Swarmers 2024

[Capsandi]

Check out this design doc. Lmk what u think
https://hackmd.io/@GtFtRmUHSpG4PjAYZRBkgw/HkZADXrwn

[Xkallubar]

Without replication, to me, it seems that they'll just eat a few rooms and then all get lasered to death and since they're highly encouraged to stick together, they'll all die even quicker. I prefer the old swarmers.

[DaBoss]

I don't like how this goes against the grey-goo theme. The point of swarmers is that they can produce exact copies of themselves if they have enough raw material, and that this can theoretically escalate exponentially for as long as they have a station to eat. Establishing leaders and prohibiting them from reproducing is a bit too off-theme for me.

Instead of having a leader, maybe have them protect a structure instead. One that does all the leader things like spending material points and radiating auras, except any swarmer can use them. Kind of like a cult building. Maybe they can move this, maybe they can build more for a heavy material price, maybe they only get one. Maybe swarmers can't build other swarmers directly, they need to build and feed a pylon which makes them.