Your use case can be achieved with CSS.
Change .category-NAME
to the category you’re targeting.
.category-NAME {
// hide reply buttons
button.reply,
.timeline-footer-controls button.create,
.topic-footer-main-buttons button.create {
display: none;
}
// just in case
&:not(.staff) & {
.topic-post:not(:first-of-type),
.time-gap {
display: none;
}
}
}
This will remove any reply button from the posts in the selected category.
The use case in the OP requires something more intensive