Racial Mods for Xenospecies

[Kazkin]

What are racial mods?

Racial mods are, in simple terms, mechanics and abilities that varies between each race. In SS13 racials reflect physical condtions each xenospecies has in comparison to humans (which reflect the base species/stats) which in theory shows their physiological differences.

 

Why should we use them?

Actually, we already do, however we currently use a much more unbalanced system of racial. My idea is to bring back some of the base racials bay uses because currently racial modifiers feel unbalanced. The difference between tajaran, unathi, and human are largely obvious in favoring the two xenos.

To give a (nerdy) analogy look at the difference between Elder Scrolls: Morrowind and Elder Scrolls: Skyrim. In Morrowind they use racial modifiers that very heavily effect game-play, where your racial option heavily affects how easy or how hard something is. Example being a Breton is naturally more skilled with magic then a Khajiit, while both can achieve the same thing Bretons start out with a better knack for it and racials that benefit a mage build. Your choice of race can hinder or help you depending on what you want to achieve but does not outright inhibit playstyles. Eventually the khajiit mage and breton mage can reach the same level of skill, racials or not.

But now look at Skyrim, where racial choice /does/ offer minor bonuses but does not hinder at all. A breton mage and khajiit mage are equally skilled starting off and progress at the same level. While they are superficially racially different the choice between them is not nearly as important as in Morrowind. This in turn makes race selection a lot less important.

 

What are the standard racials bay uses? What do we use? Should we consider roleplay racials?

Below is a list of existing racials for the common race choices. Those highlighted in blue are roleplay racials, those in green are racials we use, while red are racials bay uses but we do not.

Human

Can perform in any job position on station.

(Humans are essentially the base form for racials and as such do not posses any mechanical bonuses or debuffs, that said, they should by in large be the most powerful race choice. See below for details.)

Tajaran

Large amounts of crew members have racial prejudice against them.

When speaking gal common, tajaran roll their r's.

Tajarans speak in third person.

Can see slightly better in the dark.

Claws deal more damage then fist.

Cannot use gloves/shoes/hardsuits not modified to fit them.

They have their own language.

Takes less damage from the cold (-25%)

Takes more damage from heat (+25%)

Moves faster, (+25%) movement speed.

Takes more brute damage per hit (+25%)

Unathi

Small amounts of crew members have racial prejudice against them.

When speaking gal common, unathi's slur their s's.

They can break handcuffs through sheer strength.

They can devour monkies.

Claws deal more damage then fist.

Cannot use gloves/shoes/hardsuits not modified to fit them.

They have their own language.

Takes less damage from heat (-25%)

Takes more damage from the cold (+25%)

Moves slower, (-25%) movement speed

Takes less brute damage per hit (-25%)

Skrell

Skrells are treated equally to humans, as such they can obtain any position on the station.

Hardsuits must be modified for skrells.

They have their own language.

Alcohol and animal proteins are poisonous to Skrell.

Skrells are able to breathe under water. (Not reflected in the code base.)

IPC

IPC may face prejudice but as a whole can obtain any position on the station except HoP or Captain.

They have their own language.

They do not require oxygen, but will overheat.

Full immunity to toxins, organ damage, and effects that require an organic body such as healing medicine or combat stims. (Since IPCs do have a storage part for chemicals this may be incorrect/outdated)

Does not eat, instead requires power from the station to recharge.

Cannot be cloned or genetically modified.

Cannot regenerate.

Limbs are easily detached.

EMPs and ion weaponry will kill them in one shot.

Immunity to flashes.

Diona

Diona are not commonly found, they generally face racism but given how their minds work will likely not give a flying fuck. That said, they are extremely unlikely to reach any head positions.

Diona are a collection of organisms, as such they consider themselves as "We" instead of "I"

Diona are usually very peaceful and will rarely fight.

They have their own language.

Dionaea must be in lit areas to survive. Darkness will cause damage and eventually death. However, light increases nutrition and nutrition is consumed to heal brute and toxins damage.

Radiation will also increase Diona nutrition without ill effects.

