[Discord Icon / Server Logo]

Suggestion one: Put a rainbow overlay on top of the toilet.

Suggestion two:

Spoiler

Run a poll to see if the icon even needs to be changed - are we sure this isn't a minority opinion?

Suggestion three: See attached.

[Removing Secglasses: Feedback Thread]

1 minute ago, furrycactus said:

Oh you're that troll account, got it.

You're the one who made a feedback thread over an inconsequential sprite. I have legitimate gripes with sunglasses that could be put here instead. But hey, have a good one.

[Removing Secglasses: Feedback Thread]

2 minutes ago, furrycactus said:

The sunglasses in the loadout already don't have flash protection unless you're command or security. And not to mention, flashes are scarcely used anymore since they were nerfed to no longer be an instant win button. And the aviators also have a flash protection mode as well, so.

All sorts of stuns were nerfed, but whether that's good or not is a discussion for another day (it is). But after the nerf sunglasses shouldn't hard counter flashes anymore and therefore stop being the obvious and immediate choice for most people. This can be done in two ways - through limiting sunglasses availability, and through nerfing sunglasses. The latter is more difficult than the former. Limiting sunglasses availability is actually simple enough, now that I looked at the code: SecHUDs are a subclass of sunglasses, which simply does not make sense. You're telling me the glasses would both limit light and decide to display their own overlay on top of this light to help you identify things. Not going to work. Split them off into a separate category that won't have flash protection pre-installed.

Whether you have a SecHUD or flash protection should be a choice you have to make, instead of the current power creep of sunglasses > HUDglasses > God knows what's next. Eye lasers?

[Removing Secglasses: Feedback Thread]

There's too much flash protection on the station. Sunglasses should be removed from loadouts (who put them there anyway, it's powergame prime hour) and most of sec, maybe leave 2 pairs on a rack or on some tables. Should be mostly gone from maints too. If you want flash protection wear a welding mask, if you want to be a ~cool dude~ with ~cool shades~ stop wasting officer slots and waste the detective slot instead.

[Cargo Retool]

Please explain whether you have used any framework to decide the new prices of items or bounties. Replacing ad hoc values with other ad hoc values for the sole reason of them sounds like an unnecessary nerf, especially when made by someone who admits to never playing cargo (and hating playing cargo, no less!). Allow me to explain some interesting choices you've made.

A stunprod bounty of one unit yields 130 credits.
In comparison, two security bots (2x stun baton + + 2x robot arm 2x helmet + 2x prox. sensor + roboticist engagement to assemble) yield 500 credits.
Yet still, two medibots - two cyborg arms, empty medkits, health analyzers and prox sensors - yield 4k (unchanged!)
Even better, for posibrains:
2 units are required for a reward of 1000 credits.
For the two, the materials cost is 2 sheets metal, 1 sheet glass, 1 sheet silver, 1/2 sheets gold, 1/2 sheets phoron, 1/5 sheets diamond. Assuming 100% efficiency at the protolathe level (not a given), the raw materials cost is:
2*5+1*5+1*50+(1/2*125)+(1/2*200)+(1/5*500) = 327.5 cr.
For a reward of 1000 - 327.5 = 672.5 cr, you expect:
1) For mining to actually mine all the minerals required,
2) For research to research the levels required to print the posibrains, upgrade their machinery to use mining's minerals efficiently, and actually print the posibrains to you (and hand them to you!).
This is two departments involved. For 673 credits profit. Likely less. Do you believe that fulfilling this bounty will be fun, satisfying or at least drive good RP?

Sindorman already commented on github a little about mechs, but I'll give you a similar analysis for good measure.

The Ripley yields 2500 cr and will require its parts (that again, assume 100% efficiency which is not a given), 5 sheets metal, 5 sheets plasteel, one central control module, one peripheral control module. You can sell it and complete the bounty without the drill and clamp.
Let's break it down.
Circuitry: 40 sulfuric acid (provided for free onstation, discarded), 2 glass.
Ripley chassis: 10 metal.
Ripley torso: 20 metal, 7 1/2 glass.
Ripley arms: 25 metal.
Ripley legs: 30 metal.
Total: 90 sheets metal, 9.5 sheets glass, 5 sheets plasteel.
The plasteel is unexportable and we need to establish a raw cost, which is two steel, one platinum, ergo 135 cr.
90*5+9.5*5+135*5 = 1172.5 cr materials cost.
This provides a better profit margin than posibrains at 1327.5 cr at arguably the same workload (assembling one is a bit of work for the roboticist). You still need research levels, but less than for a posi.

I'd tentatively call this bounty acceptable. However, answer the following: Why is an Odysseus 200 cr more expensive despite being made of literally the same materials?

Similarly, you should make Ripley/Ody exportable without bounties at the base prices you're suggesting (maybe make the Ripley 200 cr more expensive so it levels with Ody and thus makes sense) - the market for them is so immense lore-wise that robolizards can make a living off of building them, and a corporation of NanoTrasen's size would have an even easier time selling them or just using them on another facility. Leave combat mechs bountyable BUT make sure you balance for materials costs (seriously, a Gygax takes 2.5k to build its armor alone - 10 diamond sheets are no joke).

[[+2 dismissal] Remove antag opt-out]

There is an issue with antagonists. There's not enough variety to them.

