Looked through this thread and decided to tidy things up a bit. I cut things down to what I felt like was either the best implementation or the most prioritized changes.
Default/Brawler
- Probiscis Pilus (Pilus Variant) - Allows for hostile resource transfer, which will be useful against shielded organisms.
- Toxin Pilus (Pilus Variant) - Implemented already, though as of now pretty redundant. Likely requires some sort of shield mechanic to make adequate.
Ranged
I trimmed these suggestions down a good amount, largely centering around nematocysts and upgrade variants to them to simplify implementation (nematocysts animation and model are done as far as I’m aware).
A difference between nematocysts and axopodia is that nematocysts are conceptualized to be quick, while axopodia are meant to be akin to spider webs in a way - a lot of range, and trapping more than a quick strike. Perhaps we can change the speed of the projectile depending on the upgrade, but if not, I think it’s fine regardless.
- Nematocyst- A quicker, more aggressive measure of transmitting toxins, where a rapidly extending “spike” will damage and then poison a target cell. Unpredictable and more direct, but has a cooldown.
- Nematocyst Gripping Upgrade - Instead of having axopodia. No damage, but projectile grabs and brings prey closer.
- Nematocysts Hostile Resource Transfer Upgrade - Instead of having haptocysts as an axopodia variant. Little initial damage, but allows for hostile resource transfer. Less impactful than pilus.
- Suction Cilia (Cilia Variant) - Already implemented, likely just needs to be an upgrade option instead of a default.
Heavy
I had suggestions here that recommended increased health with size and the such, but @Buckly brought up the fact that with the way that AI acts right now, that could easily result in annoying damage sponges following you. This might be something to consider in the future, but for now it should probably not be seen as an answer. Bonuses attached to rigidity and membranes should be enough.
Shielded
Instead of having shield parts, we’ve decided it’s better to have a shield ability attached to calcium carbonate and silica. This would give the two membranes a unique behavior; in the original membrane concepts three years ago, calcium carbonate and silica were noted to not have a unique ability unlike cellulose and chitin.
Besides that, I still think the mucocyst would be a pretty cool way to represent cysts in a pretty simple way, though it wouldn’t be necessary.
- Mucocysts (Slime Jet variant) - A togglable ability which temporarily blocks the player from receiving damage and being engulfed for a short time, but disables other abilities, slows down resource absorption, and significantly slows down the player. Noticable cooldown and only for a brief amount of time.
Speed
With sprint implemented, I think speed will be adequately represented. Adding variable acceleration will make movement a lot more dynamic in a pretty simple way.
“Bomber”
- Endotoxins - Makes it damaging to ingest an organism without immunology.