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MattAtlas

Head Admins / Devs
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Posts posted by MattAtlas

  1. 16 hours ago, Bejewledpot said:

    The only differences: science can make tech processors, science has access to the destructive analyzer, and that machinists rely on research to be able to do a lot. This often leaves the really cool things like KA parts, mech parts, and hardsuits locked away. Scientists are often in short supply, likely because the gameplay is rather dull.

    The problem I have with these threads is that they always start from the "This is a problem for robotics" presupposition. There's not been a thread in recent memory that starts by describing a problem "with science", they're more like "there's a problem with robotics", and the answer proposed is always either some sort of science gutting, since the role lacks players to oppose the changes (as has happened in the recent years - making science start with everything unlocked is a form of gutting, much like the main SMES starting upgraded + full has been gutting for engineering, and rightly reverted) or some sort of robotics buff that leaves them completely independent from science.

    I want to bring particular attention to the "independent" part because robotics is an extremely powerful department. It's the one that can potentially alter the course of the round by itself, such as by shitting out combat hardsuits (pretty justifiable in just about any merc round, really) or mechs that are a pain in the ass to deal with for any antag that doesn't have a PEAC or ion rifle or whatever. Now, the only reason we don't see things like these happen often is because science works as a sort of double gate; you need materials, but you also need research, thus limiting the amount of times that you can effectively make combat hardsuits/mechs. This is a sort of self-balancing act, because if machinists were to start with all their shit unlocked and only with a need for mining materials, I can guarantee without a shred of doubt that in one-two months, two things will happen:

    1. Machinist players will demand a way to get materials quicker.
    2. Combat hardsuits and mechs will be nerfed into the ground, either by making EMPs more accessible for antags or making them far easier to kill for normal antags.

    I'm not suggesting a dismissal of this thread, but this is more or less my general look at the machinist problem. I think it's balanced on a tightrope that's best not cut away at - anything that happens to it should be a larger, more thoroughly tested rework, because I don't much like the gameplay implications of making mechs and combat hardsuits that much more common for ship characters.

    • Like 5
    • Thanks 1
  2. 49 minutes ago, The_Ill_Fated said:

    The relevant section of the warning is "You need to act with appropriate fear or concern for your life in certain situations with antagonists. Calling someone out over the radio who said they would kill you if you did so is not doing that.".  You are directly stating that the In-character actions, motivations, and the reasoning behind them which I have explained to you, are of a quality which warrants administrative action.

    I'm not taking this complaint for the time being, but if someone gets bwoinked that doesn't mean the roleplay was bad. You can get noted for breaking the rules while still roleplaying well. The note to me just reads that you didn't really fearRP, which isn't an indication on "roleplay quality" or anything.

  3. 9 hours ago, Mr.Popper said:

    That fact alone makes this issue extremely low priority and it should instead be dealt with when it becomes relevant. I think developers should focus on more pressing matters like the ongoing story arc and the lacking content in certain everyday mechanics (research department).

    Development focus is not considered for suggestions because if we were to work only on what was 100% absolutely needed we would retire two months into becoming a developer. We have our own fun projects we'd like to embark on and these suggestions are usually where they come from.

    In case there's a very pressing need for something then I assign developers to it, but don't worry about that kind of stuff.

  4. On 11/03/2024 at 18:04, Carver said:

    Are limbs easy to aim for for the zombies too? Will sewer water still be a comical death trap during this? Will IPCs have their own ‘zombification’ implemented via rampancy so they’re actually vulnerable?

    Zombies can aim limbs too yeah but they have no particular incentive for it.

    I don't think the sewer stuff is in for the event

    The third is not set in stone atm

    • Thanks 1
  5. Hello everyone. I've now been working on Saturday's non-canon event for a week, putting in about twenty hours of coding and other stuff (also thanks to Dreamy who has done a shitload of mapping, Lancer and Noble Row for sprites), so I hope everyone will enjoy the event firstly. Secondly, I'm making this thread to inform people of a few things that are necessary reading for the event.

    First of all, the setting is just shore leave on Konyang. Everyone's going there because the SCC gave them mandatory shore leave after the warehouse assault event. You don't know anything is up, and the event setup partly needs people to split up at least a little. It'll definitely be more fun if you guys make up small groups and explore. An apocalypse is no fun if everyone is just sticking together all the time!

    The gameplay will be pretty different. I'm trying to replicate a condition of both scarcity and lethality. The main thing to underline is that you are expected to make do with what you find. You probably won't find the best tool for the job, so improvised surgery with engineering tools and painkillers is something you should get familiar with before the event, so you at least know what tools work for what surgery. There are some things to "stave off" death so to speak, but you'll see those later.

    Exploration is really, really important. There's a fuckton of random loot placed all throughout Konyang, in every corner, house, locker, trash pile, and whatever else. Better loot is found in less obvious locations, so there are rewards for rightclicking every suspicious pile. I extremely encourage you to explore (probably in a group!) to find the tools you need to survive.

    There are new tools added to make your experience better. Barricade kits, for example, can be used by anyone to put up a barricade quickly. Don't feel guilty about using them as a nurse or whatever. Putting up barbed wire on a barricade is also something anyone can do. Splints will also work on the chest and head!! Make sure to remember this, it's really important!

    Many balance changes were made to give you a "realistic" zombie feeling. For one, all melee weapons were buffed by quite a lot. Even a crowbar is a very viable weapon to kill a zombie with. Guns are rare, but also extremely powerful - ammo will be scarce, so use it carefully. Additionally, it's far easier to aim for limbs. You can now reliably aim for a head or a hand to pop it off. Zombie limbs are also extremely, extremely fragile! Their weak points are limbs, so make sure to use that.

