Please actually improve cyborgs

[BurgerBB]

This has been an issue for several years now. Once a year, a thread like this is made by various people who play borg expressing their disappointment with how poorly designed and limited cyborg play is. Once a year, the thread then falls into oblivion because of poor faith arguments.

Lets actually just take a step back and look at the departments and their modules.

Engineering/Construction Borg

Construction and engineering borgs are a joke considering there are two seperate borgs to fit the purposes of one department. Construction borgs are missing tools needed to even construct or deconstruct things (wirecutters) and the only benefit is that they get a very limited RCD that can't make much compared to other servers. Engineering borgs also have limited construction tools, and both can't really do much unless there is someone tossing maxcaps like candy, which is rare.

Security Borg

Security borgs no longer exist because of a negative attitude towards security borg players as well as balance concerns. Unironically it was the most useful of borgs as it can actually fulfill its role to what was needed.

Medical/Rescue Borg

Again, like engineering, there are two seperate borgs to fit two separate jobs, and one of them is garbage. Both modules are extremely limited, and also extremely specific to what they do. Chemistry is a huge pain in the ass to do as either module due to poor controls, and the only job a medical borg would really have is a surgery bot. Both modules are very badly designed because of the nature of medical players and the fact that the only time they get to do anything is when someone is injured, which is extremely rare, so a surgical borg is seldom needed.

Science Borg

Somehow, defying existing design, it's a borg that can do almost every single science task... except when it can't. It can't make mechs, it can't do xenobotany, but it can do research as an EXTREMELY painful rate and it can do xenobiology. Literally the only reason why you'd pick this module is because you want to do xenobiology or you need to fulfill a roboticist role because you don't want to die.

Service Borg

It can actually do everything required of the service department. It can cook, clean, garden, and serve drinks. Actually a good module that does the department duties.

Janitor Borg

Again, a good module, but it's kinda limited to just cleaning things. I don't know how you can change this.

Clerical Borg

Literally a leftover meme. There is no point to a seperate module existing other than tradition.

Half of the modules are bad and extremely limiting. There is literally no point in limiting the versatility of these borgs to subsections of their department. Like most people argue it's for balance purposes so a borg can't do everything in a department, but honestly it's a poor argument since you're only limiting things like "oh this borg can't cut wires at the cost of them having an rcd" or "oh, this borg gets a built in rolerbed."

 

 

 

 

 

[Gromnax]

Security borgs were a pain in the ass to antags and were picked way too much. It's a good thing they're gone. Validhunting should not be the job of stationbounds, especially when they were a direct counter to multiple antag types, such as ling and vamp. "Unironically it was the most useful of borgs as it can actually fulfill its role to what was needed." is an issue when the role is to imper an antag as quickly as possible, thus ending someone's round instead of making someone else's round better, like medical, or science.

For the other modules... You're giving out problems, but you don't give any suggestion about how to correct them. So, what should be done?

And what about the mining borg, too?

[BurgerBB]

52 minutes ago, Gromnax said:

Security borgs were a pain in the ass to antags and were picked way too much. It's a good thing they're gone. Validhunting should not be the job of stationbounds, especially when they were a direct counter to multiple antag types, such as ling and vamp. "Unironically it was the most useful of borgs as it can actually fulfill its role to what was needed." is an issue when the role is to imper an antag as quickly as possible, thus ending someone's round instead of making someone else's round better, like medical, or science.

For the other modules... You're giving out problems, but you don't give any suggestion about how to correct them. So, what should be done?

And what about the mining borg, too?

Forgot about mining borg. Mining borg is annoying but okay I guess. You can't really benefit from abandoned crates as a mining borg.

 

 

A solution to all these problems is to combine various modules into one. Combine construction and engineering into one. Give science more science tools. Combine paperwork into service. Combine rescue into medical.

[Aphelion]

On the topic of medical stationbounds fusing.

Personally, I like the rescue module. When it comes to the job of EMT it is very good for it. It can summon rollerbeds, inflatable barriers has adrenaline ready (might need a few more chems in the hypospray tho). I think it's a good ballance to not let it do surgery.

As for the standard medical module. It's basically how you say it, only good for filling in for surgeons. This is an easy fix though, because the only real thing slowing it down in the chemistry lab is the absence of a means of carrying bottles to the chemfridge faster than one at a time. Give standard medical a medicine loader that can mass grab all the bottles on a tile and you're ?.

For fusing the engineering modules, yea ok. Maybe just make the engineering RCD an upgrade from robotics to fix the issue of it being a tad op.

[Meep]

I have to agree with the assessment made about the the engineering and construction modules. As far as I can see the only reason they are separate is because the RCD is extremely powerful for antaging. What this leads to though at least from what I've seen is the construction module is only picked in two situations.

1. The stationbound is an antag

2. The stationbound want's to "beat" antags by rapidly walling off areas such as the vault.

Maybe there was one stationbound who actually used it for some construction project in a far far away land.

I'd agree with Aphelion's suggestion. Just merge them and have the RCD be an upgrade or something. Hell I wouldn't even mind it being straight up removed from stationbounds. It's not like you need it for quickly patching up breeches when you have an infinite supply of inflatables.

[Butterrobber202]

The only reason the construction borg exists is because of it's role in Malf, being the only module that can spawn the "Organic-to-Cyborg" machine with it's RCD.