Gamemode : Hard Days Work, or Departmental Objectives

[wowzewow]

*STATIC CRACKLES AND CLICKS*

The automated announcement system coldly states : "New message from Central Command."

 

"Hey, you. Get back to work."

 

I've always felt like Aurora severely lacked a proper gamemode which fully embraced its HRP nature. It gets a little boring when the most exciting round typically consists of "guy with bullpup killing some people" (and promptly bragging about bodycount on the Discord.)

So, here it is. The Bureaucracy (Interim Name) gamemode.

Adequately staffed departments are given objectives to fulfill. Failure connotates a pay cut, and at worst, their jobs on the line. For larger pops, more objectives can be overlaid over each other. Here are some examples.

Also, as these are MINOR Antags, Security can't really arrest them, so long as they don't break any laws. They are any other regular member of staff.

Being minor antags, more people are able to roleplay creatively and contribute, so instead of one or two guys with guns, we have multiple people running around with vested interests, which will surely be interesting.

Security

1. Contraband Search 

"Hey, so. Someone's been sneaking a certain little something in all of your [CONTRABAND]. We're having a total recall. Don't let us down." *CLICK*

Self-explanatory. Security wins so long as a certain amount of contraband does not leave the station.

Contraband can be anything - alcohol, cigarettes - hell, even oxygen tanks.

Minor Antag : Smuggler/Addict/Hoarder

"Get the goods and get out. We'll be waiting for you on the outside."

"You just need it. Just another hit. They can't take this away from you."

"Something bad's going down, and you know it. Better keep a stash."

Objective : Leave the station with a certain amount of contraband to win.

2. Rifle and Equipment Inspection Day

"Stay prepared, gentlemen. We don't want you guys sitting on your asses all day." *CLICK*

The rifles in the armoury start off with random charge, and different states of wear and tear. Security starts off with rifle cleaning kits. Rifles can't be used until they're clean. Same with any other weapons at Security's disposal. Security wins so long as a majority of their weapons are cleaned and fully charged. Note : This task will not spawn in conjunction with a major antag.

Minor Antag : Petty Burglar

"A little birdy told you that Security would be a little preoccupied with maintenance. Now's your chance."

Objective : Steal a random object from a department head's office.

3. Physical Training 

"A healthy mind is a healthy body. Put in some laps." *CLICK*

Security has to run a certain amount of tiles before the end of the shift. Also use weightlifting equipment a certain amount of times. (Like the weights in cargo break room.)

Minor Antag : Sick Leave

"You think you pulled something. Try not to push yourself, yeah?"

Objective : Avoid moving a certain number of tiles, and leave the station.

 

Medical

1. Vaccination Round 

"So, there's some kind of... Space Typhus or Tuberculosis. It's cutting through our staff. Get protected. We can't afford more people on sick leave." *CLICK*

As title suggests. Get a majority of staff injected. Note : This is not like virology. There will be no virus. Just injections.

Minor Antag : Compromised 

"You've got a medical reason, your shamans told you to avoid this, or you've already had the injection last week. Whatever the case, you can't get stabbed."

Objective : Leave the station without the injection, or have a exemption stamped by the CMO. If no CMO is present, at least a head of staff.

2. Drug Test 

"It's routine, and the authorities are hounding us for it. The next fine is coming out of your paychecks." *CLICK*

Get a sample of blood from the majority of staff. 

Minor Antag : Positive

"You screwed up. You must've eaten some kind of fruit, or something. It'll come up positive. And you're positively sure you'll get fired."

Objective : Avoid giving a blood sample.

3. Blood Drive 

"IAC wants this - and they'll give us good publicity. Your sweat is cheap, but your blood is cheaper. You know what to do."

Medical has to fill a certain number of bloodbags.

Minor Antags :

1. Bad Blood 

"Yeah, you can't donate. You'd rather not say why."

Objective : Avoid donating any blood.

2. Mosquito 

"You know a guy who knows a guy. And said guy needs this."

Objective : Leave the station with a certain amount of blood packs.

3. Bleeding Heart 

"You just want to give and give. They're so less fortunate than you! Shame! Shame!"

