/tg/Station 13

So assimilator has been enabled for a little while, and its pretty frustrating to be security. I don’t know the policy regarding it, so I have no clue as to how I should fight it.

Basically, whats the acceptable amount of meta considering hosts?

Its really obvious when there are assimilators, people not doing their jobs and pausing for 4 seconds near groups of people. Crewmembers are supposed to know how antags work, but in this case it seems a little meta. That being said, is security expected to sit around and watch as this rounds antags become stronger and stronger?

Are we allowed to arrest and implant people we see acting this way? Implant heads of staff as a precaution? Can crewmembers call people out for acting like assimilators?

IMO it seems stupid to encourage hosts to play the exact same each shift, we should force them into stealth because its too fucking obvious who is a host and who isn’t.

Definitely mindshield people but I wouldn't go so far as to kill "converts" since well they're not really converts.

Cobby wrote:Definitely mindshield people but I wouldn't go so far as to kill "converts" since well they're not really converts.

Ok but say an assimilator you can’t find keeps mind controlling people to try and kill you, and you’re out of implants. Can you perma/kill people until implants arrive or you find the host?

This situation hasn’t arisen yet because mosts hosts are boring motherfuckers who are content with a secret extended round.

If someone is hostile you should try to subdue them nonlethally since you know they're not controlling their body. That's not to say lethals can't be done, it should be a last resort though.

If you don't have mindshields then you can keep this person detained while you're actively attempting to get them. IMO when the conversion aspect is being abused you can start to take the conversion mode liberties we give sec (keeping people in brig for as long as you need).

Cobby wrote:If someone is hostile you should try to subdue them nonlethally since you know they're not controlling their body. That's not to say lethals can't be done, it should be a last resort though.

If you don't have mindshields then you can keep this person detained while you're actively attempting to get them. IMO when the conversion aspect is being abused you can start to take the conversion mode liberties we give sec (keeping people in brig for as long as you need).

Also uh im dumb and forgot if the person who the host is controlling dies, so do they.

Cobby wrote:Definitely mindshield people but I wouldn't go so far as to kill "converts" since well they're not really converts.

Are converts not antagonists?

Nilons wrote:

Cobby wrote:Definitely mindshield people but I wouldn't go so far as to kill "converts" since well they're not really converts.

Are converts not antagonists?

No

Nilons wrote:

Cobby wrote:Definitely mindshield people but I wouldn't go so far as to kill "converts" since well they're not really converts.

Are converts not antagonists?

Converts aren't working with the Assimilators knowingly. It's in the same vein as detonating a cyborg for having a faulty ion law, you should pursue other options before jumping to the nuclear option

what if the opposed happens, someone greytides and then blames the assimilator

Reminder that hiveminds can destroy mindshields once they have 15 converts.

Here's a full list of their powers for the unaware:

Assimilate Vessel
Adds a target within four tiles to the hive after a 5 second channeling period. Doesn't work against mindshielded crew, and can be interrupted. It's a very simple process, click on the Assimilate Vessel power within four tiles of a target, select a target from the menu and stand still for five seconds. Once that's done, congratulations, you have a vessel. If you failed for whatever reason (The target moved out of range, you got disrupted, or the target had a Mindshield Implant) then don't worry, the power's cooldown is refunded and you can try again immediately. Assimilation is completely silent and undetectable, meaning it's safe to attempt whenever you want.

Release Vessel
Immediately removes a vessel from the hive. Has the same range as Assimilate.

Hive Sight
Allows you to see through the eyes of any vessel. Comes in handy for tracking

Neural Shock
Knocks a target out for a period of time based on distance, for a maximum of 12 seconds(Later increases to 18/24/30/36).
Requires 2 vessels, becomes stronger every 5 vessels until 20

Repair Protocol
Deal minor brain damage to vessels to heal brain, brute, burn and clone damage. Moving interrupts this.
Requires 4 vessels

Distortion Field
Causes hallucinations in everybody in sight of the target. At 20 vessels it starts dealing stamina damage.
Requires 6 vessels, becomes stronger every 5 vessels until 25

Network Invasion
Probe the mind of an adjacent crewmember to discover the identity of any other hivemind hosts they've been assimilated by. Takes 10 seconds on a vessel of ours, takes 30 otherwise.
Requires 8 vessels

Mind Control
Take full control of a vessel's body for 10 seconds(Increases to 30/60/120 later on) as long as your body is undisturbed. If the vessel dies during this period, so do you, so be careful.
Requires 10 vessels, becomes stronger every 5 vessels until 25

Induce Panic
Deals stamina damage and induces a variety of negative effects to anybody in range. Mindshielded targets have a chance to resist that goes down the larger your hive is.
Requires 12 vessels

Bruteforce
When activated, Assimilate Vessel will destroy mindshield implants on use. Lasts 30 seconds.
Requires 15 vessels

Mass Assimilation
After 45 seconds, kills an adjacent hivemind host and assimilates every vessel within their hive. Alerts the target, have them restrained and silenced beforehand. Should you be interrupted, this will backfire horrendously.
Requires 18 vessels

Telekinetic Field
Creates a psionic forcefield, similar to a wizard's forcewall but larger and lasting less time.
Requires 20 vessels

Medullary Failure
Overloads a selected vessel's medulla, inducing an immediate heart attack. Incapacitates within seconds and kills within a minute if not treated. This works across Z-levels.
Requires 25 vessels

Stop making easy counters or people are going to be allowed to kill them.

wesoda25 wrote: Its really obvious when there are assimilators, people not doing their jobs and pausing for 4 seconds near groups of people. Crewmembers are supposed to know how antags work, but in this case it seems a little meta. That being said, is security expected to sit around and watch as this rounds antags become stronger and stronger?

I think even here at /tg/ we can agree that "standing still for 4 seconds = antag = valid salad" is too much metagame even for us. That's a pandora's box waiting to be opened. People will start standing still in groups of people for a little while waiting for sec to murder them and then ahelp cause standing still isn't 'acting like an antag'.

WarbossLincoln wrote:

wesoda25 wrote: Its really obvious when there are assimilators, people not doing their jobs and pausing for 4 seconds near groups of people. Crewmembers are supposed to know how antags work, but in this case it seems a little meta. That being said, is security expected to sit around and watch as this rounds antags become stronger and stronger?

I think even here at /tg/ we can agree that "standing still for 4 seconds = antag = valid salad" is too much metagame even for us. That's a pandora's box waiting to be opened. People will start standing still in groups of people for a little while waiting for sec to murder them and then ahelp cause standing still isn't 'acting like an antag'.

People are doing such though, my second asslamintor round was brought to an end when I stood still in the bar for just a little too long. Sec knew there was assinflators aboard due to someone using mind control earlier. Batoned, cuffed, brought to security where they attempted to mindshield implant me. You can imagine how that went.
Also breaking someones mindshield alerts them and god forbid you're the one standing near a sec officer when that happens. I was killed for that one too. The big issue with assblastusa'ers I find is that security feels they have no choice but to kill you like a dirty changeling. There's no implanting, no deconversion, nothin'. Who wants to chance having one in lock up either? Sad.

>people are actually meta-ing the fact that assimilators have to stand still

this is why we can't have nice things

any more complaints and this is getting fixed code-wise