Race-Specific Traitor Items

[FeiH]

Syndicate antags are given an upload that allows them to purchase items to further their nefarious goals. Certain jobs have items exclusive to that profession, which serves as both a boon (cool specific traitor gear!) and a bane (you can narrow down the suspects to a surprising degree). It adds both flavor and a gameplay challenge, such as the assistant traitor's pickpocket antics and the chaplain traitor's WOLOLO conversion kit.

Below is a short list of example race-specific gear, with pros and cons. By no means an exhaustive or definitive list, it could be a nice starting point for discussion. 

 

Human - nothing.

This might seem weird, but Humans have already have a few advantages, namely:

1. they lack overt identifying features, such as tails, ears, fibrous growths, feathers, or large eyes, which makes it easier to stealth;
2. they lack advantages and disadvantages, making them very versatile.

By not giving human antagonists any advantages we can even out the playing field a little bit and maybe even promote diversity in race choices (due to possible race-exclusive antag gear), which will in turn lessen the problems nonhuman antagonists have when it comes to identification.

Unathi - Suspicious-looking Whetstone (2 TC)

A sinister red whetstone with the letter S branded on the side. When used by a unathi, their claws are sharpened to gleaming points that boosts their unarmed damage to 18 brute damage, similar to an energy dagger. Functionally it replaces their glove slot with Sharpened Claws, and it doesn't give off a notification that they're sharpening their claws unless the victim is standing next to them. Using it again will have the Unathi use the abrasive surface underneath to file off the points, dulling their claws for concealment. While active, Unathi can't use gloves and anyone examining them can clearly see that they've got sharpened claws, and the whetstone itself is CLEARLY a syndicate item.

Diona - Cryopaste (3 TC)

A box containing three tubes of flame-proof ointment. When used, it decreases the fire damage taken by Diona. While not totally eliminating the additional damage they're weak to, it somewhat alleviates it while also lowering their body temperature and putting out fires in the event that they are already on fire, along with healing a bit of burn damage. There's a significant usage delay, though, and the fireproofing doesn't stack.

Vox - Suspicious-looking Voxygen Tank (3 TC)

A sleek red and black tank of Voxygen. In exchange for being a belt-locked item (no escape toolbelt for you!) the tank deals 15 brute damage and can smash glass faster for better breakings of things, yes? But it holds half the capacity of a normal Voxy tank and using it as a melee weapon pretty much means a death sentence if you get stunned while using it. Mainly to capitalize on the Vox's biggest weakness while adding an interesting and semi-covert weapon to use.

IPC - EMP Shield Belt (5 TC)

Finally, IPCs don't die in one hit. This functional toolbelt doubles as a personal anti-EMP field that stops IPCs from dropping immediately dead when they get pulsed. Aside from that, it comes with a large disadvantage - it can only hold half the usual belt capacity, since all its EMP-proofing gear takes up a lot of space, and when examined the person holding it will be able to discern that it's not an ordinary belt (as if the IPC not dropping dead wasn't enough of an indication). This serves primarily to cover the IPC traitor's biggest, most glaring weakness.

Tajaran - Subversive Veil (8 TC)

On the outside, it looks like the stock tajaran veil. Under the hood, it functions as flash-protective eyewear when it's activated and functions like a sec HUD. Deactivated, it turns off the HUD portion while keeping the flash protection and not obscuring your view. The benefits allow a Tajaran traitor easier access to an eyeshield for welding or anti-flash countermeasures while letting them see if they're wanted or not. However, all sec has to do is put the veil on to foil the disguise and expose the Tajaran as a traitor. This also locks the tajaran traitor out of other more useful eyewear, such as thermals or mesons.

Vulpkanin - Human Disguise Kit (10 TC)

Vulpkanin stick out like sore thumbs. This kit includes a sleek black jumpsuit and a active camo mask that hides the Vulp's tail. muzzle, and ears, making them look like a generic bald assistant or a randomized face. The advantages are clear - you can look like a human. With an agent ID, the silent and enterprising fluffbeast can pin the blame on an innocent and keep the heat off themself. The downsides are numerous, though: 10 TC is a steep price that locks off a lot of traitor options, the mask is a helmet so you can't wear a voice changer, and despite its advanced muzzle-negating camo field the disguise instantly fails in the presence of an EMP. In a meta sense this is probably going to be the least likely to be implemented because of the coding difficulty involved with outright changing a vulp's sprite, I assume.

