# Intruder rewrite

## About

### What is the Intruder?

#### Blurb
The Intruder is a cosmic horror entity from another dimension. Through some unknown means, the Intruder became aware of this plane of reality and managed to establish a tether to travel between planes. Everything is completely different to it and new. It wants to merge itself further into reality through both its inhabitants and environment

The Intruder isn't alone. It's managed to bring forth some of its invasion force with it, the Mindeaters, onto the station to help with planar merging.

Mindeaters are creatures from the Intruder's plane. They are part of a pseudo-hivemind under the Intruder where they have their own wills, but are "moderated" by the Intruder.

#### Themes
- Critter possession
- Mind power
- Mental draining
- Non-human entities
- Extra-dimensional horror
- Extra-dimensional invasion
- Thematic events

### Goals
- Create a game mode that is unique
- Create an antagonist that is obviously non-human but still playable
- Create a more cosmic horror themed antagonist
- Create an antagonist that has new/unique gameplay themes
- Create an antagonist with variability and good depth, but is still straightforwards

### Non-goals
- Repeat features that previous antagonists have
- Make an antagonist that is unfun to play
- Create an antagonist that doesn't need to interact with humans to perform its abilities
- Create a complicated antagonist
- Create an antagonist that snowballs

### Game mode itself
#### Goal of the antagonists
The Intruder's role is more of a distraction/support role while on the station Z level, and more of a defense/offense role while in its own plane.

It has its own Z level, which gives debuffs to humans who enter and is guarded by the Intruder's force

The goal is for the Intruder and Mindeaters to consume the minds of a certain number of crew members (maybe 1/4 of starting players) in a given time span (30 minutes?) by gaining Intellect on them. Failing to do so will result in loss for the Intruder and Mindeaters. Upon reaching the number of minds eaten, some ??? event happens

The Intruder can really do whatever, but while on station should be creating critter attacks, and while on its own Z level, be creating defenses and launching attacks at the station.

Mindeaters are more meant to go solo, to follow and pick off, or hit and run, alone targets. They have some survivability when against groups, but don't benefit much from it and the Intruder should be working to create distractions away from the Mindeaters. Nothing is stopping Mindeaters from going together, but they cannot simultaneously brain drain someone.

The Intruder loses once the three Spires in its Z level are destroyed

- Once Intruder reaches its goal, spawns final boss event (maybe), and shuttle is called. Regardless of whether boss is killed or not, crew loses. Station starts rapidly becoming Intruder turf.

#### Intent
- To be a full, roundstart game mode
- One Intruder
- Several mindeaters

## Intruder Mechanics

### Starting out
- The Intruder starts out as an intangible entity on its own Z level
- It has vision of everything up to the AI.
- The Intruder is intangible if on station Z level, and tangible if on its own Z level.
- If "killed" while on its own Z level, it is banished to an intangible state where it can't use abilities for a short time

### Stat points
The Intruder has a statpoint called Mindpower, which is a count of how many minds have been eaten in respect to the end goal. Mindpower is awarded by its own actions and Mindeaters.

### Abilities
Intruder's intangible abilities are more around assisting its Mindeaters. The Intruder's tangible abilities are more around offense/defense and launching attacks at humans

All Intruder abilities are cooldown based and do not cost anything.

Using abilities also has a chance to perform a warping of nearby reality, like making something look funky or causing merging of planes.

### Initial abilities
These are the abilities it gets and must use before unlocking its other abilities and becoming tangible
- Place Spire - Places a Spire down on the Intruder Z level. Usable 3 times. May not be placed on station turf.
- Place Prefab - Places a

#### Main abilities:
These are the abilities it gets regardless of whether its corporeal or incorporeal
- Traverse - Channel to change to the station Z level or Intruder Z level, on a 1:1 coordinate change
- Command - Commands all nearby possessed critters and summons to travel to and attack anyone at the clicked location
- Manipulate realm - Manipulates the Intruder Z level in a selected way. Long CD.
- Possible manipulations are
- v
- Eclipse (MAYBE - TBD) - Starts on cooldown. Activate to create an Eclipse event, picked from one of three randomly selected events from the total pool. Each is only usable once. Eclipse events are major events that happen in the game to alter the round, with a big announcement/audio cue

#### Incorporeal abilities:
You may cast these abilities only when on station Z level (incorporeal)

- Invade - Channel to invade the mind of a critter or human-like NPC (ex. monkey). NPCs take longer to possess. Possessed creatures are very obvious and hostile.
- If targeted on a turf, if outside the vision of a human, will instead start a longer action bar to summon a critter, randomly picked from the ones you've previously possessed.
- Attract - Channel to create station critters over time to near where you are at. May bring critters from different lands (ex. armadillos, snow hares, etc). Relatively long CD.
- Warp - Create a temporary opening through something dense that living things can move through for a short duration
- Short circuit - Creates patches of static in an area that all mobs cannot see through over a short duration.

