The Xenomorph Threat

[BioXide]

Hello,

While the big refactor is being handled, I have been redesigning some aspects of the game and will be sharing the upcoming changes in new forum threads once a first pass has been written down. The purpose is to give the community an early view of some of the big changes that are coming to Mankind Reborn and allow them to be a part of the feedback process. These threads will outline the changes as high-level as possible and keep most of the implementation details for a later date, anything written down in these threads is still a work in progress and not considered final until implementation begins.

Overview:​

The Xenomorph threat revolves around the xenomorphs, a non-playable alien species originating from the world of Getha. They pose a significant and continuous threat to the players and player-controlled territories, acting as one of the natural antagonists and a source of unexpected challenges. As time progresses, the xenomorph population grows, their threat level increases, and they begin to explore and invade new territories.

Threat Mechanics:​

1. Population Growth and Threat Level Increase: The Xenomorph population naturally increases over time, attributed to their breeding cycle and other random environmental factors. This continuous growth directly correlates with the increase in the threat level of their native world, Getha. It simulates a sense of urgency and impending danger for the players, pushing them to take necessary action. Killing xenomorphs, destroying hives and surviving horde events will decrease threat level.
2. TDC World Presence: TDC will have a unique perk that allows world owners to allow TDC to have a presence over their world, which allows the TDC to increase the reduction rate of the threat level (plus other benefits), this will be at the cost of all territories paying a tax to the TDC, similar to CPC world presence.
3. Random Invasions: Once Getha's threat threshold reaches a certain point, it triggers the xenomorphs' invasion mechanism. They begin to launch random horde events on player-controlled territories. The success of these invasions will result in a temporary shutdown of the affected territories' services, requiring players to invest time and resources to repair the damages, it will also increase the threat level by a certain amount.
4. Spreading Infections: When the threat level of Getha reaches another higher threshold, the xenomorphs start infecting nearby worlds. They establish hives on these new worlds, which spawn additional xenomorphs that follow the same pattern of growth and invasion, further escalating the threat level. This spreading mechanism helps to expand the scope of the Xenomorph threat, making it a universe-wide concern. Players can also deploy alien eggs to increase the threat level and potentially create new hives if left untouched for a period of time.
5. Game Reset: If the xenomorphs manage to take over the entire universe, signified by reaching 100% threat level on all worlds, the game enters a state of total annihilation. This event triggers a full game reset, wiping out all progress and forcing players to restart from the beginning. This drastic measure provides a dramatic climax and a genuine consequence of failure to manage the Xenomorph threat, while also offering the opportunity for players to explore different strategies and learn from past mistakes in the new game cycle.

Player Engagement:​

The Xenomorph threat serves as an engaging gameplay element that maintains a sense of unpredictability and continuous challenge. It necessitates strategic thinking, resource management, and collaborative efforts among players to fend off the xenomorphs' invasions and contain their spread. The possibility of a total game reset also adds to the intensity of the gameplay, encouraging players to be proactive and coordinated in their approach to handling the Xenomorph threat. While it might sound extreme, it injects a layer of excitement and competitive spirit, urging players to strive for survival and dominion in the game universe.

 

[Rian Felix]

based

/signed

 

[Hari Seldon]

More interesting than FoM's safari farming world.

A full reset seems like an easy out. Xenos reaching max threat on any map should have significant negative for that world (outside of just having Xenos mobs killing people) like resetting all R&D/deployables with certain siege mobs and if left long enough remove everything in storage on the world and then also destroy all union services terminal like mining and production an including vortex gates. The reclamation of this (atop players organising to bring down the Xenos numbers and infestation) could involve TDC (and other factions if faction ship mega projects are a thing) ferrying troops and people using their ship(s) to rebuild vortex access. Union tax investment would then be needed to return other services sequentially and then whoever ends up as owner having to start again in the clean world. In the event the destruction goes to across the whole game world it just means the effort needed to restore even a pocket of normality to build from is a significant achievement for players atop the also hefty punishment on (presumably prior leaders) failing to stop it. To make a player come back more feasible there might need to be a point when a Xenos invasion (either on a particular map or across the universe) semi burns itself out a bit and stop spawning top combat mobs after demolishing a map.

