Can Robotics be Saved?

[Frank_Stein]

The idea of limb modules does sound interesting, and it also immediately makes me think about being able to find some in space/being able to get them as a syndicate. I definitely think you'd have to insert the upgrades into the limb when its detached, to encourage people actually getting put under the knife.

even having a more detailed system with like, screwing open the "maintenance" hatch of cyber limbs/organs to cut/pulse or even attach signallers too could be pretty interesting. Also would be a good replacement to "i hit this heart a bunch till it JUST broke enough to give me funny emag effects". It also gives something fun for an antag roboticist to do, like if the captain came in to get, a new heart lets say, and you sabotaged/installed a signaller so you can send a signal to induce short failure/stamina loss. You could also have these wires be randomised per round, so if a roboticist wanted to figure out what improves and what renders them non-functional they would need to do some testing on monkeys, which would encourage some interaction with genetics.

I have NO IDEA how hard that would be to code, i just personally think it could provide some other avenues as a traitor roboticist instead of just syndiborgs and it sounds cool.

I want the experience of having cyborg parts being something where you're signing on for at least one check in if not more with the robotocist, so they tweak, upgrade, or repair things.

I think maybe if there were research, part of it should be collecting field data from people that opt in to cyborg parts. That data passively collected as they use their new limbs and organs, and fuels what upgrades and be researched. Notify your patients as upgrades become available

[LorrMaster]

Robotics doesn't just have to be about putting machinery into living things. It could also be about putting living things into machinery. Maybe the science department would like a human brain inside their coffee maker? Or maybe stuff lungs into machinery so that they run on oxygen instead of electricity?

[Kotlol]

Once again I say this: Give robotics access to the Robuddies even though it's in SCIENCE.

Science barely uses it...
Add abit more customsation to it...
And put maintance on them...
And they are .... ROBOTS!

As for robotics needing more to do... I once again point to advanced neuro-science for implants and limbs.
You can still easily add that stuff, but to make em function better or improve them... now you gotta do a lil mini game to setup the right neural connections and certain powerful implants and upgrades need to be configurated.

Anyway... that's what I think is needed.

[Taylorstar]

Hey folks I was a big roboticist main for a long time and I was wanting to give my thoughts on the posts as I do believe robotics could do with some tweaking but I don't think its in that bad of a place, so addressing the opening post;

1) I strongly feel robotics is in the right department and place as being part of medbay. There have been many rounds where you have 0 - 1 doctors and maybe the medical director since robotics is part of medical it lets them float between the department without ever truly treading on someone's toes.

2) A research/ progression system would be a great fix for any quiet moments in robotics having to spend time chasing down upgrades enhancements or varieties for borgs, we've only just started seeing new unique limb parts like the ancient cyborg parts, occasionally I get the strange cyborg head that looks like a cloned humans bald head, the idea of being able to research and eventually fabricate these upgrades or more would be cool, especially if they kept theme with the artifacts of science, so you could get wizard borg limbs, Martian borg limbs, precursor borg limbs etc. As for what fun side benefits these things could have would be a whole separate discussion I feel.

3) The number of robotocists at 3 is the perfect number of robotocists, SOOO many times I've logged in seen 3 robotocists and then im immediately abandoned and on my own being left to handle borg upgrades and do the initial rush of surgery, whether that because people didnt want to be robotocists or wanted to solo the department I don't know, but having 3 people allows 1 experienced play to take care of all borgs and bots, 1 experienced player to take care of surgeries and 1 person to float between both or get trained to become an experienced roboticist, if there was a research and progression system 3 people in the department remains the perfect number.

4) Expanding the scope of robotics is a great idea and I love the idea of robotics sharing robo buddies with the science team it gives room for more gimmicks and more diverse options while remaining in theme for antagonists, with robotics and science sharing buddies it means more interactions besides the science team asking for cyborg arms for artsci and then dropping off the rare powercells.

5) Cyber organs are great upgrades and I know people like to game systems and find meta strategies despite the fact there are rules against powergaming. Despite this I feel many players don't know about the advantages cyber organs have, like appendix applying healing chems, or the max stam and regen bonuses from a cyber heart, or the fact you can get 6 food buffs from a cyber stomach, overclocking or underclocking kidneys so chems stay in you for longer, imagine Syndicate agents with kidneys that keep stimulants in their system for 1.25* longer. I found it odd that the last time these buffs were touched, cyber lungs got nerfed and lost their additional stamina bonuses. While im not advocating the encouragement of full organ scoops I do think some advertising of the benefits might be worth while. I do however think the removal of cyber organs from the standard medical fabricator was the best decision for robotics and all organ and limb replacement should be sourced and left to the dedicated roboticists.

I will say I have seen rounds where the MD walks into the department and prints off cyber organs but I know sometimes in medbay they are just as hungry for any kind of action as roboticists will be so I won't judge them too harshly for wanting a slice of the surgery pie which is in no small part the fun of being a roboticist.

