Nantei Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 An e-magged drone can easily destroy the AI single-handedly, and the AI is completely defenseless. E-Magged drones are a threat that requires multiple people to take down, and overall superbly obnoxious. A ghost role with lessened respawn timers like the Maintenance Drone should absolutely not be able to have such a profound impact on the round, it's completely counter-intuitive to their purpose as a ghost role. Last night I saw a drone destroy most of the bridge, disable the armory almost entirely due to the low population, nearly kill several people with shocked doors, and then later killed a person. Drones can't really roleplay much so it was about as interesting and fun as fighting a rat with a gun that has all-access.
Wigglesworth Jones Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 I was present for last night's round. The emagged drone shocked multiple doors and cut wires to the brig. Along with that, it stole the spare ID and destroyed a large portion of cameras and lights. While I had to leave early, security had an extremely difficult time dealing with them because of their small sprite, ability to hide under tables and in doors, and speed. I think that emagged drones should be nerfed, and while the AI being able to remotely detonate them may be a bit too easy, I do agree that something should be done to make them a little less stupidly annoying to deal with.
nicemoreoften Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 Emagged drones can be incredibly annoying but also cost some effort from the antagonist in question and "AI can detonate them" would make them essentially useless, as drones provide camera and could not avoid being detonated.
Zundy Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 Just make is so when they're snagged they're obvious. Flashing red eyes, random garbled spooky speach etc.
Soultheif96 Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 I would suggest a form of lockdown the CE, Captain, and AI can perform on the emagged drone. The emagged drone will then not be able to move unless they click resist. It will begin a two minute break free timer and shut out the lockdown code for five whole minutes. This would be a solution to dealing with these drones while still allowing them to continue playing till they are destroyed.
Pratepresidenten Posted August 19, 2019 Posted August 19, 2019 I unno man. Drones are relatively easy to kill with EMP, grenades especially. And you dont really need to rp with them if they're busted as they are vaLiD. I think the drone problem is more directed at their master, as the drones are to follow their masters' direction and orders, and having the AI just easily being able to nullify an emag charge is kinda bad. Besides, you can just drop your core blast doors. They cant get through those, so you still have ample time to correct any power sabotage. Not opposed to some minor changes though, like a moderately hard to come by override. Example can be something you do that would instantly detonate all normal drones and temporarily disable any emagged ones for 20-30 seconds while they fight off the self-destruct command? This item would perhaps have a two minute coldown, to prevent meme spam. Would encourage the drone to play SUPER SNEAKY and for the crew to be verbal in their endevour to neutrallize this threat. Just a suggestion to add to the kill-possibilities!
Nantei Posted August 20, 2019 Author Posted August 20, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, nicemoreoften said: Emagged drones can be incredibly annoying but also cost some effort from the antagonist in question and "AI can detonate them" would make them essentially useless, as drones provide camera and could not avoid being detonated. Emagging a drone requires... a tool most traitors will probably benefit from having. It doesn't really exhaust any resources. 4 hours ago, Pratepresidenten said: I unno man. Drones are relatively easy to kill with EMP, grenades especially. And you dont really need to rp with them if they're busted as they are vaLiD. Last I tried, Ion did not affect them. Probably a bug. Also EMP grenades are almost never in the hands of... well anyone who isn't an antagonist. Also drones take a surprisingly large amount of hits to destroy. I hit one ten times with a maglight last night before it finally blew up. Hitting them with a rifle is of course, similarly fairly hard, as they are fast and can easily duck under things so you cannot click on them. And since they are small, they don't get hit by firing in their direction. Regarding the rest of the post. I have more nuanced suggestions for it, but this is the one that is most likely to actually see implementation since it's relatively easy to do. If I were to actually have a dream scenario, there would be two wires drones need to operate doors and move through them. AI Access, and a special one that is Drone Access. The AI can cut drone access and still use doors. THe drone cannot cut AI access and still use doors. Dramatically slows down drones if the AI wants to, and it eliminates probably the most frustrating and obnoxious part of it. But this requires mapping and code changes, so it's not likely to happen. I don't have much issue with blowing up ghost roles that get emagged. The traitor gets plenty of use out of the drone until it is caught, which can take quite awhile if the drone is smart. Right now as is? I would rather fight an emagged borg than an emagged drone, and that's absolutely not how it should work. A lockdown is also a fair compromise IMO. Just anything that stops drones from being able to so easily cripple entire departments. Edited August 20, 2019 by Nantei
Bear Posted August 20, 2019 Posted August 20, 2019 A lock down is a death sentence and is too easy to abuse. The nerf on their hp and cutter is a step in the right direction however.
Garnascus Posted August 20, 2019 Posted August 20, 2019 No we do not need to add a magic gank button. If there are issues with the emagged drone we can nerf it appropriately.
Alberyk Posted August 21, 2019 Posted August 21, 2019 This would make them useless. Voting for dismissal.