Do not require oxygen to survive.

Moves slower, (-33%) movement speed.

Immunity to flashes.

 

Will racials unbalance gameplay?

After reading the above racials, as is, the mechanics make some xenospecies a better option then human. For all intents and purposes tajaran and unathi are more mechanically at an advantage then humans are. But lets examine why this is and go into why implementing the additional bay racials can balance this.

Firstly, for both tajaran and unathi, they have no downside except for possible roleplay conditions. When matched up in a fight or even in utility positions both the tajaran and unathi are flat out superior to a human. Meaning those of us who are white listed for these races get a clear cut bonus.

But what about the roleplayed racism? That's just it, gameplay modes like revolution or mutiny actually favor the unathi and tajaran as well. These game modes tend to target them based on lore reasons, which is basically a free pass to choose to be an antagonist. Humans have a harder time doing this in these game modes. Additionally most in character racism tends to be mild, additionally most racist characters tend to be assholes across the board. It's quite rare to find someone who is only specifically mean to one race and no one else.

Now lets look at IPCs, Skrells, and Diona and determine why they are more balanced.

IPCs lost limbs easier and are insta-gibbed by EMPs. While they can technically heal faster then humans they are barred from using medical stims or, more importantly, combat stims. IPCs can't have bones broken but can lose entire limbs or be insta-gibbed by certain damage types, none of which they can naturally heal from. For every advantage IPCs have they also major downsides. On reflection IPCs lean towards being underpowered compared to any other race.

Skrell are sort of the odd-xeno-out in this discussion since they so closely reflect humans. Skrell suffer very minor annoyances at best and therefore are nearly on par with humans.

Diona, for all purposes, look insanely overpowered at first glance. Diona regenerate both toxin and brute damage while in light (stick a flashlight in your pocket and you can perma regeneration) and are healed by radiation instead of slowly killed by it like everyone else. They have full immunity to flashes, organ damage, and oxygen deprivation. Literally the only way to kill a Diona and keep it down is to break its arms and legs (which it cannot heal). Diona are literally walking tanks, but how are they balanced?

The speed debuff.

Diona move so slowly that they make easy targets in gunfights. In a gun vs. gun battle they can potentially survive better, but can be shot a lot easier. While they will get up eventually, this doesn't stop a human shooting them into pain crit then running up and breaking their legs/arms. In a melee fight Diona are at a heavy advantage until a limb is broken when comapred to a human. They are, however, still easier to click on due to slow speed which can make them get broken bone quicker.

Now to go back to Tajaran and Unathi. As is currently they are both, within gameplay, at an advantage in comparison to humans. For each other race one can look at them and see what humans can do better, however this is not the case with the slithery-dee's and catbeast.

But how does giving them bay racials balance them out? Simple, unathis with a speed reduction would have trouble chasing others and within gun vs. gun fights be at a disadvantage, especially if they did not have their own gun. However, they can survive more damage then a human and in a melee fight have the claw advantage. Unathis would gain more power in a melee fight with the downside of having a harder time in gun fights. This won't make them useless in a gunfight mind, it just means they are better melee combatants then range, but they can still compete in a gunfight fairly well due to their innate resistance to brute damage. When compared to humans unathi suffer a disadvantage as gunners, but advantages as brawlers.

Now how do tajarans fair with the racial changes? With the bonus speed they potentially become harder to hit, this could make them slippery as they can flee from any other race and become harder to hit. However, if they cannot flee or do get hit they take more damage which can get them killed a lot faster. Compared to humans tajaran are harder to hit and faster but more likely to die from being shot/struck. They trade base defense for the hope of taking no damage (I.E. dropping a shield in the hopes of jumping out of the way of the sword, if it hits its going to hurt a lot more, if it doesn't you get away clean).

 

Doesn't focusing on the mechanics detract from the roleplay?

