SpaceTimeNow

When facehuggers are dumb again, xenos got a way harder job than before. The facehuggers basicly took one crew out of the game (either temporary and completely) and added a new member to the xenos. This happend all over the station, arrivals, bar, hallways, basicly everywhere where you could hug unprotected grey tide. Xeno will have a much harder time increasing their numbers now, so you can expect them to be badly outnumbered most of time. Every dead xeno will make a big difference, so it only makes sense that they should be at an advantage in a 1 vs 1 against a decently armed crewmember. I agree with Fox that people need to change their thought process and accept the fact that xenos are actually dangerous and group up to deal with them.

I am not sure what we agreed on here, but in case some weapons still keep stuck in bodies: It should either be faster to pull out a weapon, the time you need to find/type that verb is annoyance enough, or make it so that pulling out a weapon deals some massive damage. Also there should be some very distinctive noice it makes when a weapon gets stuck. One round i just didn't notice it getting stuck and ran around with a hatchet in my head for like 3 minutes until i was wondering why i still take additional damage...

It's just some minor thing, but could we get a link on the forum and/or on nanotrasen.se that links to the new github? Like in the top bar next to the wiki link or something.

Geez, i tried to figure that shit out, dat coding though. Best i could come up with is hacking in something here: Paradise/code/modules/mob/say.dm /mob/proc/say_understands(var/mob/other,var/datum/language/speaking = null) if(!other) return 1 //Universal speak makes everything understandable, for obvious reasons. else if(other.universal_speak || src.universal_speak || src.universal_understand) return 1 else if (src.stat == 2) return 1 else if (speaking) //Language check. var/understood for(var/datum/language/L in src.languages) if(speaking.name == L.name) understood = 1 break if(understood || universal_speak) return 1 else return 0 else if(other.universal_speak || src.universal_speak) return 1 else if(isAI(src) && ispAI(other)) return 1 else if (istype(other, src.type) || istype(src, other.type)) return 1 else if (istype(other, /mob/living/carbon/human) && istype(src, /mob/living/carbon/human)) return 1 return 0 Something like this: if(!other) return 1 //Universal speak makes everything understandable, for obvious reasons. else if(other.universal_speak || src.universal_speak || src.universal_understand) return 1 else if (src.stat == 2) return 1 // --------------- NEW CODE START --------------- else if (!speaking && (ispAI(src) || ispAI(other))) return 1 else if (speaking && speaking.name == "Sol Common" && (ispAI(src) || ispAI(other)) ) return 1 // --------------- NEW CODE END --------------- else if (speaking) //Language check. Maybe someone wants to test that. It's super hacky, but what of that say code is not?

I won't roll up this issue again, you can read about it in the appropriate topic. As for the magclaws, you can still get one from EVA and you can also wear normal magboots.

The leap was removed purely because of balance reason, it gave a vox a really strong advantange above other players. Even in it's nerved from, you basicly could initiate a coin flip against any armed enemy near to you. Just leap him and grab his weapon faster than he could. Vox getting a improved (smaller) voxigen tank was indirectly a result of the recent changes to security equipment. I made a topic about how vox can no longer play security because sec officers lost many equipment slots (Webbing + smaller security belt). After some discussion the consent seemed to be, that we just don't have enough coders to balance every change twice, once for vox and once for the rest. So the Vox big tank requirement was removed and now the vox will be able to store as much as everyone else. To balance this buff, there had been made a cut-back somewhere else. So it would either be the ability to EVA or the magclaws. I am not particularty happy about the general state of the vox, especially since the magclaws were part of the EVA "gear" of vox and now you slip all the time in space. And i don't think it was necessary to remove the magclaws because Vox have been nerfed really harsh in the past and were never given anything in return. The Leap, suddenly having Blood and it's now impossible to clone vox.

Many other games have a win condition to destroy a core of some sort to counter one team just hideing away. Basicly makes one team to go to a certain location and starting a counter, the other team has x minutes to attack the one who started the counter. If the counter reaches 0 the "attackers" have won. This either forced around end if the timer is over or the other team has to arrive and fight. What we could do is that maybe every mature xeno (or only queens?) would have the abillity to "infest the bridge". So the xeno must reach the bridge where he could activate a verb that transforms him into some sort of nasty looking structure (think a starcraft zerg drone morphing into a building) that grows in like 5 or 10 minutes and spreads weeds for good measure. The Birdge shouts out a global alarm that its systems are beeing infected and starts the counter and the crew has to attack the structure. A few hits would abort the structure or the xeno that is morphing into the structure could abort building it willingly to fight or run. Infesting the bridge would disable the coms to call the shuttle.