Objective : Donate a large amount of blood. 

Bonus : Vampires, if enabled, are more likely to spawn during blood drives.

Service 

1.  Corporate Morale Boost Campaign 

"Heeeeey, so. Worker morale has been...low. You know what'll cheer em' up?"

Service starts with a large amount of toys and 'morale-boosting' motivational posters and cards.

Service wins when the round ends with a majority of staff holding a toy or card in their inventory. 

Minor Antag : Sour Lime 

"God, I hate this job." 

Objective : Tear up a certain amount of cards, and throw toys into the disposals.

2. Catering Team 

"Centcomm's having a little schmooze em' up. We've run out of ingredients. We need you to fill in the blanks."

Service has to cook a certain amount of dishes and mix drinks. 

Minor Antag : Eat this, Management

Spike a certain amount of dishes with cough syrup or something gross.

3. Hi there, would you like to sign my petiton?

"Hey, we need you guys to sign this. Management wants actions, not words. Sign it and stop asking questions." 

Service has a petition and needs a certain amount of signatures.

Minor Antag :  Pinko

"Whatever it is, you hate it. Don't make people sign that freakin' thing." 

Goal is to prevent the petitton from being signed. Begins with a minor ability (kind of like thralling, but with rhetoric instead of hippie pagan voodoo magic.) so that people will believe them and antagging won't be impossible.

Science 

1. Damage control 

"What the hell was that noise? You eggheads better not be messing around back there!" *CLICK*

Start with a random room in science being blown up. Science needs to have a damage waiver signed by every member of the department, and to be stamped by the RD and/or Chief Engineer. 

Minor Antag : Insurance Fraud

"Hey, so maybe don't sign it - you'll get a big payout..." 

2. Experimental Trial Run 

"Hey, so. Marketing wants this product out the door in a week or two. We need warm bodies. Chop chop." *CLICK*

Science gets a weird-ass product and needs to test it on randomly selected members of staff. It's not particularly pleasant. 

Minor Antag : L'inspecteur 

"You're pretty sure this is a health violation. You're smart. You got your PhD. Don't let them test it!"

Try to confiscate the weird-ass product. 

3. Interim IT Staff 

"Hey, you guys are smart, right? So, about that EMP mishap..." *CLICK*

Papershredders, photocopiers and some computers start off broken.

Science has to fix all of them. Don't worry, they get a tracker.

Minor Antag : Vested Corporate Interest 

"Your higher ups told you to extract a lil' extra info today. Try not to get caught." 

Has to destroy a random computer using a virus disk. 

Cargo 

1. Rock and Stone 

"Rich veins of gold and phoron ahead. Bring it back, boys." 

Mine a certain amount of minerals. 

Minor Antag : Side Hustle 

"I think I can fence this somewhere..."

Leave on the escape shuttle with a bunch of minerals. 

2. Total Recall 

"So, there's been a big bureaucratic cock-up back at Cent-com... we need you to return some things." 

A random department is selected. A crate is spawned, requiring it to be filled with a bunch of stuff only found in said department. 

Minor Antag : All My Fault

"Oh god, I'm gonna get fired." 

Stop the crate from being successfully filled up.

3. In the Green 

"You guys are falling behind on your quotas. Earn a little extra today. We need to balance the books."

Cargo has to make a certain amount of credits before round end. 

Minor Antag : A slice of the pie

"I deserve nice things!" 

Steal a certain amount of credits from the Cargo account.

Engineering 

1. Fight the Power 

"Hey, we need you guys to overcharge your ship for a little while. Don't ask why." 

Engineering has to generate a certain large amount of energy/charge up a spawned in capacitor. 

Minor Antag : Power Sink 

"Hey, isn't credits...just energy?"

Steal a bunch of energy.

2. Routine Inspection Number X 

"Man, this thing is held together with nails and tape. We're getting the inspectors in today. Don't let us down."

APCs, SMES', Fire Extinguishers, Doors, vendors, whatever, just don't work today. Get them fixed.

Minor Antag : Vandal 

"The rush, the thrill!" 

