Slightly less buff maneaters

[Roomba]

Maneaters currently appear to be almost invulnerable to anything that isn't fire damage, and are able to absorb quite a bit of punishment even then. A staff assistant wailing on one with a c-saber for almost a minute straight did nothing. I've seen them absorb full barrages of phaser and laser shots without batting an eye. Even taking them on with a welder requires you to refill the welder at least once because you're gonna run out of fuel. I haven't seen anyone with a flamethrower recently so I can't comment on the adage that they simply melt before it (although that's probably a comment in itself on the feasibility of such a countermeasure and the scarcity of fuel tanks on this map). Regular phlog/CLF3 smoke doesn't do very much last I tried, though.

Certainly, they're counterable, and not invincible - enough punishment will eventually bring one down. But twelve ultra-robust mobs that can be easily scattered across the station is pretty much a round-ender - I don't think I've seen a round with maneaters in play recently that didn't end with the crew surrendering and holing up in escape while the majority of the  maneaters roamed freely.  

The growth time is definitely a balancing factor, but I don't think it's much of one - botany is fairly isolated at the best of times, and it's not difficult to grow them in secret. In any case, I'm not a big fan of stuff that can only be effectively countered in the setup phase.

[Grayshift]

Flamers one shot them. I'm fine with maneaters only being weak to a thing people only normally build for blob rounds.

[Roomba]

At the very least, they should warrant a price increase. Currently for 1 tc you get:

a) a tough, angry critter
b) counterable only via one specific method
c) that instakills people
d) in such a way that leaves their body unrecoverable

Any of those factors alone would be a steal for 1 tc. Even 2 tcs would be fine - the maximum you could get would be six maneaters, which is still a lot of maneaters but not the current 'carpet the station' amount.

(Incidentally while I'm not going to debate the 'flamethrowers oneshot them' point on account of not seeing any evidence to the contrary, I would like to ask if anyone has tried it recently, because if regular fire smoke didn't stop them I'm not entirely sure a flamethrower would either. The general buff to their hardiness seems to have been fairly recent.)

(Also if any admins are doing a quick round of testing, the ones seed-grown seem to be a good bit tougher than the ones admin-spawned.)

[69andahalf]

Man eaters are a very cool and original traitor item idea, and it would be a shame to see them nerfed back into disuse again. They needed to be buffed so that they could actually be used, and dealing with them is simple. With the amount of welding tools laying around the station you can easily run to grab one, but as has been said, flame throwers make short work of them. If you see someone getting eaten, don't try to move the man eater, move the person, and everyone should survive. It's the people who think they can 1v1 a man eater in melee that are getting eaten, not those smart enough to used ranged combat.

[Ed Venture]

They go down in two to three shots with a energy gun set to lethal.

[Vitatroll]

The number one mistake I see people make when fighting maneaters is grabbing/mass-producing lasers. They work in a pinch, but generally get people killed because 'WHY ISN'T IT DEAD AFTER TWO SHOTS!?!? AAA!!1'

I've single-handedly wiped out entire 12tc crops with a single flamer before. Last time was about a month or two ago so it's not super recent. I could see these getting nerfed if it was literally every round, but they're no more deadly than many of the things science has access to with no tc.

[Roomba]

Yeah, I'd really like to know if any of these incidents have been super recent. Like I said, I've seen people emptying entire laser guns to no avail, and there's pretty much no way you're going to be able to land enough welder hits if it's hostile to you. I'm not ruling out the flamethrower thing if only because I haven't seen a flamethrower against them recently, but I still think even with the flamethrower caveat they could either use a debuff or a slight price increase.

[locusts]

To be honest the man eaters needed the buff, as before they really only killed if they caught someone by surprise. They may need balancing in the other direction a little, haven't encountered one lately.

[Roomba]

Alright, finally got to try out a flamethrower on a maneater, a standard fuel-filled thrower will apparently down one in two shots. I still stand by my case that they should be made more vulnerable to other sources of damage given the scarcity of fuel tanks on cog2, or have their price increased to 2 tcs.

[69andahalf]

Alright, finally got to try out a flamethrower on a maneater, a standard fuel-filled thrower will apparently down one in two shots. I still stand by my case that they should be made more vulnerable to other sources of damage given the scarcity of fuel tanks on cog2, or have their price increased to 2 tcs.

There are, give or take, about 12 easily accessible fuel tanks throughout the station. Make sure to look in carts and crates, but generally once you know where to look they're easy to find. I'd even go as far to say that there's more fuel tanks on cog2 than on cog1, but just in different location.

[somepotato]

I feel that it wouldn't be such a bad idea if the cost was raised some, though. 1TC is very cheap for their current behavior.

[Roomba]

I feel it would be remiss not to mention the fact that this thread was largely prompted by a guy who has been a botanist for several weeks now, who only ever runs with maneater swarms as a traitor and goes braindead otherwise, and who by now has learned to dispose of all the fuel tanks on station before others can get to them.

[Nnystyxx]

I feel it would be remiss not to mention the fact that this thread was largely prompted by a guy who has been a botanist for several weeks now, who only ever runs with maneater swarms as a traitor and goes braindead otherwise, and who by now has learned to dispose of all the fuel tanks on station before others can get to them.

Wait, really? He sounds like a dweeb. Context sure goes a long way in this decision.

[Camnui]

I feel it would be remiss not to mention the fact that this thread was largely prompted by a guy who has been a botanist for several weeks now, who only ever runs with maneater swarms as a traitor and goes braindead otherwise, and who by now has learned to dispose of all the fuel tanks on station before others can get to them.

Wait, really? He sounds like a dweeb. Context sure goes a long way in this decision.

The removing fuel tanks is just smart traitoring, the going braindead if he doesn't get traitor is just being a complete dweeb though.

[Roomba]

Dude has now moved to being a curare vigilante who runs around with a glass of curare every round looking for an excuse to throw it at people.

I realise this is almost a player complaint thread at this point, but bugger this guy.

To make this post something a little more than a knee-jerk gripe, making maneaters a little more vulnerable to plain phasers would go a long way.