It's been a long time since the last time i did some actual "coding" and I have this modding inch that I just have to scratch.
Anyway at the current moment the only way to get new slaves is to breed the ones we currently have or to order some from caravans. I believe we should be able to convert the invaders that we captured into slaves/hive thralls. So the question is how do we go about it. We can't just simply make a reaction at the infectory that gives the worker the ability to turn a captive into a slave just by looking at it for 2 reasons:
1. This can very easily be exploited in sieges, just leave an infectory outside run it on repeat and enjoy the laser eyes
2. What would be the point of infecting a captive with a larva directly when you can just turn it into a slave first and then give him a larva using reactions
1.okay, this is how I imagine the interaction would be: chain up the victim near the workshop and send a wasp to perform the reaction. then, give it an interaction that allows it to transform a nearby humanoid into a slave. give the interaction a very short range and duration and only allow it to target one person, so it won't be abusable. the thing is, we'll have to use makeown otherwise they'll still be hostile. that might cause some issues...
2. it would be for free. and would also be able to target animals. And it would be fun
I wonder what the reaction should cost, however... we can't make it for free, that's a given. maybe make the transformation require some time to take place? that way you still have reason to buy new ones and you can't turn those 50 captives into free cannon fodder overnight.
my opinion, however, is that while adding more stuff is well and good, we should make releasing the mod and making it known to the community our first priority. the mod already has plenty of content to be called a beta. what we need is further playtesting: fix any issues the mod currently has, and also release a tutorial fort.
I don't mean to reject your suggestion, heydude. it makes sense, has utilities, can be implemented in a balanced manner and if the makeown doesn't cause problems we should totally add this. What I mean to say is that if we keep on adding one small thing after the other, we'll keep on postponing the release for so long that nobody will give a damn once we finally call it a full release.