# Progression Traitors

[toc]

## Maintainer Design Flows
:::warning
This section describes design flows that are meant to be upheld in the PR process. **PRs that go against this section are subject to closing.** Please do not edit this section unless you are a maintainer. Comments via sidebar are welcomed.
:::

---

## Abstract

Progression traitors are a rework of traitors that transforms them into a role with progression where they must complete objectives for TC and progression points, more powerful items are unlocked with progression points. The goal is to prevent them from immediately being able to buy extremely deadly traitorous weapons that allow them to go on a rampage or blow up the station at the start of a round. Additionally, the goal is also to make traitor objectives a lot more engaging as a result.

## Goals

- Prevent traitors from immediately getting accessing to deadly traitorous weapons at the start of a round. Traitors being able to immediately murderbone with traitor gear is not fun at all, and it's not ideal when security get access to this gear so early in the round either.
- Introduce progression to traitors to give them something more to do if they don't want to go off and do their own gimmicky stuff
- Give traitors an endgoal objective to work towards similar to heretic but less difficult for newer players to reach, which takes time to reach.
- Scale objective difficulty with progression and time.
- Objectives should leave some sort of trail behind that security can follow. Security should be able to find out when an objective has been completed in some way, shape or form.

## Non-goals
- Make it like heretic, where there's a very high skill floor and a very low skill ceiling. Heretic is very hard for a new player to reach ascension, but very easy for an experienced player, which is not what progression traitors should be.
- Close off what a traitor can do outside of their objectives. Traitors doing gimmicky shit outside of their objectives is great, they shouldn't be locked into doing their objectives
- Make it so that the endgoal objective is very easy to reach or takes a very short time to reach if you're very good. The endgoal objective significantly impacts the round, so being able to reach it in a short timeframe is not ideal at all.

## Content
When the traitor spawns in, they start with a reduced amount of TC. They are only able to purchase stealthy-like items. Items aren't locked by TC but by progression, and may not cost a lot of TC, but can't be accessed until they've completed enough objectives of value to unlock. Objectives give both TC and progression points. Each objective a traitor gets is worth some amount of progression poinnts, which unlocks uplink items to buy, and TC to purchase better uplink items.

Latejoining traitors gain progression points and TC proportional to the point of time it is in the round, so that they can get into the round faster as an antagonist. Roundstart traitors passively gain progression points, so that even if they aren't completing objectives, they can take on the more difficult objectives later on in the round.

### TC Items
TC item progression cost should be balanced around the point at which you should be getting an item in a round. For example, deadly weapons such as deswords and pistols should be unlocked during midgame, where assassinations are unlocked so that assassination objectives can be more effectively performed.

If it's unclear when an item should be unlocked in an uplink, it should be balanced around the strength of the item, with stronger items taking longer to achieve.

### Objectives
Traitors get several objectives, where they can choose which objective they want to do, similar to contractor, so that they don't feel locked into having to do an objective they might not necessarily want to do. Completing an objective unlocks a new objective that can be taken and more difficult objectives become accessible as the traitor gains more progression points. Traitors can reroll their current objectives, although this has a large and hefty cooldown and can cost some TC.

See [Objective Examples](/IkDWWkpfQa2lkdevsnLqhA#Objective-Examples) for some examples of objectives

### Final Objectives
A traitor's main objective is to work towards completing enough objectives to get enough progression points to unlock their final objective. Once they complete enough objectives to greentext, they unlock the final objective. The final objective has more a significant impact on the round and it can vary, but it is completely optional to the traitor and exists as an option to introduce more chaos into a round and as a goal to work to if they don't have any particular gimmicks in mind. The traitor can still work on completing other objectives, but the final objective remains open as an option. Taking the final objective locks the traitor out of any other objectives.
Final objectives should only be reasonably available very far into a round (110 minutes+) and only after a set amount of objectives have been completed. A very experienced player may be able to get a final objective 80-110 minutes in if they work very hard to complete a lot of high value objectives.

See below for some examples of final objectives

#### Cause a Zombie Outbreak and escape via an escape pod.
Taking the objective gives the traitor a location that they must head to, where they can then call down a supply pod containing romerol. The traitor is then able to spread the infection and cause a zombie outbreak. They can then head onto an escape pod, where they can then manually override the controls and land at the syndicate base.

