Derelict Salvage Ops for Engineering

[Boggle08]

Simple as what the title says. Engineering gets special lockers containing equipment that can tear down and salvage derelicts within a reasonable time frame. The primary tool for this is a bulky, bright yellow chainsaw grip deconstructor with an operating end that kinda looks like a mess of grindy weldy drilly tools.

The deconstructor needs to be wielded to use, and requires a power cell to operate on top of a welder fuel requirement, which it guzzles a shit ton of; enough to the point where there's an incentive for engineers to use those welder fluid backpacks that no one ever touches. In return, the deconstructor can chew through things like reinforced walls and airlocks in the fraction of the time they would take if one were to manually muddle through the steps. Because of this awesome power, however, these deconstructors come with firing pins similar to the expedition shotguns: they only work in their natural environment of away missions and salvage.

In addition to structures, they should be capable of processing machines such as computers, SMES stations, autolathes, et cetera. They can either be set to break everything down into their constituent building components, or mash them up into scrap metal of varying qualities for reprocessing.

With this, engineering can pair up with a shuttle pilot and go on dedicated salvage missions, or perform them concurrently with another survey party. In mixed groups where the focus isn't on salvage, the engineer can provide utility by being able to sap through almost anything using their deconstructor. Since they still have obligations to tend to in the ship, they should not be able to fly the shuttle on their own, however.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Boggle08

[Carver]

I was terrified until you mentioned firing pins. Interesting idea, but I'd need to see a test merge to really have any significant opinion on this.

[canon35]

The one issue I can see with this is engineers using them to blitz through a away site or event map if they somehow have access to them. Either way, still think they're worth a try. Scrapping operations can be a good way to provide some gameplay for people if they need it.

[EJJ]

I'd love to see more stuff to motivate people to get off the ship. I do think the Intrepid needs a bit of an overhaul to make it less of a pain to set up and get off the ground, though.

+1 absokutely

[Fluffy]

I can see it being a good thing, so it's a +1 for me, however I wonder how would it impact miners/xenoarcheologists/others that use the two available ships to go do their gameplay loop?

Aka, if the engineers want to go do this thing, does it mean that the miners/xenoarcheologist/people that want to go do away sites cannot do it? Is it a speedrace to who gets on the ship first? How do you propose to approach this?

[Boggle08]

12 hours ago, Fluffy said:

Aka, if the engineers want to go do this thing, does it mean that the miners/xenoarcheologist/people that want to go do away sites cannot do it? Is it a speedrace to who gets on the ship first? How do you propose to approach this?

They wouldn't get the same priority in the queue as dedicated away mission roles. Unlike those, engineering still has an entire ship to upkeep. The salvage ops I'm thinking about are a low-intensity side activity that is achieved either by collaborating with other departments, or getting something like a CE to organize and authorize them. They will not be expected to fly their own shuttle, and the access restrictions on the intrepid will be the same.

15 hours ago, canon35 said:

The one issue I can see with this is engineers using them to blitz through a away site or event map if they somehow have access to them. 

It can work both ways. We can have event maps where we expect engineering to use these things. In ones where it's counterproductive, I think it's fair for someone to fly in and world-edit the lockers out while everyone's in the lobby.

[greenjoe]

For off-horizon events, like the adhomian ones we've had, the salvage tools can simply just not be mapped in if they don't want to be used to speedrun pillaging another village

[Sycmos]

I am for mechanical additions for Engineering that are optional for Engineers to participate in. As it stands, a majority of mechanical play for Engineers require mandatory participation (engine setup, blobs, structural repair, etc.), and those that don't are often made so by pressure from other crew (fungi, vendor issues, etc.). Giving a niche to Engineers that can bring variety while not being mandatory or high priority will provide more flavor to what may otherwise be a dull or tedious round for Engineer players.

In addition to firing pins I believe that ID-locking these devices would prevent unauthorized use, and provide accountability for when such devices are used illicitly.