Works around a sort of minigame, you'll understand as I go along. The minigame is from this guy and is called magic square. I couldn't find a decent online version of it so I spent an afternoon coding my own in a shitty javascript website thing that you can click on and play here: https://studio.code.org/projects/applab ... vw99aOSDFk
Basically you have a 3x3 grid, and clicking on a tile in that grid toggles both the tile you clicked and any tiles adjacent to it in cardinal directions. So clicking the top left corner will flip it, the one to its right, and the one under it. There's a desired pattern (traditionally a box, where all the tiles are lit up except the center) that you want to get to.
So how does this fit into genetics?
I said how in magic square the desired pattern is traditionally a box. This desired pattern is the "ideal state" for magic square. I propose that a unique "ideal state" is created for each trait (both disabilities and powers), randomized at round start. The genetics console has every trait listed as a button on its main screen, rather than showing the jumbled up DNA.
I've made a mockup of the main genetics console screen that will hopefully give you a better idea of my vision:
Also the screens you could see when you click on individual traits:
Each move you make in a magic square game outputs a bit of radiation like the current system. This can be reduced by getting upgrades from R&D. Potentially there could be a really small cool down between moves also reducable by R&D, but this might just be annoying.
I've also considered an upgrade you could get from R&D that would allow you to, with a high cooldown, change only the tile you click in the magic square game without changing its adjacents. Perhaps another upgrade could show you on the screen for a gene if the subject appears to actually have the trait, which would speed up research by not forcing you to open the scanner every time (not shown on the main screen so at-a-glance disability checking is still reliant on saved ideal states).
The name genes (I forget if they're UE or UI) will remain the same for the purpose of detective work, and have a traditional buffer that you can save to the machine and apply in one click. Appearance genes could fit under this system, with multiple ideal states (the hair color gene could have a different state for each color). Perhaps they could be in a separate tab from the SEs.
Proposed changes to genetics to accompany this system would be:
- Removing power manifest chance. If you match up the current and ideal state, powers activate immediately
- Remove traditional buffers (for SEs only) that allow you to instantly rewrite the SE (and consequently remove injectors) from the genetics console. Powers can still be handed out en masse, but you need to know the ideal states and to be able to play the magic square game quickly.
- Maybe allow injectors for SEs to be researchable, but at a high cooldown (and they are temporary)? This way the 1 competent geneticist can still use his powers for himself.
Potential future expansions could essentially allow basically any amount of genetic powers or disabilities, since they all require some modicum of skill to acquire now instead of almost complete RNG. More absurd powers could potentially have the magic square grid expanded beyond a 3x3 to a 4x4 or higher, reducing the chance of you seeing it in a round and making it harder to manifest. Some traits could also not be on the console by default, requiring a disk obtained elsewhere to be accessible in the scanner before they're available to modify. Maybe a traitor item with an awful genetic disability could be purchased that can't be accessed otherwise, or a power could be a reward from a lavaland ruin, that kind of thing.
I think it would be pretty cool. If you have questions or feedback just post it here, thanks.