CTD - Spawn

[Anthraxus]

EDIT: PLEASE NOTE THE XENOCIDE NAMES HAVE NOT BEEN DETERMINED YET FOR EVERY ITEM OR UNIT IN THE GAME, REFERENCES TO NAMES WHICH ARE THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF ATARI OR OTHER COMPANIES BY INDIVIDUAL PROJECT MEMBERS IS NOT CONDONED BY THE PROJECT AND THE PROJECT DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUCH ACTIONS. INDIVIDUALS SHOULD REFER TO ENTRY NAMES AGREED TO BY THE PROJECT, AND IF SUCH A NAME DOES NOT YET EXIST THEY SHOULD USE A SUBSTITUTE IN [bRACKETS]. THANKS!

 

Here is my first draft of the Chryssalid writeup. Let the ripping and shredding of ideas commence.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESEARCH COMPLETED: [Chryssalid]

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [HARRY DRESDEN]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

WEIGHT:___________________ [250 lbs]

SIZE:______________________ [7’ on average]

TYPE:_____________________ ALIEN LIFE FORM

OTHER:___________________ Able to infect humanoid species and reproduce within the

timeframe of a single combat situation.

 

This horrible creature is extremely durable and able to shrug off large amounts of damage due to its naturally ablative chitinous plating. Besides being extremely effective as a terror weapon due to its combat abilities, it also has the ability to inject any sufficiently large being with an extremely quick spreading bacterial infection. This infection rapidly spreads through the host’s body, destroying the natural DNA in the cells and replacing it with modified [Chryssalid] DNA. This rapid destruction of cells causes the victim to enter into a homicidal berserk rage. After an apparently random period of time, or when the host reaches the point of death, the remnants of the hosts skin will be sundered by the emerging, fully formed [Chryssalid].

 

This alien monstrosity has several unique features that are not found in any earth native life form. Due to combination of features and the odd physical makeup of the specimen, it is the hypothesis of the Research & Development department that this creature was purpose made for use as a living biological weapon. The [Chryssalid] appears to be of only animal level intelligence, unable to comprehend orders or directions and completely incapable of any level of social interaction. It appears that they are released to run wild and cause as much havoc as possible. Due to lack of an obvious control mechanism, they must either have an instinctual revulsion to the other alien races, or the aliens have a means of control that we are unaware of at this time.

The [Chryssalid] physical makeup appears to be designed to allow it to have the longest possible lifetime in an extremely hostile environment. It is very quick, flexible, and agile, allowing maneuverability easily equal to anything on earth. We have clocked the [Chryssalid] running at up to 70 mph for short distances. The chitinous plating of the creature gives it a natural ablative covering that tends to break up, redirect, or scatter most known forms of projectile or directed energy weapons. The [Chryssalid] is also very strong, able to penetrate most known types of armor plating with relative ease. With the extremely keen eyesight and sense of hearing that this species possesses, it has be ability to detect prey from a significant distance. The claws of the alien have a very peculiar concave serration. This means that wounds caused by a [Chryssalid] attack tend to be very wide and bloody, but not very deep.

The most dangerous property of the [Chryssalid], however, is its viral ability. The creature’s claws are coated in a thin, naturally renewing bacterial covering. When attacking prey, the [Chryssalid] with introduce this bacterium into the victim through minor wounds caused by the claws. This bacterium will quickly spread through the victim’s body, attacking and altering cells as it goes. The bacteria replaces the natural DNA with modified [Chryssalid] DNA. These modified cells immediately begin rearranging themselves into new configurations and structures. This causes the victim extreme pain, which combined with their bodies natural reaction to the infection, drives the victim into a homicidal, berserk rage. Though naturally fast, the speed of the infection seems to be accelerated by death of the host. Basically this means that when the host dies, the infection/transformation cycle completes almost instantly. Even if the host is not killed, the infection cycle typically takes less than five minutes to complete. At the end of the cycle most of the victim’s body mass has been reconfigured into a new [Chryssalid]. The remnant body mass is sloughed off as the [Chryssalid] emerges. This means that there must be sufficient body mass for the transformation to occur in the first place. Tests indicate that lack of mass simply leads to a very quick and painful death of the victim.