The vandal has to break a certain amount of things before round end.

3. Construction Site Fever 

"Hey, we need a new wing here, for...corporate reasons. Get building!"

Engineering has to follow a blueprint and successfully build it before round end.

Command 

They are typically helping their departments with the objectives...

however...

Major Antag : The Powers That Be

"This is an order from all the way up. [DEPARTMENT] can NOT achieve [OBJECTIVE] AT ANY COST. Your job is on the line. You are not to divulge anything. Your loyalty implant will handle the rest." *CLICK* 

Self explanatory. Only will spawn with high enough pop and other heads of staff in the round. 

Anyway, depending on pop, players, more than one departmental objective can appear for a department. Departments can have objectives concurrently.

Depending on pop as well, departments will have no objectives, so they can help other departments.

[Myazaki]

I like the idea. But I'd rather see it integrated into every gamemode, gives traitors and things objectives to go after.

You could tie in a persistence thing that gives a department a small boost next round if they did well in the previous one.

[SierraKomodo]

I feel like departmental objectives would be better integrated into the standard game loop as opposed to being a specific round type. Like how Cargo gets bounties every round.

 

I do like the idea of objectives for departments, though. Quotas are a commonly used thing in corporate IRL.

[Gem]

i agree with the two above. a sort of bounty system for other departments would be pretty cool!

[OffRoad99]

4 hours ago, Myazaki said:

I like the idea. But I'd rather see it integrated into every gamemode, gives traitors and things objectives to go after.

You could tie in a persistence thing that gives a department a small boost next round if they did well in the previous one.

This a hundred time.
I really like this as a concept. It could be really, really fun.

[Carver]

While I like the idea of it being mixed into other modes, I'd still like it standalone as something akin to what you suggested. Having modes that can't break out into combat and chaos sounds exciting to me.

[Faye <3]

To be honest, this sounds extremely boring. Especially for the security objectives. Rifle maintenance and running laps is what a Commander who hates you forces you to do. 

[wowzewow]

13 hours ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

To be honest, this sounds extremely boring. Especially for the security objectives. Rifle maintenance and running laps is what a Commander who hates you forces you to do. 

That's the point. It's supposed mimic the chill atmosphere and downtime of extended, not be another high-octane antag firefight.

[Faye <3]

The point is that it is boring? Then why add it? It does not sound enjoyable whatsoever. If i’m playing Commander, there’s no way I’m interrupting peoples RP to polish rifles or toggle sprint around the station.

[Captain Gecko]

It just feels a tad redundant to me... It feels quite inconsequential (which is probably the point in a way, to not take up too much of people's time), but there I'd argue that we already have something like this: bounties. Sure, nothing wrong is going to happen to the guy who doesn't do his part and send the Scrimblo-4000 from Science to Cargo, so there's no push to actually take part in it, unless you're actively counting on asking things from Cargo later (and even then, I didn't see much players there minding that and still sending you your stuff anyways)... But that's the point. I assume that a considerable part of the people who generally choose to vote Extended is not really there to do their work without having an antag around to interupt them, but rather to have free (and safe) time to roleplay in the more roleplay-orented SS13 server... Discussions in the bar, in the library, getting character to bond with others (or not!) without the threat of a cult trying to take over the station/ship, etc.

In short, this just feels like mandatory bounty-filling. It's more of a shore than anything else, and probably would interupt roleplay for those in it, and the job of those who are all about their work too.

 

I guess that a way to make it more interesting would be to have it be more important, bigger, something that would justify interupting people's attempts at roleplay or working their normal jobs... Like a sort of super-bounty... The construction of a sort of prototype machine that requires input from multiple departments, the CONFECTION of a vaccine/cure and distribution of such a thing to a crew that is ACTIVELY fighting a disease outbreak onboard (with various effects that can prove impairing but not actually lethal), etc. Now, it does indeed require more active participation from the player, however, I believe that such thing would still manage to get in that place between calm extended, and actual antag rounds, for the simple reason that the main problem isn't a active player in the role of an antag, but simply a situation.

