New Malf Ai Powers

[deathhoof]

Lets be honest here, malf ai needs some tlc. So in adition to removing the stupidly useless expensive powers like fireproof core (which literally only protects against welders) and turret upgrade (everyone dodges these anyways), I think new powers should be added. Here are my suggestions:
>Upgrade securitrons: turns all beepskies into ed-209 (or whatever they are called)
>Possess borg: allows the ai to assume control of a broken borg or a borg without an mmi. It would have just 2 tool slots and only 5000 battery
>Lethal holograms: expensive upgrade that lets the ai spawn holocarp from its holopads
>Magnetic grid: 100 cpu power that lets the ai and its borgs telekinetically control anything.
>Self destruct: expensive power that causes a huge explosion at ai core and shunts the ai to an apc
>Hacked airlocks: doorslamming does more damage and stuns longer
>Generate EMP: uses all of a rooms apc power to create an emp
>Bomb-Proof Core: this actually shouldnt be an upgrade, ai always meeds to start this way because telesci op

[cedarbridge]

Magnetic grid: 100 cpu power that lets the ai and its borgs telepathically control anything.

I don't think you know what "telepathy" means.

[deathhoof]

Magnetic grid: 100 cpu power that lets the ai and its borgs telepathically control anything.

I don't think you know what "telepathy" means.

My bad, i meant telekinisis

[RG4]

Upgrading the beepskies, how? You need to build it with your hands.
Holo-carp are already lethal enough why give a malf AI control over them?
Possessing a broken borg is pretty unfair considering if the crew dunked it is in bad shape then it's unusable, and taking over the body of a borg is iffy
Magnetic grid makes it seem like the AI is now a god along with it's borgs why give the ability to beat people with random objects?
Self destruct should have a very big risk to it due how much of a trap it is, like if you do it then you will be destroyed in the process and won't shunt,cause hacked APCs to revert to normal, freeze the count down clock or not work at all.
Hacked Airlocks makes sense guess it would be the AI forcing off airlock safeties making it go turbo mode.
EMP? Why the hell would the AI need an EMP burst, shut off radios for a sec,sap e-guns for a moment? The risk of that is fucking over your borgs as well, should come with a risk of loosing the APC.

[cedarbridge]

Upgrading the beepskies, how? You need to build it with your hands.

Presumably with the same magic that turns the telescience computer into a flesheating monster. Besides, tops the mainstation has 1-2 securitrons and the sat has 1. The code would just be as simple as replaced X mob with Y mob.

[deathhoof]

Upgrading the beepskies, how? You need to build it with your hands.
Holo-carp are already lethal enough why give a malf AI control over them?
Possessing a broken borg is pretty unfair considering if the crew dunked it is in bad shape then it's unusable, and taking over the body of a borg is iffy
Magnetic grid makes it seem like the AI is now a god along with it's borgs why give the ability to beat people with random objects?
Self destruct should have a very big risk to it due how much of a trap it is, like if you do it then you will be destroyed in the process and won't shunt,cause hacked APCs to revert to normal, freeze the count down clock or not work at all.
Hacked Airlocks makes sense guess it would be the AI forcing off airlock safeties making it go turbo mode.
EMP? Why the hell would the AI need an EMP burst, shut off radios for a sec,sap e-guns for a moment? The risk of that is fucking over your borgs as well, should come with a risk of loosing the APC.

Well for the beepsky thing, honestly all I can say is spess magic. But I mean come on, ed is a great bot and no one ever builds them.
Posessing a broken borg seems fair to me because the ai will lose a lot of its ai abilities as a borg, which is a big sacrifice.
Holocarp only spawn on holodeck. They have far too limited use there.
Magnetic grid would be the equivalent of a traitor buying ebow. Its a highly offensive power for nothing other than offense.
I like your self destruct ideas except for the revert apcs one because that is buttblastingly frustrating.
Emp power should come with emp resistance for borgs but I agree it should have a chance of destroying apc.

[Bombadil]

Upgrading the beepskies, how? You need to build it with your hands.
Holo-carp are already lethal enough why give a malf AI control over them?
Possessing a broken borg is pretty unfair considering if the crew dunked it is in bad shape then it's unusable, and taking over the body of a borg is iffy
Magnetic grid makes it seem like the AI is now a god along with it's borgs why give the ability to beat people with random objects?
Self destruct should have a very big risk to it due how much of a trap it is, like if you do it then you will be destroyed in the process and won't shunt,cause hacked APCs to revert to normal, freeze the count down clock or not work at all.
Hacked Airlocks makes sense guess it would be the AI forcing off airlock safeties making it go turbo mode.
EMP? Why the hell would the AI need an EMP burst, shut off radios for a sec,sap e-guns for a moment? The risk of that is fucking over your borgs as well, should come with a risk of loosing the APC.