#### Activate the station's Self Destruct and escape via an escape pod.
Taking the objective gives the traitor the codes to the onboard nuclear device. If the nuclear core has been removed from the nuke, they'll be sent a replacement plutonium core to insert into the nuke. Their objective is to steal the nuclear authentication disk from the Captain, get access into the vault and activate the station's nuke. They can then take the nuclear authentication disk and head onto an escape pod, where they can then manually override the controls and land at the syndicate base.

### Objective Examples
These are objectives that can be implemented in the progression traitor rework. It does not necessarily mean they will be instantly implemented.

Key: Objective Name | Progression threshold | TC value | Progression value
**Objective Name** - Name of the objective
**Progression threshold** - The point in the round this objective should be available at.
**TC value** - The amount of TC this gives
**Progression value** - The amount of progression points this gives

#### Break into \[DEPARTMENT HEAD\]'s office and bug it | Starting Objective | Low TC value | Medium progression value
Depending on the player's job, one of their possible starting objectives would be to break into their department head's office. Taking the objective allows the traitor to materialize a spy bug in their hands, as if they were purchasing a TC item, and place it anywhere in their department head's office. Deploying the spy bug in the department head's office will then let the player read any messages it picks up on his uplink. Removing from the office or attacking the spy bug will cause it to explode and damage everything around it to discourage traitors from immediately destroying the spy bug after placing it down.

#### Capture/Kill \[RANDOM PLAYER\] and load them into a syndicate pod | 15-30 minutes in | High TC value | Medium progression value
This'd work the same way contractor does, where the traitor captures someone and must head to a location in maintenance where they can then cash out the player for some TC and progression points by sending them up in a syndicate pod. The player would eventually be sent back to the station

#### Take supermatter sliver from the Supermatter/Steal Goon's source code from the R&D Server/Steal the Self Destruct's plutonium core | 40-70 minutes in | Very high TC value | Very high progression value
This would be like the normal objectives, except to get the tools required, the traitor can send down a syndicate pod containing the items. After acquiring the specified item, the traitor must then head to a location in maintenance where they can then send the item up in a pod

## Non-Maintainer Design Flows
:::info
This section describes various design flows that are not yet incorporated into the maintainer-approved design. **Working towards these flows does not guarantee merge, nor does going against these flows guarantee close. Please resort to `###` and below for heading tags, and preferably `Title (Author)` for easy reference. Titles can be set with YAML metadata. Ping Cobby on Discord if you need assistance embedding/generating your note.**
:::

---

### OBJECTIVE SUGGESTIONS
These are suggestions created by players that have yet to be approved. Until they are, it's unlikely they'll be implemented. This section is temporary and will likely no longer exist when the foundation of the traitor rework has been added.

PLACE OBJECTIVE SUGGESTIONS HERE IN THIS FORMAT
Key: Objective Name | Progression threshold | TC value | Progression value
**Objective Name** - Name of the objective
**Progression threshold** - The point in the round this objective should be available at.
**TC value** - The amount of TC this gives
**Progression value** - The amount of progression points this gives
**Description goes here**

*By ArcaneMusic:*
#### Sleeper Protocol | 30 - 75 Minutes | Low TC Value | High Progression Points
The syndicate is always on the look out for willing recruits. ...And when that fails, we have sleeper protocols. Find a random crewmate on the station, and perform a tiny bit of sleeper protocol surgery on them. Agents will be given a special limit use sleeper protocol surgery disk, that will dust itself after completion, allowing unsuspecting crewmates to be radicalized on subsequent shifts. Victims will only notice basic, random disguised surgery steps in the process, and be slightly healed. As you are risking outing yourself as an agent of the syndicate by performing this on a crewmate, we cannot reward you as highly in TC to aid in loss prevention, but you will be rewarded handsomly in progression points.

*By ArcaneMusic:*
#### Market Manipulation 101 | Shift Start - 25 Minutes | Moderate TC Value | Low Progression Points
Here's a little secret: We've got it on good authority that Nanotrasen Holocredits don't have any real value. They're actually just company store credits that they bounce around to make it look like they pay their employees. ...Probably, NT's finances are a complete mystery. Agents will be shipped a vintage USB card that when uploaded to a cargo ordering console after a moderate wait, will subtly artifically increase the cost of everything on station, meaning NT will have to spend more REAL money on operation costs.