Even then, however, assuming we implement such a thing... I don't know if it would warrant a game mode of its own? That would be like dedicating a game mode to your usual blob, or a vine outbreak... I don't think that it's worth, as a game mode, that is. Such things could still be crew-size-adjusted random events, (take the disease outbreak, for instance, there is an outbreak, at some point in the round, as RNGeesus decided instead of choosing the Blob, for once.)

[Boggle08]

I think taking this idea a step further would be to organize the busy work into overarching linear missions. For these, the ship is given a directive from centcom, or must do something because of circumstance/necessity. Rather than it being one department, these are larger missions that rely on the participation of multiple departments in order to be completed.

Some examples would be:

-Answering distress beacons.

-Flying to a fuel depot for a refill, resupplying in general

-Ship escort

-Outpost Construction

-Resupplying other SCC star ships

-Transporting sensitive cargo

-Entertaining important delegations

-Patrolling a region of space

-Investigating anomalous activity on a planet

-Surveying planet candidates for colonization

-Trying to find Phoron

-Even more, who knows

 

Such a system benefits the departments that rely primarily on reacting to problems, like Medical, Engineering, and Security. On extended rounds, Medical has no one to heal, Engineering nothing to fix, and Security no one to Batong. This would give them something to react to and participate in. Security has precious cargo to guard, Engineering has an outpost to construct, Medical has a distress beacon survivor to heal.

Besides those three, other departments would benefit from this as well. Science can finally have some immediate context and utility for the work they do, Operations will process more orders, move cargo around, and do other operations things. Service may have to cater for or facilitate important meetings and delegations hosted on the station. I could go on.

This would also work for our current round antag system for many reasons: Having established a mission or linear narrative for the ship at round start takes a lot of pressure off the antag to carry the entire interest, motion, and story of the round. Antags with this system can still take their gimmicks in whichever direction they choose, but they will also now have a plot at round start that they can bounce ideas off of and work with. It will help people brainstorm, and give context to their presence aboard the ship as antags.

It is my hope that these missions are just as imperative as the antag, and that they are normally only suspended in code red/delta scenarios. A violent antag usually falls under the jurisdiction of security, then medical. All other departments must sit on their hands. Having these missions still manifest priority despite the antics of an antag effectively turns the mission into a B-plot that can keep people feeling active, engaged, and useful.

 

[Sparky_hotdog]

So Boggle's idea is interesting to me. I like these being part of every round (I assume that was the intention), because it would make it a little less jarring and with some of the more casual ones would make them kinda optional. As he's pointed out, it would also particularly aid the departments that on extended become nothing more than chair RP. I have nothing against chair RP, but when I only play a round a day, and that round ends up being extended every day for a week, I start to miss the entire reason I ready up as an FR rather than a visitor.

Having an extra thing for antags to potentially tie themselves into is also a fun addition. Gimmicks are hard to come up with, so being able to go "Oh, I'm a traitor and there's a delegation here today? I know what I'll do." or "Oh, we're Mercs and the Horizon is transporting a super secret cargo thing? We're going to steal it." would be nice.

However, I can see the argument, as has been suggested above, that at least some of these could "get in the way of RP". If you're playing security and a delegation arrives on the ship, you're going to be expected to guard it, regardless of whether it's extended or not. The first solution to this would be to make these more intensive options rarer, so most rounds it's just "Get phoron" or "Chart planets" which doesn't take up too much time or effort, but can guide people with nothing else to do, with the more "Make sure this box makes it to X place safely" tasks being rarer.

And the second solution would be to, and this is going to sound mean, just suck it up. Like, who said RP had to be a perfect, non-interrupted conversation? If you're playing an engineer, chatting with a friend at the bar, personally I think there's some good conflict added by "Oh sorry mate, we just reached a planet and I've got to go help build an outpost down there." Did that interrupt your RP? Hell yeah it did. Is is a canon thing that can change that relationship in a way not really possible right not? Also hell yeah. Maybe I'm rambling and missing the point here, but personally I think seeing interruptions as negative to RP is wrong, otherwise we wouldn't have random events like carp.

