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Robotics Gets An Update
#1
Making robots and turning people into cyborgs is always fun. Being to one to take care of any borg players also gives some importance to the roboticist role.

However, I have found that being a roboticist tends to be quite dull after a couple minutes of playing. Once you have made a couple borg frames, replaced some organs, or maybe made an AI if you're lucky, there is little you can do except maybe spam medibots.

Either a roboticist is figuring out how to do their job the entire shift, or they finish in ten minutes and do a different job; it should have more to do. When you know what you're doing you simply are forced to become a MD or go do your own thing.

I've asked some other players on their opinion on robotics and quite a lot of people agreed that an addition would be great just from how quickly your duties can finish. So, what do you do? Well, I've come up with an idea or two alongside taking what other people thought too!
  • Bring cyberpunk to Goon. Now this doesn't mean change how the technology looks or anything, it simply refers to the idea of cybernetically augmenting people. Normally the best you can do is give someone beneficial organs, laser eyes, or just some treads but this is quite basic and boring on its own. Why not give robotics the ability to grant a person abilities or traits similar to that of a geneticist? An example idea stems from the mantis blades from Cyberpunk 2077, where you have two knives that pop out of your forearms. In this case, perhaps you can grant people a hidden compartment in their arm that allows them to hide objects that then pop out! Give a botanist a hidden watering can, or perhaps hide that csaber from security in a spot they wouldn't dare to think!
  • Nanomachines. The ability to use nanobots is already in goon, however it is quite basic. Well why not allow a roboticist to deal with them instead of a science chemical that is rarely used? They would have the ability to program nanomachines and inject them into people for buffs, or debuffs, while waiting for something to do! Just program them with a nifty computer, get a person, and bam they are now proud owners of nanomachines which... turn their organs to gold?
  • Mechs. A LOT of people seem to want mechs! And who wouldn't, they're awesome. Give cargo gigantic mechs that let them carry cargo easily, or an excellent way for security to take that dangerous blob out! Whatever it is, I'd imagine they be quite customisable with many different roles to aid players with. Personally? I'm less of a fan, but at least it gives people awesome things to make!
  • Expanding what we currently have. Currently npc bots are dumb and have little use, while borgs have limited body options. This leads to robotics being limited with what they can offer, leading to people mostly forgetting about it! What this option would involve is allowing robotics with a wider range of robots to play with, (maybe in a mechanic sort of fashion too, with programmable robot arms that can follow commands to automate certain things!), and having borgs come back to them more via fun bodily upgrades. Normal upgrades are nice, but don't change gameplay all too much. Instead, you could give a borg the equivalent of genetics abilities! Like producing oxygen to rapidly fill airless hallways, or being like a little solar power generator.
Those are the four main ideas I could come up with, and all of them seem like a feasible option to give a roboticist finally something to do! Robotics does not feel as polished as it could be in its current state, personally.

Building borgs is cool and all but that just involves waiting for someone to need a borging, or hoping someone joins as a borg. Then, after getting whatever changes the want, they're off to do their own thing. Imagine if instead of just that you could implant an officer with optic nerve tracking assistive aim technology to give them a partial aimbot, or something of the sorts!

Not only would giving robotics more to do make them a more played role, but also give them a role that can help the entire station in the same way genetics can! Antags also could get more creative with their setups and allow for some crazy shenanigans happening. Gotta keep poor security on their toes, after all.
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#2
i like this; however for mechs robotics should need some collaberation with mechanics.
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#3
I don't want mechs. I already hate dealing with people in tanks on oshan.
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#4
I'd say yes to most of these, except maybe mechs. I definitely like the idea of nanites though, other servers have em and in my opinion, they seem sick. Mechs though, if they were to be in goon would need some heavy changes/differences compared to other servers.
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#5
Yes to all of this
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#6
(06-05-2021, 05:17 PM)Cal Wrote: I don't want mechs. I already hate dealing with people in tanks on oshan.
While I do agree that a mech could be a potential problem to deal with, as seen with the submarines people love to run people over with, there can be ways to make this problem easier to deal with. 

Firstly, they would have an obvious source that can be taken care of by security if a someone in a mech is having too much fun. Just like with genetics if you saw someone with a mech you'd instantly know it was robotics as getting one from anywhere else would be either impossible or difficult.

Unlike with the submarines on manta or oshan where all it takes is going to a podbay, sitting in one and driving off, this would immediately make them harder to obtain as a roboticist would require putting a decent amount of time and resources into this device. Most players would immediately not bother giving a random staffie a mechsuit just from the fact they'd immediately get blamed.

There can also be changes done to mechs that make them weaker to mechs on other stations but more versatile! Maybe they're weak to electricity just like a borg is weak to flashes or something of the sort to make them easier to deal with.

I definitely do agree that from the ideas the mechs was probably the weakest, and already something on other stations. A lot of people from who I asked did seem to like the idea of them though, so I included it!


(06-05-2021, 06:59 PM)CommaIndividual Wrote: I'd say yes to most of these, except maybe mechs.  I definitely like the idea of nanites though, other servers have em and in my opinion, they seem sick.  Mechs though, if they were to be in goon would need some heavy changes/differences compared to other servers.

Also true. Nanites have a lot of potential other than just being a secret chem weaker than an artifact. There really is a lot there to explore if not just by having an excuse to give people more fun stuff to do!

In regards to mechs, I 100% agree. They're already quite a big part of other servers and adding them now would seem a little... strange? Although maybe if they were treated less like a vehicle, like with other servers, and more like some sort of exo-suit instead then that could allow for some difference there? You'd have to think quite a bit about that if you wanted to make them unique to goon, honestly.

