themaskedman2

I actually really love seeing more strange and alien stuff around the station. Of course I am biased because I love me some bugs, but in general I would actually support seeing more weird and unique things around the station. The fact of sci-fi for me is seeing the exotic stuff, and alien races that are more than just "human-like", and trying to get them to almost relate and blend with normal society instead of just what we think should be similiar to us. I'm rambling a tad, but basically I really like seeing the big bugs, and I would argue I want to see even more weirdness.

Arguing aside, I like the ideas and I think baby steps are a good start for Changeling, of course I have probably pages of suggestions I could manage to add out, like Diseases, Horror Form, my old suggestion, etc. As for the talk about horror form, I think there is a lot more to Changeling combat-wise than horror, or at least potential so theoretically if it was removed, it wouldn't effect that much I don't think, since in its current implementation it's more of an end-game ability.. In my dream scenario, I think more innate abilities to ling would be more interesting instead of arm-blade and sting,, but I am partial more towards re-working horror form though instead of removing it. I enjoy the idea of Horror Form being a "Panic Button" instead of an "I Win Button" Take for example, nerfing Horror form heavily, but it's an ability a Changeling can use whenever for when they get caught. It would easily be able to solo someone, or very weak people not armed, but otherwise is more of a body horror panic button. Think back to "The Thing" when the monster would transform, it would only transform when it was caught and had no other options, and while it was horrifying and a good horror movie spook, it was easily burned to death. I'm especially a massive fan of "Genetic Diversity" and getting upgrades via that, it's all some really good start, and i'm curious to how it will evolve. I like your ideas though and i'm looking forward to them. Good luck! tl;dr - I like horror form thematically and would rather see it reworked instead of removed.

These are all amazing ideas in my opinion and I think a really good start for a Changeling rework. Changeling is a mode with a ton of potential, and I think you have an idea of how to reach it. I think I agree with horror form being removed, or at least reworked into something else. Perhaps a much less overpowered version of it that's more of a baseline ability to use when you get caught? So if somebody discovers a changeling, it turns into a fleshbeast-then again, if natural Changeling abilities fit the goal of being a horrific monster, I think that's just as good. Though I worry without horror form there would be no "end-game" goal for Changelings. Arm-blade is definitely a bit underwhelming, perhaps replace it with claws, make changelings more regeneration robust in general? In my opinion, Changelings currently feel like a normal person that can turn into a monster, with a few monster moves. While it should feel like a terrible monster always, just hidden in normal skin. I think these steps are good on that. Changelings should potentially naturally just have these innate abilities that they can use, and hopefully the end result will be an antagonist that is just more interesting to interact with instead of para-sting+succ. Thinking back to "The Thing" movie, part of me humors the idea of a "Disease" or an end-game ability that lets you "Convert" people into a "Ling" as well, but that might be far too overpowered, or perhaps implanting people with your cells, think sabotaging blood or food and drinks. tl;dr - I'm rambling too much, I like your ideas and think it would make the gamemode more interesting, but a few takes. -1. Horror form should be nerfed and a base-line ability for when a Ling is discovered, instead of removed. (Changelings having more innate abilities in general is also okay, just something body-horror-y, like acid spit and stuff.) -2. Maybe another sorta end-game ability goal for Lings to work towards? Maybe? -3. I'm still iffy on shapeshifting in HRP, it never seems to end well. I think i'd prefer a sorta conversion but that would be OP. That's just me. Also maybe i'll plug this really old suggestion I made on Changelings. It might give you some ideas.

I think that's a good point, right now at the moment Changelings are built around a gameplay that rewards stealth, most abilities they have do not allow them to reasonably interact or roleplay with the crew besides horror form causing a good spook. (I really enjoy horror form, I just don't think it should be the only time you see Lings). Perhaps if Changelings had more tools available to them, ideally tools that could be spooky without perma-killing/allow it to hold its own ground might encourage more gameplay and bravery on their part? What if decapitating a ling, instead of killing it, made its head turn into a headspider that could run away? Maybe a panic ability button that has them turn into a sorta monster thing with acid spit. I have other ideas but this probably isn't the place for it. I'm just saying I think Ling could do with... not exactly buffs per say, but a sorta changing of its abilities to be something a little more interactive and fun for both sides. Then again maybe my ideas are contrary to Changeling as a whole, but i'm of the opinion that mimicking someones personality in a HRP server doesn't really work. It winds up with players feeling somewhat frustrated at their own character being "played wrong". But that's just me. tl;dr - Changeling feels like a normal guy with some meme-stings and not a spooky monster in human skin like it should.

This seems pretty great. I love Changeling as a concept but in practice it winds up just being meme-succ's, I enjoy the options for getting DNA points without perma-killing people, and I would hope that eventually we get more body-horror options/abilities instead of sting japes until it gets decap'd or horrors. Tentacle arm is a good start. I'd also argue for a few other ideas such as detaching limbs for ghosts to control, more disgusting body horror things, detaching your head and running away. Crazy stuff like that. Think "The Thing" movie. Ideally I think Changelings should transition from being a Stealth-Antag into a Loud-Antag as they get more powerful, much like a horror movie. First people disappear, there are some strange sightings of fleshy things spitting acid, bloody piles of clothes left behind, etc. But i'm getting ahead of myself, this is a really good start for the moment.

I'm going to bump this at least once like a greedy asshole because I still think this is a good idea. Any feedback counts.

