Freakish Flora

[macksting]

It seems to me, with the mention of giant trees in a Terrain Type thread, that there seems to be a mild lack of freakish flora. Was plantlife fairly exempt from the experimentation of the previous age? Did unusual plantlife, usually created for cultivation of food, become evolutionary dead-ends like bananas and corn? Did mutated and biotech flora fail to pan out? Did I miss something? Or is this something of an oversight in the mechanics of mutation in the setting?

On a related note, is it feasible to generate a creature with no movement value? This could be handy as static gun placements or rooted tree monsters.
Not that static gun placements tend to be greater than SL: 1 in most mecha series, which seems fine to me.

While not especially necessary, I can't help but think the setting should have a little freakish flora here and there, to compete in the new ecosystem.

[SharkD]

I think there are some fungus monsters (not technically a plant).

Quoting: macksting

static gun placements

I like this idea. They'd be useful for fortifying those bases you have to attack. They could have really high TR score since they're stationary.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: macksting

It seems to me, with the mention of giant trees in a Terrain Type thread, that there seems to be a mild lack of freakish flora. Was plantlife fairly exempt from the experimentation of the previous age?

Mutant plants aren't featured in GH1 largely because I didn't add stationary models; I did think about it, but never got around to adding them. I believe some of the dungeons (possibly the Slimy Cave) do have "PLANT" tags in their monster descriptions.

There will be plant monsters in GH2; I know there will definitely be killer plants in Amazonia and on Venus. As SharkD mentioned there are also fungus monsters.

Quoting: macksting

On a related note, is it feasible to generate a creature with no movement value? This could be handy as static gun placements or rooted tree monsters.

This is a good idea, and will probably be added to GH2. I have a mechanism for it and everything.

[macksting]

Hell yes. Here I was, afraid I had another incompatible idea. Also suitable as gun turrets on a Great Big Spacecraft (SL:4?).
As to the static gun placements, would it be thematically appropriate to give them a high TR? This seems pretty rare in anti-aircraft guns in real life, many of them classically having relied on area-effect weaponry like flak and timed exploding shells and such. A mecha setting would have bigger, nastier guns, but the big, nasty guns in a static gun placement in anime tend to be pretty inaccurate, even when the heroes are actually the ones on defense.
Anyway, I'd better stop now, lest I try to recreate The Guardian Legend in GearHead form.



... ah, damnit, that sounds awesome now. And so perfect.
So does the game support static placements right now?

[Anticheese]

Quoting: macksting

As to the static gun placements, would it be thematically appropriate to give them a high TR? This seems pretty rare in anti-aircraft guns in real life, many of them classically having relied on area-effect weaponry like flak and timed exploding shells and such. A mecha setting would have bigger, nastier guns, but the big, nasty guns in a static gun placement in anime tend to be pretty inaccurate, even when the heroes are actually the ones on defense.

I'd imagine that it would be appropriate to give them a high TR, But an amazingly low MV value, Perhaps a poor SR range as well, Seeing as turrets are built low to the ground.

For the bigger guns question, Just look at the standard guns on Mecha - If large scale weaponary has reached the point where one can accuratly shoot a rapid fire autocannon on a giant robot, I'm pretty sure that with the added stability of a turret accuracy should be looking pretty good...

Quoting: Joseph Hewitt

PLANT" tags in their monster descriptions.

Just wondering, but with certain plants, Could they "Grow" either larger or into multiple plants? Say your character is in a dungeon and he sees this little plant, No big worry, he goes down the next level, saves the girl and comes back up..And the plant has grown much larger and is now covering the corridor, Plus it seems to have sprouted dartshooters?

Its just a theroy, but if we do get mutant plants then a Jumanji style creeper seems to be a good idea

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: macksting

... ah, damnit, that sounds awesome now. And so perfect.
So does the game support static placements right now?

No, not yet, but look for it in an upcoming release of GH2.

