Pod Scanners Shields Weapons Batteries Defense Systems & More

[Frank_Stein]

This was going to be a simple thread but then my mind started swimming.

So, first let's talk about 

SCANNERS

Pod Scanners can currently track a pod or give you the rough location of people and mobs. Let's expand on this

First, let's give scanners more details you can learn about the thing you're scanning. 

For instance, a scanner that can tell you how many people, or who are riding in a pod. A scanner that can tell you what the pod is equipped with, what systems were powered, their damage etc. Maybe even have the option to hail a ship and have window open that allows you to chat with the directly, complete with a closeup of their face. And when they hang up on your scanners can pick up that they've armed their weapons and raised their shields. Or detect an incoming missile 

SHIELDS

Shields would be power draining, so you'd want to activate them sparingly. Like the shields found on station, they are configurable in different ways. You could increase the energy usage to provide stronger damage reduction, and configure it to be stronger on different sides of the ship that you're more likely to get hit on. Perhaps even configure them to block gasses or fluids. Create a bubble of safe atmosphere you can take with you around your pod, or just protect yourself from damage

WEAPONS

My thinking is break weapons systems into 3 categories

1. Primary Systems
   These are mostly your front facing guns usable by the pilot
   
2. Secondary Systems
   These would be more like the Tractor Beam or the SEED
   
3. Support Systems
   These would be systems meant for use by passengers or would operated automatically
   

Some ideas I had for each


Primary

• Flamethrowers - Simple enough
  
• Wave Beam - Projectiles wobble, covering a wider area but inconsistently
  
• Racer Rounds - These projectiles are steerable using the same keys as flying the pod
  
• Bubble Cannon - Encapsulates the target in a bubble of breathable atmosphere. They can resist to pod themselves out
  

Secondary

• Anti-Pod Missiles - Can lock onto a pod using the scanner. Missiles will attempt to steer into pod, but it detonate if they impact something in flight. Low turning radius in comparison to speed
  
• Jammer - Scrambles a scanner tracking your pod, causing to to lag in updating your position, which systems you have active, etc
  
• Escape Raft - Blasts you off in a pod similar to the ones you can arrive on. You will continue to fly forward until you hit the ejector which drops you on the tile you're over. Optionally, you can also explode the original pod from the Escape Raft
  
• Mines - Dump explosives in your wake. They go off if something hits them
  
• Tow Cable - Fly the pod close to something, attach the tow cable, and have the pod drag it on movement
  

Support

• Auto Turret - If there's a passenger, they can aim and fire this mounted rotating cannon. Otherwise, you can toggle it on and off and have it automatically track and fire a target you paint on click
  
• Drones - Little ships that follow your pod. They can attack targets, repair damage, or absorb hits.
  
• Fire suppression systems -Automatically extinguishes cabin fires
  
• Boosters - Makes the pod move faster expending more energy
  

BATTERIES

Now all these systems are going to be taxing, especially shields. Your engine will generate power at a constant rate, but what you'll really want is a good battery to store the excess power and act as a reserve for your systems.

Your pod HUD will have a handy monitor for tracking how much power is stored, how much the engine in generating, and how fast you're burning through it

DEFENSE SYSTEMS

I think it would be neat to have more things you have to do in reaction to being hunted and attacked by pods. One thing I was thinking was having pods take damage in different ways, and for pods to have damage status. Some ideas

• Cabin Fire - The inside of the pod is on fire, and if you don't put it out so will you. You can do this by turning off life support, which removes the oxygen from the pod and gradually puts on the fire. Using a fire extinguisher or having fire suppression systems installed would also work
  
• Vented - The pod has a whole in in that is letting the atmosphere out. These holes can be patched with regular repairs, using a welding inside the pod, or repair drones
  
• Tracked - Your Pod is being tracked. A jammer will help, but turning off your power will stop a track. It will leave you a sitting duck, but maybe you can run and hide
  
  

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[Studenterhue]

Sounds like a reasonable framework but, yo, where the ideas for them primary, secondary, and support systems at?

edit: ok, disregard, the post was not finished when I replied

[Frank_Stein]

