ThePiachu's Predator Application - Zig’Reth (The Player of Games)

[ThePiachu]

Byond ID:
ThePiachu

Marine Name (so we know who you are; if you play alien mostly, state that here):
Gaius Caelus; played only xeno for the first month or so, and I still play xenos a fair deal

Name of the character you want whitelisted (The name your predator will use. This must match your in-game predator name):
Zig’Reth (The Player of Games)

Are you familiar with the Predator Code Of Honor?
Yes, to the point I can argue about its finer points that even active Predators are missing

Character background (An ADEQUATE description and story of your predators background):

► Show Spoiler

“How do we learn?” an Elder Yautja asked. “By playing games!” Zig’Reth responded. That was the fundamental teaching of his Clan, often called The Teachers. “Indeed! By playing games, for they impart their wisdom upon us. Now tell me, M’lrada, how did your hunt go?” the Elder continued, turning to one of the two recently Blooded Yautja.

“I have released the serpent into the jungle to let it gain strength and grow strong. Once it was ready, I tracked it down to its lair and I cut its head off! It was a worthy battle!” M’lrada exclaimed with pride.

“Yes, you did take the serpent down, yet you learned nothing!” the Elder retorted, showing disgust on their face. “You killed it with brute strength and sharp blades, but you did not outsmart it. Zig’Reth, tell us about your hunt.” They continued, turning to the other Blooded.

“I let my serpent go by a settlement. I allowed it to grow strong on the flesh of the primitives, as I observed both them and it. I’ve learned the patterns to their lives, and to their hunting behaviour.” Zig’Reth started. “They hunted to survive and to eat, not for the thrill of the hunt. As I had to let the serpent mature, I took pity on them and kidnapped one of their Young Bloods to teach them of our ways in the spare time.”

“Eventually, the huntsman began to learn. I showed them how to make better tools, how to lay snares, how to hunt with bait and traps, and how to hunt dangerous prey. They grew in strength, but also in hubris. It was time to see if they learned their lessons.”

“When the prey was ripe and ready, I set a trap. Not for the serpent, but for for the huntsmen. I taught it how to hunt its own prey and how to bait a trap, so I wondered if it could apply those rules to itself. I left them in the wilderness, then in secret I enticed them with a meat of a fresh game. When they approached to take it, they got caught in my snare. And just like that, the hunter became the bait. I knew their screams of pain and fear pheromones would attract the serpent.”

“An hour later, my prey has gotten the wind of the bait and left its lair. It travelled outside of its hunting ground to find that freshly wounded primitive. As it approached the victim, it got too eager to feast to realise it fell into my trap. The snares snapped shut, and after that it was just a matter of putting it out of its misery.”

“I made sure to kill it and gut it in front of the primitive. I showed the native the glory of my kill, and laughed at them for not learning from lessons. I took their leg as a reminder, and left them as unworthy prey. It’s a small price to pay for their tribe learning a valuable lesson about The Hunt.” Zig’Reth finished.

“Excellent!” The Elder responded in delight. “You not only outwitted the serpent, but you also thought another to only trust prey they killed themselves! A lesson within a game!”

► Show Spoiler

Zig’Reth is a relatively young Yautja. He’s still got a lot to learn and hone his skills. He follows his clans principles of “playing games to learn” with their prey and other sapient species. He does enjoy the idea of teaching other species a lesson to direct their thinking in a specific direction more in-line with Yautja’s honour culture (all the better to hunt them later, once they value warriors in their society). He is still a curious learner though, which means he might pick up a thing or two from his prey and use their tools against them.

How do you intend to play your predator (as in, describe HOW you will act/play your predator)?

I intend to play Zig’Reth as a Predator that makes their presence known and tries to “teach a lesson” to Marines and xenos if able, sometimes “playing games” with them. Simple things that can be expressed in the CM game, like “don’t venture out alone” or “loot only what you kill”, and most importantly “Predators will never be your friends, you’re not worthy”. Sometimes, getting creative with the environment - perhaps putting a monkey in a pile of NPC gibs to see if xenos understand what a “marked territory of a bigger predator” means, or if a Marine can be lured out with a trail of booze into an obvious trap. Enough to draw a few players into some traps and remind them about the pecking order, but not enough to grief or upset the balance of the game.

