Blob

File:BlobOvermind.gif

Originally just a random event with notoriously bad AI, the Blob has been revamped extensively and carefully with new abilities and improved AI so that it actually posed a threat, and ultimately became a playable role and round type. The basis is simple: you are a blob that intends to have Space Station 13 as its next meal, and must expand over as much of it as you can, devouring and destroying everything in your path. But beware of the more robust members of the crew, as they will come at you with all the fire-based weaponry they can muster.

Getting Started

In essence, playing as a blob is quite like playing an RTS (Real-Time Strategy) tower-defense game. When you first begin, you'll be the incorporeal Blob Overmind pictured at the upper-right of this page, with these commands on your HUD:

Icon	Name	Description
	Deploy	Creates your first blob cell in the form of a nucleus. Choose carefully, you can only spawn once!
	Change Color	Lets you pick your color before you deploy, fancy!
	Help	Click this to turn on Help Mode any time, during which you can click a command or upgrade icon to see what it does. Click the Help icon again to exit Help Mode.

The overmind is functionally a Ghost, able to go wherever it wants and see everything happening on the station - it can be moved with your directional keys or by left-clicking the tile you want to go to. But a ghost can't eat anything, so your first order of business is to pick a starting point with the Deploy command for the physical blob on the station. Choose carefully; your spawn location can easily make or break you! Remember that you cannot expand on space tiles, so picking secluded areas in the middle of nowhere will only end badly - make sure you at least have a path to the interior of the station!

Once you deploy, you'll be an itty-bitty Blob Nucleus; letting the nucleus be destroyed means death for the blob, so protect it! At the beginning you'll be no bigger than a single tile, but given time and effort it will grow and cover the tiles around it. You'll also have these important bits of info on your Status tab:

• Bio Points: The points needed to use your abilities, showing how many points you have as well as your current maximum
• Generation Rate: How fast you accumulate Bio Points
• Blob Size: How many tiles the blob has covered
• Evo Points: The points needed for special upgrades
• Next Evo Point at size: How big you need to be to gain a free Evo Point

The blob can grow and attack things on its own, or you can use the respective Spread and Attack commands to choose the target. Your best bet when starting out is to completely consume the room you start in and work from there. As for what the blob can attack and spread on, the options are plentiful, as there is very little that can get in the way of a growing blob; most stationary objects that you can't spread through/under, including walls and their girders, will gradually melt away. Let nothing stop you from becoming the biggest blob you can be!

Blob Abilities

The blob comes with a handful of special techniques to make your life easier and the lives of the crew harder. These are used by consuming "Bio Points" which the blob naturally generates; the bigger the blob is, the more Bio Points it can hold at once, but the slower it spreads. As for actually using the commands, simply click the necessary icon while hovering the Blob Overmind over your target.

