Why is there a Blond Guy in my podbay ?

[Delta_Dav]

Since a couple days ago, I tryed a new gimmick. The Podbay Commander (Or Podbay Manager, Head of Podbay, Head of Landing, etc... depending on the HoP ;p). And its... Fun. Its quite simple : Make more pods, do a little log of people who take off and land pods, make advise to pilot, and prevent pod theft (its not real pod theft, more like pod never coming back on station, left in space.) Its not a command role, and don't require extra access (I just ask for a green ID for the Drip). And the Rp interaction are great : From the adventurous Staff Assistant, to the scienceman wanting to blow up the space dinner, with the crimer trying to escape sec but is meet by 9 pods all locked.  

Speaking of that, I made this post to have general feedback on the gimmick (that I intend to play ALOT).

1. Do you think I should remove the locks ? There are pro and cons for unlocked. 

Pro :
- Well with no lock, its faster to get in a pod and get out in space.
- In case of emergency, its faster. 
-If I take a break, pods are still available
Cons : 
-Its harder to catch some Criminals
-Its harder too log the Entry-Sortie
-Pod are just easier to loose (people sometimes dont really care and leave the pod in space)

Solution I found : When There are more that 40-45 players, I lock the pods. Under, I just unlock them. I also left sometimes some unlocked pods with locked once. When I look pods, I tell over PDA too Medbay and Sec a code to 2 different Pod. And of course, every pods is still free to use. 

2. How much pods is enough ?

For me the ideal pod number is 4. And arround 6 Miniputt (Im talking with Civilian Type, in big podbays like Donuts/Both Gogmaps and Oshan) 
Too low, its not very good. Too much ? Podbay is unusable. 



3. Should I make more external Podbay ?

On certain Maps, the Public Podbay can be quite small (Both Cogmaps, Donut 3 Public Podbays are awesome. Kondaru's is meh,  but has many Podbay around the station, Oshan's is Okay, Destiny's and Atlas are small, and Clarion's is... did you know that there is not even a Pod fabricator ?) 

One solution I found is too make a second podbay right outside. Works best with Cogmap 1 because there is a airlock leading too space, but works with smaller maps like destiny, takes a bit of time, but is worth it. 



I will also take any kind of complaints, suggestion ... 
One day I wish that there will be a Pilot Departement, and podbay will be more like a Space Traffic Control and not like a Pod Ramming/Warping festival... And that there is a pod ready for anyone

[DioChasek]

Thoughts, please dont lock all the pods. Any you make sure go nuts but the starting 5 or so don't get in the way of people setting up a round gimmick.
As for maximum numbers of pods that is going to vary from station to station(haha David Bowie reference) For example in the Cog pic provided I would go no more than 9 big pods, and around 12 or so minis just so you can easily get in and out and unload any cargo you may bring aboard.
If you wanna take the time in your rounds to do the gimmick more power to you and I encourage you to build more parking any time you want.

[Kotlol]

Here's an idea. Good pods that have good engines/weapons/such are locked and have to be logged.

Bad ones that barely function as an escape pod are free to use. Since.. No weapons.. No cargo... just a pod to get OUT of the station.

So now crooks have to Scooty puff Jr. it out of there. Or reserve a pod in advance!

[Delta_Dav]

Okay I tryed both suggestion : They are good.  For big podbays , 4-5 pods are enough when there are Many miniputts. What I will for now on is too lock the pods, keep the mini putt unlocked, and keep a armed pod for podbay defence in case its under attack. All pod will also be marked with a hand labeler.

I will also add markings on the ground for parking. So no more badly parked pods.

They work pretty good (wont be in this style)

[DioChasek]

Looks good not too crowded and locking up the dangerous stuff is a good practice anyway. Only other thing I can think of is diversify the pods to make them a bit more identifiable. That way you can at a glance say hey wait a minute my orange flame pod is missing, you could also try using the paint cans on the pods to color them. ( I don't know if that works but you can paint almost anything.)

Side note, was this the round yesterday where medbay and art science blew up pretty much the whole western side of the station? If so did the blast make its way to the bay? Never made it up there I to find out but the blast was huge from what I saw and heard.