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by FeiH

[FeiH]

Additional ideas from the discord, mainly for Diona:

Maglev Boots - modified magboots that apply a magnetic field under the wearer's feet. Allow a diona to move at crew running speed when activated, but slips and knockdowns while wearing them last twice as long. Can be activated to provide a short (1.5 second?) sprint but afterwards deactivates the boots for a moderate duration. 

Rootkit - fibre-hardening enzymes that prevent the Diona from being knocked down. Stuns will root the diona and prevent usage of any items for the duration of the stun, but they won't drop it. 

Essentially a toss between versatility and specialization, and unless there's a way to lock out gear after choosing one or the other, they'll both have to be 11 TC. 

[TwoCam]

I really don't think that this is a good idea, especially for karma locked races.

Throwing in traitor items to racial balancing, which already causes a lot of Ill will isn't desirable imho.

[Shadeykins]

I'm a fan of this, though humans should get something as well irrespective of being our "baseline race".

Give them something like a pocket knife which can double as a screwdriver/wire cutters while serving as a melee weapon. Honestly anything that's just a baseline item with ubiquitous use would fit within the theme of humanity pretty well.

We should be playing up racial disparity more, not less, and this is something that helps break up the species meta at least when it comes to traitors.

[Birdtalon]

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

Human - nothing.

This might seem weird, but Humans have already have a few advantages, namely:

1. they lack overt identifying features, such as tails, ears, fibrous growths, feathers, or large eyes, which makes it easier to stealth;
2. they lack advantages and disadvantages, making them very versatile.

By not giving human antagonists any advantages we can even out the playing field a little bit and maybe even promote diversity in race choices (due to possible race-exclusive antag gear), which will in turn lessen the problems nonhuman antagonists have when it comes to identification.

Humans should have something, Humans are by far the most popular race and denying them a cool item is unfair in my opinion.

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

Unathi - Suspicious-looking Whetstone (2 TC)

A sinister red whetstone with the letter S branded on the side. When used by a unathi, their claws are sharpened to gleaming points that boosts their unarmed damage to 18 brute damage, similar to an energy dagger. Functionally it replaces their glove slot with Sharpened Claws, and it doesn't give off a notification that they're sharpening their claws unless the victim is standing next to them. Using it again will have the Unathi use the abrasive surface underneath to file off the points, dulling their claws for concealment. While active, Unathi can't use gloves and anyone examining them can clearly see that they've got sharpened claws, and the whetstone itself is CLEARLY a syndicate item.

Unathi aren't the only race with claws and I'm sure we can come up with something more exiting than this, not to mention that with how our species are handled in the code this would have to be shoehorned pretty horribly as far as I understand it.

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

Diona - Cryopaste (3 TC)

A box containing three tubes of flame-proof ointment. When used, it decreases the fire damage taken by Diona. While not totally eliminating the additional damage they're weak to, it somewhat alleviates it while also lowering their body temperature and putting out fires in the event that they are already on fire, along with healing a bit of burn damage. There's a significant usage delay, though, and the fireproofing doesn't stack.

Surely you could just use healing meds for free to tank damage. Again, something more exciting for Diona surely?

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

Vox - Suspicious-looking Voxygen Tank (3 TC)

A sleek red and black tank of Voxygen. In exchange for being a belt-locked item (no escape toolbelt for you!) the tank deals 15 brute damage and can smash glass faster for better breakings of things, yes? But it holds half the capacity of a normal Voxy tank and using it as a melee weapon pretty much means a death sentence if you get stunned while using it. Mainly to capitalize on the Vox's biggest weakness while adding an interesting and semi-covert weapon to use.

Not being able to wear a belt in exchange for a shoddy weapon and 3 TC? This is awful and nobody sane would buy this.

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

IPC - EMP Shield Belt (5 TC)

Finally, IPCs don't die in one hit. This functional toolbelt doubles as a personal anti-EMP field that stops IPCs from dropping immediately dead when they get pulsed. Aside from that, it comes with a large disadvantage - it can only hold half the usual belt capacity, since all its EMP-proofing gear takes up a lot of space, and when examined the person holding it will be able to discern that it's not an ordinary belt (as if the IPC not dropping dead wasn't enough of an indication). This serves primarily to cover the IPC traitor's biggest, most glaring weakness.

