Destroying the Captain's Bonsai Tree should (temporarily) stop his/her heart.

[Podrick Equus]

Just think about it. You've bonded with this tree, it is everything to you. And now that it's gone, you clutch your heart in agony, knowing that things will never be the same.

So in short: A destroyed bonsai tree should cause temporary cardiac arrest in the captain.

[Argun1]

Yes, I approve of this.

[Drago156]

Ha... NO

Cardiac Arrest is probably the most commonly lethal health condition you have, and onve you have it, it doesn't go away unless you stuff full of epi or atropine.

That and, not every captain cares for the tree, and this allow for some pretty rude grief.

[Mouse]

Destroying the bonsai tree should instead inject them with 10 units of stimulants, to simulate the RIGHTEOUS RAGE they feel.

[Flaborized]

IMO the moment you make the bonsai tree mechanically important is the moment the fun of it goes away: nobody actually feels bad breaking the tree now, but if it had some negative effect on the captain people might go "Man should I really cut up the captain's tree with wirecutters? It'll give them a literal heart attack and maybe kill them, maybe I should only do this as an antag" which I think ruins the spot the tree is in and the niche it fulfills

[Sundance]

I like this idea, minor and adds a bit of flavor. But agreed the heart attack will cause some unintended jankiness.

Sundance's whacky alternative idea that offers some balance:

The captain receives a somber message "You feel a great disturbance", and instead of the heart attack, the captain now has a unique medical reading on the medscanner:

"This patient has a a broken heart. Treatment: Hugs"

The Captain is no way impeded by this as there's no symptoms. Now if a coder wants to go the extra mile, this could be cured by injecting Pure Hugs for some dry dystopian commentary on societal issues but it's not necessary.

[Caecilius]

How about they go into shock instead? It's nowhere near as dangerous and doesn't roll a chance for instadeath, plus saline-glucose isn't hard to come by or make.

[Technature]

I feel that if it's going to do anything to the captain, it should give him a temporary buff over a nerf. Not only is it something the captain can't keep track of, most captain's don't feel they should. Why punish someone for the destruction of something they don't really care about?

Course they shouldn't receive the buff if they destroy it. That would be dumb.

[AleksAdamska]

I feel that if it's going to do anything to the captain, it should give him a temporary buff over a nerf.  Not only is it something the captain can't keep track of, most captain's don't feel they should.  Why punish someone for the destruction of something they don't really care about?

Course they shouldn't receive the buff if they destroy it.  That would be dumb.

I'm pretty sure captains can't even touch their own bonsai, so I don't think this would even be a problem! I kinda like the idea of a "rage buff" as it were, but shock also seems reasonable to me - it tends to just sorta go away on its own if you're not hurt anyway. I think Sundance's idea of having a completely cosmetic 'disease' cured by injecting pure hugs is probably the funniest to me though, and provides the least chance of abuse, although I don't think that would be too much of a problem anyway.

[Slacker Magician]

The captain already does receives a notification of the destruction of the bonsai/ship bottle.

Having the captain take actual damage from doing this, kind of ruins the light-hearted joke nature of it IMHO, especially something like cardiac arrest that can stack up damage quickly.
So imma have to give it the main suggestion a pass.

Sundance's alternative about a gimmicky cosmetic medical condition however, is more viable and fits the joking nature of the bonsai more.

[SwaggerLEL]

Sundance's suggestion is great.

However, if i had a say, i would probably add a little flair, such as the captain only recieving the medical condition upon seeing his prized tree destroyed. maybe with a short stun as they break into tears and mourn their lost tree.

Another little flair could be, while having the broken heart medical condition, having all of the security scanner things (you know, you feel ____ when you walk through one) change to sadder emotions. such as:
You feel sad
You feel lonely
you feel PISSED OFF
you feel heartbroken

But then again, i don't have a say. i'm just some person with no idea how hard this would be to code.

Also, does the bonsai tree have a canon name? i feel like it should be named if it means so much to the captain.
(if not, i suggest "Banzai", or perhaps a pool of random names)

[Doctor Zaius]

I'm down with there being a fun message associated with it, but having actual mechanical effects would feel bad.

[Lady Birb]

Idea: If we add a fun message to the captain losing their bonzai tree, the HoS should get the same message if their hat/beret is destroyed.

[Mouse]

Expanding on that, have all staff assistants get a message if gnome chompski is somehow destroyed.

[Kovirii]

How about it pumps the captain full of adrenaline instead?