Goonhub
02-15-2023, 10:30 AM
I don't really have a solution for SS13's combat system as it stands. It's been like this for an exceedingly long time, and while more counterplay options to stuns can be added (e.g. more ways to obtain stun resistance), I somewhat doubt that stuns themselves will see a major rework. I wouldn't mind if they did, of course, but they probably won't.
I will add that part of the reason stuns themselves are so powerful is because we're on a space station. In space. Barring Oshan (and Manta, I guess), the play area is surrounded by a region that will very quickly kill you if you don't have any protection, and the duration of many stuns is such that you'll likely be in critical condition before you're able to physically do anything after getting thrown into space. By the time you put on internals - if you even get the chance to - you're probably dead from accumulated BURN. (Which is to say nothing of how FAST you get thrown when someone spaces you - better hope an asteroid is there to catch you in the next Z-Level, or you're never getting back to the station.) Why bother killing someone and leaving behind evidence when you can just stun 'em and let the depths of space do all the work for you?
There are, of course, other ways to kill people from a stun, with some being even better guarantees that your target will stay dead, a la the crusher. But spacing a stunned person is extremely easy, particularly on classic where people don't tend to travel in groups and aren't likely to be saved by someone else either before or after being yeeted into a hard vacuum.
I will add that part of the reason stuns themselves are so powerful is because we're on a space station. In space. Barring Oshan (and Manta, I guess), the play area is surrounded by a region that will very quickly kill you if you don't have any protection, and the duration of many stuns is such that you'll likely be in critical condition before you're able to physically do anything after getting thrown into space. By the time you put on internals - if you even get the chance to - you're probably dead from accumulated BURN. (Which is to say nothing of how FAST you get thrown when someone spaces you - better hope an asteroid is there to catch you in the next Z-Level, or you're never getting back to the station.) Why bother killing someone and leaving behind evidence when you can just stun 'em and let the depths of space do all the work for you?
There are, of course, other ways to kill people from a stun, with some being even better guarantees that your target will stay dead, a la the crusher. But spacing a stunned person is extremely easy, particularly on classic where people don't tend to travel in groups and aren't likely to be saved by someone else either before or after being yeeted into a hard vacuum.