What do we have 3 QM slots for?

[BatElite]

I think I figured out why my opinion of QM flips from complete indifference to really enjoying it every so often, and it's that during a bad spell I basically get bored out of my skull because there's not enough job to go around. It seems like a problem worth talking about.
I genuinely don't see how 3 people are meant to divide up cargo's work between them. One person can do the job and usually one person will be doing the job, because the shipping work can't really be done in parallel. One person can both order and send more crates than the belts can put through, and most methods of making money tend to put strain on one or both. At best you're awkwardly getting into one another's way all the time.

On high pop rounds in my experience you either become the de facto person running all of cargo, or you fuck off with nothing to do after 5-10 minutes of waiting. So why have 3?

[Chayot]

I think 3 is a great number and wouldn't be opposed to 4.

Yes, you can sit around doing nothing.
Yes, you can have one player making hundreds of thousands of credits while 3 new players stand around watching.

However if you were so inclined there's a LOT of room to continue working.
Continue supplying crew, be proactive. Contact Robotics and Mechanics, see if they need anything.
Go to the bar while some of your team stays behind working. Etc.

Having a team creates solidarity and a LOT of fun gameplay.
Bored of the station? Order a kitchen /w supplies, start baking.
Order surgery tables and a medbay. Build guns, whatever.

I don't know if you're suggesting we reduce the number of QM's,
as you both, indicated that 3 QM's is the subject of your thread,
and also didn't explicitly suggest we do anything about it.

Whether your suggestion is to reduce the number of QM's to 2 or 1,
Regardless of which number it is, I do not see the need nor the benefit.

[DioChasek]

A well oiled trio can do an insane amount of work. One on console duty precisely ordering items to flip, one moving boxes from receive to send, and one running the front desk and mule bot deliveries for the crew. Someone get bored of their station? Rotate jobs. To top it off Cargonia needs meat shields when Sec gets oppressive for no good reason. If we wanted to setup a singulo right outside the ship that is our prerogative.

[Waffleloffle]

job slot numbers are balanced around classic's tendency for massive massacres iirc, the excess is a bit of a safeguard against the prospect of literally not having anyone that can do a key job alive anymore

[BadShot]

The only map I can see reduced numbers work is Atlas, cause Atlas cargo is fuckin tiny.

[nefarious6th]

the slots are for me when I die after 3 minutes on RP because I accidentally step on the AMDL and have to respawn

[Ikea]

With stuff like requisitions I really like having another working in cargo because being able to have backup when you need to go somewhere to deliver something/do work helps a lot. One thing I find help a lot with enjoying cargo is not using the cargo teleporter because it kind of ruins a lot of interaction and is way too quick and easy tbh.

[Kotlol]

Essentially put... we got extra slots cause cargo can be run by 1 QM, but multiplue ones for training purposes or alternative uses.

Think of 1 QM being the veteran teaching 2 newbies.

Or 3 expirences QMs with one handling the orders,
Another handling the crates,
3rd handling requests from the market and hunting down rarer items.

Or Do a gimmick.
1: Is doing the main job,
2: Is setting up the tug for something
3: Made all kinds of food stalls and supplies
And now the QMs go around selling food as a driving food train making extra money.

Even engineers only need 1 engineer (or 2 depending on size) to do the job, but...You can split it or let the other engineers do other things.

The only job I see having alot of slots but you can never get to do something are mechanics since they are always dinking around somewhere.

[Love]

Soooo many jobs can be handled by just one person, and have them do what the station needs. Engineering. Mechanics. Genetics. Science. All of science. Botany. Robotics. Janitorial, unless it gets bad. Mining.

What jobs really even need multiple people? Sec, and Medbay?

Two people in QM who know what they're doing can make money hand over fist, if they all know the crate-flipping grind.

I do find three to be a crowd too, admittedly. But other people have brought up the fine point of it really being Main-insurance. But even on RP, it's not like it's uncommon to have difficulty finding anyone actually working a department later on in the round.


I'll throw my hat in on the things-to-do-as-QM-ring. Since I often have fun playing it.

Be proactive!

• If someone bombs, show up with steel and repressurization crates. Repressurizing with boxes of oxygen grenades makes you feel like a damned superhero. It's so fast!
  
• Hear about a plasma fire? Firefighting crates, with THOSE grenades.
  
• Notice the chef is dead or nonexistant on RP? Use those big bank account gains you've made to buy crates of diner pancakes. Or give everyone food poisoning with pizza.
  
• Don't wait for people to come beg for meteor shields or candles for Kudzu. Get them out there, ready to go. Call for lazy people to distribute them!
  
• Janitors are dead? Grenades solve that too. Grenades solve everything as QM.
  
• Ask if the chef needs things! Or if people are working artlab!
  

Or just be goofy and have fun.

• Nobody will notice the cargo hanger singulo until it's already running.
  
• Build an army of borgs. Have them lined up outside like an honor guard, interspersed with golden candles.
  
• Cargo bar. Always a classic.
  
• Cargo donut shop. Less a classic, but fun. Bonus points if you convince a secoff to give you a baton if you give them a token crate.
  
• Everyone loves FASHION CARGO.
  
• Conversely, if you put out comedy crates, they get used. All of them. People all secretly want to be clowns.
  
• Are you vampire cargo? Know that piss flood thing people did constantly? Amateurs. Do it with sliced open blood packs.
  

[Kotlol]

One more gimmick: Create your own lootboxes for 200 credits to buy! Filled with random shit.