Remove some of the pointless random events

[Kaed]

Many of the random events on the station add some interesting flavor and need to avoid a clear and present danger for a short period. There is one random event, however, that is irritating and most of the time does nothing except make a mess everywhere and most of the time never get fixed because it's too much of a hassle to be worth the trouble, since it doesn't do more than mildy inconvenience nearby people and dispense free items.

I am of course referring to the 'rampant brand intelligence' event. I think it needs to be cut entirely, or at the very least be severely lower in occurrence. As is, it happens literally. every. round. Usually within the first half hour, and then persists for the rest of the round.

[Garnascus]

It is kind of annoying yeah. Fixing it is even more annoying, hunt down every b0vending machine on the station.

[Dreviore]

It is kind of annoying yeah. Fixing it is even more annoying, hunt down every b0vending machine on the station.

 

Agreed. Vending machines aren't fun to fix, just a nuisance.

[Demonofthefall]

This is a pretty lame event that adds little to rp, I feel it should be removed completely. I did see on some servers that there is a small chance the vending machines come to live and attack people which would make it more interesting but also kinda pointless.

[Lucychan42]

I agree with these claims, I actually thought the rampant intelligence just went away eventually. If engineering has to hunt down the machines then that just takes time away from vital tasks and usually just ends up in people understanding that the cigarette machine is angry and the nanomeds are going to pelt people with gauze. It's hilarious from an OOC standpoint to get free snacks and people getting pelted by coffee. One time, an SSD kept getting pelted by gauze and it was funny to watch, but I agree that it should be something that either passes on its own or offers more ease to repair, as engineers might not have time to hunt down the angry coffee machines.

[Arrow768]

Yes, the 'rampant brand intelligence' event is utterly annoying and it happens nearly every single shift.

[Nanako]

I agree with the asessment that it's pointless and annoying, but not with the conclusion that it needs to be removed.

It has on occasion, provided interesting fun moments. Like the time a dinnerware dispenser threw a knife at the chef which embedded in her chest, and she had to come to medical and get it removed. Then a visitor stole the knife and got arrested because i thought she'd been attacked and that it was evidence

i agree that just tossing random bandages and coke cans all over the floor is pointless though. I have a few ideas to beef it up:

1. Have it affect fewer machines. Far fewer. like maybe a quarter of the ones it does now

2. Have it be a threat, not just an annoyance. For example:

Glass bottles of dylovene launched at people should shatter on impact and cut them, as well as spreading broken glass and fluids on the floor. A bottle of soporific should drug you with the stuff and send you to sleep

Coffee launched from a machine should be boling hot, and cause burns by splattering on impact, plus mess

Coke cans launched from it should just plain hurt more. And stun you too. Taking a coke can to the head when you're off guard, should knock you off your feet

Making the machines both fewer, and a more serious threat, should give engineering something meaningful to do in protecting the crew. It also gives a janitor more stuff to clean up, they're very often lacking for work and have a tendancy to go SSD or spend the shift screwing around

3. Allow intact items to be picked up and put back into the machine after its fixed. More janitor work, or something any bypasser can do if they dont like the mess

4. Make certain machines immune to it. Like cigarette machines, and the little nanomed machines in medbay (not the big Nanomed plus ones, just the wall mounted ones that look like a medkit. Any machines that don't have some meaningful threat to add, shouldn't be included in the event. plus those mini nanomeds are just far too numerous and hard to track down

[Alberyk]

2. Have it be a threat, not just an annoyance. For example:

Glass bottles of dylovene launched at people should shatter on impact and cut them, as well as spreading broken glass and fluids on the floor. A bottle of soporific should drug you with the stuff and send you to sleep

Coffee launched from a machine should be boling hot, and cause burns by splattering on impact, plus mess

Coke cans launched from it should just plain hurt more. And stun you too. Taking a coke can to the head when you're off guard, should knock you off your feet

Making the machines both fewer, and a more serious threat, should give engineering something meaningful to do in protecting the crew. It also gives a janitor more stuff to clean up, they're very often lacking for work and have a tendancy to go SSD or spend the shift screwing around

 

Nope, we do not need vending machines murdering ssd characters.

 

3. Allow intact items to be picked up and put back into the machine after its fixed. More janitor work, or something any bypasser can do if they dont like the mess

 

You can do that already, screwdriver the machine open and then stuff the things back inside.

[Nanako]

Nope, we do not need vending machines murdering ssd characters.

 

then make them only throw things at people who move within their field of vision, or check the SSD status of a player before firing at them. problem solved.

3. Allow intact items to be picked up and put back into the machine after its fixed. More janitor work, or something any bypasser can do if they dont like the mess

 

You can do that already, screwdriver the machine open and then stuff the things back inside.

curious, but that does need a screwdriver. it'd be nice to be able to do it without one

[Arrow768]

curious, but that does need a screwdriver. it'd be nice to be able to do it without one

 

If you are for realism, then I have to add that there is no such thing as a vending machine that can be refilled without opening the maint hatch.

[Nikov]

Rampant Brand Intelligence is the cancer that is killing Aurora. Engineers always have better things to do than fix broken vending machines, including the crucial role of testing the station's oxygen content through controlled ignition of tobacco samples.

[SierraKomodo]

Rampant Brand Intelligence is the cancer that is killing Aurora. Engineers always have better things to do than fix broken vending machines, including the crucial role of testing the station's oxygen content through controlled ignition of tobacco samples.

 

An alternative to removing it could be to allow the AI to toggle the firing mechanism of a vending machine. Could also add some small level shenanigans for an antag AI if they had that power.

[Prospekt]

The only thing that was funny was when one of the kitchen ware venders launched a kitchen knife into a chef. Besides that, it's just really annoying and I just ignore it most of the time. It creates little to no RP what-so-ever and is just a big thorn in the ass that can be replaced with something that generates way more RP than what it's currently being used for. I really do hope this random event gets scrapped to be honest, it's just an annoyance, flat out.

[Jboy2000000]

I enjoy the PROSPEKT of this thread.

But yeah, either take Sierra's suggestion, or just be away with it, because it's little more than an annoyance that the limited engineering can't be arsed to fix.

[Shadow]

Btw, Admins can disable certain events. We'd have to do it every round, but it's possible, it would be a temporary solution.

 

[Feorn]

If some events are removed, I would request that the one that makes APCs turn malf blue stays in. Helps kill meta. I mean, engineers know because they're locked out of malf APCs and not damaged ones, but everyone else doesn't.