Keroman

That would certainly be an improvement over /tg/'s code, and certainly something I wouldn't mind being added as well. It would likely necessitate some new code being written, but probably not a ton.

I've seen on /tg/ that when minerals are deposited into the ore redemption machine it automatically sends a message to Science via the messaging consoles spread throughout the departments. The console beeps and displays the message, "New minerals are ready!" for anyone who can see the console, and when you check the console there's a message from Cargo stating what minerals are available. Sometimes this does result in multiple beeps in a row as many different minerals are added to the machine, so that could be slightly annoying. I'm all for Sci and Cargo communicating but there are definitely times when someone drops the ball and Science is waiting for materials while the ore machine is full as fuck. While I don't know what part of the code makes it work I'm sure if someone who was more familiar with code in general looked into it it would simply be a matter of copying from the /tg/ git and pasting into the Paradise one. No need to code anything from scratch. To be completely fair this is only of moderate usefulness. If Cargo's on the ball they'll alert Sci whenever a load of materials comes in. If Sci is on the ball they'll have someone checking the ore redemption machine on a regular basis. If both departments are performing well then it's a beautiful sight to behold. I think this probably a good low-stress, low-priority project for whoever feels like hunting down the proper code to make it work.

Welp, it happened again. I'm getting ready to rush to the bridge. CE asks for a bag of holding so I grab him one, think "Oh, HoP might need one too" since we're possibly going into danger and might need to carry stuff. I swear I hit q to drop the first bag and then clicked on the second one, but nooooo, immediate singulo. I'm just glad it happened at the end of the round... I fully admit fault here but in all fairness I was in a stressful situation with talk of traitors running around and command staff dying left and right. I'll do my best to not have it happen again but when the situation turns to shit caution can fall by the wayside all too easily.

Never been brig'd or a Sec officer for any noteworthy amount of time but yes. Very yes. If a player gets taken out of the game by dying that's one thing - ghost around and have fun or spawn in as something else - but if they get jailed they just have to sit there for however long? Boo, not cool, disqualified. Adkins find a layout you're comfy with and implement plz!

I would have no problem with setting up a chem dispenser in the brig physician's office if asked while I'm working in Science. Just let me get research done first - takes like 30 minutes if the miners get us the right materials. There's usually several Scientists at any given time, some with little to do but sit around and wait for research to be done. If the RD is on top of things he could grab a Scientist who's idle by the collar and yell at him to get to work setting up equipment for people who need it. I guess it really depends on who's working in Science on any given shift. I think the best way to go about it is to either send a request via the messaging console or via chain-of-command communication, i.e. Brig Physicion talks to HoS talks to RD talks to non-busy Scientist who then gets the job done. The more people can interact between departments the more fun it is. Sometimes you get an easygoing crewmember who's fine with helping out other departments without hassle (although that leaves open the possibility of them inadverdantly assisting a traitor!) and sometimes you get a hardass who demands the proper paperwork in triplicate sent to all parties and department heads involved. Either way it makes things interesting!

Ha, fair enough. And I've never gotten into plant splicing in botany but it always seemed pretty complicated. Maybe I should give the guide a closer look. As far as changes to Xenobio and the slimes, well, all I would really need to be happy is the satchel item we discussed in the other thread.

I get what you're saying regarding using a little of something to get more of the same and certainly how that can make the work dependent on other jobs providing the right materials. Maybe we could simplify it to function more like botany (ha, simple botany, I fuckin' wish) and just use chemicals from the science Chem lab? We have slime analyzers too that absolutely never get used, but maybe if we putzed around with the idea of injecting chemicals which then change the percentage chance of a specific color slime spawning that would be easier than trying to come up with a long-ass list of items to feed to them. There's always unstable mutagen in the banana stand.

I definitely don't mind more slimes being added. What I would like to see, as well, is the ability for us to feed other creatures or even objects to slimes to potentially change what they split into. Let's say you add as "sickly green slime" which, when killed and processed gives an extract that then gives a (inert) viral culture upon being injected with blood. If I have a grey slime that I want to turn into that sickly green slime maybe I have to go beg the virologist for one of his starting virus samples at the start of the round. He's only got 3 but he might give one up at the prospect of potentially getting more back a little while later. Another example might then be the purple and dark purple slimes. Maybe I have to inject the living grey slime with liquid plasma and that will increase the chance that it splits into a purple slime. Inject the purple slime with even more plasma and it will have an increased chance to split into a dark purple slime. When you have a slime of a specific color that splits into 4 it might normally go like this: Each new slime has a 25% chance to be a color of the next tier, 25% chance to be a color of the previous tier, %50 chance to stay the same color as the slime it split from. If you feed a slime the right item maybe the splitting process would look more like this: Each new slime has a 25% chance to stay the same color, 25% chance to be a color of the next tier (not related to the food type), and 50% chance to be a color of the slime determined by the type of food it is given. I imagine, however, that that would take a ton of work... The benefit is that Xenobio would no longer be essentially the same process over and over. Maybe one round you have a great Cargo crew and the miners are hauling all sorts of materials back to Science, so Xenobio could focus more on the slimes that don't give materials. Maybe one round you have a fairly robust virologist who's kicking ass at his job but needs a few more virus slides? Say no more, Xenobio's got you covered. I think it would be really cool for an efficient Xenobio department to be able to supply most or all of the station, maybe not with one or two staff members but with 3 of them each working towards specific slimes, sure. Also, if we're going to bump up the number of slimes we definitely need more cages, or a way to store slimes outside of cages without killing them. I'm thinking something that functions similar to an operating table (drag entity onto table, entity can't move around or act) but maybe something that can be constructed with materials in-house and dragged around. I suppose we could just use lockers but it's tricky to wrangle more than one slime into a locker at a time.