Similarly, I might abduct a survivor or a Marine, patch them up on their ship and give them a chance to “learn to be an honourable warrior” - suit them up in a gladiator armour and take them down for a small hunt together. If they prove worthy, they might be let free… or given the honour of a duel with Zig’Reth. I like the idea of using the various tools available on the Predator ship and I would like to see them in game more.

On a higher-level, once I get familiar with the role enough, I might occasionally try to “mess with the meta” to breathe some new lives into some maps. Setting up a lodge closeby to where the Marines always “by chance build a FOB” (LV-624 Hydro for example). Close enough to make both sides have to work around it, but never in places that break the game for either side (so no engineering / tcomms).

So all in all, I intend to play Zig’Reth as someone that toys with the other species in between hunting for his prey, and maybe someday, as a counter-balance to “stagnant meta”.

Why should we whitelist you?

Because I’m an active CM player, both in the game and on the forum. I also understand that my own fun isn’t worth more than the fun of other people. Hey, most of the times I play a support role to make sure everyone else can have their fun shooty-shooty time! I don’t want to play a Yautja to get my murderboner on, but to engage with a new role of the game and learn from it. Also, I’ve seen that a lot of players have been complaining about the Predators being lax on the Code of Honour, and I would be more than interested in seeing how this problem can be fixed - whether the Code needs to be touched up (like the Marine Law recently), or whether it’s the players.

I also tend to report a lot of bugs and suggestions, especially when I try new roles. Being able to play a Predator would not only give me access to a new playstyle, but also give me a role with versatility and access to eclectic items to test edge-case bugs.

Finally, I do record this game extensively, both to document various bugs, as well as to give people an insight into how various roles can play out. I don’t think there is a recording of someone playing a Predator in a CM round. Having some video of an actual play of a Yautja might be useful to preserve the role legacy, if anything.

Have you been banned from CM in the last month for any reason (we will check, and lies may result in immediate denial)?
No

Are you currently banned from any other servers and if so, why?
No, this is the only server I play on.

Do you understand that any player - donor or otherwise - can have their whitelist status revoked should they break our rules or disobey the Predator Code of Honor?
Of course!

[x31stOverlord]

Hmmm...

Story was short, somewhat curious with the clans idea of learning through 'games' to taunt and mock the prey is an interesting RP generating tool. But stories are here to just show us how much effort you are willing to put into the role and give us a showcase of what you intend to do.

Important to note:

- Non Pred players are often incorrect in their own interpretations of the code of honour and are not quite aware of the self limitations you have to impose on yourself to deal with situations as and when they occur.
- Because Preds are a 'secretive' role and their information is purely only available to pred players as fact (Some of the mechanics and abilities have been "sussed out" by the players but the majority are still unknown and secret) it is likely that you would be asked not to record any Pred rounds if you were successfully white listed in order to preserve some level of mystery around the role that is mostly "unknown".

Overall... I am going to give a +1 I feel as though your style of play may be interesting to observe and hunt alongside, it may offer more RP for the marines. I have seen Gaius and your RP is decent, you seem able to conform to rules etc. So I feel no harm in giving you the opportunity to join the hunt.

[ThePiachu]

If you think about it, The Hunt is a sort of a game - a structured activity with clear objectives and so on. But the clan would refine it further, as noted in the story - both of the predators did fulfil The Hunt, but the first one took the bluntest approach to things. And yes, while I could've written a longer story, adding more words to it by changing from a character explaining everything to a narrator explaining everything, that would just add more words rather than more meaning. I think I've touched on all the important parts I wanted.

Non-preds being incorrect about the code of honour is fine. At most they would turn into a single antag human - not enough to imbalance a game.

And yes, if the staff does feel I shouldn't be recording the predator rounds, I'll comply. Then again, a lot of people already can spectate a whole predator match by just observing a round, so I'm not sure they'd be missing much. On the contrary, it would help people that want to play as a predator know what is really involved in actually being one. Also, the recordings can be pretty useful to the devs for documenting bugs, but I can just set the videos as "hidden". But I'll leave it up to the staff to make that call.