So to end my post I would like to say Robotics isn't in a bad place, some extra substance for mid to end game during rounds is kind of needed as well as so extra flavour to add variety to make rounds different. For those looking for a TLDR;

I think robotics could do with a progression and research system unlocking goodies, my suggestion more cyborg limbs like martian cyborg limbs, wizard cyborg limbs, precursor etc (keeping in theme with artifacts).

Guard buddies are an existing mechanic that are rarely touched sharing them with robotics gives a dormant feature time to shine and expands what roboticists can do (antag included)

Random out there suggestion, Robotics could create mini mulebots, that people could summon and send items to departments maybe, safety features included to stop stuff like assemblys, beaker bombs, pipebombs, TTVs etc from being transported between departments, maybe a PDA application could summon them across the station and send them away.

[Danger Noodle]

So! This sure is a topic isn't it? Before I put forth my own thoughts and suggestions I'd like to just point out some flaws I've seen with other suggestions. A good amount of people in the thread have put forward ideas that make other roles more annoying or tedious to play such as making borgs needing maintenance, that does not make being a roboticist more interesting, it just makes being a borg less fun. Giving them access to robuddies is probably a good idea and does give them *something* but it isn't a panacea, robuddies are already underused and just throwing them at a different department isn't really going to dispell that. They still require decent dwaine knowledge and also let's not forget to mention that this would very likely require a pretty decent rework of every map in rotation.

The main body of the problem is that robotics simply lacks content. They have at most three things to do. The first one is interact with the cyborgs then after they're done with that and the roundstart borgs have their preferred parts they might get to install a cyber organ or two. Then finally they kind of vaguely are supposed to make the -bots but that one isn't exactly engaging to say the least. Then what? Go build shells in the exact same way 10 times? I mean it's nifty the first few times but it gets repetitive fast.

I do think going with some form of progression is a decent step forward, a research system isn't unheard of, ideally it'd be slightly less "engaging" than geneticists so they're not glued to it 24/7 though it comes with the possibility of power creep. This might come with the ability to further tinker with parts, maybe a few variants of existing ones or simply a way to open them up and tweak, add or remove things. I think an interesting concept is giving cyber organs and limbs "socket slots" like gems in an arpg, you print out your Thingymabob and it could have a basic advanced and high tier one with different material costs and then slot it into the Robotics Research Machine (name pending), transfer whatever function you want into it and then put it in and then graft it into a monkey and watch it suffer like the dr. frankenstein you are.

So! You might be thinking, Celine, what the fuck are you on about this sounds weird. Well my thinking here is that we're killing multiple birds with one stone here, robotics gets a round long progression system they keep track of and press buttons on, organs become more interesting for them, crew and antags alike by offering neat and importantly weird/unique options, pesky doctors can still give a very basic organ to a patient if they barge in but unless someone weirdo that broke in has been nolifing the console/other system it's going to be a basic one.

Also by giving the organs/body/whatever a limit of slots for the upgrades it helps with the genetics problem of having 5 trillion genes active at once and gives you a choice to make. Additionally, yes I do apologize for giving a weird out there and likely really annoying to make feature that sounds cool on paper while having zero coding skills, I know the feeling.


Quick addendum as I realized I missed a few things. First of all this is a horrible missed opportunity to make the forum name "can robotics be salvaged" but so be it. Furthermore I never actually expanded upon what the research may look like, it's a hard thing to pin down. In my mind you'd have a few tiers of projects and could select them decently freely as long as the previous related ones were completed, after selecting your project it'd (very slowly) accumulate points and you could either get Research Points from sacrificing/scanning related items or by setting up lil research nodes that collect data and want as many varied inputs as possible. (Sound familiar, anyone?) Using specific items might unlock unique previously hidden options like some more nefarious ones for the more cybernetically inclined traitors. I also forgot to mention that in my vision the quirky organs would obviously be carbon exclusive but the limbs could have cyborg functionality (upgrades would likely be marked as only silicon, only carbon or as usable by both on the research screen).

[JORJ949]

Securitrons and other bots shouldn't fall to bits when bashed but instead look more and more damaged until they break like sawflies are and then you take them to robotics for repair, its too easy to see a bot in pieces and just put it back together then and there

I think moving robot depot to robotics would be a good thing, science doesn't use it so maybe robotics will, though this would require a lot of mapping changes.

[JackThrax]

let the roboticist make clothing for the borgs give em a sewing machine i know my self and a lot of borgs have outfits and costumes we like and would love to have easy access to form our roboticist would make a lot of us thrilled and show off the cool clothing options that are stashed away on traders or random chance

[cheekybrdy]

1 & 3 are viable options, the rest obviously appear better but those actually need full groundwork and then divide on how they are fully implemented. Robotics has problems cause it conflicts with doctoring over surgery being the central module for its job. It simply needs something that 1. Is not reliant on others for demand to use (e.g. borgs being present, the very limited amount of people willing to be converted to a borg). 2. It is actually something unique to the point it doesn't step on other job's work. I'd say 1 is the best option currently though.