EDIT : Well that's all I can think of right now

[Boxta]

Pod weapons alright
Light lasers--Comparable to two phaser shots in damage, Reflected by glass, Stopped by walls
Medium Lasers--Comparable to eight phaser shots in damage, Stopped by glass, Stopped by walls
Heavy lasers--Same as the heavy laser from the emitters for singoengine, Goes through glass, stopped by walls
Chad Lasers--Comparable to 2 heavy lasers, destroys normal walls, goes through glass and damages it(rare)
Omega Chad Lasers--Comparable to 8 heavy lasers, Destroys all walls, Goes through glass and destroys it(Super duper rare)

Chemical Throwers--Can be loaded with two tanks full of chemicals, sprays them out in a fire extinguisher esk fashion
Darts-- Loaded with small doses of chemicals(10~), fires out at a decent speed, injects chemicals on contact

Missile-- Similar to the torpedo's on manta, there would be multiple types
Toxic-- Spawns a cloud of poisonous gas on contact with x thing
AntiFire-- puts out fires in a area around it
Swarm Missiles-- Two modes, one, fires a bunch of small explosive missiles at the target, Two, attempts to target incoming projectiles and block them
Explosive-- Do I really need to explain this?
HighExplosive-- I mean come on do I NEED to explain this
Nuclear-- Extremely rare, one per map, fires a single missile carrying a nuclear payload, has same blast radius and damage as nuclear charge
Healing-- Opposite of toxic, spawns a cloud of omnize gas
Chemical-- Probably a warcrime, Can be loaded with 100~ units of chemicals, delivers them in a Newsmokecloud fashion on contact


Support systems
Auto turrets -- Come in different calibers, found throught the map, most common and outfitted on security pods, NATO Gatling turrets, Requires phisical ammo, generally in boxes of 100-200, depends on caliber, for things like 40mm, comes in boxes of 10
Scanner++ -- Makes the scanner display more details, goes through jamming
Drones -- Many types, to do different things, Type defined by schematics, pod has onboard drone factory, requires to be supplied with materials, Wire, Glass, and metal, + a component depending on the type
Attack drones Simple enough, attacks target defined by pilot, Requires no extra components, Outfited on most pods
Attack drones+ Stronger version of attack drones, requires dense metal
Attack drones++ Stronger version of attackdrones+, outfitted with micro shields, making them last longer before being destroyed and rebuilt within the pod, Requires energy source and dense crystal + metal
Repair, Repairs the pod and other allied pods nearby, requires RCD ammo, 1 per drone
Repair+ Repairs the pod and other allied pods, at a faster rate, Requires 3 RCD ammo per drone
Repair++ Repairs the pod and other allied pods, at a even faster rate, Requires 5 RCD ammo per drone
MEDIC Heals nearby pod owner and allies, at a decent rate, requires bottles of ommnize, one unit per drone
Fetcher Fetches nearby things and puts them in the cargo hold, requires Dense metal
Swarm Outfitted with small saws, made to be produced with the smallest amounts of materials, and the fastest, Destoryed by a single punch, Requires 0.25x the amount of mats the a attack drone needs
Thinkin nogin is all burnt out, thats all i got for now

[Drago156]

As much as I would like seeing more variety in pods (and regrettably subs), pods are already kind of a major pain to deal with as is. Add some more ways to counter pods that doesn't involve another pod or pod seekers and I'm all for some of these ideas, until then I'd rather not make the powergaming podnerd even more OP and unbearable to fight.

Edit: and btw Boxta, some of those laser types kind of already exist. Heavy Assault Array is equivalent to the singulo emitter lasers and can burn through walls but not girders. Prismatics and E-gun laser for pods are also a thing. And the nuclear missile should not be something you should be able to get outside of maybe admin intervention, because nuclear charges are pretty powerful.

[Boxta]

Yeah, i know, i was basing them off of those, and for nuclear missle, i was thinking like adventure zone or something, OR a dynamic postion so that it spawns in x random spots through out the mining, station, and debris z levels

[Frank_Stein]

As much as I would like seeing more variety in pods (and regrettably subs), pods are already kind of a major pain to deal with as is. Add some more ways to counter pods that doesn't involve another pod or pod seekers and I'm all for some of these ideas, until then I'd rather not make the powergaming podnerd even more OP and unbearable to fight.

