Goonhub
08-09-2023, 12:01 AM
Packets on a wired network can be used to call and recall the shuttle. On paper this is a fine idea, especially the ability to call the shuttle, however in practice being able to recall the shuttle is a useless function that gives way to grief and prolonging rounds that dont need to be prolonged. That being said I dont see much any reason to allow shuttle recalls with packets.
Starting off the ability to call the shuttle with packets is by all means great and I think its a feature that should stay in the game. Having the power to call the shuttle when the heads are dead or the commasters are gone is great design as it allows the crew to call the shuttle still on the chance that all else fails. Not only that this isn't something that can be easily abused namely because there is very little reason for a antag to call the shuttle and make their round shorter outside of grief.
Now moving on to the main issue, the ability to recall the shuttle with packets has little reason to exist gameplay wise outside of grief. Anyone who knows their way around packets can easily make a auto shuttle recaller which recalls the shuttle the second it gets called. Now although antags recalling the shuttle normally via commaster is thought of as lame it works because the commaster unit is in a fixed place. This means the commaster can be defended by the crew and potentially become a point of a final showdown which usually has a fun result (unless the antag wins and KEEPS recalling the shuttle but in such a hopeless case this is where being able to call the shuttle with packets shine). However auto recallers can be done with a more or less any dwaine terminal which can be set up very easily and in a number of places. The first issue is that auto recallers are very hard to counter seeing as the main counter would be to find the dwaine terminal its set up on. The second issue with this is that finding said dwaine terminal is like finding a needle in a haystack, especially if the station is already fucked up. Something to keep in mind is that there is little reason a non-antag would use this method to recall the shuttle, i.e if the the station is in bad enough shape to where it can't be recalled with a commaster it likely shouldn't be recalled (assuming there is no grief involved). There's also little reason a antag should use this method as it inherently leads to little crew interaction and often leads to less fun for everyone. This all leads to situations in which the shuttle will be recalled for well over 20+ mins (if not longer) prolonging rounds that likely don't need to be prolong and leading to very unfun situations. This is all to say that nothing positive comes from recalling the shuttle with packets 99% of the time so why have it.
As a example there was a round on goon 1 in which a auto recaller was used. The station was ruin by the 40 min mark due to AI blowing out lights, 2 plasma fires, and a singloose. The shuttle was originally called around the 45-50 min mark shortly after which the auto recaller started. This lead to the round going on for another 30-40 mins on a station that was already beyond ruin with many already dead. the final round time was 96 mins which could have easily been 2 goon 1 rounds but instead it was one goon round with about 40 mins of nothing happening as the shuttle got recalled over and over.
Anyways what are your guys thought on the matter?
Starting off the ability to call the shuttle with packets is by all means great and I think its a feature that should stay in the game. Having the power to call the shuttle when the heads are dead or the commasters are gone is great design as it allows the crew to call the shuttle still on the chance that all else fails. Not only that this isn't something that can be easily abused namely because there is very little reason for a antag to call the shuttle and make their round shorter outside of grief.
Now moving on to the main issue, the ability to recall the shuttle with packets has little reason to exist gameplay wise outside of grief. Anyone who knows their way around packets can easily make a auto shuttle recaller which recalls the shuttle the second it gets called. Now although antags recalling the shuttle normally via commaster is thought of as lame it works because the commaster unit is in a fixed place. This means the commaster can be defended by the crew and potentially become a point of a final showdown which usually has a fun result (unless the antag wins and KEEPS recalling the shuttle but in such a hopeless case this is where being able to call the shuttle with packets shine). However auto recallers can be done with a more or less any dwaine terminal which can be set up very easily and in a number of places. The first issue is that auto recallers are very hard to counter seeing as the main counter would be to find the dwaine terminal its set up on. The second issue with this is that finding said dwaine terminal is like finding a needle in a haystack, especially if the station is already fucked up. Something to keep in mind is that there is little reason a non-antag would use this method to recall the shuttle, i.e if the the station is in bad enough shape to where it can't be recalled with a commaster it likely shouldn't be recalled (assuming there is no grief involved). There's also little reason a antag should use this method as it inherently leads to little crew interaction and often leads to less fun for everyone. This all leads to situations in which the shuttle will be recalled for well over 20+ mins (if not longer) prolonging rounds that likely don't need to be prolong and leading to very unfun situations. This is all to say that nothing positive comes from recalling the shuttle with packets 99% of the time so why have it.
As a example there was a round on goon 1 in which a auto recaller was used. The station was ruin by the 40 min mark due to AI blowing out lights, 2 plasma fires, and a singloose. The shuttle was originally called around the 45-50 min mark shortly after which the auto recaller started. This lead to the round going on for another 30-40 mins on a station that was already beyond ruin with many already dead. the final round time was 96 mins which could have easily been 2 goon 1 rounds but instead it was one goon round with about 40 mins of nothing happening as the shuttle got recalled over and over.
Anyways what are your guys thought on the matter?