Let Antags Leave

[Snakebittenn]

There's a certain key factor behind why a lot of antag gimmicks simply fall flat, and it's something I don't really hear people talk about.
Antags are trapped on the station and their only way out is ending the round.
Sure mercs/heisters can leave, but they aren't supposed to really before the 1:30 mark about because they can't be replaced by a different crew. Antags cannot leave the station and be replaced, so often a gimmick doesn't actually have a 'final objective' or whatever. Sure, you got the HoP. Sure, you got that briefcase full of phoron. But what now. Your only options are call a shuttle which ends the entire round, or try to squeeze some juice out of a gimmick where no juice exists. Ninjas for example can't really accomplish anything substantial besides 'kill people' or 'do [x] thing and continue killing people' because they're perpetually stuck in the round.
I'd suggest giving each antag some kind of final way to leave the station. Then you get ghosted, your obligation to the round is over, and maybe a new slot is opened in your place, who knows.

Edit: There's also the fact that the shuttle leads literally only to your demise at the hands of an admin-spawned Odin Security team. You should be able to hijack those to go somewhere more antaggy.

[Pratepresidenten]

Would be cool if the escape pods had a function, instead of being useless "Emergency departure only".

Give 'em an emag function and allow them to just yeet.

Or maybe.. A one-time TC device(Since most antags has uplink access) to port the user to an antag base where they can ghost or rp or w/e.

[KingOfThePing]

There absolutely needs to me more than one way to leave or people will just power game and camp the one possible escape route 

[Skull132]

YAAASSSS GAGA YAAAAAAAAS.

On a serious note, yes. Gimmicks, whether successful or not, tend to be in dire need of an "End". This is one of the reasons why I really like nuke and malf: they have an end. The story has a natural end which can be achieved. Without it, all that'll happen is that security will keep running around the station, eventually arrest the person, and it'll be horribly anticlimatic.

[Mofo1995]

I think this is a great idea. Since as it stands everyone has to either be a bit on the reserved side and can only really act out if they accept defeat and capture not just as a probable possibility, but as a certainty. I think it would encourage more boldness if theres at least a chance of a legitimate exit strategy. Kinda hard to roll with a narrative as a traitor of being a saboteur or spy or assassin if your only way out is straight to Odin. It really only leaves terrorist on the table for those who dont care about being apprehended, or really non invasive espionage for those who want to escape.

[Carver]

Yeah it'd be nice to dip without needing to emag a comms console and hope the admins listen to your request for a syndie shuttle pick-up.

[Arrow768]

Yes, but the way to go should be rather "loud" so it becomes common knowledge that they left.
Otherwise we might end up with a situation where the station sits on code red for a extended period of time while security tries to find the, now escaped, antagonist.

[Valkrae]

1 hour ago, Arrow768 said:

Yes, but the way to go should be rather "loud" so it becomes common knowledge that they left.
Otherwise we might end up with a situation where the station sits on code red for a extended period of time while security tries to find the, now escaped, antagonist.

Maybe they can E-Mag the Research Shuttle? And it rips the moorings from the station, and causes a breach?

[Zundy]

Telecrystals that summon an antag shuttle would be cool.

[Doxxmedearly]

Several ways this can be implemented, and IMO the more options, the better. 

-Messing with escape pods

-Messing with research shuttle

Two of the most obvious options. These can display an automated announcement and, as valk suggested, cause some damage. In these cases I'd prefer if it wasn't limited to JUST an emag; for example, we can probably include swiping an agent ID card as well. This way people aren't shoehorned into needing one tool and are free to spend TC more freely.

We could probably also cram an escape item into the uplink, something called in via targetted dropper.

Unfortunately this doesn't provide an out for say, vampires and lings. The stealthy ones can leave with the crew, sure, but there's few options for the "loud" ones that inevitably happen. 

I'm pretty into the idea. As skull said, it's good when these rounds end. Plus ngl I'm kind of sick of the crew going "Well you may have got us BUT the odin/cleanup crew/deus ex machina will get you anyway! So we really win! It's important to me that I argue this point on common radio."

[Zundy]

Vamps and cult could be given the ability to construct a gateway to open a portal through the veil to leave by.

Lings could maybe build a ling ship (like in the thing)?

[Roostercat]

I don't think lings need an out tbh. Most of the time their rounds end with either them in custody, decapped/gibbed/incinerated, or causing an evac shuttle.

[MalMalumam]

So far we have (in addition to the default "escape as crew, a prisoner, in cryo storage, dead, riding the escape pods during standard crew evac, or stuck on station")...

-Hijacking the emergency/crew transfer shuttle

-Emagging/agent ID'ing the research shuttle

-1 time use uplink item to GTFO

-Hijacking the escape pods to leave early

-Cult/vampire being able to summon an escape portal (there's actually an object, Bluespace Rift, obj/singularity/narsie/large/exit that teleports you to a beach.)  (Special things happen if this Rift is on the map when a singularity eats a supermatter.)

-Lings being able to make a bio-ship.

-Make an announcement when the antag ends the round by escaping.  (Unknown signature shown leaving the station, unauthorized use of pods, or ripping the moorings from the station, for example.)

My own suggestions:

-Give a "Home Base" option to antag shuttles that only works once.  (If the idea of ghosting antags once they return is implemented, letting new antags join, then once per "set" of antags?)

-Wizards being able to use the Teleport scroll to get back to the wizard den, but doing so expends the rest of the charges.  Or, give them another Teleport scroll that only leads to the wizard den.  (If Spatial Wizard gets re-implemented, don't put the destination on their Teleport list.)

-Borers can make a "ship" out of a sufficiently high number of themselves.  (I think this makes sense, since they are supposed to have reproducing as a goal.)

-Hijack the teleporter, perhaps?  And once someone goes through the hijacked teleporter the first time, it starts counting down (to let team antags all get through), then explodes?

-If a single use uplink item to GTFO is made, make sure that the base they wind up at is generalizeable to all antags with uplinks - mercs, traitors, ninjas, revs, nukes, raiders, and burglars.

[Peppermint]

My only worry would be antags leaving at the drop of a hat. Eg. People doing a stealth objective then just gtfo an hour into the round, or leaving the second they run into conflict. It feels like a lot of antags at the moment have to 'win' at all costs, even if that means afking in a random maintenance locker for 30 minutes.

I like the idea, but I think it needs to have a timer, and a way for the station to react. Even if it's just emanging the research shuttle console and getting an ERT-esque countdown. I also don't really think every antag needs the option. Vampire generally gets to the point it's impossible to 'beat' anyway, and ling is so desperately in need of a rework that it's entirely irrelevant. It'd be especially cool for ninja though, and could have some pretty darn interesting significance to borer as well.

Raider/Merc obviously don't need it. Neither do burglars. I'd also argue that given cult has an end-game of summoning, they also do not need it. Would be nice if wizard could portal out somewhere.

Maybe to the beach area? It's barely used, after all. 

[Carver]

There could also be a push (via text in the uplink perhaps?) to encourage/remind traitors (or anyone with an uplink) that they can emag the comms console and message a request for an evacuation via syndicate shuttle. That shuttle is almost never otherwise used, and requiring admin justification prevents people from dipping 30 minutes into a round without having done anything.

[Zyrus]

I love everything about this. It never, ever makes sense that someone can't leave the station. Even malf AIs can get carded and disappear somewhere.