/tg/Station 13

Arcane Research Tech Tree

I am working on a new tech datum, Arcane Technology. It is only a concept at this point, however. The primary method of advancing this tech tree will be sourced from Wizard items, with the first two or three levels possibly obtainable from Lavaland/Cultist sources. The idea is to spice up Wizard rounds by making Scientists foam at the mouth whenever once is announced. Gotta git dem validzzzz

Items bought by the Wizard directly (Staves, the gemsuit, etc) yield the high levels, with the wizard's personal spellbook yielding tech based on how many points it has left. Items created through the Summon Magic spell (wands, one-use spellbooks and such) will have medium to high level yields depending on what they are.

The critical, most important part of this concept is that ALL MAJOR ITEMS ARE NOT TO BE OBTAINABLE OUTSIDE WIZARD ROUNDS. Wizard rounds are choatic in nature (or should be!), and items created as a result of Wizard loot should be equally chaotic and deadly.

All items, independently of their Arcane tech requirements will have tech requirements in other trees, and possibly take a new material such as Runed Metal or "Arcanium". The 'lore' behind this is that the items use the "Arcane" knowledge to discover new applications for the other tech trees.

Actual Item Ideas:
Low levels = At the low Arcane levels, you have weak but amusing prototype items, such as the Bluespace Matter Transpositioner, which randomly teleports the user while transporting mobs at the destination to the original source location.
Also could include items such as the auto-smoke generator, which creates smoke containing the reagents inside its beakers.

Medium levels = At this point, only Wizard round items can get Science to these heights. Items created at these levels replicate actual spells. It is where the !!FUN!! begins! Think Fireball Shotguns and Auto-Jaunters. Additionally, I am thinking of adding the unused items in the code at these levels, such as the Reactive Armor variants (Tesla, Incendiary, Stealth), and things for the Clown players to enjoy, such as the BLA-420 Pacification baton (Hit someone with it to make them HIIIIGH)

High levels: The stuff you have to kill and loot a Wizard to get. Items at this levels are Goofball levels of broken and chaotic, as strong as the Wizard himself. Auto-replicators which can copy items or destroy them, Super charged Medical Cannon for reviving and adding stimulant reagents to patients, Genetic Enhancement gun to a guy a random positive mutation, along with Sci-Fi reskins of Wizard items, such as the Entropy Amplification Tool (Staff of Chaos), Kinetic Endowment Assault Device (AoE Animation Spell), Rapid Cyborigication Tool (Staff of Change limited to borgs only).


But, these are only ideas. Nothing is coded yet or set in stone. I have not a clue how to balance this or what origin tech levels to set for the respective magical wizard loot. So, I need your input! What would you like to see added? Remember to mind the restrictions - No balance changing items at the low tech levels, stay reasonable at the medium levels, and go nuts for the high levels!

> It's "Gun Hog is doing RnD buffs" episode

Even if it's only for wizard rounds.

Please keep all feedback relevant, and based on the merits of the concept. Replies with unhelpful content, including personal attacks, grudges, or simply lacking purpose are a waste of page space which I shall request to be deleted.

If you have an actual opinion on my concept or concerns on the balance, please provide it. You are wasting your and my time otherwise. I believe that this may only be a "troll" response meant to extract "lulz" from my reaction and time wasted typing a reply, and in such a case, I have clearly fallen for the bait.

Now then, please only provide relevant and useful feedback that I may use to adjust the content to be welcomed by the playerbase and coders.

Medium level, bluespace arachnid nature preserve: bag full of spiders, click on it to shake out a fully grown but angry as hell spider.
Alternatively Bag O bears, bag full of bears

Reece wrote:Medium level, bluespace arachnid nature preserve: bag full of spiders, click on it to shake out a fully grown but angry as hell spider.
Alternatively Bag O bears, bag full of bears

Would you want this spider to be hostile to the user as well? Random type of spider, including ice variants?

Gun Hog wrote:

Reece wrote:Medium level, bluespace arachnid nature preserve: bag full of spiders, click on it to shake out a fully grown but angry as hell spider.
Alternatively Bag O bears, bag full of bears

Would you want this spider to be hostile to the user as well? Random type of spider, including ice variants?

