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[General Patton]

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This Special Level would show up at Level 14 of the Phobos Base on HNTR or higher. The enemy layout on HNTR would primarily consist of Former Commandos, Captains and Sergeants. Higher difficulties would also have Arachnotrons, Revenants and Mancubi. Ammunition, armor, weapons and med kits should be present on the level, but no envirosuits. You either bring your own or you don't come. Envirosuits are to this level what ability to zerk is to the Unholy Cathedral.

Entry text: The primary manufacturing complex. That gray stuff really should not be on the floor...
Exit Text without completion: Too advanced for me.
Exit Text with completion: The wonders of nanotechnology.

='s are gray goo (nanobots that, due to weaponization or faulty programming, indiscriminately consume anything to make more of themselves). They inflict 20 damage per turn, penetrate boots the way plasma penetrates armor and cause your envirosuit counter to be reduced thrice as quickly. Gray goo could be added to Ao100 to spice things up at higher levels.

The boss is a sentient mass of Nanobots being manipulated by demonic influence. It regenerates HP, can teleport to any tile of gray goo and spreads gray goo with its explosive projectile attack. Edit: The lever/computer won't be destroyed by the boss.

If possible, the lever should be relabelled as a computer terminal. Using it while the boss is alive results in the message "Network Access Denied". Using it after killing the boss results in the message "Nano-Maintenance reactivated, cleaning facility. Equipment manufacture initiated." and removes the gray goo from the level as well as generating some exotic items. If you are a Technician, or get lucky as a non-Technician, the following message is also given "Special Access Granted, generating portable Nano Module." and a Nano Pack is created. Subsequent uses of the computer give the message "Personnel Maintenance Initiated" and fully repairs and reloads all equipment in the player's inventory as well as supercharging HP to 200%.

Alternate version with cover. Extra #'s represent crates or partial crates. Partial crates are fixed once the computer is used after killing the boss.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

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Possible enemy configuration for HNTR.

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[tehtmi]

A level filled with lots of hazardous terrain and no cover with a boss that teleports, regenerates, and creates more hazardous terrain -- when I put it like that it sounds a lot like the lava pits.

That said, gray goo is pretty flavorful. Making it do more damage than lava probably won't matter as much since, as far as I know, people don't run through lava in the lava pits without an envirosuit anyway, but it does up the stakes. Making envirosuits lasts only 1/3 would create an interesting dynamic of forcing people to run through the goo as fast as possible, but it's also pretty brutal. (It would be a bit of a pain to implement, but maybe possible, certainly with a bit of API support.)

The reward lever is flavorful, and clearing the goo is a nice touch. I'm not convinced of the need for a Nano Pack special level, which seems to have been the motivation for this. My opinion on the Nano Pack is that it's too strong, and used in too many assemblies considering its rarity. Many of those assemblies are probably too strong too. With that, I can't exactly get on board giving out Nano Packs in a special level like this, but a special level that tailors its reward based on the player's class is actually quite an interesting idea.

[Malek Deneith]

One thing to consider - if the level feels too similar to lava pits (and I agree it does) then perhaps it could have it's place in Ao100 rather than in regular game? (I'm of the belief that Ao100 would benefit from having special levels specific to it)

[General Patton]

If it needs cover, you could add some crates and partial crates that have been eaten away by the gray goo. Then you can let the Nano-Maintenance fix the crates.

[Game Hunter]

The idea of having a nano-based level is pretty great, but it definitely needs some changes in order to differentiate it from the Lava Pits (and simply changing the theme doesn't quite take care of that):

• To begin, having isolated regions surrounded by goo is basically the annoying part about Lava Pits, so let's not have TWO special floors that use this. (Also consider that envirosuits aren't all that common...it can be difficult enough to get the two necessary for Lava Pits sometimes, and this level is earlier and would likely need even more!) If you want to make it interesting, consider having a tide of sorts that changes the position of the gray goo over time, such that every area is accessible in some way but not all the time.
• Crates are a start, but I would think that a manufacturing facility would be more than just crates. Having several large rooms where the enemies reside is probably more practical of a level, with obstacles (such as crates and small, unmoving pools of goo) scattered in each one. The tide of the goo would remain outside of these structures but restrict movement between them. Nanoboss itself should probably still be outside somewhere, having completely demolished whatever was containing it (or something like that, I'm not trying to write plot here). You could even introduce a pseudo-timer in which the buildings are slowly eaten away as you progress.
• To differentiate gray goo from other hazardous tiles, perhaps it should only hurt you if you are wearing neither armor nor boots. To compensate, armor AND boots take full damage while crossing gray goo (so it'll eat through them really fast). Tactical armor/boots might make this an issue, though, so it's just a thought more than it is a suggestion.
  
