Regarding Drifters and Infestation
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Join Date: 2010-06-21 Member: 72122Members
Join Date: 2010-06-21 Member: 72122Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Drifters--; Cysts++;</div><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->1. Evaluating Drifters<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
A system – here: A lifeform – that evolved through biased mutation, genetic drift and natural selection to be the most efficient, the most fit to an environment would hardly end up with something as inefficient as drifters. Creatures that are spawned from the hive just to carry out an order and after doing so are re-processed via metamorphosis into another creature; that would be like growing an spider in your nose with the sole purpose to crawl down your body to tell your foot to move forward so you can make another step down the stairs.
The entire lifeform that is the infestation is one organism, connected to a mind that is controlling its growth. It has veins and vessels, it's pulsating and growing. What is all that for if it would still need to grow a peripheral entity to deliver organic matter to some other part of it's own organic structure?
If we were to compare the pest that is the infestation to any life known to us we would need to talk about differences and the most remarkable such is the hive mind. Unlike our own bodies the Khaara life form is able to actively control the functioning of it's body with a mind capable of abstract thinking. It can control it's growth and development with only sheer will, and not just it's own organic mass but also other creatures; practically enslaving them as workers. So if we would project these abilities to our own organism a fitting analogy would be that I could grow an extra finger in the middle of my palm via sheer will. But then, instead of delivering all the needed bio mass through the pipes that are already laid – my veins, I would spawn a new creature that encapsulates all the bio mass and transports it to it's destination _outside_ of my body.
The Khaara might be weird in our eyes, strange and disgusting from our perspective… but they are not that inefficient or they wouldn't represent a great threat.
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->2. Abstracting Drifters<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
We have an entity, we create it, we click on it to control it and we convert it to other entities.
The goal we want to reach: Create a new <i>flower</i> in our garden.
I like simplicity; I like ideas that are so intuitive that you don't have to explain them because everyone can understand them by just looking at it.
The Khammander currently has two tools to work on his garden:
<ol type='1'><li>Cysts – for which he has to select the hive, click on an icon and then place a cyst that automatically connects to the network.</li><li>Drifters – which he has to create in the hive, wait, select them, direct them where he want's a new structure and then morph (!= grow) them into said structure</li></ol>
Two tools that could very well be only one. The cysts are a tool that connect the Khammander to the infestation as a life form – the drifters do exactly the opposite and introduce a layer _between_ the Khammander and the infestation; so if we reduce the system to one tool only the obvious choice are the cysts.
So if we look at it with a little distance the drifters are a tool you work with to create structures where the infestation already is.
<b>Where the infestation already is!</b>
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->3. Using What is Already There<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
The infestation is one gigantic living structure, comparable to fungi. There are fungi larger and older than you can imagine; probably the largest and oldest living entity on planet earth is a fungus called Armillaria solidipes, it is estimated to be 3.4 square miles and over 2400 years old and lives in Oregon in the US. How alien is <i>that</i>?! We know little about the Khaara but we can be certain that we have not seen everything, there might very well be unimaginably large Khaara structures. The comparison of Khaara to fungi is obvious, but try to imagine Khaara with the immense size that fungi can reach and apply drifters to that concept… seems awfully impractical.
One behavior typical to the Khaara is the infestation of other living organisms and taking control over them. Pretty much all their working seems to be based on that.
Creating a creature and spawning it from the hive seems rather atypical now, doesn't it?
If the creeping infestation reaches a place where the hive mind sees fit to grow a structure, it most probably would just send and re-assemble all needed bio mass via the already existing network of veins that is the infestation. Probably the best spot to grow a structure is where there already is a vessel of bacteria: <b>A cyst</b>!
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->4. How It Could Work<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
You only have one tool that is growing and shaping the infestation via cysts. They represent the infrastructure of the infestation, they are the junction of the network of veins. Cysts can be placed to increase the area that is infested but they can also be selected and then used. Out of the cysts you can <i>grow</i> any other structure that is available in your repertoire (tech-tree). Growing structures out of cysts takes some time but can be sped up with Gorge saliva, implying team-play for effective gardening.
