Xenomorph Trait System

[Sarah_U.]

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):
Add a xenomorph trait system to add various branching/possible abilities to be unlocked by the queen.
Add said traits to each xenomorphs.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):
This would grant the game with more dynamic.
Generally speaking, the game would gain a new way for devs to balance teams beyond stats.
Gives the queen with a new ability to better serve the hive.

Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc):
There are various ways to get to this:
A) The queen gains a 'currency' of sort to progress her global evolution tree.
B) The queen gains a number of points to spend in each upgrades at each tiers she gains (PS: Once she dies, other queens need to catch up before changing/adding)
C) Etc.

Said traits range from various ideas that could be quite interesting (Only suggestions, find your own if you'd like):
- Drones are now able to coat mechanical objects in resin to disable them (Includes sentry and airlocks)
- Sentinels spit acid that stimulates the growth of larvas if an hugger is afterward latched onto the host within XYZ seconds.
- Huggers can now survive twice as long outside eggs.
- Hunters can dodge more frequently bullets from low-calibers.
- Runners gib when killed on fire and cause more burn damage to nearby victims.
- Etc.

Also, there could be branching in said ideas; Per example, instead of having runners blow up when they die, you could have it so runners are darker-shaded and can slightly cloak to give them an advantage, who knows.

See the reference part for what I mean and where the idea was mostly developped from.

Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it):
[n/a]

Reference:
http://imgur.com/Wt7IPaq

End note: Hope you like the idea, with the arrival of hugger combat rework and everything, I felt like it was proper to suggest this. Have a nice one (PS: Snype, I heard you don't like xeno suggestions?)

[xeno366]

1+ this was my idea but i made you post it.°

because im toooo lazy

[Sarah_U.]

I posted it in the past way back while huggers were a thing.

Just felt like reposting it (You lazy meme)

[YungCuz]

This feels more like a direct buff and than "balance" and they dont need more buffs, Just get 6 crushers.

[Garrison]

I like this idea, kinda like how marines have attachments and special weapons. The aliens would have this, could possibly make playing Xeno's more appealing. +1

[Sarah_U.]

To be fair, if this is added it could be a way to secretly nerf xenos by taking away some abilities or stats in favor of those traits, so it's not necessarely a buff if, and if only (saddly), it's applied with something else that would balance it or was in itself a form of balance to a recent change.

[TheMaskedMan2]

You know, I really like this to be honest. It looks like a LOT of work though, but it'd be nice to keep in mind. At least the general idea.

[Sarah_U.]

To be fair, it's not that much of a work more than drawing out the ideas and THEN considering said idea's work. The system itself is extremely simple and would quickly be done and finished, but the abilities it includes are another matter.

[Renomaki]

While it would be interesting, it would be a pain in the ass to balance.

Just because xenos are meant to win 70% of their games doesn't mean that marines have to suffer. After all, as Apop put it, he wants marines to feel like they are slowly falling back, not getting steamrolled every single round, and with upgrades like you suggested, I wouldn't be surprised if it made the aliens WAY too powerful and cause an uproar in the community as marines become completely unplayable due to how insanely overbuffed xenos are.

After all, there is making things more challenging, and there is making things broken to the point that no one is having fun anymore. I feel this would be the latter unless it was very CAREFULLY handled to ensure everyone was happy.

[Nick123q23]

Shouldn't do a whole lot besides small adjustments to the aliens. Something like Attachments, but for xenos?

[TheMaskedMan2]

While it would be interesting, it would be a pain in the ass to balance.

Just because xenos are meant to win 70% of their games doesn't mean that marines have to suffer. After all, as Apop put it, he wants marines to feel like they are slowly falling back, not getting steamrolled every single round, and with upgrades like you suggested, I wouldn't be surprised if it made the aliens WAY too powerful and cause an uproar in the community as marines become completely unplayable due to how insanely overbuffed xenos are.

After all, there is making things more challenging, and there is making things broken to the point that no one is having fun anymore. I feel this would be the latter unless it was very CAREFULLY handled to ensure everyone was happy.

Hence my saying it would take a LOT of work and thought put into it really. The idea is neat, but it would need to be perfect.

[caleeb101]

think it'd make more sense for drones to just get a pheromone that stimulates larva growth than acid but i'm not a scientist. (this'd promote drone guarding which is way easier to break out of than sentinel guarding, especially with buckshot at your side)

[Jory13]

Drone (121): " I WANT MEH XENO BERREL CHERGER OR MUTINY!!!!!111!!1!!!!" +1

[Snypehunter007]

Going to run through this with BMC, tomorrow. Please do not post until after Monday (07/03/17).

[Bmc777]

This is a massive change but it's an idea we've thrown around before. I'm going to leave this one up in limbo for now.

[misto]

i would prefer it if the xenos got some self-customization in the form of tiny adjustments like this rather than everything always being on the queen. then its more enjoyment for the individual player and less micromanaging for the queen player

[Challenger]

Yeah, I'm sure there's a bunch of minor perks with upsides and downsides you could grab as an alien, kind of an RPG style skill tree.

Some examples:
regenning more off weeds while regenning less on them
opens doors and climbs into vents faster, but remain stunned for the duration
can pounce over barbed wire barricades at a massive loss to health
acid works faster on light sources but slightly slower on everything else
neuro spit lasts a shorter time but causes a slight amount of temporary pain
acid spit causes minor brute damage but slightly less burn damage
acid glob is transparentish and harder to see coming in, but spreads slower
can drag xenos faster but get dragged slower
walk faster while cloaked as a hunter, but cloak is shittier
weeds spread faster from your weeds nodes, but to half the range
boiler close range spit is two tiles wide, but travels much slower
praetorian gets to spit a stream of acid instead of just a glob but it's slowed down while doing so
queen gets thiccer thighs (no downside)

[Jaketeaking]

would such a thing be complicated though really? re-work the clockwork cult system in standard SS13?

+1, but itll play hell with balance.

[Daman453]

-1 from me, as a marine main, it's too damn easy for xenos to win.

[misto]

do not be so down on it automatically, daman. counterbalances, nerfs or negative trade-offs can also be applied, if a trait is plainly too good. xeno gameplay is currently too simplistic and this sort of added complexity may grow into a good feature, if it is handled carefully