An Idea for (somewhat) Optional Engineering Work

[Evandorf]

I play engineering occasionally but I wouldn't say it's my main so I wanted to get feedback on this idea before trying to move forward with it. Unless there are antag actions or other repairs necessary, I feel like engineering is fairly front-loaded as far as work is concerned and I've seen attempts in the past to remove busy work so I'm not sure how people would react to this addition.

Regular preventative maintenance is something I think would definitely exist on a ship but isn't really seen in-game. To that end, engineering would have a maintenance duty/task list created at start of round. It would be accessed via an engineering console or PDA and it would generate specific coordinates/tiles around the ship that are up for regular inspection; you'd be looking for cracks, corrosion, ect. Once the inspection was finished you would submit the results of the inspection and sign off on it. There would be bonuses or other incentives for getting this work done every shift.

Now, those are the very broadest and vaguest of strokes. The main issues to tackle would be how to implement it mechanically and what the benefits/consequences would be for completing/ignoring the work.

Mechanically, I think the simplest thing to do would be to have a tool/scanner that you can use on walls, floors, ect and can print out a report that can then be fed into the system. Tool belts and pouches are already full to bursting so maybe we add the functionality to an already existing tool. It seems cleaner than trying to alter examine text or add verbs to the structures but I'm open to ideas. I think we can probably incorporate the maintenance panels to be more than just fluff as well.

As for consequences, bonus pay is always handy, but I think it would be nice to see your work pay off as well. I was thinking about adding a random event to the possible options that checks to see how well maintenance has been performed during the shift. If it's been ignored then there might be a structural failure somewhere. If it's been done properly then perhaps the event still triggers but instead gives a blurb about how well the ship seems to be flying today; kudos to the engineering department. We would want to make sure that any negative effects are appropriate for pop and engineering staffing levels but I like the idea of having more events where you can be proactive than strictly reactionary.

Anyway, let me know what you think. Questions, concerns, recommendations ect.

[Jasorn]

I like it, would incentivize myself to try engineering characters (at the moment I've never played it on aurora past being a maintenance drone). I think the current random events (blobs, random hacking event where some APC gets its breaker flipped or whatever it is, or wall rot) don't really work as intended, such as blobs being instantly nullified by an emitter and standing around usually. The fluff panels are great for something to interact with for RP, but I think its beneficial if the action is mechanically making a difference instead of just clicking a thingamajig for the sake of it.

That said I'd like to hear engineering players thoughts since like I said I've never technically played it on Aurora lol.

Edited Wednesday at 02:11 by Jasorn
clarified about blobs