Martian Mode

[BBEG]

I think Butt Stuff is, if you'll pardon the phrasing, a well that has been thoroughly explored to the point of exhaustion by now.

( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Tom Clancy's Gay Ghost]

I'm on board so long as this also adds things to make martian ambassadors not horrible to play as.

[OMJ]

yes please

[Cirrial]

Hi, some of you might be aware I'm now actually working on this stuff.

Very slowly.

#martianmode2019

[HydroFloric]

Hi, some of you might be aware I'm now actually working on this stuff.

Very slowly.

#martianmode3019

ftfy

[Mageziya]

a new hope

[Arborinus]

There better be martian burgers and steaks

[Berrik]

mind arc is hot garbage and if it doesn't even stun or set enemies on fire no one will EVER use it

[Sundance]

Cirrial hit me up via pm or I could hop on IRC if you want to discuss this concept. Mageziya did some sprites for the guns which I further worked on, before a little hiatus. I could see this mode perhaps worked on in bite size stages, for example working on the ship in one stage or the Martian abilities/classes in another, etc, so even if it the mode never gets completed, you could have new alien functions that would compile.

mind arc is hot garbage and if it doesn't even stun or set enemies on fire no one will EVER use it

Ehh, its an AOE spell that if connects to the target will arc 3 times causing burn damage, something along the lines of a phaser. Its purpose isnt to outright kill, the mutant class is a debuffer; spamming abilities into crowds to outright confuse and get the upper hand. Remember that the purpose of the Martian is to harvest humans, not kill them.

[Cirrial]

I could see this mode perhaps worked on in bite size stages, for example working on the ship in one stage or the Martian abilities/classes in another, etc, so even if it the mode never gets completed, you could have new alien functions that would compile.

Literally exactly what's happening! There's already been some tweaks of existing martian mobcritters but the differences between the standard martian mobcritters and the proposed roles of this game mode may require some entirely new mobcritters going forwards. We're in changing times!

[Berrik]

Cirrial hit me up via pm or I could hop on IRC if you want to discuss this concept. Mageziya did some sprites for the guns which I further worked on, before a little hiatus. I could see this mode perhaps worked on in bite size stages, for example working on the ship in one stage or the Martian abilities/classes in another, etc, so even if it the mode never gets completed, you could have new alien functions that would compile.

mind arc is hot garbage and if it doesn't even stun or set enemies on fire no one will EVER use it

Ehh, its an AOE spell that if connects to the target will arc 3 times causing burn damage, something along the lines of a phaser. Its purpose isnt to outright kill, the mutant class is a debuffer; spamming abilities into crowds to outright confuse and get the upper hand. Remember that the purpose of the Martian is to harvest humans, not kill them.

It's also on a class that is physically the weakest, yet has few options to actually slow/stun people so it can keep away from the hordes.

[APARTHEID]

Ehh, its an AOE spell that if connects to the target will arc 3 times causing burn damage, something along the lines of a phaser. Its purpose isnt to outright kill, the mutant class is a debuffer; spamming abilities into crowds to outright confuse and get the upper hand. Remember that the purpose of the Martian is to harvest humans, not kill them.

No one's ever going to use it if it's that unsatisfying to click on. A single phaser shot does, what, 10 burn damage? Big whoop.

[Sundance]

It's also on a class that is physically the weakest, yet has few options to actually slow/stun people so it can keep away from the hordes;

In theory, the martian mutant may be physically the weakest, but it's a great support troop. I dare say some of it's abilities on paper are overpowered. I'm not sure where you're coming from when you say it has little options to slow/stun, i've thought long and hard about combo's, scenarios to face, etc. 
Firstly it has Intense Stare. That's it's main weapon. That's a guaranteed stun if the player is foolish enough to stay in the same area of the martian. It's also a deterrent at players rushing it with melee. I dare say that the mutant 1v1 is invulnerable to melee based attacks. Even if it's 2v1, the mutant can up it by Intense Staring one player, then Psychotic Breaking another.
..And it has a slow based attack, Cerebral Combustion, which not only is an AOE slow based attack, but causes minor brain damage. ..And that's not including it's weaponry, which it can use light guns. It's also difficult to mob, due to it's warp ability. The one weakness of the mutant is actual projectile weaponry, 2 laser shots would near kill it. But it also has a spell shield ability which raises DR by 30%, so while temporary, still gives it 85 health to protect against those scenarios. 

No one's ever going to use it if it's that unsatisfying to click on. A single phaser shot does, what, 10 burn damage? Big whoop.

The arc does 10 damage, the direct shot would be greater. The mind arc isn't meant to be fantastic, it's meant as a suppression projectile, like used in conjunction with a weapon. Like fire a volley from the pulserifle, shoot a mindwave after, etc.