[Jakkkk]

Yes, everyone can spectate a pred, but looking through the pred's perspective and toggle options is a lot different.

[Imperator_Titan]

Backstory was good but my main concern is with the playstyle. Predators are a SIDE ANTAGONIST. They are NOT the PRIMARY ANTAGONIST like xenomorphs. (Outside of events.) You should not intentionally be disrupting the entire round. A Hydro lodge is one example of that. It's like an event.

You seem like an okay guy so I'm not gonna -1, just gonna sit on neutral until you can respond.

[ThePiachu]

Well, that's where ideas might crash with reality. Haven't played a predator, don't know how feasible or useful that "meta" thing might be, so in the end it's just "an idea that would be neat to try one day", not "this is my shtick that I will be doing every round". It's more of an indication that I'd like to explore what this role could accomplish and how it would impact the round.

I do similar things in other roles - seeing what they can do, pushing the limits, and talking about whether that's interesting, useful, or too much - viewtopic.php?f=135&t=17867 , viewtopic.php?f=133&t=17659 , viewtopic.php?f=133&t=17483 .

I wouldn't go straight for Hydro Lodge for example, instead opting to start by building it off in one of the buildings Marines don't go to at all. Then maybe closer, maybe next door, etc. Seeing how that affects the game, rather than always being in the furthest darkest corner I can find.

Heck, I play Research to try testing various weird ideas that come into my head, and even then I leave Almayer to even test things that might make a mess not to cause trouble (like testing explosive grenades or metal foam grenades).

Which is to say, I have ideas of what I might try as a Predator, but I don't think I'm robust enough by myself to try it too quickly, and even when the time comes, it would be a build-up and the admins might get asked for a go-ahead before I start trying something really weird.

[Imperator_Titan]

Righto. You've addressed my concerns quite well. I'm going to tell you right here and right now. Lodging in domes on LV regardless of where they are WILL ALWAYS result in marines finding it. LV is a short map which makes the marines explore it all, or attempt to at roundstart due to the fog pushing them back in. The reason why we lodge where we lodge is to make marines less inclined to visit due to the risks it poses in traveling and fighting us. This generates less salt than lodging in the science dome on LV where marines will pour in and either die en masse which disrupts the round or overwhelm you and kill you which ends yours. Lodging itself creates salt because we suffer from no restrictions on how we can kill. Everything is off the table.

+1, my opinion has changed. I'd say you're up to the task. Just keep that in mind.

[zoboomafoo]

Story was on the shorter side, but was still a good read.

What I really like about this app is the play style, I can see how it would be very entertaining to watch/be a part of. It would be fun to watch a pred really mess with marines and xenos by making traps out of the environment. Very unique.

As a player I think you could handle what comes with being a predator.
+1

[Symbiosis]

Solid story, well written.

I’d hope to not see an overly prankster style Pred, but I like to hold onto hope that you’ll do skirmishes and Play with them that way.

+1 from me.

[Kavlo]

Story is short but solid, the intend the play helps a lot with the additional information on your playlist which itself is pretty unique. You seem to be a good player and give good examples of it. I haven't seen you too much ingame but you mention you do play xenomorph which is obviously a lot harder to know people are playing often as. Overall I'd say while maybe lacking in the backstory and player familiarity section this is a good app.

+1.

[Karmac]

The backstory is refreshing and manages to tell me more about your predator and how they think than most manage in three large paragraphs, your playstyle was explained in-depth and though it is interesting I have no expectations of you maintaining this during your time as a predator, it's a rather lofty goal. I'm going to mention that you most absolutely can't take marines under your wing for the purpose of 'teaching them to be an honorable warrior', this sort of behaviour's been punished in the past, unless the ruling's been changed in which case I'm sure someone will point out. I'll stay neutral if only because of this and your insistence of pointing out how intimate you are with the Code of Honour.

I do honestly think you'll get this though.