The problem are allways the last few % of pressure. The last 20 kPa take almost as long as the 80 kPa before.I already made it a habit to start the cycle and hit the force airlock at about 20 - 30 kPa.

+1 karma for the admins

I agree to all of the above. For me the recent change was a step in the right direction to make them something that i could enjoy to play, because you can finally move yourself and are not just a random voice. But it needs more ways to interact with it's surroundings, like opening airlocks, radio channels, editing records and maybe more, to be interessting long term. (Beeing able to access cameras would be incredibly useful if you are a pAI for someone working in security) What i also want to add is that i dislike the fact that everyone can just pick you up. If the pAI has a master he should be able to lock himself in the mobile form so that nobody except for the master could just transform him back into a card.

The job descripions on the Wiki are terrible and suggest stupid/bannable behaviour. I do understand it's a joke, but for a Server that takes it rules serious, this is not a appropriate guide. http://nanotrasen.se/wiki/index.php/Jobs From what i know, this page had already been fixed a while ago but a SQL-Rollback put this crappy page up again.

But that's exactly my hope, you should only notice the difference if you have reason to be paranoid enough to take a good look at the itercoms around you. Edit: Or you can catch it the moment the AI turns the microphone on, if the AI is not smart enough to predict where you are going to talk and turns them on before you arrive.

I would have something to add that could restore that balance, it's actually a thing that bothered me for quite a while. A intercom has this interessting sprite with buttons and lights and stuff. I think this lights should totally display the settings of the microphone and speakers. So a skilled player could see the intercom state from just looking at the sprite. It needs to be small subtle change to the sprite that you only notice if you are consciously looking for it. Like the green light been shifted a few pixels to the right when the microphone is on.

Since we are just throwing around ideas here: Force field Everyone that goes SSD will be surrounded by a weak force field, the field is strong enough to withstand crowbar hits, but not laser fire. Als long as the forcefield is intact the body cannot be looted, or moved or anything. There is a new control computer in the new cryo drom room (more about the room, further down) where you can turn this forcefields on and off. Teleport devices Janitors and/or Heads of Staff will get a teleport SSDs into cryo sleep device, if it's used on a SSD body it will basicly teleport the body into a availiable cryo sleeper. (maybe a emagged one would also teleport dead bodies?). Additionally there needs to be a teleport pad somewhere in the droms that everyone could use to teleport themselfs into cryo. Cryo room rework The Cryo room itself will be made a high security area. Maybe head of staff access or something. The walls will be reinforced and the area should look a lot more like a medbay/science-ish area. Maybe use a modifed cloning pod or medbay cryo sprite and not a sleeper one. The Cryo room will house the Cryo pods, the computer used for shieldng SSDs and the retivie SSD item station. Dealing with SSDs in an IC manner The bodys are automaticly protected by a weak forcefield and if you can destroy the forcefield you are allowed to loot. Allowed from an OOC point of view, ingame it would be considered a major crime to destroy one of this forcefields (perma brig / execution). This makes this whole process a lot cleaner. Geared antags could still retieve valueable stuff from SSD head of staff via destroying the forcefields with lasers or something of similar strength. Or raid the cryo dorms for the items they need to steal. Additional thoughts: - Once a person is inside Cryo only he himself could get his body out. Like reconnecting after you lost your internet connection or something. - Maybe bodies that dissappear in cryo sleep will be also transformed into bio mass for cloning? - The force field computer in the cryo room could also have a function to just teleport in every body that has been afk for like 5 or 10 minutes. (enough time for antags to use the body but also shot enough to keep the server clean of SSDs) So what's the point of all this? - Cryo would be much cooler, a secure science -ish area. - There is no more need for a OOC rule that dissallows looting SSDs. - The ease of use for a Head of Staff to just walk around his department and just teleport SSDs into cryo with his handy teleport device will lead to much more re-opened spots for other players. And the janitor will teleport the guys in the hallways and bar and stuff. -Not everyone can just walk into cryo and retrieve two sets of full security gear from the retrieve item machine. But people could still break in and steal it, like rev rounds or something. The command and security is supposed to protect that cryo area. I know this would mean some more extensive coding work, but i think it would be highly worth it, since it would not only a improve gameplay but also reduce work for the admins and helps freeing up new job slots.