I actually quite like this idea but not in the form of a belt. Maybe a kit which the IPC can apply or an implant of some kind.

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

Tajaran - Subversive Veil (8 TC)

On the outside, it looks like the stock tajaran veil. Under the hood, it functions as flash-protective eyewear when it's activated and functions like a sec HUD. Deactivated, it turns off the HUD portion while keeping the flash protection and not obscuring your view. The benefits allow a Tajaran traitor easier access to an eyeshield for welding or anti-flash countermeasures while letting them see if they're wanted or not. However, all sec has to do is put the veil on to foil the disguise and expose the Tajaran as a traitor. This also locks the tajaran traitor out of other more useful eyewear, such as thermals or mesons.

Chamelion SecHUD is 2TC and a welding helmet can be attained rather easily. I like the idea but 8TC is far too expensive, one can buy an adrenaline implant for that.

8 hours ago, FeiH said:

Vulpkanin - Human Disguise Kit (10 TC)

Vulpkanin stick out like sore thumbs. This kit includes a sleek black jumpsuit and a active camo mask that hides the Vulp's tail. muzzle, and ears, making them look like a generic bald assistant or a randomized face. The advantages are clear - you can look like a human. With an agent ID, the silent and enterprising fluffbeast can pin the blame on an innocent and keep the heat off themself. The downsides are numerous, though: 10 TC is a steep price that locks off a lot of traitor options, the mask is a helmet so you can't wear a voice changer, and despite its advanced muzzle-negating camo field the disguise instantly fails in the presence of an EMP. In a meta sense this is probably going to be the least likely to be implemented because of the coding difficulty involved with outright changing a vulp's sprite, I assume.

Changing the sprite of the player can be done, we already do it with the cardborg kit. I just feel like the disguise is a bit on the expensive side when you compare it to a chameleon projector which is only 7TC and far more powerful.

 

Overall I like your idea but I think the suggested items could use a rethink.

[Streaky Haddock]

The way IPC coding is done, EMP shielding is impossible as far as I understand it.

[FeiH]

Thanks for the comments! 

Giving humans tools that can double as weapons actually does sound pretty neat. Having something like a utility knife can help them hack doors faster since they don't need to switch between cutters and a screwdriver, and while minor, a second or two can matter if you're being covert or if security is on your tail.

I'm not a career traitor so things like balancing around TC cost are out of my league, so any feedback on those is greatly appreciated. 

Playing up racial disparity through the gear sounds pretty good actually. This is far from a definitive list of must-haves, so opinions picking apart the flaws in it are welcome. Something that could be done is giving the traitor a choice between covering for their weakness or further improving on their strengths.

The main idea behind race-specific traitor gear is presenting an advantage while balancing it with a disadvantage. While they can cover up one or more of the flaws inherent to being a traitor of that race, it isn't a band-aid that makes the xeno traitor immediately robust. For example, the whetstone gives the Unathi what is essentially a cursed pair of gloves that increase their claw damage to that of an energy dagger with the added bonus of being immune to disarms (on account of being gloves), but leaves a massive mess and makes them unable to wear gloves until their claws are unsharpened. The diona have a choice between what is essentially anti-anti-slip shoes that makes them even more slippery and vulnerable to slips (negating their slowness) or an item that keeps them slow but turns them into unslippable walls (further bolstering their strength). 

Regarding karma-locked race gear: they deserve cool things too! I know it might seem hypocritical considering my initial proposal involved humans not getting anything, but giving karma races options should be in the spirit of fairness. 

[MarsMond]

Well, i figure the belt could get some description that it uses the energy from an EMP to power some small bots to repair the IPC, so the belt does have an emp_act() that calls rejuvenate onto the IPC after a short time. Hacky workaround i guess.

About the general idea, i did actually make a PR about it, i'll quote why the framework for species specific was turned down:

Quote

Going to turn this down. Don't think it's a good idea to be tying what items are available to you to your species; that should be something that's, at worst, tied to your job--species specifics is a whole can of worms that I don't think is going to add good depth to SS13.

While more depth for species sure is nice, how can it get reached with a nice implementation? Smaller things, like the veils Tajarans did get, are easily added, but don't have much impact unless you RP around it. More mechanical things, like the colorblindness, do get controversial quite quickly.

