PR Feedback Thread: Robotics Revamp

[Boggle08]

In retrospect, I like the concept of RnD being a shared responsibility, but I don't like the mapping changes as they currently are. 

    The Robotics lab in this PR is structured in a way such that they can operate completely independent of the rest of the science department. They have pretty much all of the necessary machines.
    The lathe room for science doesn't have a destructive analyzer or a circuit printer. You're going to completely cut the science team out of circuit board use and RnD contributions with these changes as they are. 

    Due to how you've structured RnD, Station crew will be incentivised to take everything up with the roboticist. Science doesn't have a windoor help desk anymore, and the primary bulk of RnD is in Robotics proper. Before your proposed changes, You had to go to two different desks for different things. After this, people will bring their requests and material shipments to only one desk, effectively monopolized by one job.

The fabrication room in the back for robotics looks cool, but it would be better if we had a shared lathe room. This can be done by either:

- Keeping the station unchanged, and just altering the ID access on RnD to accommodate Robotics people.
- Taking the RnD equipment out of robotics, share access on the re-purposed circuit room, and have both parties use that together.
- Reconvert the science lathe room back into an auxiliary lab, then add a door south of the new fabrication room to give scientists access to the manufacturing area.

I'm still fine with this PR hitting the server anyway, but I doubt now it'll make it due to the concerns about powergaming. RnD is a crayon eating matching game that scientists complete usually out of obligation for other jobs. Widening the pool of people able to do it is something I like the idea of.

[maniacalFowl]

I havent played science in a while but at night I am still woken up by nightmarish images of the RnD minigame. Relinquishing it to Robotics is something that should have been done a long time ago. And as said by so many people before me: The scientist role is so broad, the only reason anyone would want to bother with RnD is because they want to make guns or want to take pity on the miserable fucks down the hall. The PR changes something fundamentally awfully about science. If we consolidate the work from 1 role that really wants to do the thing along with the work that another role never wants to do, I don't see the problem. Everyone agrees that the minigame is awful and while unloading the work onto someone that might want to do that job doesn't actually do anything about it I can almost guarantee that nobody is going to miss actually doing the damned thing. If the worry is that people will power-game with the new change then obviously they don't get that entire idea behind science is min-maxing and peak efficiency.

My only qualms with the PR in its current state though is the god forsaken oven. 
 

[Happy_Fox]

1 hour ago, maniacalFowl said:

I havent played science in a while but at night I am still woken up by nightmarish images of the RnD minigame. Relinquishing it to Robotics is something that should have been done a long time ago. And as said by so many people before me: The scientist role is so broad, the only reason anyone would want to bother with RnD is because they want to make guns or want to take pity on the miserable fucks down the hall. The PR changes something fundamentally awfully about science. If we consolidate the work from 1 role that really wants to do the thing along with the work that another role never wants to do, I don't see the problem. Everyone agrees that the minigame is awful and while unloading the work onto someone that might want to do that job doesn't actually do anything about it I can almost guarantee that nobody is going to miss actually doing the damned thing. If the worry is that people will power-game with the new change then obviously they don't get that entire idea behind science is min-maxing and peak efficiency.

My only qualms with the PR in its current state though is the god forsaken oven. 
 

I never found RnD that bad. It's just a setup procedure. If anything a far better way of resolving this "issue" would be to start the RnD levels even higher to the point where phoron is needed to advance them. If this PR was to move RnD starting levels up I'd be in full support but not as it stands. It essentially turns Robotics into a powerhouse of being able to make anything. Mechs, rigs, guns, high tech equipment, integrated circuits etc etc and turns them into the singular "face" for the entire Research department due to the removal of a crew-facing Research lab for Scientists.

[A.I.M.M.O.]

-1 Cramping science for something totaly unneeded is a big nono to me, they can use the conference room for breaks in science, and I will fight against more Changes that make the kitchen even less desirable to visit.

 

[Soultheif96]

I will have to say suggestive workarounds for this, starting with robotics:

As many stated, protolathe and destructive analyzer is a no-no by any circumstances as it devalues the scientists even more. Yes, the mini-game is horrible and I would say it should die in the fire. Robotics as is now should remain as is because it is perfect. 

Now for the breakroom, I love the idea but there is one issue, it devalues the kitchen by a great amount. If you want to make it happen, the fridge, oven, condiments, and other things need to go. What can stay is the coffee machine, soft drink dispenser, vending machines, donk pockets, glasses, and a microwave. Medical and engineering have these and I don’t see why science shouldn’t have it. 

Now to echo what others said, try avoiding cramping up science as is, it is like trying to work with a chef as another chef, it is cramped as hell in there.

[maniacalFowl]

4 hours ago, Happy_Fox said:

I never found RnD that bad. It's just a setup procedure. If anything a far better way of resolving this "issue" would be to start the RnD levels even higher to the point where phoron is needed to advance them. If this PR was to move RnD starting levels up I'd be in full support but not as it stands. It essentially turns Robotics into a powerhouse of being able to make anything. Mechs, rigs, guns, high tech equipment, integrated circuits etc etc and turns them into the singular "face" for the entire Research department due to the removal of a crew-facing Research lab for Scientists.

Honestly I wouldn't be against giving Science as a whole a greater starting tech level. However; nearly every department has ways of becoming more efficient at what they do but through one way or another, and aren't completely reliant on a singular role for that path to department happiness. Science however does but nobody really seems to care because of how many different roles science has to offer and how little they need to work together. Either way we resign Robotics to continued suffering or we come with a gray area alternative like upgraded starting levels and I'd rather have as many people happy as possible without allowing power-gaming to take place.