ShameOnTurtles Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Wiki I've thought for a while that Shadowling could be an awesome mode. It has lots of room for different gimmicks and ideas, while still being at its base, an antagonistic mode. Secondly, it doesn't force you to kill people. In fact, it encourages thralls, and requires lots of cooperation. As an added bonus, it also has a cool endgame ability. The recent addition of changeling horror form reminded me of this mode, and I would like to see it implemented. What are other thoughts on it? For reference, the main wiki I looked at was the /tg/ one, although the Yogstation one had a cool 'Passive Shadow Walk' ability. (This specific implementation of the ability might be too strong, however.)
UnknownMurder Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 After reading the wiki, this does seem to be a very interesting game mode. Guess what? I love horror too.
Ornias Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Add this + make it a mixed gamemode with vampire, please. Obviously there would need to be a bit of balancing, but the tone would be a great fit. And I love the idea of more veil-creatures.
Chada1 Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Having actually played this mode in the past, it's a blast. I just don't know if it'll compliment Auroras lighting system or not. I think if it's possible, I would want to try it, though. I am pretty sure it'll be *Great* in HRP. I think I played it in MedRP, Paradise? Not sure. It was fun.
ShameOnTurtles Posted July 17, 2017 Author Posted July 17, 2017 Having actually played this mode in the past, it's a blast. I just don't know if it'll compliment Auroras lighting system or not. I think if it's possible, I would want to try it, though. I am pretty sure it'll be *Great* in HRP. I think I played it in MedRP, Paradise? Not sure. It was fun. This is what I am concerned about with the Passive Shadow Walk ability. There have been times where an area has been stuck permanently dark, or walls have been darkened for no apparent reason. Add this + make it a mixed gamemode with vampire, please.Obviously there would need to be a bit of balancing, but the tone would be a great fit. And I love the idea of more veil-creatures. Definitely always nice to have for veil creatures, yep. (mixed mode of Vampire + Shadowling, yes please).
Scheveningen Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 Heeeeere's the problem. Shadowling is arguably one of no, the toughest antagonist types to play in the entirety of SS13. You ever play as a vampire? You know what would be nice? It'd be if each vampire had a walking target placed on their sprite that upon examining says, "This is an antag, kill he" as soon as they used an ability and doesn't go away. That's shadowling in a nutshell. Shadowlings are next to worthless until hatched, and by that time they become extraterrestrial abominations with a slew of defensive and disruptive abilities that are not too well-suited for offensive combat. To know how to play shadowling is to effectively know how to pick your engagements and also how to run. Most SS13 players have a inflated opinion of themselves, as well as an over-exaggerated sense of honor, they get into fistfights without any regard for their own safety or the safety of others, they pretty much do not care one bit. You are not meant to play shadowling fair, you are meant to run away from conflict and powergame your way into gathering 15 useful idiots who need to be alive in order for you to completely shift your purpose as an antagonist type and go from Defensive-Disruptive to Endgame-Killdeath-Disruptive. Ascendants don't need to use their defensive abilities once they ascend, they become invulnerable to anything short of a singularity or a well-placed and well-timed bomb. Good luck doing the latter, as Ascendants can look at you and make you explode if they even think you're a threat. I mean that literally. You explode. . Violently. Now you're thinking, wow this is cool! I get to make people explode at end-game! It's really not that simple, nor is it that great as it is cut out. I've won a couple shadowling games and this game mode is the most tedious I've ever played. I enjoy ling more than shadowling because at least you still maintain a stealth aspect for as long as you can. Enthralling folks to do your bidding is like herding cats. Cats with Aspergers. Cats with Aspergers don't think like you do, and they also don't listen well. Especially not on heavy roleplay servers. You need FIFTEEN people alive for it. Fifteen. Count that. If you stuck 15 people in the brig lobby, how much space do you expect them to take up? It's quite a bit, but given you become completely invulnerable just for the end-game gib powers and other bonus stuff, it is a fair trade-off. No more, no less, it is fine at the number it is, but, I cannot guarantee to anyone who's never played it that it is fun to have to grind 15 thralls to not only stay alive but also not give away they're a shadow-thrall to the crew. Shadowlings are valid as fuck (regardless of our anti-metagaming rules, it is an extra-terrestrial shadow demon you are looking at, not a silly wiznerd LARPing), have little to no stealth capabilities as soon as you hatch into a full shadowling, and they're actually really easy to kill with our medical system versus TG's. If you die as a shadowling, you don't come back like a changeling does. You don't get to cheat death, and light freakin' murders you. You need the situational awareness of a CS:GO MGE+, luckiness and the hope that the crew is completely mentally crippled that they cannot hope to even do their own jobs let alone deal with one of the most vulnerable antagonist types in SS13. Shadowling is badly designed because there is little stealth element to it, therefore meaning there is no element to surprise when it comes to Shadowling, and it is not fun to have to gather 6 more people than what you require to summon nar'sie just to reach your endgame state. Servers that have shadowling get away with it because you don't need to talk once as an antagonist to achieve your objectives. Just run around stunning people 1 on 1 and don't get caught by a greytide ganksquad + the entire crew. I don't really care if it fits on an RP server, I'm sure it can, but the design of the entire game mode as it stands is inherently flawed in many critical aspects that it does not adequately reward the antagonist with a return on fun factor to make this game mode worth porting. Being an ascendant is not actually as fun as people think it is with the whole exploding thing. It's really damn boring to fight people when you're completely invincible and they stand no chance against you in a fair or unfair fight. You don't die as an ascendant from anything short of something you could prevent by yourself. You should never have to grind to have fun.
NoahKirchner Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 With some changes to make it a bit easier to play in a social stealth situation, +1. As it is, -1 for sure, it's a rather low rp gamemode and doesn't really work without gaming as much as possible.
Snakebittenn Posted July 17, 2017 Posted July 17, 2017 The real problem would be getting thralls easily. Both acquisition, and the fact that a large number of people would rather be decapitated with an axe than be subservient to the sling. Also, thralls being easily identifiable is not good.
Butterrobber202 Posted July 19, 2017 Posted July 19, 2017 *Tries to Thrall someone* *Beaten to death for attempting to Seduce a crew member* Shadow long is tough, hard to play, and actually takes thinking. +1 Good luck
CommanderXor Posted August 19, 2018 Posted August 19, 2018 Now that I have the edgy as fuck quote out of the way - I am aware this is nearly an entire year old - but I believe this could very well work if adjustments are made to it to fit the server better. Obviously, powers need to be reworked to make it more....acceptable, since we use a vastly different medical system perhaps having a healing ability added, or even make it passively heal in the dark and things like broken bones and such require a power? Various other things should be changed, like thralls not being dead obvious at a mere glance - unless we wished to keep that feature? - infact the entire thing could perhaps be some sort of new Lii'dra bio-weapon experiment, black k'ois on steroids, with some fluff thralling message being vomiting black k'ois into a victim or such to enthrall? Just an idea thrown out, obviously, a new alien species is do-able per the original 'lore' of shadowlings. Perhaps, even if we wished we could add it to a mixed gamemode, or replace the classic changeling with it until it is fixed? Again, just ideas to throw out there. Otherwise, I'd like to see this gamemode added, albeit I highly advise some sort of rework to fit the mechanics of our codebase.
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