'll discuss a few ideas below.

- Traitor Item: For scientist/RD and possibly medical doctor/MD. There's a few forms this could take but I think perhaps the most simple and effective might be a special syringe with a very obvious alert (perhaps even using the same flashing alert "ZOMB" icon used when zombies try to zombify the living) designed to be used on incapacitated but living targets, which turns them into zombified mindslaves that can do all the regular zombie stuff, including zombifying others. The points cost would need to be decided on but I would imagine 8-12 points would be a fair area to place it in, particularly because it prevents you getting a super cheesy sleepy pen + necrovirus syringe combo. If it proved to be too weak with people simply spotting it early and immediately killing the patient 0, it could be reduced down.

- Azone Item: A reward from azone content! This could be more freely implemented without having to be locked to a single item like the traitor version, perhaps even being a regular chemical instead of an item for more stealthy and creative uses. I can't recall an azone which is more focused on zombie content, something like an overrun space station or spaceship could be a really fun azone to fight through, fending off hordes of the undead through creative use of the environment and tools at your disposal or avoiding them altogether with smart navigation.

- Antagonist Mode: The necrovirus could even be implemented through an antag mode of it's own, perhaps with random crew members starting the round afflicted with the virus like a regular antag, coming in from off-station (such as a crashed spaceship that spawns randomly near the station) or having several random crew members become infected around 5-10 minutes into the shift. If made into it's own full-blown mode this could be expanded on with a mutation system to allow zombies to evolve new powers or abilities in the same way a blob can (perhaps gaining a new one with each infection and/or over time), to adapt to what the crew is throwing at them.

These are just some ideas of my own and I'd love to see feedback and/or the ideas from the rest of the community. I will include a poll to help get a general idea of what people are leaning towards if they like the sound of any.

Note:

I am aware there is technically a (possibly secret so I'll be vague) method to obtain this still, however that method does not seem intended to be done by any reasonable person as an antag gimmick due to the incredible RNG and time requirement involved, not to mention how boring it is. There's a good 90%+ chance you will just waste your entire antag round trying to pull it off and get nothing out of it except a waste of an hour.

[Man of San]

I would absolutely love for this to be a new antag gamemode, it would be chaotic and fun trying to fend off zombies in a stronghold.

[Lythine]

It'd be best as a new gamemode in my opinion. A traitor round with mindslaves, kudzupeople AND zombies would be incredibly overwhelming. Zombies snowball hard enough on their own from what I've seen of them.

[Froggit_Dogget]

This would be a fun gamemode; where a patient 0 starts as a zombie and had to infect the rest of the station. It should have a crazy limit of like 500 rounds played, and maybe even 2, or 3 patient 0’s. The round start zombies should also be pretty strong; and the rounds would be capped to 30? 40? Minutes with a shuttle call disabled, and pods wouldnt work after 10? 15 minutes, with the other z levels becoming contaminated with rads to prevent camping on other Z levels.

[Man of San]

This would be a fun gamemode; where a patient 0 starts as a zombie and had to infect the rest of the station. It should have a crazy limit of like 500 rounds played, and maybe even 2, or 3 patient 0’s. The round start zombies should also be pretty strong; and the rounds would be capped to 30? 40? Minutes with a shuttle call disabled, and pods wouldnt work after 10? 15 minutes, with the other z levels becoming contaminated with rads to prevent camping on other Z levels.

I dont like the round-caps, personally, though i like the rest of the ideas.

[Nidabutt]

This would be a fun gamemode; where a patient 0 starts as a zombie and had to infect the rest of the station. It should have a crazy limit of like 500 rounds played, and maybe even 2, or 3 patient 0’s. The round start zombies should also be pretty strong; and the rounds would be capped to 30? 40? Minutes with a shuttle call disabled, and pods wouldnt work after 10? 15 minutes, with the other z levels becoming contaminated with rads to prevent camping on other Z levels.

Huh, some interesting ideas there. I was thinking the patient 0's would start nice and beefed up and like you suggested maybe around 3, like revs, and perhaps with an unbreakable grip for people trying to grab/pull your victims away - the person in your grasp could still struggle to escape, just so people can't just drag off injured crew constantly and lock the antags out of any chance to do anything. They would need to be quite strong as they're combat antags, requiring effort by multiple crew to bring down, I would assume with some stun resist, regen, hulk (weaker wall breaking requiring many hits but more damage than regular zombies to doors, tables and other potential barricades), etc... but with slower movespeed, honestly kinda like shamblers but weaker. I'm thinking "Tanks" from Left 4 Dead if you've ever played that:

Spoiler!

An idea to replace the rads would be a targetting meter that builds up while people are outside the station, no matter where they are (maybe an exception for azones in which case those players wouldn't count for a victory like with revs) or if they're inside a pod, which slowly increases over the course of a few minutes with no decay or reset, maybe 3-5 so as to give time for people to get back to the station if they're caught out and allowing people to do a small bit of space stuff during the round if needed, such as quickly moving to a safer area of the station via pod if an area is lost. If the targetting meter completes, the person is instantly vaporized by a high power satelite laser which is ensuring the infection doesn't spread off-station until a vaccine by Nanotrasen is completed which would be the round end timer as it's deployed station-wide. Alternatively, have no end round timer and leave the crew at the mercy of an escape shuttle call if things start to go really badly, either works!

[Ikea]

I’d like to add, zombies is a gamemode in development. Necrovirus is intended to be the equivalent of werewolf serum or vampire serum. Really, with this in mind, theres really no need to up the reachability of necrovirus.

[Nidabutt]

I’d like to add, zombies is a gamemode in development. Necrovirus is intended to be the equivalent of werewolf serum or vampire serum. Really, with this in mind, theres really no need to up the reachability of necrovirus.

Oh, there's a zombie gamemode being worked on? That's awesome, are there any details on this I could check out?

[Ikea]

Sadly Im not aware of too many details outside of what ive heard from others and a few devs, best way to know is to just keep your ears open.

[Camryn]

The poll needs a "none" option

[Technature]

Zombies are in just about everything that exist and they kinda suck because of it.

Making it much more than an incredibly rare thing is a little bad.