[CLOSED PR] New antagonist : Brain slugs

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[feature] [game-objects] [gamemodes] [input-wanted]
About the PR
Introduces a new antagonist to the classic and RP servers : Brain slugs.
The design document is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XNOu...ZQdY8/edit#
I won't go too in details about the abilities since they are already detailed in the design doc.



This antagonist is centered around stealing organs, infesting corpses and offering a final evolution allowing it to live as a powerful alien monster.

Brain slugs spawn into the shift inside the body of the player's character. They may gain stronger abilities such as a way to turn turfs into deadly acid, or to create critters to fight for them by collecting organs off the crew.
Once sufficiently fed, they are allowed to become a terrifying monster allowed to roam through the disposal pipes, looking to feast on the crew. They may also revert from this form to the previous one after a while.



If they desire to, or die, the slug may exit the host's body and possess a dead human or a living small_animal. Doing so doesn't give any points to the slug.

Full icon list;


Animated icon border in action;


A few demos:
Disposal scuttling, restraining spit to prevent movement and organ theft. (Speed has been adjusted since)


Infesting a corpse with broodlings who come out later, acid trail, and broodling agression.


The disposal movement code is based on https://github.com/goonstation/goonstation/pull/11771 . Many thanks to Azrun for sharing their method!

Why's this needed?
Keeps the game fresh by allowing a new alternative to the list of antagonists currently present in the game.
Offers a different dynamic to the antagonists currently present on the RP servers.

Changelog

Code:

changelog
(u)Bartimeus973
(*)New antagonist on the RP and classic servers: Space slugs have invaded the station! These beings may try to possess the dead, or animals, and pass as crew waiting to harvest an innocent bystander's organs!

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[Kotlol]

Sounds more like a variation of the changeling...

It's mostly headcrab thinking, after reading the full doc it is different enough.

[Bartimeus]

This has been something i have been keeping in mind while working towards making this antagonist. In what way would you consider this to be close to changeling and what aspects would you like to see changed to differenciate it?

[Lucky.Cobra]

more new antags are always a joy

[Lord_earthfire]

I think this is gameplay-wise very different from the ling. I can see a similar topic, but that is more or less the only thing.

What i wasn't seeing from design doc was a way to interact with the infected human besides harmful effects. Then again, we see on RP too many friendly antags and i would really not like to encourage it.
So that's why i would just suggest an ability to speak with the host.

I haven't seen it in the design doc, but how does the brain slug interact with synth/cyberorgans?

Overall, i really like this antag. It's more an "indirect antag", like the wraith, where the interactions between players exist mostly because of the effect of the antag and not because of the antag themselves.

[Kamikaze Mongoose]

Any overlap present in this with other antags is incredibly negligible. The only unique mechanic that it shares with Changeling (that I can think of) is that the headspider and brain slug are similar when it comes to infesting a host body. Everything else is a twist/improvement on standard antag mechanics (consume/harvest to get stronger, use abilities, evolve, hide identity, etc).

I have some thoughts for ya:
+ I love the idea of it traveling in disposals pipes, it'd be neat if it also/instead used toilets or drains to travel around the station.
+ There are three different abilities with spit in the titles, changing some of them to synonymous words might freshen it up.

I'm looking forward to seeing veteran players experiment with these abilities as a lot of them do multiple things. Multi-purpose abilities are hype, I think you did a good job with this! +1

[Bartimeus]

@Lord_earthfire
I could certainly add some more abilities that are gimmicky and would work best on rp if i get any cool ideas!
However, i will not add an ability to speak to the host since once the slug has infested a dead human, the ex-owner of the body just remains a ghost. There is no hivemind unlike changeling. A notable difference from changeling though is that if the slug decides to swap bodies and infest another, the old body can be cloned.
Also there is currently no special interaction with synth/cyberorgans. I could add a special action with cyberorgans causing the slug to still rip it out but instead of absorbing it they'd drop it on the floor and get no points.

@Kamikaze Mongoose
Good call on differenciating the ability names, i'll do that shortly.
About the traveling: Disposal pipes works because they are a fairly straightforward system with interconnected pipes that can be broken down by the crew to intercept the slug going through it. Toilets/drains do not have such pipes and instead rely on "magic" to be linked through each other. Allowing the slug to instantly teleport from one toilet or drain to another sounds like it'd be a pain to deal with and would force the crew to deconstruct toilets and drains on station, which is a lot harder than simply welding a pipe to cut it.

