Hideous freak

So, you chose to take on the mantle of a Hideous Freak. Good for you! Hideous Freaks present a different way of playing HellMOO. You will not have the same accessibility to advanced weapons and equipment and the penalties will make you approach the entire game in a different way. As such, this guide had been created to detail the mutation and the problems it can pose to unwary players.

Location

The mutation spot can be found at the old burned out victorian (Vi on the map) at the necropolis gate. Enter the house and search for a trapdoor leading down (it was locked when I got it, so you'll have to bring someone who can pick eletronic locks reasonably, from what I remember, it was a silver voxguard), go down (you'll be at the necropolis cloner now) and search for the muck hole, just head inside the hole and you'll find the mutation spot.

Basics

Hideous Freak gives the following stat and skill modifiers:

• +4 Senses
• +1 Endurance
• +3 Sneak
• +4 Focus
• -3 Cool
• -2 Persuade

Hideous Freak also provides some other modifiers not covered by pure stat changes.

• Stress and de-stress are reversed. For example, you will become de-stressed from killing, grabbing, and using focus abilities, with the exception of Scare. THC gives stress and so does sitting in a chill room. One notable exception to this rule is the Empath mutation. Empath functions without regard to whether you're a Hideous Freak.
• You become resistant to eating raw flesh, so you will not acquire worms.
• Necropolis Junkers and Spectres will not attack you without provocation. Necropolis basically becomes a safe haven where you can grind and do zombie and ghostbusting contracts in safety.
• You can pass through the tunnel at the entrance to Necropolis.
• You gain acid blood Your blood will damage health and armor if it gets on anybody, including yourself. This means vampires cannot feed from you.
• You gain the scare command.
• You cannot use most conventional shops, but you can buy from Weezer.
• You will be given an instant 0 stars upon sighting in Freedom City, Corpclave, Burbclave, Jack Schitt, and Halliburton Arms. While you have the 0 stars, you will have either K-9s, Spiderlings, or CSS Guards that will hunt you in any of their areas of jurisdiction until the 0 stars expire. However, you cannot spawn in Panopticon Prison or the Cube.
• You also cannot become a Vampire. The mutations are mutually exclusive and Hideous Freaks have as of recently been forbidden from acquiring temporary Vampirism.
• Every time you clone, you have a chance of acquiring one or more mental illnesses.
• Hideous Freaks are unable to have more than two implants, any more than two will result in the implants being destroyed by the freaks acidic blood.

Scare

Scare is an exclusive Freak ability. While not terribly powerful, it can be useful in certain situations. In most situations, it gives those who hear it a dose of fear, impairing their stats. And for every person who gets fear, you gain a dose of frenzy adding +1 to brawn and senses, up to a max of +4 each. Frenzy does, however, lower your focus more for every dose you get. Another not instantly realizable feature of Frenzy is that it lowers your chance of being feinted. This is extremely useful when fighting those pesky FCEF troops.

Strategy

The loss of cool makes it hard to become proficient at blades and guns. However, non-cool-based weapon classes are perfectly reasonable to utilize, such as spears, whips, fists, and clubs. Bling can also be worn to give you up to +4 cool. Cool can be ground up, although it can take a long time.

The easiest way to deal with police is by not going to Freedom City, Corpclave, Burbclave, Jack Schitt, or Halliburton Arms. If you're speedy enough you can make quick runs into Freedom City. For a Freak, one of the main attractions to Freedom City is to install implants, because Dr. Nick is the only implant installer in the game. K-9s may reach you while installing implants. If this happens, spew and after escaping, either run to the sewers or blink away. A particularly fast Freak may be able to get two or three implants in during a run.

Freaks can benefit from grinding up their Sneak skill. If your Sneak is high enough, you can avoid being seen by the cameras, and thus avoid the 0 stars that mean hunting you. In fact, if you aren't seen by a camera, you can even chill with the law enforcement in the same square as you. A good amount of Sneak can be invaluable in getting implants put in. Note that a Sneak checks are not a one time occurrence per square. When you enter a square the initial check is made to see if you are detected. If you succeed this check, a few seconds later another check will be made, this one harder. As you succeed the checks for being in a square they progressively get harder, so don't dawdle!

Every now and then, your cloning location, no matter where you set it, will reset to the clone tank in the Necropolis, usually after you've run out of or acquired police stars in a jurisdiction. Check st religiously because being surprised to a Necropolis clone tank can be a headache, especially if you cannot blink. This does not seem to happen of late, but it is never a bad thing to be safe.

Use other players to buy things for you, or just take them from other players who cannot defend themselves. If you're in a corporation you can just have corpmates buy and sell for you. This does not mean a Freak is without resources, however! In Slagtown alone, Freaks can buy freely from Sargo's Discount Warehouse. Freaks wishing to sip on some sweet delicious bugshit can stop by Round Corner and hit up Rayray. Those who prefer more pedestrian cocktails can get them from Heath at the Wide Stance. Freaks can also purchase goods from the player-run Slagtown Galleria. Camp Benjamin in Necropolis sells to Freaks Camp Benjamin hates you, but Furst in Village of Lurleen will sell to you, as will Basil. A new store has also popped up in Botany Bay called Tree of Life. This store provides cocoons to protect your gear, an invaluable resource, as well as basic medical supplies. Another new shop called 'Better Life' in Weezer will sell you implants for lower prices than even Kowloon Wirehead.

When you clone, you're likely to wind up with at least one kind of mental problem. The effects of these are many, varied, and occasionally annoying. You can counter this problem by partnering up with someone brainy, who can analyze you, to potentially cure your mental problem. There is a cooldown of ten minutes, regardless of psychoanalyst. An important thing about mental problems is that they build up over time. From experience, a mental illness can take even the greatest of medics two or three tries if you have let it build up over time. For this reason it is important to be analyzed as soon as you spawn.

Hideous Freaks now can only wear up to two implants before they start degenerating. Do not overload on implants, as tempting as it may be! You will regret it when over a hundred thousand in implants goes missing overnight. However, it is safe to keep one or two in, so the end is not nigh.