Make cloning more open

[FastKarz]

Cloning is the main way for people to get back into a round, and yet access to it is limited. Geneticists are too busy becoming hulks to notice when you leave a body on the doorstep, and if they do, they will probably just get ignored in favor of superpowers. So if you want to clone someone, you break in with the handy dandy window and a handy dandy fire extinguisher. Either make cloning public access so that the crew doesn't have to break a window in order to get a buddy alive again, or give geneticists a reason to care about dead people, and the vision required to see them. I would like for there to at least be a chute that launches bodies into the cloning room (or at geneticists faces) so that they can see "Oh look! Dead people! I'm should eat clone that!"

[medsal15]

Cloning public access: no. Cloning was at first geneticists only, then it became medbay access.
A chute for dead people: yes.

[Noah Buttes]

They do get a pda message whenever someone ships something into the morgue using the morgue chute, but the cloning room is just medical access, not genetics access. It's not really the geneticist's job anymore.

Now, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I actually miss the days when cloning was the geneticist's responsibility. It inspired a sort of rivalry between the roboticists and the geneticists to see who would get the corpse first.

Not only is this rivalry practically dead, but the roboticist's job is imperiled. The morgue chute is rarely used anymore because it's a lot more reliable to just break the cloning window and clone someone yourself. Without the morgue, the roboticist doesn't really have any place to steal bodies from.

[69andahalf]

I don't think the morgue chute is as visible as it was back on cog1, so a lot less people get put into it. Heck, I don't think I've ever really seen it use other than to get between the chaplain's office and medbay. On the other hand, cloning is access directly from the hall, so maybe if the chute it moved in front of the window everyone breaks to get in now, more people may just use the chute than smash the window.

[FastKarz]

Now, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I actually miss the days when cloning was the geneticist's responsibility. It inspired a sort of rivalry between the roboticists and the geneticists to see who would get the corpse first.

See, currently there are issues with both sides, so a rivalry doesn't really work anymore.

Roboticists - Want to borg people, but people don't want to be borged because borgs are considered boring.

Geneticists - Don't care about cloning people, but people want to be cloned.

Now, if borgs were more interesting, and geneticists had some sort of incentive to clone people, we would have a more interesting relation of the body-snatchers.

[Noah Buttes]

Now, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I actually miss the days when cloning was the geneticist's responsibility. It inspired a sort of rivalry between the roboticists and the geneticists to see who would get the corpse first.

See, currently there are issues with both sides, so a rivalry doesn't really work anymore.

Roboticists - Want to borg people, but people don't want to be borged because borgs are considered boring.

Geneticists - Don't care about cloning people, but people want to be cloned.

Now, if borgs were more interesting, and geneticists had some sort of incentive to clone people, we would have a more interesting relation of the body-snatchers.

Making geneticists want to clone people is easy.

Just buff the advanced analysis cloning option. Make it give a lot more materials than it does now, but also make it a lot slower to compensate.

Now geneticists have a reason to want to be the ones in charge of cloning.

Making borgs less boring is a little harder, but a good first step would be to provide more variety in the modules. Why not have a chefborg or a forenicsborg? The forensicsborg could have things like police tape, evidence flag, and safety cone dispensers; a limitless luminol mister; a siren; a whistle; and a "correction baton" which is actually just a reskinned cardboard tube.

The next step would be to make them more competent at their jobs, but in ways unique to borgs. The janiborg could use itself like a buff-r-matic. The mediborg could have a fold-out medical stretcher attached to its chest to keep patients stable while it hauls them to medbay. The chefborg could have a fold out (or hammerspace, whatever) hot dog cart like the mediborg along with a miniaturized (read: no suiciding into it) fryer that they can deploy and retrieve. Crew members could also just stuff food into the chefborg's chest to use them as a microwave. The construction borg could have a furniture fabricator to make more exotic furniture like wooden chairs and poker tables. The engineering borg could have an automated lighting installation system that assembles, mounts, and installs lighting fixtures using the power of RCD magic. Chemsborgs could uhh..... have extra large beakers I guess? I'm not really sure how to give them something unique without making it ridiculously overpowered. Maybe a reagent duplicator that creates more of a specific reagent in exchange for ridiculous amounts of power? Hydroponics borgs should maybe get that borg hose that was never implemented for some reason. They should also definitely be able to hug bees, and maybe be able to dispense little bee beds. Mining borgs should get a power hammer that runs off their own charge so they can actually be useful and maybe a wide area drill so they're like one borg mining pods. Forensics borgs would get the very special capability of using their chest as a printer for tickets and wanted posters.

Lastly, brobots should be able to interface with vending machines and to dance with special robot flavor text. Because what are those bell-bottoms for if not for BOOGIEING?

[Vitatroll]

Only way to get Geneticists to clone is to give them cloning benefits that outweigh sitting in that chair. Then you have to find some way to make it where it only works if THEY clone people. You would then see geneticists fighting over corpses.

Rare chromosomes? Instant research of that person's genes? In the very least it'd be hilarious to see Geneticists kill and clone each other for a leg up in research.

Ah. The topic idea. Nah. Keeping the cloner from public access removes it from being a target of opportunity. You'd be amazed at how much a tiny bit of effort can dissuade people. Honestly I'm apathetic about it. My first notion is to use my coworker's corpse as a battering ram to gain access so I see your plight, but I also see the merit of keeping it limited access.



EDIT: This is why you don't tab out for a while before you send yer post. I'll read Noah's post after I get my Cheerwine -- WHICH GOT FROZEN AGAIN NOOOOO!!

[Grek]

A lack of incentives is not what's causing geneticists to ignore corpses. Its the fact that the genetics minigame requires constant babysitting in a separate window to progress.

[Vitatroll]

Minigame? I wouldn't call scanning and injecting monkeys with activators a minigame.

It takes around 15-20 minutes of scanning and injecting monkeys to get to the fun part of genetics which, incidentally, requires even more scanning and injecting with the addition of storing, splicing, combining, and scrambling. All the while you hope you don't get shit on by the RNG and wind up with a dozen weakeners and no fire res.

If they had a method to circumvent this monotony I think most would.

Granted this lies outside the scope of the thread. I don't want to accidentally create a topic again. If I had to choose between Yes and No to public cloning access, I'd say No. There's usually SOMEBODY with access manning the cloner. I'm shocked, but it's what I see. Beyond that it seems medical peeps are starting to use SR more often. I applaud this.

[misto]

everybody just breaks the window to stroll in anyways