The consequence to that is huge. The structures are now part of the infestation, they grew from it and if they are damaged and killed they have an effect on the infestation as well. If you grow a structure from a cyst it will continue the role of a cyst and connect the infestation like every other cyst. So if a structure is killed it means a node within the linked network is missing; the Khammander has to build his network with foresight, placing cysts where it also makes sense to place a structure so that when a structure is destroyed he can chose any other cyst to replace that structure and re-grow it from another cyst.
Now stop separating cysts in different groups and remove the mini-cysts. The Gorge can create normal cysts, thus creating a more interesting interplay between Khammander and Gorge as the Gorge's cysts are now potential spots for growing structures (think about harvesters for example).
Again: Simplicity – there is only one tool for everything regarding the garden and that is spreading cysts.
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->5. Realizing It With an Intuitive Workflow<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
You should not be forced to select a hive every time you want to spread the infestation, selecting the infestation seems much more intuitive. Forget selecting "place cyst" and then move your mouse and wait for the game to select a cyst to which your new cyst will be connected, that is not how you grow a garden intuitively. It's not trivial to a new player on what rules this network of cysts is formed and results in hovering the mouse everywhere until the cyst lights up and you can click.
Instead you always select an existing element of the infestation and then get a visual indication in the form of a radius where you can place a new cyst in; an example:
1) I click on the hive, I press <i>C</i> (shortcut for cysts) and then can place a cyst around the hive. 2) The cyst is created and automatically selected so that I can press <i>C</i> again and place another cyst with the currently selected cyst as pivot point. 3) I place three more cysts that way towards a resource point with the last cyst being placed exactly on the resource point. 4) That cyst created it is already selected and instead of pressing <i>C</i> to place another cyst I chose to grow a harvester from the cyst. 5) I realize I need a crag so I select a cyst nearby that is positioned well and grow that into a crag. 6) Now Marines could come and attack that crag or harvester so I should place another cyst to strengthen the network, after all I don't want all the following cysts to be disconnected if the harvester is destroyed. 7) I want to continue to spread cysts so I select the harvester and press <i>C</i> because it still functions as a cyst and I can spread new cysts from it like I can from any other structure.
You see how much more involved the gardening is with the game-play now since the network becomes fragile to any attack towards any Khaara structure. The Khammander now has to plan the cyst placement more carefully with foresight and also has to react to any destroyed structure with emergency-gardening.
Combine that with new cyst abilities, that are already planned and everything works out pretty well. The entire workflow of the Khammander can be broken down like this:
Spread cysts -> evolve cysts -> do something with evolved cysts (evolve ability, activate umbra etc).
Everything else comes down to using this system strategically wise.
Gorges are needed if you want to grow things faster, so on the front you always should have a gorge who can help grow a needed crag etc while in the secure areas you can grow structures slowly.
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->6. The Remainder<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Dropping hives can not be done as stealthy if you first have to spread your infestation there.
This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. With the newly introduced changes in B205 hives became a lot less important, so it's not as vital to drop new hives fast while at the same time they aren't as big of a target to the marines as they used to be; meaning you might not even have to be stealthy about it. But for the sake of possibilities we should think about it.
So before we re-introduce drifters or come up with something else we just look at what we have once again: Cysts.
We have infestation from room A to C but we want a hive in room D. We select a cyst in room C because it's closest to room D and then detach it from the infestation. Wait, wait, wait, what?
Yup, we detach the cyst by selecting something like "create seed", which gives said cyst the ability to grow a hive. Now the cyst is detached and helpless. It could…
1) …be lying around and require a Gorge to pick it up, carry it to a hive location and drop it (the Gorge gets more involved)
2) …have legs and crawl slowly and vulnerable to the next hive location (team members should escort and protect it; the gardening would stay with the Khammander, also team play++)
3) …be carried by Babblers! (… no)
But all that is just an additional solution enabling a stealthy hive placement, the "normal" way to drop a hive would be to spread the infestation until you can place a cyst on a hive location and then evolve it to a hive.
Note: Cysts that you place on a hive location or a resource nozzle could automatically evolve to hive or harvester respectively.
Thank you for reading so far, I apologize for the wall of text and I hope it was understandable.
I dearly hope I could provide at least a new perspective and would like to hear what you think about it.
