As I've been playing around other servers using the Spy role (or a role that functions similarly, such as the TTT Custom Roles "Glitch" role), I've found that there's many players who say it's too easy for the traitors to figure out who the Spy is. All they can do is awkwardly walk around hoping to catch a traitor in the act, and all it takes to blow their cover is for the traitors to observe others killing innos/using traitor weapons and do process of elimination. There's also not much a Spy can do to convince the other traitors that they're genuine, outside of T-baiting or straight up RDM.
My idea to solve these issues is the Spy having the ability to "fake kill" players, who after a short period of time will "wake up" and return to the game. This could be done a couple of ways, but the 2 I've thought about are:
The Spy can buy special "Fake/Spy" weapons from their own shop that have a limited amount of ammo and can't be refilled. These can be default TTT weapons or traitor weapons.
The Spy can buy and/or use a special passive ability that lets them "fake kill" a player with any weapon available to them. (But maybe not weapons meant for mass killing like C4.). To balance this ability, you could limit the number of players the Spy is able to "fake kill" per round, or have it recharged using credits/waiting on a timer. You could call it something like "spy bullets" or "spy chemical" to make it fit the theme.
When a player is shot with these special weapons, they will take damage and "die" like usual, but on screen they will see a message that says something like "You were shot by [player name] who was the spy! You will be revived in 20 seconds!" After the 20 seconds are up, the player will be revived and know who the spy is so they know not to kill them.
Q&A
"How will this be balanced against traitors? Couldn't the spy just "fake kill" everyone and figure out who the traitor is that way?"
Ideally, the spy will only have a limited amount of "fake kill" ammo to use, or their passive ability will only let them "fake kill" a small amount of people. If the traitor is shot with a "fake kill" weapon, they could either be immune to the damage, or they can be given a big health/damage buff when hit or revived, incentivizing the spy to not use their ability against traitors. You could also have it so a traitor who is "fake killed" will show as innocent when their body is identified to prevent them from being found out too early.
"What happens if a body that was "fake killed" is burned by a traitor or thrown into a death pit? Won't the person be permanently dead that way?"
I guess that depends on whatever direction you want to take these ideas. It's an interesting concept of potentially sacrificing the life of an innocent to get a traitor to out themselves by burning the body, or you could choose to have players come back regardless of whether or not their bodies were burnt.
"Won't this just lead to the Spy being falsely killed by innocents a lot more?"
Yeah probably, but that's just the risk you take to make yourself look like a legit traitor. If you get the spy role, you should probably expect a high chance of being killed by an innocent.
"Why did you write all of this?"
Because I really do think the Spy would benefit from these ideas, and I want to see it become a much more interesting and dynamic role. (And because I have nothing better to do I guess.)
As I've been playing around other servers using the Spy role (or a role that functions similarly, such as the TTT Custom Roles "Glitch" role), I've found that there's many players who say it's too easy for the traitors to figure out who the Spy is. All they can do is awkwardly walk around hoping to catch a traitor in the act, and all it takes to blow their cover is for the traitors to observe others killing innos/using traitor weapons and do process of elimination. There's also not much a Spy can do to convince the other traitors that they're genuine, outside of T-baiting or straight up RDM.
My idea to solve these issues is the Spy having the ability to "fake kill" players, who after a short period of time will "wake up" and return to the game. This could be done a couple of ways, but the 2 I've thought about are:
The Spy can buy special "Fake/Spy" weapons from their own shop that have a limited amount of ammo and can't be refilled. These can be default TTT weapons or traitor weapons.
The Spy can buy and/or use a special passive ability that lets them "fake kill" a player with any weapon available to them. (But maybe not weapons meant for mass killing like C4.). To balance this ability, you could limit the number of players the Spy is able to "fake kill" per round, or have it recharged using credits/waiting on a timer. You could call it something like "spy bullets" or "spy chemical" to make it fit the theme.
When a player is shot with these special weapons, they will take damage and "die" like usual, but on screen they will see a message that says something like "You were shot by [player name] who was the spy! You will be revived in 20 seconds!" After the 20 seconds are up, the player will be revived and know who the spy is so they know not to kill them.
Q&A
Ideally, the spy will only have a limited amount of "fake kill" ammo to use, or their passive ability will only let them "fake kill" a small amount of people. If the traitor is shot with a "fake kill" weapon, they could either be immune to the damage, or they can be given a big health/damage buff when hit or revived, incentivizing the spy to not use their ability against traitors. You could also have it so a traitor who is "fake killed" will show as innocent when their body is identified to prevent them from being found out too early.
I guess that depends on whatever direction you want to take these ideas. It's an interesting concept of potentially sacrificing the life of an innocent to get a traitor to out themselves by burning the body, or you could choose to have players come back regardless of whether or not their bodies were burnt.
Yeah probably, but that's just the risk you take to make yourself look like a legit traitor. If you get the spy role, you should probably expect a high chance of being killed by an innocent.
Because I really do think the Spy would benefit from these ideas, and I want to see it become a much more interesting and dynamic role. (And because I have nothing better to do I guess.)
Please let me know what you think!