making TK not stupid

[mozi]

since genetics has been made not mind-numbingly boring we may see TK around a lot more often, I think it would be cool to make it a more balanced thing that resembles the actual notion of TK rather than a stupid "kill people at no risk to yourself" thing

My idea is that TK should act like the "possess" verb available to some admins. You possess an object within view, be it across the room, behind a window, or visible through a camera on the other side of the station, and you sort of "become" the object, capable of moving around but not doing most things a mob can-- talking, opening doors, etc. Interacting with other objects/turf/mobs in this state will trigger the standard attack proc as if you were holding the item. So, you could possess a stun baton lying around security and make it jump around and stun everybody, but you wouldn't magically phase it through walls and instantly hit some guy 7 tiles away. it'd still be dangerous and useful tool but folks could attempt to run away into another room (assuming they can get the door shut in time) or try to pick it up-- not the easiest task for a small sprited object fluttering about

while this nerfs the standard "stab someone instantly from another room" strategy it'd also mean you could take the TK'd object out of your mob's regular range of view. you could be causing a ruckus with a TK'd laser gun running across the whole station while you're just hiding in a locker in genetics.

unarmed interaction with help, disarm, and hurt intent would work as currently with normal TK, and grab would bring up the interface to strip people's items/clothing (something you can't currently do with TK). if someone is holed up in a room you could TK punch them until they're stunned, grab their ID off their body, possess it, walk it to the door, and let yourself in.

also TK should allow interaction with machinery at range (computers, fabricators, dispensers, etc.) but that's sorta given

advantages/disadvantages of this system
- kills the current main use of TK
- your mob is kinda vulnerable while using TK
+ you can steal shit that people have on them
+ you can use TK far outside your normal sight range
+ the basic possess stuff is already in the code
+ lets you use security cameras & TK together in a way that isn't horrible horrible horrible
+ c'mon who doesn't want to chase the HoS around with his own energy gun

in the interests of fairness to wizards using maybe their staffs could still work the way TK currently does, because they're ** magical ** and all. even if getting beaned with a staff of cthulhu while the wizard hides in a grille seems a little cheap the wiz had to burn 2 spell slots to do it so whatever

[david2222121]

What if you needed X ray vision to fly your harmbaton/egun/banana peel out of your body's line of sight? Because simply hiding in a locker in one of the main hallways means you can grief quite a few people coming to and from their workplaces.

TK alone as you're describing it sounds fun as hell and I support it over our current TK, but I also want to see more synergies between mutations.

[Dauntasa]

Instead of making TK grab strip people just make it grab people and actually work so that I can force choke people and slam them against walls with my mind powers. As a tradeoff, remove TK punching because it doesn't even make sense.

[Sundance]

ughh TK is awful, even when a wizard uses it. I went around as a borg yelling "LAAAME" when ever he used empower with his laser rifle on lethal. And yes, of course he had knock, armory was raided. Eventually he got thermals and pretty much murdered the entire crew, including me when he got tired of me yelling lame at him, even when I got subverted.
Giving a wizard TK like you suggested above would be magical and great for sneaky wizards. Hide in grills and TK the flashbang to blow up in the room. TK would still be powerful, but not "lame" powerful

[Keelin]

I'm REALLY not fond of TK.
If it stays and is not outright removed it'll probably be obtainable from scanning rare monsters.
Alternatively it could be fixed as described here but i need a few super powerful powers for the rare monster stuff so this would work.

[FrontlineAcrobat4]

TK is just too strong to be made so available, you can almost kill the entire crew with impunity needing only a little luck

[ISaidNo]

What bugs me about it is the fact you can beat people with objects or physical blows using it. Telekinesis is moving objects with your mind, but that stops making much sense when you're somehow beating someone across the other side of the station who has several walls and doors between you with no real way to make the object "go" to them. Also punching doesn't make much sense either since if you're hulk, it applies hulk strength to your punches. Are you like.. firing your fist off your arm at them? How does that make sense?

TK would make more sense if it pulls objects towards you rather than just instantly grabs them, kind of like a force pull sort of deal. That way you'd need to actually be in the same room as the object to be able to have it come to you with your mind. As for attacking other people with it, maybe use psychic waves to knock their legs out from under them or some shit? I dunno.

[Nautilus]

I'd figure you should be able to choke dudes and move objects from a distance with TK rather than the current functionality. Perhaps there could be a check to grab something much like a person when they're next to you if the object is distant enough and being able to throw it relative to where it is?

It'd be a completely different shift to how TK works now, but it sounds a lot more like how TK should work. Imagine a guy with telekinesis and x-ray haunting a room and throwing every object possible at a person, or choking a poor fool to death if they haven't got anything on their head and didn't resist fast enough to counter the choke. A traitor chef could throw their butcher knife and throw the knife either back towards them or to another person nearby, or someone with a bowling ball could curve their ball to conquer a split of assistants.

Ofcourse, there's also the utility of simply being able to grab things from a distance and throw them closer to yourself, but where's the fun in that?

[UrsulaMejor]

I like Mozi's idea the best.
Do that thing that Mozi said.
It solves all the complaints you guys are listing.
And, also, it's pretty much exactly what you've been asking for.
Did you even read his post? Mozi's a pretty smart dude.

[Captain_Bravo]

I'm pretty sure people are ignoring him because (I think) his suggestion is exactly how TGstation does telekinesis, and everyone has a kneejerk reaction to ignore people suggesting we take features from other stations.

[Klayboxx]

I'm pretty sure people are ignoring him because (I think) his suggestion is exactly how TGstation does telekinesis, and everyone has a kneejerk reaction to ignore people suggesting we take features from other stations.

tg build you can pick stuff up from a distance but it stays from a distance and you can throw it from where it is.

thats it though