[PR] Adds the manifest PDA program to all PDAs

[github_bot]

PULL REQUEST DETAILS

About the PR

All PDAs now include the manifest program. This PR also removes the manifest program from all cartridges.

Why's this needed?

Being able to know which departments are actively staffed is rather useful for all crewmembers, and it saves people from having to ask for a printed copy of the manifest or having a copy of the program sent over.

I've heard from some folks that there'd be concerns over the viability of infiltration from hostile actors with this change if the (constantly updating) manifest was made available, so I'd love to see some more feedback and perhaps a testmerge run to gauge the impact. From my perspective, even on a good day most people hardly even check, and plenty of stowaways/crewmembers who otherwise don't have records don't seem to throw things off too much in this regard. It'd be interesting if, in the future, more ways to mess with or spoof records were available to the antagonist factions.

This proposal sets aside the potential meta concern of having the manifest available to players who haven't joined the current round, as with other servers.

Testing



Compiled and tested, PDAs still sit comfortably under the storage drive maximum with 28/32.

Changelog

Code:

changelog
(u)DisturbHerb
(+)The crew manifest program is now installed on all PDAs.

PULL REQUEST DETAILS

[Ikea]

Personally dislike, having to ask command or AI for information on these things is a nice little bit of player interaction that I would dislike going away. Manifest is also very useful for spiefs, having it by default discourages working to get it from others which I also dislike. I also have an admittedly mild concern about people just using this to have an easier time of tracking down their friends to focus on roleplaying with them

[UrsulaMejor]

Disagree. The crew is not meant to have full information as to who is working where. If so and so wants to disguise as an extra botanist with agent id and a stolen suit, it should require effort to discern the lie as a medical doctor

[GARGATHUGANOKSREVENG]

you can see staffed roles on the join screen, you can see ingame names using the messenger PDA scan function and you can see what players are online using "who" command

this change doesn't concern me but it makes more logical sense for only command and AI to have easy access to the manifest

[JORJ949]

Not a big fan, for the reasons stated above. Honestly would prefer the manifest app to not be sharable or on human PDAs (silicons can keep it for determining rank) and make you go check records or ask the HoP for a printoff (which becomes outdated and inaccurate fairly quickly). This way A) the HoP has more to do and B) makes it harder to catch people in disguises. Maybe the syndicate listening post pda modules and/or the captain (because its their pda module at the outpost) could keep it purely for crime purposes.

[GARGATHUGANOKSREVENG]

Not a big fan, for the reasons stated above. Honestly would prefer the manifest app to not be sharable or on human PDAs (silicons can keep it for determining rank) and make you go check records or ask the HoP for a printoff (which becomes outdated and inaccurate fairly quickly). This way A) the HoP has more to do and B) makes it harder to catch people in disguises. Maybe the syndicate listening post pda modules and/or the captain (because its their pda module at the outpost) could keep it purely for crime purposes.

blacklisting the pda app from being shared would be unnecessary, pda filesharing is already niche and it's really easy to get to a room with an ID computer to check/print the manifest

[Agent reburG]

Yeah, you can as a syndicate agent acquire easily manifest access at the listening outpost, giving it everyone by default though would hurt a simple interaction with no drawbacks.

[Egregorious]

Full information does seem like it would disproportionately discourage interaction. However, I feel like an app with the current chain of command relevant to your job would be useful. It's already information the game thinks you should know by giving it to you in an OOC fashion whenever someone signs up or cryos but it's unavailable to late joiners, or for that matter people with bad memory or those not paying attention at the right time.

The name of your department head is something your character should probably have, and in my opinion that specific information would help encourage RP because it's often a hoop to jump through to stay in character.

[Waffleloffle]

not really sure how this is necessary. just talk on the radio or message one of the pda groups if you need someone in a specific department

[Emimiyu]

My only opinion about this it is just only will make "antagging harder" (or I dunno, security officer on disguise for a gimmick). People can easily check who is suspicious now, especially secoff, by checking on whether or not they are on manifest.

Imo, it is just too strong in the hand of security.

Also, modifying manifest is pretty hard because you can't really hack into termOS and need you to steal at very minimum, security officer ID. I would maybe reconsider my opinion if we actually have easier way to hack into manifest.

[Kotlol]

I can see 10 reasons why this is a bad idea:

1: It takes away inter-department interactions.
You do not have to ask the HoP for information or visit things.

2: If everyone knows what everyone does, stowaways or disguised antags will just be ratted out.

3: If there aren't enough people on 1 department but too much in the other... it's the HoP's or Captain's job to fix it.
The manifest app doesn't remove the step of the captain or HoP changing your ID, it doesn't save time either.

4: While it might help antags deciding who to target easier. It just isolates them even more in planning, without giving fun hints they are hunting someone.

5: ...Okay i don't have 10 reasons.. but there is more just not in the mood to think of it. I think 4 is a good reasoning.

Most comes down to: "It stops communication since now everyone who wants to know crew status can just check the app."
Antags, Security, Vigilante bored staffies, Engineering, everything.
You stop asking about people and departments.... and you don't even remove the factor of the HoP or Captain having to reassign you anyway.
And trust me. I rather have a console at customs where you can auto reassign yourself to another department if the HoP sets a priority for it to take that slot and lose your slot.
THAT WOULD BE GREAT!

[Lord_earthfire]

This us a social deduction game to some degree. This means it lives off limited information.

This means that having the manifest available at all times diminishes one of the games cire concepts. And beyond that, there are few to no upsides this offers

Being able to know which departments are actively staffed is rather useful for all crewmembers, and it saves people from having to ask for a printed copy of the manifest or having a copy of the program sent over.

This means the reason "for" this PR is actually a reason against it