Respawn Crew (for ghosts and other waiting players)

[Vitatroll]

Oh. Yer still workin' on those? I'm one of those 'dead means dead' players. Hell, I have rolled puritain since that trait came out. Still, that project got me excited for some reason. Glad to see it's still being kicked around.

Who doesn't wanna be drdorable?

[The Grim Sleeper]

90% of the crew braindead in their rooms by hour two and the only people alive desperately wishing they had a way to call the shuttle. The station really isn't made for or meant to last forever.... hour three of roaming a powerless, empty station as an assistant...

I don't consider the problem 'people being to stupid to hack a door to save their lives' to be a problem that can be solved. And that is not what respawning is trying to solve. Besides, it's not like we are trying to replace the emergency shuttles, respawning is a solution to a different problem!

Mildly related: I have been working on Ghostdrones for, well, a long time now (because I'm a shit person it has taken ages). Ghostdrones are little weak robots that dead people can control in order to perform maintenance on the station and just generally look all cute and stuff. Maybe that will help towards this "issue".

This and 'ghost in the VR' are both good ideas, but they are not solutions to the problem of forced resets.

The idea I am trying to suggest is: periodical group respawning as normal crew as a solution for forced emergency shuttles due to many dead players.

[Roomba]

The specific example you opened the thread with was the one where after the antags are dead, along with a lot of people, the remaining crew call the shuttle. That's not really 'forced' per se, and as I mentioned, it's partly out of respect for the dead, but largely because the living crew are also tired of the round and want a new one going. If you're talking about the emergency shuttles that are called due to the round population falling below a certain amount, that's another thing entirely, and it was implemented for a very good reason. If antags wrecked the station beyond shuttle-calling capability, rounds could go on practically indefinitely, and it was really tiring to have a wizard camp arrivals for two hours straight. Respawns wouldn't help with the latter - the  station is often too wrecked in that case for anyone fresh off the shuttle to restore to any significant capacity, and the antag too well-equipped by that point to be stopped easily.

I'm trying to get behind your 'server permanence' idea, I really am, but I don't think I'm wrong to suggest that your view is in the minority. If most living crew prefer, as you mentioned earlier, calling the shuttle and starting a new round over any significant station repair that needs doing, most dead players probably share the same sentiment. If you're looking for a single neverending round, I'd suggest looking for some other server - the systems here aren't really designed to last forever and respawning players wouldn't magically fix that.

[The Grim Sleeper]

the living crew are also tired of the round and want a new one going.

I guess that is where our opinions differ. On Goonstations I never feel 'there is nothing left to do'.
Perhaps this is also the big rift between the RP and 'default' servers. One group wants to toy with Goon features, the other wants to play shenanigans with other players.
I do get that feeling 'done here' on other servers, where the most creative thing you can do is 'write a book', so don't think you rid of me yet!

[Roomba]

I would have thought it'd be the other way round, all things considered. Last I tried the RP server being a jack-of-all-trades mucking about with stuff was discouraged over player interaction. Regardless, even if you're just mucking about with stuff, you'll have an easier time in a new round with a new job than continuing the current round over the objections of everyone else. Someone who wants to play with the engine would rather a fresh, untouched engine over a haphazard, burned out one with all the plasma gone, and someone who wants to be a QM and play the market would prefer not to arrive in QM to find the belts wrecked and the entire station budget blown on booze. Certainly these aren't insurmountable problems, but they're ones that few people are willing to surmount. Even if the dead are respawned, chances are they'll probably call for a shuttle call too.

This entire discussion might be rather off-topic from the general idea of respawns, but I don't think respawns will bring about the neverending round that seems to be your dream. Player culture and most of the job systems are simply not built for that. I don't really feel like that would add a lot to the game - after a two day round chances are the only thing you'd have to show for it are a pair of geneticists with every superpower in the game going around annoying the shit out of anyone who wasn't braindead.

[Zafhset]

It's worth mentioning that regardless of the arguments over station longevity/life span, allowing periodic respawns as actual crew will really screw over any active antags.

If a person was previously killed by one, they now know the identity of whomever is a murderer, ling, etc-etc. Even if they don't instantly call it out and get banned for meta, they'd passively either stay the fudge away from the bad guy or reactively have a shout ready if they get hit by them.

That's not even a quarter of the scenarios that could pop up due to respawns. Policing that kind of stuff would be a headache and a half.