It works better if it's hostile to everyone, I'd say every type bar the nursing spider. Born of the mental image of the R&D team finding this magical bag and making a copy only to discover that it just leads to atonne of angry spiders.

I think it'd be fun to make them look like really classic sci-fi device staples and have their description use a whole lot of technobabble.

Perhaps the analogue to the door creation wizard items could be an RCD that can construct things from a distance and more rapidly than a regular device?
Disintergrate could look like an old fashioned raygun from the early 20th century with a long charge-up time and "vaporize"(read:gib) people
Magic missile's analogue could look like a more Star-Trek style phaser and fire a single missile bolt.
I don't think Lich could be replicatable, maybe a big machine that puts your brain in a jar and makes synth bodies for your brain to pilot after each time it dies?

As for some low level counterparts to spells, I have a few ideas:

• The charge spell could be a device that can recharge the power of any electronic devices, such as APCs, cyborgs, mechs and powercells.
• The horse mask spell could just put a clown mask on somebody's face that requires surgery to remove (and bananium to make).
• Disable Technology I think would be fine to be able to get, make it an EMp device that can be EMP'd itself - effectively making them one use items. They'd probably be like EMP grenades.
• Forcewall is like a security/engineering barrier projector on steroids and look like a beefier version of one.
• Space-time distortion could be like a barrier projector that puts out an "inverse-bluespace flux field via excited plasma-induced fission" that distorts space-time around you.

I'd leave out Knock and Blind since they're pretty powerful spells to get with any reliability.

That transpositioner should let you click on someone to swap places with them after a couple of seconds (warns them, too). It'd be funny to do this while you're outside escape to teleport them out there, as well as break into places.

There shouldn't be a magical tech tree for RnD. I don't really like RnD in particular but letting scientists have an ability to eat up all of the magically summoned items and kill everything with them isn't something that I like either.

Loving this stuff so far!!

Anonmare wrote:I think it'd be fun to make them look like really classic sci-fi device staples and have their description use a whole lot of technobabble.

Perhaps the analogue to the door creation wizard items could be an RCD that can construct things from a distance and more rapidly than a regular device?
- An advanced RCD that works from a distance, or one that makes MINERAL airlocks as well! HONK!! (Which Science can deconstruct for minerals!)

Disintergrate could look like an old fashioned raygun from the early 20th century with a long charge-up time and "vaporize"(read:gib) people
- That next idea reminds me of the instagib rifle. I would have to steer clear of that one a little..

Magic missile's analogue could look like a more Star-Trek style phaser and fire a single missile bolt.
- Would a single bolt MM be worth it over just making an AE gun?

I don't think Lich could be replicatable, maybe a big machine that puts your brain in a jar and makes synth bodies for your brain to pilot after each time it dies?

- For the Lich analog, I feel that would be a bit out of my range to code...

As for some low level counterparts to spells, I have a few ideas:

• The charge spell could be a device that can recharge the power of any electronic devices, such as APCs, cyborgs, mechs and powercells.
  - A recharge device? That seems viable, maybe it can use plasma as fuel?
• The horse mask spell could just put a clown mask on somebody's face that requires surgery to remove (and bananium to make).
  HONK
• Disable Technology I think would be fine to be able to get, make it an EMp device that can be EMP'd itself - effectively making them one use items. They'd probably be like EMP grenades.
  Probably would not be produced much, when we have a gun that can that safely.
• Forcewall is like a security/engineering barrier projector on steroids and look like a beefier version of one.
  Mime players will hate me for this one XD
• Space-time distortion could be like a barrier projector that puts out an "inverse-bluespace flux field via excited plasma-induced fission" that distorts space-time around you.

Umm what? Do you mean the timestop spell?

Wjohnston wrote: That transpositioner should let you click on someone to swap places with them after a couple of seconds (warns them, too). It'd be funny to do this while you're outside escape to teleport them out there, as well as break into places.
Sounds fun and doable!

These are great suggestions, guys! Love it!

already coded it
https://github.com/Baystation12/Baystation12/pull/4059

I like your avatar on that better than your current one.

iamgoofball wrote:already coded it
https://github.com/Baystation12/Baystation12/pull/4059

cause code from 2013 is gonna be wicked sick up to date

Arcane research that isn't the long sought-after librarian research system? Sigh.