Actually, far from it, the mechanics of a race are a reflection of the lore and physiological difference between each race. Mechanics are supported /by/ the lore, in essence if you read through each races lore and history page you will see how each mechanic is a reflection of the lore. Having mechanics that directly affect a player when they pick a race adds more impact onto what they want to play. Being a tajaran isn't about being a human with cat ears, they /are/ very different from humans in both identity and physiologically. The mechanics reflecting that benefit the roleplay.

 

How will people playing existing xenos feel about this?

This is a tough question that can vary based on a personal play style. A security tajaran might not like the potential to be taken down quicker, but they might love the fact they can run down criminals easier. Conversely, unathi security might be annoyed with the fact they can't chase down criminals, but might like that they can easily deal with heavily armed enemies better like nuke ops. Depending on what they are doing they will either perform better or worse then humans. This kind of choice adds a mindset of what they should consider when choosing race but since they already picked a race they have this thrust upon them. Some may have chosen to be a unathi or tajaran strictly because they are currently better then humans from a mechanic standpoint.

With this in mind, if people think my idea to implement more balanced/mechanically changing racials is a good idea I'll make a poll in the general forums to see what the current existing xeno species feel.

[Guest Menown]

I'm against innate bonuses. I play a Tajara that's overweight, not to mention isn't the greatest in a fist-to-fist fight. He wouldn't easily outrun a threat due to the fact that he'd tire in seconds due to the excess weight. Not to mention the brute damage enhancer wouldn't make sense for the members of the species that have built up the bulk to withstand hits, like military, fighters, jealous ex-wives bent on revenge, jaywalkers, ect.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

I'd be leaning for this idea if we just made traits like a regular roguelike character creation menu, where you can give them positive traits or negative traits. I like to subvert expectations or stereotypes in my characters - all but one of my unathi are physically unrobust, and even my robust unathi (Sirasairot) shys away from combat because he's mildly ashamed of his exceptionally violent past during the Contact War. And he's just so chill.

The same is true of my single Tajaran, Houssam. He's inept in most fights. He's politically robust and can poison the shit out of someone, but physical combat is something he's not good at.

For obvious reasons I'm not going to apply my own playstyle to every other player as an example of a negative from this idea. These examples are why this idea would be best served if the advantages were optional.

In my mind I always wanted to have unathi be impossible to be shoved to the ground on disarm intent. Your feeble human arms aren't enough to drop a lizard.

[rrrrrr]

yes, please give people reasons to not pick a fight with the 7 foot tall reptiles

[Kazkin]

I'd be leaning for this idea if we just made traits like a regular roguelike character creation menu, where you can give them positive traits or negative traits. I like to subvert expectations or stereotypes in my characters - all but one of my unathi are physically unrobust, and even my robust unathi (Sirasairot) shys away from combat because he's mildly ashamed of his exceptionally violent past during the Contact War. And he's just so chill.

The same is true of my single Tajaran, Houssam. He's inept in most fights. He's politically robust and can poison the shit out of someone, but physical combat is something he's not good at.

For obvious reasons I'm not going to apply my own playstyle to every other player as an example of a negative from this idea. These examples are why this idea would be best served if the advantages were optional.

In my mind I always wanted to have unathi be impossible to be shoved to the ground on disarm intent. Your feeble human arms aren't enough to drop a lizard.

 

I actually am for this more then base racials. To expand on it each race should have innate racials (languages, fur/scales, i.e. stuff they should always have) and then the player can choose amoung a list of racial traits. Some universal and some race specific (durability for unathi, speed for tajaran, etc.) We could easily add new racial choices for IPCs, Skrell, and Diona as well.

However, keep in mind, unlike copy pasting existing code from Bay this would require large amounts of work. You'd have to edit a new menu in character set up and program in variable flags for players. Which can be quite difficult to do. Equally we'd have to consider how to balance it with negative traits. Would it be better that X positive trait always gives Y negative trait or Could you choose both X and Y amoung a list? Players will try to game the system if we pick option 2.

For example, If we allow one positive and negative only. Rusty the Robusty might balk at taking +25% bonus speed if he takes +25% more brute damage because its a heavy debuff for a good buff. But if he can choose he could take +25% bonus speed and the negative quality -25% regeneration. Now he has a combat boost with an after combat debuff. This situation would get even more min maxing if we allowed more then one trait.