I agree 100% with Tauka's post. I would pay 5-10 Karma to be listed as an instructor for the Science department. It's possible that such a role could actually generate more Karma for the instructor, assuming the player being taught remembers they have Karma to spend.

What if we flipped it around? Make it so a BoH in a BoH doesn't spawn a singulo until the person has used ahelp to see if it's an appropriate time for it. Most of the time a Mod will likely be able to find a different course of action for the person and the few times when it's acceptable to spawn a singulo an Admin activates it. In-game it can be chalked up to the fact that bluespace tech is unpredictable so it doesn't always cause a singulo.

Here's a thought, and I'd like to know what you guys think. Now that I type it out like that it sounds very much like a de-facto whitelist which I didn't really intend. Forget that idea. Maybe add some code so that anybody can set themselves as an "Instructor" in the character setup screen, kind of like how you can set your relationship with NanoTrasen. You choose to show up as an instructor and in-game it shows in the Crew Manifest next to their job title like this: Maxwell Edison (Scientist - Instructor) That way players who want to instruct are super easy to find, but players who'd rather just be left alone won't have to worry as much about getting bothered by new players with questions about a job. Or maybe it could be as simple as adding a new news feed to one of the news computers listing players who are willing to give instruction. You know what? I'm going to start doing that when I play. I'll open up a news feed for anyone to post to to state what department they're in and that they're willing to give lessons to new players. No new code needed at all. Now if there's a holodeck with learning programs I could imagine someone asking for an instructor to come show them how a job works just to get them alone for antagonist purposes. As long as the Instructor player lets someone else know where they'll be and who they'll be with it should be relatively safe. You could also stipulate in the rules that holodeck training is not to be used by antagonists to trick their target in any way, but honestly I think it should be up to the Instructor to cover their own ass in case.

How does it feel to be my new favorite person? I mean I have a new favorite person like every other day but right now? It's all you.

I'll be honest, I'm legit more afraid of the Chef role than I am of working in Virology or something equally dangerous. What if everyone makes fun of my cooking skills? The horror! For reals, though, thanks for taking on the chef job so players like me don't have to. It seems nearly as complicated as Chemistry! Feel free to say hi if you see me around as Maxwell Edison!

I agree that it's overkill in general. Aren't there some antags who have objectives to cause more damage or kill more people than just the Syndicates? I'll freely admit to not being especially familiar with most antag roles. Also, I definitely saw a traitor the other day set off a suicide bomb in escape at the end of the round before ever being attacked. It was really from way out of nowhere.

The problem with doing away with the singularity spawning effect entirely is that that's a viable tool for traitors to use for certain objectives, even if makes the server machine billow out black smoke. Like I said, I feel like putting something else into one bag of holding in addition to the another bag of holding would make sense. Some sort of power or energy source that can feed a fledgling singularity enough to grow.

Yeah, I guess I was lucky that I was mid traitor round when I accidentally set mine loose, even if it did prevent me from completing one out of two objectives. Mods told me I was fine but that in the future I should be more careful when handling the bags and to ahelp before intentionally creating one since it lags the server so badly.

A bit older than the usual gamer? I'm almost 30 and video games are still the biggest time sink in my life. I've definitely seen you around on board. I play Maxwell Edison and several variations (MAX Ed-OS-n and Tajaran Maxwell Edison) so feel free to say hi in-game. If you ever need help in Xenobio or Robotics I'm glad to lend a hand. Once I decide to try Detective I'll probably prod you with a few questions here or there. See you 'round!

You discovered Xenoarchaeology, actually! Scientists have a shuttle that takes them there. As far as I know that stuff doesn't work with Xenobiology but honestly I'm willing to give it a go. I'd love to try out Xenoarchaeology too but the code is currently nonfunctional so whenever someone asks about it in-game I'm like, "The equipment's on the outpost but it's not hooked up or calibrated." Too bad because the few guides that I've found make it seem interesting enough, even if a little tedious. Hopefully when it's active the rewards are worth it and it doesn't turn out to be another RNG POS like the EXPERIMENTor is. I swear that thing is designed to explode if someone so much as thinks too loudly near it.