+1 It's a good suggestion. Though I have to say, i'm not sure why you are particularly against disabilities becoming more severe and impairing to characters. It is a complete optional choice, and someone joining as an important role with 100 disabilities is no different than what some may currently do with other disabilities, more of an OOC issue then. I guess what i'm saying is, if someone wants the option to potentially die because of a very severe allergy I feel like they should have the option? Though even without that it's a good suggestion as is and I think could add some nice depth to certain characters.

Even these would be more acceptable to me, but I still think that holds onto the innate core of Changeling, which is what I believe is flawed. I would certainly prefer a complete rework to be honest as opposed to band-aids over the top, because currently, innately. It's not fun. Even to play it, it's not that fun. I would settle for this, it would make Lings better, but it doesn't solve my innate issues with the gamemode. A coder has said my suggestions did not seem that difficult, but I can't particularly say because i'm not a coder. I just think Changeling needs something done, lest it remain as a shit-fest. Whether it is my ideas, others ideas, or something else entirely. Vampire has the stealth traitor theme. Changeling should shift to horrific monster theme. I will continue to dream until Changeling is perfect. I would not mind just something that gives them more room for error, even as they currently are, they can't even revive most of the time because chem points may not be at the top, and they certainly don't regen them when dead, and you know people will think up any tiny little flimsy excuse to decap you. Changeling as it currently is, is just some dude with a fancy looking knife, and can regenerate when dead, but only sometimes, and only if nobody decaps them.

Can you explain this to me a bit more? A major point of this suggestion is to prevent ganking by giving the ling more ways to revive, and to lower the amount of gankiness coming from lings by causing it's attacks to give the victims more things to do. Also do you not have any ideas yourselves on how to improve Changeling? I feel like people here aren't understanding i'm not looking for exactly all of my rambling suggestions to be added, and it's just some ideas for Changeling. If others have ideas or specific critiques they can try to suggest their own ideas as well.

+1 good suggestion, virology and viruses in general could use work if you ask me and I think this would handle pretty well.

The amount of Officers I see beeline to the shotgun and slugs just to sprint up and blast antags in the head is dissapointing, i’m all for removing shotguns from the armory, for reasons mentioned above, really.

This is such an issue for me. I agree with others here about making interesting RP, and being theatrical, and I think i’m fairly decent at it, besides Changeling. Changeling is the hardest one to create interesting RP with. I can create good RP with it over time, I love being a horror monster, the problem is, in order to get to that point, you have to kill and suck people, which is extremely hard to make interesting without taking the risk of “HELP MAINT!!” and the entire round being over for you. Of course, I figured I had a few things in mind for reworking Changeling mechanics to better help RP. https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=9403 Anyways, besides that, I think something a lot of players need to realise is, sometimes you just die, stupidly and without flair. Is it ideal? Is it fun? Usually not, but sometimes your mediocre unheard death can benefit the round as a whole. Remember, cloning is a thing, respawns in 20 minutes is a thing. It’s one round. Try not to let it get to you, nothing will ever be perfect and I say live and let live and feel good that someone else feels good about it. Slight ramble, but basically, in conclusion. Death happens, and it’s okay. Some antagonists unfortunately lend themselves to literally racking up kills, and at that point I blame the Antagonist mechanics, not the player. If an antagonist only rewards the player for killing people quickly and discretely, that’s a problem more with the mechanics than the players. Ramble over. People = Salty Antagonists = Need Updates

Okay thanks for the feedback, let me touch on all of your points quickly I suppose. Let me pre-face this with if this suggestion is accepted, i'm not really asking for every bit to be added exactly as I detailed, feel free to pick and choose, it's a spitball of various ideas I had that attempts to make Ling better, I doubt it's perfect. Let's start with the infection. This has been a bit of a contending point for me, it may get slightly out of hand, I agree. Though it was part of my idea in order to give lings a chance at continuing to be a spooky menace throughout the round. That could be sacrificed in favor of say, when one of the horror forms die, it splits apart into a bunch of little bits, sprays blood in a sorta smoke bomb sorta manner, and gives it a chance to creep away. Then again, we can also severely limit how the infection works. We could have it so it doesn't convert people at all, but still lies dormant for dead ling players to resurface, within a certain period of time after being slashed. Not that I think about it, that may work better, full conversion of another player may only work through the typical succ-in-maintenance idea. Horror-Form slashes are a weaker form of the infection, that mechanically is only a way for a ling to respawn for a certain period of time, in this manner it gets less out of hand, and even so, maybe have the infection only spread from a good succ'ing like ability. Perhaps horror forms can get a "Stab Bob in the arm with a proboscis!" or.. something. Anyways, rambling. As I said, it's a general idea. Devs can look it over more deeply. Now my part on removing stings. Perhaps they can stay, but I really think they need to be less of a focus for the ling, and a few could use some changes, perhaps change it to certain stings requiring a passive grab to activate, or something. Oh, and about your suggestion for opening locked doors, let arm blades act as a crowbar or a strong claw or whatever, eaaaaasy. Anyways, thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, as you said they could fuck someone up, but they aren’t by default aggressive either. They would make good experimentation and just round up the complete caste of monkeys for research.

Eh, I don’t know, I mean, I certainly really dislike Ninja and Wizard but other people enjoy them. At the most I think they could simply adjust the RNG odds of wizard and ninja to be less. It does seem to be common lately. Or maybe add something that doesn’t let the same gamemode be selected for the next two rounds.