Dreams for the NBT: A humble wishlist.

[Kintsugi]

Let me preface this thread by saying that while I make plenty of jokes, I am very excited for the NBT and grateful for all the work that is being put in for it. This thread is not a series of demands: it is not a series of expectations or a list of things that I feel the NBT will need in order to be any good, or anything like that. Consider this thread an ideabox or a collection of respectful suggestions for the NBT development team to look at if they want to, or completely ignore if they don't. These are just some thoughts I had regarding the NBT that I feel might be useful. With that out of the way, I would also welcome people to make their own suggestions, if they feel the need. Also another disclaimer - just because another server might've done some of the things on this list, doesn't mean they have a monopoly on it. We can do it too! Here's some things I had in mind:

 

 

 

Pilots/Bridge Officers:

This one's pretty straightforward. With overmap something we plan to implement with the NBT, I think a limited non-command whitelisted bridge staff/pilot staff would be an interesting thing to have. Bridge staff do a lot to make the command section of the station feel populated, and also ensure the ship won't be dead in the water if nobody spawns in command. They also have a good RP-focused niche, and could serve as a quasi-command learner role. 

Crew/Emergency Armory:

Now, I don't think a hardcore militia armory should be present. What I do think is that a limited quantity of weak ranged weapons and light armor alongside a large quantity of emergency supplies would add an opportunity for everyone to participate in emergencies, in a way that the server doesn't currently facilitate. Even if there are no outright guns, something like plasma cutters could fill the same niche while not being so outwardly threatening. In any case, a room with all sorts of emergency gear that opens up automatically on red alert or when command chooses to open it up is a good idea, in my mind.

Assorted Role Renames/Removals:

This is another straightforward one. I think it'd be nice if all of the head of staff roles followed a single theme. Chief Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, Chief of Security, Chief Researcher, Personnel Chief, etc. Assistants getting a refluff would be interesting too. Crewman/passenger or something along those lines. I also feel certain roles could probably stand to be removed or condensed into other roles/assistant alt-titles. Stuff like librarian and chaplain could probably be combined into one role.

Escape Pod(s):

Now I'm fairly certain there'll be no escape shuttle, which is a good thing in my mind. At the same time, I think we shouldn't have a dozen or so escape pods. Instead, I think we should have a small number (2-4) escape pods/escape craft that would be located in one or two central locations. If the ship is going to be abandoned (which would be the option of last resort), these escape craft would be relatively self-sufficient and it'd be implied that their sole purpose is to get blasted out into space until someone can pick them up. I do feel that we shouldn't spread mediums for escape too thin, and should keep people's options relatively limited.

No Departmental Break Rooms:

A potentially controversial suggestion, but I feel like it needs to be said. I feel that departmental break rooms are poor design: they insulate the crew from interacting with other departments in their free time. In a way, they contribute to segregating the station or ship or whatever - by having special clubhouses that only your department can access, you have a reason to simply hang out with your departmental clique instead of heading to a public location to hang out with other departments. 

Regarding Exploration:

I do not think we should have an exploration department, and I am fairly certain that we won't. I do think that there should be an unwhitelisted role that can lead expeditions without the presence of command staff. I have seen people suggest that the research director, and I don't really think this is appropriate. I think that, actually, the best option would be pilots/bridge officers. Instead of having an "expedition leader" role, have it so pilots/bridge officers can be expected to lead and organize expeditions autonomously.

Lone Ship:

Straight-forward, but I think that the ship should be the only one. I don't think there should be a fleet of ships trailing the main ship. If we need an explanation for residential activity, make it so there's an off-screen residential area.

New Skyboxes:

This is one I believe Kyres has already been working on, but I think it'd be great if we got some new skyboxes. Perhaps changing with the sector? Our current skybox is less than stellar, and having a really beautiful skybox adds a lot to the atmosphere and the sense of immersion.

Randomly Generated Exoplanets:

This one I think is part and parcel with overmap, so I won't touch on it too much, but there is a system on other codebases that allows for the generation of away sites dynamically. Aside from handmade away sites, like we currently have, we could have the game generate generic asteroid/exoplanets that the ship could visit.

Third Party Vessels:

My last and perhaps most ambitious suggestion, I think we should have third party ships spawn depending on the ship's current sector. These would draw from a number of small generic shuttles and be crewed by a number of ghostspawner roles. They'd be anything from military patrol ships, to pirate vessels, to cargo ships, to smugglers, to scavengers, so on and so forth. They'd be overmap-capable, and anywhere from 0-2 could spawn at round start. This is another system that comes with overmap, and other servers have already demonstrated the concept very well. These third party ships would be free to interact with the ship however they liked, within reason. This'd be a great way to get lore factions get represented in-game, especially ones that normally never can be.  I think Kyres has already been working on this to a degree, by designing shuttle sprites for each faction.

