Multiple Nuke Discs

[Flaborized]

Give every head of staff a nuke disc of their own that works like the one the cap gets. Put pinpointers for every disc on a table or in a crate on the syndie shuttle. Have the disc effects stack so that putting in multiple discs will raise or lower the timer multiple times. Adjust the time raised/lowered to balance things out.

Currently, sneaking in to get the disc is a thing you can do if you want to, but generally it's going to harm you more than help you because the crew will be alerted that you exist. Planting the bomb ASAP is the dominant strategy right now, and while that is a fun way to play the gamemode, it would be nice to be able to play it in a more "run in and kill until you have discs and then run to the shuttle, grab the bomb and then kill some more" sort of way if the ops want to.

This may have the benefit of elongating nuke while still keeping it action packed. You could conceivably be killed by the syndies while they are securing discs and then get cloned to fight them when they actually plant. And if the syndies wanna play it the "rush in, plant fast, no prisoners" sort of way they still can. This would just give the crew more ways to fight back in that situation.

ADDITIONAL THOUGHTS AND IDEAS:

- Have the discs give off special centcomm announcements when inserted: "The research director's disc has been inserted into the nuclear device by a Blast-Co operative. X minutes have been subtracted from the timer." or something like that.

- I dunno what a reasonable amount of time to reduce/raise would be for this. The current three minutes is probably too long. Maybe a minute and a half?

- Maybe add a short little progress bar to putting them in, so someone can't run in with like four discs and instantly put them all in? 

Please help develop this idea or say why it's horrible and wouldn't work if you have any thoughts on this.

[Frank_Stein]

What if each disk had a specific function it added. Like if you use the MD disk, it will give the nuke a passive healing area of effect, or the Engineering one adding additional armor to the nuke

[Erev]

What if each disk had a specific function it added. Like if you use the MD disk, it will give the nuke a passive healing area of effect, or the Engineering one adding additional armor to the nuke

This sounds fun.

[aft2001]

I like Frank's suggestion. Of course, there should be benefits to the crew and the Nuke Ops, depending on who uses it. For example, the Clown Disk: if the Nuke Ops use it, the nuke will occasionally trip/slip any non-nukies moving next to the nuke; if the crew uses it, the nuke will emit a honk every second and glow brightly (making it much easier to locate), and occasionally slip nukies moving next to it.

and yes a clown disk is necessary at this point

[Recusor]

I really like the idea of keeping the captains disk as is, with little to no delay in insertion making it high-value still. I think that maybe the HoP disk should reduce by maybe 2 minutes or 1.5 minutes. Id suggest maybe a 10-15 second delay in non-cap disk insertion, giving the defending crew a relatively significant amount of time to interrupt meaning that you need that shit on lockdown before applying the disk effect.

CE and MD ideas seem good, but the healing aura for MD should apply to crew as well as Syndies I would say. Clown disk sounds amazing but I dont really like the idea of crew using their disks for effects AGAINST syndies. Im trying hard to think of what effect the RD disk could have. Maybe a crown like teleportation effect on hit, but with a cooldown?

[aft2001]

Well the crew already can use the Captain's disc against the syndies, and it has the effect of 3 extra minutes to deal with the bomb. The Head/Clown discs would require that 10-15 second delay when used by the crew as well, but the Captain disc would still be like a 1 second use time, or instant.

If the discs solely benefit the Syndies, why bother keeping it? Just crush it if there's literally no benefit to keeping it. That and inventory space is too precious to waste on a useless/potentially harmful item.

[Recusor]

I was unaware of that effect! I thought there was simply a rule against crushering it.

[warcrimes]

I remember crushering the disk making it respawn on a random tile on station Z-level, and that being the reason not to do it, (because with a pinpointer and a pod, it's a free 3 minutes bingo bango)

[Nnystyxx]

i love the idea of disc that do special stuff
would a hos disk randomly flash people a la a flash on a canbomb?

[aft2001]

Regardless of whether or not it's possible to get rid of the disc:

Nukies are powerful and the crew need tools to help fight the nukies. Having more options is useful for the crew, but the added options also adds extra things for the nukies to do. If more disks were added that solely benefit the nukies, they suddenly have more toys to use against the crew, while the crew get nothing in return. To maintain balance and interesting mechanics, reward the crew for even temporarily taking control of the nuke, even if it's just for 30 seconds while the syndies regroup and prepare to take back the nuke. Not enough time to destroy it, but enough time to make it harder for the Syndies to defend the nuke - another incentive to not let crew anywhere near the thing.

[Flaborized]

For those of you who may not know, the nuke disc used to be an essential part of the gamemode. You used to need the disc to set off the bomb, but you could put it anywhere and set the timer. The issue with this, or so I have heard, is that syndies would rush the captain before they even had a chance to get out of their office. Back then, the disc would respawn if it were spaced or if it were otherwise destroyed. It doesn't do that now.

I think the discs affecting the timer is an important part of this idea. The idea I had in mind was an RD or something running in last minute and just barely extending the timer for one last chance.

[Erev]

Some disk ideas:

Captain's Disk (Crew): Adds time to the countdown.
Captain's Disk (Nuke Ops): Removes time from the countdown.

MD's Disk (Crew): Strength buff aura (more damage caused while meleeing).
MD's Disk (Nuke Ops): Healing aura.

RD's Disk (Crew): When used after the HoP's disk and the HoS's disk allows the nuke to be teleported away to safety (off z-level and crew victory).
RD's Disk (Nuke Ops): 15 tile radius teleportation barrier.

CE's Disk (Crew): Greatly increases vulnerability to damage.
CE's Disk (Nuke Ops): Releases low-moderate levels of radiation around the nuke.

HoS's Disk (Crew): Sets the timer to 90 seconds, regardless of current timer. Sets up the nuke for the RD's disk.
HoS's Disk (Nuke Ops): Enables a turret on the nuke. Physically weakish but bullets are radioactive.

HoP's Disk (Crew): Allows the nuke to be moved without causing a timer reduction due to personnel access. Sets up the nuke for the RD's disk.
HoP's Disk (Nuke Ops): See people within 15 tiles of the nuke including through walls.

A disk - once used - is eaten by the nuke and cannot be used again by either side.

[NateTheSquid]

+1 to the above with a bit of balancing. radioactive turret seems like a little bit too much

[aft2001]

I quite like Erev's suggestions. With implementation of what the concept is now, playtesting could start and seeing how it affects gameplay, with tweaks and balances according to how it affects gameplay.

Also does the RD disk immediately teleport the nuke away, or does it simply allow for it to be shoved into a portal or teleported via Telesci?

[Recusor]

Great suggestions from Erev