Enigma
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Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego?
Enigma is a mutation that grants +2 Cool and trades it for heavy penalties to received support.
Location
Enigma is in the Heaven bar within Gangland.
Effects
This mutation grants:
Passive: +2 to cool Passive: Immunity to diagnose Passive: Immunity to appraise Passive: Immunity to analyze Passive: Visual description is more vague. Passive: Age cannot be determined on @age or look.
Advantages
- +2 cool. This lends a increases stress resistance modestly, and is a useful bonus to weapon skill for Blades users.
- Immunity to appraise. Appraise is so unreliable that only extremely new players use it to gauge strength, so this is entirely useless.
- Most mutations are hidden. An Enigma's mutation choices cannot be discerned by looking at them. This is almost useless, since context and weapon choice reveal most builds very quickly.
- No age visibility. Other players cannot discern an Enigma's age normally, but age is rarely important, and the oldest players are revealed on a scoreboard anyway. This does also mean that Enigma mutants can purchase alcohol from age-conscious NPCs, but alcohol pumps are unrestricted, so this is also useless.
- Cosmetic value. Some players appreciate the cosmetic aspect of Enigma, and like having their mutations hidden.
Disadvantages
- Immunity to diagnose. Enigmas need to be confident in understanding their st readouts and knowing the symptoms of various afflictions so that they can seek the correct treatment, because no doctor will be able to diagnose them. This makes Enigma a very poor choice for newer players. The doctor in Slagtown's hospital also cannot heal Enigma mutants. This also makes precise drugging awkward.
- Can't be analyzed. Enigma mutants cannot be cleansed of mentals by psychoanalysis; the only option is an Empath, and Empath mutants are rare. Fortunately, mentals are also very rare for non-vampires and non-freaks.
- Noob trap. Enigma is notorious for creating players who take Enigma for the cosmetic aspect, but don't understand their st readout, and fill corpnet with confused complaint when they get hurt.
- Radiation problems. It's impossible to know precisely how many rads an Enigma has until they start taking damage (20+). This can cause unexpected radmuts or cancer if left untreated.
- Cool isn't considered a very good stat. Out of all the six stats, it's got the lowest utility. Enigma's cost is also very high for a mere +2 bonus, especially since cool can be buffed by +4 for cheap with bling.
Appearance
Your appearance when diagnosing or appraising essentially disappears, along with visible mutation effects disappearing from the looking and examining, but people still see your desc and @nudes.
Mutations | |
---|---|
Racial Mutations | Abomination • Chud • Hideous Freak • Vampire • Zombie |
Focus Mutations | Carrie • Chiller • Fuck Machine • Salamander • Screech • Writhing Smoke • Empath |
Movement Mutations | Leapfrog • Phaser • Clairvoyance |
Flight • Blink • Medium | |
Soak Mutations | High Density • Firewalker • Rubberskin • Snakeskin • Yeti Skin |
Lithodermis • Solar Sponge • Silicone Skin • Eelskin • Yeti Fur | |
Miscellaneous Mutations | Billygoat • Bleeder • Bloodhound • Brainslug • Brute Strength • Camelfat • Enigma • Fibrocartilage • Hooligan • Hyperimmune • Iron Liver • Junkrat • Mule • Nimble Fingers • Plant Whisperer • Stench • Twitchy Nerves • Superclot • Xray Vision • Cat Ears |
Ripperlikes | Carcinocudgel • Horrorspike • Ripper • Tendrils |
Joke Mutations | Third Nipple |
Defunct Mutations | Jammer |