    There will be a main objective and a crew win condition, so it's possible to win or lose the event. You won't just be surviving for two hours, but you'll probably have to do quite a lot of it.

    Anyway, we're getting closer to the event. I hope you'll all enjoy it!

    • Like 6
  6. On 28/02/2024 at 04:32, MattAtlas said:

    The main problem, in my opinion, is the lack of a stable setting that characters live in that resembles a city, or at least something that gives them a shiny variety outside of work. I don't think adding more stuff to the nebulous resdeck fixes that problem for a few reasons: it adds a lot of grey areas (would people be able to headcanon whatever?) and fundamentally I think it's boring. It doesn't have the same excitement or anywhere near the same potential as getting something started in a city. Like you'd be going from "let's get street food in District Six" to "let's go to the metal pool to pretend we're not working". Boring!

     

    So, my thought is this: expanding port calls. First of all, people should not feel like tourists - we could add into lore that the Horizon handles visas and stuff for crew, along with shuttling (BCs could do that?). Every Sunday the rounds would announce that the Horizon is going to port at some point for refueling or whatever and that people would be free to go to the planet after their shift. Then you'd have a handy excuse to get off work and a constant anchor ("wanna do something on Sunday?"). What do you guys think?

    All is implemented in https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/18570

  7. 3 hours ago, furrycactus said:

    Shore leave is a really great idea and it's been really good to see it's actually happening as of late. The only thing is, it being on Sundays for our American and European friends has left southern hemisphere players in a spot where attending is pretty much impossible. I know for me being on Australia's east coast, shore leave happens around 7am on a Monday morning, which is also 4am for the west coast. Ghastly hours, but if someone is determined enough to make them on a weekend it would be possible. But with them being the northern hemisphere's Sunday, it's a Monday morning and people tend to have to have to attend classes or go to work. I understand it probably has to rely on the availability of staff, but would there be any possibility at all they could be ran on NH Saturdays, which would be very early SH Sunday mornings?

    we aren't going to run them all the time, we only set the map to konyang yesterday to fill an event hole - the "these will happen on thursday and sunday" is in-universe

  8. 1 hour ago, Filthyfrankster said:

    However in the past, I know that staff members tend to leave some passive aggressive notes in any warnings they give me. Hence the one below which was given to me by a member of the staff team that will remained anonymous.

    If you're going to say "this staff member will remain anonymous" then you should actually hide my ckey in the note you posted from me.

    I'd actually like to ask the point of putting this in this complaint directly, since you posted that image of the warning I gave you and then never elaborated on it.

  9. The main problem, in my opinion, is the lack of a stable setting that characters live in that resembles a city, or at least something that gives them a shiny variety outside of work. I don't think adding more stuff to the nebulous resdeck fixes that problem for a few reasons: it adds a lot of grey areas (would people be able to headcanon whatever?) and fundamentally I think it's boring. It doesn't have the same excitement or anywhere near the same potential as getting something started in a city. Like you'd be going from "let's get street food in District Six" to "let's go to the metal pool to pretend we're not working". Boring!

     

    So, my thought is this: expanding port calls. First of all, people should not feel like tourists - we could add into lore that the Horizon handles visas and stuff for crew, along with shuttling (BCs could do that?). Every Sunday the rounds would announce that the Horizon is going to port at some point for refueling or whatever and that people would be free to go to the planet after their shift. Then you'd have a handy excuse to get off work and a constant anchor ("wanna do something on Sunday?"). What do you guys think?

    • Like 12
  10. 20 hours ago, Star Dust said:

    Also if you're the one who will be handling this complaint, would you be comfortable with me privately dming you some information. I do not feel comfortable expressing it here in a open forum post.

    I'm not the one handling this complaint, I only commented to correct something.

    The ruling itself is here.

  11. On 22/02/2024 at 19:23, Star Dust said:

    Due to a policy change made in January (Or so I was informed)

    This is not entirely accurate - we've not unbanned anyone with two or more permabans for a long while now (at least one or two years). It was only made an officially visible policy in January though.

  12. Okay. If everything here is resolved, then this thread will be locked in 24 hours. You two really need to talk to eachother about the problems I underlined (make it work even with timezone issues, if Discord doesn't work then make a forum thread) and then bring a combined document about what you decided to me.

  13. Voting for dismissal on the general idea being put forward. Alternative punishment is fine as an idea, but the problem is that it doesn't really fit our server. NJPs don't work here and things like paxazide collars are setting breaking and not something I really want to see in the game in general.

  14. My opinion from reading this complaint and having seen most of the things in this post happen as they happened is that everything stems from fairly basic miscommunications or sometimes rushing ahead without properly consulting everyone (maybe a head developer or maintainer was consulted at that point, but not the rest of the spriters, or someone working on something). I don't personally see any actionable bad faith behaviour, but I do see a few things that need to be worked on.

    1. Porting sprites from other servers and when to do it.
    2. Revising the spriter guide/palette stuff.

    @wowzewow @kyres1 Does this sound right?

  15. Hi, sorry about the delay - I've been dealing with exams and other shit, and kept forgetting to handle your appeal when I had free time.

    You should be able to log in now, but you're unfortunately getting caught because of your CID, so the ban will probably be reapplied in case one of them logs in again. If that happens, skip the appeal process and just DM me directly on Discord.

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