Eliot Clef Posted May 6, 2015 Posted May 6, 2015 Alright, so. I've been playing a robot a lot more lately, and I'd like to call some attention to some shortcomings that I feel are unnecessary and some things that I think would be real quality-of-life updates for them. This is written primarily from the perspective of a security robot -- I've also played a janitor bot and a very limited amount of engineering bot. General QOL Wishlist (All Bots): * A crowbar for emergency situations, regardless of module. Power goes out, we're in trouble anyway, but we're ultra-fucked in terms of mobility and we don't have the ability to just go get one out of storage. Currently only the default and engineering models have a crowbar. * The ability to open andclose closets. We can already open anything on the station, we just can't close it again. This is dumb, and I don't see how it's unbalanced to let borgs open and close things. * A fire extinguisher or some other small, single-fire "jet-booster" style thing to allow us to control our direction slightly when EVA or when gravity is out. Getting stuck in space (or the center of a hall, for that matter) because of a mis-step is pretty annoying, and as far as I'm aware borgs don't have a way to right themselves without an upgrade. SecBot Wishlist: * SecHUD, unlike the flashlight, can't simply be turned on and then put away to be permanently on. We have to have it out, selected, and active. This is usually more trouble than it's worth so I end up just not using it. I believe all visual-based modules work this way. I'd recommend just having things like this, MediHUD, and the like always on for relevant borg types. * Evidence Bags. I realize this would give us a limited carrying capacity, but often enough I'm asked to drag some nonsense back to security and I'd really prefer to be able to do it -- even if only in a very limited capacity -- in a way that doesn't expose it to possible theft. (Do you really want that bald to be able to steal the cult swords? Though, the whole locker opening/closing thing would solve this problem for me pretty handily, too.) Things I Think Would Be Cool But Which Might Be A Really Bad Idea: Maybe Robots in general could have "equipment slots" that roboticists can interact with to add or remove gear, with default loadouts simply being a baseline? For instance, one fairly common upgrade for Security is to be issued Stun Revolvers by Research. So maybe a Roboticist could do something similar -- dismount the Taser Gun on a SecBot and upgrade it to a Stun Revolver.
K0NFL1QT Posted May 15, 2015 Posted May 15, 2015 General QOL Wishlist (All Bots): * A crowbar for emergency situations, regardless of module. Power goes out, we're in trouble anyway, but we're ultra-fucked in terms of mobility and we don't have the ability to just go get one out of storage. Currently only the default and engineering models have a crowbar. * The ability to open andclose closets. We can already open anything on the station, we just can't close it again. This is dumb, and I don't see how it's unbalanced to let borgs open and close things. * A fire extinguisher or some other small, single-fire "jet-booster" style thing to allow us to control our direction slightly when EVA or when gravity is out. Getting stuck in space (or the center of a hall, for that matter) because of a mis-step is pretty annoying, and as far as I'm aware borgs don't have a way to right themselves without an upgrade. These, please. My suggestion: give borgs some way to load containers into a dispenser. Unless there is a method that's super secret and I haven't found it. This only really affects the Service and Medical types, who can't mix drinks or mix chemicals though. Maybe a Magnetic Gripper for small/tiny items as standard across as borg types? It's not 'borg hands' but it allows a limited type of pick up capability.
Hycinth Posted May 15, 2015 Posted May 15, 2015 You have to use the industrial dropper to mix chems. It's kinda awful.
Eliot Clef Posted May 15, 2015 Author Posted May 15, 2015 You have to use the industrial dropper to mix chems. It's kinda awful. How does this even work? Do you need a beaker on the floor, or... what? I've never played a mediborg.
K0NFL1QT Posted May 15, 2015 Posted May 15, 2015 As far as I know, you eject bottles out of the medivend and dropper them from a stack. If you're lucky a chemist will leave an empty beaker in the dispenser that you get to fill once before ejecting, but can't replace it for re-use. Same with Service borg, you dispense booze from the booze-o-mat and dropper it from the pile of bottles or hope a lazy bartender leaves a glass in the machine.
Eliot Clef Posted May 15, 2015 Author Posted May 15, 2015 As far as I know, you eject bottles out of the medivend and dropper them from a stack. If you're lucky a chemist will leave an empty beaker in the dispenser that you get to fill once before ejecting, but can't replace it for re-use. Same with Service borg, you dispense booze from the booze-o-mat and dropper it from the pile of bottles or hope a lazy bartender leaves a glass in the machine. That's really strange. Over on Goonstation, the relevant borg types are just equipped with their own internal beakers that they can use with the appropriate machines. Nothin' really to it. Out of curiosity, when was the last time borgs on Bay codebases were looked at for re-balancing/updating of any kind? If you or anybody know the answer.
jackfractal Posted May 15, 2015 Posted May 15, 2015 This server has a bunch of weird, never used, cyborg modules like 'construction' and a split in medical between 'crisis' and 'surgery'. Surgical borgs have no way of treating burn damage, nor can they attach anesthetic tanks or manipulate bodies properly, making them unable to do surgery either. Neither of them can help with toxin damage. It's very weird. I see two types of cyborgs on this server (as someone who main's cyborg). Engineering and security. Very very rarely will I see mining, crisis, or cleaning. Like, one round in ten. That's it. The others are almost never played. I'd love to get access to the server logs to get real numbers of this.
Eliot Clef Posted May 15, 2015 Author Posted May 15, 2015 Alright. So here's my general concept of what might work with regards to essential "need hands for this" functions, as well as possible expand-ability of function. Each piece of Borg equipment is mounted on what is called a "Hardpoint." Conceptually, imagine Robocop or R2-D2. They have panels that open up and have tools or manipulators in them. That's a hardpoint. When you remove a hardpoint's equipment, what's left behind is a Manipulator, in an empty hardpoint. Like you would with any other piece of borg equipment, you can select the manipulator. The manipulator acts as a hand, allowing you to take an object into that hardpoint for storage. So let's say that a Medical Borg has three empty hardpoints. You go pick up a beaker with the manipulator, and use it like you normally would. You can pick it up, use the chem machine, and even store it. Now, what about expanding onboard equipment? Well, let's look at my earlier example. A Security Borg is pretty well-equipped and heavily armored, so let's say that in this hypothetical the SecBot has one empty hardpoint for maybe storing a piece of evidence, or whatever. So maybe Robotics wants to install a stun revolver in place of the SecBot's taser. They dismount the taser from the hardpoint it's installed to, replace it with the stun revolver, and bam. It's still a very rough idea, but I think it conveys well what I'm going for.
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