ive already talked about this ingame in dchat but
why dont we add a IO drone (2 in hive, 1 guranteed shipside)
ive heard from many xeno players they want xeno research or something
so why not
what would he do?
after the 20 minute mark he would be able to “HACK” (spit some resin into the electronics to hijack them) ACTIVE equipment, he can hack comms instead of outright destroying them + sensors to get points (and break open powered APCs for some extra points)
the comms and sensors would still transmit data, just sometimes (10%) leave some data out (instead of trasmitting “FLANK SOUTH” it would transmit “FL— S–T-” and for sensors it would sometimes not display the xenos that are there) and sometimes not transfer what you said at all (3%)
if both comms are up and only ones are hacked they will still transfer messages properly, both need to be hacked or one needs to be downed and other one hacked for this to work
what else could he do?
one of his abilities “study” would be used on marine corpses, giving him more points (especially if he studies a IO corpse)
all these things would give the IO drone points
what would these points do?
they would slowly allow him to buy upgrades from a menu, only some of them since some of them would conflict with each other
these would fall into 3 tiers
from each tier you would be able to select 2 abilities, granting you 6 after fully upgraded
each tier would cost more
the starting tier upgrades would be basic "more effective pheros, faster regeneration on weeds, stronger slashes, easier tackling,more armor
after you reach 2th tier it would get more intresting
when you reach Tier 2 you gain the ability to read papers, giving you more points
abilities in T2
1- overload doors (2 minute cooldown, instantly applied on the door, the door cant shock you) in powered rooms, making them give anyone who touched them alot of burn (unless they got insuls) this would be good for shipside… (ability stays on the door until the cooldown ends)
2 “shed chitin” (2 minute cooldown) which would give you a insane speed boost for 5 secs but also it would damage you and semi permanently lower your health by 100 for 1 minutes
3-acid mutation - makes you a semi acid runner- your tailstabs inflict acid (which is weaker than a acid runners acid), and you can spit acid (but with a higher cooldown than a spitter)
4- fire dampening chitin - decreases fire damage by 60% as long as you have plasma
last tier
if you reach last tier, you will be granted 100 more health
the abilities im about to describe would be earned after alot of work (just like IOs) or marine stupidity (ignoring hacked comms, or not sending someone to check on them)
1 body reshapening - (changes the sprite of the drone) gives them more health and speed, stronger slashes, more dangerous tailstab. makes them adept at combat and capping, very dangerous in the backline
2 healing aura - (makes the drone glow blue when its being used)- gives the drone a new ability called healing aura, if turned on constantly consumes plasma and disallows plasma regen while its being used but acts like a stronger recorv node, any xeno resting or not nearby (5 tiles) will get their health and plasma up WAY faster
3 chemcarrier - (changes the sprite of the droner to have glands on the sides of their head) allows you to create basic chems using up alot of plasma (since marine healing chems dont heal xenos, maybe add special ones that give health regen, passive armor, plasma regen?) in your glands, letting you inject them into other xenos for long time healing/utility (you cant inject them above the OD limit) AND allows you to suck up chems from injectors, chemtanks, any cointainers (INCLUDING STIMS) if those chems are undesirable for xeno use (bic, unga, etc) you may convert them to your own chems for less plasma (for example bic,unga,trico would be converted to a healing liquid for 50% less plasma)
shipside he would become much more of a danger since he could hack the OB (making any OBs fired from it mishoot much more and potentially hit the front or a unintended target)
or AA (instead of shooting the dropship when hijack starts it will turn the missile around and hit the almayer
if he is allowed to get into CIC and hack the computer for calling distress (would take a minute to pull off) he would be able to call in a xeno ert
basically in the start this drone would only help the hive a bit, but if allowed to flourish and gather points, he could hold the front on their legs…
please rate my idea from 1 to 10 (we need more xeno strains ingame trust)
btw i wrote this in the middle of the night correct me if there are any grammatical mistakes thank you!