[Lord_earthfire]

@Lord_earthfire
I could certainly add some more abilities that are gimmicky and would work best on rp if i get any cool ideas!
However, i will not add an ability to speak to the host since once the slug has infested a dead human, the ex-owner of the body just remains a ghost. There is no hivemind unlike changeling. A notable difference from changeling though is that if the slug decides to swap bodies and infest another, the old body can be cloned.
Also there is currently no special interaction with synth/cyberorgans. I could add a special action with cyberorgans causing the slug to still rip it out but instead of absorbing it they'd drop it on the floor and get no points.

Yeah, that makes sense, joinking a player into a hivemind diesn't make sense. I misread the design doc and thought the slug could infest living humans, which it can't.

Maybe give it the ability to spread some lube under it and clean the floor while out of a host would be an idea. Give the ability to lube persuers and maybe clean the mess of killing your new host.

[ThatScarlett]

The concept on the doc is interesting, pretty unique compared to other antagonists. I can see it working on classic and rp.
It reminds me of the plaguebringer's rats, which I also like a lot.
Suggestions? I can't think of anything, the idea seems pretty cool. Good luck on coding and spriting.

[Kotlol]

Here's a small suggestion...
After a certain amount of time of infection the player that is affected by the slug gets chemical buffs without any down sides?

Of course this depends if the slug is allowed to make their host sorta a mind slave after some time without taking direct control?
It would be a fun idea from a roleplay perspective that the host becomes a "mind slave" due to the brainslug chemically preparing the host to be eaten.
Similiarly to a certain parasite infecting slugs and the like to make them climb up, looking colorfull and being eaten by birds to spread futher or such things.

Insted the host would become a "mindslave" and the slug will give them buffs. Then the slug can devour and take control eventually or even abbadon host...
Just an idea to make it more player interactive without the infected players just going: "AH IM INFECTED!"

Or maybe some way for the slug to interact differently to their hosts, allowing variaty in their approach.
Either deciding to "assume direct control" (eating the brain)
or turning the host into a "mind slave state" , while the slug eats other organs and each organ devoured allows the slug to buff the host to keep it safe or use the "host" to weaken others for their next host.

Just ideas thrown in.

[Bartimeus]

I am currently not interested in allowing the slugs to infest living players. It would lead to situations where either:
-The slug eventually ends up taking control and killing the host, which probably wouldnt feel very fun for the crewmate who has now been turned into a ghost.
-The slug sits in the host and is basically a glorified spectator allowed to push a button once in awhile. I do not think this would feel very unique or engaging to play.
Lastly, turning killed targets into mindhacks obeying the antagonist would likely be too similar to how vampire operates. Not counting the fact that with the possibility of the slug swapping body it would get confusing really fast for the persons listening to it as they dont know who their master is anymore.

[Kotlol]

I am currently not interested in allowing the slugs to infest living players. It would lead to situations where either:
-The slug eventually ends up taking control and killing the host, which probably wouldnt feel very fun for the crewmate who has now been turned into a ghost.
-The slug sits in the host and is basically a glorified spectator allowed to push a button once in awhile. I do not think this would feel very unique or engaging to play.
Lastly, turning killed targets into mindhacks obeying the antagonist would likely be too similar to how vampire operates. Not counting the fact that with the possibility of the slug swapping body it would get confusing really fast for the persons listening to it as they dont know who their master is anymore.

I see I see. Misconception there.
Alright I know enough then.
I like the concept.

[TheMaskedMan2]

I like this slug, it's a cutie.

This might lead to a spiral out of control, but this is simply because I have a soft spot for involving more players into rounds, do you think perhaps after a full adult slug eats enough organs again, maybe the brainslug could reproduce and make another new baby?

It might be a bit much to allow the slug to reproduce but I don't think it'd be much of a spiral, and I feel like more-so it'd be interesting. Besides that I am just wondering how balance will work.

Is a brainslug going to be able to eat someones organs or get enough time/stun to do it and actually manage without immediately getting called out? I think it would be interesting if the immobilizing spit, or perhaps a different one, like the blinding one. "Goo'd" the headset up, to prevent them from immediately shouting. "SLUG AT X".