 

“It was bad when Pete got hit by the thing, it was worse when he started to attack me, but the scariest part of all was when I put him down, and a brand new monster erupted our of his corpse.” – Pvt. William Marshall

chryssalid.rtf

Edited February 24, 2004 by Breunor

[Anthraxus]

Here is a close up picture of how I picture the claws. If you can think of a better why to describe it than I have, feel free to suggest. It won't show on the actual model, but is obvious under close observation.

[Whitewashed]

I don't know if it's just me but 70 mph sounds like a little too much even for a chryssalid, or?

[Anthraxus]

Given that a cheetah can hit upwards of 60 mph, and that relative speed cannot be shown in a turn based environment, I didn't think the exact number was important. I just threw that in there to show that it is quicker than anything else on foot on earth.

[tzuchan]

Hmm... Good start. There's a typo in the fluff text:

erupted our of his corpse

our should be out.

 

Anthraxus

The speed seems right to me...

[Puasonen]

Cheetah can run 70mph but that's not my point. Chryssalid can't run 70mph IMO. Let's make a comparison:

Normal soldiers TU's in game = 60

Chryssalids TU's in game = 110

Chryssalid speed is 183% of humans speed.

So if humans speed is x, Chryssalids speed is 1.83x

Now the only thing we need is humans top speed.

 

edit

I calculated that humans speed would be about 16mph (that would be 100meters in 14 seconds about) So Chryssalids speed would be 1.83 * 16 = 29.28mph

 

Is everyone happy now? We can say it runs about 30mph?

Edited February 4, 2004 by Nyyperoid

[Whitewashed]

I thought we should keep the TU proportions as well

[Cpl. Facehugger]

You do know that we have a finished chryssalid model, right? Just making sure.

 

And I've never been partial to the virus method. I mean, it takes more than three seconds for a virus to completely take over a host. Even an alien virus wouldn't be that fast acting.

[Anthraxus]

I had not seen the model thread, but I have seen the final concept art. Did the model radically diverge from the concept?

 

I also did not know the proportions of TU counts from the game. I'm fine with 30 mph if that is how the math works out.

 

The impregnation method has always been a weak factual point for the Chryssalid, as there is nothing that has an infection/impregnation to effect time frame like that. Virii and bacteria make more sense than an implanted egg IMHO. I suppose we could do nanites (although that opens a whole new can of worms in regards to alien tech) or a mitochondrial neurotoxin kind of thing if popular opinion is against the microbes.

[Puasonen]

I think this CT needs an explanation why zombies and new chryssalids instantly understands to only attack humans, not aliens.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

Pheremones? Or maby they are hard coded to only attack certain body shapes (like sharks and surfboards! ) Or perhaps most aliens are vluhnerable, but since they work with the snakemen (who are presumeably immune to chryssalid implantation) it isn't noticed.

 

Edit: The current chryssalid model looks like this:

Edited February 4, 2004 by Cpl. Facehugger

[Anthraxus]

Ok. I found the model thread and read through it. I think Breunor's nerve toxin idea is pretty good. I'll tweak the CTD for the couple of things I overlooked or are wrong (like keen eyesight) and repost.

[RustedSoul]

Chryssalid being mine favourite alien of all time

 

This infection rapidly spreads through the host’s body, destroying the natural DNA in the cells and replacing it with modified [Chryssalid] DNA

Is my favourite line here

 

also: "erupted our of his corpse"

 

might sound better with a touch of atmosphere like

"emerged from his bullet ridden corpse" or

"emerged from his mutilated corpse"

Edited February 5, 2004 by RustedSoul

[Ancalagon]

Maybe it implants inflatable chysalids in a human body.

[Cpt. Boxershorts]

There's quite a bit of Chrissylid background (including why they don't attack snakemen (the only alien they're ever deployed with)) in the snakeman CTD. Please read it and try to keep the CTDs in sync.

 

Snakeman CTD

 

Also, viral and bacterial are two completely different things. Don't use them interchangably in the text.

 

-The Captain

Edited February 5, 2004 by Cpt. Boxershorts

[Anthraxus]

Nyyp: From the CTD -

Due to lack of an obvious control mechanism, they must either have an instinctual revulsion to the other alien races, or the aliens have a means of control that we are unaware of at this time

 

If the [Chryssalid] has an instinctual revulsion to the aliens (at least snakemen) then the new forming [chryssalid] would as well. It can be assumed that this would be imprinted on the zombie.

 

Boxer: Since the Snakeman CTD only mentions "venomous secretions", the neurotoxin injection would fall into this category. Where did I mention both virus and bateriological infection? I thought I had caught them all.