How does the ai make a cyborgifier machine out of thin air?

[deathhoof]

What if instead of the emp power, the apc breaks and all the crew in the room get stunned for 30 seconds. Its a significant sacrifice considering the apc cant be hacked now, but it can give the ai precious extra seconds for it to assume control and it can potentially permanently knockout the room if no one knows how to repair apcs.

[cedarbridge]

What if instead of the emp power, the apc breaks and all the crew in the room get stunned for 30 seconds. Its a significant sacrifice considering the apc cant be hacked now, but it can give the ai precious extra seconds for it to assume control and it can potentially permanently knockout the room if no one knows how to repair apcs.

>30 seconds left on the clock
>crew breaks into the core
>AI blows the core APC and coasts into oblivion with their win

[deathhoof]

What if instead of the emp power, the apc breaks and all the crew in the room get stunned for 30 seconds. Its a significant sacrifice considering the apc cant be hacked now, but it can give the ai precious extra seconds for it to assume control and it can potentially permanently knockout the room if no one knows how to repair apcs.

>30 seconds left on the clock
>crew breaks into the core
>AI blows the core APC and coasts into oblivion with their win

Its a legitimate strategy.

[Gun Hog]

I am still playing with the idea of cutting the starting CPU of Malf AIs to 50, then awarding the AI more CPU based on the number of APCs it has. APCs mysteriously have enough processing ability to maintain a sapient computer, and are key to gaining computing power to brute-force hack the nuke (Let us assume it is replicating the encryption codes stored on the auth disk). This in mind, having the APCs supplement the AI's CPU time would make sense gameplay and fluff-wise.

In this manner, the AI would unlock the more powerful abilities (or simply being able to have several lesser ones) by having more APCs. Finally, one new ability I propose is Hacking Disruption. Completely ripped off from FTL, once the AI has enough APCs to unlock it, Hacking Disruption allows an AI to temporarily disrupt an area containing a hacked APC. All machines inside lock themselves, then become electrified, and anyone using them (if this is not possible code-wise, then simply people adjacent to them) at the time will be shocked as if they touched an airlock. The idea behind this is to reward the AI for aggressively hacking easily reached APCs that would be otherwise tactically foolish to touch.

[deathhoof]

The only problem I have with gaining power through agressive apc hacking is it punishes stealth ais

[Gun Hog]

The only problem I have with gaining power through agressive apc hacking is it punishes stealth ais

It is not a punishment. A Malf AI would still gain CPU from any APC it hacks. Hacking Disruption is simply to give a Malf AI a viable reason to hack high profile areas, such as TeleScience or R&D. All Malf AIs would still need to hack low traffic APCs to boost their CPU.

When you think about it, with the proposed new CPU mechanic, APCs are even more critical to the AI. These two changes would work together in a way. Both encourage the focus on APCs, capturing as many as possible without discovery, and attacking key areas that would normally mean "GG" for a Malf AI (TeleScience, Chemistry, R&D) in an aggressive but risky manner. I view this as an additional tactical choice, not as a way to discourage Stealth Malf play - Stealth Malfs do not run as big a risk of losing APCs as a loud Malf would. Ideally, you would play with stealth up until you are discovered or decide to trigger Delta, then begin aggressively hacking important areas to shut down high-threat areas.

[deathhoof]

What would it take to actually add new powers to the ai? I personally think that the chances of a malf round occuring should be increased so that players can see how broken it is. At the very least, the mode should only be able to pick a malf ai from players that have ai set to medium or high.

[Lo6a4evskiy]

Well, malf AI needs an overhaul, I know that much.

[Intigracy]

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[deathhoof]

Traitor AI > Malf AI

sadly this is true. People not screaming hurr durr default name hurr durr blue screens is a huge advantage.

[cedarbridge]

Traitor AI > Malf AI

sadly this is true. People not screaming hurr durr default name hurr durr blue screens is a huge advantage.

You get more "hurr durr default name" from malf just because Malf rolls off its own antag list instead of pulling from actual AI players. Hell, if a newbie is stupid enough, they can set malf on with AI set to Never and still roll malf.