Sheakhan

I like the idea of making Loyalty Implants rarer. Then again, I also like the idea of insta-job banning anyone who violates SoP, fails to follow Space Law, or is general shit as Security.

Singuloth is completely safe. I don't know how many times I have to tell you people, if you just feed it one or two greyshirts during the shift, it won't break containment.

This reminds me of the time Comrade Clown did it first.

Why can't I like posts?

Maybe, but the implant is your chance to escape being executed. It's your second chance. If you fuck up again, maybe it's just not your shift. Like I said, I get keeping people in the game, but at some point it becomes silly, IC, to extend that courtesy. Sure, the implanted person can't actively do anything to remove it, or passively allow another to do so. But all it takes is a stun baton and handcuffs to subdue someone long enough to put them out and surgically remove it.

Shit, check this bidness out: Somewhat random ore generation. Potential for ruins, gas pockets, corpses of miners past (with sweet loot), wrecked pods, damaged mechs, rare gear stashes, etc. Basically populate the area with one or two sweet little random secrets every round. Incorporate the asteroid into the station. The worst part about mining is the travel back and forth, being completely isolated, and how clunky transport is. Build the station into a sizeable asteroid? Sounds genius to me, and now look! You have a whole new Z-Level to mess with that you're no longer using. Monsters? Eh, maybe VERY rarely. I recall one mining station (here? Somewhere else? It was over a year ago) that had a randomly spawning structure that, when broken into either had some sort of loot or a gorram face hugger! Yikes! A little danger is good, but huge pockets of monsters is a death sentence. Increase the mining payout, increase the time it takes to dig rocks out, maybe add a fancy mining mulebot. Bam. Life is good.

I get that we're trying to keep people in the game and all, but loyalty implants seem like a reality breaking method of doing so. If I'm an experience Captain or HoS, I know that shit can happen. Someone can clone my implanted ex-con, or the changeling I implanted could end up getting a hand from one of his fellow monstrosities and have the implant removed. A syndicate operative could be rescued and have the implant purged. The intelligent choice when faced with what to do with a traitor in need of punishment is to execute them. Remove the possibility of them returning as a problem. Injection, burn the body, scatter the ashes. Problem solved, problem staying solved. Now, if Loyalty Implants were 100% reliable, lethally detonated upon attempted removal, and prevented cloning I could definitely get behind them as a character in a head of staff position.

If I was captain and had to decide punishment, I'd go execution every time. Don't take any chances.

Idiot. It IS. "Loyalty Implants: Can be applied instead of permabrigging or execution. For any lesser charge, consent is required."

If it does exist, it should be in the Space Law page. Anywhere else is just stupid.

So... what I get out of this is: "I'd rather be executed immediately than loyalty implanted." Here's the thing: Currently Space Law has ONE punishment for treason: Death. That's it, end of story. Traitors get executed. Vampires count as traitors, Changelings count as traitors, Wizards are traitors. All of them get death. The loyalty implant isn't supposed to be a punishment for treason, it's a method of forcing your secrets out prior to your execution. If you're captured on evidence and loyalty implanted, your round is already over and the fact that loyalty implants are supposed to be used to allow antags who fail to continue playing is ridiculous with our current space law. Or more precisely, they aren't supposed to be used to allow antags to keep playing. If they were, then Space Law and SOP would say as much. It's like giving a quadriplegic running shoes, a concept without any traction. All of that aside, EVEN if space law was adjusted to allow loyalty implanted antags to live, the implant itself would prevent you from removing it. (Not that half of the people who play security ever follow Space Law when it comes to punishing antags anyway, which should really start being harshly scrutinized.) So, you want Space Law changed AND Loyalty Implants nerfed? Because you don't like being implanted for the few minutes leading up to your execution? (Assuming, once again, that security and command do what Space Law says they should do?) Antag is a get good or get dead sort of deal. If you don't like being implanted, don't get caught. All of that aside, if we changed Space Law to allow Loyalty Implanting instead of execution for treason we would have to guarantee that Loyalty Implants were reliable. Let's face it, if you were the Captain would you choose to Execute the jackass who just tried to shoot you in the face, or would you stuff a fail-prone, easily removed Loyalty Implant in his skull? I'll give you a hint: Natural selection would remove the latter sort of mindset from the gene pool fairly quickly. So if loyalty implants were made an alternative to execution, AND made easily circumvented, nobody would use them. If they were made an alternative to execution and incredibly difficult to circumvent you wouldn't get what you want to the same degree and while I can't speak for others, I still wouldn't use them. Why opt for the almost sure solution when you have the certainty of execution as your other choice?

It's balanced as fuck currently, due to the sec pod being utterly, 100% useless for anything involving interaction with other players.

I humbly accept the task of cataloging all english swear words for use with this suggestion. Qualifications: Sailor, Irish, Drunk.

Use the filing cabinet like a normal human being. Also; Creativity is the bane of bureaucracy.

Can I be an antag?

Going back to fix the pod is well and fine, but when you're ordered to head out to find the DJ station to apprehend a criminal spewing anti-NT propaganda, you'll run into a couple of issues: The first being the complete inability to navigate space (in a futuristic setting where such things would be necessary to, say, placing a giant corporate research station in space), and the second being that entering the DJ station, or exploring areas you do encounter is impossible without either all-access, or a toolbelt with a full array of tools. Add onto that the guaranteed death that greets you if you run into the syndicate hideout due to the pod's inability to deal with the turrets, your lack of defense against the odd Space Carp or hostile escaped criminal, and your lack of ability to reliably head back to the station in the event that shit goes south and you've got a neglected security officer whose only useful contribution to a round is -possibly- noticing illegal shit happening through windows on the outside of the station and reporting it in as he stands ill-equipped to dispense justice on his own. Pod Pilot is an awesome job still, but lacks several things that I would consider necessary to make the job actually functional and useful to the crew and station. It's fun, but ultimately pointless.

