Why chud?
CHUD provides:
A paltry +1 bonus to Senses, which combines with the +1 I get from Swollen Brain to give a +1 to Whips, Craft and Dodge (among others).
An additional +2 to Climb, which really helps when you're not good at climbing or throwing.
Perfect darkvision, which allows me to move around freely inside the sewers and other dark places (even allowing me to peek into adjacent squares, something which conventional light sources don't allow for some idiotic reason), and also negates the low-light penalty from X-Ray vision.
Minions. Yes, they're weak, but they're more than nothing and they can provide a screen to help me get away from more combat-oriented players. And, as a support character, I can use all the combat boosts I can get. Can provide a nasty surprise for someone coming after me during a hacking attempt.
CHUD tunnels, allowing quick travel to various interesting crafting-supply areas or rapid response nodes (medic on demand).
Some minor soaks. Not much, but every little bit helps.
A (supposed) bonus to the Stench mutation. This is almost entirely negligible as I'm really not planning on Stench, but in the event I do take Stench to help avoid difficult mobs, this will help.
Note that all this makes the high-paying Utility Worker job ($2,900 full payout per job) much, much easier. Actually feasible, even.
To compensate, it penalizes with:
Lowered guns skill. This doesn't affect me, as I don't use guns anyways.
Falling down into the sewer when I reclone. Yes, this is annoying, but that's why being a medic has its perks. There are of course some very bad-case scenarios, but the worst thing that could happen is that I somehow manage to land on my head hard enough to give myself brain damage, which isn't exactly the most likely of occurrences. Still a serious pain when or if it happens though, no denying that.
Above-ground stress ticks. A single dose of THC will negate the stress ticks from being aboveground, and with access to the W-U building and its bud colas, I'll have more than enough dope for my everyday needs. Marijuana, for all its debuffs, does not penalize either Brains or Senses, which are high-priority skills in this build. The hunger ticks will be an annoyance, yes, but as a crafter I can easily put together some very potent food items for my own personal use.
Bright light. This will most likely be the most aggravating penalty to taking CHUD. But, sunglasses, shades, tinted eyewear, and whatever the hell else you want to call freakin' Ray-Bans.
To compare, the other lifestyle mutation I was considering, Hideous Freak, does this:
+4 to Senses. I won't deny, this is a pretty damn nice boost. That's a +2 bonus to Whips, Craft and Dodge. And with the +1 from Swollen Brain, that's... A +2 bonus to Whips, Craft and Dodge. As opposed to the +1 I'd get from taking CHUD. Huge difference.
+1 Endurance. Umm... Neat. An incredibly small increase to my chances of avoiding broken limbs, knockouts, and drug overdoses.
+3 Sneak. Awesome. That means a smaller chance of getting detected when committing crimes under FCPD and CSS cams! Wait... What the hell am I doing committing crimes under FCPD and CSS cams? Okay, I'll admit, having an easier time picking a lock under the watchful eye of an apartment building's security would be pleasant, but I don't have a Sneak build, and this will be covered later.
+4 Focus. This is actually pretty nice. I'm certainly not a Focus build, but I'm certainly not going to ignore that path. There are a lot of very useful Focus mutations, and a +4 bonus (plus 2 from the +4 Senses, so +6 total!) would be very nice to have. Nice enough to quantify taking the mutation? Somewhat doubtful.
Scare. In standard use, this wouldn't be hugely useful for me. Frenzy doesn't exactly do incredible things for my whipping (at least when compared to other weapon builds), but debuffing other people is always fun. When it works, that is. Also, the Necropolis homeground advantage? That's pretty badass. Except that zombies still don't take kindly to Freaks, so not everyone is showing up for smiles and cookies.
Eating raw flesh. I can cook, I can cure dogjerky, and I can always bring a Soylent if not. Why would I need this?
And compensates with...:
-2 Persuade. This isn't exactly a massive hit, but high Brains does lend itself to a modicum of haggling and scamming skill. But even so I rarely use Persuade, and as such this isn't a particularly huge hit.
-3 Cool. Now we're getting somewhere. This means I will be constantly speaking in 1337speak (not exactly life-threatening, but I'd drive myself mad if I ever had to talk for extended periods and couldn't be arsed to type out the whole ':says, "x"' emote). It also means I will freak out even more every time I release my pent-up sexual energies so I'll need to screech or spew for a while to calm down. And due to the hefty Brains debuff from being a randy little bastard, I'd need to do this fairly often.
The -3 Cool also means big hits to Bombs, Persuade (making this actually far more of a hit than just -2, and rendering the skill effectively useless), and Sneak. Yes, Sneak. That either penalizes the skill boost mentioned earlier or destroys it completely, leaving me where I started. And that's very bad for a Freak, because...
All greater Freedom City security forces will attack you on sight. You know how much of a pain it is trying to walk around FC in the day as a CHUD? Well, this prevents you from doing that during the day or night. This also means no Any Port, no FC apartments, no EO, no Hell Hardware, no Airfield alcohol pump and no corporate HQ. And beyond just that, all standard shopkeepers will fear you,which is a pretty hefty hit for anyone in the crafting business as it means no easy sales for crafting results ($1,350 per Venomous Lash from Mung, $950 for every Bacon-wrapped Lobstro from Cafe le Douche...) and no easy acquirement of certain crafting necessities (Circuit Shiti, Grumbard-Sanders, Radio Slack, El Morro Grocery...). Mind you, Necropolis may stock everything from everywhere for the lowest prices anywhere. I wouldn't know.
Communications charges. Mostly, this is just an annoyance. $1 for every page, and for every comment on Chatnet (which I don't use) and Zotnet (which I had better not be spamming). Also $50 for every post on Tradenet, which is actually a bit of a nasty bump.
Recloning results in one or more mental illnesses. Ouch. Can you analyze yourself? If you can, then this is nothing. If you can't ask yourself about your mother, then it becomes an entirely different beast. One that be seriously nasty under the wrong circumstances. Getting wigged out by enclosed spaces could be very nasty for someone trying to work on a sewing machine that isn't just nailed to the street somewhere (unless Freaks actually reverse the effects of mental illnesses as well, in which case why would any of them want to be cured?).
Transport. Either I grind Focus like a bastard so I can blink my way around, or I grind Ride like a bastard and get myself a warthog or skateboard. Or I walk. Because flight in and out of Necropolis is out of the question, since there are giant flak cannons in every damned square.
But that's just my (ill-informed, due to using the wiki for a fair portion of it) opinion. I would actually quite like to hear your points on the matter, as a more experienced HellMOOian.
Author
Topic: HellMOO: Go to heaven for the climate, and hell for the company. (Read 483311 times)