Making RND useful for everyone

[PoZe]

Purpose of this Project is to make RND(not counting robotics) upgrade all departments and provide Quality of Life improvements. Like for example we know that most requested thing from RND is KAs... and that is about it. Sure there are things like incision system for medbay and experimental welder for engineers. But from feedback of players neither is requested or used or really worth the way/effort to get.

 

So several thoughts I heard were really good ideas:

1. Make upgraded tools/things that work faster than regular equipment department gets.

2. Make certain things that cannot be acquired otherwise and that are extremely useful. 

 

Thing on TODO:

• Universal tool for engineering - PoZe
• Device to deconstruct reinforced walls faster - Geeves
• A tool that has higher chance of giving stuff from rocks for xenoarch - Conspiir
• High end syringe that is faster to apply for suits - Geeves

 

What I need from community here is to help me, and give me specific ideas for things that each department can use or would want. Like for example Geeves said a tool that helps deconstruct reinforced walls.

 

There is already a branch I am working on, I will submit PR once I get more grounds for it. But current PR changes:

• RND can now upload their research from their main server control console to the NT NET database and receive funds/compensation for each individual level and tech they unlocked. For example it got me 6000(numbers can be adjusted) Credits for 7 levels of Phoron research.
• Added random data disk as loot that can be found in maintenance and Space ruins or in loot crates. There is a chance of getting high-tier 6-8 level or small tier 3-5.

Edited August 3, 2019 by PoZe

[VTCobaltblood]

18 minutes ago, PoZe said:

Like for example we know that most requested thing from RND is KAs... and that is about it

Not really? People seem to request lots of things from me.

18 minutes ago, PoZe said:

But from feedback of players neither is requested or used or really worth the way/effort to get.

Not really? Sure, the experimental welders are trash, but guns for security are pretty good, advanced health analyzers are very important with the med nerf, and the crew often has all sorts of other requests.

20 minutes ago, PoZe said:

Make upgraded tools/things that work faster than regular equipment department gets.

So, what they're doing now?

20 minutes ago, PoZe said:

Make certain things that cannot be acquired otherwise and that are extremely useful. 

So, what they're doing now?

20 minutes ago, PoZe said:

RND can now upload their research from their main server control console to the NT NET database and receive funds/compensation for each individual level and tech they unlocked. For example it got me 6000(numbers can be adjusted) Credits for 7 levels of Phoron research.

The research funds are used extremely rarely by scientists, because it's really inconvenient to access them. Moreover, the bounty system already exists to reward scientists for research - and it's less clumsy than getting your money from a head that may or may not exist.

21 minutes ago, PoZe said:

Added random data disk as loot that can be found in maintenance and Space ruins or in loot crates. There is a chance of getting high-tier 6-8 level or small tier 3-5.

Anomaly cores already exist. 

[geeves]

A high end syringe, that can quickly inject through a suit, but only if the user is on help intent or horizontal. Hyperspray.

[PoZe]

39 minutes ago, VTCobaltblood said:

Not really? People seem to request lots of things from me.

Not really? Sure, the experimental welders are trash, but guns for security are pretty good, advanced health analyzers are very important with the med nerf, and the crew often has all sorts of other requests.

So, what they're doing now?

So, what they're doing now?

The research funds are used extremely rarely by scientists, because it's really inconvenient to access them. Moreover, the bounty system already exists to reward scientists for research - and it's less clumsy than getting your money from a head that may or may not exist.

Anomaly cores already exist. 

So what I get from all your Replies is "Everything already exists, we don't need any of this. Leave science as it is"

[Conspiir]

What VT says is totally true, but also new, useful tools are always welcome.

Bit niche, but I was thinking a type of tool that gives a much higher chance for strange rocks to give their contents rather than dust (as per a welder). Miners sometimes find them and there's no reason to take them along.

[Scheveningen]

If you want to shake things up a little, you need to do a lot of work, if not outright tossing RND out as it is. Otherwise RND will always stay as it is.

(Experimental welders ain't trash tho, they're an amazing convenience as someone who plays a gearhead-specialized scientist.)

The major problem with RND right now is that it's immensely punishing and difficult to grasp as a new player (citation: me trying to teach people, yet the concept is difficult for newbies to grasp), and likewise the actual process is really stupid. You have to keep a mental note of every item you need in a list format and hunt it down. I personally have an RND guide for myself that doesn't require I ever leave the lab. Other people aren't equipped with something like that. I physically can't release this RND guide to others because it would spoil the discovery part of RND and it would be a metagame guide if it was released.

Either way, one can pretty much say that optimizing RND requires an amount of powergaming and a smidge of metagaming, and a little of either is regarded as unacceptable. Yet it's required as part of gameplay to progress.

LFWB's got a cool solution to this issue. They advance their tech levels one item of technology at a time and hop into a Matrix-style simulation, where their sim avatar is meant to gather 10 data bits while avoiding hazards. Only problem is that if they run into certain hazards or take too long in a 'level', they become fatigued and may suffer specific consequences in the real world, such as permanent brain damage. To keep it from being repetitive and too easy, the level of tech also influences certain mutators and how soon the simulation starts to turn against its user. Unlike our RND, however, the skill floor is pretty low and it becomes a gradual task of learning as the job goes on. The risk and danger of the RND simulation scales based on how far you've successfully progressed, so as to keep within the bounds of ensuring the job still remains interesting and challenging.

Edited August 3, 2019 by Scheveningen

[PoZe]

1 hour ago, Scheveningen said:

If you want to shake things up a little, you need to do a lot of work, if not outright tossing RND out as it is. Otherwise RND will always stay as it is.
 

The point of project is not to overhaul RND entirely. But to just make sure that all departments would ask RND to make them, something more often. Basically adding more cool things RND can print. The re-hual suggestion for RND is in suggestion thread currently. 

 

So I just want to ask you to stick to suggesting new cool things to add to protholate that would benefit certain departmetns.

[VTCobaltblood]

7 hours ago, PoZe said:

So what I get from all your Replies is "Everything already exists, we don't need any of this. Leave science as it is"

Yes. Research needs a rework from the ground up, not more stuff tacked onto it. This is a waste of dev resources and time that could be spent elsewhere.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

It's pretty rude to call a suggestion a waste of dev time and resources. Let the devs be free and pick their projects

I would enjoy seeing more stuff for RnD to hand out.

[Scheveningen]

10 hours ago, PoZe said:

The point of project is not to overhaul RND entirely. But to just make sure that all departments would ask RND to make them, something more often. Basically adding more cool things RND can print. The re-hual suggestion for RND is in suggestion thread currently. 

 

So I just want to ask you to stick to suggesting new cool things to add to protholate that would benefit certain departmetns.

When the horse stops pulling the cart, you don't put more wheels on the cart, you replace the horse.

There is no niche that RND doesn't fill at the moment. Cryostasis chem sprayers would be neat but I only say that because it would be interesting to tool with chem sprayers that shoot ingredients for metal foam for instance.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

ResearchBuddy....

[PoZe]

On 03/08/2019 at 20:01, VTCobaltblood said:

Yes. Research needs a rework from the ground up, not more stuff tacked onto it. This is a waste of dev resources and time that could be spent elsewhere.

I want to be clear: I do not intend to re-haul Research. If you want it seen please ping other devs. I am trying to add something that is easy to add while will be worth adding before I leave aurora development team.

[Gem]

old/stale thread.

locking and archiving.