Adding A Few More Options To The Psionic Amplificator.

[Ruivo]

There are some ideas i've had about the psi-amp some time ago - one of them inspired by red-alert 2' Yuri unit - that in my opinion, would add some nice strategical value to the Psionic Amplificator.

 

They are 2 "new" attack modes actually. One of them, would be the Stun attack, present in Apocalypse but not in the other games.. an attack mode that personally, spoiled me after playing the third game

 

The other one would be more interesting, bringing in the strategical value i talked about. It would be an attack called "Psionic Link".

 

Red Alert 2 vets probably already know what i'm talking about, but what i propose is implementing it in a different manner. With this attack, the psionic amplificator wielder would be able to create, if suscessfull, a psi-link to his target, giving him control of the target for the remainder of the mission, or until the link is severed.

 

The drawbacks in this kind of attack would be quite a few. Firstly, the wielder would be freezed in spot, unable to move while controlling the alien unit, making him a priority target to other aliens, so protecting him would be essential. Another drawback would be that, if the attack fails (usually caused by the target having more psionic skill than the soldier), the effect would be reverted, and the control of the soldier would be given to the aliens, until the controling alien that was first targeted is killed. Of course, that alien would also be freezed in spot.

 

 

Of course, i've also thought about a few descriptions to go along with these attack modes on the X-Net:

 

Induce Panic: This is the favorite offensive psionic hability used in combat by the alien psi soldiers. It is basically an anatomy exploit, and thus can be easily learned by our soldiers. With this method, the soldier briefely disrupts the information beeing sent to his/her target's brain, making it belive that blood sugar levels are extremally low. As a response, the brain releases high amounts of adrenaline, that in excess, causes high anxiety, and in most cases, panic attacks.

 

Mind Control: [the original 1turn mind control attack] Using this technique, the wielder will be able to, if suscessfull, issue one or more specific orders to his/her target, who would follow them without questioning, and, after completion, would regain control of his free-will, without knowlodge of what has just happened, or what he has just did.

 

Stun Attack: By mastering this method of attack, the wielder will be able to force his/her target to stop breathing (or automatically shut down its system, in case the target is a cybernetic organism) for a brief period, enought to make it lose its consciousness without causing major damage to the brain. This is not recommended as main stun method, since the victim will be able to, in most cases, regain consciousness a few minutes after beeing stunned.

 

Psionic Link: This is an extremally advanced, and hard to learn technique, that only those with high psionic strenght are able to use. With this method, the wilder is able to gain full control of his/her target body from great distances. But due to the limited psionic capacity of the human brain, it is only capable of controlling one body, so the wielder becomes immobile, and extremally vulnerable, and thus, needs to be protected. Also, due to the consequences of the attack, it's more than likely that the soldier will become a priority target to the aliens. This method also has a great drawback. Studying it with several of the psi-able aliens we have captured, it was determined that the link works both ways, directly depending on who has the greatest psionic strenght. So extreme caution is advised when picking targets. This method should be used together with a Mind Probe.