Pod Discussion

[Tombi]

For weeks my mind's been simmering away on pod ideas. I want to gauge how the community feels about pods as a whole. Because I can't figure out how to use a proper voting system , post your reply and include one of the numbers below that best reflects how you feel about pods:

1. I think pods are great.
   
2. I like pods, but...
   
3. I dislike pods... kinda... sorta... maybe...
   
4. I loathe pods. Purge them from this universe!
   

I'll wait a few days to see if enough folk think this is a worthwhile topic before delving into any ideas.

[Frank_Stein]

I'm somewhere between 1 and 2.

Pods feel great for me, probably one of the most user friendly things in this game once you've gotten the feel for them down. There are a few things that could be tweaked though. I feel like the cargo bays should accept more things than just crates. I think the scanner function could be made more user friendly. The ship Coms system seems kind of redundant if people can hear you just fine inside and out of the pod

One thing I'd really love to see is some of the pod mechanics being carried over to on station vehicles, like the segways, cargo carts, and forklifts. Being able to open them up and remove components and modules and customize it could be really fun. You could swap out the engine of a segway with a forklift to create a faster but more unstable forklift

[Nnystyxx]

1/2.

The fact that pods don't take closets when they take crates is irritating.
Pods on the shuttle is irritating.

[Tarmunora]

2/3.

Pods are great for doing what they're meant to, flying around space and shooting drones, but they're a bit too good for other stuff imo.
A few pet peeves I have are pods on the shuttle for obvious reasons, the sheer lethality of some pod weapons (strelka comes to mind) against blobs making a nucleus near space or a window far too easy to kill, and how good of a getaway they are.
As a general rule of thumb, if someone hops in a pod while running away, if you can't laser the shit out of the pod then and there, you might as well give up, because it's easy to flee from pursuing pods and just hopping in a pod that someone is piloting is an exercise in futility, because you can't do ANYTHING to the other person, (unless you have internals and they don't and you continuously shut off life support).

Overall, I'd want to see more counterplay to pods (and more syndicate cruisers)

[Vitatroll]

2: Not nearly enough trig in janky spacemans fart simulator for proper pod awesomeness. Sad!

[Technature]

2. Pods are pretty cool when they get used, but they don't get used that often. Reasons they aren't used are rather obvious (9 times out of 10, what you need to do isn't accessible by them).

Pretty cool tho.

[Haprenti]

Kind of have to agree with Tarmunora, I'd vote 2.
People sometime vent the shuttle to bring in their pods as non-antags, and unless they somehow made sure everybody on station susceptible to come at the escape shuttle (and not wanted dead) is wearing internals and is cold protected, they shouldn't do that. Even if there's doctors, you shouldn't put on them the burden of taking care of your mess and keep healing 5 people who will pretty much be able to do nothing because of the cold.
YET, I wouldn't remove this feature as I'm fine with that with antags or in major cases.

And also yeah, means to chase them.
Things to be able to do when you're the second person entering the pod.

Technature, I don't think they're rarely used, but I guess you're talking about using them while being antags and chasing antags.

[Rocket]

1: Pods are great and would be even better if flyable diagonally. That should be "the next big thing"

[Drago156]

Pods are great and all, but they should definitely be revoked access from being able to board the shuttle. They do serve many functions and they can do things that you as a spaceman just can't do on your own, and what you can do on your own in space, they help to make more efficient.

I'm voting 1, but there is stuff that I really want to see added, I'm happy to see coders doing some re-works on the pods, but there is so much more to be added and I can't wait to see what they come up with or what the community comes up with!

[Technature]

Technature, I don't think they're rarely used, but I guess you're talking about using them while being antags and chasing antags.

Yeah.  I know they're super useful to explore space itself and what not.  Less so when shit inevitably goes down on the station.

[New525]

Pods are great but need more counters

[Tombi]

Okay! Looking through your replies the consensus is: pods are pretty good (an average of ~1.6 out of 4).

---

Here's a summary of points raised (numbers in brackets = number of people):

+ Good UI (in general)
+ Versatile/multi-purpose

- pods on the shuttle (4)
- OP getaway (2)
- restricted cargo (2)
- few pod counters (2)
- helpless passangers
- scanner ui
- redundant comms
- OP weapons vs. blobs

---

Thanks for the responses, it clears up a few of my assumptions. Based on what's been said, balancing the current pod system seems a logical first step.
Since the most people mentioned it, perhaps we can discuss pods on the shuttle first?
Personally I find it unfair to players simply because they have limited capacity to deal with pods. Perhaps electrical tools (stun batons/glove, tasers) could cause a 'power surge' which temporarily disables certain systems (probably weapons). Then at least security/engineers can do something about it. I think that would mitigate 3 of the issues people have stated.

[Drago156]

Tombi, tasers do knock out the systems in pods, but the fact they can be turned back on instantly by a button click does not help, and you can't just target a specific system with a taser.

I was thinking of something along the lines of "Have the shuttle flooring be too (enter excuse/reason here) to be able to safely fly around in."

That would honestly still allow pods to attack the shuttle but keep them from being able to just board it and ruin everything/provide someone a guaranteed safe place on the shuttle.

[Haprenti]

Make pods get damaged each time they move through a tile with a shuttle chair or something bulky that they can move over on the shuttle.

[Superlagg]

Oooh, I'm liking this thread's format. Number values for overall opinion, compiling thoughts brought up in the thread, giving a range of general-but-relevant opinion-seeds to help focus discussion, all kinds of good on ya!