Icon	Name	Bio Point Cost	Description
	Spread	2 Bio Points	Creates a new blob cell beside an existing blob cell. The blob usually does this automatically, but having control where you spread (albeit at a small fee) is indispensable.
	Attack	1 Bio Point	Attacks something that's adjacent to a blob cell. Again, the blob does this on its own, though it's random and you will appreciate having control over it during the inevitable showdown with the crew. Attacks from the blob have a chance to knock the target's weapon out of their hands.
	Repair	1 Bio Point	Heals 20 HP to a damaged cell. Very important, as cells will not normally heal on their own.
	Absorb	Free	Human or Monkey on top of one of your blob cells? Use this on him; if he can't get away in time, he'll be killed instantly and you'll gain an Evo Point for the trouble! Note that unlike most cases you can Spread the blob onto tiles occupied by other players.
	Build Ribosome Cell	5 Bio Points	Each one of these you have globally decreases your Spread cooldown, which is important because the bigger the blob is, the more cooldown it suffers. Also increases the Spread and Attack rates of cells near it.
	Build Lipid Cell	5 Bio Points	Increases your maximum Bio Points by 4 for each of these cells you have. If you don't have enough Bio Points to use a command, these cells can be consumed to make up the difference. Beware, destroying a lipid cell also destroys the extra Bio Points it grants!
	Build Mitochondira Cell	5 Bio Points	Allows nearby cells to recover HP on their own. Works on a cycle system by restoring a certain amount of HP per tick, and recovers more with more mitochondria nearby. This doesn't make a cell invincible though since it can still be destroyed in between regeneration cycles!
	Build Thick Membrane Cell	5 Bio Points	Basically the blob's walls, these have much, much more HP than regular blob cells. Perfect for blocking off blind spots you don't want people getting into. They also block the line of sight of other players.
	Build Fire-Resistant Membrane	10 Bio Points	Your first line of defense against fire, these cells have heavy defense against heat and prevent flames and hotspots from spreading past them. Like thick membranes they block line of sight, however they have much less HP.
	Digest Item	3 Bio Points	This will devour an item on or adjacent to a blob cell - that is, handheld items that the blob doesn't normally destroy as it spreads. Useful for getting rid of weapons that other players drop. Destroying an item that contained reagents leaves behind a "Reagent Deposit", which you can then examine to see what's inside. Destroyed reagent deposits will spew out their contents in a plume of smoke.
	Build Reclaimer	4 Bio Points	These can only be built on reagent deposits, which it will then convert into Bio Points. Neat! Once the reagents are expended, the cell turns into a lipid.
	Build Slime Launcher	15 Bio Points	If a blob is like a tower-defense game, then these are your towers. Slime Launchers will fire weak projectiles at nearby players... or, if you have a reagent deposit near the launcher, you can click-drag the deposit onto the launcher to use the reagents as ammo! Reagent-shots apply the TOUCH reaction of the reagent (if they have one) and also put a bit into their bloodstream. Nasty! Per shot it will consume 2 Bio Points when fired without reagents, or 5 units from the loaded deposit until it depletes and resumes using Bio Points.
	Build Plasmaphyll Cell	30 Bio Points	Most players not using weldingtools will try to kill you with plasma fires. This tries to remove the threat by sucking any plasma out of the air to snuff those fires. This takes a point out of your Generation Rate to run, and returns it if destroyed. Devoured plasma becomes Bio Points!
	Build Ectothermid Cell	30 Bio Points	Negates heat over a small area in exchange for a gradual Bio Point cost. Like the Plasmaphyll, it takes a point of of your Generation Rate to run and returns it if lost.
	Build Reflective Membrane Cell	15 Bio Points	Energy projectiles can eat through blob cells fairly quickly due to their sheer damage output, and these devious cells are your answer to that; Reflective Membranes will bounce energy shots back in the direction they were shot from, which can easily leave the shooter vulnerable for you to absorb. Also blocks line of sight.
	Build Blob Nucleus	?? Bio Points	Creates an extra nucleus, essentially giving you an extra life. Nuclei are fairly durable, but cannot be healed (needs confirmation???) and has a huge cooldown.
	Build Blob Tile	?? Bio Points	Creates a synthetic blob flooring in space, giving you an extra tile to spread on. Prevents you from being totally stranded if you're surrounded by space, but also has a massive cooldown so that space is still effective against blob growth.

Upgrades

Alas, for all the neat cells the blob has, it's still very easy to kill with a healthy dose of fire. And that's where these upgrades come in. These are activated by consuming "Evo Points"; rarer than Bio Points, you only get these at certain blob size thresholds or by pulling off a successful Absorb.

Icon	Name	Evo Point Cost	Description
	Passive: Increase Generation Rate	1 Evo Point (+1 each)	Boosts the generation of Bio Points by 2. This upgrade can be used multiple times, and costs one more Evo Point with each use.
	Passive: Quick Spread	3 Evo Points (+13 each)	Reduces the cooldown of the Spread ability by 1 second. Can't go below 1 second, though. Costs a whopping 13 extra Evo Points with each use, so only use it in case of emergency!
	Passive: Fire Resistance	5 Evo Points	Reduces the damage you take from fire-based attacks and makes it so hotspots don't instantly destroy blob tiles - this isn't to say you won't still take damage from sustained heat, but the ability to not have your cells oneshotted by fire is nevertheless a godsend.
	Ability: Digest Item	4 Evo Points	Unlocks the Digest Item command.
	Structure: Reclaimer	4 Evo Points	Unlocks the Build Reclaimer command.
	Structure: Slime Launcher	4 Evo Points	Unlocks the Build Slime Launcher command.
	Structural: Plasmaphyll	8 Evo Points	Unlocks the Build Plasmaphyll Cell command.
	Structural: Ectothermid	8 Evo Points	Unlocks the Build Ectothermid Cell command.
	Structural: Reflective Membrane	4 Evo Points	Unlocks the Build Reflective Membrane Cell command.

Blob Weaknesses

Fortunately the blob doesn't have many weaknesses, but the few that it does have are things you absolutely must be aware of and be prepared for, or they will be your undoing.

• Fire. If a tile's temperature exceeds a certain threshold, you won't be able to spread on it, and enough fire or heat reaching a blobbed tile will instantly destroy the blob occupying it if you don't have the Fire Resistance upgrade. This is mostly encountered in the form of weldingtool-wielding crew members or plasma canisters, or bombs in extreme cases.
• Space. The rule of thumb when spreading as a blob is, "If you can see stars, you can't spread there." Unlike with heat the blob can exist on a space tile if its flooring is somehow destroyed while sparing the blob, but it still can't go anywhere without an acceptable adjacent tile to spread on. Blobs can create their own floor on a space tile to spread on, but this ability also comes with an insane cooldown, so it's not to be relied upon.
• Losing the Nuclei. The nuclei are the heart of the blob, and their destruction instantly wipes the entire blob from existence, so obviously these must be defended at all costs. You'll receive a warning message in your chat log if a nucleus has taken damage.

