Gas Mask Debuff Discussion

[glowbold]

perhaps have them muffle world audio when worn, but not quite as bad as being in vacuum. Since it wouldn't affect space usage, the biggest impact is station-side; i.e. where the usage feels most out-of-place. Gives you a reason to keep a breath mask around for swapping, keeping a little bit of extra-mile inventory management without adding consumables. Maybe a slight ear protection buff as well to match flavor and as a tweaking knob.

make nukie ones immune to this nerf, though :^)

[babayetu83]

personally i am not a fan of debuffs that boil down to "i dont like it so it should be nerfed"

[colossusqw]

personally i am not a fan of debuffs that boil down to "i dont like it so it should be nerfed"

Gas masks are a 100% upgrade everyone can get their hands on all the time with literally not a downside whatsoever, that makes the lives of antags harder and limits smoke bombs to just the most lethal chems, besides just being very jarring in RP settings.
It's not exactly a "i dont like it so it should be nerfed" situation when i've seen the same discussion pop up on RP chat multiple times and always garner support, it's clearly something that people have had issues with.

[babayetu83]

you know you can always just splash acid on them to melt it off, right? there's counterplay but you never see people melt people's clothes or belongings anymore

[Kotlol]

you know you can always just splash acid on them to melt it off, right? there's counterplay but you never see people melt people's clothes or belongings anymore

Hats say hello.

[RelentlessGarbage]

you know you can always just splash acid on them to melt it off, right? there's counterplay but you never see people melt people's clothes or belongings anymore

Acid doesn't get used because it isn't effective compared to other ways of handling troublesome people. I won't drag the discussion of the "stun meta" into this thread, but if you have someone doing crimes in a gas mask, your priority will probably not be to remove their gas mask first - it'll be to immobilize, subdue, or kill them. Then, once they're down, you'll pry their gas mask off and use it yourself. Yes, acid can be used to remove people's gear, but there are more accessible and more effective ways of dealing with threats wearing gasmasks. It would have to be a pretty exceptional situation for someone to prioritize attacking someone's mask with acid over shooting them with a taser or slipping them with space lube or a banana peel and chain-stunning them by throwing them into vending machines and glass tables.

In short, the counterplay exists, but it doesn't really address the problem, since it isn't nearly as easy to apply compared to the many other more effective options. And acid existing doesn't stop gas masks from being easily-accessible and powerful equipment with very limited downsides; it doesn't change the fact that there's no reason why you wouldn't want to wear a gas mask at nearly all times, barring things like delivering CPR (as if CPR is useful) or for meta concerns of being identified as an antag when you aren't one.

(Also, regarding people wanting to have purely decorative gas masks for the sake of the aesthetic, I'm all for that. New clothing booth item? It'd have to be really obvious that it's not a real gas mask, though.)

[Mouse]

you know you can always just splash acid on them to melt it off, right? there's counterplay but you never see people melt people's clothes or belongings anymore

because you can't throw glasses of acid anymore

[Victoriae]

gas mask = nerd alert

[NanoDano]

gas mask = nerd alert

More like drip alert