 

EDIT: Try this on for size. I forgot to run spellcheck, so please read for content not grammer.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

RESEARCH COMPLETED: [Chryssalid]

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [HARRY DRESDEN]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

WEIGHT:___________________ [250 lbs]

SIZE:______________________ [7’ on average]

TYPE:_____________________ ALIEN LIFE FORM

OTHER:___________________ Able to infect humanoid species and reproduce within the

timeframe of a single combat situation.

 

This horrible creature is extremely durable and able to shrug off large amounts of damage due to its naturally ablative chitinous plating. Besides being extremely effective as a terror weapon due to its combat abilities, it also has the ability to inject any sufficiently large being with an extremely quick spreading bacterial infection. This infection rapidly spreads through the host’s body, destroying the natural DNA in the cells and replacing it with modified [Chryssalid] DNA. This rapid destruction of cells causes the victim to enter into a homicidal berserk rage. After an apparently random period of time, or when the host reaches the point of death, the remnants of the hosts skin will be sundered by the emerging, fully formed [Chryssalid].

 

This alien monstrosity has several unique features that are not found in any earth native life form. Due to combination of features and the odd physical makeup of the specimen, it is the hypothesis of the Research & Development department that this creature was purpose made for use as a living biological weapon. The [Chryssalid] appears to be of only animal level intelligence, unable to comprehend orders or directions and completely incapable of any level of social interaction. It appears that they are released to run wild and cause as much havoc as possible. Due to lack of an obvious control mechanism, they must either have an instinctual revulsion to the other alien races, or the aliens have a means of control that we are unaware of at this time.

The [Chryssalid] physical makeup appears to be designed to allow it to have the longest possible lifetime in an extremely hostile environment. It is very quick, flexible, and agile, allowing maneuverability easily equal to anything on earth. We have clocked the [Chryssalid] running at up to 30 mph for short distances. The chitinous plating of the creature gives it a natural ablative covering that tends to break up, redirect, or scatter most known forms of projectile or directed energy weapons. The [Chryssalid] is also very strong, able to penetrate most known types of armor plating with relative ease. It appears that the creature has thermally sensitive sections in its face plating and at the extremities, that allows it to hunt prey based on thermal triangulation. The claws of the alien have a very peculiar concave serration. This means that wounds caused by a [Chryssalid] attack tend to be very wide and bloody, but not very deep.

The most dangerous property of the [Chryssalid], however, is its neurotoxicological venom. The creature’s claws are coated in a thin venom that is refresh whenever the claws retract into the aperture over the hands.. When attacking prey, the [Chryssalid] with introduce this neurotoxin into the victim through minor wounds caused by the claws. The venom will quickly spread through the victim’s body, where it induces a two stage transformation. The first stage occurs as the venom spreads to the brain. Once there it induces a homicidal rage and triggers the production of chemicals to radically increase cell production. The victim becomes overwhelmed with a need to destroy members of its own species. It is apparent from the battle reports of victims of a [Chryssalid] attack that victims immediately assume the mindset of a [Chryssalid] while the second stage of the poisoning continues. During this stage the poison attacks the bone marrow and lymph system of the victim and alters the DNA structure of new cells to a [Chryssalid] template. The other chemical markers of the cells are relatively unchanged, thus preventing immune reactions to the new cells. The new [Chryssalid] white blood cells begin attacking the other normal cells of the body, while the other cells work to replace the losses. This induces a rapidly accelerating physical change in the victim. Within the time of a few minutes, most of the major organs in the victims body are undergoing mutation into [Chryssalid] equivalents. The spike in cell production induced by the venom would be very beneficial in medical uses, if a means to separate it from the other effects could be found. Current tests indicate that the increase in cells is so rapid that the victim’s blood pressure from the increased volume practically doubles over the course of a minute. This increase in cell mass will actually cause the host body to rip and split open after a random period of time. Within seconds of intial exposure enough of the victim is converted that a fully functional [Chryssalid] will emerge when the hosts body is killed or ruptures.

 

“It was bad when Pete got hit by the thing, it was worse when he started to attack me, but the scariest part of all was when I put him down, and a brand new monster emerged from his bullet-riddled corpse.” – Pvt. William Marshall

chryssalid.rtf

Edited February 5, 2004 by Anthraxus

[mikker]

"It's one thing when some of your team members attack you, but it's another thing when they suddenly have LARGE CLAWS and THEN attack you!"

