Mimicry

[Techwright]

Just hypothetically, as I suspect the coding would be insane (and on an old engine, at that): What would a "mimic" power set look like?  I'm talking something like the Peter Petrelli character in TV's Heroes, where proximity to a person of another power allowed one to mimic their powers, or maybe even X-men's Rogue, where touch permitted that.

 

For my part, I'm imperfectly thinking along the lines of two possible scenarios:

 

1. Third column pool powers: let's say that rather than having a listing of specific powers, we have a listing of specific tiers.  Upon acquiring these, the player can utilize a short-ranged AoE to move among other players and see a list of their powers within the tier.  Pick one, and it locks.  Don't like it? Release and try again.  So it functions a bit like a WiFi connection.  Grabbing this during leveling up will provide a random matching-tier power to start with, so the player is never without something.  Note that although this would not work for duplicating one of their own powers, it would allow mimicry of another player's identical power within the same tier, so it potentially doubles up on a potent one in the right circumstances.

 

  Alternatively you get the tier, but not control of the selection process.  A wider AoE range will, upon activation, grab a random power within the tier from someone nearby.  Don't like it? Release and try again, losing valuable time in the process, potentially.

 

  With each of those variables, the power remains locked until you release it, even upon exiting a team or instance, and even after log-off/log-in.  This way the player is never without something to aid them, even if it proves inferior.

 

2. Similar to Third Column pool powers but on a big scale: Either first or second power set is the mimic power set.

 

Problems: This is just a rough-cut idea for fun, so there's bound to be problems, big problems at times, the biggest I can see is: how are enhancements handled in a set like this?  It would almost necessitate a special enhancement set, unless the mimicry baseline choices are refined further such as choosing defensive or offensive as a limitation for all future mimicking, in addition to the tier.

 

Again, this is just for kicks.  I don't consider it a suggestion (though perhaps that could change if a really cool, thorough, doable idea comes forth), I merely am curious to see how others would play around at creating such a thing.

[Saiyajinzoningen]

I like this idea.

a power that analyzes foes in range

and then copies (at random) their abilities on that temporary power bar thingy. 

but I dunno what the rest of the power set would look like

[GastlyGibus]

You could theoretically make this work. It would still be a gargantuan undertaking, and absolutely would not see the light of day on Homecoming, but it could theoretically work.

 

First off, it would have to be its own archetype. This could be the "primalist" archetype the original devs envisioned many years ago and never made. The inherent power of the primalist would be "Mimic," a single-target power that copies the effects of whatever player or enemy you target. The primalist could be like other epic archetypes, only having one primary and one secondary powerset, and similar to epic archetypes, these powersets would have a wide variety of ranged and melee attacks, armor powers, buffs, debuffs, etc... but the catch is, the damage, damage types, secondary effects, and power FX/animations would all change based on the character you mimicked. 

 

For example, I roll a primalist, and I start off at level one with, say, a tier 1 ranged attack and an armor toggle. I use my mimic ability on a fire/regen scrapper. Mimic would then make my tier 1 ranged ability do fire damage and light enemies on fire, and my armor toggle would provide standard smash/lethal resistance, as well as a boost to my regeneration. Throughout the primalist's primary and secondary sets, they could gain access to several powers that functioned this way, changing their attributes, animations, and FX to match whatever character I mimicked last (or potentially on some kind of timer, for balance issues). You could even extend this mimicry to enemy NPCs; electrical effects from Freakshow, enhanced strength from Council, dark powers from ghosts, etc...

 

Obviously, this is never going to happen. The coding and tinkering needed to make this kind of set a reality would be monstrous, something that I'm sure even a fully employed staff of developers wouldn't be able to do without massive effort and time, at least with the limitations of the game's ancient engine, but theoretically, this is how I imagine you could get it to work. Theoretically. 😛 

[Snarky]

On 9/15/2023 at 2:45 PM, Techwright said:

Just hypothetically, as I suspect the coding would be insane (and on an old engine, at that): What would a "mimic" power set look like?  I'm talking something like the Peter Petrelli character in TV's Heroes, where proximity to a person of another power allowed one to mimic their powers, or maybe even X-men's Rogue, where touch permitted that.

 

For my part, I'm imperfectly thinking along the lines of two possible scenarios:

 

1. Third column pool powers: let's say that rather than having a listing of specific powers, we have a listing of specific tiers.  Upon acquiring these, the player can utilize a short-ranged AoE to move among other players and see a list of their powers within the tier.  Pick one, and it locks.  Don't like it? Release and try again.  So it functions a bit like a WiFi connection.  Grabbing this during leveling up will provide a random matching-tier power to start with, so the player is never without something.  Note that although this would not work for duplicating one of their own powers, it would allow mimicry of another player's identical power within the same tier, so it potentially doubles up on a potent one in the right circumstances.

