[1 Dismissal] Apply A mechanical use to the existing skill system.

[Pacmandevil]

Currently it's only used for admin stuff. - which seems like a waste.

This could be an Organic way of enforcing RP, and reducing stuff like meta and power gaming significantly.

The ideal way to limit things would be:

Unskilled: Things literally anyone could do - crowbar things, wrench things, screwdriver/wirecutter things, fumble their way through making bread, make a sandwich/get soda from a dispenser. - perhaps with a time penalty or chance to fail.

Amateur - Able to do what a hobbiest would be able to do with enough effort: EG: Welding (though probably slower, to represent being less skilled at it, perhaps with a chance to fail?) using machines like the chem dispenser (probably with some built in fail effects, such as making a bunch of smoke or something.) with a chance to fail, or you misusing the machine.

Trained: Able to do everything retaining to the skill adequately - 0 risk of failure.

Professional: Able to do the skill greatly, probably with some buffs retaining to it: EG a chem dispenser having a chance not drawing the chems you take out of it all the way - so if you took 100, you'd get 110.

Another neat thing to be able to do is to get extra functionality out of stuff: EG, a professional in electrical engineering being able to see the voltage going through wires in the hacking window. (something that wouldn't change between shifts, letting players identify wires via voltage if they're trained enough- while still needing some OOC knowledge.)

you can take this farther as well - by assigning point caps per race, per age, and per job. EG: Skrell getting more points in general due to them being mary sues old and wise.

a +3 to skill points for a Head should be a thing as well, because the needed training.

[Superiorform]

I... honestly like the idea of a skills system mechanically impacting us. However, there are problems. What does command do? Scientific method skill? Engines skill? How would those be affected? And if there was a thing, if you rolled antag, you wouldn't want to be unable to hack, for example. There are problems, and people have said that this will never happen, ever. Ever. Eeeveeer. Personally, I like the idea of a skills system, but kinks would need to be sorted out. Sorry if this is rambly, I am very tired.

[Pacmandevil]

I... honestly like the idea of a skills system mechanically impacting us. However, there are problems. What does command do? Scientific method skill? Engines skill? How would those be affected? And if there was a thing, if you rolled antag, you wouldn't want to be unable to hack, for example. There are problems, and people have said that this will never happen, ever. Ever. Eeeveeer. Personally, I like the idea of a skills system, but kinks would need to be sorted out. Sorry if this is rambly, I am very tired.

 

Well, presumably having an antag status would disable the system for you, as antag powergaming is a thing.

Scienentific method would probably relate to science/R&D based machines like the ones in science: the protolathe, deconstruction, Xenobio's machines. etc.

Not sure what the Engines skill would do, or the command.

[Ron]

I like this idea. I'd be interested in doing it, but I'd like to get some more feedback first. Also, I'd like to leave it how it is now-- Where they can put as many points into whatever they want (So if you have an off-duty engineer they can still weld, etc.) and let staff moderate skill point selections like they already do.

[Butterrobber202]

Support +1.

I'd also tie in departmental restrictions as well, aka, if you are a medical person you can't be a master welder.

I'd set everything for antags to trained or above tho.

[Pacmandevil]

I like this idea. I'd be interested in doing it, but I'd like to get some more feedback first. Also, I'd like to leave it how it is now-- Where they can put as many points into whatever they want (So if you have an off-duty engineer they can still weld, etc.) and let staff moderate skill point selections like they already do.

 

If you're the one planning on doing it, you can probably just make a couple of procs for it. I doubt it'll be a project on the scale of IT or something.

[TrickingTrapster]

This has been suggested before, and has been shut down before. We should be able to trust players to roleplay their characters' skill adequately. If they don't,they will be ahelped and we will take care of it. Plus, it's a very bad system for "learning" characters, because they won't be able to circumvent a failing RNG to simulate them learning how to do something after some RP. If we were to implement this, it would have a larger impact and more maintenance behind it than you might think. I like the idea but I can't see how it would work in our current system.

[themaskedman2]

Personally I am still going to give this a +1 because more things effecting the game mechanically is always good in my book. I think it would add a bit of much needed depth as well. Also I really want to see someone untrained in firearms fail in a hilarious manner.

Joe Schmo fires the energy carbine into their eyes!

Mary Sue is thrown against the wall from the force of the shotgun!

[Scheveningen]

either you code it in the form of StrDexConIntWisCha with all of the related stat checks to aforementioned actions or this isn't gonna work out the way you plan it

[sonicgotnuked]

Honestly, I don't think this is a good idea. We don't need mechanics to force people to roleplay.

[Pacmandevil]

Honestly, I don't think this is a good idea. We don't need mechanics to force people to roleplay.

 

oh boy I can't wait for the text based aurora server.