A system – here: A lifeform – that evolved through biased mutation, genetic drift and natural selection to be the most efficient, the most fit to an environment would hardly end up with something as inefficient as drifters. Creatures that are spawned from the hive just to carry out an order and after doing so are re-processed via metamorphosis into another creature; that would be like growing an spider in your nose with the sole purpose to crawl down your body to tell your foot to move forward so you can make another step down the stairs.
The entire lifeform that is the infestation is one organism, connected to a mind that is controlling its growth. It has veins and vessels, it's pulsating and growing. What is all that for if it would still need to grow a peripheral entity to deliver organic matter to some other part of it's own organic structure?
If we were to compare the pest that is the infestation to any life known to us we would need to talk about differences and the most remarkable such is the hive mind. Unlike our own bodies the Khaara life form is able to actively control the functioning of it's body with a mind capable of abstract thinking. It can control it's growth and development with only sheer will, and not just it's own organic mass but also other creatures; practically enslaving them as workers. So if we would project these abilities to our own organism a fitting analogy would be that I could grow an extra finger in the middle of my palm via sheer will. But then, instead of delivering all the needed bio mass through the pipes that are already laid – my veins, I would spawn a new creature that encapsulates all the bio mass and transports it to it's destination _outside_ of my body.
The Khaara might be weird in our eyes, strange and disgusting from our perspective… but they are not that inefficient or they wouldn't represent a great threat.
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->2. Abstracting Drifters<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
We have an entity, we create it, we click on it to control it and we convert it to other entities.
The goal we want to reach: Create a new <i>flower</i> in our garden.
I like simplicity; I like ideas that are so intuitive that you don't have to explain them because everyone can understand them by just looking at it.
The Khammander currently has two tools to work on his garden:
<ol type='1'><li>Cysts – for which he has to select the hive, click on an icon and then place a cyst that automatically connects to the network.</li><li>Drifters – which he has to create in the hive, wait, select them, direct them where he want's a new structure and then morph (!= grow) them into said structure</li></ol>
Two tools that could very well be only one. The cysts are a tool that connect the Khammander to the infestation as a life form – the drifters do exactly the opposite and introduce a layer _between_ the Khammander and the infestation; so if we reduce the system to one tool only the obvious choice are the cysts.
So if we look at it with a little distance the drifters are a tool you work with to create structures where the infestation already is.
<b>Where the infestation already is!</b>
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->3. Using What is Already There<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
The infestation is one gigantic living structure, comparable to fungi. There are fungi larger and older than you can imagine; probably the largest and oldest living entity on planet earth is a fungus called Armillaria solidipes, it is estimated to be 3.4 square miles and over 2400 years old and lives in Oregon in the US. How alien is <i>that</i>?! We know little about the Khaara but we can be certain that we have not seen everything, there might very well be unimaginably large Khaara structures. The comparison of Khaara to fungi is obvious, but try to imagine Khaara with the immense size that fungi can reach and apply drifters to that concept… seems awfully impractical.
One behavior typical to the Khaara is the infestation of other living organisms and taking control over them. Pretty much all their working seems to be based on that.
Creating a creature and spawning it from the hive seems rather atypical now, doesn't it?
If the creeping infestation reaches a place where the hive mind sees fit to grow a structure, it most probably would just send and re-assemble all needed bio mass via the already existing network of veins that is the infestation. Probably the best spot to grow a structure is where there already is a vessel of bacteria: <b>A cyst</b>!
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->4. How It Could Work<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
You only have one tool that is growing and shaping the infestation via cysts. They represent the infrastructure of the infestation, they are the junction of the network of veins. Cysts can be placed to increase the area that is infested but they can also be selected and then used. Out of the cysts you can <i>grow</i> any other structure that is available in your repertoire (tech-tree). Growing structures out of cysts takes some time but can be sped up with Gorge saliva, implying team-play for effective gardening.
The consequence to that is huge. The structures are now part of the infestation, they grew from it and if they are damaged and killed they have an effect on the infestation as well. If you grow a structure from a cyst it will continue the role of a cyst and connect the infestation like every other cyst. So if a structure is killed it means a node within the linked network is missing; the Khammander has to build his network with foresight, placing cysts where it also makes sense to place a structure so that when a structure is destroyed he can chose any other cyst to replace that structure and re-grow it from another cyst.