[Whitewashed]

This makes me think... has anyone started on a concept for the zombies ???

[tzuchan]

Err...

A basic soldier(no armour) with different textures? (basically grey skin, purple slime..)

[Anthraxus]

But what about when the chryssalid turns the Xcom captain in flying armor that just happened to land facing the wrong way? We would need a zombie in flying armor (who couldn't think straight enough to fly it, of course), as well as power suit and personal armor, just to cover all the bases.

 

Also a flag would need to be added to the soldier class in the programming department for ZOMBIE="True" "False", that would act as flag to use zombie texture.

[Cpt. Boxershorts]

I suspect the psuedocode would look like this:

 

"When Zombified Then Drop all equipment, replace unit model with Zombie model".

 

Easier, less modeling, less coding, etc.

 

Otherwise we'd need six models for the zombie (m/f, three different armors).

 

-The Captain

[tzuchan]

Maybe if we stick to the different m/f models (More realistic)

 

But I think it's a good idea for the zombies to lose the armor too...(Otherwise we'd logically end up with a flying suit wearing Chryssalid...)

[Whitewashed]

that would be mean! a Chryssalid in Flying Suit! :monster:

[Anthraxus]

Though it is slightly OT, but since it was mentioned: In V1 are you going to be able to recover armor from killed units? I know in the original if a unit died on a mission, you lost his armor too, though you kept the other equipment.

 

Maybe it can be explained that the emergance of the Chryssalid destroys the armor as it gets rid of the skin, but your still left with the zombie issue.

[tzuchan]

Given that any sort of armor would be between the chryssalid and it's victim, and the fact that the chryssalid has the strength and the equipment to do so, I'd think that the Chryssalid would tear open the armor like a tincan opener and a can...

 

Leaving us with a male/female zombie model in their underwear?

 

That way you lose the armor too, but prevent things like flying suit equipped Chryssalids from flying around jabbing everyone...

[Cpl. Facehugger]

That way you lose the armor too, but prevent things like flying suit equipped Chryssalids from flying around jabbing everyone...

Tentaculats ring a bell?

 

Lets just go the route of the old game, for now. You lose the guy in the armor, you lose the armor. (Besides, who would want a power suit with a big hole burned through? )

[tzuchan]

Precisely my point. A Chryssalid is hard enough to kill... If we give them even MORE armor and the abillity to fly, things ain't looking so rosy for X-Corp troopers in flying suits no more!

 

Personally, I wouldn't mind recovering suits with holes in them, I'd prolly be able to patch up the holes and fix the armor back at base, but the idea of having a chryssalid in one is just to horrible to think about...

[Breunor]

Yeah, this isn't a point of debate for version 1 beyond explaining how the armor falls off/is taken off by the infected person. For those curious about speeds, each turn is 4 seconds. An olympic sprinter can reach 25-27mph.

 

Considering the speed certain toxins can kill a person, it's believable that extraterrestrial toxins could do the same.

[Puasonen]

So my calculations about 30mph beeing a good speed for chryss is quite good?

[Anthraxus]

Yup your calculations are fine. That's why I updated the CTD with them. As far as flying armored chryssalids are concerned, I had never suggested that for several reasons:

 

1) Chryssalids are smart enough to figure out the controls

2) Chryssalids tend to be slightly larger than the humans they birth from, making the fittng of the suit too tight. Most likely the suit would be destroyed as the Chryssalid rips its way out

3) Chryssalids cannot attack someone while it is in the armor because there isn't enough room for the claws to extend.

 

I had suggested having zombies in the flying suits, but again they wouldn't be able to fly because they are too overcome with psychotic rage to work the controls either. My original comment about recovering armor refered mainly too the early game when half the squad has personal armor and the other half have tshirts. I always thought that it was a little goofy that my guy in Personal Armor who died in the field, that his armor could not EVER be salvaged. I would even be fine if there was just a percentage chance based on the amount of damage delivered on whether the armor was recoverable.

 

It's just really aggravating to have finally spent $48K to built that first suit of power armor or personal armor only to loose it on the first mission because your guy got tagged by reaction fire walking around the corner of a building.

[mikker]

i like the idea of zombies in suits. but i doubt that the zombies would know how to fly in the flying suits.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

My point is that is is perfectly concieveable for a toxin to kill someone in four seconds, but for that same toxin to grow a fully mature chryssalid in four seconds?