[Guest Complete Garbage]

-1 for pretty much the reasons above. Skills are used as a reference for admins and players to know what characters should and shouldn't be able to do, but there are all kinds of exceptions, extenuating circumstances, etc that I feel would make this system very difficult to implement well.

[Zundy]

+1 from me.

Perhaps this is where the confusion and misunderstanding is stemming from, that things like swinging a pickaxe, running, eating food etc will some how be linked to this system? For clarity, this system would not be lifewebs system. It would only apply to the actions we already carry out. No "I have better stamina because x" as we don't have a skill that reflects this, purely "your CQC is untrained so you're shit at it mechanically, you're medicine skill is professional though so you're 100% great at it."

[Scheveningen]

-1. The Skills system is meant for clarity purposes for staff to use in order to figure out what characters are generally skilled out without necessarily requiring records. More depth to the system should be added besides "you either are good at these actions or you suck at them". And since that is the only premise to this suggestion, and not an actual attribute system that handles these things by themselves, it presents a problem in concept and balance.

[ben10083]

I like the idea, but what about skills like corporate regulations? What kind of bonuses can you even do with that?

[keinto]

I honestly don't get the point of view of "Just ahelp it and leave it to the admins." Not all powergamers are going to be caught in the act, and even if they are, I have had frustrating arguments with staff before about what people should be able to do and not do depending on their skill level, like the time an assistant took down an entire reinforced wall while having only the level of "Trained" instead of "Professional" in construction and the staff member deemed it acceptable. There should be an objective system that forces people to do only what they have decided their character can do at all times without depending on whether someone happened to see or bothered to report them. Cargo and Mining have done some ridiculous construction projects without even cooperating with Engineering because there was nothing to stop them, which brings me to my next point.

Not being able to do everything encourages people to seek the help of other departments, which I think is the bread and butter of what this game is about. If a roboticist or scientist wants a door hacked open, then they will have to ask Engineering, or they are going to have some knowledge of Electrical Engineering, which is acceptable for their occupation. Does the head of security want to conduct forensic analysis by themselves because the technician is dead/missing? Then they will need to ask a doctor or have knowledge in both forensics and anatomy. Examples of the crew working together like this and stopping powergamers are why I am so passionate about limiting what players can do with something other than F1.

The only two skills I see that would need to be removed are "Command" and "Corporate Law" since they do not rely on the player clicking things, or we could keep them for balance purposes and not give captains and HoS's an edge in skill points. As to what the maximum skill level (AKA snowflake-level) would be allowed, such as "Average", "Exceptional", "Genius", and so on, that would need to be decided by the community as a whole. However, the equation that takes the age of your character into consideration should still be kept, and maybe even add a base number of points that changes depending on the occupation. For example, an 18 year old assistant reaches dangerous levels of snowflakiness faster than a 60 year old medical doctor the more skills they add. Of course, the system would be completely voided if you are any type of antag.

Even if there are disagreements on what the end product ends up being, I think the idea of everyone being under the same set of limiting factors at all times is more appealing than what we have now, where people can potentially get away with anything when there is no one around or other people don't even think that what they are doing is questionable.

[Fortport]

Honestly, I don't think this is a good idea. We don't need mechanics to force people to roleplay.

 

Good players don't really need it, but it certainly wouldn't hurt much. It would encourage people to set up their skill trees, and maybe it could be denoted on their records somehow. Engineers would be the only ones capable of fixing walls, and officers the only guys who know jointlocks. An amateur might know tabling, and so on. THE MAJORITY will ALMOST NEVER lose a fist fight because of their skills. Food for thought.

I like the idea, personally. Just for the sake of enabling specialized mechanics. +1

Edited September 29, 2017 by Guest

[sonicgotnuked]

Fun fact: I push players to set up their skill tree when I see it is blank.

[Scheveningen]

I honestly don't get the point of view of "Just ahelp it and leave it to the admins." Not all powergamers are going to be caught in the act, and even if they are,

 

Hence the point of adminhelping. The inability to understand why the former adage exists and then stating the latter as to the exact reason why we say that, is a very common misconception from the average community member, but I'm going to just go out on a limb and say it's related on purpose. We do not catch 100% of the cases, the playerbase does because often more than not they are the ones in the round who notice these things. Ergo, if you notice suspicious behavior, report it. We cannot always catch powergamers in the act and thus it is the duty of anyone who cares in the community (like you have declared yourself as a person who cares many times in similar threads) to report these issues as they happen. Or else they aren't issues, right?

Not reporting something makes us assume you're okay with it and wish to push no action against it. And that's your fault for remaining complacent, not ours.

[LordFowl]

Voting for dismissal. This topic has been raised a thousand times, and a thousand times it shall fall.

[Fluffy]

The skill system was removed, therefore this suggestion is considered outdated.

Locking and archiving.