Ling Ops

[Dagdammit]

Kor's recent posts in shadowling thread about conversion antags's weaknesses (struggling to match the potential for creativity and variety seen in other game modes) left me thinking: The most distinct mode might be Nuke Ops, and that's a shame. It could be cool to see other Ops modes that shared some of Nuke Ops' most distinct characteristics:

• Antags work together as team to accomplish challenging goals.
• At roundstart, antags spawn in a safe location where they can form plans and choose their tools accordingly, then journey to the station once they're ready.
• A critical drawback is that antags are not disguised amongst the regular crew. Blending in amongst crew members and pulling their objectives off covertly from start to finish is still theoretically possible, but in practice an unusual & impressive achievement. Things will often degenerate into carnage, and teams can opt for a pure brute force approach or mix between the two.

So for starters, how about Ling Ops?
-Start round with fleshy skeleton resprites as your only form, immediately recognizable in same fashion as blood red hardsuits. Literally no equipment, not even headsets.
-During prep phase, powers can be bought at half price. (Respeccing later will only give back the amount of points spent.)
-After prep, you enter station z-level from direction of your choice. Skeletal form (inherently spaceworthy thanks to skeleton species) has organic jetpack that drains chemicals and leaves long-lasting green trails.
-New forms can only be acquired via absorption. If available, Hive Channel may require physical proximity in order to share acquired forms, may be clearly inhuman process (both ling ops might basically go horror form for a minute).
-Ling Ops should prooooobably always have icons marking teammates on their HUD, probably different icon per individual teammate. Purple "E" for Mr. Epsilon, etc.

Possible Goals:
-Have a shared total of at least (4 per Ling Op) absorptions amongst team members who escape alive on the shuttle.
-Escape on shuttle with forms+IDs of heads.
-Escape on shuttle with forms+IDs of staff in (department), including John Doe the (head).
-Escape on shuttle with the form & ID of a Marked target. (Alternate term for Marked: "Delicious")
--Ling Ops start the round knowing the DNA strings (but not the names) of 1 marked target per Ling Op, mainly useful if someone can get access to medical records.
--Aside from the known Marked targets, remainder of crew 1 in 10 will be Marked.
--Ling Ops get undetectable "taste blood" stings which tell them if a target is Marked & if so flags them for all ling ops on their HUD.
--Absorptions also have a special message when victim was marked.

[ShadowDimentio]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Ling needs to be removed, not combined with another, perfectly good mode to ruin it.

[Armhulen]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

Ling needs to be removed, not combined with another, perfectly good mode to ruin it.

Those rounds where three changelings work together to murderbone the whole station? HAVE FUN WITH FOUR OF THEM FUCKBOY

[PKPenguin321]

teamling sucked, we had it briefly

[AnonymousNow]

Instinct says that a new roundtype based on antagonists working together and doing something interesting involving off-station fuckery sounds neat.

Practice knows that regular murderboning is bad enough, and fucking frequent. Changelings still have the ability to grab people and make them vanish from the round forever, which is pretty much the worst thing about this game.

We should get something like Team Abductor instead. Part capture, part conversion, with off-stage intrigue.

[ShadowDimentio]

I couldn't care less about getting removed from the round so long as it's got some semblance of fair, or better yet fun. Four lings with selfchat coordinating with nuker guns, stun immunity, regeneration and literally reviving from death at full health isn't fair.

And even if that's not what this is that's what ling is and ling needs to be incinerated as a roundtype.

[Dagdammit]

I don't have much comment on what powers should be like, how they should change, etc. Too hard to make that call without testing honestly.

But I think it's worth emphasizing that they would start with literally nothing in terms of equipment- no headsets, no ID cards... nor would they have any kind of form at roundstart beyond the spaceworthy jetpack one that immediately warns crew what they're up against. Getting that initial foothold on the station without raising seven kinds of hell WOULD be difficult, even with teamwork, thermals and a screech that knocks out headsets.

Other shit you could do:
-Possibly cannot shift back into roundstart form after becoming something else.

-Significant downsides to being in a form that isn't one of your targets.
--Could constantly drain chems at slow rate rather than gaining them.
--Could be unable to use most ling powers.
--Could only be able to wear that form once, for a maximum of 10 minutes or so, after which you revert to a weakened walking husk form.

-No flesh clothing and the like. You have to gather materials for disguises by hand, and going horror form wrecks your possessions as if you'd been gibbed. When naked, your whole waist+torso remains clearly inhuman regardless of form.

[Haevacht]

No.

[Luke Cox]

Somebody smoked too many marijuanas

[Dagdammit]

Alternately: surplus crate ling ops. Random set of powers at roundstart, team must plan accordingly. If you absorb enough victims to respec, selling roundstart powers only earns about half their normal refund value.

[Weepo]

I know the motive behind this is: Recycle code but make new gamemode.

I'd love to see a nuke type gamemode but instead of nuke ops its Ayys with crazy alien equipment, robotic exosuits, plasma rifles, weird bio weapons, basically xcom nuke ops

[Steelpoint]

A Nanotrasen false flag operation.

A team of NT Spec Forces are ordered to destroy Space Station 13 for various political reasons, the team is dispatched using NT technology.

----

On topic but it seems like you'll be going to a lot of effort for a minor reskin of a current game mode.

[Dagdammit]

...Christ, every single person in this thread assumes I meant changelings with a full nuke ops armory, huh? No one bothered to read the part where I said they'd have no equipment?

[DemonFiren]

Reading is for nerds.

[XDTM]

I know the motive behind this is: Recycle code but make new gamemode.

I'd love to see a nuke type gamemode but instead of nuke ops its Ayys with crazy alien equipment, robotic exosuits, plasma rifles, weird bio weapons, basically xcom nuke ops

Now this i could get behind, i wanted to make new abductor equipment and stuff. I got started with the tools but i see them so rarely that it felt like a waste of time to continue.

[TrustyGun]

This actually sounds pretty cool. 4 lings may be too much tho.

[Armhulen]

A Nanotrasen false flag operation.

A team of NT Spec Forces are ordered to destroy Space Station 13 for various political reasons, the team is dispatched using NT technology.

----

On topic but it seems like you'll be going to a lot of effort for a minor reskin of a current game mode.

Now this sounds fucking cool. We should have randomized nuke op themes, dancing from the syndicate to the fly lives matter group in their large vessel they call 'the buzzcut' while they fire bee cannons

[Cobby]

why not have gimmick shipments people can buy that scale price with the amount of awwwps?

[Dagdammit]

This actually sounds pretty cool. 4 lings may be too much tho.

From a balance standpoint, agreed. Makes it tricky to not give them too much power.

At the same time, I feel like you lose something if it's less than 3-4 people.

why not have gimmick shipments people can buy that scale price with the amount of awwwps?

Shipments of what? Bought by whom?

[Weepo]

...Christ, every single person in this thread assumes I meant changelings with a full nuke ops armory, huh? No one bothered to read the part where I said they'd have no equipment?

I got what you mean, trick is even four regular lings without any special equipment could easily bring the station to its knees. Additionally, there'd be no incentive for loudness unless they had a heavily modified power set at which point, why bother making them 'lings' in the first place?

[Screemonster]

just make a mode that smashes an asteroid full of xenos into the station

edit: klendathu ops where you gotta feed someone's brain to the brain bug