 

Aww, nevermind. We shouldn't even mention it. The original didn't, and noone seemed to care.

[Anthraxus]

Here is one more try. I've incorporated some of the ideas mentioned in the Zombie discussion over in the Art department threads. Especially notice the final paragraph.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RESEARCH COMPLETED: Spawn

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [HARRY DRESDEN]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

WEIGHT:___________________ [250 lbs]

SIZE:______________________ [7’ on average]

TYPE:_____________________ ALIEN LIFE FORM

OTHER:___________________ Able to infect humanoid species and reproduce within the

timeframe of a single combat situation.

 

This horrible creature is extremely durable and able to shrug off large amounts of damage due to its naturally ablative chitinous plating. Besides being extremely effective as a terror weapon due to its combat abilities, it also has the ability to inject any sufficiently large being with an extremely quick spreading bacterial infection. This infection rapidly spreads through the host’s body, destroying the natural DNA in the cells and replacing it with modified Spawn DNA. This rapid destruction of cells causes the victim to enter into a homicidal berserk rage. After an apparently random period of time, or when the host reaches the point of death, the remnants of the hosts skin will be sundered by the emerging, fully formed Spawn.

 

This alien monstrosity has several unique features that are not found in any earth native life form. Due to combination of features and the odd physical makeup of the specimen, it is the hypothesis of the Research & Development department that this creature was purpose made for use as a living biological weapon. The Spawn appears to be of only animal level intelligence, unable to comprehend orders or directions and completely incapable of any level of social interaction. It appears that they are released to run wild and cause as much havoc as possible. Due to lack of an obvious control mechanism, they must either have an instinctual revulsion to the other alien races, or the aliens have a means of control that we are unaware of at this time.

The Spawn physical makeup appears to be designed to allow it to have the longest possible lifetime in an extremely hostile environment. It is very quick, flexible, and agile, allowing maneuverability easily equal to anything on earth. We have clocked the Spawn running at up to 30 mph for short distances. The chitinous plating of the creature gives it a natural ablative covering that tends to break up, redirect, or scatter most known forms of projectile or directed energy weapons. The Spawn is also very strong, able to penetrate most known types of armor plating with relative ease. It appears that the creature has thermally sensitive sections in its face plating and at the extremities, which allows it to hunt prey based on thermal triangulation. The claws of the alien have a very peculiar concave serration. This means that wounds caused by a Spawn attack tend to be very wide and bloody, but not very deep.

The most dangerous property of the Spawn, however, is its neurotoxicological venom. The creature’s claws are coated in a thin venom that is refresh whenever the claws retract into the aperture over the hands. When attacking prey, the Spawn will introduce this neurotoxin into the victim through minor wounds caused by the claws. The venom will quickly spread through the victim’s body, where it induces a two-stage transformation. The first stage occurs as the venom spreads to the brain. Once there it induces a homicidal rage and triggers the production of chemicals to radically increase cell production. The victim becomes overwhelmed with a need to destroy members of its own species. It is apparent from the battle reports of victims of a Spawn attack that victims immediately assume the mindset of a Spawn while the second stage of the poisoning continues. During this stage the poison attacks the bone marrow and lymph system of the victim and alters the DNA structure of new cells to a Spawn template. The other chemical markers of the cells are relatively unchanged, thus preventing immune reactions to the new cells. The new Spawn white blood cells begin attacking the other normal cells of the body, while the other cells work to replace the losses. This induces a rapidly accelerating physical change in the victim. Within the time of a few minutes, most of the major organs in the victim’s body are undergoing mutation into Spawn equivalents. The spike in cell production induced by the venom would be very beneficial in medical uses, if a means to separate it from the other effects could be found. Current tests indicate that the increase in cells is so rapid that the victim’s blood pressure from the increased volume practically doubles over the course of a minute. This increase in cell mass will actually cause the host body to rip and split open after a random period of time. The natural cell growth and replication will result in the creation of a new Spawn within minutes, barring outside influences. It has been discovered, however, that the application of heat in any form (including the heat of bullets, lasers, and all other known forms of ranged weapons) causes an exponential increase in the rate of transformation, resulting the completion of the transformation cycle in mere seconds.

