VTCobaltblood

BYOND Key: VTCobaltblood Character name: Robert Bretscher Item name: a gang-colored toolbox Why is your character carrying said item to work? He gets a toolbox on surface everytime anyway. Why not just bring one from home? Item function(s): It's literally just a reskinned toolbox. Might or might not be filled with items. I'd prefer it's the mechanical toolbox set, but with a multitool instead of the wire scanner. Item description: A toolbox painted in the traditional colors of a Martian youth gang, the Shuttleyard Boys. It looks fairly old, the paint needs some renewal. Item appearance: bretscher_toolbox.dmi How will you use this to better interact with crew and/or stimulate RP? Currently the only way to know he's a former criminal and kind of a really shifty guy is through his exploitables and security records. I've seen people say there are no criminal characters on station. It's kinda not true, but I'm also aware that Bretscher isn't just going to go around telling it to people with words. Well, he'll tell with his toolbox. It would explain a lot of behavior Bretscher normally does, too. Additional comments:

I recognize none of these characters except one.

thanks schev now i can no longer have an excuse to be an unrobust dumbass when converted

The writing of this document seems quite clearly very biased towards a certain point instead of geniunely asking for an opinion, but I'll let that slide. You already made the arc affect the station. Why ask for our opinion now, especially if you've already made up your mind and aren't afraid to show it in the writing of this topic?

Hi! I talked you into making this application and you asked me a lot of questions about it, so I guess I'm obligated to provide feedback. While most of this is true, you should keep in mind that skrell are, in fact, very highly social and emotional - they just have problems with expressing their emotions to other races, as TCB lacks sounds necessary for skrell to convey some things, and skrell also have no facial expressions. Naturally, this does not really stop you from making a more cold, less emotional character - just be aware that some skrell are even more emotional than humans, but have trouble conveying it properly. I really like how you chose your character to be a Jargon patriot! While it would make sense that there is a whole lot of these, I don't usually see whitelist apps made with strongly politically charged skrell. I have also interacted with you ICly and your characters are pretty enjoyable to be around. If you keep the small notice above in mind, I fully endorse this application and give it a +1.

I'm not very well-versed on Unathi lore, but I can attest to Crystal's fantastic roleplaying ability. They certainly aren't lying on their RP ability rating part. +1

Honestly, this is phenomenal, and I can't wait for it to get merged. I have only some small issues: Can misc. labs get an OR somewhere, or perhaps stick it in the R&D area? Or sublevel? Any of these works. I don't like the absence of windows in the Chem-Misc-R&D cluster. Sci chemists are going to get so much more lonely. Likewise, I don't see why the circuit lab gets a window to the hallway (instead of a window to R&D) I hope you removed the no smoking sign in the conference room. The circuit lab should have a cell charger instead of or in addition to the recharger. Maybe swap the lower R&D cell charger and the circuit lab recharger? Circuitry doesn't use these. Did you remove atmos chambers from Xenobotany? You elongated the firing range by 1 tile. Why?

Bad idea due to drink temperature currently being broken. Bartenders could easily burn people to death by throwing cocktails. If that's fixed, or chemistry temp is reversed, then the idea makes sense and is good.

That's a good compromise between lore and gameplay. I think it's a fantastic idea. +1

Considering current events in the lore, I wouldn't say it "died". Merely pushed back and made modular.

Cherry picking a single line? I have quoted several of your lines, and you essentially ignored all of that except for the first one. Pretty ironic. I don't see how rising the price by 30 credits is contradicting what you're saying. This makes sense with the conversion rate that was present before, still makes prices very high for a pack of raisins and other things (almost quadruples them), and prevents people from buying the raisins out with the current salaries (unless they want to spend all of their bank on vendor goods).

I don't mind and even like the cold brown skintones, but we should still be able to create asian characters and characters with more healthy (warm) skin colors. Skull already proposed a solution in the PR comments, and I support the idea.

The issue is not buildup. The issue is that the lore team decides whether or not a gameplay mechanic with a clear purpose (ending rounds forcefully and ICly) lives or dies. I don't feel like the lore team has the authority to do so. A 50/50 coin flip is fine, but 75/25 makes the ERT too rare.

I play at fairly various times and have never seen this character either, nor popping up on !smanifest... the name rings no bells. I am also very interested why a monk works 9 to 5 on a megacorporation's research station.

"Ignore that lore that made sense, trust me it doesn't matter anything to anyone despite everyone using it" Not really. You've said yourself that 100 credits is a large sum. Which means, buying just 3 packs of raisins is a large sum for a crewmember. That seems reasonable. Don't also forget that it's *plus* 30 credits, so raisins, for example, would cost 42. You've "seen" that ingame? It just unlocks other, free goods, not making all the goods free. Not to mention, nobody's going to pool their money to buy a pack of raisins when cheaper options are still available. I don't see how this contributes to RP aside from "aw man, raisins are so expensive now".

Recolorable pants and shorts and jeans are coming, yes, but getting clothing PRs through is currently a bit difficult because I still awaid word on the clothing guidelines that are coming along.

I have just stated so in the post right above yours?

What Ornias said sounds good yep

Mirroring what I've said on discord, you're increasing these goods's prices to more than thirty bucks. Nobody is going to buy that because competition is plentiful, and I don't see why NT would buy these goods for their vendors either.

So, a question for you (because I didn't get that from the essay, while it was a fairly interesting piece of writing): what are you planning to do with skrell lore? What are you planning to rework/add/expand, and what direction would you like skrell lore to go in? I don't know you all that well or see you much, so here's another question: why do you feel you would be a good pick for skrell deputy? (Don't take this as being rude, please.)

Second essay, smaller in scope, on skrell humor. It was discussed on the skrell discord extensively, but I thought it is worth a mention here as an example of my work, and my general direction and vision for the skrell - making them very much unlike humans in many ways, making them inferior to humans in some regards (mainly, their monoculture... which i haven't touched in this essay, but heavily implied in the skrell crime one - the other culture is literally outlawed, and even that is mainly uniform) and generally making them more than "humans but logical and better" - instead, I wish to expand on their completely unique ways of thinking which a human would never have, and illustrate how a skrell would never have some human thoughts cross their mind.

Why would we strive to be like other servers for no reason rather than being like the other servers? You don't even appear to have a firm idea of what this is supposed to do in mind.

What? How do you jump to an entire wing if the wing itself is larger than the player's field of view?

We absolutely need a loadout section for small, useless knick-knacks. Prate sent me some more suggestions and I'll work on implementing them sometime.