 

  Alternatively you get the tier, but not control of the selection process.  A wider AoE range will, upon activation, grab a random power within the tier from someone nearby.  Don't like it? Release and try again, losing valuable time in the process, potentially.

 

  With each of those variables, the power remains locked until you release it, even upon exiting a team or instance, and even after log-off/log-in.  This way the player is never without something to aid them, even if it proves inferior.

 

2. Similar to Third Column pool powers but on a big scale: Either first or second power set is the mimic power set.

 

Problems: This is just a rough-cut idea for fun, so there's bound to be problems, big problems at times, the biggest I can see is: how are enhancements handled in a set like this?  It would almost necessitate a special enhancement set, unless the mimicry baseline choices are refined further such as choosing defensive or offensive as a limitation for all future mimicking, in addition to the tier.

 

Again, this is just for kicks.  I don't consider it a suggestion (though perhaps that could change if a really cool, thorough, doable idea comes forth), I merely am curious to see how others would play around at creating such a thing.

you mean we can kill people, open their brains and take their powers?

 

make it happen!

[Yomo Kimyata]

How about this?:

 

You get a random power from one of your teammates which replaces one of yours.  It could be Hover.  It could be Accelerate Metabolism.  It could be Boxing.  

It could be Fulcrum Shift.  And you could lose Headsplitter, or Parry.

[Snarky]

48 minutes ago, Yomo Kimyata said:

How about this?:

 

You get a random power from one of your teammates which replaces one of yours.  It could be Hover.  It could be Accelerate Metabolism.  It could be Boxing.  

It could be Fulcrum Shift.  And you could lose Headsplitter, or Parry.

It could suck lol.  Your T9 nuke is replaced by hover.  

[Lines]

My thinking is you would want enough consistency that you're not having to totally change playstyle, but still adapts to what's happening around you.

 

I imagine something like an assault set, with a distribution of melee, ranged and ranged AoE powers. Those powers will always be that position. But they can change type and fx based on the type happening around you, maybe last power cast within a proximity to the player or the last type to hit you.

 

Thinking of the full Peter Petrelli effect, there might also be a variable travel power? Or something?

[Saiyajinzoningen]

On 9/16/2023 at 9:47 PM, Snarky said:

you mean we can kill people, open their brains and take their powers?

 

make it happen!

 

woah woah woah back up Sylar

[Lusiphur Malache]

I think this idea would work if it was only available to an EAT, maybe only a Goldside EAT.  Enhancements would be a nightmare, unless each power you stole was restricted by type.

 

T1: Borrow Random Melee Attack - Borrow a melee attack from a Melee AT.  Keep power until you borrow another

T2: Borrow Random Ranged Attack - Borrow a ranged attack from a Ranged AT.  Keep power until you borrow another

T3: Borrow Random Melee Cone Attack - Borrow a melee cone attack.  Keep power until you borrow another

T4: Borrow Random Ranged Cone Attack - Borrow a ranged cone attack.  Keep power until you borrow another

T5: Borrow Specific Ranged Attack - Same as T2, except you get to pick a particular power which will reset after 10 minutes gametime

T6: Borrow Specific Melee Attack - Same as T1, except you get to pick a particular power which will reset after 10 minutes gametime

T7: Borrow  Melee PBAOE - Borrow a specific pbaoe, keep for 10 minutes of gametime

T8: Borrow Ranged PBAOE - Borrow a specific pbaoe keep for 10 minutes of gametime

T9: Permanence - Keep the current set of powers you have until using a respec.

 

If this was used to create a goldside EAT would need a Mimicry secondary with a variety of defense or resist damage armor powers.  The agent of chaos in me would love to see goldsiders running all over co-op zones looking  to steal powers.  I don't know what kind of inherent such an AT would have.  Would be great to make a Blapper or Scrapster

[Marine X]

Perhaps an option for this is that rather than Mimic primary or secondary powers it could award any temp powers the target has to the Mimic and they would appear in Tray 1 if there is available space allowing up to 9 Mimic powers at a time. Once they expire, more could be added, and you would have the option to delete unwanted ones. They would be Unenhanced, like any temp, solving that issue, with the Archetype having its own Primary and Secondary sets. The Mimic could come in more than one type, having perhaps a Melee Mimic, Ranged Mimic or Support Mimic, the Archetype Powers would fit the three variations, but the Mimic Powers could be anything.

Edited September 27, 2023 by Marine X