#### Corporeal abilities:
You may cast these abilities only when in the Intruder Z level (corporeal)
- Summon critter - Summon an Intrusion critter at a target non-lit location
- Select critter - Selects the Intrusion critter you would like to summon
- Insanity - Target a mob to start a toxin damage debuff on them over time. Toxin damage dealt is higher if they are near other mobs and if they are on lit turf.
- Toss - Throws a target mob towards you
- Devouring Maw - Create a 5 tile radius void after a short duration that devours anything caught, destroying objects and non-Intruder turfs. Mobs caught are dealt heavy brute damage.
- Invasion - Start a channel to Invade the station, taking all nearby minor Intrusion critters to the station through a Gateway. Gateways are traversal points between the station and Intruder Z level that have a 1:1 coordinate teleportation.
- Smite - For a target in crit or with 100 Intellect on them,
- Insanity (remove powerful targets from groups) - For a single target, start an Intellect gain on them over a short period of time. For the more people they are nearby, the more it drains.
- Zap (split up groups) - Create a purple lightning arc at a spot, that jumps to targets nearby, up to a few times, with short pauses in-between each jump. Each target hit will receive brute and burn damage and disorients and have Intellect drained.
- Conflagrate (area of denial) - Create random patches of Eldritch fire in an area that gives the on-fire debuff to those who walk through it and a toxin damage and Intellect drain over time debuff

### Possessed critters
- Possessed critters are meant to be very weak cannonfodder, but can appear in swarms.
- Very obviously possessed.
- Most can die in one hit from something like a
fire extinguisher
- Each attack from them gives Intellect on the attacked human
- Cannot use any of their previous abilities

### Intrusion critters
- Intrusion critters are stronger and more considerable in force
- Unique appearance
- Priority over using abilities rather than direct limb attacks
- Major ones are dangerous and should be avoided rather than fought
- Each attack from them deals damage and gives Intellect

### Intruder Z level
- The Intruder Z level is a ground turf occupied level, with Intruder fauna, lakes, turfs, and themed artifacts
- Fauna include
- Razorleaf - Cuts you for bleed damage if you move through it
- Lighthouse - Emits a light that rotates. If caught in the light you will be stunned.
- Klaxon - Alerts nearby critters to your presence
- Hunter - Invisible, creates flickers on the ground as it moves
- Fake dead people?
- Contains a 1:1 replica of the station's turfs, with only some of the items/objects from the station, warped/distorted
- Hazardous air. Causes brain damage over time if you aren't wearing internals.
- The Intruder places three "Spires" on this level.
- If someone dies in this plane, the Intruder is awarded a Mindpower point
- The Intruder has vision of all
- Natural phenomena happen on this Z level, including strange color shifts, cosmic particle effects, cosmic space fluids seeping into reality, and lightning arcs and crackles

### Spires
- Spires act as interdimensional tethers.
- They must be destroyed to defeat the Intruder.
- They are boss encounter style structures
- Abilities include
-
- Emit a sound for a large radius that indicate where they are

### Presence level
As the Intruder's Mindpower increases, it will reflect across the station.

Upon increasing Mindpower, the following will happen upon reaching the threshold
- 1/5 final Mindpower
- Fog like color shifts appear
- 2/5 final Mindpower
- Cosmic particle effects appear
- Space turfs will be replaced by walkable Intruder turf
- 3/5 final Mindpower
- Cosmic space fluids seep through cracks in reality
- 4/5 final Mindpower
- Purple lightning crackles and arcs around

### Death
- To kill the Intruder, all of its Spires must be destroyed
- Intruder automatically dies at a certain time limit if it hasn't won by then

### Gameplay
- Directly assists Mindeaters and distracts the crew
- Consumes the station's turf and critters to cause distractions that pull people away from Mindeaters
- Creates events the crew must work around

## Mindeater Mechanics

### Starting out
The Mindeater starts out as an intangible entity. It can choose to become tangible anywhere it wants, once.

Mindeaters have the same vision level as the Intruder.

### Unique features
- Non-human in form. Some sort of cosmic-horror.
- Cloaks when going into darkness, if not in combat. Going into light or space, after a few seconds it will decloak. Being attacked or stunned, or using certain abilities de-cloaks it and prevents it from recloaking for a bit of time.
- While visible, can be seen by the AI and cyborgs. When invisible, can't be seen by them.
- Can move through reflective objects.
- Opens doors on touch
- Full heat, cold, oxygen damage, and radiation immunity.
- Full stun immunity. Still receives disorients.
- Damaged by space (starlight of this reality harms it)
- One built in ranged attack.
- Doesn't hear radio (may change later to hear radio)
- Runic/intangible speech (cool to do custom font, but low priority)
- Can't be killed under normal means (see later)

### Stat points
The Mindeater is based around gaining Intellect from targets. Intellect has a low max cap and is used to cast some of its abilities.

