New job for both Current and New Map: Salvage Crew

[FluffyBirb]

Audio Recording from a Private NT Board Meeting

*sounds of paper shuffling, and then silence*

Greetings,

As many of you have noticed, the space around many cooperate owned stations isn't exactly clean, and surrounded in 'Space Junk'. While normally this 'Junk' is not an issue due to the low amounts of it, in the past decades, the presence of this junk has increased significantly. At this time, most of it is an inconvenience, and to be left to float. We mainly have our salvage ships out in deep space, or in lower populated areas, missing some key remains. I propose a change to that.

*Someone in the room coughs*

Most of the debris present are remains of space-fairing vehicles and stations, which are composed of expensive materials, along with left over equipment. You will find to the intricacies and financial costs of this operation on the files given to you, but I will cover the general outline of this operation.

*Sounds of various papers shuffling once more, and the writing of pen*

On various stations, we will have salvage crews working out of the supply departments, and working with the mining operations already present on station. This will allow us to save costs on minimal station alterations, and if we use outside contracting, they will be able to provide their own ship. If not, it will not be difficult to provide a small ship for transport to areas around the station. Again, to save costs, we will put them in the general vicinity of various debris. We will be having them focus on the salvage of raw materials like Plasteel, metal, and glass if possible, and return it to cargo to send Central Command. Now... if you would please turn to page forty five of the provided files...

*Again, the sound of shuffling papers, only much louder this time and accompanied with murmuring*

Now... this may the most profitable outcome present in my proposal. Our salvage crews will also salvage station technology and return it to us. We will also put them in the vicinity of derelict stations, which they will 'accidentally' stumble upon, and harvest technology and all data stores present at these locations. This data and technology will be sent to Central Command, of course. While the likelihood of locating a station where this would be possible is low, but the rewards will be great. If anyone asks, we can simply say that the item in question was not located on the station, and presumably lost. Imagine the PR we would gain if our salvage teams are able to discover how these stations were lost! Recovery of bodies even, we would be hailed as hero's, bringing the lost back to their families.

Now, my plan proposes we have a station to run a test of this operation. The station in question would be the NSS Aurora. There has been a derelict station floating in the space nearby, which would be a great place to start. If this operation proves successful and profitable, small scale salvage teams could be stationed to each station, providing a boost in profits and material reclamation.

Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear your desiccation on my proposition.

*Sounds of paper shuffling, and the creaking of chairs as people stand, and a low din of conversation*

End of recording

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Now to the OOC proposition!

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Okay, so as you can get from the beginning, this is an idea of having a new job for the station, and the new map: Salvage Crew.

There are many structures floating around the map, but no one ever really uses them, unless they fuck off into space or work in telescience. This job would change that, and give those structures more of a presence the map.

The salvage crew would act as an extension of mining, with engineering skills. On the Aurora, they could have their ship stationed in the area of the mining outpost, which could have a new dock south of ore processing. On the new map, they could have a dock on the space elevator. Also, for the new map, the community could be involved by submitting new structures to be floating in space that are randomly added each game (Just an idea!)

The salvage crew's ship would have a stop in each z-dimension, most likely near the center. They would then need to work together to locate structures. Upon detection, they would begin to deconstruct walls and loot the area. All items would then be returned to cargo. The metal would be returned to the Odin or distributed to the station. The items could as well, or be distributed to other wings. Depending on what they find, other departments could be involved, and create new RP. The Salvage crew could also attempt to restore some structures if they wished, to allow for other teams to come in and study the area, or create a base camp.

My idea for their equipment would be:

 

• Tool belt on spawn (like engineers)
  
  Mining Hardsuits
  
  Mag Boots
  
  Welding Kits
  
  Jet packs (02 or CO2)
  
  GPS
  
  Beacon
  
  Rubber Gloves
  
  Air Tanks
  
  Salvage Bags (Recolor of the mining Bags)
  
  Supply Headsets
  

 

Now, this is a very raw list, and obviously needs more to it, and so is the job idea. That is why i've put it here, so that I can get others feedback, and, if the Admins out there like the idea, maybe it could refined and be added to the game! I really think this job could open new RP, and utilize more of the map.

[MagnificentMelkior]

a trans z-level ship sounds great. I'm worried though that this infringes on a certain subsection of telescience, xenoarcheology, and mining. Do you have any ideas on how to bring them into this, or make this distinct from them?

If nothing mechanically changes, a new job title for miner "Salvager" with different RP duties would be cool.

[FluffyBirb]

Telescience could be brought in to transport/send materials quickly or evac encase of a crisis, or even help set up a relay in their base camps. Xenoarch would be involved if there were older places (like the clown ship), or if new areas were added that had xeno/anomaly significance, or rife with rare materials for miners. It would be pretty cool if there was an asteroid with a temple or something built into it out there (I can only dream!). One way that would make the salvages distinct from telescience is that many of the structures on map are partially or fully out of range (I've tried, I needed at least one more crystal to reach them;minus the derelict, which is pretty late into the round IF I can get them at all). For Xenoarch and Anomalist, there wouldn't be much overlap since most of the areas on the current map are structures that are generally recent, though on the new map/if added, a new z-level rife with smaller asteroids with dig sites or an alien temple would be REALLY great for them! A Salvage crew can discover it, and transport them there, maybe help stop something that was inside (if you catch my drift! *eye bounce nudge nudge*) or just absorb them. Finally, mining would be focused on raw ore and it's production, salvage would be focused on the deconstruction and reclamation of already refined metal/materials.