[ThePiachu]

The backstory is refreshing and manages to tell me more about your predator and how they think than most manage in three large paragraphs, your playstyle was explained in-depth and though it is interesting I have no expectations of you maintaining this during your time as a predator, it's a rather lofty goal. I'm going to mention that you most absolutely can't take marines under your wing for the purpose of 'teaching them to be an honorable warrior', this sort of behaviour's been punished in the past, unless the ruling's been changed in which case I'm sure someone will point out. I'll stay neutral if only because of this and your insistence of pointing out how intimate you are with the Code of Honour.

I do honestly think you'll get this though.

Well, I'm all open to input from the staff or the "predator elder council" as to what types of actions are acceptable or not. At the very least, I would like to try using more of the Predator Ship and gear therein than is currently being used (and it seems I'm not the only one - viewtopic.php?f=124&t=18120 ). How feasible it would be to accomplish really remains to be seen - because you can't really practice playing a Predator, you can't know for sure how you playing the Predator will turn out in the end and whether you can accomplish what you set out to do.

[Ghostdex]

Most of my concerns have been addressed by you from Imperator. On the topic of taking apprentices; It should be something rare, a marine killing a xeno with a rifle isn't worthy of it but a marine killing a xeno by himself with a melee weapon would be considerably more worthy, however, they're incredibly more worthy to hunt instead of making them an apprentice. Taking an apprentice isn't something you should do lightly. I'll leave my +1 here since I do believe you can be trusted with the role.

[TheMaskedMan2]

I'd comment more on this but any concerns I would've had with this was already addressed. I mimic what mostly everyone else is saying, I think with some practice with the role you'll come to understand it more and we can work out any little kinks.

So +1

[spartanbobby]

Short but sweet +1

I enjoyed the story and the idea of a "Booze trap" makes me laugh to my very core
You seem fairly active and your avatar is...acceptable
Best of luck

[Brotemis]

Solid +1 from me.

From the story to how you would actually play the predator and different things you would try, its not the same old "I will observe the enemy and then kidnap one I find worthy."

The idea that there could be a clan of predators who teach and hunt by playing games is much more fascinating than the stalk and kill shtick and honestly sounds like it could be an actual thing in the lore. (Even though we are moving away from the source lore, this is unique in that I could see it being an actual clan). I know theres more that can be said but I don't think much needs to be said.

[Jack McIntyre]

Seems like a interesting pred however I know when we first introduced them and some people got predators they were quite bad with their pranks. That being said I know myself and another predator would mess with the marines by taking their flares and moving them around sort of moving them farther then the FOB then they originally were so just for them to run out just to see the flare a few more inches away. Just don't be like some of the players we first had with them literally inviting the marines to play basketball with them and such...it was cringe and I wanted to kill them for being "bad bloods".

That being said I would still side with the staff there shouldn't any recording at all for pred rounds, nothing against you and I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in it to help your viewership however when we first put them in, we always made sure no one recorded them. Leave that sort of gameplay as a suprise so when someone finally earns the right to play Pred they can enjoy it for themselves. Furthermore with you recording, you could give away your location or other preds (not sure if you stream). If it doesn't then people could at least learn how other predators tend to hunt so it makes it easier for power gaming marines to try and go after preds for their gear. So as a former staff I would at least ask you don't record.

Furthermore as staff as said you can't just grab a marine and teach them to "hunt" and such. The only time a predator even old time we ever did that was when the marine went full on robust and earned the respect of all the hunters. For example, another hunter and myself were talking about possible targets we were thinking about as well as watching the xenos and marines fight back and forth looking for a worthy target. When all of a sudden this marine squad gets pushed hard, and the marines start getting picked off, one marine stands his ground orders his guys to fall back as he covers them. He literally kept up a suppressive barrage and when they rushed him, he fought with a machete killing a crusher and ravager. The other pred and I just stood there shocked that he was still standing, and we uncloaked near him and approached. This guy looks at us and is still ready to fight, and we ended up taking him with us to "train". He literally stuck with us the rest of the game, and actually hunted with us. So I would just urge caution on picking a marine to play your "games".