[Delta_Dav]

Looks good not too crowded and locking up the dangerous stuff is a good practice anyway. Only other thing I can think of is diversify the pods to make them a bit more identifiable. That way you can at a glance say hey wait a minute my orange flame pod is missing, you could also try using the paint cans on the pods to color them. ( I don't know if that works but you can paint almost anything.)

It works, but I find the result to be quite meh. But I will try it. I will need paint also to test parking making, instead of crayons. Other solution is to get more Paint Jobs or get other types of armor. T-Series pods are quite easy to make when there are Miners onboard. 

Side note, was this the round yesterday where medbay and art science blew up pretty much the whole western side of the station? If so did the blast make its way to the bay? Never made it up there I to find out but the blast was huge from what I saw and heard.

Nope, this was from a other round, without any big explosion !

[Kotlol]

Side note, was this the round yesterday where medbay and art science blew up pretty much the whole western side of the station? If so did the blast make its way to the bay? Never made it up there I to find out but the blast was huge from what I saw and heard.

I was the RD in that round.. XD No the blast never reached them since it was Cog 1.

[DioChasek]

I look forward to sec assistants, looking into who parked their pod improperly, and going through the deck officer logs to issue parking tickets.

[nefarious6th]

Fantastic work as always, Dav. Fun gimmick, I wish pod wars wasnt broken because I'd definitely want you on my team!!

This was also super fun when I uhhh "borrowed" your last large pod for a changeling space battle and brought it back mostly damaged. First: read like a scene from a comedy, it was great. Second: thank you again, and how fortuitous it was that the two times I needed a pod for changeling space battles, you had my back

[Delta_Dav]

I look forward to sec assistants, looking into who parked their pod improperly, and going through the deck officer logs to issue parking tickets.

Oh yeahhhhh this would be very fun !

Fantastic work as always, Dav. Fun gimmick, I wish pod wars wasnt broken because I'd definitely want you on my team!!


This was also super fun when I uhhh "borrowed" your last large pod for a changeling space battle and brought it back mostly damaged. First: read like a scene from a comedy, it was great. Second: thank you again, and how fortuitous it was that the two times I needed a pod for changeling space battles, you had my back

Glad you had fun ! 

---

Oh by the way, I tested 2 new things : The Pod Painting (with regular Paint Can)
But also making parking spaces with the Floor Planner. The results are better than with the crayon. (Test Subject B suggested it, its was awesome idea)

This is the round with the Test Pod Painting.



But I don't have screenshots of the floor planner parking. (But the Results were nice)

I also tested a "repair zone" Its on a 2x2 square where damaged pods can park directly to be repaired. Its quite, nice but I don't think I'm going to keep the idea, its taking too much space.

[Kotlol]

While I only interacted with the gimmick once.... so far what I see here can lead to hilarity.

I can't wait to open a PODWASH BAY! Where we clean the pod and repair it.

[Delta_Dav]

Okay, I have tested some new gimmick in my gimmick.

- I have ditched the Repair zone. Was bit useless, didn't add more to the RP.

- I still modify podbay with some new floor and wall. Its looks better the parking still looks great.

- When a Shift is calm, Aeon will host some Pod making classes, where he will teach how to make a pod, and how do pod works. I tested the gimmick 2 times, it was really fun. And of course : He will recruit if someone ask if they can help.

-I also added the Uses of the Port-a-Medbay for Rescue and faster transportation of people / Body to medbay. Yeah, have a PDA with the MED-U cartridge is pretty useful ! 


New Podbay Style



External Clarion Podbay (The most successful and useful External Podbay) 

[OctoberNovemberDecember]

The podbay rental system is hilarious. I decided to stress test the system by moving my hobo into one of the empty podbay spots and making a home there. To my surprise I was kindly granted permit to live there and had a lot of fun interacting with Aeon and others who happened to come by. All in all this is a hilarious gimmick that remains strong every time I see it.

[Delta_Dav]

Oh yeah, this was fun ! I still have the Screenshot ! 

---

I have also this sceenshot of a Pod making Class.

[OctoberNovemberDecember]

Just for reference: That's puke, not piss!