That's all I have in mind for now, but I'll be sure to send whatever else I have in mind. In any case, I welcome other suggestions, as long as people keep it cordial and respectful. Again, this isn't for making demands, it's a polite way to bring up an idea you might have had that might be useful to the team.

Edited May 3, 2021 by DanseMacabre

[Caelphon]

 I agree with most things stated here, except the Bridge Officer being non-whitelisted. Bridge Officers are meant to be liaisons between the Command and Civilian Sectors (in our lore atleast due to aurora not being militarily focused) and therefore a lot of trust would be put into them, which makes me believe that they should be covered under the whitelist protection of command.

[Desven]

I like this list, really. Although I don't know about the break rooms. I like them, and they often go unused, but I'm at least very happy with medical's.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Desven
removed the shitpost to say something coherent

[MattAtlas]

1 hour ago, Caelphon said:

 I agree with most things stated here, except the Bridge Officer being non-whitelisted. Bridge Officers are meant to be liaisons between the Command and Civilian Sectors (in our lore atleast due to aurora not being militarily focused) and therefore a lot of trust would be put into them, which makes me believe that they should be covered under the whitelist protection of command.

I don't see why any of that would mean they should be whitelisted. I'd rather see them as an intro-to-command unwhitelisted role.

[Caelphon]

It's merely my opinion, but I'd like to see how it'd work within the first few months after NBT is released and to see whether it is necessary. 

[CourierBravo]

1 hour ago, DanseMacabre said:

Stuff like librarian and chaplain could probably be combined into one role

If we were to do something like this, it should probably be chaplin as the primary job and librarian work as secondary work. The chaplin stuff, while underused, is good representation for both IRL religions and in game species's beliefs. But on a ship, something like tech support could easily become a role in itself and work with or be apart of engineering. also alt titles in general are just nice to have, it gives good fluff and allows characters to specialize.

[Cnaym]

Finally a good list of good ideas. Thank you!

Let me ruin it:

Move robotics to engineering.

Ayup. Give Mining, Engineering, AI a default mech or two. Have the roboticist focus on maintenance and repairs for anything robotic. Replace the military grade weaponry we get with sleep darts and net projectors so we can go catch some wildlife instead of ruining relationships with other empires. The mechs are some of the most underused utility we got and the only time you see the damn things used is when the antags get stomped by three of them. Not exactly getting the "ressearch" vibes from that situation. Roboticists get the same tools as engineers anyway and could have the "totally logical tech support" as an alt title or integrated.

[Butterrobber202]

2 hours ago, DanseMacabre said:

Third Party Vessels:

My last and perhaps most ambitious suggestion, I think we should have third party ships spawn depending on the ship's current sector. These would draw from a number of small generic shuttles and be crewed by a number of ghostspawner roles. They'd be anything from military patrol ships, to pirate vessels, to cargo ships, to smugglers, to scavengers, so on and so forth. They'd be overmap-capable, and anywhere from 0-2 could spawn at round start. This is another system that comes with overmap, and other servers have already demonstrated the concept very well. These third party ships would be free to interact with the ship however they liked, within reason. This'd be a great way to get lore factions get represented in-game, especially ones that normally never can be.  I think Kyres has already been working on this to a degree, by designing shuttle sprites for each faction.

This is one of my most hoped for feature as well, and I'm pretty sure it's on it's way. As I understand it, the Aurora will move to different locations based on the current Lore Arc, so stumbling across Jargon Federation Ships while near their space would really make it feel IMMERSIVE. Not to mention, it increases the value of race whitelists, since these ships would obviously have to be staffed.

[DeadLantern]

I really don't think it is wise to suggest ideas before we see the full idea of NBT realized. Some things like Escape Pods can be assumed outright, but I think it is just odd to be talking about a fleet of ships or the lack of break rooms before we see how rounds on the NBT work and the overall atmosphere of the server. Who knows how massive this change will be? Perhaps with the NBT, break rooms make perfect sense (unlike now), or maybe a trail of ships would work really well with the setting.

These ideas all seem nice on paper, but I don't see the point. We know very little about how NBT is going to actually work--a lot of people have compared it to Bay, but how similar to Bay is it going to be? I don't know, and you don't know. I think it is fine to brainstorm, but this feels particularly irrelevant, just because we don't know how NBT works and how each round's atmosphere is going to play out.

[ClemTheDuck]

Having a pilot role is literally all I ask for with the NBT even if the job is mostly pressing buttons, it can be a RP focused job

[Cnaym]

2 hours ago, ClemTheDuck said:

Having a pilot role is literally all I ask for with the NBT even if the job is mostly pressing buttons, it can be a RP focused job

PO mains unit!

It would be super NEAT to have that. RP jobs are usually the best anyway.

[stev]

Now I don't wanna be the guy to say this list is just a bunch of Torch features but like... It's almost all a list of Torch features, my guy. Gonna echo others in saying it's a bit early to be requesting a lot of this stuff.

