BUMBLING THROUGH THE TUNNELS [Vox Raiders ver. 2]#38949
BUMBLING THROUGH THE TUNNELS [Vox Raiders ver. 2]#38949gurfan wants to merge 20 commits intovgstation-coders:Bleeding-Edgefrom
Conversation
gurfan
added
the
Gameplay / Gamemode
|
123 files changes is hilarious and I promise I will slim that number down by the end. |
|
It would be nice if you could break off the holomap change into its own PR since it also affects nuke ops (and theoretically the crew can maybe draw on their own bridge holomap?) Could also PR in the dart/new raider gear stuff you have already. Breaking up PRs makes them easier to review, makes it easier for people to learn all the changes (instead of getting avalanched), and also helps you get your things in game faster. Obviously most of the stuff like the game logic, faction stuff, new objectives, and new shoal map/skipjack all makes sense to go in a single big PR though. |
|
i went over your objectives and i have some feedback, aside from that are you planning on implementing some way of letting raiders infiltrate the station as traders? like if theres no traders active you could give the access to the outpost as a ruse and/or have them hire the trader thats currently active. i really want to see raiders utilize subterfuge like that
the hand tele gets stolen pretty much every round by assistants so it would be easy to look over, the blueprints are hardly used by anyone
these would have a lot more impact if you were also required to steal a member of the crew that works at the department you're disrupting, but that might be too much
why keep it limited to that? theres lots of items that people dont want to lose that arent vital to their job like the miner's spur, the captain's hat, bartender's shotgun, paramedic's portable cmc, qm's sunglasses
i dont really see the point here, no one would miss a coinbox
raiders enslaving a member of the crew (of their choice) by brainwashing them would be fun, said crewmember could then help them with their other objectives |
Yes, this is already sort of a part of raiders that I plan on improving on a bit, though I didn't mention it anywhere. I'd like to fix their ability to dock at the trading outpost (it's currently broken) and give them the ability to interact with the rest of the trader's stuff.
That was the thought I had in mind, yeah. I wanted to keep the abduction objectives limited to one. Of course, nothing's stopping any player from kidnapping more people than they have to.
I didn't want every single objective to be something dramatic. Obviously nobody's going to miss a coinbox and the botanist isn't really going to care of you take some of their seeds and who's going to care about the black box that does nothing, but it adds something less disruptive for raiders to do if they happen to roll on a quieter round, and if an assistant sees some trader fella tampering with all the vending machines I bet it's still going to lead to conflict anyway.
The spur is a good idea, and I'm open to a lot more potential theft targets.
There's already a brainwashing objective as a potential abduction goal. |
I've been thinking of ways to break up this PR but got a little carried away. I agree it would be better to atomize things. I can definitely split off the holomap stuff as I haven't started that yet and it's more just a QOL idea I came up with. |
That's the worst part of post-Dynamic raiders, let them have fun at the Shoal if they want to ! |
This is related to another big conundrum we've been discussing--I am of the opinion that Raiders 2 will be good enough and fun enough to justify itself as a roundstart ruleset, but unlike other roundstart rulesets that change your identity, Raiders is neither round-ending nor a permanent identity. For that reason, it'd be a total waste of your round if you, say, got ripped from your Bartender job to spend 45 minutes stealing stuff and then disappeared. We talked through a couple possible solutions if we went down that path. One of them is (egregiously!) sending successful Raiders to the title screen so they can, if they really want, respawn as a crewmember. However, the idea of not disappearing the Raiders at all is a new one. What should they be able to do at that point? Just roleplay endlessly, or go on more missions at the station? |
|
While the option to make this a roundstart ruleset is definitely something to consider, I should mention that I didn't design this as a roundstart gamemode, and a few things would need to be tweaked. Also like kilo has mentioned, I am hesitant at the idea of yoinking 5 players into an antagonist role who would otherwise be roundstart crewmembers. I agree that it feels awkward to despawn raiders at the end of the mission. It's not a part a liked about old raiders and it's weird that it's the only antagonist that does this, but also I'm just not sure what would be left for them to do afterwards. I can look into making the despawning part an option though, and I already plan on giving raiders the option to rejoin the round as new crewmembers (with some kind of check to prevent them from rejoining as the same static) |
I'd lean toward the latter, although a furnished Shoal base might also offer some fun in the same way that players rush to the Centcom beach & bar after a round. The way I would design it, after their objectives complete they could return to the station to steal more stuff or do some low intensity non-lethal antag'ing (which is what Vox Raiders were originally about, hence the inviolate) by stealing more station critical infrastructure until they eventually get caught. Additional stolen objects brought back could add up some points for the round end scoreboard. If they wish to despawn, they can just close the game. |
|
so being the author of that PR, is the shoal from #33865 coming back for this? |
|
That'd be a perfect opportunity for it |
I've remapped it entirely. There were some things I was unhappy with the original PR, and I'm taking the time to make the place look better. |
I've been thinking of ways to implement something like this. I'll write something up later.
Excellent point tbh |
|
In my mind there are basically two problems with raiders (both the kidnap objective and despawning at the end):
|
This was always my least favorite part of raiders in its current implementation. I think abduction is a big part of this antagonists identity but it's also its weakest part gameplay wise. I've been thinking of ways to improve this part of the gamemode, but there's still a lot of room to make things better.
