mikecari Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I think the concept of cortical borers is really interesting because they are a type of sentient parasite that can have a symbiotic relationship with its host and potentially create an army of slug mindslaves. I believe it would be awesome if we could add a Parasite Game mode in which cortical borers have random hosts at the start of the round and have to infect a certain number of humans by the end of the game to win. At the beginning of the round centcomm would sent a message to the bridge that their experimental mind control specimens have escaped containment and may have been sent to the station via cargo shuttle. The captain could either choose to announce the pandemic or keep it a secret in hopes that no one will panic. At the moment cortical borers are extremely rare and I'm honestly not even sure how they spawn. They are extremely fun for both the host and the parasite so I think it would be a good idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldrin-Kanthos Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 While it sounds awesome and would be great to roleplay.... most people just say "Halp I have borer! Get it out!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fj45 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Or the borers just go full murderbone. Borers are broken and uninteresting. The gamemode either needs a huge overhaul (and there are many more important things) or to be forgotten about entirely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecari Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 While it sounds awesome and would be great to roleplay.... most people just say "Halp I have borer! Get it out!" If the cortical borer is smart, it will convince the host that it is beneficial to have a cortical borer, sort of like an upgrade to its normal self. In exchange for increasing the host's speed and resilience to damage, the borer will use the host as a breeding ground in order to create more borers who will in turn infest more hosts and create a new species of slug-people muahahhaha sorry for getting carried away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrkiller59 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 We have a cortical borers gamemode, but it was disabled from the rotation for several reasons. People metagames with borers and in the moment they hear a voice in their head they run to surgery, they metagamed so hard that some admins had fun by just SubtleMessaging them and seeing them run to surgery after cuffing theirselves. This FORCES the borers to be agressive borers, as their only objective is to survive, and people wants to kill borers at any cost, people spacing theirselves just to kill the borer inside them was something normal(if you want to "win" as borer, your best bet is to hide under a table and go AFK). So, that's how murderboning borers start, it becomes a war between the borers and the crew. But the worse about this gamemode is that is an absolute hell to admin it. There is no easy way to know if someone has a borer, you need to check View Variables, and then how can you know if the borer or the host did what? the logs only show attack logs, if the guy starts breaking walls to space or something, how do you know if it was the host or the borer? GO FIGURE. In short, borers were disabled from the rotation because it almost always ended in anarchy. "How do i know you dont have a borer? I wont listen your orders, alien!". Also, every borer round, the first 3-5 ahelps were always "How do i use the cortical channel?". ALWAYS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qinetix Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Fun , fun , fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regen Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Borers was hell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fj45 Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Never, ever had a very fun borer round. Shit, I once got a borer and tried to convince medbay he was friendly (he was) even after he never once took control of me, bred, tried to escape or got aggressive. I just kept yelling that he was friendly even as the medic put me under. He never once tried to escape and he had atleast five minutes before they took him out. I ended up just spacing myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
belarion Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I remember an admin event during an extended round a while ago where a Grey trade ship smuggled some borers aboard, I spawned in as one, and although we purposely didn't reproduce or even act antaggy anarchy still ensured as everyone went batshit insane at the prospect of no more than 4 brain slugs being aboard. Its a great idea for a gamemode, but unfortunately in practice its just not suitable for the playerbase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecari Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 While it sounds awesome and would be great to roleplay.... most people just say "Halp I have borer! Get it out!" Not sure why, if I had a borer I would be happy because it would help protect me with chemicals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldrin-Kanthos Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Twice I have been infected with a borer, twice it was a griefing greytide asshole. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qinetix Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecari Posted July 3, 2014 Author Share Posted July 3, 2014 EVIL PLANK Yeah the only thing I really hate about cortical borers is that sometimes they are assholes and work against you rather than working with you like they should. Besides that they're a really fun thing to have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habalabam Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I've only had 10-20 borer rounds. To me it was great RP almost every single time. Sad to see it go. It is a common sci-fi theme which should have a ss13 equivalent. I enjoyed it in the form it was, but I see that I may be in the minority. So I hope it's revamped to be playable to most. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldrin-Kanthos Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 I would love to see it, but it always has been terribad lately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Svej Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 While it sounds awesome and would be great to roleplay.... most people just say "Halp I have borer! Get it out!" Not sure why, if I had a borer I would be happy because it would help protect me with chemicals. As a slime, I always tell borers in my head that I will protect them if they protect me, they cant control me afterall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habalabam Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 There is something to be said about human nature when the objective "survive til the end" ends in conflict even in rounds where the metagamers know that there is no necessary inherent conflict. I most often roleplay the borer as the discoverer/learner who has struck gold by encountering sentient species for the opportunity it entails of mutual mental growth. I suppose there are other possibilities, like borers being bred by NT to replace tracking implants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldrin-Kanthos Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 Kinda funny that they work on IPC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Streaky Haddock Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 IPCs can't be immune to EVERYTHING. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eldrin-Kanthos Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 You mean like the vacuum death, or hardsuit death, or allergy to EMP? Maybe the extra brute damage, or the unfixable clone damage? I just had to close my client because half the station was vacuum, and I had no way of helping fight the blob. The lack of air AND my hardsuit would burn me to a crisp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Streaky Haddock Posted July 4, 2014 Share Posted July 4, 2014 ...good point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikecari Posted July 5, 2014 Author Share Posted July 5, 2014 Kinda funny that they work on IPC. Their probiscis is probably capable of interfacing with electronics since the human mind has small traces of electricity in itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fj45 Posted July 5, 2014 Share Posted July 5, 2014 Heh, great handwave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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