Also apparently it uses sulfonal and slime, would it be possible to put this slime and stuff into reagent beakers? Also in the design doc, I am going to disagree with the timer and stability constantly decreasing, because while it's good to encourage antags to actualy do things, having a straight up timer over my head would be a real pain in the ass and a bit limiting for gimmicks or certain ideas. Also, is there a chem that also causes vomiting/twitching? It could be fun to get one to false-target people to distract/frame them.

These are just surface leve thoughts, I like the slugs. I'd like to pet one.

Also just for the sake of fun, I think the slugs should have telepathy. Brain slugs with psychic powers whispering in peoples heads would be neat.

[Glamurio]

Slugs look cool and after reading, seems like a great new addition to the game. I've a soft spot for slowly evolving antags, as it keeps things interesting, gives them something to do and creates a lot of challenges throughout the round. I also don't think it shares too many characteristics with existing antags, as someone said, there's a mild overlap, but such is the case for many other antags as well (traitor, spy thief).

Additionally, especially on the subject of RP, you said the slug won't be able to talk to its host, which is fair, but I do think the slug should be able to talk. Obviously when controlling a corpse, it should be able to talk normally (perhaps with a thrall accent?), but if it's not inside of a corpse, maybe it could talk telepathically? I'm mentioning this specifically because being able to communicate is a big feature on RP, you could argue that it only learns the ability to speak once it evolved to second or third stage, but only when not in a corpse.

I like this slug, it's a cutie.

This might lead to a spiral out of control, but this is simply because I have a soft spot for involving more players into rounds, do you think perhaps after a full adult slug eats enough organs again, maybe the brainslug could reproduce and make another new baby?

It might be a bit much to allow the slug to reproduce but I don't think it'd be much of a spiral, and I feel like more-so it'd be interesting. Besides that I am just wondering how balance will work.

Is a brainslug going to be able to eat someones organs or get enough time/stun to do it and actually manage without immediately getting called out? I think it would be interesting if the immobilizing spit, or perhaps a different one, like the blinding one. "Goo'd" the headset up, to prevent them from immediately shouting. "SLUG AT X".

Also apparently it uses sulfonal and slime, would it be possible to put this slime and stuff into reagent beakers? Also in the design doc, I am going to disagree with the timer and stability constantly decreasing, because while it's good to encourage antags to actualy do things, having a straight up timer over my head would be a real pain in the ass and a bit limiting for gimmicks or certain ideas. Also, is there a chem that also causes vomiting/twitching? It could be fun to get one to false-target people to distract/frame them.

These are just surface leve thoughts, I like the slugs. I'd like to pet one.

Also just for the sake of fun, I think the slugs should have telepathy. Brain slugs with psychic powers whispering in peoples heads would be neat.

I'm also for this. Antags that create more antags are ALWAYS more fun. It makes it less frustrating to die as a player and creates new opportunities. If you are worried about powercreep, maybe the new slug babies simply won't be able to evolve, then it'll be very much in line with vampire and changeling in terms of "create new, weaker antags".

In my opinion, though, I think having brain slugs be able to create more of itself when it's fully evolved makes total sense, the chance that it will spiral is fairly low but it's something you'd have to see and test for a couple rounds.

[Bartimeus]

@themaskedman2; I'm not sure about allowing the slug to reproduce as one single slug can already likely cause a considerable amount of damage to the station. While it might be fine on classic, i fear it might spiral out of control on RP.
The harvests are very obvious yes, but if you want to not get spotted you can simply put on a mask, remove your id and make searches considerably more difficult. If you do get caught, you can always try to swap to a new body.
There is currently no way to isolate the sulfonal, it's a simple ability that only the broodlings have to inject a tiny amount into someone.
A chem to induce vomiting/twitching could be very fun to frame people and shake them off your tail however, i like that.

@Glamurio; The slug can talk through it's host when inside something, but not to it's host. When outside a body, the slug can talk normally.


Additionally, i have been made aware by the development team that until wraith has been polished and bugfixed some more, the chances of this antag being added to the game are effectively zero. As such, i will work on improving wraith and will subsequently come back to this project!