My life is now complete.

I guess now that you mention it, the only civilian I play never went into maintenance tunnels anyway. Weird.

Nevermind. Looks like VASSAL doesn't really have official MTG support.

I found what I was talking about, Magic Workstation. However I might check out VASSAL as well, especially if it's more active.

I've played on a few servers with limited maintenance access. From a realistic standpoint, there is NO reason for most jobs to have it. Mechanics, Engineers, Heads, Security, Paramedic, Janitor. That's about the extent of who should be given maintenance access right off the bat. From a gameplay standpoint, I've made a cute little pro/con list: Pros of having maintenance access limits: -Realism -Limits ability of antags to do shady shit in the tunnels -Keeps maintenance foot traffic to a minimum for those who need to use them -Forces a more interactive playstyle with people using hallways for their intended purpose -Makes the revoking of maintenance access restrictions during radiation fields make sense -Makes maintenance passages safer on the whole -Restricts griefing to easily noticeable locations -Keeps nutjobs from stealing fuel tanks all the time -Keeps random people from swiping tools out of the tunnels so they are there when needed Cons: -Makes it harder for medical to get to people expeditiously or at all if they go down in maintenance passages -Buffs AI supercop by limiting number of camera-less places to do shady shit. -Limits access to fuel tanks to gen. pop during times of crisis; ie: blob rounds or biomass infestations -Severely limits the amount of interesting things for Civilians to do. -Makes traversing the station less efficient -Removes apprehension when entering maintenance passages, less likely to run into antags -Promotes hacking doors/breaking down walls to enter maintenance -Increases security's responsibility, as now anyone without maintenance access in the tunnels is trespassing. -Intensifies hull breach danger level by limiting the alternative routes between two points in the event the main passage is dangerous/depressurized. I'm on the fence here. On one hand, I've dealt with it before and it was not enjoyable as a Civilian (which promotes civilians getting a fuckin' job like an adult). On the other hand, it might help out with our current greytide issues, seriously limiting the stupid shit civilians can get up to, and keeping the maintenance passages as a business only area. If it were up to me, I'd implement it and start taking feedback/votes after a few days to see how it was received and how well the server functioned with limited access. Note: Upon reflection (for two seconds) I think we should implement taking Civilian maintenance access away first and foremost, entirely due to the current greytide issues.

Shit... What was that program that gives you access to all the cards after downloading the appropriate packages, and allows online play lobby-style with strangers? I have decks to playtest!

You NEED to be able to place cigarettes behind your ear. Some stations let you place ANYTHING small behind your ear, that's silliness. Cigarettes. That's all I ask. If you're feeling froggy here are some other things that make sense: -Scalpels -Crayons -Bits of Wire -Spliffs -Fingers -Cheap Lighters -Rolling paper -Cautery -Syringes -Implanters -Playing Cards -Coins (In, rather than behind. MAGIC!) etc. You get the idea. I really only care about cigarettes though.

True. Some of the issues mentioned herein aren't subject to that issue, however. Additionally, upon reflection, space needs more Pod relevant stuff. More carps, wandering drones, a way to destroy those goddamned machine gun turrets before they ruin the pod or kill the unwary sec pod pilot.

Just a few things I think the Pod Pilot needs: 1. A damned tool belt. He starts with tools for working on his pod, but if you plan on doing long range recon or extended patrols you're boned unless you want to take up valuable backpack space with your crowbar and power cell. 2. Remove JetPack OR make it an exo-suit attachable version. If I recall correctly there is an O2 jetpack that serves as both internals and mobility and can be attached like an O2 tank. If you want the jetpack as a sec pod pilot you have to choose to either wear your security belt, not carry any tools, and leave your backup power cell behind OR you can choose to carry a tool belt (if you snag one fast enough) and not have any security related equipment. I know the JetPack is designed to be worn in the back slot, but for this particular job it makes more sense to just carry a fire extinguisher and hope you never need it. 3. Pod weapons need more variety and utility. I'm sure there are efforts being made to eventually add new weapon options for the pod via R&D/Robotics but right now the only weapons you get are absolutely 100% useless except in the most unlikely of circumstances. The pod tasers cannot shoot through windows, and have no effect on other pods, drones, space carp, or turrets. The only time I can see them being useful is if some chucklenut is playing the EVA game, or if you randomly stumble across the nukeops in transit. I'd recommend either letting the taser short out machines so it can be useful in dealing with other pods and drones or be buffed to shoot through windows so it can be used to subdue criminals while an interior sec team moves to make the arrest. I would also like to see something like an E-Gun weapon for the pods at some point, allowing for stun/kill options with more versatility. 5. Pod Storage. You could alleviate issues 1 & 2 by simply allowing players to store a few items in the pod, either through a UI like the backpack, or through the same functionality that keeps track of the power cell and weapon system. 6. Shift+Clicking and right click examining don't work while piloting the pod, which can make for some issues when trying to identify personnel through windows, or when trying to examine points of interest in space. 7. Navigation. I'm not sure what it entails, but holy crap, the pod pilot needs a way to get back to the station reliably. Any self-respecting aerospace engineer would include a navigations system in anything they built. It's vital. Maybe allow a UI option to set the destination so that the next Z-Level transition is to wherever you've set your navigation computer to. Fly in one direction, BAM you're at your destination. Give the pod a few options for preset destinations (but not everything, some things should be discovered by chance) and improve the quality of life for sec pilots everywhere.