 

Also personally I'm opposed to merging Librarian and Chaplain/Counselor; while they're both rarely-played tertiary Service roles with little to no mechanics associated with them, they both have very very different vibes in play, and I speak as someone who mained a Counselor here for a good few months. Plus like, it'd be weird for the Chaplain to manage the Library and the Librarian to manage the Chapel, assuming they'll be present in some capacity. 

 

Uhhh misc takes on things:

• I don't agree with bridge bunnies being whitelisted, they're low impact and authority enough that it doesn't really matter as much as the real Command roles, plus they sound like a nice sort of learner role for people looking to get into Command. 
• An emergency armory miiiight work? It'd need to contain very low power weaponry (think bolt-action pistols) and I think opening back up the trashfire that was General Quarters and full crew militias every round is a very big risk. Would have to be done very carefully with strict guidelines and admin regulation on what is acceptable with it and when. 
• The Assistant -> Crewman change and the misc role renames... Idk why you want this? This is just replicating Bay except in a civilian setting where it makes less sense. 
• Other stuff sounds fine, if ambitious and code-heavy, though largely seems to just be asking for Bay ports. 

[Boggle08]

I like Danse's take on the crew armory. It actually isn't very hard to get your hands on good weapons on the aurora as it stand now, between people loading up from the existing armory, ordering from cargo, using the protolathe, or even just building makeshift. If we get an emergency armory, it should exist as an intermediary that doesn't make the crew absolutely defenseless, or buys them time to get a better weapon and organize.

This is a small thing, but in addition to removing departmental break rooms, we should place a lot of focus on having every department having a lobby, and that lobby being designed to function as a micro-social hub. Medical and the kitchen are fantastic examples of this, because the workers of said departments have their workstations jutting out into the public area, and the public area itself surrounds the work area in an L or U shape, creating an effect where it's easier to face towards and talk to more people. Like a circular table. On highpop, where there is a chef and a barkeep, more congregate around the kitchen. On lowpop, where there is no service at all, The medical lobby becomes popular to all people.

I think how I feel about exploration will change as we accrue more away sites and mechanics, but I really want science to be heavily involved in some way with these. The entire department, as it is now, is the same powergaming mechanic dispenser that classic space station 13's always had. The difference is that there's no plan for it right now, and it's been gutted and defanged through a mix of PR's and policy. It isn't fun or rewarding. I would not really miss science in it's current state if we only ported over full research robotics to the new ship. As of now, and only as of now, I feel like reorienting science around away-site missions and anomalies is a step in the right direction. Perhaps even having it so specific research levels/types require anomaly testing in order to unlock.

[Kintsugi]

8 hours ago, DeadLantern said:

I really don't think it is wise to suggest ideas before we see the full idea of NBT realized.

Sure, but at the same time, I don’t see any harm coming from this. Suggestions are just suggestions - if they're useless, then there's no problem. But there's always the off-chance that someone sees something they like.

Edited May 3, 2021 by DanseMacabre

[Zer0Winds]

I truly don't think Librarian and Chaplain should be combined. They are distinctly different from each other, and as a person who actively plays in the Librarian Role, I don't want to have to also manage the Chapel and be a Preacher or Counselor or whatever. Even if both jobs aren't the most popular, they should stay separate.

That being said, Bridge Officers and Pilot Role sound cool. Always up for more RP-Jobs. I also agree about Bridge Officers being unwhitelisted, since as it stands right now, the only job you can play that has even a semblance of "authority" in a department, is Quartermaster, if you want to try to get a taste for Command before going for a Whitelist.

[thebest_player757]

An expedition leader role thats unwhitelisted who's sole job is to do lead expeditions (probably under the jurisdiction of the RD) would be rad. Currently on the aurora the lack of RDs playing gatekeeps expeditions from happening like, ever, which is kind of lame.

[Ickysoup]

I too would love to see Bridge Officers, though I don't see any reason they need to be whitelisted. I imagine it as they're just staffing the bridge and taking orders from head of staff. I would like to know what this role would be able to do outside of being a command exclusive assistant.

The only Command name I think would even be worth considering changing would be Research Director to like Head of Research.

With Chaplain and Librarian roles being merged, they're two RP roles that do two different things, merging them would be silly.

Im not sure about a crew armory. If there's a situation in which such an armory would be needed to be opened you're probably in the process of or considering abandoning ship. Arming a bunch of civilians who may or may not have any experience with firearms and trying to organize them into repealing a threat on the ship will be a nightmare. Its also implying a civilian ship full of people from all across the spur will be willing fight to the death rather then hide/hunker down or hop in the nearest escape pod were that an option.

 

 

 

Edited May 4, 2021 by Ickysoup

[NerdyVampire]

I actually like and can see the merit in all of these suggestions. Even if the developers don't find them suitable, I think it's nice that you collected them Danse ?