The New Pulling Gripe Thread

[Xeram]

Aye, I think this is much better now. At least as a roboticist/mechanic because as it was, it was hellishly annoying and slow to drag anything and trying to use alternate transport was even slower still unfortunately.


Really if you want people to use things to move things, you need to make transports more effective/quicker/convenient than just pulling it, not pulling more annoying. Cargo transporters and teleport pads are pretty good ways to move bulk things, but they're set up to mostly departments that need things from mining moreso than QM iirc. And god knows the last time mining ever sent something to someone onstation. The belt delivery system is a mess and doesn't output to places securely, conveniently, and sometimes reliably. Mulebots are slow as heck murder-rollers that deliver more blood than supplies.

Compare these things to any round where a mechanic bothers to set up teleport components around the station. I always see them under heavy use once it's established that they dont lead directly into a crusher, with them turning the station into a telepad highway for both people and boxes alike.

[babayetu83]

i think we've reached a perfect spot

[warcrimes]

[...]
ninjaedit: I still think disabling the sprint function when dragging things would tackle the issue of "sudden theft syndrome" as it would mean the victim would be able to sprint after the player, while not limiting the function of people dragging things as a whole.

+1 on this. Then it would be perfect.

[Sergeant_Crunch]

It was nice finally having something to do with the cargo tools in qm and interesting cargo transport options that were actually better than just dragging it like carts and forklifts, but I guess the people have spoken and interesting gameplay is just not something they're interested in.

[Roomba]

Even with the pulling nerf, the cargo transport options were so tedious to use even for the QM that pulling things around slowly was still better.

[Grifflez]

Even with the pulling nerf, the cargo transport options were so tedious to use even for the QM that pulling things around slowly was still better.

This. Belt Hell is really gosh darn unreliable at the best of times, MULEBOT pathing is slow and frustrating and only like 1-2 regular QM players use the cargo transporter (I'm not one of these two)

But I'm glad the pull-speed slow has been drastically reduced to the point that I don't even notice it anymore. Good riddance, that change sucked!


Edit: Mulebots are still kinda really gosh darn slow even if you hack them to be a little speedier!

[Ed Venture]

It was nice finally having something to do with the cargo tools in qm and interesting cargo transport options that were actually better than just dragging it like carts and forklifts, but I guess the people have spoken and*slow & painful* gameplay is just not something they're interested in.

FTFY

[Frank_Stein]

TBH I never bought that this change had anything to do with the cargo transportation and everything to do with balancing kidnappings/theft/dragging lockers for cover but they didn't want to offend "robust" players who relied on those tactics.

I say this as someone who liked the change

[Sergeant_Crunch]

If "just click drag it onto your vehicle" or "hit it with the cargo transporter and forget about it" or "slap a barcode on and send it through belt hell" or "just use a cart and stop trying to drag a crate halfway around the station dummy" are considered painfully slow and impossibly difficult by players I'm definitely not surprised it got reverted.

Belt Hell can be a bit funky on occasion, but it's still more or less reliable and I'd say the only objectively lame transport option is the Mule and even that can be handy sometimes and is the most fun transportation option for traitor qms.

The ling sting drag and kidnap maneuver was definitely one of the biggest factors in the change and god I'm glad we at least kept that. The full speed pull if standing change is also pretty good.

[warcrimes]

Honestly if people want more Belt Hell and MULE use, automate QM.
Having a magic space cannon shoot things to "some guy" who then has to drag, sort and re-distribute it into a second magic space cannon to where it goes is just clunky. People are just always going to bypass that guy.

Put a request console at each belt hell terminus, give HoP, Cap and Chief a pda program to approve / deny requests, and let the crates arrive at the QM office already barcoded for the terminus they were requested from. Crate arrival chute has a shutter to bypass the automatic belt sort, but otherwise it goes right into the router.

Assign the outbound / selling QM duties to Mining, since it's pretty much Minin's only use, and assign router maintenance / manual distro to Engineering.

Make QM a gimmick job of the day if someone wants to play forklift cop.

E: also if you wanna have consoles that are not at a terminus have the MULEbot do that. It's a bot.
E: E: or maybe make the MULE an acceptable AI shell. Nerf the hurt tho.

[Paineframe]

If "just click drag it onto your vehicle" or "hit it with the cargo transporter and forget about it" or "slap a barcode on and send it through belt hell" or "just use a cart and stop trying to drag a crate halfway around the station dummy" are considered painfully slow and impossibly difficult by players I'm definitely not surprised it got reverted.

Belt Hell can be a bit funky on occasion, but it's still more or less reliable and I'd say the only objectively lame transport option is the Mule and even that can be handy sometimes and is the most fun transportation option for traitor qms.

The ling sting drag and kidnap maneuver was definitely one of the biggest factors in the change and god I'm glad we at least kept that. The full speed pull if standing change is also pretty good.

Two of those methods of transportation are for sending things to other people, something that's theoretically possible but rarely seen to actually happen. The rest aren't actually any better or more reliable than just dragging a crate around. For instance, it's nice that the forklift can carry multiple crates, but since one crate can carry an infinite number of items, the only reason to ever move multiples is if you're distributing large numbers of items to multiple different locations all in one trip. Problem is, I can't remember the last time I saw the QM get three requests in an entire round, so it's pretty much just for gimmickery or destruction - and even then, there's no way you're going to be able to deliver to three separate places without someone hijacking the forklift and driving off with it.

[Frank_Stein]

So, I'm drafting a map that really puts a focus on QM and departments having a very easy way to get and send goods. Basically a simpler belt hell that isn't a hell at all.

More like a carosel, really

[Berrik]

I'd like it if pulling didn't fuck up stuffing someone into things half of the time. Especially the reclaimer

[Wire]

I'd like it if pulling didn't fuck up stuffing someone into things half of the time. Especially the reclaimer

Ok well this isn't really relevant to pull speed now is it.