# SURVIVOR LOOP INTEGRATION

#### Project Coordinator: Thwomper

### Contributors: Nomoresolvalou

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## Design Motivation

The Survivor gameplay loop has become stale over the years without a direct purpose and incentive (or opportunity) to roleplay, for both the Survivors themselves and the Xenomorphs engaging with them. Survivors should provide some degree of interest and entertainment for pre-round xenomorph gameplay prior to first deployment, and also be an atmospheric, enjoyable, adrenaline rush of an experience that is both difficult and highly dynamic.

In the current build, Survivor gameplay loop consists of grabbing known sets of gear before Xenos can evolve, and establishing a holdout location near the LZ, and essentially warding off a siege until Marines drop, or dying close enough to the drop that they are able to be recovered. Afterwards, there is no further loop, it is simple go up to the Almayer and attempt to engage in roleplay, or participate in frontline combat. More often, the latter is observed. This project is meant to rework survivors in the wake of the FOB Defense Overhaul, and the changes to barricades made therein.

## Design Goals

* Survivors should no longer be able to create their own holdout locations with barricades. Producing barricades en masse should be difficult.

* Map-based 'Saferoom' locations should exist that must be activated by becoming powered. Once the saferoom is active, the survivors will become isolated from threats entirely, and the saferoom can only then be opened again from the outside by a rescue party.

* Survivors that successfully activate a saferoom should have sufficient down-time before a rescue opportunity to allow for interaction and roleplay.

* Survivors should be able to activate the saferooms with multiple items that have to be recovered from randomized, searchable access locations around the map to encourage exploration, while also making them vulnerable to attack.

* Multiple saferoom locations should exist around the map, so one cannot be exclusively defended by Xenomorphs.

## Saferoom Activation 

Around the map, many unique structures in the form of dumpsters, trash piles, or otherwise should be spawned. Survivors, and only survivors, should be granted the ability to rummage through these storage items and search for a **Fuel Canister**, which is what will be required fuel an emergency generator unit, and thus activate the saferooms.

Not all dumpsters will contain a fuel canister, and searching will take time. This introduces a risk-reward element to how Survivor players approach gathering the fuel canisters. Moving in one big group will be safer, but slower, and it should basically be impossible to survive in the open when T3 xenomorphs begin to evolve. Splitting up will be faster, but certainly more dangerous.

The fuel canisters themselves should be cumbersome to carry, taking both hands, so the Survivor transporting one has to trust that they will be protected by others.

Once brought to the a saferoom, the generator will require any number of fuel canisters to power, this number can be tweaked based on survival difficulty and population. Filling up the emergency generator will also take time.

As soon as the generator is fully fueled, a button will become usable that activates the saferoom, triggering indestructible blast doors to seal the survivors inside. Due to the RNG nature of this feature system, some coordination and communication will be required in real-time, which is far more preferable than mute metarushing known locations.

## Saferoom Features 

Saferooms themselves should be small, and cramped, fit with things to allow for roleplay to be enhanced. Some food rations, playing cards, etc. These are not resort clubs, and should not be modeled with comfort in mind, unless the setting fits it, such as a saferoom built into an executive office. It is up to the mapper and the space allotted.

The saferooms should be placed in areas with some distance apart, well within the central colony area of the map. It should not be immediately easy for Marines to gain access to the saferooms and rescue the survivors, but not impossible either. This gives Marines a reward for organizing troops and deviating from the standard path to rescue Survivors.

The saferooms, when in lockdown for long periods, say past 10-15 minutes, can start to suffer equipment failures that are random, and pose some kind of threat to the Survivors inside, just to put some pressure on them to be rescued, keep the atmosphere of fear alive.

An additional feature we can incorporate to discourage post-rescue frontlining as a survivor is to add an adrenaline crash mechanic, where after five minutes of activating the saferoom, all survivors have their skills reduced to some civilian baseline. We don't have to do this, but we don't have to reward players for surviving with PFC+ either.