In gameplay would add a static buffer value onto the station's inflation variable for several minutes, meaning crew make less money from bounties and products in vendors will cost more.

*By ArcaneMusic:*
#### Catch and Release | 30 - 75+ Minutes | High TC Value | High Progression Points
We need you to catch that corgi on the station.
Allow me to elaborate.
Space Station 13 is located in a rather desolate region of space, and the passive distortion found from plasma gas disrupts deep range scanning equipment, which makes finding the location of the station difficult for our nuclear operatives and subterfuge teams. However, we found a tiny, little 4 legged snag in their impressive defenses. The head of personnel keeps the same Corgi on station every shift, and even has the company clone it whenever "accidents" befall it. Assigned with this task is a tiny tracking chip, which outputs a small GPS ping on our encrypted frequencies. If you can surgically implant it into Ian, it will be reconstructed upon cloning, and give us a straight highway to the station's next hiding spot when it gets rebuilt next.

Acts as a nice remix of the classic corgi hides objective, and contributes to the lore in a fun, in-game way

*By NamelessFairy*
#### System Hack | 60 minutes+ | High TC value | High TC Progression Points
Similarly to the bugging office objectives this objective allows you to spawn in a hacking device (laptop or something, shouldn't be a stealthy item). The objective will specifiy an important but secluded station system. (Grav-gen, Self destruct device, Gateway, RnD servers, etc) and will task the player with planting the hacking device near to this item. Once planted a hack will be initiated and will take X minutes, during which it must be defended. Optionally the hacking should have some sort of way to identify its happening such as loud noises that can be heard outside of the room or pinging the AI midway through the hack. This objective is a primarily loud objective that will likely require a fight if they're caught, exceptionally well prepared antagonists will be able to set up situations to complete a hack stealthily. If needed completed hacks could have minor station impacting events to have a greater sense of urgency to stop hacks when identified (although antag valid, must kill should be enough). From an enjoyment standpoint I've played an admin event where this was used and it turned out to be an enjoyable but extremly challenging holdout style objective.

*By Capsandi*
#### Create Freak of Nature | 10+ minutes | Moderate TC value | Moderate Progression points
*Interdyne is looking for volunteers to receive experimental replacement organs and limbs. There aren't many takers, though, and so they are asking syndicate operatives to volunteer their co-workers.*
Upon taking the objective, traitors are given an experimental organ, and nothing else. To complete the objective, they must swap out the organ of a living crewmen with the experimental organ.
These experimental organs are either crippling to their implantee, or a danger to the crew around them. Lungs that inhale N2 and exhale plasma, peglegs which fall apart *real* easily, tongues which give their holder the "foreigner" quirk, an appendix which jams radios, laser gun arms which fire randomly, ears which cant hear non-humans, hearts which require frequent and increasing payments to beat ect.

### Replacement Uplinks
Should a traitor lose their uplink, a new one should be obtainable in some manner. However, losing it should not be penalty-free, although also not too punitive at the same time. I suggest that the process for obtaining a new uplink to be:

1. Craft a makeshift uplink beacon, perhaps from a telebeacon + bluespace crystal, which is where your new uplink will be transported to (must be planted on the floor). You must set it to a predetermined code, which will be given to you roundstart in the same way the PDA code is provided.
2. On a regular radio, set it to a predetermined frequency given to you at roundstart, same as the PDA and other code.
3. Say a specific codephrase, which was also provided in the same fashion as the other codes (could reuse the code from step 1). This will instantly teleport your new uplink onto the beacon in a shower of sparks.

This method for obtaining a replacement wouldn't be exceedingly difficult, yet would still require a bit of effort, and would offer the potential of discovery through several ways (seeing a person set the beacon, hearing the sparks, being on the correct radio frequency by chance, etc). One could also make the uplink arrive via droppod instead of teleport, to leave more physical evidence.
From an RP perspective, I believe this option would also add some extra nice flavor as well. A secret agent having to use secret codes and constructing uplinks to receive a replacement, I believe would have a thematic and flavorful feel to it.

### Methods to Prevent Cheesing of Objectives
Many players have expressed concerns that people will cheese objectives in some form or fashion. We can list some potential ways for particular objectives to avoid that here:
* Lorem
* Ipsum
* Dolorem
* Fortunam