Adding my thoughts to this, since i actually enjoy playing xenos. But the hidden kind of xeno not the full frontal approach xeno gamemode. I think it's kind of fun, building a small base somewhere in maintenance and snack the poor fellows walking by, until you're strong enough to be more offensive. But there are two major problems with this. First, the current map. Maintenance has become very small and short, there are very little parts that don't serve particular function. There basicly is no more hidden hiding place, except maybe for the incinerator. Since more and more departments have been just been patchworked onto the station, a lot of maintenance got cut by hallways, like to the mechanic workshop, or the maintenance between science and medbay. Leaving the xenos with very little space and threatened from all sides. Additionally the server population can get very high, so you can expect every area that serves a purpose to be occupied by the crew. The second is that xenos have no way to cut coms. If the attacked human is only half retarded, then he will probably get a coms scream off: "Help xenos!". At this point you are f'ed, because security just raids the fully stocked armory and blasts you away. Maybe add a "abillity" to xenos to interrupt coms, that just sets all headsets in a certain arrea to not transmitting, like the singulairty does when you come to close it. So to get the real xeno experience going again, i think the map needs to change and add a lot more semi useless areas (like the bar) where you can to hidden stuff and xenos should maybe get a way to iterrupt nearby headsets. Regarding the xeno gamemode in particular: - Playing the Xeno AI is incredibly boring. I don't even know where to begin. It's a half finished "job" that is more like a punishment. - The Xeno borg doesn't really fit into the gamemode, he can't even recharge in a normal xeno nest, but at least he is somewhat usefull. - The fact that normal borgs and AI use the same :b as the Xeno ones + the super obvious names like Xeno borg and Xeno AI destroy every stealth approach. - The multi tile sprites look cool but are a pain in the ass to deal with, you hit yourself way to often. tl;dr: Scratch the xeno gamemode completely and make the good old hidden xeno playstyle viable again.

Telescience is very overpowered, especially if people note the coordinates of all the important items or rooms. I don't think that tuneing the difficulty would do any good. It cannot be a mathematical problem, certain people will find it to easy other to difficult and some will just make or search for a tool to get the job done, the mechanic needs to change somehow. Currently i have no good idea how it could be changed. Maybe make it a matter of timing, or maybe you need to shove in certain materials like glass, metal, plasma ... to steer on what coordinates you are aiming?

While i am thinking about it, it is quite possible that i just don't have a backpack selected on my saved character. In which case i would be a giant derp. I will try again today and report back. Edit: Derpiness confirmed.

Basicly my main point here is to shifting the default of targeting head to a default of targeting chest, because it would only make sense and not every stupid fight would end with at least braindamage or a broken skull. But to make the "non default" options somewhat viable and interessting so they should be able to provoke sideffects. (Dropping weapons, activate the flashbang in the officers hand, all the cool stuff that could be done with this) I am mainly talking about lethal weapons here, where you shoot your taser or hit with your baton is indifferent.

Sure, haveing a actual viable option to ask the heads for approval puts a little pressure on the HoP, but would it really be that bad? The regular good guy HoP would have nothing to worry about. He could wait for the results and if one head does not reply he would make the decision himself. Absolutly nothing wrong with that. Clean, simple, easy. But it would finally allow a CMO to say: Listen buddy, you gave everyone access to my department and everything is complete chaos, i have never approved that, what's up with that? Right now it's just generally assumed by almost everyone that paperwork or getting approval has not to be done because it's to much effort. Right now the CMO could go to the Captain and 9 out of 10 Captains would not give a flying fuck. I think the sweet spot is somewhere inbetween "Getting approval not beeing a viable option" and "The HoP can't do anything without approval of the department heads"

I was thinking about how SS13 combat could be improved. Right now it seems to me that if you are really going for the kill you can basicly default to attacking the head. Tell me if i am wrong, but i think if someone has a helmet, it's save to assume that he will be also wearing a body armor. So there might be a use in shooting in the leg but since the head has so many side effects that can appear (like brain damage, blurry vision and stuff) it's a save bet to go for the head. Then again i do not get into very much PVP because i usually don't play antags myself. So i my "PVP" is more like the usual security stunning people and not actually going for a kill. I would like to ask you for your experience with combat in SS13. (Range and Melee) But i think there should be emphasis on where you aim at on your target. - Like aim for the right hand to have a chance to shoot his weapon out of his hand. - Aim for the leg to have a chance to make him drop on the floor. I know that someone would drop on the floor when you break both legs, but the amount of shots/attacks that would need, would probably better spend on the head to just kill him. Everything other than the center mass (the body) should not be an auto hit. Moving limbs are not easy to hit, so if i want to go for "crit damge" i am for the head, if i want to go for chance of him dropping on the floor i go for legs and if i just flat out want to kill him i go for the chest. So many people defaulting for the head (me probably included) is just silly, every shooting instructor would tell you to aim for the body. Your target is moving, you are breathing and a head is a rather small target compared to the body. It would make much more sense to force people to default for the chest (auto hits) and if they want to disable the go for hands, arms, legs and if they feel lucky and want crit they go for the head. tl;dr: Everything other than the chest should not be an auto hit. But going for limbs has a chance to disable the opponent and a shot to the head does extra damage. Discuss.