• Nanoboss probably shouldn't regenerate/teleport normally (too similar to shambler and LE) but we can make use of the surrounding gray goo tides to provide a unique encounter:
  
  • Instead of regenerating, Nanoboss can absorb a gray goo tile it is standing on, removing the tile and healing Nanoboss for some significant amount (20-30, possibiy percentage-based).
  • Instead of teleporting, whenever Nanoboss is on a gray goo tile it can act much faster.
  • Instead of hazard-splash, Nanoboss's attacks cause damage over time (nanobots eating away at you can be likened to poison).
  Overall this should greatly change the dynamic of fighting Nanoboss. Possibly, it could be indiscriminate in its attacks such that it may start attacking other enemies (and absorbing their corpses for health).

Unfortunately, Nano Pack is probably too powerful right now to be a guaranteed item, even if this is meant to be a difficult level. (As hard as Mortuary is, there's nothing game-breaking to be found there as a reward.) Perhaps a random regenerating special could appear instead (examples: nuclear plasma/BFG, Malek's Armor, blaster) or maybe just something unique to the level itself. We may end up changing nano/onyx packs to exotics, with appropriate nerfs, at which point we might see such a reward.

[General Patton]

• To begin, having isolated regions surrounded by goo is basically the annoying part about Lava Pits, so let's not have TWO special floors that use this. (Also consider that envirosuits aren't all that common...it can be difficult enough to get the two necessary for Lava Pits sometimes, and this level is earlier and would likely need even more!) If you want to make it interesting, consider having a tide of sorts that changes the position of the gray goo over time, such that every area is accessible in some way but not all the time.

I didn't want to ask for something too coding intensive, but this sounds awesome. Doesn't Nethack do something like this with air bubbles in the plane of water?

• Crates are a start, but I would think that a manufacturing facility would be more than just crates. Having several large rooms where the enemies reside is probably more practical of a level, with obstacles (such as crates and small, unmoving pools of goo) scattered in each one. The tide of the goo would remain outside of these structures but restrict movement between them. Nanoboss itself should probably still be outside somewhere, having completely demolished whatever was containing it (or something like that, I'm not trying to write plot here). You could even introduce a pseudo-timer in which the buildings are slowly eaten away as you progress.

Maybe goo tiles could inflict d11 damage on adjacent wall tiles, thereby destroying them in an average of 110 exposures.

• To differentiate gray goo from other hazardous tiles, perhaps it should only hurt you if you are wearing neither armor nor boots. To compensate, armor AND boots take full damage while crossing gray goo (so it'll eat through them really fast). Tactical armor/boots might make this an issue, though, so it's just a thought more than it is a suggestion.

Maybe, boots take full damage, once you are bootless, the goo crawls over you, causing damage that is affected by armor. Now that I think about it, what method would nanites use for deconstruction? If it's some sort of epicly miniaturized plasma tool, then we could let plasma resistance affect it. Also, perhaps it should be possible to destroy goo tiles with explosions, checking damage on each tile similar to the process for barrels. But that would make the goo tide really difficult to program.

• Nanoboss probably shouldn't regenerate/teleport normally (too similar to shambler and LE) but we can make use of the surrounding gray goo tides to provide a unique encounter:
  
  • Instead of regenerating, Nanoboss can absorb a gray goo tile it is standing on, removing the tile and healing Nanoboss for some significant amount (20-30, possibiy percentage-based).
  • Instead of teleporting, whenever Nanoboss is on a gray goo tile it can act much faster.
  • Instead of hazard-splash, Nanoboss's attacks cause damage over time (nanobots eating away at you can be likened to poison).
  Overall this should greatly change the dynamic of fighting Nanoboss. Possibly, it could be indiscriminate in its attacks such that it may start attacking other enemies (and absorbing their corpses for health).

We could have the Nanoboss be able to teleport a short distance from one goo tile to another and absorb the tile it lands on whether it needs the health or not. This would force it to waste its healing faster and it couldn't teleport or heal twice without moving inbetween. I'm assuming that adding damage over time would require a decent amount of new code. Perhaps the splash attack damages armor more than usual and has a certain chance (based on damage to armor) to turn the tile you're on into a goo tile.

Unfortunately, Nano Pack is probably too powerful right now to be a guaranteed item, even if this is meant to be a difficult level. (As hard as Mortuary is, there's nothing game-breaking to be found there as a reward.) Perhaps a random regenerating special could appear instead (examples: nuclear plasma/BFG, Malek's Armor, blaster) or maybe just something unique to the level itself. We may end up changing nano/onyx packs to exotics, with appropriate nerfs, at which point we might see such a reward.

I'm of the opinion that the Nano Pack is necessary for too many things to be as rare as it is. There's this decent-sized chunk of gameplay-stuff (assemblies and nano equipment in general) that you'll almost never get to experience. From what I've heard, you could play for months and still have a negligible chance to try out even one nano assembly. I can understand making DragonSlayer and Berserker Armor so difficult to obtain because those are secret. But everyone talks about how you need the Nano Pack to do this or that, and the game advertises it to you with Schematics, but it's just flaunting something that almost no one gets to try.

[DeathDealer]

What if all the goo was inside of crates which randomly exploded into goo puddles or, when hit by a weapon, leak goo into the environment. A lot of crates and some explosive enemy weapons would make this something similar to the Khe, he , he. . . feeling on steroids.