Axing Tajara/Unathi footwear and glove restrictions

[wowzewow]

This was supposed to be an interesting feature to make Unathi and Tajarans unique by limiting their clothing options.

But at this point, it's useless because you can just go on the loadout anyway to get special gloves/shoes which immediately makes the preceding moot.

So I'm gonna get rid of it. Less overhead maintenace from having approximately 3x of every single glove and shoe unique for every species.

As well as saving loadout points for more important Xeno paraphernillia.

(Except Vaurca, because they are special boys.)

Immediate benefits : Sneakers and Hightops for Unathi and Tajarans.

Any strong protesters say your objections now, or forever hold your peace.

[Confused rock]

I had the entire crew come in and mock me because my boots leave my toes exposed and I got oil on them. You want to lose that?



addendum: It's not about the fact I can't wear other shoes as much as that the shoes i'm wearing are funky alien shoes, if that makes sense.

Edited August 7, 2022 by Confused rock
addendum

[wowzewow]

27 minutes ago, Confused rock said:

I had the entire crew come in and mock me because my boots leave my toes exposed and I got oil on them. You want to lose that?



addendum: It's not about the fact I can't wear other shoes as much as that the shoes i'm wearing are funky alien shoes, if that makes sense.

I'm not removing anything, if that's what you're thinking.

[WickedCybs]

It's a little hard to imagine an Unathi or Tajara could wear just any pair of shoes/boots found in game because their anatomy is just too different for that to work. On Tajara that's usually represented by their footwear sprites losing a pixel near the heel. Unathi are digitigrade too, though their sprites aren't any different in game other than their stuff typically being toeless because their claws are way more pronounced overall, just look at this.

Gloves are an easier sell I think and more mechanically important, so I think that would be more worthwhile to lose if it had to be done. I do like that some of the alien races need these accommodations because it sells the fact that they're different. I don't really see it as being "resolved" by the loadout because why wouldn't you bring your gloves and footwear that works with you to the shift? It mainly affects what you can use in-round but that's only ever really been important for engineering and medical. 

I'm not too attached to the restrictions in the end though. Those are just the reasons I think they could still have a place. If it goes away, will probably need to give it slightly unique sprites for tajara/unathi though to keep appearances consistent for them.

[wowzewow]

Seeing this picture, I'd even start advocating to stop Unathi from wearing shoes other than slippers altogether.

Honestly, I don't have any strong opinions on way or the other. It's just we aren't committing fully.

I'd like some input from the lore team whether we should double down on the Unathi/Tajaran accomodations or forgo them altogether,

because right now, we're kind of at a unsatisfying midpoint where nothing is really enforced.

 

Unfortunate fact of the matter is that being unique means having to deal with the consequences of being unique.

Which means less customization options for players, and people will definitely start the lynching once the loadout gets touched.

[niennab]

This seems like something that would more appropriately require the unathi/tajara lore team's approval, not input.

[Haydizzle]

I think it would be potentially reasonable to change gloves for all species to be universal because AFAIK neither tajara nor unathi currently have (a lot of) unique glove items. That and their hands are similar enough where you could reasonably say that universal gloves are made to sell for convenience or something. On this front, I’m pretty ambivalent to gloves losing restrictions since you’re correct on this front.

Footwear however is a completely different story. Almost all of the normal options are barred, and they have unique options in lieu of that. It’s not that they have "special shoes" to get around it; these options are usually cultural and tied back to their species nine times out of ten, rather than being "thigh high boots but toeless." I would be sad to see that part go.

[Alberyk]

We already have colored glove versions for both species in the loadout. We don't need to remove another advantage/mechanic that these species have.

Customization is not really the problem here.

[Marlon P.]

Reducing glove clutter would be good.

But not shoes. Unathi have big claws on their feets. +1/2

[FlamingLily]

I'm definitely glad the final PR only touches gloves and not footwear, but I still don't think I'm a fan. I like the flavour and ultimately I think the inclusion is harmless. If they can be equipped in the loadout then I really don't think there's any issue of being starved out of gloves, and as for 'loadout points', you get fifteen, and three individual loadout slots per character, meaning that if you really want to spend 15 points on accessories for your off-shifts, you can do so and still have a loadout of things you bring in while on-shift. And even with all of that, if there's still an issue of 'not enough gloves', just add more. Add an extra sterile gloves box, or maybe two, and you'll be set for the entire department. Janitorial has 4 gloves available per person, Engineering has eight for humans and four per species for xenos, I don't know about medical but if they're the issue then I really just think 'add more'.

[Alberyk]

I did not change my opinion on this subject.

[Gem]

i concur with Alberyk.