Un-nerfing thermals, with a twist.

[Sundance]

So the thermal nerf has left thermals looking a bit drab.
Let's take a close look at it's uses prior
1. Could see cloakers
2. Could see people through walls
3. Able to see in the dark as if you had a light source.

Now the nerf has taken place, removing 2, it seems like thermals only use is to see cloakers and that has less use than one might think due to the fact that cloakers are significantly less used these days and the fact that cloakers become uncloaked quite easily due to them interacting with the environment. So the use for thermals is now quite limited, to a point where they're almost never used.

So to un-nerf it, obviously reverting it back to it's original status is pointless because being able to see people on the other side of the screen while they mutilate a staff member, then when they escape it was too difficult because you could see their every move... is lame.
So there's two paths one can take

Expand on 3, allow thermals to see much further in the dark
This would be hella useful. One of the major reasons I use thermals is because I can be sneaky as fuck in maint and can get the drop on someone.

OR

Allow thermals to see through walls, but only as far as three tiles around you (6x6)
This way, you still can see through shit but it's nowhere near as lame as it originally was, if a traitor escapes you won't be able to see him on the other side of the screen.

[UrsulaMejor]

I still think we should have gone the "heat signature" route, where you could see everyone on screen but only as a hazy human shaped blob

[KikiMofo]

Yeah with the nerf they aren't much better than sunglasses considering everyone can grab a flash and if you have to be on the same hallway as someone to see them with the thermals it's easy to flash the guy with thermals. Also seeing as those fucking portable flashers are back it's even more annoying to use thermals.

I liked the heat signature idea.

[Frank_Stein]

I still think we should have gone the "heat signature" route, where you could see everyone on screen but only as a hazy human shaped blob

I agree with this.

If we wanna get a little more complicated with it, body and air temperature should also affect it. As in, there are four visual levels: Cold, Room Temp, Warm, and Hot. Room temp would be the default color that everything shows up as. The average living person would be a bit above that and stick visually. Vampires who haven't eaten in awhile and corpses would cool down to Room Temp.

Tiles that are a different temperature from Room Temp would be colored the temperature to match it. So if a room was warm enough someone could run in there and have their heat blob blend into the tiles. Or they could cool down and appear room temperature for awhile.

[Xeram]

I still think we should have gone the "heat signature" route, where you could see everyone on screen but only as a hazy human shaped blob

I agree with this.

If we wanna get a little more complicated with it, body and air temperature should also affect it. As in, there are four visual levels: Cold, Room Temp, Warm, and Hot. Room temp would be the default color that everything shows up as. The average living person would be a bit above that and stick visually. Vampires who haven't eaten in awhile and corpses would cool down to Room Temp.

Tiles that are a different temperature from Room Temp would be colored the temperature to match it. So if a room was warm enough someone could run in there and have their heat blob blend into the tiles. Or they could cool down and appear room temperature for awhile.

All I needed to image to sell me on this idea was a traitor frantically eating ice cream to cool himself and hide from the detective as he scans the area with his thermals.

Yes please.

[Sundance]

The reason I didn't suggest the heat signature thing was that I wasn't too sure whether it was shot down or not last thread, but if not I'll throw my support behind it, as I too thought it was pretty good idea at the time.

If we wanna get a little more complicated with it, body and air temperature should also affect it. As in, there are four visual levels: Cold, Room Temp, Warm, and Hot. Room temp would be the default color that everything shows up as. The average living person would be a bit above that and stick visually. Vampires who haven't eaten in awhile and corpses would cool down to Room Temp.

Tiles that are a different temperature from Room Temp would be colored the temperature to match it. So if a room was warm enough someone could run in there and have their heat blob blend into the tiles. Or they could cool down and appear room temperature for awhile.

To make this a little less complicated, you could just have it such that vampires, corpses or someone who has been exposed to very cold temperature would not be visable as a heat signature as they are too cold to see.

[Frank_Stein]

The reason I didn't suggest the heat signature thing was that I wasn't too sure whether it was shot down or not last thread, but if not I'll throw my support behind it, as I too thought it was pretty good idea at the time.

If we wanna get a little more complicated with it, body and air temperature should also affect it. As in, there are four visual levels: Cold, Room Temp, Warm, and Hot. Room temp would be the default color that everything shows up as. The average living person would be a bit above that and stick visually. Vampires who haven't eaten in awhile and corpses would cool down to Room Temp.

Tiles that are a different temperature from Room Temp would be colored the temperature to match it. So if a room was warm enough someone could run in there and have their heat blob blend into the tiles. Or they could cool down and appear room temperature for awhile.

To make this a little less complicated, you could just have it such that vampires, corpses or someone who has been exposed to very cold temperature would not be visable as a heat signature as they are too cold to see.

That...makes a lot more sense.

[Iatots]

-stuff-

To make this a little less complicated, you could just have it such that vampires, corpses or someone who has been exposed to very cold temperature would not be visable as a heat signature as they are too cold to see.

That...makes a lot more sense.[/quote]

I think I missed the other discussion thread, but had that really not been brought up?
Just in case, I am gonna dump some more ideas (most 2wild2code):

spacesuits either making you invisible in space because they shield radiation from your body or making you a flare because of the cosmic radiation reflected off space
overloaded wires/hot and cold pipes popping up to make for tryppy tron vision
gunpowder guns making a bright and distinctive flash every time they are fired
cerenkite and erebite popping up, maybe even from inside rocks
lavamoon being intolerable
wendingos popping up in icemoon
shaunting wizards leaving a hot trail
wraiths making cold pools
ovens
solar panels
farts
fires, duh
iceblocks, but not what's inside it, just a big blue squre

[UrsulaMejor]

Wendigos are animated corpse ghost things of cannibals who died eating people to survive, they're not warm

[BaneOfGiygas]

I like the idea of letting thermals have the ability to scope out wraiths. Would make dealing with the bastards at least a little bit easier.

[Sam Guivene]

I like the idea of letting thermals have the ability to scope out wraiths. Would make dealing with the bastards at least a little bit easier.

Wouldn't wraithes show as a cold spot, speaking of that, a bunch of ghosts idling on one spot should show as a cold spot just to cause fuckery.

[Paineframe]

I still think we should have gone the "heat signature" route, where you could see everyone on screen but only as a hazy human shaped blob

Didn't a coder say that was really impractical or something? Something about overlays or something? I only really vaguely recall it.

[TheOnlyRyan]

Coming back to goonstation after college and being up to my neck with work to Thermals (I thought weren't working because I painted)

To find out actually they've been nerfed to almost useless levels.

I'm giving this one a bump, people have disregarded the Detective for too long and now one of his main assets, the thermals are useless.

I'm not too sure why this thread wen't cold, perhaps I'll be banned later for bumping too many old threads, who knows.

All I know is I miss thermals, and being a useful detective.

[Roomba]

One of the main issues with old-style thermals, as far as I could tell, was that there wasn't any real counter to them save killing the detective/HOS at round start and spacing them. You could find the most secluded spot in the world with all the cameras cut to order a crate/eat a dude, and if the detective happened to be passing by, even one minute into the round, he was perfectly justified in shooting and spacing you and there wasn't anything you could do about it save bemoan his unfun ways with your dying breath.

Maybe it'd be better to give the detective more avenues for actual forensic science than magic x-ray vision.

[APARTHEID]

Life without thermals is grand. It even has me using the cameras for a change!