 

“It was bad when Pete got hit by the thing, it was worse when he started to attack me, but the scariest part of all was when I put him down, and a brand new monster emerged from his bullet-riddled corpse.” – Pvt. William Marshall

chryssalid.rtf

[Breunor]

That's a good text Anthraxus. I would limit the wording about the time frame, instead focusing on the human body's reaction to the toxin and how the entire body is infected in mere seconds perhaps.

 

Could a human body have an immune response to the toxins, but the toxin actually infects those very chemicals and white blood cells called by the immune response? So you'd have a massive chain reaction in the body, once the point of infection starts the body's reaction increases as the infection spreads.

 

Regarding comments about how the alien grows inside within seconds, why not say that the process isn't finished when the host body dies/falls away, there's still reformation happening inside. Outward appearences would suggest the transformation is completed, but tests show that the process works from the outside-in. Thus the chitinous exoskeleton, as the insides are softened and reformed. So the outer shell can harden relatively fast (4 seconds), but the insides can take several minutes.

 

Maybe researchers injected teh toxin into lab rats or something to test all this, making mini-spawn. "Ah how cute, it's a miniature, ahh, it clawed me, AHH!!" Professor Dumbo, moments before he provided his fellow researchers additional autopsy research material...

[tzuchan]

Maybe researchers injected teh toxin into lab rats or something to test all this, making mini-spawn. "Ah how cute, it's a miniature, ahh, it clawed me, AHH!!" Professor Dumbo, moments before he provided his fellow researchers additional autopsy research material... 

 

Personally, I'd say

"Ah how cute, it's a miniature, ahh, it clawed me, AHH!!" Professor Dumbo, seconds before the Lab's internal containment system activated, killing all 50 Spawns in various stages of growth

[Anthraxus]

The problem with the exoskeleton forming in the first four seconds is that there would be an obvious shift in the zombie. This is not apparent or requested in the current zombie concept. I think the addition of the "Fire, BAD!" clause covers the bases sufficiently.

[Robo Dojo 58]

A human immune responce takes a day to happen, at least.

Adrenalin can course through the human body in a fraction of a second. Adrenaline causes all of the body to go into overdrive, making a person stronger and faster than normal. Perhaps the chrysallid's venom could take advantage of it to work it's poison.

 

Some other ideas:

The chrysallid uses existing human organs/muscles, which get a huge boost from human adrenaline, plus a special chrysallid adrenaline. The full process of transforming organs may take a week, but the "frenzied" human organs/muscles give the appearance of unnatural strength. (ever heard the story of a woman who picked up a car* to save her kid?)

 

A few organisms at critical points in the nervous system could do wonders. A small brain (part of a chrysallid egg?) could control those organisms, which control the body. It'd only take a few seconds to set up.

 

*Not above her head. Just enough to get the kid out.

[Guest drewid]

I like that. Hijacking body parts and mutating them for your own use.

 

Higher ranking chryssalids are older, and their organs have mutated more (like "running in" a car).

[MagicAndy]

As I mentioned in the zombie thread in the images section, perhaps a way to show the transformation would be to play a short (skipable) cut scene, showing the transformations for infections that the player witnesses. This would allow you to smooth overt the time problems, since all action would freeze unti lthe transformation took place leaving a zombie.

[Robo Dojo 58]

This would allow you to smooth overt the time problems,

There won't be too many time problems, since the battlescape action will be turn-based. Each turn represents about 4 seconds of gameplay. A chrysallid stabs one of your guys, and you shoot him the next turn. The skin peels off, and you have a new chrysallid, ready to fight, in about 4 seconds(1 turn).

[Breunor]

Maybe immune response should be alergic response then, I know my wife's tongue starts to swell by the time she can spit out something like cashews. Give her alien infested cashews that feed off the hystamine response of her body, and you could have a much more severe reaction in a similar time frame.

[MagicAndy]

There won't be too many time problems, since the battlescape action will be turn-based. Each turn represents about 4 seconds of gameplay

 

However some people are saying that 4 or 8 seconds is not long enough for the transformation to occur. I really don't think, in game, if people see the animation of the bite and zombie formation, that they would really bat an eye at the brevity of the transformation.

[LeFire]

This horrible creature is extremely durable and able to shrug off large amounts of damage due to its naturally ablative chitinous plating. Besides being extremely effective as a terror weapon due to its combat abilities, it also has the ability to inject any sufficiently large being with an extremely quick spreading bacterial infection. This infection rapidly spreads through the host’s body, destroying the natural DNA in the cells and replacing it with modified Spawn DNA. This rapid destruction of cells causes the victim to enter into a homicidal berserk rage. After an apparently random period of time, or when the host reaches the point of death, the remnants of the hosts skin will be sundered by the emerging, fully formed Spawn.

