Fax Machine Enhancements

[Kaed]

The fax machines on station are okay for the purpose of sending faxes, but there are a number of issues with them I feel need to be fixed, along with some features that would be really helpful to add to them.

First, the problems: (It is possible that in recent days some of these may have already been fixed, I do not know)

-Fax machines cannot be disabled. To my knowledge, the only way to render them unusable is to blow them up, either by an actual bomb, or the use of the Overload Machine malf command. They are completely separate from the power supply in a room, and are capable of using what I presume is an internal bluespace communication device installed in each one to get messages through to CC, as disabling the relays on the Comms satellite does not stop fax use. I give this as a joking justification, along with the common answer I hear about the fax machines having 'internal batteries', but I'm 90% sure they only function this way because they were only coded as an independent item intended for their function, and not as objects that actually rely on other aspects of the station. No other electronic/mechanical device on the station can function without the room being powered, nor make bluespace communications without the Tcomms satellite being functional.

-Moving Fax machines is an incredible hassle. For an object that is supposedly just a desktop fax machine, it's incredibly clunky, being massive, impossible to pick up, and unable to be walked over, Moving it to another table top, as far as I am aware, is an ordeal that requires an admin to manually move you on top of the fax machine so you can build a table under it. Most of these problems would be fixed by just not making it a solid obstacle, like how tabletop chargers are treated now.

-The fax machines do not use paper. You can put a paper IN them, to fax it, but where do they get the supply to print out more paper? To my knowledge, they simply spawn a sheet of paper through Bluespace Magic, completely independent of actual supplies you load in them. They also don't use toner.

-You can't make, or break, fax machines. You can blow them up, like basically anything else, but laser them all day and they shan't care.

Some things that could enhance it:

-Being able to fax pictures alone would be helpful, without having to pin them to papers first

-Making AI able to create and mail interdepartmental faxes would be great, as having to speak everything over the radio can be inefficient, especially if you are compiling a large report of some kind. Also, being able to fax photos, so you don't have to print it out at one of the very small number of photocopiers on the map.

[Nanako]

Well i think you're already aware about the lore justification of them being powerful bluespace machines, so having an internal power source makes sense

being very armoured also makes sense, though perhaps not to the extent of being almost indestructible

They should probably require paper and toner, since those are things which are basically never used. we can order them from cargo, but when have you ever seen someone use a toner cartridge?

[Kaed]

Well i think you're already aware about the lore justification of them being powerful bluespace machines, so having an internal power source makes sense

 

That always struck me more as a half-assed excuse why they do not need to be redesigned rather than an intent or plausible backstory. I'm having a hard time stomaching that a 1990's style fax machine is a 'powerful bluespace machine'. If you want to redesign the sprite into something that doesn't strain suspension of disbelief so hard, maybe that would work too.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The internal batteries is the best I could come up with. I even included a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Having a hand-wave or lore justification for a game mechanic should not be in itself an argument against trying to make the mechanic better. Lore supports mechanics but that doesn't mean we just ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and don't work on improving that mechanic. If a Baycode event we inherited turned out to be a horde of clown strippers disguised as 1993 - 2001 United States Vice-President Al Gore invading the station we'd have to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ through some lore reason but any argument of "but it's lore justified" would not hold any ground and we would still want to remove it.

I support the changes Kaed has proposed. Simply having them use an internal power cell that you can remove, making them movable, and having some ability to distrupt them would be great. Otherwise we'd have to outright ban any ERT calls sent through faxes. Which I personally would love to see.

[Arrow768]

Power Requirement -> Yes

Paper Requirement -> Yes

Remove the ability to send faxes when tcoms is down --> Not sure about it.

Remove the ability to call ERT through the fax machine --> Nope

Let me expand on the last two points.

Remove ability to fax when tcoms is down

If we take a real live example.

Cell service requires cell towers, computers that process the signal, .... much like tcoms ingame.

But if you take fax machines, they are way simpler and way more robust

All you need to operate a fax machine is power and a telephone line.

The thing about this telephone line is, that usually at the termination point of the old analog lines there are (were) big battery packs that keep the line working for a extended period of time even if the power in the area goes down, so you are able to make emergency calls via that line during a power outage.

And this should be represented ingame.

Even if the normal "cell network" is down. The fax should still be available because it uses a different way to transmit a message over a longer range.

What I could think off is adding a delay to messages that are sent outside of the station.

Wanna fax centcom, well wait 5 minutes for the fax to get there

[Kaed]

Power Requirement -> Yes

Paper Requirement -> Yes

Remove the ability to send faxes when tcoms is down --> Not sure about it.

Remove the ability to call ERT through the fax machine --> Nope

Let me expand on the last two points.

Remove ability to fax when tcoms is down

If we take a real live example.

Cell service requires cell towers, computers that process the signal, .... much like tcoms ingame.

But if you take fax machines, they are way simpler and way more robust

All you need to operate a fax machine is power and a telephone line.

The thing about this telephone line is, that usually at the termination point of the old analog lines there are (were) big battery packs that keep the line working for a extended period of time even if the power in the area goes down, so you are able to make emergency calls via that line during a power outage.

And this should be represented ingame.

Even if the normal "cell network" is down. The fax should still be available because it uses a different way to transmit a message over a longer range.

What I could think off is adding a delay to messages that are sent outside of the station.

Wanna fax centcom, well wait 5 minutes for the fax to get there

 

This analogy somewhat falls apart when you consider that the reason there is instantaneous contact with centcomm in the first place is because of a 'bluespace broadcasting relay'. How far away is central command? It's a 2 minute bluespace engine drive to get there in a shuttle. The point is, phone service is 'robust' because it has had years and years to have wiring laid out all over the bloody place, on a solid planet where the greatest distance a signal will have to travel is ~12500 miles (given that the surface of Earth has a circumference of ~25000 miles). A floating research station is not connected to central command directly by an infinitely long wire, and even if it was, How far will the signal have to travel to reach central command without a bluespace instant communication relay transmitting it? Assuming the transmission travels at the greatest possible speed possible in normal physics (light speed), It would be almost 10 minutes if it's only the sun-earth distance. Should central command be as far away as, say, pluto is from the sun, it would take ~5 hours. If it's in another solar system entirely? Good fucking luck with that.

[Skull132]

Admin talking, regarding calling ERT via fax.

We usually permit it, but in the interest of furthering the round. Each round has a sort of natural progression to it, and ERT is apart of that. If we feel like the round is stalled and stale, and have a faxed request for an ERT, we'll roll with it. But we usually have them go through loops or general delays when dealing with things.

Also, I do like Arrow's idea of delays. It'd be kinda neat. And it's also something I'm going to be partially doing: in one of my planned updates, malf AI will have the ability to "intercept" outgoing faxes and CC messages. This forces me to delay these messages by 60 seconds, at least, for the AI to react. Maybe 120 for faxes.

Oh, and please don't think too hard about the physics of a game where FTL travel and FTL comms travel is possible. Realism is not a goal for the development team :l