Add a 'bombcap' for EMPs

[Carver]

Per the title, it can be as large as needed (probably not as small as the regular bombcap that is), but a recent round showed that 80u EMP grenades can effectively zap the whole z-level. As incredibly funny as this is, it's a nightmare for IPCs.

[Yonnimer]

Adding to this, they also travel through Z-Levels, which means an IPC player can be snipped and forgotten about for quite a while without admin intervention, Just either needs a nerf or for ipcs to have some kind of second-wind after an emp like that to get some charge back without help

[stevIII]

Even if we do add a cap (I'm in favour), as Yonni said it would be very nice for IPCs to have a second wind. Maybe some tiny microcell of like 1000 power that is "shielded" or something, that activates only after an EMP. Maybe for balancing, it can't survive a second one, and has to be repaired surgically?

Edited June 22 by stevIII

[VeteranGary]

I think EMP as a whole is rather inconsistent too. Not sure how it's supposed to interact with mechanical organs, but I've played a few characters with either eyes, hearts, or lungs and EMPs have little to no effect on them, maybe a small amount of damage but it almost never outright disables prosthetic organs/limbs. Though maybe the tesla prosthesis are built different. They definitely need an AOE tweak, think instead of increasing range with the reagent quantity it should instead increase the EMP effect in a smaller area. or bring back lethal EMP effects. 

As for IPCs, I vaguely remember they used to have an automatic reboot that triggered after about a minute or so of a completely dead battery, gave them about a 100 energy so they can walk to an APC or charger. I haven't played IPCs in a long time so I have no idea if this was removed or doesn't function after an EMP attack. Better than an outright second-wind feature in my opinion, since there still needs to be some non-lethal option against synthetics. 

[Fluffy]

I think considering all the negatives that IPCs ignore (no pain, can be rebuilt, doesn't suffocate in space, unlimited running stamina as long as you have power and don't overheat, etc.) the risk of an EMP flooring you + you not being found for a while, and also considering the rarity of this scenario, seems balanced

If an EMP is used, chances are there's blue alert, so it would be visible in the suit sensors monitor that you're out of charge; assuming it reaches red alert, it would also give your exact location for medical to retrieve you and recharge you - You basically need the stars to align against you for this scenario to leave you on the floor

[Rabid Animal]

As the person who (accidentally) made an EMP that could hit the entire ship, I'm generally against bomb caps - even for regular bombs. Something that big can be very devastating, though that's kind of the point. I don't think everything needs to be neutered to cater to some rare circumstances, really. As for IPCs, I kind of agree with fluffy? I posted in the IPC medical thread but they're just genuinely overpowered on an endurance level alone, though I agree that it /can/ suck to be stuck somewhere for 10-30 minutes, especially because at blue you are just as likely to have a swamped medical as an EMP going off. That said, its really the only way to stun an IPC effectively so I'm more or less in favor of them being able to self charge in standby mode (sleep) up to a certain point, just enough to get to a charger, but not fast enough to negate the stun.

[Carver]

I don't mind IPCs having a weakness, but a random IPC off-duty or service role or whoever halfway across the map on an entire other z-level probably shouldn't get dumpstered by EMPs. Even a 'soft bombcap' of having the effect fall-off past the screen radius (even the radius of 2 screens, if it's on the same z-level) of the EMP would be nice, but presently the intensity that you can drain an IPC across the ship is a bit silly - reminiscent, to a degree, of the old death wave or anti-synth artifacts that xenoarch was once able to find.

[Kelnor]

Having played a scientist that was asked to make an EMP. I did 20u each Uranium and Iron, considering a basic beaker is only 60u and you need two, this seemed reasonable to me.

I then tested it and dumpsterred the entire ship, not just IPCs, engineering spent the rest of the round resetting APCs I'm pretty sure.

I'd suggest instead of a cap, just reduce the overall impact, or require more reagent. You can go up to 120u beakers by simply visiting an Autolathe so if a 40u EMP is that destructive, I don't want to think about what a 240u grenade would do.

I'd just scale back, it would also mean better beaker tech (and size) allows stronger EMPs, the way it's balanced now, noone would dare do a max grenade (600u? I think with two bluespace beakers) emp and that doesn't make much sense.

[Sniblet]

EMPs should be theoretically capable of global effects, but it shouldn’t be as easy as it seems to be. The rules make it virtually impossible for causing a global EMP to be acceptable.

IPCs should suffer appropriately when an EMP hits them, but they should not have to face the possibility of no gameplay for up to 2 hours if they happened to be in maintenance or something when a scientist started experimenting without warning. I’ve seen it happen. By the time I found it, it had ghosted, and I was a Lii’dra spook anyway so I couldn’t do much to help.

I don’t know if suit sensors switch themselves off after an EMP? They’re like that in TG base. But anyway, a lot of people, especially after they were gutted and set off by default, don’t even turn them on anyway. I only do it with ZIs, my phalanx paramedic, you know - characters with positive reasons to enable them, with whom an antag would go, “right, of course you had them on.” What I mean is it’s not a reliable fallback for the fried machine in maint.

Edited June 28 by Sniblet