It's a simple issue, really. People fail to adopt the responsibility of making fun other for other players, or feel that they don't make a good antag. So they switch antag roles off. When you do get an antag, the antags come from a small pool of people. It's not unheard of to have people roll antag several rounds in a row because of how small the pool is. It's also not unheard of to have voted in roundtypes fail to start - not because of some manner of voting crossfire in when there's 15 people on the server meme, but because there's nobody on the server who actually has merc or heister toggled. Meanwhile, it is impossible to learn what makes a good antag without playing an antag (you don't quit playing engineer forever after screwing up the engine once, do you?) and the small pool of antagonists invites people to meta the characters of people who do play antag.

I therefore propose that we remove the opt-out people have in character select and have the game roll all playing characters for antag. If your character has a really good reason not to be an antag, you can ahelp it to get the role removed as you always would; really trash antags are already taken care of with antagbans. There's no reason not to do it, really.

[[1 dismissal] Introduce permadeath]

19 minutes ago, AmoryBlaine said:

Antagonists are non-canonical, it makes little sense to try and enforce a persistent fear from them, that transcends the round they are in.

Again, this is a non-canonical occurrence. The station isn't actually nuked. So why then are people being punished due to a non-canonical occurrence.

Forcing people to make new characters breeds shallow characters, as they are expected to be lost. The weight of a death is only something felt, when you have a connection. Something only useful for the first death, after-which you are going in with the expectation of losing the character. LRP servers enforce an RNG name system that forces players to lose their character names in order to help kill meta, which would work the same for us, but for RP. You'd not have the incentive of RP'ing past a very basic level, considering the lack of a guarantee that your character will actually be able to build inter-personal relationships. The suggested mechanic would detract from RP, in favour of OOC fear.

Your account is new. Whom are you, if not a new player, inexperienced? The suggestion seems to point towards this.

 

That antagonists exist is canon. The actual antagonists, and the consequences of their actions aren't. Your actions, as a player and character, should have consequences. Did you decide that the best course of action is to tenno heika banzai the heavily armed antag? That's your action, and death is your consequence. Did you fall into a hole as a miner without a GPS? That medical can't find and clone you is a consequence of your IC decisions. Did you hear the sirens blaring for code delta and decide not to evacuate from the station by any means possible? Why, might as well noose yourself.

During a mercenary round, the mercenaries appear out of thin air - lorewise, there does not exist a reason for the mercenary to be on the Aurora or its vicinity, so fair enough. But does this give the antagonist a free pass for bad RP? Why do you think new characters would get a free pass for bad RP, then?

Finally, the NanoTrasen employee should fear a terrorist attack, as the Syndicate are a known force - the wiki's your friend on this one. A nuclear attack, a wizard, changeling or vampire, not so much. Our own aversity towards OOC danger has candy coated the hard and unforgiving world of SS13, and if anything, this is what makes characters shallower. You wouldn't waste your character's time sitting in your cubicle all round if there's no guarantee that your character will still exist next week and can rely on your existing network of friends for interaction, and if you would, that's you choosing not to participate. In which case yes, a LRP server would be best suited for you.

[[1 dismissal] Introduce permadeath]

3 minutes ago, AmoryBlaine said:

Does this mean if I die to a traitor, I can't play my character anymore?

Correct. It would make the antagonists so much more powerful if people actually died when they are killed. However, they would not need to cycle characters if they manage to get cloned during the round.

3 minutes ago, AmoryBlaine said:

If the mercs nuke the station, does that mean everyone has their characters deleted?

I acknowledge this as severe, but it's a logical consequence of the station being nuked. Way in the past, on the Exodus, you could survive the nuke by moving off the station z-level. Perhaps this could be reintroduced (we do have the Research awayshuttle now, which could serve the purpose).

4 minutes ago, AmoryBlaine said:

Why would we want people to have to constantly cycle through new characters? How does that help develop characters and further roleplay?

I started thinking about the topic after your thread, actually. Forcing people to make new characters after their old ones get killed (and murder happens often enough as it stands) would increase roleplay diversity significantly.

I'll ignore your "you don't even play" meme.

[[1 dismissal] Introduce permadeath]

Death is cheap.

With the introduction of penalties for cloning (mental traumas), it's clear that the developers' direction is to make death less cheap.

It still is awfully cheap, though - what does death mean if you just get kicked out of one round? There's no incentive for doctors to go ahead with working through the traumas, and no real penalty for being stupid and getting yourself killed in the first place.

I therefore propose that if a character is dead at round end, they are deleted from their player's character list.

Synthetic characters would be exempt due to not occupying character slots as we know them (for borgs and AIs) and being relatively easy to restore lorewise (IPCs). However, they would be subject to a week ban (from that specific character) to account for repair time.

Barring people from ignoring their characters' IC death through game mechanics would finally put some weight behind death meaning something in the game.

[[2 dismissals]Add rule against character clones]

Please explain what constitutes "physical difference".

Skin tone? Eye color? Limbs (biological or prosthetic)? Hair color & style? These are the four things you can do in character setup to differentiate.

From these four, eye color is hardly ever noticeable, hair color and style are but barely so - mostly to tell whether someone is male or female at a glance (and this only applies to humans anyhow), and limbs only show up in examine or mechanically (sparking when broken and such).

I also take issue with you saying

7 minutes ago, AmoryBlaine said:

Everyone knows they're the same

because character clones are not something I, as a player, see to the point of being able to tie "white human male with blonde pompadour and robot right leg" to a specific ckey. If you mean specific behaviors such as accents, etc., the admins already ruled you're supposed to act differently than your other characters, which you yourself note.