Nantei Posted August 24, 2019 Author Posted August 24, 2019 (edited) On 20/08/2019 at 13:35, Garnascus said: No we do not need to add a magic gank button. If there are issues with the emagged drone we can nerf it appropriately. Gank... on a drone? Are we serious right now? Drones very obviously do not have the same death requirements as a regular player. Emagged drones become a timed tool rather than a round-long nuisance. Regardless something should be done about them. They do not function well as antagonists. They are antagonists that don't roleplay in any meaningful way by design, why do we want these again? What precisely do emagged drones add that makes them a positive addition that nothing else can fulfill? I don't really understand the desire to have antaggable creatures that essentially only function to disable power, lights, cameras, shock doors, and otherwise be a nuisance. I would frankly rather remove their ability to be emagged at all than keep them as is. They are so painfully easy to abuse. Edited August 24, 2019 by Nantei
Garnascus Posted August 24, 2019 Posted August 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Nantei said: Gank... on a drone? Are we serious right now? Yes 1 hour ago, Nantei said: Drones very obviously do not have the same death requirements as a regular player True which is why you're allowed to shoot them if they start breaking things. This gives the drone some ability to fight back or escape. Its incredibly frustrating to be killed out of no where from a magic button someone hit. It is healthier for the game to attack the problem with less frustrating balance solutions. 1 hour ago, Nantei said: They are antagonists that don't roleplay in any meaningful way by design They do not roleplay in ways you enjoy. That is fine but i do not think its a good reason to want them gone. What an emagged drone does is what most other things do. They present the station with a specific situation and then the station has to figure out a way to combat the situation. In this case its an emagged drone tearing up medical's floorboards, eating all of security's wires or other nefarious projects. All of this is roleplay.
Jupiter Storm Posted August 25, 2019 Posted August 25, 2019 I agree with a nerf on their HP, drones are already very difficult for regular crew to deal with due to their size and the typical habit of drone players to zip in and out of doors or crouch inside the hatches and shoot from them. Could I also recommend perhaps preventing drones from using items while hiding in door hatches? Or making it impossible for them to occupy the same tile as doors? Perhaps the hatch ports them to the other side of the door, and such.
ben10083 Posted August 27, 2019 Posted August 27, 2019 I remember when malf borgs (and/or emagged borgs I cant remember) could still be locked down and blown up by robotics console. I had many times when me and other bad borgs were having some fun causing havoc or whatever we were ordered to do, when suddenly the janitor finds the console and blows up every single borg in 10 seconds. Its not fun, sudden, and fucks over anyone who used resources for them. This suggestion is requesting the same but for drones. -1
Arrow768 Posted August 27, 2019 Posted August 27, 2019 Voting for dismissal. The plasma cutter is being removed in a upcoming PR. However a instant-kill / lockdown button has been removed for malf borgs so it would not make sense to re-introduce that for drones.
Nantei Posted August 27, 2019 Author Posted August 27, 2019 Ghost roles are not station roles. I am not sure why you are comparing drones to stationbounds, of whom are less obnoxious than the drone too.
Kaed Posted August 27, 2019 Posted August 27, 2019 1 hour ago, Nantei said: Ghost roles are not station roles. I am not sure why you are comparing drones to stationbounds, of whom are less obnoxious than the drone too. You getting too hung up on their origins. They become station roles once you've swiped your emag into them. As with any situation once someone is officially an antagonist they can do what they want, the fact they started out as a Ghost role with a 10 minute cooldown really doesn't matter. Hell, if there was a new magic spell or traitor substance you could inject into mice to turn them into big monsters, you can't treat this new antagonist rat as a regular rat anymore, or hold them to the same expectations. An antagonist used to resources that they paid for to make this drone an antagonist tool, see you can't keep looking at it as a Ghost role anymore.
Nantei Posted August 28, 2019 Author Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, Kaed said: You getting too hung up on their origins. They become station roles once you've swiped your emag into them. No. No they do not. Their respawn timer is extremely low, they have less responsibilities than a fully fledged role, and their actions are supposed to mean less than a fully fledged role. An antag deciding to use two emag charges on them does not make them not a ghost role. Drones are supposed to have low impacts on rounds, not turn into combat beasts the moment they get swiped. And removing the PC really does not change that they are absurdly obnoxious. Drones have strangely high health pools, full AI access, and run pretty damn fast. An emagged drone is already extremely useful for a traitor as a pocket-sized door opener that can bolt, shock, etc. That's already superior to an emag, and you are telling me they need more? I don't know what you expect two emag charges to do if that isn't enough for you. Edited August 28, 2019 by Nantei
Kaed Posted August 28, 2019 Posted August 28, 2019 (edited) 9 hours ago, Nantei said: No. No they do not. Their respawn timer is extremely low, they have less responsibilities than a fully fledged role, and their actions are supposed to mean less than a fully fledged role. An antag deciding to use two emag charges on them does not make them not a ghost role. Drones are supposed to have low impacts on rounds, not turn into combat beasts the moment they get swiped. And removing the PC really does not change that they are absurdly obnoxious. Drones have strangely high health pools, full AI access, and run pretty damn fast. An emagged drone is already extremely useful for a traitor as a pocket-sized door opener that can bolt, shock, etc. That's already superior to an emag, and you are telling me they need more? I don't know what you expect two emag charges to do if that isn't enough for you. They're already having their health lowered post-emagg and their plasma cutter removed. I didn't ask for anything to be added, I just said you're getting overly upset over something that's already being rebalanced and that you're looking at it in an excessively negative light. I'm really tired and I don't know why I'm replying to people at this hour. Last time I did this I said something rude and got a board warning so I think I better hedge my bets and sleep goodnight, this thread is being binned today anyway. Edited August 28, 2019 by Kaed
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