[The Grim Sleeper]

It's worth mentioning that regardless of the arguments over station longevity/life span, allowing periodic respawns as actual crew will really screw over any active antags.

Isn't that also a problem with cloning/borging? Or is the problem: the policing of meta-knowledge while at the same time allowing for the gain of that knowledge through fair gameplay.

[Zafhset]

Isn't that also a problem with cloning/borging? Or is the problem: the policing of meta-knowledge while at the same time allowing for the gain of that knowledge through fair gameplay

If an antag failed to dispose of the corpse properly and they were cloned/borged, it's perfectly fine for them to recall anything up to the point of death, including who/what killed them. They would retain their identity prior to death, which is fairplay.

On the other hand, fresh-off-the-shuttle respawns get to go under a brand new identity and job with foreknowledge of what got them killed in the first place. It's going to be a nightmare to try and prove whether they acted on information obtained under their second or first character instances.

[atomic1fire]

I prefer ghost drones as a solution.

Generate random "funny" names for the drones, so you can tell them apart, with the names being more childish then borgs because they're essentially possessed roombas

[A4Brogan]

Here's an idea: We make a Z-Level called "The Scrap Heap". Upon death/gibb/erased from existance, players have an option to spawn in the heap.

It contains a medium sized derelict mini-station, and a Drone manufactor. Players spawn in as little worker bots that zip around and rebuild the station, using a mineral magnet and mining tools (Because fuck modules; you'll see why later on). After getting the solars running and the hull patched up, the drones are free to muck about with material sciences and sell stuff, either to the merchants or the main station.

Now Here is where the whole "Cannot fuck directly with the main round" comes in: Under no circumstances are the drones to leave the station. If they attempt, they will lose the signal and power down. The players, if they feel bad for these critters, can transport them back to the heap, allowing them to continue. Drones are also not allowed to communicate with any humans UNLESS they are in the Scrap Heap Station, with the Exception of the QM, who can buy shit the drones make.

Which brings me up to the Scrap Market system: any funds obtained can be used to upgrade the drone station: be it for upgrades, cosmetics (drones like to feel pretty too, sometimes!), or a range extender that allows the drones to visit the Debris Field to Combat the Syndicate Drones and scrap collecting to make new stuff.

Edit: Forgot about why the drones have hands instead of modules: drones are discouraged from interacting with humans/Nanotrasen Constructs, and due to their small frames, cannot handle the modules tookit. They are capable of using hand tools just fine though.

[atomic1fire]

Here's an idea: We make a Z-Level called "The Scrap Heap". Upon death/gibb/erased from existance, players have an option to spawn in the heap.

It contains a medium sized derelict mini-station, and a Drone manufactor. Players spawn in as little worker bots that zip around and rebuild the station, using a mineral magnet and mining tools (Because fuck modules; you'll see why later on). After getting the solars running and the hull patched up, the drones are free to muck about with material sciences and sell stuff, either to the merchants or the main station.

Now Here is where the whole "Cannot fuck directly with the main round" comes in: Under no circumstances are the drones to leave the station. If they attempt, they will lose the signal and power down. The players, if they feel bad for these critters, can transport them back to the heap, allowing them to continue. Drones are also not allowed to communicate with any humans UNLESS they are in the Scrap Heap Station, with the Exception of the QM, who can buy shit the drones make.

Which brings me up to the Scrap Market system: any funds obtained can be used to upgrade the drone station: be it for upgrades, cosmetics (drones like to feel pretty too, sometimes!), or a range extender that allows the drones to visit the Debris Field to Combat the Syndicate Drones and scrap collecting to make new stuff.

Edit: Forgot about why the drones have hands instead of modules: drones are discouraged from interacting with humans/Nanotrasen Constructs, and due to their small frames, cannot handle the modules tookit. They are capable of using hand tools just fine though.

Leave it to nanotrasen/centcom/whatever goon calls it to harvest the souls of dead crewmen for cheap labor off station.

I guess all employees sign their souls away.

[babayetu83]

has anyone ever suggested having a chance to respawn via the monkey vending machine

[atamusvaleo]

Yes they have.

One second... let me just find it.... Oh, here it is:

... respawn via the monkey vending machine

[The Grim Sleeper]

a Z-Level called "The Scrap Heap".

Sounds complicated, but still, better then the VR.

[VictorMAngoStein]

Ghost should get health and ghostly fire extinguishers so they can grief eachother while waiting for the next shift