Pheromone Jelly (aka Praetorian buff)

[Reuben Owen]

Summary (a quick, 2-3 sentence summary):
With the Queen no longer needed to poop jelly, I started to think of other uses jelly could possibly have, and the lack of customizing on the Xeno side. Pheromones are sort of like a customization however they aren't permanent. We would give one other Xeno the ability to poop out different colored jellies that have different effects when eaten.

Benefits (How this will benefit the server and game as a whole):
It'll be fun customization for the Xeno side. Give the Prae something to live for and actually be paid attention to by other Xenos as she sits near the guarded hosts. More uniqueness in each Xeno.


Details (Description of how you think this would work, the benefits, etc):

Firstly, I would think that this would be the job of either the Praetorian or Hivelord. The Hivelord because she is the lord of the hive is the way a Queen sort of is. Or a Praetorian because right now, Praes are kind of poor in comparison to Boilers/Spitters and they are also the closest in build to the Queen, yet they have nothing unique about them. For either caste it helps solidify their support nature.

You'll notice both these Xenos can emit pheromones normally. This would work into the making of the jelly. The user must toggle the pheromone on that they choose for the jelly, and then make that jelly (which will be a button in the alien tab, like before). If this proves too complicated they could just select the different colors of jelly from a list. Anyway, the jelly would cost at near/max plasma capacity, around 600 plasma. It could cost more to prevent young praes/hivelords from using this ability (800), since it is kind of powerful.

Secondly, T1s should probably not be able to eat these jellies. They are not worth expending the effects of them, to the hive that is. (I guess if a T1 reaches Ancient, then they could eat these jellies.)

Thirdly, a Xeno can only eat ONE kind of jelly throughout their life.

Fourthly, before the jelly takes effect there would be a "Jelly timer" that would take 50 ticks before it becomes full and at which point the jelly would take effect.

There would be 2 ways these jellies work. Regardless of how they would work, a Xeno can only have 1 jelly in them at a time.

They are permanent boosts that stay with them their whole life after a brief period of time of having the jelly in their body (100 ticks).
OR
They are temporary boosts that stay with them for around 100-200 ticks, then wear off. At this point they can get another jelly.



There would be 3 kinds of jelly.

Green Jelly - This would work as Recovery Jelly, either giving the eater slightly more health/plasma per tick when on weeds or giving them a 1-Off boost to their evolution progress by a certain amount.
- "You eat the Green Jelly. You feel calm and devoted towards the hive."

Red Jelly - This would work as Frenzy Jelly, either increases the damage of the eater, giving them more speed, or lowering the health level at which they would enter crit.
- "You eat the Red Jelly. You feel more aggressive towards those who would hamper the hive."

Blue Jelly - This would work as Guard Jelly, either reducing the damage the eater taken when hurt, giving them an increased chance to block, or giving them increased max health (relative to their actual health, maybe a 15% increase?).
- "You eat the Blue Jelly. You feel as if your skin has been layered in tough resin."

...I say either because some of these seem kind of OP, really there would only be one thing each Jelly would do. If you notice these Jellies are basically a edible pheromone, with maybe some unique abilities. Do note they would also stack with normal pheromones.

Additionally, it would be cool if the Xenos color sort of merged with the color of the jelly they ate, so marines could tell which (if any) jelly so and so ate. But if it makes them look unrealistic then forget it.

Implementation (Optional, if you have an idea how to implement it): ...well we already have a sprite at least. Just recolor it to make it the different colors and then... idk anything else.

Thoughts?

[YungCuz]

Huh...this could be nice little buff for praetorian and hey maybe it won't be that useless anymore.

[Renomaki]

Funny, I was thinking of making jelly a more buff-related thing too.

Now that jelly isn't really used all that much thanks to the update, we need new reasons to invest in jelly. Making it so it gives xenos temporary buffs sounds like a good idea for a start.

[Godzillan]

This is a fun idea for a boring caste which desperately needs some attention and uniqueness. Sure it would bring back Young Runner (69) begging for jelly, but that's not a particularly bad thing is it? Besides, at least those kinds of runners wouldn't die so easily with the jelly (which is why i think it'd be fair to let t1s eat the jelly) and it'd give the Praetorian something to do besides being a poor man's Spitter.

I still like the idea of giving Praetorians a heal or slow they can use and it'd probably be easier to implement, but this is a nice idea nonetheless.

[KingKire]

Well they are teir 3, so i wouldnt be against giving them a boost. Jelly also needs a place in CM somewhere, so thats also up for grabs.
How long would the jelly last for?
How much would it cost?
Would there be downsides to eating the jelly akin to abusing medical drugs for marines? ( i hope so, i really do like the pro/con mechanics for games)
I would think jelly shouldnt stack, as that would be a slight balancing issue, or maybe it can. (might create different style jelly effects with radical consequences)
I also would think that the jelly shouldnt last forever, eventually decaying/loses potency, so the praetorian must keep making new jelly.

[Reuben Owen]

Funny, I was thinking of making jelly a more buff-related thing too.

Now that jelly isn't really used all that much thanks to the update, we need new reasons to invest in jelly. Making it so it gives xenos temporary buffs sounds like a good idea for a start.

This jelly could be good as a temporary buff too as you say. Like, after they eat it that Xeno gets the jellys power for 200 ticks, and then the jelly has 'passed through its system', so they need to get more jelly after that (xeno drugs lol).

This is a fun idea for a boring caste which desperately needs some attention and uniqueness. Sure it would bring back Young Runner (69) begging for jelly, but that's not a particularly bad thing is it? Besides, at least those kinds of runners wouldn't die so easily with the jelly (which is why i think it'd be fair to let t1s eat the jelly) and it'd give the Praetorian something to do besides being a poor man's Spitter.

I still like the idea of giving Praetorians a heal or slow they can use and it'd probably be easier to implement, but this is a nice idea nonetheless.

I mean no, its not bad for a T1 to get these jellies, but they might be a little OP. Guard jelly would make it so every runner would not die to a mine. And the amount of begging that would bother a Prae may as well turn it into the Xeno version of Cargo, with a line constantly forming for jelly. Although recovery jelly would give Drones more of that sweet plasma per tick, which they so desperately dream of.

[Reuben Owen]

Well they are teir 3, so i wouldnt be against giving them a boost. Jelly also needs a place in CM somewhere, so thats also up for grabs.
How long would the jelly last for?
How much would it cost?
Would there be downsides to eating the jelly akin to abusing medical drugs for marines? ( i hope so, i really do like the pro/con mechanics for games)
I would think jelly shouldnt stack, as that would be a slight balancing issue, or maybe it can. (might create different style jelly effects with radical consequences)
I also would think that the jelly shouldnt last forever, eventually decaying/loses potency, so the praetorian must keep making new jelly.

I was thinking either it would last forever so the Praetorian wouldn't be bothered all round or as soon as they eat it, it would start working its way through their body.

But yes, they can only eat one jelly at a time. More than 1 of these at once would be very powerful, especially for T3s.

What do you guys think of a Yellow Jelly that would give any Xeno the ability to use the Long Sight that boilers use?

[Godzillan]

What do you guys think of a Yellow Jelly that would give any Xeno the ability to use the Long Sight that boilers use?

Sounds like a bit much, I'd prefer a jelly that slightly speeds up evolution progress.

[YungCuz]

Bump cause Praetorian needs some sort of buff since its outclassed by a Spitter for some reason.

[SPACEpotato1]

Ahem. A +1 and a bump, while I'm at it.

[Snypehunter007]

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