It might also be good if Xenos mobs provide a passive benefit (increasing with the combat effectiveness of the type/threat level) of some sort to make them more than just a constant negative or weapon of sabotage. The xenos (or specific mobs along the chain of threat) could give off a tiberium like ecology that might have a broadly negative effect (right up to DOT without hazmat gear/implants) wherever the mobs concentrate but has a specific benefit of making a given mining resources easier to collect/more abundant/unlimited so there might be a reason why the map owner might want to have a certain amount of Xenos for an extended period (outside of farming them for materials) and so only have TDC go so far in removing them. You can have this be a push your luck sort of deal with further down the path having a better positive but (outside of end of chain developments see below) always has a certain level of RNG given the increase of threat based on environmental factors are % based or at least not known to players. The idea is to make Xenos system more of a decision point for none-TDC factions and also add some TDC based faction tension without overly effecting the necessity for the TDC to exist as they provide a very real purpose for the game world.

There should also be R&D related to Xenos for a colony along the lines of -

Xenos presence indication -> Xenos total number range (0-10, 20-50 ect.) -> Xenos number broken down by type -> Xenos tracking map that can tie into implants with various levels of info-> Able to influence/direct some ecology benefit -> Ability to freeze/bank egg stocks for later use -> X*??? -> Shows otherwise hidden environmental stats effecting Xenos going to next stage of threat.

 

[Fowl]

I agree with Hari. Game reset seems too easy/extreme. If players let the Xeno threat get bad, it needs to get REALLY bad. Like every colony near suicide to walk around in with maybe an exception for Earth. If a whole planet/colony gets over run there should be a reset to territory upgrades and destruction of all deployables. We should also come up with a lore friendly way on how Xenos are able to jump from colony to colony. Maybe they reverse engineer our vortex gates.

 

[Ranfre]

If you want to do more with aliens, another idea I had once was an alien colony that could be procedurally generated to be endless and players could defeat progressively harder levels and compete to see which group could get furthest with the least people, least death, least heals used, etc. With a leaderboard displayed maybe on some military ship which acts as a staging point for 'dropping' onto the alien world. Could be something to sink extra gear into and provide an outlet for those who just can't stop pulling the trigger.

 

[not hepopotan]

We should also come up with a lore friendly way on how Xenos are able to jump from colony to colony. Maybe they reverse engineer our vortex gates.

its literally bc border patrol didnt inspect the produce for invasive species before import vorting it

Sounds like a good addition to generate more content and make TDC actually relevant. I'd imagine higher threat level is associated with more difficult/bigger aliens. The threat level should increase on a exponential curve so that it gets worse faster if left on read and also alien eggs should be a even rarer drop with how much of a threat they could pose if someone was to grief with these. Probably gonna wanna add a expiration date to these eggs so you cant just grind and hoard them in inventory for a long period of time then drop them all off at a later date since it'd feel cheap like ninja'ing TCs. Should be a more active coordinated faction effort if you wanna farm these to mass deploy onto a colony to cause havoc.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Bugs using actual vortex gates might be valid if you are having hives directed by brain bug type creatures but seems a bit on the nose and presumably easy enough to handle by having the attacked map slam on martial law and close off its gates.

Possibly better for the map jumping to be done by ecology weaponised asteroids (think Evolution movie) that mysteriously appear in near orbit on a collision course with the next planet in the vortex network, suggests without confirming they are using some sort of FTL that may or may not be linked to some physical features vortex gates create when established/significantly used.

You can then have at least one map made a safe haven (which would probably mostly be Earth) by parking the big TDC ship in orbit around it to zap incoming asteroids as well as its other benefits. If the network map has a choke point it would also mean there is a place at which Xenos can only expand via deliberate egg infestation or the TDC ship being called away due to bad choices or a more dire need.

 

[not hepopotan]

Possibly better for the map jumping to be done by ecology weaponised asteroids (think Evolution movie) that mysteriously appear in near orbit on a collision course with the next planet in the vortex network, suggests without confirming they are using some sort of FTL that may or may not be linked to some physical features vortex gates create when established/significantly used.

necromorph brother moon moment

 

[Fowl]

If you want to do more with aliens, another idea I had once was an alien colony that could be procedurally generated to be endless and players could defeat progressively harder levels and compete to see which group could get furthest with the least people, least death, least heals used, etc. With a leaderboard displayed maybe on some military ship which acts as a staging point for 'dropping' onto the alien world. Could be something to sink extra gear into and provide an outlet for those who just can't stop pulling the trigger.

I think Bio mentioned an instanced colony separate from the rest of the world where sieges and stuff take place. This instanced colony probably wouldn't have persistence like the rest of the world so maybe this idea could fit in there though he said this would be further down the pipeline.