Goonhub
03-18-2022, 06:08 AM
Sure, blowing up stations with nuclear weapons, mass murder of trained personnel, convincing crews to free themselves from the yoke of NanoTrasen tyranny, and such things are great at hurting NanoTrasen - and what hurts NanoTrasen helps the Syndicate - but these sorts of things need resources, and sometimes the Syndicate needs help that isn't simply harm to NanoTrasen. (Of course, nothing says that help can't also hurt NT...)
Delivering an entire space station to the Syndicate, now that would help them greatly. Thing is, stations are very expensive to build and staff. Sure, you've got to spend money to make money, but there's got to be ways to save on the startup costs, right? Fortunately, there's no shortage of stations around, and frankly most NanoTrasen employees are a bunch of amoral bastards who don't care who's paying them - only that they're getting paid.
Hostile Takeover would be similar to both Nukeops and Revs. Like nukies, the syndicate team isn't part of the crew and spawns off station. Like revs, their goal is to kill (or exile) all the heads of staff. Of course, it's just not the heads who have to go, and the syndicate team also has to wipe out all of security, and depending on population a number of regular crew members may be deemed too loyal to remain. The AI doesn't have to die, fortunately, but it does need a little persuasion. Due to the large number of targets, every operative would start with a target ID tracker.
(A NanoTrasen victory would simply be when all the operatives were killed, although I'd imagine that there'd need to be something done to discourage hiding off the station z-level.)
The syndicate team would get a curated purchase list, like the nukeops custom uplink one - so no mindslaves or micro/macros - but with some changes to fit the mode. The Syndicate would greatly prefer to not spend much money on repairs or hiring/training, so explosives are out of the picture. On the other hand, some surplus crate only weapons would be a good fit - the old hunting rifle or the sacrificial dagger, for instance. They could even have access to some of the nukeop weapons, such as the sidearms or the SMG. They'd also start with armor, and I'd like them to have a pick of a melee weapon - some sort of machete or knife for dealing bleed or some sort of club or baton for dealing stamina damage. Personally I'd prefer they run with a slightly different aesthetic than nukeops though, they're more like intelligence agents than soldiers, so subdued colors and armor that isn't immediately obviously such, like the NT inspector's armored jacket. Ideally, wearing their default gear, they shouldn't be immediately obvious as evil from their sprite but examining them should give them away.
They would get some unique toys too. First is some sort of Somebody Else's Problem device which, well, makes them Somebody Else's Problem. It's a multiuse (either with a cooldown or a limited number of charges) item that can be used from range to temporarily (~5 minutes) make someone who isn't a target neutral to the Syndicate/NT conflict. Sort of like a mindslave, but you can't give them orders and they won't attack people for you. Thing is they won't call you out or help anyone you attack either. Useful if someone spots you early on and you don't want to kill a potential future employee.
Second toy is a Syndicate AI Module, which, once set up, would give all silicons the Syndicate borg lawset. It'd have to be installed somewhere relatively difficult to get to, and would take time to install, but it'd either be permanent or very difficult to remove once set up. A Syndicate station needs a Syndicate AI after all.
Finally, there'd be something you would use once you've killed a head of staff to bring their department (save for anyone on the target list) under Syndicate control. You don't have to do this to win, since again, the crew is a bunch of amoral bastards who don't care who's paying them, but if you need more muscle or less pressure on you it's an effective solution.
If the round lasts too long without either side winning it'd automatically end, like revs. However, my idea is that the way it ends would change depending on which side is doing better. If there are as many or more heads alive than operatives, the Syndicate decides the operative team is clearly incompetent and detonates all of them with the force of several microbombs. If there are more operatives than heads of staff, NanoTrasen blows up the entire station to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
I'm sure I'll remember something else I wanted to add after posting but for now that's all.
Delivering an entire space station to the Syndicate, now that would help them greatly. Thing is, stations are very expensive to build and staff. Sure, you've got to spend money to make money, but there's got to be ways to save on the startup costs, right? Fortunately, there's no shortage of stations around, and frankly most NanoTrasen employees are a bunch of amoral bastards who don't care who's paying them - only that they're getting paid.
Hostile Takeover would be similar to both Nukeops and Revs. Like nukies, the syndicate team isn't part of the crew and spawns off station. Like revs, their goal is to kill (or exile) all the heads of staff. Of course, it's just not the heads who have to go, and the syndicate team also has to wipe out all of security, and depending on population a number of regular crew members may be deemed too loyal to remain. The AI doesn't have to die, fortunately, but it does need a little persuasion. Due to the large number of targets, every operative would start with a target ID tracker.
(A NanoTrasen victory would simply be when all the operatives were killed, although I'd imagine that there'd need to be something done to discourage hiding off the station z-level.)
The syndicate team would get a curated purchase list, like the nukeops custom uplink one - so no mindslaves or micro/macros - but with some changes to fit the mode. The Syndicate would greatly prefer to not spend much money on repairs or hiring/training, so explosives are out of the picture. On the other hand, some surplus crate only weapons would be a good fit - the old hunting rifle or the sacrificial dagger, for instance. They could even have access to some of the nukeop weapons, such as the sidearms or the SMG. They'd also start with armor, and I'd like them to have a pick of a melee weapon - some sort of machete or knife for dealing bleed or some sort of club or baton for dealing stamina damage. Personally I'd prefer they run with a slightly different aesthetic than nukeops though, they're more like intelligence agents than soldiers, so subdued colors and armor that isn't immediately obviously such, like the NT inspector's armored jacket. Ideally, wearing their default gear, they shouldn't be immediately obvious as evil from their sprite but examining them should give them away.
They would get some unique toys too. First is some sort of Somebody Else's Problem device which, well, makes them Somebody Else's Problem. It's a multiuse (either with a cooldown or a limited number of charges) item that can be used from range to temporarily (~5 minutes) make someone who isn't a target neutral to the Syndicate/NT conflict. Sort of like a mindslave, but you can't give them orders and they won't attack people for you. Thing is they won't call you out or help anyone you attack either. Useful if someone spots you early on and you don't want to kill a potential future employee.
Second toy is a Syndicate AI Module, which, once set up, would give all silicons the Syndicate borg lawset. It'd have to be installed somewhere relatively difficult to get to, and would take time to install, but it'd either be permanent or very difficult to remove once set up. A Syndicate station needs a Syndicate AI after all.
Finally, there'd be something you would use once you've killed a head of staff to bring their department (save for anyone on the target list) under Syndicate control. You don't have to do this to win, since again, the crew is a bunch of amoral bastards who don't care who's paying them, but if you need more muscle or less pressure on you it's an effective solution.
If the round lasts too long without either side winning it'd automatically end, like revs. However, my idea is that the way it ends would change depending on which side is doing better. If there are as many or more heads alive than operatives, the Syndicate decides the operative team is clearly incompetent and detonates all of them with the force of several microbombs. If there are more operatives than heads of staff, NanoTrasen blows up the entire station to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
I'm sure I'll remember something else I wanted to add after posting but for now that's all.