What might be a better idea is to give every cloneable, and with that, any species that can be turned into as changeling, such an ability, that the changeling can buy in pack as "racial ability". While being a Tajaran, the changeling would be able to extend and retract sharp claws, cheaper, more covert, but bit weaker than the armblade, while being a Unathi, they could get a tail sweep, or something like that. Would make people not getting locked out of tools directly, because they usually don't play/have that race, but it sure does still leave the racial balance issue.

[Malphystoh]

Plasmaguy Traitor items? You can probably think of a few. 

Plasma Grenade - Creates a smallish explosion + plasma fire cloud. 9x9 at largest. Too weak to punch through the hull but flambe~ and concusses anyone caught within it. Extra points for residual toxin damage in the area to people breathing plasma.  6TC

Plasma DNA scrambler- Fairly innocuous. Turn someone into a plasma guy. Extra points if mindslaves them to the traitor plasma guy. Be sure to provide them a suit. Alternatively if they need to die let them burn and rest assured their chances of resurrection are slim. 10TC

Plasma Traitor Powersuit - Kinda like the nukeop armored spacesuit, but for plasmaguys! Has spooky skeleton paintjob. Glowing eyes. Only has the armored mode. Very slow movement unless in zero g. Extra heavy armor, resistance / immunity to radiation. Built in dragons breath round or flame thrower in the arm. Multi tool / Crypto in other arm. Extra points if the flame weapons are plasma themed. Extra Extra points if they can vent a plasma canister in dire situations and 'purge them all with purple flames"  16TC

 

Edited September 1, 2017 by Malphystoh
Typo

[VikingDog]

I'm deeply offended my 2 favorite races are not included Slime people and Plasmamen

 

[VikingDog]

10 hours ago, MarsMond said:

What might be a better idea is to give every cloneable, and with that, any species that can be turned into as changeling, such an ability, that the changeling can buy in pack as "racial ability"

what about us slimes we arent cloneable but clings sure as hell can impersonate us...

[LittleBigKid2000]

Plasmaman - Superfart Injector

An SE injector that gives the plasmaman superfart. When the plasmaman superfarts, they release plasma everywhere. The fart is powerful enough to bluespace through the suit.

[Mitchs98]

I actually just thought of a slime people weapon

Goo Gun: Unsure of pricing, however it fits perfectly. Simply a gun that fires out orbs of goo that, when hit onto a person, works similar to a bola. First hit would slow them down a bit and could be resisted of out. Subsequent hits would apply further slowing power, eventually rooting the person to the ground similar to a resin nest from an alien that would either need someone to cut them free from or a successful(and decently long) resist period. Would be selfcharged from a slimes own, well, goo reserves. Would ONLY work in the hands of a slime and would require the slime to eat, would not work if the slime was starving. Utility based and based around escaping.

Summarily;

Goo Grenade: Similar to the Goo Gun, however instead would explode and cover everyone in the nearby area with one hit of goo and/or make the floor tiles 'sticky' and slow down movement speed. Possibly 6x6 or 9x9 AoE. Another good get away weapon.

Absorb: An item that gives the slime a power SIMILAR to matter eater, but not. Now, this can't be used to eat whole human corpses. But the inventive slime could, say, implant an important item into a monkey and swallow them whole. Or items in general, up to a limit depending on size, to be retrieved at a later date. Theoretically, could be used just to troll the bartender and eat Pun Pun. CONSUME!!!!

Stickiness: Enhance the slime persons ability to stick to things, including people, via a pill or injection. Would be uncurable VIA genetics.  It would be toggle-able and allow the slime to have mag-boot functions at will as well as be unable to be slipped and harder to be shoved down. Grab intent would immediately upgrade to a hand grab though have a slightly longer cooldown to upgrade to a neck grab and/or make people have a timer to resist out of the hand grab. It would also serve SIMILAR to an anti-drop implant, though instead of NEVER dropping the item they're holding they simply won't lose it if pushed and have a larger chance of not dropping it. Perhaps a message such as , 'X is super sticky, the X seems to stick to their hand like glue!'.

Body Sculpting: An item that allows the slime better control of its body. Be it popping off broken limbs to regrow them or outright sculpting useful items from their own body. Bolas, cuffs, things of that regard. Perhaps even traps of some kind. I dunno, this is just entirely random tbh.

 

A lot of them could use better names perhaps, though they're all very cool ideas for our squishy brethren.

 

*squish.