[draconuszero]

Quoting: Anticheese

Just wondering, but with certain plants, Could they "Grow" either larger or into multiple plants? Say your character is in a dungeon and he sees this little plant, No big worry, he goes down the next level, saves the girl and comes back up..And the plant has grown much larger and is now covering the corridor, Plus it seems to have sprouted dartshooters?

That might lead to exp abuse if you let one live and let it spawn more.  Sounds like an interesting idea though.

[Anticheese]

Quoting: draconuszero

That might lead to exp abuse if you let one live and let it spawn more.

A fairly recent (version wise) update for the game restricts the ammount of XP gainable from one enemy...

I.E you might only be able to squeeze 2 XP points from a Street Punk when using an AWC
I'm also pretty sure that the maximum ammount of XP gainable is related to the power of the weapon used in question...

Anyhow, thats bridge under the water.

Quoting: draconuszero

Sounds like an interesting idea though.

Cheers.

--

Just to expand on that idea:

The initial creature would be a small "Rootlet" or something similar with a high stealth rating (really, who is going to pay much notice to a small stunted looking plant?), Yet after the PC and lancemates have observed it (or at least have had the object in their FOV) and are now not observing it (I.E are on another level or just plain cant see it) it will begin to divide into:

Light Vegetation

Now imagine light scrubby bush, The kind that boarders forest pathways, This is what it is..only with more genetic engineering.

The original plant splits into two units of LV and dies, the new LV units will begin to block the corridor (if there is one) or position itself in a place that will proberbaly be stumbled upon by the hero, From there you get:

Thick Vegitation (Hah, you thought I was going to say "Heavy Vegitation")

This is where the fun starts, its garunteed to be seen and severly slows down people, It also reproduces at a fairly rapid rate.

Vines

Occasionally a bit of vegitation will mutate into one of theese, they are sterile (cannot reproduce), but have a natural wapon: The vine.

Lets say, DC:12 FLAIL EXTEND

Thorn Pod

Same rules as vines, Only more long ranged.

DC:6, Range 8, BV 3, SWARM

Anyhow, Thats enough on the nasties..I have some ideas on how to make them less chaotic...

(Ideas only)

Depending on the depth of the dungeon, or how far away from civilization the vegitation will be assigned a number, Lets use the number 8 here.

A single rootlet will grow into 8 LV's, Which will turn into 5 TV's, From there 3D6 is rolled for the remaining LV's, Should they hit a 6 they mutate into a bioweapon, or a weakened version of them.

From there the TV's roll 4D6, Same rules here except they get bioweapons on 5 and 6. Each "mass" of rank 5 or more allways gets a bioweapon.

--

Anyhow, Its just a suggestion, but please post any comments or improvements on it.

[Phil Munoz]

Plants should be immune to domination...

although...

a mecha carrying a pot of mutated vegetables might make a good pet.

[macksting]

I'm going to reassert that, in most mecha anime, static gun placements are usually disturbingly weak compared to the mecha in the series, neither accurate enough to hit nor powerful enough to do more than put holes in the ground or walls. Yes, this is incongruous with the other technological points of the setting, but by all rights, the technology thrown together to make a Battroid ought to come out to a tough, fast, accurate tank or gunship which could tear that Battroid apart. Most mecha anime don't pay the slightest bit of attention to any form of mech that isn't a walking penis extension.
This being a mecha anime setting which combines elements of both sensible (arguably Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) and senseless (arguably Gundam Wing) mecha anime series, I wanted to throw out there the fact that static gun placements in the inspirational material don't tend to be too hot. This being a very mecha-intensive setting, and bases usually having been built on a short basis, it might be more setting appropriate, depending on what Hewitt wants to reflect in his setting, to have the only really decent defense available to a recently built forward base be a mobile unit like a mecha lance, as opposed to the quite possibly very kick-ass static gun placements described here.
Or maybe it's just that I don't want a static gun placement to throw a light nuke at me.
Bear in mind, it's a mecha anime that I'm talking about. GearHead doesn't have to keep to those limitations. I simply wanted to point out that my experience with the inspirational material hasn't pointed to much anything like what he described. More data is good. So I supplied it. I play devil's advocate a lot.