[Boggle08]

8 hours ago, Sparky_hotdog said:

So Boggle's idea is interesting to me. I like these being part of every round (I assume that was the intention), because it would make it a little less jarring and with some of the more casual ones would make them kinda optional. As he's pointed out, it would also particularly aid the departments that on extended become nothing more than chair RP. I have nothing against chair RP, but when I only play a round a day, and that round ends up being extended every day for a week, I start to miss the entire reason I ready up as an FR rather than a visitor.

Having an extra thing for antags to potentially tie themselves into is also a fun addition. Gimmicks are hard to come up with, so being able to go "Oh, I'm a traitor and there's a delegation here today? I know what I'll do." or "Oh, we're Mercs and the Horizon is transporting a super secret cargo thing? We're going to steal it." would be nice.

However, I can see the argument, as has been suggested above, that at least some of these could "get in the way of RP". If you're playing security and a delegation arrives on the ship, you're going to be expected to guard it, regardless of whether it's extended or not. The first solution to this would be to make these more intensive options rarer, so most rounds it's just "Get phoron" or "Chart planets" which doesn't take up too much time or effort, but can guide people with nothing else to do, with the more "Make sure this box makes it to X place safely" tasks being rarer.

And the second solution would be to, and this is going to sound mean, just suck it up. Like, who said RP had to be a perfect, non-interrupted conversation? If you're playing an engineer, chatting with a friend at the bar, personally I think there's some good conflict added by "Oh sorry mate, we just reached a planet and I've got to go help build an outpost down there." Did that interrupt your RP? Hell yeah it did. Is is a canon thing that can change that relationship in a way not really possible right not? Also hell yeah. Maybe I'm rambling and missing the point here, but personally I think seeing interruptions as negative to RP is wrong, otherwise we wouldn't have random events like carp.

When I first joined in 2019, Rounds would have a binary loop of hyperviolence, followed up with an extended round for reprieve, then back to hyperviolence. I feel like our population was much healthier then. When people suggest we acquiesce mechanics in service of more RP, It just kills interest in the game itself. We've never had more time for RP than at any other point since I started playing here, and it's miserable.

RP is a mechanic that relies heavily on player involvement and population. At it's core, it's an unreliable mechanic because it depends on player commitment and interest.  Just look at how our population tanks every time a new popular game comes out, or when College finals/midterms roll out. We only have one or two good rounds every day now, and that's because there's no reason to join low population rounds. People are content to probe the game throughout the day, until the mix is just right, then they can join.

We have to embrace game mechanics, if we want to hold player interest. Especially at Lowpop. A fleshed out gameplay loop can be more consistent than population numbers. One of our priorities right now should be motivating people to join, regardless if the manifest is perfect or not. We could see more lowpop rounds snowball into larger ones, if things go right.

Edited March 10, 2022 by Boggle08

[wowzewow]

Honestly, Boggle08 has taken the words out of my mouth.

[Caelphon]

I think this is a grand idea, and would like to see departmental objectives implemented similar to that of the Cargo Bounties. This can even include “Shoot 3 Carp” or something along those lines. 

[Diggey]

Technically this is already a thing with the bounty list from the Quartermaster BUT I AGREE THO

This sounds very good.

[ClemTheDuck]

I really like this whole concept, honestly feels like something that can be both a standalone and added to any round with the standalone gamemode having more intense/antag based objectives. While some people say that it could be "boring" the concept gives a good platform to actually add more events/objectives 

[Triogenix]

While I don't like many of these specific ideas, I really really like the general trend behind them. Giving players something to interact and play off of is at the core of the game, and our most populous rounds (event rounds) exemplify this. Introducing mechanics besides antagonists which is conducive of this core aspect is a good idea IMO.

[EJJ]

Like many others have said, I love this idea. It sounds like a fantastic alternative to Extended. Some more non-combat gamemodes could be interesting! I do very much like the ones for Cargo as someone who tends to play Cargo to relax. Maybe another for Cargo would be something to the effect of an experimental drone being shipped into the warehouse and cargo being force to not destroy it and return it for a big paycheck.
Make some use of those speed crate-closing skills.