Now stop separating cysts in different groups and remove the mini-cysts. The Gorge can create normal cysts, thus creating a more interesting interplay between Khammander and Gorge as the Gorge's cysts are now potential spots for growing structures (think about harvesters for example).
Again: Simplicity – there is only one tool for everything regarding the garden and that is spreading cysts.
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->5. Realizing It With an Intuitive Workflow<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
You should not be forced to select a hive every time you want to spread the infestation, selecting the infestation seems much more intuitive. Forget selecting "place cyst" and then move your mouse and wait for the game to select a cyst to which your new cyst will be connected, that is not how you grow a garden intuitively. It's not trivial to a new player on what rules this network of cysts is formed and results in hovering the mouse everywhere until the cyst lights up and you can click.
Instead you always select an existing element of the infestation and then get a visual indication in the form of a radius where you can place a new cyst in; an example:
1) I click on the hive, I press <i>C</i> (shortcut for cysts) and then can place a cyst around the hive. 2) The cyst is created and automatically selected so that I can press <i>C</i> again and place another cyst with the currently selected cyst as pivot point. 3) I place three more cysts that way towards a resource point with the last cyst being placed exactly on the resource point. 4) That cyst created it is already selected and instead of pressing <i>C</i> to place another cyst I chose to grow a harvester from the cyst. 5) I realize I need a crag so I select a cyst nearby that is positioned well and grow that into a crag. 6) Now Marines could come and attack that crag or harvester so I should place another cyst to strengthen the network, after all I don't want all the following cysts to be disconnected if the harvester is destroyed. 7) I want to continue to spread cysts so I select the harvester and press <i>C</i> because it still functions as a cyst and I can spread new cysts from it like I can from any other structure.
You see how much more involved the gardening is with the game-play now since the network becomes fragile to any attack towards any Khaara structure. The Khammander now has to plan the cyst placement more carefully with foresight and also has to react to any destroyed structure with emergency-gardening.
Combine that with new cyst abilities, that are already planned and everything works out pretty well. The entire workflow of the Khammander can be broken down like this:
Spread cysts -> evolve cysts -> do something with evolved cysts (evolve ability, activate umbra etc).
Everything else comes down to using this system strategically wise.
Gorges are needed if you want to grow things faster, so on the front you always should have a gorge who can help grow a needed crag etc while in the secure areas you can grow structures slowly.
<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->6. The Remainder<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec-->
Dropping hives can not be done as stealthy if you first have to spread your infestation there.
This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. With the newly introduced changes in B205 hives became a lot less important, so it's not as vital to drop new hives fast while at the same time they aren't as big of a target to the marines as they used to be; meaning you might not even have to be stealthy about it. But for the sake of possibilities we should think about it.
So before we re-introduce drifters or come up with something else we just look at what we have once again: Cysts.
We have infestation from room A to C but we want a hive in room D. We select a cyst in room C because it's closest to room D and then detach it from the infestation. Wait, wait, wait, what?
Yup, we detach the cyst by selecting something like "create seed", which gives said cyst the ability to grow a hive. Now the cyst is detached and helpless. It could…
1) …be lying around and require a Gorge to pick it up, carry it to a hive location and drop it (the Gorge gets more involved)
2) …have legs and crawl slowly and vulnerable to the next hive location (team members should escort and protect it; the gardening would stay with the Khammander, also team play++)
3) …be carried by Babblers! (… no)
But all that is just an additional solution enabling a stealthy hive placement, the "normal" way to drop a hive would be to spread the infestation until you can place a cyst on a hive location and then evolve it to a hive.
Note: Cysts that you place on a hive location or a resource nozzle could automatically evolve to hive or harvester respectively.
Thank you for reading so far, I apologize for the wall of text and I hope it was understandable.
I dearly hope I could provide at least a new perspective and would like to hear what you think about it.
Comments
+1
So I do not claim to have had a revolutionary epiphany, I see it more as an additional contribution to what is already out there :)
<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qFgsqKRywWlrGYaOYVsqIE0hrLNWdYmj2v-e-e4YjaU/mobilebasic?pli=1" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qFgsqKR...bilebasic?pli=1</a>