Ha, well maybe you can show me a thing or two about the chemlab or telesci. I can show you how to get tons of bluespace crystals from Xenobio for use in telescience, though it's not anything the Xenobio guide wouldn't show you. I just have a few tricks I use to breed and process slimes as quick as possible.

I'm all for adding in new slime colors. Also there is functional code out there for a sentience potion obtained via slimes which would allow ghosts to spawn into any non-hostile mob - specifically I'm thinking the docile ones created using gold slime extracts and an injection of blood.

Heya, Maxwell Edison here. You may also seen me around as an IPC by the name of MAX Ed-OS-n. Viva Synthetica! I've definitely spotted you a few times. I don't remember what you usually do in Science but I generally specialize in Robotics or Xenobio so if you need help with either of those I'm always willing. It sounds like you've been around about as long as me, though I was away on vacation for two weeks in Peru and feeling the 2Dspessmens withdrawal.

I haven't unlocked Slime People yet as a race but I'm definitely interested after reading about them here. I thought I'd chime in with an idea. What if Slime People could absorb a small amount of nutrients from slime mobs like the ones in Xenobio? I'm a big proponent of giving that department more to do as I spend plenty of time there and it saddens me when I've got enough metal, plasteel, and plasma sheets to keep the whole station in good repair but nobody comes around asking for any. In terms of giving non-human races a different option for healing or gaining nutrients I would simply point out Tajarans' mice-eating and IPCs welding or wiring minor damage away. If a Slime Person needs brute healing but Medbay is too busy because somebody accidentally blew up Chem by mixing up something volatile then they could instead request a few dead slime from Xenobio which they could absorb to recover, say 10-20 brute damage each. Maybe even a little toxin damage as the new slime added to to their body mass lowers the ratio of damaged-to-undamaged tissue. If the amount of healing is reasonable I can't see it being especially OP. And unless the Slime Person worked in Science they would have to cut a deal with the Xenobiologists to get hold of the slimes in the first place.

I have to say that while I don't think the Bag of Holding (or Belt of Holding, Mining Satchel of Holding, Janitor's Trash Bag of Holding, etc.) should be removed there should absolutely be some tweaks to the functionality of the items. Maybe trying to put one inside another gives you a message that, "The Bag of Holding seems to resist being put inside the Bag of Holding!" but if you try again you can overcome the resistance, much like you can push together two magnets of the same polarity despite the resistance (if they're weak enough magnets). Alternately maybe instead of spawning a singularity with just one bag inside another bag what if there needs to be something else in the "containing" bag? Maybe some plasma? A source of radiation? Something to jumpstart the singularity rather than just, "WELP here's two bluespace bags in close contact so I guess it's showtime!" Another option is for any item "of Holding" is locked from being created in the protolathe. That way only department heads with the correct access can make them. Then if someone gets their hands on two it's as much the RD's fault as the person who actively put one inside the other. As it stands everybody in Science short of the Roboticists have the ability to make them once the correct research level is reached. I'm saying this all as a self-confessed player who accidentally let a singulo loose a few nights ago right near the end of a relatively quiet shift. I'm still crazy sorry about all that.

Well I'm glad there's at least confirmation that the code for it would be easy. If it takes a while to actually make it into the game, well, no big deal. It seems like there's really only a few people on the server who actually enjoy playing Xenobio anyways.

So there's already an item in the game called the Scientist Satchel. I'm not 100% sure what it does, but I know what it doesn't do, and that's picking up slime extracts. When all 7 cages in Xenobio are full and all the slimes just split you've got 28 baby slimes to deal with. Killing them one by one is an ordeal in itself (made slightly easier if the RD is willing to send down a temperature gun) but then feeding them into he slime processor and collecting the extracts is a whole other level of menial work because even without any upgrades to the slime processor you get 2 extracts per slime. Okay so 7 full cages = 28 slimes Leave 7 for further breeding = 21 slimes 21 slimes processed into 2 extracts apiece = 48 extracts Number of clicks to move each extract from the processor the the fridge a single tile over = 2 It takes 96 goddamn clicks to move all the slime extracts over. Oh, what's that? The RD ran out of more important stuff to upgrade and finally made a field trip to Xenobio and upgraded the slime processor? Guess what, now each slime gives you 5 goddamn extracts. Now it takes over twice as long to move those little blob-ass-blobs over to the fridge! Botanists get a satchel with which they can pick up all the plants in a single tile, or even harvest fruit from right off a tree. Miners get a satchel with which they can pick up all the ores on a single tile, or even a nifty mining drone that picks the ore up for them. Xenobiologists get... nothing? I call shenanigans. I don't know anything about coding but the Scientist Satchel is already in the game. I imagine you could copy the functional code from the mining satchel and/or plant satchel and change it to use the correct sprite and interact with the relevant items. It only really needs to be able to pick up slime extracts. What do you guys think? Feel free to chime in even if you've never played Xenobio before. Just understand that if you haven't you really don't know what a pain it is to deal with, especially knowing that there's a potential easy solution just outside of reach.