Strain Ideas/Suggestions

[CABAL]

Runner: "Rhino"
Gain ability to mini-charge like crusher for way less dmg, stun and distance, but with two tiles to gain momentum.

You no longer can hide, or move over tables/cades/windows without climbing on them.

[Renomaki]

I have a few wonky ideas I wanna throw out.

Ravager: Spin Attack

Ravagers who take on the Spin Attack Strain will throw away their heavy damage charge for an AOE attack that hits all targets within one tile of the ravager. While dealing less damage than the charge and lacking a knockdown, the spin attack allows ravagers to shine in crowded situations by hacking everyone around them, making it dangerous to try and swarm them due to the risk of getting mangled by a rapid 360 spin. It also has a low cooldown, allowing them to spin to their heart's content, provided it is safe to do so.

Sentinel/Spitter/Praetorian: Spreadshot

Spitting castes who take this Strain will have their spitting range reduced to a mere 4 tiles, and the cost of each spit 3X more expensive. But in doing so, they now have a spreadshot attack that fires 3 globs of their selected shot in whatever direction they choose to shoot it, similar to a shotgun. A deadly crowd control weapon, but requires plasma management and timing to use effectively.

Aaand... that is it, really. Some of the other ideas I had in mind are already implemented, so I hope more of these become reality~

[Chocolate_bickie]

Spitter:Buckshot

Lose stun, range of acid reduced to 2, but fire 4 projectiles. Each shot also stun within 2 tiles.

[themaskedman2]

The current Praetorian strain is a little weak in my opinion, lets make its acid spray a tile longer, and tail sweep is kinda shit to be honest. Defender strain doesnt have enough cons to it, and Crushers without charge is stinky. Anyways heres some various ideas.

Also Xeno Strains should just get new names, like �Mature Harasser� and what not.

These are top of my head ideas and not balanced. Just things that maybe devs can take into account as a concept and actually refine.

Hivelord - Resin Wizard: You no longer can create thick walls, you move much slower, but in exchange you can now create resin structures at range, to �grow� them out of the ground. This takes more plasma and even longer than a drone to build. (There is another idea for hivelord thats basically xeno turrets and stuff but thats more along the lines of a rework than strain)

Luker - Chameleon: You lose movement speed, can no longer pounce, but in exchange your cloak is much improved, it is always active (At a very weakened state). By standing still or moving slowly, your cloak will slowly become much better, and once fully cloaked your next attack is a big crit.

Burrower - Kidnapper: It loses the ability to lay traps and make tunnels, but in exchange it can �wait� underground at areas, and if a Marine walks over them they immediately pop out and grab them, with enough time to devour, maybe?

Ravager - Big Boi: It can no longer charge or delimb rng but gets tankier in various ways. The Ravager also gets an ability to impale someone with their tail, this ability ignores armor, and does organ damage.

Crusher - Spikey Boi: Crusher charge happens faster, but upon impacting the first marine they lose all momentum, so no more charging through 12 marines. In exchange that first Marine hit takes BIG BOI damage. Stomp is replaced with a �Stab� that is essentially big horn ram that knocks marines away and does some damage.

Sentinel - Smoker: No more spit, but Sentinel can now make Boiler neuro globs but 10x worse at a higher cooldown. These cover a much smaller area?

Spitter - Chemist: They lose the ability to spit, but can now inject special Xeno chems into enemies or allies with a melee tail stab ability. On friendly Xenos it will act as a speed buff, on enemy Marines it will cause toxins and pain and blurry vision. Makes spitter more melee focused. ( This might be better for Praetorian Roual Guard instead of tail sweep?)

Praetorian - Screamer: (Not what you think, but also if Royal Guard is supposed to be frontline combat (even tho its bad), this is support combat) Loses acid spray and pheros, but becomes slower, in exhange they get a new ability. A war scream that drives Xenos nearby into a frenzy, essentially all pheros combined.

(A lot of work but i like the idea) Carrier - Infestor: Carrier loses the ability to carry eggs AND huggers in the traditional sense. Huggers picked up are now transformed into �Parasites�. A carrier can now interact with dead (or living) marines to implant them. Inside living marines it is dormant with minor side effects, but with dead it will slowly transform them into a coccoon. Over a gestation period, the Marine is brought back to life as a zombie-esque mutant Infested Xeno. They�re pretty terrible but make a decent augment to the hive. I imagine it would be fun to see your comrades with holes in their chest shambling towards you while still speaking.

(Way too much work but an idea I had) Queen - Swarmlord: Queen loses screech, but gains a new passive ability to lay �Lesser Eggs� that are layed much less frequently but allow ghosts to inhabit them for an immediate shit Xeno. Banelings, even worse runners, that sorta thing.


EDIT: New Idea - Queen Hive Strains: The Queen can pick an entire strain to focus the "Hive" on a specific aspect, that effects all Xenos. Uh, I don't have any specific thoughts yet but it could differentiate the hive-wide mutators definitely.

[MasterShakeEZ]

Queen Strain - Psychic Witch : Queen loses the screech but gains a new ability psychic scream that allows her to psychically mess up a marines mind and stun them. This can be used on any marine in the queens vision which also includes when she is overwatching a xeno from ovipositor.

[Casada_Radio]

Hivelord Strain "Bomber" - Hivelord can phase/fly through walls & cades and drop 3x3 acid bombs on the marines. Has 4 charges with cooldown. You lose the ability to build but you can do resin walker and weed.

[reuben owen]

Defender: "Partaker" - Increased health. Decreased speed. Any bullet that would hit a Xeno up to 3(or 4, 5? I dunno) tiles away has damage negated and Defender takes the damage, using its own armor for calculation. Does not work while resting. Does not work while Defender is critical. Does not work on fire. If a Xeno is crit, middle clicking the crit xeno will bump them 1 HP above noncrit and decrease the Defenders HP to the crit xeno's previous health, which will(most likely) send the Defender into crit.

Runner: "Serpent" - Slightly decreased speed. No legs, looks like a huge red larva. Runs through all mobs regardless of intent, like larva. Loses Pounce. Cannot grab.
additional edit: Bypasses mines. New ability: Sprint. On/Off toggle-able. Consumes 10 plasma per square moved while toggled on, moves faster. Cannot regenerate health or plasma while toggled on.

[VortexGaming]

Queen Strain - Psychic Witch : Queen loses the screech but gains a new ability psychic scream that allows her to psychically mess up a marines mind and stun them. This can be used on any marine in the queens vision which also includes when she is overwatching a xeno from ovipositor.

Sounds pretty broken honestly. maybe a queen strain that gives leader xenos a special skill or something

[MasterShakeEZ]

Sounds pretty broken honestly. maybe a queen strain that gives leader xenos a special skill or something

Ya it could be broken but if it was only like a 2 second stun with a 30 second cooldown or something it wouldnt be that bad. Plus you lose screech which stuns 20 people at once for it.

[DefinitelyAlone0309]

Defender: "Partaker" - Increased health. Decreased speed. Any bullet that would hit a Xeno up to 3 tiles away has damage negated and Defender takes the damage, using its own armor for calculation. Does not work while resting. Does not work while Defender is critical. If a Xeno is crit, middle clicking them will bump them up to noncrit and send the Defender into crit.

Runner: "Serpent" - Slightly decreased speed. No legs, looks like a huge red larva. Runs through all mobs regardless of intent, like larva. Loses pounce. Cannot grab.

I like the idea of Serpent, though I feel like it might be a bit too weak. Like you're losing a bit of speed, and you're also losing pounce + grab. I feel that you're going too ham on the whole FF bait aspect. How about giving it the ability to not trigger claymores ?