I would propose a different approach to keep some of the ideas in a changed form, in order to reduce unnecessary paperwork and coms discusions: Additionally i tried to keep the programming work manageable and not make it to complex. Change to visitor ID Terminal: Add the abilitly to the visitor ID terminal to also change access on an exsisting ID Card. Like the HoP ID computer it will require two IDs in this this case. One to apply the access to and one to authorize giving the access. You can only add (never remove) rights to the recieving ID that are present on the authorizing ID. So the CMO could give one of his doctors chemistry access or a security officer basic medbay access. I mean it's the CMOs department he should be able to give access. This system could be balanced further by only allowing Head of Staff IDs to be a authorizing id (Check for bridge access or something) otherweise the chemist could give a medical doctor chemistry access. The HoPs terminal keeps completly untouched, he can still apply and remove right as he pleases, but he now has the ability to say, if you want further access, go to the corresponding department head. No need for back and forth communication between the HoP and corresponding department head. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Semi automated access or job change request to Head of Staffs Additionally there could be a list in the HoPs computer menu (on the same screen where he picks the access rights) which lists: Captain Chief Engineer Chief Medical Officer Research Director Head of Security Head of Personell When the HoP hits the CMO button the Job title will go yellow (pending) and the CMO will recive a request to authorize. This message pops up in a new app on the CMO PDA and the message could include new job title, name of the person and list all the access granted. The CMO can now hit accept or deny which will turn the job tile on the HoP computer either Green or Red. So if there would be a sec officer requesting access to engineering and medical, the HoP could just change the access and hit Chief Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, Head of Security and wait until the names turn either green or red. The HoP gets the approval in a matter of seconds and the Heads of Staff are also notifed about the ID change. This functionality is 100% optional. The HoP could overrule the other Heads desicions if he seems fit and hand out the ID, or he doesn't have to send the requests in the first place. It's just a neat function for the HoP to gather the opions of the other Heads of staff via a small vote. This would remove the amount of paperwork and explanation via coms. Paperwork is very clunky and time intensive for the HoP and the poor guy who has to run to 2 or 3 different heads of staff and has huge problems to actually reaching Heads to get a signature. This could all be avoided.

Yep i hate that. I think it checks if there is a wall or any other blocking object between your character and the tile where you want to move the canister. But i think it's actually kinda neat that you can't push multiple objects, it gives you the abillity to barricade an airlock and the guys trying to get in have to remove the barricade one by one. With the feature that Bone White mentioned you should be able to get yourself out of all situations you got yourself stuck in.

I allways though that the atmos problems in telescience are supposed to be some kind of soft cap an how frequent you can teleport stuff around. If that's not the case then the teleporter roum should just get 4 vents and 4 scrubbers. that should do a lot of work for that small room. A windoor airlocksystem wouldn't hur either, but i am not sure if the windoor wouldn't burst to easily.

As requested, i am taking this back to this thread: Please post this in the appropriate thread instead of hijacking in the future. That said, Vox should spawn with backpacks. All backpack spawning is handled by the jobs datums; since they no longer spawn with a tank on their back, they'll now spawn in with whatever backpack their job gives them. For civilians (the only job that intentionally starts with a plastic bag), the bag is equipped in the right hand, where as the new oxygen tank is equipped in the left. With this change, the only individuals that should be starting with bags (besides civilians) are Unathi and Tajaran for their gloves and shoes restriction. I am not sure if you meant that you made additional changes after my comment or not. The last time i logged in was like 16 - ish hours ago. At this point i spawned two rounds as civ vox and started with the following gear: - No plastic bag (belt slot empty) - a box (with mask + small blue tank + injector) in one hand - the new voxigen tank in the other hand - Backpack slot empty For whatever reason vox don't get a backpack. The the game can't put the box in the backpack and places in one hand. Next, the vox gets his new tank in the other hand. At this point both hands are full and the plastic bag can't be places on the character and just poofs. (plastic bags were allways put in the hand not the belt slot) I can only assume that's what happens from observation, i haven't checked the code. What i do know for certain is that not having a backpack will also result in not getting certain jobs related items like the tele baton.

I will just go ahead and assume it's by design that HoPs don't get default access to engineering and have the engineering access only to access APCs. Marking this as Resolved