I'm a personal fan of the upgrades to cybernetic augmentations which could really serve as a way to make people appear like actual cyborgs rather than simply a person with robotic limbs. There's a lot of potential there and, as far as I'm aware, doesn't seem to be a common thing on other servers. Not only that, but it also makes genetics and robotics able to compete with each other in some way which feels awesome! It's like a war between flesh and machine, except just a friendly competition.
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#7
(06-06-2021, 03:22 AM)childd Wrote: I'm a personal fan of the upgrades to cybernetic augmentations which could really serve as a way to make people appear like actual cyborgs rather than simply a person with robotic limbs. There's a lot of potential there and, as far as I'm aware, doesn't seem to be a common thing on other servers. Not only that, but it also makes genetics and robotics able to compete with each other in some way which feels awesome! It's like a war between flesh and machine, except just a friendly competition.

Yeah if this happens and either side has an antag, its definitly going to end up a bit more than just friendly competition, although thatd probably be good and cool
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#8
(06-06-2021, 03:22 AM)childd Wrote: Most players would immediately not bother giving a random staffie a mechsuit just from the fact they'd immediately get blamed.

I would do it and say they stole it tbh
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#9
(06-05-2021, 02:48 PM)childd Wrote: However, I have found that being a roboticist tends to be quite dull after a couple minutes of playing. Once you have made a couple borg frames, replaced some organs, or maybe made an AI if you're lucky, there is little you can do except maybe spam medibots.

And now we know why my Roboticist character is a receptionist who just happens to have some robotic knowledge.  Not because I like yelling at people for just running into medbay (though I do enjoy yelling at people for just running into medbay).

I'm in the same boat as everyone else about mechs, though if it were a creatable antag item I think it would be cool.
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#10
Ive always wanted mechs but every time I brought it up I was shot down because other servers have mechs and goon robotics should be different.
I still want mechs.
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#11
I've always wanted Robotics to get more content and fun, after you set up a few cyborgs you get horribly bored. Nanites are a fantastic idea and its done pretty well on other servers. I'm not very interested in mechs though, what purpose would they even serve? We have pods and forklifts already, I don't see why we'd give people big mechs to stomp around in.
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#12
(06-06-2021, 07:53 AM)Rilor Wrote:
(06-06-2021, 03:22 AM)childd Wrote: I'm a personal fan of the upgrades to cybernetic augmentations which could really serve as a way to make people appear like actual cyborgs rather than simply a person with robotic limbs. There's a lot of potential there and, as far as I'm aware, doesn't seem to be a common thing on other servers. Not only that, but it also makes genetics and robotics able to compete with each other in some way which feels awesome! It's like a war between flesh and machine, except just a friendly competition.

Yeah if this happens and either side has an antag, its definitly going to end up a bit more than just friendly competition, although thatd probably be good and cool
And then... opportunity for RP in Sylv and Morty! I do love the idea of genetics and robotics almost competing for test subjects participants to be given cool perks and turn into unstoppable killing machines really helpful staff!
(06-06-2021, 08:56 AM)Cal Wrote:
(06-06-2021, 03:22 AM)childd Wrote: Most players would immediately not bother giving a random staffie a mechsuit just from the fact they'd immediately get blamed.

I would do it and say they stole it tbh
There are ways to counter this if for some reason robotics gets away with that stuff too much. That specific excuse could be made an obvious lie if mechs required very specific access granted by a roboticist in order to operate, in a similar way you can only give specific genes from a genebooth or geneticist, usually!
(06-06-2021, 11:29 AM)Varali Wrote: I've always wanted Robotics to get more content and fun, after you set up a few cyborgs you get horribly bored. Nanites are a fantastic idea and its done pretty well on other servers. I'm not very interested in mechs though, what purpose would they even serve? We have pods and forklifts already, I don't see why we'd give people big mechs to stomp around in.
Ah, I do see a problem with the nanomachine idea however. While super cool, it could potentially change how a roboticist works! If it required research being the way better nanite programs are obtained then the roboticist could suffer the same fate as a geneticist who's just involved in researching mutations.

If implemented it would need to reduce the amount of time you're working just like a geneticist and more like a roboticist! Since robotics involves building and surgery, this could add a third level to the job which could just get even more confusing for some players. So that is a concern I have with implementing nanites into robotics, but is still definitely doable!

In regards to the mech comment, I'd imagine them being quite versatile similarly to a borg. There would be many different components you could customise them with that would allow them to suit specific needs of the station rather than helping a very niche group of people. 

For example: a mech filled with extra inventory slots akin to carrying a ton of crates at once, except in a big robot! Or perhaps a specially reinforced mech to allow miners to mine just about anything with worry? Blob being a little pesky? Slap a flamethrower on that bad boy!

I see a lot of potential in how a mech could help someone if made really versatile like this, although there are still quite a few problems with the concept. Personally, they might be one of the weakest ideas that I brought across but it seemed a lot of people liked the idea! Maybe the biggest problem is just how much goon likes to keep itself different to other stations.
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#13
Building a mech as a antag Roboticist would be interesting and something traitors can work towards. It could require a traitor only item that's difficult to get without being a traitor. The sprite for it can also be large and obvious so its difficult to build without attracting suspicion.
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#14
Not sure on the mechs here either, not unless there's something similar to a "killswitch" like there is with borgs.

Either way, it's not a bad thing for Robos to have something more to do then they currently have.
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