The Port-a-Sci RNG Malfunctions

[Ali0en]

are horrible. Seriously, after trying to come back from an expedition horribly injured and unarmed when a zombie or maneater spawns in the closet and kills you is an awful, shitty idea. But let me review this for those who don't know.

The port-a-sci now (whenever this started) malfunctions. When you get in and teleport back to the station, sometimes something will spawn in the closet (AI controlled zombie, maneater) or an AoE will happen (fire storm).

THIS IS STUPID. Why does a zombie just suddenly appear in the port-a-sci when there were none present? What's the point of this? It's complete RNG. This messed up a round earlier where it ended in zombies conquering the south half of the station.

Also I don't know if this is related to a change but telesci power drains extremely fast now. 6 minutes in and the power is dead.

[Spy_Guy]

The Port-a-Sci malfunctions were added because it is a dangerous experimental technology and more to the point, to encourage telescientists to actually cooperate with people back on-station as opposed to just sending themselves, going on an adventure and returning completely without worry. That said, you'd need extremely shit luck to wind up with a zombie or maneater in there.

Also related, the telesci portal does indeed eat a lot more power now, because it was always intended to be the expensive and fancy option for when engineering are on the ball, but it didn't keep up when the change was made to route the solars straight into the station powernet, so getting a perm portal for free was essentially an oversight that has now been dealt with.
Although, if the perm portal still runs out with a decent engine running the numbers are going to have to be tweaked slightly.

[Ali0en]

I got a zombie and a maneater in the same round, about 20 minutes apart. The porta-a-sleeper never had malfunctions and it served the same purpose so I don't get it. It's pointless difficulty that, I hate to say it as it sounds stupid, IS artificial.

Also even with a good engine the power drain is insanely high.

[Frank_Stein]

There's got to be a less severe way to make the Port-a-Sci dangerous than violent critters.

How about using it can give you a dose of radition, or genetic mutation?

[DyssalC]

There's got to be a less severe way to make the Port-a-Sci dangerous than violent critters.

How about using it can give you a dose of radition, or genetic mutation?

Or mobs that aren't based on immobilizing you with a very ungenerous RNG based move and using an OHKO on you while stunned.

[Erev]

Although, if the perm portal still runs out with a decent engine running the numbers are going to have to be tweaked slightly.

'Decent engine'?

Challenge accepted.

[Winklabom]

I don't like this malfunction idea mainly because:

1)I do use the Port-a-Sci quite often
2)Random asshats always go and decalibrate the telescience console (delete bookmarks, input random coordinates, outright BLOW UP the teleport pad,etc.) forcing you to use the Port-A-Sci most of the time to get back
3)Any idiots can now just grab the remote/mug the RD and just keep spamming it to have a chance to summon evil critters on station.

[Roomba]

Personally I'd advocate toning down the portasci malfunctions for an alternative reason - it makes it too open to abuse. There are quite a lot of people who will sit at the telesci console and spam invalid coordinates all round long, firestorming the corridor and summoning critters with wild abandon. That's not too difficult to shut down, but with the portasci malfunctions it gives them the capability to do the same anywhere on the station. And considering that zombie round I witnessed, it wouldn't be very difficult for a screwup or two to wreck the station.

[Spy_Guy]

For those concerned about abuse, don't worry. The likelihood to spawn critters is very low (for this reason) and even if it weren't, the sort of spammy abuse you get with telesci can't happen with the port-a-sci.

There's got to be a less severe way to make the Port-a-Sci dangerous than violent critters.

How about using it can give you a dose of radition, or genetic mutation?

Or mobs that aren't based on immobilizing you with a very ungenerous RNG based move and using an OHKO on you while stunned.

Took this to heart and I'm adjusting the critter pool to exclude the instant death critters and the ones that can smash a round to bits.

[Lantern]

Personally I think it should be VERY likely to spawn in a Lich. It just makes sense.

[APARTHEID]

Or a science ghost. It fits the bill and it takes a couple of years for it to kill you.

[Megapaco]

I don't like this malfunction idea mainly because:

1)I do use the Port-a-Sci quite often
2)Random asshats always go and decalibrate the telescience console (delete bookmarks, input random coordinates, outright BLOW UP the teleport pad,etc.) forcing you to use the Port-A-Sci most of the time to get back
3)Any idiots can now just grab the remote/mug the RD

These 3 reasons are why I think this change is awful. People using telescience already have the risk of number 1 and 2 happening so why make telescience even more risky? I understand that the coders want people to work together more instead of having two or three people trying to do solarium but being realistic when you announce you're doing telescience you mostly get a swarm of scrubs who come in and ruin everything. So with the change to the Porta-sci and having science drain power like crazy is only going to keep people from using telescience. And seriously do you guys realize how hard it is to find someone competent enough to use the computer to teleport you back?

[UrsulaMejor]

This change was intended to try to convince people to work together. However, the port-a-sci is an entirely necessary tool to complete certain areas (the pit, the, uh, other pit) and is basically the only thing that actually a LETS people work together.

Without a reliable means of sending someone back, you're forced to leave someone behind to man the computer, and that isn't fun. It's like going to a sick party but being unable to participate because you're the designated driver. Someone is now required to be left out if you don't want to risk your only hope of operating the computer accidentally get mauled by a space bear.

If I might make an alternative suggestion, maybe limiting the portasci's SCOPE instead of its RELIABILITY would fair better.

make it so you can't operate the remote with the remote inside the portasci.

This will place the minimum number of people for a low pop no-engine no-portal at 2 and heavily encourage people to better manage manpower and resources AS WELL AS being a significant trust-fall test requiring people to learn to use the device as a team.

[Paineframe]

There's got to be a less severe way to make the Port-a-Sci dangerous than violent critters.

How about using it can give you a dose of radition, or genetic mutation?

Either of these can be handled with 30 seconds at the chem console. That's the problem with putting obstacles in front of telesci - someone with full chem access can't easily be threatened by chem-curable effects. Telesci people usually arm up with lasers and shit too, though, so they're usually not that threatened by critters. The power thing sounds most appropriate, since it requires telesci to involve an engineer (or steal a stack of power cells from somewhere) if they don't want to bother conserving power.

[APARTHEID]

From IRC!

The Port-a-Sci, as detailed above, should be locked out due to interference while using the remote within the locker. With an e-mag, however, there are two different but deadly things you can do to the setup.

* E-mag the remote! : It works as it does now. You can use the remote inside of the locker and come and go as you please.

* E-mag the locker! : Your own personal mishap contraption has been born because this thing is made to create TeleSci mishaps. With every summon, this thing'll summon creatures, firestorms, or EMP fields. People will want to toss out the remote and the phone booth as soon as they see it sparking.