First post here, so hello! And big thanks to all the devs, this game is fantastic.
Anyway, been playing a fair bit lately, and especially been having a lot of fun as an octopus-mutant (now sadly deceased) so have some thoughts on the mechanics and balancing of that:
[ul][li]Threshold breaching - Maybe a consequence of cephalopod not having that many mutations, or maybe I’m just not understanding the threshold mechanics, but it seems really difficult to breach it. I’ve taken cephalopod serum by the gallon over about an in-game year or more and got plenty of “you feel something deep inside yearning to be free” but still never managed to get the threshold. I even pretty often found myself having dreams for other categories, like feline, raptor or bird, despite having 90+% of the cephalopod mutations and very few others.[/li]
[li]Shell - I think this is pretty cripplingly unbalanced at the minute. First of all, destroying all torso armour (without even returning any scraps of leather or etc) with no warning or way of predicting it (unless you’ve had it before) is pretty horrible if you’ve got e.g. survivor armour, survivor trenchcoat and a bunch of survivor bags. And honestly, is it really sensible that the shell grows so instantaneously that you don’t have a chance to take your clothes off? Admittedly a fun mental image.
I’m also not convinced that the shell’s well balanced once you’ve got it. Doesn’t let you wear anything on your torso except a cloak, bathrobe, and in lategame an XL survivor suit. That’s reaaaaally limiting. Can’t even wear bags. That means unless you’re lucky enough to have a bunch of drop-leg pouches, you’re limited to about 40 inventory space max, which is really crippling and basically unplayable if you’re a ranged character and don’t have a vehicle. Not sure it gives that much bonus armour either? Another problem, asides from just the lack of utility or versatility, is it means there’s a massive gap in your options between ‘leather cloak/bathrobe’ and XL survivor suit. Some intermediary choices would be good.
How to balance it? Maybe more storage space, but I’d say just give bags the allows mutant anatomy flag. Probably worth adding more XL options, to be honest. Is it a deliberate balance decision that the regular survivor suit is the only one with an XL version? I notice there are XL versions of the different masks already, but not suits, gloves, boots etc. Certainly an XL trenchcoat and XL survivor trenchcoat seem like an obvious choice imo.[/li]
[li]Tentacles - My understanding is that other than primate hands, octopus tentacles are about the most dextrous and best suited for tool use of any animal’s appendages. As such, is the hand encumbrance malus appropriate? Or does that not actually do much and is made up for by the dexterity bonus? I wonder also if the 4 and 8 tentacle upgrades should get more dexterity than the initial version? It seems wrong that their only bonus is to melee combat - I wonder about maybe even something like faster crafting? (‘many tentacles make light work’).[/li]
[li]Nicitating membrane - cephalopods need this or an equivalent. No use being able to swim and breathe underwater if you can’t see a damn thing. Technically I don’t think cephalopods have a nicitating membrane as such, but obviously their eyes are adapted for being underwater. Could even be worth giving them their own set of eye traits as I think their eyes are quite particular, although I don’t know the biology well enough to suggest specifics. Could also be worth giving them bulging eyes.[/li]
[li]Poisonous - I think most or all octopuses are poisonous, so this might be worth having.[/li]
[li]Carnivore - again, I think all cephalopods are carnivorous (or at least primarily so?). Maybe a moral bonus for eating fish?[/li]
[li]Distributed Neurology - Octopodes in particular have a very unusual neuroanatomy, with their tentacles almost having ‘a mind of their own’, so to speak. Could be worth giving them a weaker version of this trait?[/li]
[li]Amorphous body - maybe they should be able to get this post-threshold? Cephalopods are about as flexible and amorphous as multicellular life gets.[/li]
[li]New trait idea (shared with fish): Deap-Sea Gigantism - similar to the ursine/cattle size traits, but instead of the strength bonus maybe extra health? Or maybe better cold-resistance? I think that’s thought to be one of the main reasons for deap-sea gigantism irl (surface-to-volume ratios and all that), and would help them survive in riverbeds where there’s no shelter and with such few clothing options.[/li]
[li]Briefcases! I guess this is just an oversight, but I think at the minute they’re treated as gloves and don’t have the mutated anatomy tag, so you can’t carry a briefcase if you’ve got tentacle arms. I think the same’s probably true of bindles? I mainly just care because I want a smartly dressed stylish octopus with a briefcase :3 Also the shell mutation limits their storage options so much, they kinda need it.[/li]
[li]What’s the twisty passages thing about? Google tells me it’s a reference to Zork, but I can’t work out what the connection is to cephalopods?[/li][/ul]
Anyway, uhh, that’s kind of a lot of words, and all sort of the top of my head, so I might have some more to add in a bit, but yeah. Thoughts? Comments?
I have to say though, I never thought in a million years I’d play a game where I mutate into an octopus. Love it. Thank you so much for making my twisted Lovecraftian nightmares a reality <3
EDIT: For my next character: evolve mouth tentacles and bat wings and commence building of a cyclopean dwelling of insane geometry at the bottom of a river/in the sewer, y/n?