I'd better contribute some content, then. How 'bout a Translocation Gun, that uses Arcane & Bluespace research to teleport targets hit with the projectile to the same sort of beacons that handheld teleporters can be set to?

With enough research levels, being able to make a subspace forge of sorts that allows the production of certain magical items.

IE. Golden cube that can teleport randomly to the position of a red or blue cube if they are present

One use meat hook that mostly impales people, causes heavy bleeding, and drags them towards the player. Can be used in reverse to impale someone, requires high research level.

Sords giving levels in HONK magic

RnD can already make shit like giant heavily armed mechs and laser guns that can shoot straight through walls. Do they really need spells to go with all this?

Need dat reactive armor

I think the librarian should be able to do arcane research, instead of science! He could have a book analyzer, which would have a special magnifying lens and an automatic page turner.
You'd put spell books or even a cultist tome in, and it would open the pages, showing the ciphered text inside.
You research the text by cracking the cipher. Once you solve the cipher, a fragment of magical knowledge is added to the library database. You can print grimoires which contain this knowledge for people to use.
Additionally, the library would have a glyphic magic system. By arranging runes in a certain pattern, spells are cast. By inscribing special runes with the grimoire, you can mirror the powers you've researched in the library.
Finally, scanning magical items that aren't books with the library scanner would enable you to check out old tomes pertinent to that item, that you can then research.

Yeah give it to the librarian. Let him get small things in normal rounds, studying emag book machine tomes and cult/wiz/clock loot from lavaland, but then have better stuff availilble in proper rounds when the good shit can be obtained

RnD doesn't need more things and it's not fun enough that we shouldn't really be expanding it anything else.

Yoshmaster wrote:I think the librarian should be able to do arcane research, instead of science! He could have a book analyzer, which would have a special magnifying lens and an automatic page turner.
You'd put spell books or even a cultist tome in, and it would open the pages, showing the ciphered text inside.
You research the text by cracking the cipher. Once you solve the cipher, a fragment of magical knowledge is added to the library database. You can print grimoires which contain this knowledge for people to use.
Additionally, the library would have a glyphic magic system. By arranging runes in a certain pattern, spells are cast. By inscribing special runes with the grimoire, you can mirror the powers you've researched in the library.
Finally, scanning magical items that aren't books with the library scanner would enable you to check out old tomes pertinent to that item, that you can then research.

I would not have a clue about how to go about this; Puzzles and what not are a bit beyond me, and would require a lot of UI work. Besides, if I made this a librarian thing instead of a Science thing, I would be severely limited in what I could do, as the Librarian has no resource, levels, or production mechanics. What if Wizard/Cult/Lavaland loot items needed to be researched by the librarian before they could be analyzed in the DA? A conversion of concepts outside the realm of Nanotrasen's Scientists, but could be decrypted by appropriate study? This way, the Librarian gains a purpose and the whole tech tree is not limited to simply replicating spells. Remember, it is about Sci-Fi vs. Magic. Nanotrasen analyzes your magic and creates technology that spits it back in your face! Would you and Wyzack find this a favorable compromise?

Could work like the cult research system where you're basically translating some strange language. The librarian could have a magnifying glass which allows him to read symbols on some special lavalands loot and maybe the strange objects found in maintenace (let's face it, right now RnD doesn't give a shit about them and they're just sort of collecting dust). To do anything useful with the object though the librarian must first use a codex to translate the symbols into a speakable language. Successfully translating and reciting a symbol will cause the object to react in some way. When fully translated the object can safely be used and can even be used to create tomes which can be used to cast lesser versions of the object's power.

I say safely used because the idea I had was that the object could be used without translating the inscription BUT there's a pretty good chance that it might backfire. The more powerful and rare the object, the higher the chance that it'll backfire. This can be a pretty big problem when you don't even know what it does in the first place.

For example, suppose you found some strange orb that as it turns out, lets you shoot a spray of blood from your hand that continuosly ignites anything it splashes on until it's washed off. If used without first being properly researched, there's a good chance it could backfire in which case it'll cause you to start bleeding heavily and burst into flames.