I mostly had pod vs pod fights in mind, but pod vs grounded crew is something we can talk about here too.
Some maps have the outer shields, which would work for keeping pods from approaching, but maybe we can have some other deterrents like exterior defense turrets. By default they could fire on drones or asteroids, but be configured to target pods using similar tech to the scanners. Stick a panel for them on the bridge, activate them when needed.

[Wisecrack34]

How about remote control turrets instead? They fire lots of bullets very quickly but require someone to operate them and only have a couple hundred health. Being able to flip on a "kill all pods" button seems a bit unfair and kind of negates the point of increasing their viability.

I'd also like to propose we do that one idea someone had for submarines and allow pods to go on station tiles but have them drag along the floor slowly, removing floor tiles and lightly damaging the pod.

[Drago156]

I'd also like to propose we do that one idea someone had for submarines and allow pods to go on station tiles but have them drag along the floor slowly, removing floor tiles and lightly damaging the pod.

Please no, never again. Pods had that ability removed because it was severely unfair and abuseable. Considering the restrictions to access of security equipment and that pods have been given more mobility and power since that decision was made, it would be a very bad idea.

As for ideas, the shields are both nice and a little bit jank at times, and are more meant for meteors than pods. They can sort of also trap pods and it's a hassle to find someone willing to turn them on/off when you need it. Station defenses like turrets could be a neat idea, though having them just auto-target a set type of pod or something wouldn't be too fair. Something that's always important information but that no one pays attention to and doesn't get used often is the pod ID, maybe we could enter the pod ID to have the turrets target that specific pod. Probably put three consoles in place, one in general sec for maybe setting the turrets to stun and then one in Bridge and another in Armory that could set lethal. As for the self-control turrets, maybe have the ability to control one turret at a time with a console? I like the turret idea but I also don't know how feasible it would be.

Maybe security could also employ like a pod jammer/EMP that would shut down all pods in an area or could be shot from the riot launcher and if the shot lands on the pod it gets disabled for a short time or shuts off the engine. Also maybe give the ability to lockdown all on station pod hangars from the Bridge?

[kyle2143]

I don't recall a time where pods were ever able to traverse station tiles at the cost of speed/health.

I think something like that can work out. But really only after pod weapons power is changed to work a bit more like ftl such that it doesn't just let you shoot unlimited shots for free so easily.

[Drago156]

I don't recall a time where pods were ever able to traverse station tiles at the cost of speed/health.

Up until like 2018 pods could traverse station tiles and shuttle tiles with no disadvantage if I'm remembering correctly. I could be dumb though and be thinking of just shuttle tiles thing iunno. Still please don't let pods traverse station tiles, I would rather not have some nerd with the strelka killing everyone on station in the first 30 minutes from inside the station.

[Wisecrack34]

Yeah, I heard about the situation with pods on station, that's why I proposed the health and speed thing. I'd imagine it being a case where they can't "traverse" floor tiles and instead have to ram into them, being easily repaired by anyone quick on the draw with putting the tiles back.

I can see pod weapons and vehicular manslaughter being a genuine concern so I'd suggest that it be tested on Ass Day for a few months first, perhaps give some traitors a fully suped up pod and tell em to go ham then go from there.

[kyle2143]

Ass day is not used for testing features really. Months is an insanely long timeframe to test such a simple change. I think that drago's concerns are unfounded, or are based on the premise that pods will be able to move across floor tiles unimpeded.

But we're getting off track on this thread. This is a really good post and I've had some of the ideas frank outlined myself. I'd definitely like to see some added.

I've wanted to change pod power systems for a while, and part of that includes adding a shields subsystem to the pods in some capacity. Really preliminary idea, I haven't set anything in stone yet. Just that I want to have a slot on pods so they can make a shield for itself that can at minimum, absorb some small damage like a single shot or impact and recharge over time.