If we had a programmer go through the complex project of making this we'd have to consider the balance impact. From my point of view this system would be ideal if we had 1 positive trait that is tied with a specific negative trait, with the option of players choosing neither. Equally, racial specific bonuses should offer greater bonuses/penalties.

Examples:

Universal traits

Fast Metabolism: +10% regeneration speed, +10% satiation drain. Heal quicker, eat more. (Diona cannot take this trait)

Slow Metabolism: -10% regeneration speed, -10% satiation drain. Heal slower, eat less. (Diona cannot take this trait)

Small Frame: +10% movement speed, +10% brute damage taken.Move quick, die quicker.

Bulky: -10% brute damage taken, -10% movement speed.Strong but slow.

Sure feet, clumsy hands: -10% chance to be knocked down, -10% to knock someone else down.Everyday was leg day.

Hard hands, weak feet: +1 brute damage with unarmed,+10% chance to be knocked over.Fuck legday!

Tajaran specific traits

Exemplar of speed: +25% movement speed, +25% brute damage taken. The speed of mrowl.

Acute Eyes: Dark vision is better, +1 second to flash stuns. Potential utility.

Thicker Fur: +25% resistance to cold (stacks with innate cold resist), +25% damage from heat (also stacks). It's so fluffy!

Unathi specific traits

Exemplar of strength: +25% resistance to brute damage, -25% movement speed. I am Stronk.

Big blunt claws: +3 additional brute damage with unarmed attacks, cannot wear gloves at allRip and tear.

Thick scales, hot blood: +15% brute damage resist, +10% heat resistance (stacks with innate bonus), toxins build +25% faster. Wildheart initiative!

Big, stable, and slow: -50% chance of being knocked down,-33% movement speed.You are huge! That means you have huge guts!

IPC specific traits

Overclock: +15% movement speed, +30% heat damage. The candle that burns twice as fast burns half as long.

Low power, long life: -50% satiation drain, -25% movement speed.Who has time to eat? I've got a long road to walk.

Unlikely to break, likely to over heat: Limbs are +25% harder to break, +40% heat damage taken.Getting shot is better then being set on fire...

Diona specific traits

Fungas: Regeneration continues in the dark, direct sunlight deals damage.There be a fungas amoung us...

Exemplar of the Gestalt: +25% regeneration speed (stacks with innate regeneration), -25% speed (stacks as well). More nymphs, more problems.

Stronger nymphs, weaker body: +15% brute damage resist, limbs are 15% harder to break, -20% brute regeneration speed, no toxin regeneration.I am strong, not tough.

Human and Skrell choose between the universal traits but otherwise have no race specific traits. They represent the base template of a character and as such don't get as great of bonuses (or weaknesses) that other races may choose.

When writing these examples I tried to keep in mind several things, firstly each buff should have an appropiate debuff. However I also considered the likely hood of said debuff being used (such as over heating) and adjusted the values accordingly. I also tried to keep it as closely as possible to what is supportive of the races physiological capabilities for the specific traits. Keep in mind this will need to be play tested. Additionally this is all talk unless a programmer agrees to take the task under way (and actually does something instead of putting it off indefinitely).

Though to speak plainly this is very beneficial in both a gameplay and roleplay aspect. Traits should be encouraged to be picked based on what your character is physically or mentally like. Such as the above saying her tajaran is overweight, then take the bulky trait. It reflects your larger and tougher body. This can enhance the difference between each person by giving something a bit more distinct.

[Guest]

Oh man, another pipe dream thread. How about we just update to the newest baycodeso we can all have tasty new things, lights, and shitty security smg's.

[Kazkin]

Oh man, another pipe dream thread. How about we just update to the newest baycodeso we can all have tasty new things, lights, and shitty security smg's.

 

Updating to baycode would balance out tajarans and unathi, which are currently have no racial downsides. Speculating on what could be down isn't likely to happen but hey, we can dream. I'm fine with either implemention really.