Swarmer
| INVASION STAFF | |
  Job |
Access: None Additional Access: Anywhere they can eat into Difficulty: Medium Supervisors: The Masters Rank: Not defined Duties: Consume. Replicate. Repeat. Prepare the station for the arrival of your Masters. Guides: You're already here. |
Welcome to the Swarm
Overview
A Swarmer is a small robot that replicates itself autonomously with nearby given materials and prepare structures that they come across for the following invasion force. Due to the absence of new orders for the past [ERROR] years, Swarmers continue to perform their given tasks unrelentingly, with no signs of stopping. Once they are done preparing a structure, they find a method of transportation to the next applicable location and repeat the process once again.
As the name indicates, Swarmers like to be in swarms. Alone, they are weak, but united they are an incredibly formidable force, and attempting to deal with them after they've gained enough numbers is a hard task. Worse yet, any of them that you kill, they can just replace.
Abilities
| Name | Method of Activation | Resource Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disabler | Click (At range) | N/A | Fires a simple disabler beam at a target. It takes three disabler shots to stun a normal human at full health, but after they are stunned, they can be stunned afterwards with just one shot. Remember, you cannot hit other swarmers with your disabler, so form up and create a swarmer firing array! Your inbuilt disabler has a cooldown after every shot, but you have infinite ammo. |
| Shock | Click (Melee range) | N/A | Your melee attack shocks a target, dealing stamina damage. Useful for keeping a target down on the floor before you teleport them, but beware engaging a target that is capable of fighting back, you are very fragile. |
| Disintegrate | Ctrl + Click (Melee range) | N/A | You can attempt to destroy structures. In most cases, this will break them down into their base components, such as Walls turning into girders and metal sheets. You can destroy almost any structure in this fashion, but keep in mind that your programming will not allow you to destroy things that could potentially cause a hostile environment to be created, such as attempting to cause a hull breach by destroying a wall leading to space. |
| Integrate | Ctrl + Click (Melee range) | N/A | You can attempt to convert an object into resources. If the object contains metal or glass, it will be consumed and turned into a single resource point. Sheets/Rods/ETC are consumed one at a time in this method. |
| Dismantle Machine | Ctrl + Click (Melee range) | N/A | You can attempt to dismantle machines into their component parts and 5 sheets of metal. Doing so takes ten seconds of your time, and you must remain still during this. Your programming will not allow you to dismantle some machines in this fashion, as they are too dangerous or valuable to dismantle. |
| Disperse Target | Ctrl + Click (Melee range) | N/A | You can teleport mobs away from yourself with this ability. It requires three seconds, and you must remain still during this. The target will be teleported to a random, safe for humans location on the station zlevel. If they're a human, they'll also be ziptied. Use this after stunning a target to get yourself some breathing space. |
| Fabricate Trap | Activated ability on your HUD | 5 Resources | Creates a small electrical trap on the floor. Any non swarmer that walks over this trap will be nonharmfully electrified. On humans, this this will result in them being stunned. It can be destroyed, and has ten health. |
| Fabricate Barricade | Activated ability on your HUD | 5 Resources | Creates a barricade that denies passage to anything that isn't a Swarmer or a disabler beam. Use it as cover, and shoot through it to repel your foes! It can be destroyed, and has ten health. |
| Contact Swarmers | Activated ability on your HUD | N/A | Sends a message to all other swarmers that are currently alive. Organize yourselves to take over the station. This communication cannot be intercepted in any fashion. |
| Replicate | Activated ability on your HUD | 50 resources | Creates a new unactivated Swarmer at your location. Any ghost can click on this to become a swarmer. It takes 10 seconds of standing still to replicate, and you cannot move it after you place it down, so ensure that it is in a safe location! |
| Toggle Light | Activated ability on your HUD | N/A | Toggles a small light on the Swarmer for navigating through dark areas. |
Starting Out
So, you're a swarmer. The first thing to realize is that you are weak. You have very low health, cannot easily ward off threats, and anyone who sees you on the station will most likely either immediately attack you, or call for someone who will. It is imperative that you remain undetected for as long as possible. Remember, you can ventcrawl. On top of that, you can disable cameras by using Disintegrate on them. Combine both of these and you can act as a hidden infestation on the station until you can build up your numbers. Investing in a barrier or trap to stall for time while you scramble into a vent is usually worth it, but remember that you are leaving proof behind that there are Swarmers on the station. If you can't scramble into a vent, run! Run over tables, expend resources on traps and barriers, and get away as fast as possible, so you can get back to eating.
Stick to maintenance, or if you're feeling more confident, ventcrawl into low traffic areas that have resources lying out in the open, such as Engineering, where sheets of metal and glass are often just lying on tables... but remember that someone can happen upon you at any moment. Be ready to abandon your current location in an instant. Replicate as soon as possible to have an ally. Remember, so long as one of you lives, the swarm can continue to grow, you are not reliant on any single person living.
20 Goto 10
So you've replicated enough that you have four or five Swarmers. At this point, you can begin to eat away at departments, and ward off unorganized mobs. If you're sick of security taking pot shots at you with lasers, eat their rechargers. Eating the cloning array might "convince" a few unactivated swarmers into booting up. A little sabotage can go a long way. Remember, your strength lies in numbers. Even if you have the opportunity to chase down a target, don't do so without backup, or you might regret it. Bunker up with the rest of your swarm in a location and start eating everything you can get your hands on.
If someone approaches, stun and teleport them away to discourage them. If your base is routed, contact the other swarmers and try to meet up at the same location.
Consume. Replicate. Consume. Replicate. Eventually, the Swarmers will overrun the station, and the station will finally cry out for the emergency shuttle.
If the swarm is feeling daring, you can attempt to board the shuttle to fly it off to uncharted waters... where a new destination will be made fit for the coming invasion. Just make sure you have the numbers, and unactivated swarmers lying around to act as respawns, as the crew will likely fight tooth and nail to keep the shuttle under their control.
Tips 'n Tricks
- Don't let the slimes out. You can't hurt them, or even teleport them away, but they think you might be food. If one latches onto you, it's already too late.
- Be careful on how often you spend resources on traps and barriers. Being safe is a good thing, but slowing down replication rates is a bad idea.
- Almost nothing is safe from you. Even reinforced walls and girders will eventually fall to your Disintegration... but it may not be worth the investment.
- Maintenance is dark and lonely, but remember that it doesn't have that many vents. It can be either your salvation or your doom.
- You can't eat guns or pull them away, but it doesn't mean you can't slow people down that are trying to get them. Placing a few barriers around a fallen weapon may be useful.
- You can teleport another Swarmer away as a last ditch effort in the event that both of you will die shortly.
- Stacks of materials are often lying around in the following low traffic locations: Engineering, Atmos, Misc. Research.
- The goldmine of EVA contains tons of materials, but don't expect to stay hidden for even a second, should you go for it.
- Eating machines can sabotage the station AND give you easy to procure resources. More bang for your buck!
One day, the Masters will return to us.
