Chronos Legionnaire, let's make it exist so it never exists

[Jacough]

So we've got the Chronos Legionnaire listed under jobs but there's no page for it. So let's incorporate it into the game.
Background
One of the crew members is actually a syndicate agent, but not just yet. Somewhere down the road that crew member joined the syndicate and joined their Chrono division, an elite team of agents who travel back in time to sabotage Nanotrasen by ensuring people who end up being influential figures in the future never existed using specialized gear that completely erases them from time. Time is a fickle thing though so agents must use a bit of discretion when it comes to erasing people.

Your goal
So one of the crew members is about to make a huge breakthrough that could potentially cripple the syndicate. Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen. How? By making sure they never existed in the first place. You start aboard a shuttle similar to how the wizard starts with the same identity as one of the crew members (due to the fact that you're them from the future). Your goal is to locate your target and use a special weapon known as the time manipulation pack to erase their existence. Simple enough right? There's a catch though. You've also got a list of vital crew members who must not die, the number of which depends on server population. One or two of them dying isn't a big deal (because roundstart suicides would fuck that up) but if all of them are killed the syndicate will be very displeased with your performance and you'll find yourself ceasing to exist as the syndicate executes your future self. On top of that, erasing even one of these VIPs will also result in your execution as well. So don't get trigger happy with that pack. So your objective is two fold. Erase your target, protect the VIPs.

Care must also be taken around your past version as well. After some thorough study of the research documentary Time Cop and a bit of testing, syndicate researchers discovered that matter can not occupy the same space. Simply bumping into your past self or walking over his corpse will cause both of you to explode in a ludicrous shower of gibs. If you see your past self, it's best to steer clear of him.

Your gear
Chrono agents start with a couple of pieces of gear. Most of these are essential to completing their goal
> Chrono Hardsuit: A lightly armored hardsuit with minimal protection from hazardous environments (hardsuit or not, you really don't want to be exposed to radiation or fire in it). This suit also contains the ability to jaunt, although it's kind of finicky. After jaunting the agent will turn transparent and be stuck in place for several seconds. Makes for a decent escape tactic or a way of infiltrating a secure area but improper usage will leave them extremely vulnerable
> Time Manipulation Pack: The agent's bread and butter and their most important piece of equipment. Functions similar to a backpack sprayer in that it attaches to your back and you use it to equip the attached gun. When fired at someone, it'll freeze both the agent and the victim in place and start erasing the victim. The process takes 15 seconds and can be interrupted if either the victim or the agent is attacked or moved. During this time the victim is helpless to cry out. Be careful about who you use this on though, as improper usage can have dire consequences. Also comes with a very limited amount of space for holding stuff. You can fit four items in it max.
> Syringe gun: Just what it says. The agent starts with two boxes of syringes for it, specifically chloral hydrate and sleep toxin. Used to incapacitate people
> Thermals: For tracking down your target and keeping an eye out for VIPs.
> Medikit: Comes loaded with medipens similar to the miners' survival medipens. Use on yourself when injured or on a VIP if you see one down. Just make sure you're not around when they wake up. They might not be happy to see you.


Thoughts?

[PKPenguin321]

good for a ninja-like antag but pretty bad as its own mode, consider that literally all it does is constantly ethereal jaunt and instastun -> gib people

[Screemonster]

Make the future time agent start to fade out of existence immediately if his past self is killed

keep as a side-antag rather than a main one so the round doesn't immediately become extended if their past self suicides

[PKPenguin321]

oh yeah that would be super cool if it was randomly linked to somebody on the station as them being their "past self"

[kevinz000]

we already have everything coded.
thsi is actually an admin button last I checked.

[Okand37]

people already complain about ninjas being overpowered
this isn't going to help

[Steelpoint]

I'm pretty sure there is already some in game lore about the Legionnarie, it heavily implies he's from the Red Alert 2 universe.

Its a interesting role but its abilties make it near impossible to stop. Its main weapon essentially freezes a player in place and its main form of movement is a infinite ethereal jaunt.

Perhaps if its main weapon was reworked and its unique movement is just made into a ethereal jaunt on a timer then it might be less annoying to face.

[Anonmare]

Chrono Legionnaire would need a bit of work to make a proper antagonist. Maybe re-work them as less time ninja and more undercover Wizard.

Maybe make their jaunt an ability instead of the default move and make it permanent until they come out (probably re-fluff it as putting yourself out of phase with the rest of time) but they start suffering side-effects if they stay "out of phase" too long which requires them to come out and purge the time sickness every once in a while. You could also give them an Abductor-style disguise overlay + voice-mimicry but make them incapable of using any of their time abilities while in disguise and need to wait a moment before they can use Time manipulation abilities after exiting the disguise. Their suit could have a few inbuilt abilities, like a short duration AoE Time Stop around them if things get dicey and the ability to undo damage on themselves by reversing it from ever happening, both having long cooldowns of course.

