/tg/Station 13

in my latest attempt to actually learn to code and contribute something i've decided to take a crack at finishing xeno crossbreeding, since as far as i can tell the original creator hasnt been active in over half a year. they left plenty of ideas on the wiki page, but i'm using them more as a loose guideline for ideas than a 100% gameplan

(i know out of all the departments xenobio probably isnt the most lacking, but its personally my single favorite job in the game and the one im most interested in adding to)



aside from the coder sprites(tm), right now i'm working on green crossbreeds, which im planning to mostly follow the format of transforming into useful items, and i'd love to get more opinions and ideas for the various colors. for the sake of balance, i'm trying to come up with things that

a) don't give xeno too many powergame options, since its already an incredibly versatile job
b) let xenobiology make slimy versions of items useful to the crew
c) are worth the effort to make
d) are interesting enough to warrant making every now and then even just as a fun toy/gimmick

current list of green crossbreeds i've coded/made basic sprites for:

-grey + green = slime capsule, basically a pokeball for slimes. it's technically an inferior version of dark blue + gold's capture device, but it's simple and low power
-orange + green = energy slord. more of a gimmick/fun item, it works the same as an esword but only deals 15 damage (same as the circular saw, a reasonably common weapon) and doesn't have heat effects like igniting plasma and lighting cigs. i also gave it hastily made squelchy versions of esword sounds
-green + green = slime hypospray. a 20 use, non-refillable hypospray full of slimeperson mutation toxin. 20 is a lot, but the 11 slimes needed to make it are enough to transform 17 people, so its only a net gain of 3 additional transformations plus instant injection
-green + purple = slime medkit. contains two sutures with a total of 100 uses, two regen meshes with a total of 100 uses, and a slime advanced health analyzer. the benefit here is moreso getting tons of uses as opposed to stronger heals, so it can restock medbay with basic heal items
-green + bluespace = quantum slimepad. quantum pads are the ones that can be linked via multitool to make two-way teleporters, and the slime pads don't use electricity from the room and come pre-upgraded, but can't be disassembled into components

for reference, here's what the various slime colors seem to be 'assigned' in terms of effects, at least partially:
anyway yeah thats all i got right now, please leave feedback and ideas and hopefully i can finish at least the green crossbreeds

Translating greens transformation theme into a more general "creates useful items" seems like kind of a stretch though.

The slime capsule seems a bit weak and the slime medikit seems a bit strong, 1000 brute healing and 1000 burn healing, side effect free.

What i would expect from green crossbreeds are stuff like special limbs(like burning green and chilled green), special organs, race change toxins, transformation into a unique simple mob(green gold?).

I like the sword however.

make a rainbow rainbow crossbreed that does fake curse of madness

Kryson wrote:Translating greens transformation theme into a more general "creates useful items" seems like kind of a stretch though.

The slime capsule seems a bit weak and the slime medikit seems a bit strong, 1000 brute healing and 1000 burn healing, side effect free.

What i would expect from green crossbreeds are stuff like special limbs(like burning green and chilled green), special organs, race change toxins, transformation into a unique simple mob(green gold?).

I like the sword however.

im mostly just going by what was apparently planned based on the wiki, which had gold crossbreeds as all being unique organs, but i definitely see where you're coming from

100 uses of suture/mesh per kit might be a lot yeah

I think your idea of theming the slime types is a good one, although I think you're a bit off in some respects. Generally, you can sum up each type in one word, and I think that word is a good guide to use when designing crossbreeds.
That being said, even if we go by the wiki, your description, or my description, spawning items using green does feel a bit odd. I'm aware that this is the original intent of the green crossbreed, but if we go by the original intent, don't you think green and gold dominant extracts should be swapped? Green should give you the new organs/body parts, and gold should spawn shit. This also wouldn't affect the balance of required time to get them, as they're both in the same tier of slime.


As for the colors of the items themselves, I think using the colors that make them as base/highlight would be the simple and logical conclusion. It looks like you already have the right idea as I was going to use the slime sword as an example. Orange hilt with green blade is basically spot on for that.

Green + Gold give me a permanent ling tentacle

Downsides I lose one of my hands

Upsides, I'm the genetic abomination spider-man

Let's just throw random ideas out there and see what sticks.

How about a Plasma Light? It's a tough "torch" made of plasmaglass that has power radiating from it - in effect, it's an infinite light source like our standard torches, but it can also fit into light fixtures, and not only will it not draw power, but it returns some power to the APC it's connected to. Because plasma means power.