Tips & Strategies

• Thank carefully about where you deploy. You're at your weakest when you're starting out, so you'll want a secluded area that will give you time to grow to a decent size yet won't be found by the crew immediately; the longer you can go without being discovered, the better. Or if you're feeling gutsy, try blocking off popular sources of welding fuel and plasma such as Toxins and Engineering.
  • There is one space-faring tile you can spread on, and that is the catwalk. If you're feeling bold, you can travel along the catwalks connecting the station, or even deploy in the Routing Depot for some peace and quiet while you slowly creep into the station from multiple entrance points.
• Don't go overboard with your cell improvements; you can't change a cell after it's converted, so it's best to have regular cells along with your converted cells just in case. 50% regular and 50% improved is a good ratio to follow.
• Try to force confrontations with the crew in choke-points like one-tile doorways or hallways. The less people are able to hammer away at you at the same time, the easier it is to fight them off. Do not allow yourself to be boxed in.
• Build lots of ribosomes. You will need them to combat the gradual slowing of the blob as it grows in size, and there are much better things to spend your Evo Points on than Quick Spread.
• Only regular blob cells and Slime Launchers will attack automatically. Improved cells require the Attack command.
• Slime Launchers can't see or fire past any of the membrane cells (thick, fire-resistant, reflective)... but neither can the crew. It's hilarious to watch them tear down a thick membrane only to be met with five slime bullets to the face.
  • It might be worth your while to look up Chemistry so you know what reagents to load into a Slime Launcher. Some are harmless, others are devastating.
• Save your fire-resistant membranes for when the crew actually discovers you. Spamming them before you're seen is pointless and a waste of cells you could convert into more useful things.
• Membranes and mitochondria go together like bread and butter. Stick them together in places that you really don't want the crew to reach, like your nucleus.
• Be aware of the locations of the station's welding fuel tanks and plasma canisters. If one has gone missing and isn't in its designated workplace, it's probably time to start spamming thick and fire-resistant membranes (and if you have them, plasmaphylls and ectothermids as necessary) because it's probably headed your way along with a small army of welders.
• Be very wary of Flamethrowers. These cobbled-together firearms are the blob's worst enemy and can cut entire chunks of cells out of you. Its handheld sprite looks like a longer weldingtool; if you see one headed for you, make damn sure you have Fire Resistance unlocked and crank out the fire-resistant membranes like an assembly line, then disarm him of the flamethrower and digest it as fast as possible.
• Don't try to just spread under a human right away. Instead, spread around him to box him in; this way you have more cells attacking him at once, and he has less chance of escaping when you spread under him to absorb him.
• Plasmaphylls and ectothermids are meant to be used together! Plasmaphylls will consume plasma fast but will die to a lit fire as easily as any other cell without the ectothermid's help, and while ectothermids can stop fire they'll eat away at your Bio Points frighteningly fast without plasmaphylls to replenish them. It can sometimes pay off to use ectothermids to prevent a non-plasma fire-bombing, but try to ensure you have a good buffer of Bio Points and Generation Rate first.
• Don't use Reflective Membranes right away! Instead, wait for an attacking player to draw their energy gun/laser gun/whatever, then create a reflector; the shots he spam-fired will now all go back to him before he can react, leaving him at your mercy.
• Blobs tend to be disadvantaged against cyborgs, especially ones with a Force Shield upgrade that repels all their methods of attack... or are they? If a durable cyborg is harassing you, box him in with thick membranes and surround them with mitochondria. The borg will find that he can't do more damage than the membrane is healing, and even if he has a weldingtool it will run out of fuel quickly; he is now helpless, blind and has no other option but to radio for help, hoping assistance arrives before his battery dies.
• Don't be afraid to make an extra nucleus if things are going poorly and you think your existing nuclei are doomed. Pick somewhere as far away from the action as possible, fortify it and plan your counterattack.
  • If you don't mind wasting a nucleus, make one as a decoy in a place the crew doesn't know you've breached yet and direct them to it. A very effective way to buy time.

In Summary

Just like any good RTS, surviving as a blob depends on how well you adapt to danger. Pick your spawn location carefully, learn what cells do what and which are most ideal for the situation at hand, watch the crew carefully, and always have a backup plan or escape route if things go pear-shaped. It's not easy trying to stack up against the torch-wielding mob that is Space Station 13's crew, but once you get the hang of it and learn to prepare for the crew's shenanigans, reaching that "grow to 750 tiles" objective is entirely possible.

Supplementary Video

{{#widget:YouTube|id=UxhKb-zZoWE}}