• I'd remove the TED gun as is, it shouldn't be an insta-gib gun but it should have utility. Maybe it can be set to "Fast-forward", "Re-wind" and "Pause".
• Fast-forwarding an object, turf or person will cause it to age and decay if hit enough times. People hit on the fast-forward setting will get older, starting walking slower, develop disabilities, take cellular damage and might even suffer a heart-attack or other organ failures - constantly hitting the same person over and over again will make them turn into a pile of dust.
  Hitting a wall with fast-forward will first make it rust, then the sheet-metal will erode and the girder will be exposed, hitting the girder will displace it and make it look rusted and hitting it one more time will make it disappear into a pile of dust. Airlocks will get more worn down, start sparking until they just fall apart, objects become ash piles and so on.
• Rewind has a fair amount of utility, it can be used on a dead body to revive that mob and undo all the damage it sustained. It can also be used to repair damaged objects and turfs but over-using it on the same person will cause them to revert to a primal state. Humans become monkeys, Lizards become lizards, Flypeople become regular Humans and so on. Rewinding them past that will cause them to pop out of existence in a puff of logic. Using rewind on an ash pile can revitalise what the object or person once was.
• Pause does exactly what it says on the tin. You pause an object, mob or turf and it cannot act nor be acted upon. A time-stopped person is completely immune to harm (not even a singularity ought to be able to harm them) and has to be unpaused before you can mess with them. Player-controlled mobs can "resist" out of a time-pause through sheer force of will salt.

I don't think it could work as a Primary Antagonist. I like that they have to avoid and protect their past self (maybe their past self dying will alert them and they have a short time window to get them revived or else they'll disappear ala Marty Fly) in addition to having to protect future Syndicate big wigs so they don't just go kill crazy.

[JJRcop]

Hi, I coded the current implementation. I'm extremely satisfied with how the chronosuit works currently, depending on how long you jump, it takes time to phase in, at that time you're vulnerable. This could be balanced by just increasing the time it takes to jump, it's just a number you can adjust.

I coded it primarily because someone made the sprites to just swap the ninja's clothes with, they weren't accepted, and I loved the sprites and decided that I would love to see them in the game properly functioning like their inspiration. We can definitely nix the TED, but I really really like the chronosuit, and don't think it should be changed, just its numbers tweaked.

I had planned to bring it into the game as a random event, but wanted more interesting objectives than just "erase these people". I tried to come up with objectives that were interesting, but couldn't, so I just left it in the code, and it's been used against anyone who dares name themselves "Adolf Hitler" ever since. But if the TED is removed (it doesn't need to be removed from the code, just not given normally), that won't be a problem. I already coded the chronosuit so that if you are holding something outside of the suit that isn't "chronosafe" it will be left behind when you teleport (though looking at it, remie killed the hands part on accident, I'll fix it in a second). So, we can just come up with other chrono-type tools that the chrono agent can use.

I am very interested in bringing this into the game as a round event, using the ideas from this thread, or not.

[Jacough]

more interesting objectives than just "erase these people"

That's where this bit comes in

You've also got a list of vital crew members who must not die, the number of which depends on server population. One or two of them dying isn't a big deal (because roundstart suicides would fuck that up) but if all of them are killed the syndicate will be very displeased with your performance and you'll find yourself ceasing to exist as the syndicate executes your future self. On top of that, erasing even one of these VIPs will also result in your execution as well.

The idea being to encourage a bit of discretion and discourage people from just running around erasing people left and right. As I said, aside from your pack, the only other weapon you'd be supplied with would be a tranquilizer gun. Going hog wild with your time gun or going on a rampage with whatever weapons you find on the station or some shit is bound to attract a lot of attention and might even draw your VIPs into the fight. On top of that there's the Time Cop reference I mentioned where making physical contact with the present version of yourself kills both of you. You really don't want to draw your past self into a fight.

Also thought it might be more balanced to have the suit be a little less resistant what you've got there. Maybe like an all around 45 for energy, melee, and ballistics (If you want to look at from a Red Alert 2 standpoint, they're equal in terms of health with most of the other allied infantry), basically a space worthy mild upgrade from standard security armor.

[Armhulen]

the chronos should really not be hired by the syndicate, that's fucking gay and you know it

they should just be named the time police or something

[Ezel]

the chronos should really not be hired by the syndicate, that's fucking gay and you know it

they should just be named the time police or something

PART OF THE MIGHTY SPIDERCLAN SEE ONE OF OUR NINJAS? WE DELETE YOU FROM THAT TIMELINE

[Armhulen]

What did he mean by this

[Jacough]

the chronos should really not be hired by the syndicate, that's fucking gay and you know it

they should just be named the time police or something

Alternatively Time Squad fixing the future?

[Armhulen]

stop this

[JJRcop]

When I made it I was thinking of some scientists, the creators of the equipment, using it exclusively within their own group, since this kind of technology is outlawed.

[Ezel]

Snowflake anti erp sqaud