How to balance the rise in popularity of pathology

[gandalfphysicist]

Hi there! Old Path nerd here. This comes and goes in waves and I know I've posted on this before but here we go.

Cures:
Cures are actually super simple and require very few chemicals to be tested. This information is not only located deep in the files of the latest Goon release but now also on the wiki.

There is also already an 'instant cure' option. Talk to your local QM and be ready to send a sample.

Transmission:
Late game it can be really hard to transmit diseases due, most often, to people gearing up amd turning on internals to deal with the gaping holes in the station. As a good murder disease takes time (and luck! more on that later) to make this often stalls a traitor pathologist's disease in its tracks - it has for me. If you see someone sick, cover up!

That being said there was an old bug which got fixed then reverted back to bugged again which meant that glass walls did nothing to stop the spread of pathogens. I don't know if the bug remains but I suspect it does and that could be another large part.

The last part is that there are chucklefucks out there - usually the captain for some reason - that just like spreading diseases. They should be dealt with.

Additional Considerations:
With the current system a good murder disease is entirely luck based. I've gotten two T5 symptoms as a traitor before just to have them both be beneficial 40 minutes into the round. The RNG is infuriating and when you get something special you want to suicide by it often (typically with monkies or friends alongside you). The glass bug or idiots wandering in can causw this to get out and... well... yeah.

Similarly it is really hard to make a good pathogen because you are stabbing blindly at it. I've managed it a couple times before but it is rare and the symptoms are rarely ever noticed apart from sunglasses. The effects being noisier and more powerful would help, as would the ability to steer towards good or bad symptoms.

The metagrudging is, sadly, a real thing. The RNG and the fact that certain people will act up if I was in or around Path made me give that life up for Mechanics (along with learning most there was to learn). The admins have had to step in on occasion.

Path has gotten several nerfs to date. These include symptom stacking, the CDC cures, and the slowing of the Pathogen Manipulator. The only real buffs it got were the ability to synthesize a new sample for budget cash and removing a 2.5% chance each splice or manipulation that the pathogen would simply poof and disappear - even if you did things 100% correctly.

The Immediate Future:
I would like to see more good symptoms in the futures. Ones that are stronger, ones that are different. I'd also like them to be more notable.

I would also like to see the ability to steer a pathogen towards good or bad symptoms while doing analysis. Got a promising start on a symptom line? Looks like its 40% good, 40% neutral, and 20% bad stuff. It'll help everyone reach their goals faster and without too many tears. It also means you can crack down easier on people making and releasing bad shit because they should know better.

I do not beleive the latest Pathology fad will last long. I suggest giving it a bit of time to run its course and talk to those that are going past the threshhold of being little shits with it. Hitting it again with the nerf hammer will only make a niche and most often unrewarding system worse to use.

The Far Future:
I want to see another Pathology rewrite. I have ideas for this that include station funds, different z-levels, and more. I want people to travel and find symptoms in computer databanks and in dead bodies and rank up those symptoms selectively. I want a cap on how many symptoms and of what severity are included - and a way to expand that cap with hard work, dedication, and/or being a traitor.

Conclusion:
Pathology as but is isn't in the best shape right bow but it is not in need of the nerf hammer. It needs tools to help make it a productive part of the station through guided symptom finding and/or a rewrite. Don't judge it too harshly too quickly.

This is true. More powerful beneficial symptoms would be amazing and migrate pathology from a BM tool to a powerful catchall and even integral part of the station's wellbeing.