User blog:Willbachbakal/Singleplayer Enemies: Thuggish Splicer



How to make Thuggish Splicers interesting? After all, their sole purpose is to run at you in droves and die. I got a few ideas: number one, come up with a new breed of Thuggish that can actually scare the player. Number two... well, you'll see.

Research Bonuses

 * Level 1: 50% damage increase to the Knife
 * Level 2: +Damage
 * Level 3: New Gene Tonic (will be added later)
 * Level 4: ++Damage
 * Level 5: Wallet size increased from 500 to 1000

Changes
Several. For one, the Thuggish Splicers could have individual abilities related to their weapons:
 * Plank with Nail: Spatters the player's screen with blood, partially obscuring their view.
 * Lead Pipe/Sporting Weapon (golf club, baseball bat...): Shatters the player's bones, temporarily slowing them down.
 * Flashlight: When idle, can detect the player at longer ranges. If the player has Natural Camouflage, the Splicer will be able to detect them at very close ranges.
 * Knife: Attacks will cause the victim to bleed, dealing damage over time. Doesn't work on armored targets and machines.
 * Stun Baton: Deals less damage, but stuns the victim for a short moment after every hit.
 * Shovel: Each hit will jerk the player's camera to the side.
 * Mallet: Each hit pushes the player back.
 * Pickaxe: Splicer can throw the weapon at the target at close ranges, sticking it into their body and dealing damage. They will then proceed to rip it out, dealing more damage. You can also catch the weapon in mid-air with Telekinesis.
 * Fists/Fisticuffs: Splicer deals less damage but hits faster.

That's for the Thuggish Splicers you've seen in the past two games. Now, for extra measure, there'll also be Super Thuggish Splicers. You can tell the difference between the two because the latter are bigger (not nearly as big as a Brute, though), wear some sort of special mask unique to them (think of Hannibal Lecter's muzzle or Jason's hockey mask) and tend to make muffled groans and shrieks instead of coherent speech. They're slower than typical Thuggish Splicers, usually walking or shuffling towards the player (they can still catch up to them, though), but they have more health (roughly triple that of a normal Thuggish in the same level), their attacks have a much larger range and deal more damage. They also have a completely different range of weapons:
 * Giant Sledgehammer: Hits send the victim flying back. If they hit a wall, they take damage.
 * Metal Pole: Doubles the Splicer's attack range.
 * Chainsaw: Deals continous damage to the victim.
 * Makeshift Sword/Axe: Hits both slow the enemy down and cause them to bleed, dealing damage over time (the last one only works on organic targets).
 * Furniture: Can hold the weapon in front of them to use as a shield while moving. The piece of furniture will shatter if it takes enough damage, however.
 * Spear: If the target attempts to run away from the Splicer, they'll throw the spear at them, impaling them and sticking them to a wall or the floor for a short time. They will then move to pick up the spear. The spear can be caught and thrown back with the Heavy Mover version of Telekinesis 2.
 * Splicer Corpse: If far away from the target, the Splicer will try to throw the corpse at them, dealing damage. Otherwise, it'll try to beat the victim to death with it.
 * Fists/Barbed Wire Fisticuffs: Splicer deals less damage but hits faster.

Evolution
Even if there's this new type of Thuggish Splicer around, things are gonna get stale very quick after the midpoint. After all, you just have to One-Two Punch them to death, right? Wrong. After the midpoint, Thuggish Splicers explode upon death. This can be seen due to the fact that Thuggish Splicers will be running at you with a live grenade in their hand. Super Thuggish Splicers, rather than have a single grenade, will have a whole bunch strapped to their side along with a stick of dynamite. This means the big guys will explode like a cluster bomb: once they blow up, they release grenades around them which also go off. While this is rather problematic if you're standing anywhere near a Thuggish once they die, you can use this to your advantage: by shooting Thuggish Splicers in the middle of groups, you could kill or at least severely injure the rest.

And that does it for the Thuggish Splicers. I'll try to give the others the same kind of treatment, not to mention add a few new kinds of mook for you to consider. Do you like it?

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