Precognition

Precognition

	Mental
	4
	Precognition
	yes
Infobox data from game version 2.0.206.63

Precognition

You peer into your near future.

You may activate this power and then later revert to the point in time when you activated it.
Duration between use and reversion: (level based) rounds
Cooldown: 500 rounds

Precognition is a mental mutation that allows the player to foresee their near future, potentially allowing them to avoid unfortunate outcomes.

Precognition grants two activated abilities: "Precognition - Start vision" and "Precognition - End vision". Using the former creates a temporary save of the current game-state, places the ability on cooldown, and begins a "vision"; this vision will last for a mutation level-based number of rounds. The vision can be ended in one of three ways: by letting the vision run it's course, by choosing to end the vision early with the "End vision" ability, or by dying before the duration runs out.

If the vision ends either due to the duration running out or the player dying, they are prompted to "return to the start of their vision". Choosing Yes will reload the save created when the vision was started, returning the game to the exact state as it was at that point. Choosing No will cause the game to proceed as normal. This will kill the player if dying was what caused their vision to end. Choosing to end the vision early by using the "End vision" ability will immediately return to the player to the start of their vision.

If the player does not have the mutation for any reason (such as losing it by drinking warm static, or piloting the golem) when the vision ends, you are not given an option to end the vision and must continue with the current game state.

Precognition functions entirely differently if used by a creature other than the player; when Precognition is activated, and the creature is killed before it's duration runs out, the creature will be revived with full HP, and the message log will return the following:

[Subject] swims before your eyes!

When you are dominating a creature who has precognition, the behavior is mixed. You can manually end the vision and it will reload normally, but if the creature dies you are not prompted to reload. Instead, the domination is cancelled, and the dominated creature gets the non-player effect, reviving with full HP.

Amaranthine Prism

Precognition has a special interaction with the amaranthine prism. If the player equips the amaranthine prism during a vision, returning to their start of the vision will cause the prism to be unequipped, making this one of the few legitimate methods of removing the prism after wielding it. However, this course of action will return the following message:

From across the psychic sea, you feel the glare of unseen eyes. Someone is disappointed in you.

After this, the player will lose 100 reputation with highly entropic beings and 2-5 spacetime vortices will spawn within 5-11 tiles of the player.

Should the player choose to wield the prism during a vision and forgo returning to the start, the prism will remain equipped as normal, and will be impossible to remove from then on.

Formulas

The following formula is used to determine duration of vision based on mutation level.

Duration	12 + 4 × Level

Advancement Table

Mutation Level	Duration
1	16 rounds
2	20 rounds
3	24 rounds
4	28 rounds
5	32 rounds
6	36 rounds
7	40 rounds
8	44 rounds
9	48 rounds
10	52 rounds

Mutation Level	Duration
11	56 rounds
12	60 rounds
13	64 rounds
14	68 rounds
15	72 rounds
16	76 rounds
17	80 rounds
18	84 rounds
19	88 rounds
20	92 rounds

Mutation Level	Duration
21	96 rounds
22	100 rounds
23	104 rounds
24	108 rounds
25	112 rounds
26	116 rounds
27	120 rounds
28	124 rounds
29	128 rounds
30	132 rounds

Ability Cooldown

Precognition's cooldown (CD) in rounds depends on the user's willpower (WI) attribute:

WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD
9	675	15	525	21	375	27	225
10	650	16	500	22	350	28	200
11	625	17	475	23	325	29	175
12	600	18	450	24	300	30	150
13	575	19	425	25	275	31	125
14	550	20	400	26	250	32	100

Advantages & Disadvantages

This section is opinion-based. Your mileage may vary.

Advantages

• Allows the player to essentially "cheat death" so long as they are able to use Precognition before they die
• Allows the player to predict and potentially "reroll" some randomly determined outcomes, such as quest rewards
• Allows the player to cook with neutron flux without risking instant death
• Can allow the player to safely scout out dangerous areas

Disadvantages

• High cost at character generation
• Extremely long cooldown
• Some random outcomes are pre-determined and cannot be rerolled, such as the choices presented when buying a mutation (though there are workarounds for this specific case)
• Unreliable at preventing death from unforeseen circumstances, such as sources of instant death

Creatures with Precognition

No creatures have this mutation by default.