To be frank this isn’t a post about the general feel or difficulty of labs but rather–to my frustration–the tendency for Security bots to walk into dissectors and vaporize your finale loot thanks to the +5 explosions got recently.
I would propose instead of the large room with lab Zeds and Bots slugging it out on the last floor that is more often than not the case, one of the following:
[center]Entry[/center]
*A singular corridor that leads into a checkpoint proper. At the entrance you have the re-risen dead gunned down mid escape. Now zombies they’re futilely trying to push down the turret lined corridor. I’d suggest a setup similar to Military bunkers, where the turrets are placed in little nooks in the wall–put have a longer range rifle variant at the very end of the hall, next to one of those hack or crack security doors. A ‘destroyed’ variant of this could exist, being utterly over-run by nether creatures.
*An unassuming corridor that’s protected by laser tripwires. Using infrared vision would reveal them, allowing savvy players to bypass the system entirely by memorizing the pattern. Tripping it would cause barriers of reinforced glass to drop and the hall would rapidly being to raise in temperature or bombard the player with radiation
*A simple unassuming lobby–save for the downed strike team between you and the control panel. Power-armor zombies and bio-operators.
[center]Main Room[/center]
- Firstly there probably shouldn’t be any dissectors laying around. As is they’re a bigger threat to the enemies and your loot than they are to players. If their ARE traps they shouldn’t hinder the security or zeds. Anything you’d be looking to grab should probably be sealed up tight in some sort of case or sufficiently sturdy.
*I’m all for unique encounters like one finds in the mines. Boss Nether creatures or a NON-damaged cyborg fit the bill. Some ideas off the top of my head?
CVD machine: Bio-Operator with an ugly, damaged but diamond-coated pair of bionic claws. Probably died trying to do it without the proper know how.
Portal and Containment: How about a scenario where the portal is open and you get messages letting you know you ‘feel’ a threatening presence drawing closer. The room is full of various monsters that’ll slow you down as you try and find niffy loot. Overstay your welcome and something along the line of an ancient shoggoth, Mi-Go’s armed with spears and nets or creature that generates pain from being seen shows up.
If everything’s contained the bots probably want to keep it that way, perfect excuse for a working cyborg (Think undead robocop) to spoil your day. He’d have some serious armor values, a few bionics and a powerful handgun. Probably some bio-operator style slams and shoves if you press melee with him.
Weapon and Nuclear Storage: For the Nuke stockpile best I can think up is that a few went off already. Making the room difficult to traverse due to rubble and obstructions and giving survivors a healthy green glow for their trouble
The good weapons on the other hand? A very determined and hostile band of NPCs have armed themselves and aren’t just about to hand them over. Could be everything from bandits that got in before you, scientists that broke under the stress or masterless mutant run amok.