Do note that it's abilities are taking in mind of other martians that you are playing with. A martian on it's own is extremely vulnerable and that is intentional, but in a team of 3-5 are extremely dangerous. If you have a suggestion on any of the abilities, like mind arc, bear in mind the balancing for the entire team rather than the sole martian. I'm not even sure on paper if the abilities I came up with are even balanced

[ferriswheel1]

If anything, the Biomancer seems fairly underpowered, and very lacking in punchy abilities outside of support.  Maybe they could be given bonuses to piloting the cruiser? Overseeing a gigantic bio-mechanical warship seems fitting given their status as biologists.

I'd also suggest rolling most of their chemical-based abilities into a special flamethrower-style piece of gear, renamed as a "chem-thrower" or "bio-thrower".

The chemthrower would accept large capsules (Similar to the fuel tanks accepted by flamethrowers) of various different chemicals to spray both over stuff. For example:

• Vicerite Foam Capsule:  
  

A mass-repair tool for the martian cruiser. Creates a large radius of regenerative purple bio-goo, which acts in a similar way to metal foam, filling in holes in the cruisers hull. It'll also fix the cruiser's various martian devices and weapons hardpoints very quickly.    

• Martian Brew Capsule: 
  

A large capsule full of martian brew. Can be sprayed over other martians for a stimulant effect, or sprayed over humans to horribly mutate them.

• Mind-Breaker Capsule: 
  

A capsule containing a shed-load of hallucinogenics, depressants and various other nasty drugs. Reduces humans to a stumbling, hallucinating mess, but takes a while to take effect.

• Bio-Regeneration Capsule: 
  

When sprayed over martians, provides a small amount of healing. When sprayed over humans, however, it acts as a disease reagent, inflicting them with a "Martian Flu" disease that will slowly polymorph them into a small martian critter. Martian flu can be cured with cyroxydone treatment.

• Nerve-Toxin Capsule: 
  

Contains a load of Martian nerve-toxin, an inferior variant of neurotoxin that has increased time to KO, vastly reduced KO time, and more damage per life-tick. Useful for capturing humans alive.

• Incendiary Capsule 
  

Contains a self-igniting flammable liquid, which will turn the chemthrower into a flamethrower. The effect is similar to an ordinary flamer.

• Molecular Acid Capsule: 
  

Contains molecular acid foam, a horrible acidic substance that'll eat through walls, floors and people with equal speed. Very expensive to buy, and more than a little overkill, as the skeletal remains it leaves behind provide very little psi-matter or bio-matter.

[ferriswheel1]

A little addendum on how the cruiser could perhaps work, specifically it's weapons and teleporter. I thought up a few that fitted the martians nature as bio-technology users. 

Sundance's idea about the cruiser having a central "power-core" that would act as the health-bar for the cruiser is excellent, as the current cruisers don't currently have a way to fully destroy them. I also think a few upgrades for the cruiser, costing bio-matter, would be interesting, I'll take some time to think some up.  


Cruiser Equipment 


Bio-Acid Cannons: 

The cruiser's main guns, fixed forward. They fire giant globs of concentrated digestive enzymes and molecular acid, drawn from the biological starship's stomach-equivalent. 

These projectiles deal large amounts of damage to pods, and massive damage to players. After flying a long enough distance, or upon hitting a wall, the projectile will disperse into a large radius molecular acid foam that will eat through walls, floors, and anything else in the way. 

Players killed by the Bio-acid foam will be reduced to skeletal remains, providing reduced bio-matter and no psi-matter, making the cannons a poor choice for completing the martians' objective. 

Essentially, it's an acidic version of the pod artillery system, with the added caveat that it's only best used in the direct defense of the cruiser. 


Nematocyst Launcher: 

Point-defence for the cruiser, with a 360 degree firing arc around the ship.

The Nematocyst Launcher shoots a single stinging needle, tipped with martian neurotoxin. Upon being hit the target is injected with the neurotoxin, which will KO most spacemen within a few minutes.

The nematocyst can be left to fire automatically against targets, or be manually fired by the cruiser's crew, with manual firing granting a reduced cooldown on shots. 

The main disadvantage of the nematocyst launcher is it's long cooldown, and it's uselessness against pods. It's best employed to silently take out an unaware target in space, or defend the cruiser against lone boarders. 


Martian Psi-Porter: 

A crew teleporter for the Martians. Possibly, this could be acquired as an upgrade, meaning the focus is more on infiltration from space and the cruiser. 

Used from the engineering pod, it is controlled with a blob-overmind style interface. The martian operating the teleporter can look around the station, beam martians up or down, and create portals, similarly to the science teleporter. Humans and other non-martian lifeforms appear on the overview only as vague silhouettes.  

The teleporter can only directly teleport targets biologically recognized as martian. Whilst this means that abductees must be brought back via portal, it also means that assistant who replaced his arm with a tentacle is fair game for abduction.