Overall seems like you have a lot of support however like the old days I always feel like predator players need to go on a hunt with a "Hunt Master", a player who has played predator more then a few rounds just to keep a eye on your actions. I know all the predators say they are bloodied when they first join usually, however I still consider all of them unbloodied until they actually complete a hunt on the server. Nothing against the player behind the pred, but it is something you have to get used to playing as well as learning to not influence the round to tilt it to one side or the other, but still have your own fun in the process.

Anyway sorry for the wall of text, figured I would look at some of the other pred apps after I applied myself. I haven't seen anyone come up with something like yours though so it was certainly a interesting read.

[ThePiachu]

Seems like a interesting pred however I know when we first introduced them and some people got predators they were quite bad with their pranks. That being said I know myself and another predator would mess with the marines by taking their flares and moving them around sort of moving them farther then the FOB then they originally were so just for them to run out just to see the flare a few more inches away. Just don't be like some of the players we first had with them literally inviting the marines to play basketball with them and such...it was cringe and I wanted to kill them for being "bad bloods".

Yeah, I'm pretty much of an opinion that on most occasions "a Predator is not and will never be your friend". Playing pranks every now and then might be fine, but unless you do something more with them like lure people out to hunt them or the like, then you're detracting from what Predators are in this game.

That being said I would still side with the staff there shouldn't any recording at all for pred rounds, nothing against you and I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in it to help your viewership however when we first put them in, we always made sure no one recorded them. Leave that sort of gameplay as a suprise so when someone finally earns the right to play Pred they can enjoy it for themselves. Furthermore with you recording, you could give away your location or other preds (not sure if you stream). If it doesn't then people could at least learn how other predators tend to hunt so it makes it easier for power gaming marines to try and go after preds for their gear. So as a former staff I would at least ask you don't record.

I don't stream. And as for recording - I'll probably ask the staff for an official stance on the matter before I release any video. At the moment I haven't gotten a concrete stance as to the policy.

Furthermore as staff as said you can't just grab a marine and teach them to "hunt" and such. The only time a predator even old time we ever did that was when the marine went full on robust and earned the respect of all the hunters. For example, another hunter and myself were talking about possible targets we were thinking about as well as watching the xenos and marines fight back and forth looking for a worthy target. When all of a sudden this marine squad gets pushed hard, and the marines start getting picked off, one marine stands his ground orders his guys to fall back as he covers them. He literally kept up a suppressive barrage and when they rushed him, he fought with a machete killing a crusher and ravager. The other pred and I just stood there shocked that he was still standing, and we uncloaked near him and approached. This guy looks at us and is still ready to fight, and we ended up taking him with us to "train". He literally stuck with us the rest of the game, and actually hunted with us. So I would just urge caution on picking a marine to play your "games".

I will definitely have to see how my intended gameplay will pan out in a real game. I'll probably start with survivors first - it might be really interesting for the Marines to find someone in a gladiator suit fighting xenos in Prison Station for example. It would definitely be more fun to pick some robust players for this sort of gameplay, rather than some rando Marine who wouldn't even get what's going on.

Overall seems like you have a lot of support however like the old days I always feel like predator players need to go on a hunt with a "Hunt Master", a player who has played predator more then a few rounds just to keep a eye on your actions. I know all the predators say they are bloodied when they first join usually, however I still consider all of them unbloodied until they actually complete a hunt on the server. Nothing against the player behind the pred, but it is something you have to get used to playing as well as learning to not influence the round to tilt it to one side or the other, but still have your own fun in the process.

Anyway sorry for the wall of text, figured I would look at some of the other pred apps after I applied myself. I haven't seen anyone come up with something like yours though so it was certainly a interesting read.

Yeah, application-story-wise it's more interesting to be a bloodied, since that usually lets you talk about how you hunt xenos and so on. Gameplay-wise, I'd be all about slowly rising through the ranks by various accomplishments. Heck, this might be an interesting progression to actually capture in videos - going from unbloodied, to bloodied and so on. Unfortunately, having a more experienced Predator on each pred round might not be viable luck-wise .

Thanks for the lengthy feedback.

[Jack McIntyre]

You seem pretty mature enough for it, although still siding you probably shouldn't record +1 from me.

[Emeraldblood]

Resolved - Accepted; Whitelist will be updated shortly