### Primary attack - Mind bolt
Its primary attack is a ranged weapon that fires psychic paralysis bolts.

This is a rapid fire, spammable attack that applies a movement loss debuff and prevents you from running.

If you have chemicals in you, they will be converted into toxins.

If the hit atom has a mob inside (ex. pod, sleeper, closet), the mob will be dealt toxin damage.

### Abilities
#### Primary abilities
- Request assistance - Sends an assistance request to the Intruder
- Traverse - Travel between the current Z level and Intruder plane. Creates a gateway upon use if cast from the station Z level.
- Brain drain (0 intellect) - Private channel that's interrupted on attack or stun, target a living mob to gain 3 Intellect on them per second, while in range. Removes the mindeater's invisibility on use.
- Target mob receives 1 brain per second, and randomly picked brain damage, tox damage, brute damage, or burn damage each second.
- Having haloperidol, morphine, or ethanol in you reduces Intellect gained by the mindeater.
- Taking mannitol will reduce Intellect collected on you while not being brain drained.
- Below 25 Intellect, the target receives below 25% threshold messages.
- After 25 Intellect, the target starts receives a screen overlay that shows their mind is being eaten. Purple particles will start floating around them.
- After 50 Intellect, the purple particles will now float towards the Mindeater. They receive 50% threshold messages.
- After 75 Intellect, the target will start hallucinating plane merging phenomena, like Intruder turfs appearing or funky animations on random objects.
- After 100 Intellect, the person's sprite starts warping.
- A target can only be brain drained by 1 mindeater at a time
- Other
- If draining someone while they die, a Mindpower point will be awarded to the Intruder instantly.
- If targeting a Cyborg, it will damage its head.
- Doesn't work on dead targets
- Regenerate (1 intellect) - Use Intellect to heal. Can only be used out of combat.
- Project (free) - Create a fake version of yourself at a target location
- Spatial swap (free) - Swap the location of yourself and a living creature or fake version of yourself.
- Paralyze (free) - Cast is only successful on a target that's facing you, will fail with cooldown on those facing away. Reduces their vision. Makes them unable to move and take 1 step towards you and 1 stab for each 10 Intellect on them.
- Cosmic light (free) - Cast a purple glare from you that, while mobs are facing you, gain Intellect from them.
- Pierce the Veil (free) - Visible channel, can only be targeted on mobs with 100 Intellect and while on the station Z level. Gain a 3 charge shield while channeling, if the shield is destroyed the ability ends. Charges are removed on being attacked. On end, gives the Intruder a Mindpower point and sends the mob to the middle of the Intruder's plane, consuming all Intellect on them, creating a Gateway to the Intruder plane
- Disguise (free) - Toggles your disguise
- Set Disguise (free) - Sets whether you will disguise as a random human, mouse, or cockroach

#### Side abilities
These are other abilities found at the lower right of the screen

- Toggle Psi Bolt - Toggles whether while in disguised form, clicking will fire a psi bolt or not
- Speak Toggle - Changes whether speaking will be sent internally to the Intruder and all other mindeaters, or aloud

### Death
- After dying, its allowed to come back after a certain period
- Becomes intangible on death and will become tangible again after a certain period
- To permanently kill it, need to do something specific (???)

### Gameplay
- Fast paced. Medium Intellect drain rate, with low maximum cap on what can be stored.
- Focus is more on eating a target's mind rather than being lethal.
- Very non-human, but not as deadly as antags like werewolves.

## How a game plays out

There are 3 parts to the game

### First part of the game
The first part of the game is centered around the station on the station Z level and Intruder Z level

Mindeaters will start off on station, Intruder starts off on the Intruder plane

Mindeaters will work to consume minds of people. Inevitably Gateways will be opened that traverse to the fake station turf in the Intruder Z level. As the Mindeaters eat more minds, there will be more spots for the crew to be able to travel into the Intruder Z level and establish beachheads to search for the Spires. Gateways will rarely be found outside of the fake station, as that would mean travelling between space and the Intruder Z level, which Mindeaters and crew want to stay away from as it's harmful to both.

Humans as they travel into the fake station will want to establish beachheads, by creating railings and placing lighting

For the Intruder, on the station Z level, it will work to make critters to attack the crew. Critters will give Intellect on humans, making it easier for Mindeaters to consume their minds. Critter attacks will also give the crew something to do/distract them while Mindeaters do their thing.

On the Intruder Z level, the Intruder will be hanging around the fake station turf, launching attacks at the station to try to halt their advance and attacking humans who arrive.

### Second part of the game
The second part of the game is centered around the crew's advance past the fake station in the Intruder Z level, assuming the Intruder and mindeaters haven't won.

For humans, as they go into the Intruder plane and explore, it will be easy to get lost. Ways of creating beachheads and marking trails will be needed. This will likely be anything that produces light as that prevents the Intruder from creating critters. Building railings and tables will help defend against Intrusion critters.