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Department-Specific APC Access
#1
This other thread gave me an idea about APCs, I didn't want to hijack that thread any further though.

TL;DR: Make APC access department-specific on top of the already universal access for ease of turning them back on. Right now, turning them back on isn't hard but tedious.

Who doesn't know this situation: you're working a chill Medbay shift, until some random traitor mechanic/engineer sneaks into maintenance, unlocks the APCs, turns everything off, locks the APC and runs away. Well shit, your cloning is now off as three corpses are slowly rotting, Genetics are confused because the only thing they know doesn't work anymore, two people are bleeding out in the lobby and you can't even vend a single styptic powder patch. All caused within ten seconds with minimal effort.
Or, you're working the ol' QM grind, printing pod components at high speeds for that sweet dosh. The lights go out as power decreases, but who needs lights anyway, just order the experimental generator and.. oops you forgot, now the machines are out too and you can't order it anymore.
Or, a far simpler problem, there was a powersink five minutes ago and you're painstakingly watching the APC's power increase 1% every minute or two.

The only easy solution is to pester mechanics that are busy making the sixteenth monkey-crusher today or engineering, a department that watches a machine explode for 50 minutes, to come and slap the APC with an ID card once. Minimal effort, yet the engineer/mechanic's work is interrupted. The alternative is grabbing insulated gloves, wirecutters, a screwdriver and a multitool to hack the APC, the multitool being rather rare sometimes.

What if, instead, since this is YOUR department, you could just take your own Medbay ID and unlock the Medbay APC to turn it back on?
I propose we make APC access department-specific, on top of universal access that already exists now. This would make it so any normal problem like a temporary power outage due to engineering slacking can be a little circumvented and traitors have to try a little harder to sabotage APCs.

But it isn't all positive, it also means that, for example, the traitor Detective can unlock the Security APC, crowbar open the cover and steal the cell. A new, innovative way to be dastardly as heck!
It wouldn't take too much away from traitors, the ones who have APC access can also easily get insuls if they don't already start with them. A screwdriver and a wirecutter can short the APC and achieve the same effect as simply turning it off, yet that situation needs tools to reactivate the APC.

Any thoughts? Maybe I'm missing some massive balancing problem!
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#2
actually a big fan of this idea. it's not often used as a venue of attack, but APCs can be sabotaged in so many ways it might not even matter. rarely do you ever find engineers interested in the idea of crossing the entire station to flick a power switch, so there's always *that* round where you cant get an engineer or AI's attention and just have to ditch your department because power's out.
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#3
Another idea I quietly mentioned a while ago was to add buttons to the APC power computer, give people the ability to turn on APC’s, but not turn them off, to prevent massive switch toggling.

“Hey engineering, could you turn on our power?”
“Sure thing”
The engineer would walk to his computer, look for the APC turned off, and turn it on
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#4
Im against the idea of giving non-engineers APC access because it just removes more challenge aspects and APC's are easy enough to hack as it is

I AM for the remote APC control thing though
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#5
(07-28-2021, 05:19 AM)MoonJesus Wrote: because it just removes more challenge aspects

I've mentioned it in the other thread, but I don't think it's challenging. There's nothing challenging about the shuttle being called because all the APCs are off due to a powersink, it's only extremely tedious so people would literally rather leave than do it. Slapping a few walls with an ID isn't challenging.

APC remote control would be fine too, although the problem remains that on lowpop, there might be nobody available that really cares to solve that sort of problem.
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#6
If an antag engineer sabotages some place's APC it shouldn't be trivial to fix. If you don't have access to an APC, you need tools to access it, just like anything else.
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#7
(07-28-2021, 05:49 AM)THISISANICEGAME Wrote: If an antag engineer sabotages some place's APC it shouldn't be trivial to fix. If you don't have access to an APC, you need tools to access it, just like anything else.

One thought I had was that cutting the AI control wire in the APC would make it untoggleable via APC computer, meaning it would take a little more effort to sabotage APC’s, and engineers can easily turn on APC’s across the map that turned off automatically.
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#8
Better idea

The APC moniter computers can remotely turn on and off other APCs. The problem here isn’t the APCs or the engineers, it’s usually the pain in the ass that is actually find someone who has access, finding the one room, and then watching the AI turn into all back on.
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#9
(07-28-2021, 08:04 AM)Eagletanker Wrote: Better idea

The APC moniter computers can remotely turn on and off other APCs. The problem here isn’t the APCs or the engineers, it’s usually the pain in the ass that is actually find someone who has access, finding the one room, and then watching the AI turn into all back on.

Lol I just mentioned that

Also giving it the ability to turn off would be dumb, it would be far to easy to just shut off the power for the entire station in 30 seconds.
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#10
(07-28-2021, 05:52 AM)Jakson Wrote: One thought I had was that cutting the AI control wire in the APC would make it untoggleable via APC computer, meaning it would take a little more effort to sabotage APC’s, and engineers can easily turn on APC’s across the map that turned off automatically.


(07-28-2021, 08:04 AM)Eagletanker Wrote: The APC moniter computers can remotely turn on and off other APCs. The problem here isn’t the APCs or the engineers, it’s usually the pain in the ass that is actually find someone who has access, finding the one room, and then watching the AI turn into all back on.


Excellent idea, imo. Big fan of Engineers being able to slot their card into the APC PC and remotely unlock/lock/tinker with them.
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#11
I don’t like this one. However, maybe each head could have control over their department. Mechanic, engineers, the CE, and the captain have apc access, and if not access to get to the apc, tools to get to the apc. If more people can just open up an apc and fuck with it; it takes away the fun of hacking them with mechanics, etc.
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#12
(07-28-2021, 08:35 AM)Jakson Wrote:
(07-28-2021, 08:04 AM)Eagletanker Wrote: Better idea

The APC moniter computers can remotely turn on and off other APCs. The problem here isn’t the APCs or the engineers, it’s usually the pain in the ass that is actually find someone who has access, finding the one room, and then watching the AI turn into all back on.

Lol I just mentioned that

Also giving it the ability to turn off would be dumb, it would be far to easy to just shut off the power for the entire station in 30 seconds.

I’m not kidding, it was supposed to be a thing.
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#13
(07-28-2021, 05:49 AM)THISISANICEGAME Wrote: If an antag engineer sabotages some place's APC it shouldn't be trivial to fix. If you don't have access to an APC, you need tools to access it, just like anything else.

Why shouldn't be be trivial to fix sabotage that's trivial to do?
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#14
(07-28-2021, 05:49 AM)THISISANICEGAME Wrote: If an antag engineer sabotages some place's APC it shouldn't be trivial to fix. If you don't have access to an APC, you need tools to access it, just like anything else.

you can sabo with wirecutters, which is unsafe to fix without insus iirc. much more 'sabotage'-y than turning it off. AI also can just turn it on/off which is partly why it can be an issue if the AI just turns them off
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#15
Heads having access to their own departments' APCs makes sense to me, and could be pretty handy! I can't really see the justification as to why any rando who happens to work somewhere should be able to unlock an APC, though, both from a roleplay perspective and a gameplay perspective. Roleplay wise, you can't casually go mess with the fuse box at your actual place of work, can you? Gameplay wise, I feel like it sorta cheapens APC access.
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