Infestation Spreading Redesign
Raneman
Join Date: 2010-01-07 Member: 69962Members
Join Date: 2010-01-07 Member: 69962Members
Hear me out, I think this is at least worth testing.
Infestation as it currently is is awkward. However, I have a much more natural system. This system will have infestation spread out from the hive, as it currently does, but with some changes to make it more spreadable without changing it too much.
I call this the "spillover" system.
Starting with the hive, you have some energy pouring out into the infestation chain. This will spread down the cyst chain and auto-reinforce them until the max is hit, and the energy will then spillover further down the chain.
Harvesters currently have no use for their energy, instead, in my system, harvesters will contribute to the energy, allowing exponential growth: The infestation starts off slow, but speeds up as it gets more and more harvesters.
Part 3 is cost revision. Areas further back in the chain will cost less then areas closer up the chain. This will allow Infestation to fully consume the strongest areas, while branches take longer to fill out. It will be much more resource efficient to consume a room 2/3 of the way up the chain then to keep expanding at the end of the chain. Especially if the room has something of tactical value in it.
Finally, Infestation should ###### up the power grid. It should turn off any lights it covers and slowly damage power nodes, even unsocketed ones.
Infestation as it currently is is awkward. However, I have a much more natural system. This system will have infestation spread out from the hive, as it currently does, but with some changes to make it more spreadable without changing it too much.
I call this the "spillover" system.
Starting with the hive, you have some energy pouring out into the infestation chain. This will spread down the cyst chain and auto-reinforce them until the max is hit, and the energy will then spillover further down the chain.
Harvesters currently have no use for their energy, instead, in my system, harvesters will contribute to the energy, allowing exponential growth: The infestation starts off slow, but speeds up as it gets more and more harvesters.
Part 3 is cost revision. Areas further back in the chain will cost less then areas closer up the chain. This will allow Infestation to fully consume the strongest areas, while branches take longer to fill out. It will be much more resource efficient to consume a room 2/3 of the way up the chain then to keep expanding at the end of the chain. Especially if the room has something of tactical value in it.
Finally, Infestation should ###### up the power grid. It should turn off any lights it covers and slowly damage power nodes, even unsocketed ones.
Comments
@OP: So are cysts placed as they are now, but the infestation doesn't spread out from them unless there is excess energy?
No to place a cyst requires hive energy, 15 units if I remember correctly :P
Infestation as it currently is is awkward. However, I have a much more natural system. This system will have infestation spread out from the hive, as it currently does, but with some changes to make it more spreadable without changing it too much.
I call this the "spillover" system.
Starting with the hive, you have some energy pouring out into the infestation chain. This will spread down the cyst chain and auto-reinforce them until the max is hit, and the energy will then spillover further down the chain.
Harvesters currently have no use for their energy, instead, in my system, harvesters will contribute to the energy, allowing exponential growth: The infestation starts off slow, but speeds up as it gets more and more harvesters.
Part 3 is cost revision. Areas further back in the chain will cost less then areas closer up the chain. This will allow Infestation to fully consume the strongest areas, while branches take longer to fill out. It will be much more resource efficient to consume a room 2/3 of the way up the chain then to keep expanding at the end of the chain. Especially if the room has something of tactical value in it.
Finally, Infestation should ###### up the power grid. It should turn off any lights it covers and slowly damage power nodes, even unsocketed ones.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Sounds great but the performance impact on servers and clients with this kind of infestation would be insane unless they tweaked infestation a lot. As in not having multiple layers of textures and no extra geomatory but would still impact network traffic a lot.
That wasn't the question.