Goonhub
07-02-2020, 03:04 PM
This was talked about today on discord and I have to vote no on this PR. Mostly being someone that is a engineering main (Not just plays as a engineer but mostly plays all sub-roles in the engineering department) I don't think merging the two together is a good call here as you'd really ruin mechanics dynamic by forcing them into being with engineering.
Not saying that mechanics aren't our brothers or anything, but they are seen as the more nerdier side of engineering. packet hacking and the like while also working with mechcomp tools and components to improve station life (or annoy the hell out of people) They actually do have job responsibilities too outside of this. It's just they don't have any real direction when it comes to doing them. They are supposed to replace broken machines around the station. Fabs and vendors. Help rewire and repower departments. Unfortunately, broken vending machines are hard if not impossible to remove.
Engineering on the other hand already has a bunch on their plate. Sure, the engine is generally set up by 1 to 3 people leaving a few others early game with nothing to really do but screw around and find something to do. Trying to get your ID modded by the HoP or Captain half the time is like pulling teeth to get some extra time in. Sure you can ask your mechanic friends to let you in and mess around with them. Sometimes they are ok with it (Bring materials they will love you) And you can hang out till the explosions start. Generally though. Engineering's job is to make sure the power is on and generating correctly. To prevent power net sabotage, fix holes in the station, fix the pipe network (not like anyone ever does) repressurize blown out areas of the station that's been repaired. Fight fires. Do they do half this stuff? Probably not. But they got a tall order already.
By merging Mechanics into engineering you will lose a lot of mechanics nuances that make it an interesting job in it's own right. So by watering down the mechanics experience with the merge, you also end up muddying up engineering. Who already has a problem with completing their tasks to begin with. With given them extra things to mess around with. Sure it might help with the early game got nothing to do, but it would also get people who WANT to play with the mechanic clogging up engineering slots and things will DEFINITELY won't get done at all.
Now I can hear you say "Well this worked with the science/chemist merge!" Well two things about that merge. A: It happened over at least 6 or 7 years a go, maybe more. I wanna say a MAJORITY of the player base isn't the same people that are here today. B: While chemists back then might of had the slightest bit of job responsibility to make meds. And they most likely never did that. So they got merged into science. However the biggest thing to note here is. Scientists do nothing useful for the station. They don't make any money, they drain all the power, they might find a useful artifact now and then, and make bombs.
What mechanics need is some better direction and we need a better way to fix broken and down vending machines and incentives to build and replace machines for mechanics. The best thing that would be great to do would be to implement an old idea that's been flung around of a ruck kit invention system. And my idea is do that for a robotics upgrade system as well. Though thats a topic for another post.
Not saying that mechanics aren't our brothers or anything, but they are seen as the more nerdier side of engineering. packet hacking and the like while also working with mechcomp tools and components to improve station life (or annoy the hell out of people) They actually do have job responsibilities too outside of this. It's just they don't have any real direction when it comes to doing them. They are supposed to replace broken machines around the station. Fabs and vendors. Help rewire and repower departments. Unfortunately, broken vending machines are hard if not impossible to remove.
Engineering on the other hand already has a bunch on their plate. Sure, the engine is generally set up by 1 to 3 people leaving a few others early game with nothing to really do but screw around and find something to do. Trying to get your ID modded by the HoP or Captain half the time is like pulling teeth to get some extra time in. Sure you can ask your mechanic friends to let you in and mess around with them. Sometimes they are ok with it (Bring materials they will love you) And you can hang out till the explosions start. Generally though. Engineering's job is to make sure the power is on and generating correctly. To prevent power net sabotage, fix holes in the station, fix the pipe network (not like anyone ever does) repressurize blown out areas of the station that's been repaired. Fight fires. Do they do half this stuff? Probably not. But they got a tall order already.
By merging Mechanics into engineering you will lose a lot of mechanics nuances that make it an interesting job in it's own right. So by watering down the mechanics experience with the merge, you also end up muddying up engineering. Who already has a problem with completing their tasks to begin with. With given them extra things to mess around with. Sure it might help with the early game got nothing to do, but it would also get people who WANT to play with the mechanic clogging up engineering slots and things will DEFINITELY won't get done at all.
Now I can hear you say "Well this worked with the science/chemist merge!" Well two things about that merge. A: It happened over at least 6 or 7 years a go, maybe more. I wanna say a MAJORITY of the player base isn't the same people that are here today. B: While chemists back then might of had the slightest bit of job responsibility to make meds. And they most likely never did that. So they got merged into science. However the biggest thing to note here is. Scientists do nothing useful for the station. They don't make any money, they drain all the power, they might find a useful artifact now and then, and make bombs.
What mechanics need is some better direction and we need a better way to fix broken and down vending machines and incentives to build and replace machines for mechanics. The best thing that would be great to do would be to implement an old idea that's been flung around of a ruck kit invention system. And my idea is do that for a robotics upgrade system as well. Though thats a topic for another post.
