Meta Research Feedback

[Ron]

It's alive again, yay. I'll be updating this thread with regular changes.

The current idea is as follows:

RMP

The main currency is RMP which represents the general knowledge the station has obtained through conducting research. RMP can be "spent" on various things which will be outlined below. In order to spend RMP you MUST have a head of staff whitelist, must NOT be an antagonist, and your roundstart job MUST be RD (no captains/HoPs or promoted scientists). This is to prevent issues cropping up about misuse as RDs are free to spend RMP points as they see fit, so they are the only ones able to spend the points.

 

Tech Trees

There are going to be various tech trees (Xenoarch, Weapons technology, robotics, etc.) that "level up" as people do actions relating to them. Every time a mech/robotics thing is built, points are given for the robotics tree, every time a xenoarch does analysis on an anomaly, points are given for the xenoarch tree, etc. The tech trees can progress up to level 4 and their progress to the next level can be boosted for RMP. This boost is seen as trading research (RMP) for other research from a different company.

 

Item Unlocks

RMP can also be spent on items or groups of items. These items have prerequisite tech tree levels, some of the more advanced items have multiple prerequisites. Once you "research" (Spend RMP on) the item will either A. Spawn with the station on the next round, B. Be able to be ordered from cargo, or C. Be able to be built with the current RnD System, or a combination of those three. The item can range from additional components to a hardsuit, to a gateway. Some items come in packs as well.

The Cycle

As mentioned above, there are item unlocks and tech trees. Everything done with the metaresearch system persists from round to round so the station can progress in its technology level, giving research a meaningful impact on the station. The bad news is, everything goes back to 0 after 30 days. This has to be done as there is a limited amount of content I can make and without the reset it would get incredibly boring as everything is unlocked. Under optimal conditions the station shouldn't be able to unlock everything in the 30 days to give them some incentive to try other things.

Other Features

• Xenoarcheology is going to be its own new role due to extended functionality.
  
• Mining will be receiving some debuffs as some of the higher tech items are left to research to unlock, BUT the tools they can receive will be receiving some buffs (Like the ripley.)
• A form of away missions are going to be added (Read above about the gateway) though they are not currently planned to be added for normal crew to have access to, and will NOT involve combat.

 

Feel free to post suggestions/ideas/feedback about anything. I need some ideas for items and maybe a tech tree or two. Sprites are going to be a big missing piece at the end of this, as each item has to have a sprite, so any general computer/machinery sprites made are greatly appreciated and will most likely be used in some way.

Edited March 19, 2018 by Guest

[Bygonehero]

Is the monthly resets still a thing? Otherwise it's going to power creep like a mother---

[Ron]

The 30 day cycle will still be a thing. I understand if people don't like the cycle, but it is needed.

Basically what Nanako said in her thread "Without regular resets, neither I, nor the dev team, can keep up with the community. You guys would quickly unlock everything, and stop caring about research." still applies.

[Ron]

Bump, updated with new information and it is being actively being worked on oncemore.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Here is the tech tree I originally proposed for the ResearchBuddy. It covers, I think, basically all the stuff we have, and can be a good basis for topics and research levels.

 

 

Here is my suggestion for various items and their research levels. We all start at lvl 1, and can use RMP to buy items from lvl 1 right off the bat, as I understand.

Medicine Lvl 1

Item + (accessory tech lvl)

• adv trauma packs
• Laser scapel (lvl 2 anatomy)
  
• Incision Management System (lvl 3 anatomy)
  
• Rescue Suit Control Module
  
• Death Alarm Implant
  
• Some medical hardsuit accessories
  

 

Medicine Lvl 2

• Bluespace Beaker (lvl 2 bluespace)
• Medical Hud (Lvl 2 equations)
  
• Syringe Gun (lvl 2 Combat)
  
• 1st Generation Reagent Implants (lvl 2 anatomy lvl 2 chemistry)
  
• Some more medical hardsuit accessories

 

Medicine Lvl 3

• Stasis Bags (lvl 2 Biological)
• Upgraded Cloner (reduced brain damage to clones) (lvl 3 anatomy, lvl 2 biological)
  
• 2nd Generation Reagent Implants (lvl 3 anatomy lvl 3 chemistry lvl 2 materials)
  
• Hardsuit stuff (lvl 2 engineering)

 

Medicine Lvl 4

• 3rd Generation Reagent Implants (lvl 4 anatomy, lvl 4 chemistry, lvl 3 materials)
• All the other hardsuit accessories

[Butterrobber202]

Lawgivers should be max level of weapons and engineering research, that shit is OP.

[ReynTheLord]

What's the extended stuff for xenobio? also, the gateway? Is that what xenoarch will do now? can they still do digging around the asteroid, or is it going to be gateway BS only

Or is gateway exploring going to be it's own job?

[Ron]

What's the extended stuff for xenobio? also, the gateway? Is that what xenoarch will do now? can they still do digging around the asteroid, or is it going to be gateway BS only

Or is gateway exploring going to be it's own job?