[Guest]

I've spoken to people about this before and it's something that can easily be achieved without a new job/title. When half life 3 releases and the new map for Aurora, there will be plenty of areas to be discovered. With what me and the other mappers on the project have planned, if will hopefully be a fun yet challenging experience for players. It may or may not involve multiple departments.

[FluffyBirb]

I've spoken to people about this before and it's something that can easily be achieved without a new job/title. When half life 3 releases and the new map for Aurora, there will be plenty of areas to be discovered. With what me and the other mappers on the project have planned, if will hopefully be a fun yet challenging experience for players. It may or may not involve multiple departments.

 

H A L F L I F E 3 C O N F I R M E D

...anyways, I feel the new job may be needed. Normally, in my experiance, these places are found when someone fucks off into space, or very rarely in telescience when the GPS tells you it is there (which I have found strange. Why are all these unknown areas marked???). With this new job title, it shows that this person has been instructed to search for structures; and won't be neglecting some other job (like miner). If they had the ship, it would also make sense IC, sense it may get expensive having people throwing themselves off the station and dying in space.

(sorry if some things are strange/wrong word, typing this up on my phone!)

[Guest]

Some points to consider:

- If mining is pretty much the same as I remember, majority (that means you don't need to be special and tell everyone that you do mining properly) of miners get what science needs then just stops mining. Everything else is either never used or is just ordered. Whilst they should be collecting materials for points and to supply Central Command, they just don't?

- Majority (refer to above point as reference) of engineers welder their buttocks to chairs and done. That or are doing naughty things in maintenance. Sometimes they may wire solars, though let's be honest that's too much to ask for from them. Whilst they should technically go around upgrading maintenance (which I believe they're allowed to do if they're improving health and safety) or working with other heads on internally developing the station (as in they mess around in rooms but don't alter size of rooms or make new ones, need a CE/Cap for that), they don't. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Possible Solution:

- Miners and Engineers can co-exist as a pseudo-salvaging party and explore the super asteroid (on the new map obviously) for whatever. They can then report back to relevant departments and they can all be one big happy family, break open secret places then die. The End.

Whilst one could argue that it would be preventing them from their actual job, they generally don't do their actual job. They could "accidentally" stumble upon something whilst they were "attempting" to do their "actual job". Just my thoughts on it really.

[Skull132]

I actually had an idea to implement this into the new map ages ago. I still have that idea! But, obviously, we must adopt the new-code first. After that, I'll see what the devs and I can do, and when it's necesasry.

[FluffyBirb]

Some points to consider:

- If mining is pretty much the same as I remember, majority (that means you don't need to be special and tell everyone that you do mining properly) of miners get what science needs then just stops mining. Everything else is either never used or is just ordered. Whilst they should be collecting materials for points and to supply Central Command, they just don't?

- Majority (refer to above point as reference) of engineers welder their buttocks to chairs and done. That or are doing naughty things in maintenance. Sometimes they may wire solars, though let's be honest that's too much to ask for from them. Whilst they should technically go around upgrading maintenance (which I believe they're allowed to do if they're improving health and safety) or working with other heads on internally developing the station (as in they mess around in rooms but don't alter size of rooms or make new ones, need a CE/Cap for that), they don't. Ain't nobody got time for that.

Possible Solution:

- Miners and Engineers can co-exist as a pseudo-salvaging party and explore the super asteroid (on the new map obviously) for whatever. They can then report back to relevant departments and they can all be one big happy family, break open secret places then die. The End.

Whilst one could argue that it would be preventing them from their actual job, they generally don't do their actual job. They could "accidentally" stumble upon something whilst they were "attempting" to do their "actual job". Just my thoughts on it really.

 

Yes, these are all valid points. Though, I feel the issue with this course would be that if it was a joint party between mining and supply, it would very rarely actually happen. The engineers normally are supposed to be on the station fixing(or fucking) it, while mining would be fueling science's need for materials. This would mean that it would have to be much later in the round (If no damage has occurred at all) once the party would actually leave, not even thinking of the time it would take to organize, collect materials, and gain approval. That is why I thought it could be a new job, or now as I think about it, a sub-type. If a salvage crew wasn't present, and people wanted to explore space, they would just jump off the elevator and hope to hit something. I feel like the salvage team could be huge for the station, because each department has a chance of working with it. Salvage finds the area, supply organizes the materials. If they find something, science is called in. If they find something nasty, security and medical are called in. Engineering would also be called in to set up base camps, if needed.

Going off what you said about the miners and engineers, maybe this job could be a hybrid of both (Sort of like how genetics is a hybrid between science and medical), and that a miner or an engineer (if they have the training ic) could opt into this job, if their current duties are completed, and give the more to do. I feel as though this could help improve the stations cross-department work. Everyone could potentially be affected by this, both directly and indirectly.

[FluffyBirb]

I actually had an idea to implement this into the new map ages ago. I still have that idea! But, obviously, we must adopt the new-code first. After that, I'll see what the devs and I can do, and when it's necesasry.

 

I'm excited for the new code + map! I think this job could really benefit the new station.

[Witt]

I actually had an idea to implement this into the new map ages ago. I still have that idea! But, obviously, we must adopt the new-code first. After that, I'll see what the devs and I can do, and when it's necessary.

 

Skull please don't steal my thunder, we both know I spearheaded the salvage ideas

As it stand we do have plans to "add" salvage crews for the new map. we will be upping (possibly doubling the miner slots) and adding it as an alt title. for reasons of spoilers I will keep the remaining details like load-out changes and salvage areas secret until launch.

[FluffyBirb]

Oh... so was this proposal unnecessary? o>o