 

I feel that the bacterial reference should be taken out. Bacteria are approximately the size of mitochondria (think power stations) in human cells, with circular DNA inside them. This DNA codes for ribosomes, think of them as little factories for making proteins that are the actual messagers/products in cells. In fact, it is hypothesized that mitochondria modern day eukaryotic cells like human ones were actually originally free-living bacteria ancestors engulfed by cells but not digested.

 

Viruses a a whole lot different. A whole lot smaller than a bacterium, think of it as a flying injection needle with no mind nor no means of reproduction. It cannot chase things, but upon chancing upon a suitable cell (including bacteria cells!), it latches on with claws and contracts, firing a strand of "hijacker" RNA (a form of simpler DNA) into the host cell. This becomes a sort of template... ribosomes in the host cell are forced to cooperate and manufacture more viral genetic material.

 

Basically, the virus is a hijacker... which is what the Spawn does.

Edited February 12, 2004 by LeFire

[Robo Dojo 58]

There isn't any reason for the chrysallid to take over every cell in the human body right away. It only needs to take over the parts that count, and make a hard shell + more venom, so there can be a combat-ready chrysallid in a few seconds.

 

I think the goa'uld from Stargate would be a good example of how it's done. Basically, the chrysallid should take over the human's nervous system, gaining full control of the host. It can use preexisting human organs, instead of converting them. Why tear down perfectly good organs? Plus, it means that the human brain gets to live through most of the transformation, a very painful experience. It's something very evil.

 

I think everyone's allergic to snake and spider venom. Plenty of deadly plants out there, too. The resulting allergic responce would speed up the chrysallid transformation alot.

 

There are also severe trauma responces, which would help. Adrenaline- superhuman strength, loss of control. Increased pulse- faster moving venom.

 

The liver is a chemical powerhouse. It could produce much venom, very quick.

 

And, after taking a pic from X-COM, there could be a fully hardened shell under a zombie's skin. It's not too subtle a change.

[MagicAndy]

virus/bacteria/egg IMHO as long as you show them the cool animation ending with the zombie people will accept whatever you tell 'em

[nixnihil]

Since it was hinted at that aliens CREATED humanity, it could be feasible that Spawn venom was created to react SPECIFICALLY with human DNA. Perhaps we have latent DNA strands that we don't know about that are alien DNA, just waiting for our creators to return and infect us. That could explain why the timeframe is so fast.

[Robo Dojo 58]

Since it was hinted at that aliens CREATED humanity, it could be feasible that Spawn venom was created to react SPECIFICALLY with human DNA. Perhaps we have latent DNA strands that we don't know about that are alien DNA, just waiting for our creators to return and infect us. That could explain why the timeframe is so fast.

That's an awesome idea, indeed. It'd tie in real nice with the reason behind the alien invasion.

[Cpl. Facehugger]

They created humanity? Ohh yeah, the Ammnomites did it, I remember! But...Didn't they make humanity before the Overmind took them over

[Magstar]

The genetic strands used to enact a chryssalid morph probably some other important use that the Ammonites intended to use it for, the Overmind has just co-opted it.

 

Imagine the human as computer, and our organs are the various parts inside. We're all born with Geforce 2s, which are decent enough, but when the ammonites developed a Geforce 4 Ti, they wanted to be able to switch it into the humancomps that were all ready alive, instead of buying a new humancomp, so they left the case unscrewed. Once the Overmind took over, he learned from their minds that the humans were, in fact, not screwed in right (which would explain a lot about our society...) so the Spawns can open us right up and slip in a Radeon before we can do anything about it.

[Breunor]

Ha, interesting analogy. I like the idea that the Cloaks might have taken dna samples with them when they left Earth. The samples would be more primordial/basic than what we have now by a little bit, and the genetic strains they made are able to react faster with our bodies because of that. Sort of like the effect in the movie 28 Days Later, it's a very sudden change.

 

I think having a comment about their being rudimentary dna strains similar to ours in the venom would be a good hook, and further tests show that the venom only reacts with our dna and not other animals would suggest it was designed specifically for us, that sounds interesting.