I've been trying for a while now but even after a dozen attachments (both defeats and mutual symbiosis) it always gets rid of its scales and converts to your skin type. Is it actually a thing and I've been getting really unlucky or am I just wrong?
According to the old Flash code, it doesn't give the Scaled flag by default; however, if you already have a scaled tail and join with it voluntarily, it will keep the Scaled flag (well, actually, it removes all the flags, but re-adds certain ones, including Scaled). However, tail-genitals were re-worked during and after the JS conversion, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of this information.
According to the old Flash code, it doesn't give the Scaled flag by default; however, if you already have a scaled tail and join with it voluntarily, it will keep the Scaled flag (well, actually, it removes all the flags, but re-adds certain ones, including Scaled). However, tail-genitals were re-worked during and after the JS conversion, so I can't guarantee the accuracy of this information.
Yeah I went and gave myself a few tails to try and it does still work. Just a shame that I can't get something like what Shade has. Using save editor to add scales to the cunt tail directly however seems to invalidate it as a parasite and just converts it to a normal tail instead with genitals. Maybe there are some weird code in the background that dictates that instead of flags.
That might be something with the save editor, or it could have something to do with the tail-genital rework, or maybe the save editor wasn't updated to properly reflect the tail-genital rework; I've no idea. If you're comfortable using the console, pc.addTailFlag(GLOBAL.FLAG_SCALED) should be safe.
And yeah, what Shade has is due to her shooting the cuntsnake as it was fusing with her, interrupting the process and causing it to not fuse completely or even properly. Not something Steele would either want (if willing) or be able (if unwilling) to do if they get a cuntsnake tail.