Vegetation: If we find out (unfortunate idea) that such spawning ideas are hard to make fit with the code, there are other options. For instance, it could be a Ladon-esque single encounter, which would give the static floors you're talking about, so that it would still be there when you come back up. (After all, most dungeons and random encounters are, well, random, even when walking back up the stairs to where you were.)
As a lesser form, since Drone Launchers as equipment can spawn a single sort of enemy, I see no reason a particular monster couldn't spawn a bunch of Vines or something. Give it a limit, of course, just like the Drone Launcher has. Call it a Seed Launcher?
I'm really not sure spawned critters like you're talking about would qualify to the code as a single entity for purposes of XP.

[draconuszero]

Why do I have this strange feeling someone will talk about Little Shop of Horrors...  Anyways, It'd be interesting to see some plants that cause poison as well?  Living plants is an intersting concept, especially if you can somehow command some sort of plant, possibly like in base defense missions.  Actually, It'd be cool if one can have a home base or main headquarters where you can store supplies and pretty much live in safety, until an enemy faction attacks your base...  With that, you can set up emplacements (gun or plants shown above) to defend your base.

[Anticheese]

Quoting: macksting

I'm really not sure spawned critters like you're talking about would qualify to the code as a single entity for purposes of XP.

Easy way to fix that, Assign them an identifier and use that to determine the maximum number of experence points gainable.

Quoting: draconuszero

Why do I have this strange feeling someone will talk about Little Shop of Horrors...

Self fufilling prophercy there mate

Quoting: Phil Munoz

Vegetation: If we find out (unfortunate idea) that such spawning ideas are hard to make fit with the code, there are other options. For instance, it could be a Ladon-esque single encounter, which would give the static floors you're talking about, so that it would still be there when you come back up. (After all, most dungeons and random encounters are, well, random, even when walking back up the stairs to where you were.)
As a lesser form, since Drone Launchers as equipment can spawn a single sort of enemy, I see no reason a particular monster couldn't spawn a bunch of Vines or something. Give it a limit, of course, just like the Drone Launcher has. Call it a Seed Launcher?

As far as I know, to make the drone launcher system work you would need to have different weapon tags made for each of the different types of vegies, And make sure they are allways on the same team..

The code is (somewhat) allready in the game, Look at fire in the game (Just throw some grenades around in Hogye for a demo), All you need to do is adapt it slightly.

[Sabin Stargem]

I wouldn't mind seeing somewhat decent defensive emplacements, around and inside bases.  Something that can hold off the enemy long enough for the mecha and vehicle pilots to get into their rides, and perhaps take down a few enemies before petering out.  Maybe such emplacements could also be added to mobile battleships in the game, if battleships ever appear.  It be neat, to be sure...

[Joseph Hewitt]

I think defense turrets shouldn't be as tough as the toughest mecha on the enemy team, but shouldn't be something the PC can safely ignore either. The defense turrets should be a serious tactical consideration, but they shouldn't be the stars of the encounter. I think the high TR/low MV idea is a good one.

In order to keep turrets as supporting players rather than stars, they could be equipped with weapons which will make the PC easier for the enemy mecha to destroy, rather than weapons which are likely to destroy the PC outright. Things like particle cannons, light high-BV cannons (for stripping armor), and missile launchers would be good here.

Not all turrets need follow this pattern. There could be a mission to destroy a powerful enemy artillery piece; this artillery would be modeled as a turret, and would probably have some ridiculously overpowered main gun. This scenario might be very interesting- cover and decoys would become very important.

The same code that will be used for turrets and plants could also be used for spaceships.

[Phil Munoz]

Anticheese, I just have to say you were quoting the wrong person.

I'd say defense turrets get weapons with status effect.  Also, probably make all its weapons integral so you don't go salvaging defense turret weapons and put them in your mecha...