Raiders have this unique position of being a team antagonist that doesn't end the round when it succeeds, so it's been hard trying to figure out things to do with them. Letting them rejoin the round as normal crewmembers afterwards would be an improvement from how it works currently, but the underlying problem is still there. Right now, I think the best thing to do would be to let them continue the raid with new objectives, and that's what I'll work towards, but something doesn't feel perfect about just sending them back to ransack a helpless station over and over. If the first raid went smoothly, then I think it's likely that subsequent ones won't have much resistance. More importantly, the number of possible objectives will eventually run out and there will be nothing left to do. Then what? Raiders could be left with nothing except "Just Be Yourself", and from my experience in that brief area of Cult where you couldn't summon Nar'sie, team antagonists can feel really awkward without a goal to unite everyone. Maybe it's not a problem people will have, but I anticipate players scratching their heads once all tasks are done and there's nothing left to do in the raid. |
|
how maze-like is the vox shoal base exactly? if the layout is too confusing it will be really hard to have a confrontation, and if its too simple then players will know exactly where to go also are you making any changes to the shuttle? |
I don't know, I haven't mapped that area yet. I'll try to stick a balance.
Yes, remapping it entirely. |
|
You may consider mapping the maze in segments and randomizing which segments are chosen, which reduces the metagay advantage of memorizing the shoal. |
I think you have the right idea in mind. Maybe similar to a prison shuttle, an escapee can kick the console to have it fly to a dock on the station to return. The ability to jury-rig a space suit might also be useful |
Once you open the box, there is no closing it. Choose wisely. |
8 participants
This is a complete rewrite of the Vox Raiders gamemode.
Still a heavy WIP that won't be completed anytime soon, though I feel that enough progress has been made to put up this draft for people to gawk at and give some early feedback. I plan on remaking the PR fully once the code is complete. Thanks to @kilozombie for basically all the spriting work, and for helping me spitball ideas.
List of Objectives (Also WIP, suggest your own) : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yXQsCqn-FFgHRf48zcI3DgUS4cN9Ty4LFjiOxF79IHY/edit?usp=sharing
Vox Raiders are a midround team antagonist designed to cause minor sabotage. Unlike other team antagonists, they are not designed to be a round-ending threat. The versatility of their mission objectives, however, causes the threat of a raiding team to vary wildly
While the flow of raiders is described in phases, this is are only used to describe how the ruleset might play out in an average round. There is no act structure or similar system a la Cult 3.0, and both the raiders and the crew can play the game however they like.
Ruleset Setup Phase
When the ruleset is picked, a Shoal map will be generated on a unique Z level. This map shares properties with Centcomm's Z Level.
Next, the game will assign objectives. Objectives are rated by their risk to the raiding team and their threat to the crew, and the ruleset will try to balance both depending on game conditions. (Dynamic threat level, crew size, raider count, etc)
See List of Objectives https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yXQsCqn-FFgHRf48zcI3DgUS4cN9Ty4LFjiOxF79IHY/edit?usp=sharing
Once objectives are selected, the game will spawn all picked players at their starting area on the Shoal.
Shoal Starting Area
Similar to the starting area for nuclear operatives. This is a dormitory style area where raiders can greet each other and pick out their outfits.
Preparation Phase
After raiders have been spawned and fitted themselves, they have time to plan their mission (if they choose to do so).
Tactical Holomap
Shoalish Armory
The raiders also have access to more conventional equipment in their starting area.
Once the raiders are prepared to leave, they can make their way to the shuttle.
Raiding Phase
The raiding phase begins when the raiders arrive in the vicinity of the station for the first time. This is when raiders will begin completing their objectives and interacting with the station.
Like all other antagonists, objectives are merely a suggestion.
Most of what raiders will do during this phase depends on the objectives that were assigned.
Almost all raider objectives will require bringing things back to the shoal. The game should keep track of what raiders have accomplished and stolen, as well as if they have brought home any crewmembers.
If the raiders bring home a crewmember, or if they return home with enough valuable items, they might be Detected.
Detection
The detection phase begins when Nanotrasen Command becomes aware that Space Station 13 is being targeted by a raid. This happens in one of a few ways.
Depending on the conditions of the raid, when Nanotrasen detects it, they will send out either a Quiet or a Loud alert to the crew. Whether the alert is Quiet or Loud depends on the mission objectives of the raiders.
The only difference between a Quiet and a Loud alert is whether or not the announcement is made publicly. If the alert is Quiet, the announcement will only be printed at communication consoles (with the global message
New Central Command report available at communication consolesas usual) instead of being announced globally.Once the raiders are detected, the crew will be able to scan for the location of the raiders base using the Deep Space Exploration Scanner on the bridge. Much like scanning for planets, this takes time and a (small) amount of power. After the scan is complete, the crew will be able to print a shuttle destination disk to the shoal.
Extraction
Raiders will complete any other objectives that need to be done once they return home. These will typically involve doing something with the kidnapped target.
To complete their theft and target extraction objectives (and end the whole operation), raiders will need to use their computer to receive some rendezvous coordinates.
After the process completes, the raiders will receive a destination disk they can use to pilot to the dead drop location. Once the raiders head to the dead drop location:
Invasion
The crew may attempt to invade the Shoal to recover lost goods and personnel before they are brought to the rendezvous location. The Shoal is a maze-like area that the crew must traverse to find the raider headquarters. Docking at the shoal sends the crew's shuttle to a random location within the tunnels.
What's completed (~40%)?
What's not completed (~60%)?
Changelog
🆑