Xenoarch will be allowed to remain on the asteroid and dig around OR go on optional, rare, non-combat oriented away missions. They will NOT be every round, and they will NOT involve combat as per request of some staff. Xenoarch will have exclusive rights to the gateway, unless access levels are changed ICly.

[Hackie]

Having antagonist effects on the current round's research would be fantastic. It would not only prolong the research process, give antagonists who are clueless a good objective. The only issue I can see with this kind of system is someone rushing it during deadhour to maximize their research while the pop isn't high enough to have antagonists powerful enough to stick a wrench in the machine.

[ReynTheLord]

We should also be able to unlock things like higher end batteries and drills early on, And other weak but useful items of the sort. Mainly so that IPCS can have decent shit for suit cooling units, and so that people can actually do some jobs well.

Also, make sure xenoarch has access to suit cooling units with good batteries

Then again... these changes are iffy.

New suggestion, make it so you can research like normal for the round, but have normal research dissapear next round, but have persistant allocated points be a thing to give a head start or allow access to even HIGHER tiers of items, or unlock certain items in general. I do however agree with the xenoarch changes. I think.

[Ron]

The current RnD system is not going away. This is an addition to research. RnD will still have the current normal research they have now that resets round to round.

[K0NFL1QT]

How do you envision RMP being earned? Last time I saw this suggestion, it was 'fill out a report on a subject, fax it and get a random amount of points in that field'. If it's changing to 'make X and get points for X', for example, printing guns accrues RMP just for gun research, or contributes to a general pool that can be allocated however?

[Kaed]

The current RnD system is not going away. This is an addition to research. RnD will still have the current normal research they have now that resets round to round.

 

Then what's the point of it, if you can get everything done in the short term just like before?

[Arrow768]

Then what's the point of it, if you can get everything done in the short term just like before?

 

You cant get /everything/ done in a round / short-term.

Certain items will be behind the non-persistent research and others will be behind the persistent research

[Ron]

The current RnD system is not going away. This is an addition to research. RnD will still have the current normal research they have now that resets round to round.

 

Then what's the point of it, if you can get everything done in the short term just like before?

This is adding a persistent and more impactful part to research.

[Ron]

How do you envision RMP being earned? Last time I saw this suggestion, it was 'fill out a report on a subject, fax it and get a random amount of points in that field'. If it's changing to 'make X and get points for X', for example, printing guns accrues RMP just for gun research, or contributes to a general pool that can be allocated however?

RMP will be earned by doing any action that progresses tech levels. Building a robot will progress the robotics tech tree and give a small amount of general RMP that can be used to unlock items and boost any tech tree.

[BurgerBB]

I rather this persistent monthly reset thing be limited to very very special rare items that can't be obtained by normal means, such as traitor items. Given the nature of this game, I find it to be very bad game design to have monthly resets for near essential items.

[Ron]

I rather this persistent monthly reset thing be limited to very very special rare items that can't be obtained by normal means, such as traitor items. Given the nature of this game, I find it to be very bad game design to have monthly resets for near essential items.

The system is going to have a 50/50 split on new items and current items locked behind a tech tree. Nothing critical, like oxygen tanks, will be locked behind the tech tree. Medical huds, death alarms, and the lawgiver are far from essential. Everything in the system will be reset.

[Scheveningen]

I think this is an interesting idea at least worth entertaining and trying out to see if it's functional and to the liking of the playerbase. It would disrupt the round-start balance perhaps a tad but it would actually reward scientists to consistently keep research efforts to a T, just to have convenient tools/equipment on demand. So I think it is worth it, to have carry-over consequence influence R&D to be more of a valid presence on-station and not a chore.

[ben10083]

Maybe have it so if someone resets the research servers, the levels are reset like how monthly is, to balance this the server room is moved to sublevel and is MUCH more protected.

[Ron]

Maybe have it so if someone resets the research servers, the levels are reset like how monthly is, to balance this the server room is moved to sublevel and is MUCH more protected.

 

Antag actions will not be cannon to that degree. The only way antags can hinder the system is through a lore approved event or by disabling science (like the ninja using the tech steal to get research) which can significantly hinder RMP gain and tech level progress for the rest of the round thus making science a more valuable asset to the station.

[SkullMagic]

maybe a cap of the amount of research that can be done each round?

[Ron]

maybe a cap of the amount of research that can be done each round?

 

Diminishing returns for doing the same action over and over again can achieve the same effect. I'll look into implementing one of the two

[ReynTheLord]

So basically You can research normal stuff round by round, But you can unlock new possibilities through persistant effects. Noice. Although I don't like the idea of a non cannon antagonist fucking with that progress, I DO enjoy a concept of having new things (And the fucking lawgivers) locked behind this, But have mostly everything else fine. Hell, I think this should be focused around restricting NEW content and extreme high end content instead of just fucking over higher tech levels. I'd be happy if it adds more than it takes away.

[Azande]

For xenobiology: add the ability to create slimelings.

We once had a news report in our Galactic News database that had an ad for NT-Brand Slimelings, pocket-sized slime pets. Plz do.