Infection, Inclinations and Going Over the Cliff - A new mutation system

GlyphGryph · 2013-12-07T02:09:11.000Z

I’m open to outside suggestions. But it’s basically just - reaching 100% infection status makes you a permanent (without extreme effort) Netherum-ally, meaning regular mutations, nonhostile zeds, inability to deal with NPCs, and a very different game experience, essentially.

infectedmochi · 2013-12-07T03:52:27.000Z

Sounds cool, I like the proposed change in interaction with zombies as your slime level increase, and susceptibility to necromancers and masters will make the end game more interesting indeed. The Cliff is interesting too, the only shortcoming right now is we don’t have the end-game content to deal with players who did reach that stage (NPC), but it’s a temporary thing. ONCE game elements such as NPC and factions (human/monster factions and faction war) is added I could see this transform the game’s experience into something very different.

Inadequate · 2013-12-07T04:12:23.000Z

Will there be any way to join other monster factions through mutagen? Or is becoming a Netherum ally the first step to mutating towards a certain monster faction? I like the idea of the mutation cliff, though. I think there was some discussion about this in the mutation thread earlier.

system · 2013-12-07T04:42:08.000Z

So wait, if I become a Netherum spawn how do I keep my levels up? Or can I just chug some kind of craft able blob glob injector or pill that keeps it at a stable 75%?

GlyphGryph · 2013-12-07T05:03:05.000Z

once you’ve reached the cap, it will become your new balance point and stay that high on it’s own.

system · 2013-12-07T05:05:18.000Z

GlyphGryph:

once you’ve reached the cap, it will become your new balance point and stay that high on it’s own.

So what specifically lowers my count?

GlyphGryph · 2013-12-07T05:08:12.000Z

Teleporting and Fungal Infections or Exposure to slime toxins

system · 2013-12-07T05:10:17.000Z

GlyphGryph:

Teleporting and Fungal Infections or [b]Exposure to slime toxins

The first two I can avoid easily, what’s this about slime toxins?

John_Candlebury · 2013-12-07T11:55:49.000Z

You could perhaps also use a modified dialysis machine too regularly filter blob out of your body if there was any advantage to do so?

It could be another reason other than the stemcell machine to clear hospitals?

system · 2013-12-07T12:00:57.000Z

We need stimpacks only found in hospitals.

Lidku · 2013-12-07T12:33:27.000Z

Oh man I can’t wait for NPC’s to get fixed for monster and faction WARS! Nether Worlders vs The Brotherhood of Obsidian!

Binky · 2013-12-07T12:53:45.000Z

Not meant in an antagonistic way, but I think you made it sound way too complicated with the activity levels and slime levels.
Am I right in saying that it’s basically just between 0-100% slime, this grows over time a little bit (and loads more if you take mutagenic stuff/certain actions) and once you reach 100% you become a zombie/netherwhatever?

I think it’s a great mechanic like that, and I don’t think it needs to be more complicated than a straight addition or subtraction to a total slime level - anything else is just convoluted and adds needless complexity in my opinion.

100Rads · 2013-12-07T13:10:39.000Z

Sounds like a great idea. Go for it.

GlyphGryph · 2013-12-07T14:46:13.000Z

[quote=“Binky, post:24, topic:4410”]Not meant in an antagonistic way, but I think you made it sound way too complicated with the activity levels and slime levels.
Am I right in saying that it’s basically just between 0-100% slime, this grows over time a little bit (and loads more if you take mutagenic stuff/certain actions) and once you reach 100% you become a zombie/netherwhatever?[/quote]

The actual gameplay difference between that and what I proposed would be… stark. The system I put forward isn’t really all that complex, and the results will hopefully be intuitive and easy for the player to follow.

Inadequate · 2013-12-07T15:36:42.000Z

So if you hit 100% infected, can you still continue mutating down a path? Purifier still increases your infection level, so you could hit netherum ally, purify yourself to mutation-free while still being infected and mutate down another path?

Also, wouldn’t this make rushing for 100% infection one of the fastest ways to safely establish yourself, in an NPC-free game? Kill a few zombies and choke down as much tainted meat as possible without killing yourself, and once you hit 100% infection, you can wander around the rest of the zombie-infested city in relative safety?

I do like the idea of the stark gameplay change of becoming a netherum ally, although I’d like the monster factions to be a little more developed so you could progress from that to joining another monster faction.

Belteshazzar · 2013-12-07T18:59:39.000Z

I like it, really do.

Binky:

Not meant in an antagonistic way, but I think you made it sound way too complicated with the activity levels and slime levels.

From the sound of it almost none of that info or careful monitoring of ‘slime/activity levels’ would even be available without a lot of testing or equipment, so the actual caluculatory complexity is irrelevant to the player except that they basically know ‘More Slime, more Mutant. All Slime, Zombie time.’

The biggest difference would be mutations occurring over time, rather than immediately, which is fine by me.

Inadequate:

Also, wouldn’t this make rushing for 100% infection one of the fastest ways to safely establish yourself, in an NPC-free game? Kill a few zombies and choke down as much tainted meat as possible without killing yourself, and once you hit 100% infection, you can wander around the rest of the zombie-infested city in relative safety?

At this point, I imagine so, but then it’s basically dead by boredom for a lot of people, a lose condition.

dwarfkoala · 2013-12-07T19:59:53.000Z

What if somebody wants to play a purist human game?

Would they have to break out the teleporter constantly or go and find some fungaloids to get infected by or is there a way to keep slime levels at a reasonable level?

GlyphGryph · 2013-12-07T20:04:55.000Z

As I mentioned before, there are three “balance points” you can hit - 30% (infected) is the initial one, but 0%(clean, lasts until any infection source is encountered) and 100%(over the cliff) are both balance points as well.

So long as you avoid infection (and use one of those or another strategy to clean yourself up initially) you will remain clean.

Weyrling · 2013-12-07T21:26:03.000Z

Sounds like a really interesting mechanic to me, my usual strategies would probably keep me at around 30% infection with occasional massive activity level spikes, so this would mostly change how I play my mutant characters, but it sounds like a good change.

You’ve already said that you and NPCs will have a mutually negative reaction at very high (but not 100%) infection levels, will animals, insects, monsters, or zombies also have a changed perception of you, or do they only react once you pass the cliff?

Uneron · 2013-12-08T21:21:11.000Z

I like the idea! Instantly sprouting a new set of arms just seems silly. With some amount of lag inbetween chugging a mutagen and the actual mutation I can at least rationalize it as a progressive change afterwards. I also like that it makes the mutation game take significantly longer. That way I can’t just quench a gallon jug of mutagen and purifier to get an ultimate character before its time for dinner.

However, the 100% cliff value should be difficult to reach. When you are at 30% standard the rest of the 70% shouldn’t increase linearly, but logarithmic, so it takes an increasing number of outside factors to drive you towards that limit, once you reach high numbers.