Hello everyone! After more than a month of coding and testing and spriting, Plasmamen were merged and enabled on the live server. Unfortunately, there were some issues and rather large bugs, so they were disabled, taking the poor lizardpeople along with them. I sincerely apologize to any dedicated lizard players, you'll be getting your lizards back very soon. A hotfix should be live today that will fix the gamebreaking bugs, as well as address some balance concerns and put Plasmamen in their own config file (which will allow them to be disabled separately from lizards!I). I would very much like to post up sprites and whatnot, but at the moment I feel like it's more important to address some of the bugs and concerns that were brought up after they were first enabled, so I'll do that.
Current Issues and Bugs:
- Plasmamen can spawn as Nuclear Operatives... without their suits - When Kor put up the PR making ERT/DS/Nuke teams human-only, we thought "Great, that'll apply to Plasmamen too!", however the PR was changed to exclude nuclear teams in the last iteration, and we forgot to make those default to humans if you have Plasmamen selected. We apologize to the Nuclear Commander who incinerated immediately on spawn.
- The Plasma jumpsuit does not slow - This is due to simple miscommunication, after changing to jumpsuits from exosuits, my coder wasn't aware that they were supposed to slow as well. They will have be changed to have a non-stacking slow of 1 (like permanently wearing an EVA suit).
- The Plasma helmet is not spaceworthy - While they were changed to not have roundstart space suits, Plasmamen helmets should retain their space-worthiness so that Plasmamen engineers can still do EVA work without bursting into flames. It also makes them easily identifiable in space.
- Bug with helmets appearing invisible - This was probably the main reason they were disabled, as it appeared as though all of the Plasmamen suddenly no longer needed to be wearing a suit. As334 has already fixed this.
- They share a config file with lizards - ...Sorry lizard players, they were supposed to be able to be disabled separately from lizardpeople, but that doesn't seem to be working, currently. Needless to say, that functionality will be added in the event that there are any issues in the future (but finger's crossed that there won't be!)
- Igniting on Shadowling transformation? (Untested) Tested! - Amelius brought up that they might ignite themselves when they transform as a shadowling, which has not been tested yet. I'll ensure that it is tested and fixed if need be in this upcoming hotfix. They do indeed ignite themselves on sling transformation, and as such will either be blacklisted from becoming shadowlings or will have an alternative fix applied.
- Igniting yourself to set others on fire is currently too robust - With the way that fire stacks are managed, taking off your helmet, running through a bunch of people and immediately extinguishing yourself via your suit is currently far more powerful than it should be. We will be scaling up the damage that Plasmamen take from being on fire as well as reducing the number of charges in their built-in extinguisher. Their self-ignition should be a fun mechanic, and purposefully igniting yourself should be suicide, and we will adjust as necessary until we get to that point.
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UPDATE 10/11/2015 - JUMPSUIT PLASMAMEN
Hey friends, so today I'm coming to you with a big, overdue update for this thread that will hopefully push them towards a state where we can start coding and get them in a PR in the near future. After talking in-depth with both #coderbus and receiving feedback from other players in-game, it has been decided that Plasmamen suits will be converted to full-body jumpsuits rather than occupying the exosuit slot. Now you might be thinking, "Sweaterkittens you handsome and talented stallion, what does this mean for me, the player/coder/admin/shitposter? Seems like a relatively minor change." The advantage of making the life-support suits jumpsuits as opposed to exosuits is that it will be much more conducive to them meshing with the way the game is setup - that is to say, things like having to code injection ports or being able to defib through them, etc etc. won't be an issue. For players, it should make them a little less clunky to play, and a little more intuitive, since you won't have to guess what will and won't work with their snowflake jumpsuit. Addtionally, it'll make this easier to code, without having to code such things like making pockets accessible and defibrillation work though the suit, that would be excessively "snowflake code" and would have a much lower chance of making it into the game in the first place. Overall, this should continue to keep the flavor and alternate gameplay experience that Plasmamen bring, while simultaneously simplifying the coding. I would like to note that our very own WJohnston has volunteered to sprite us a full-body jumpsuit sprite to go with the current helmet, should this make it to the coding stage!
If you're more a list-type person, here is the rundown on what is going to change: Plasmamen will now start with a Plasma Suit (jumpsuit) and Plasma Helmet, as well as an internals tank. The jumpsuit and helmet allow them to survive without bursting into flames, should both be worn, however they are not spaceworthy. The Plasma Helmet itself will remain spaceworthy (as it is currently, pre-changes), meaning that the Plasmamen does not have to take it off to go EVA, should they acquire the proper space suit. Plasmamen will be able to be injected, defibrillated, and have medical attention applied through the jumpsuit as is normal for other races. The slow-down that the Exosuit would have granted is now applied to the jumpsuit. This will keep them a bit slower as intended, since with jumpsuits they would move full-speed, which was unintended. Something to note is that this slowdown will NOT stack with an exosuit that applies slowdown, the game will simply take the higher of the two values, keeping them slower overall but not absurdly slow should they put on an exo. As I said before, they should still play just about the same, the only difference being that it will be easier to code and more intuitive to play. Plus WJ sprite!
Any info/fixes that are no longer applicable in the OP have been struck through or altered to reflect this change. If that is too distracting, let me know and I will move all the eliminated changes to a spoiler tag. Let me hear your comments, questions, concerns or support!
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Hello all!
Semi-recently, a few members of our community have tested the waters for adding Plasmamen at roundstart: the first being a thread by Lmwevil, the other being more recent PR by goof which simply allowed them to be selected during character creation. Both of these were met with a fair amount of resistance - most of which cited mechanical issues with the way Plasmamen work currently - as well some other OOC/non-gameplay related issues. My hope for this thread is that I'll be able to address these issues (as well as any other concerns) that players have about getting them enabled as a starting race! If you have any questions or concerns, check the thread first to see if it's been addressed, otherwise let me know!
Pre-Change Plasmamen: For those who are not familiar, or for a frame of reference, Plasmamen are a humanoid race that look like flaming, purple skellingtons. They are admin spawn only. They require a special exosuit to survive, as any contact with oxygen causes them to spontaneously combust. Additionally, they only breath plasma, and are given a special internals tank of it at roundstart. Currently, their "Plasma Suit" is equivalent to an EVA suit, provides 100 bio protection, and is space-worthy. It has a slow of 1 like other EVA suits. Their suit will auto-extinguish up to 9 times. They are also immune to radiation.
Plasmamen are a unique and flavorful race that are fun to play and open up a lot of potential for roleplay (as little as that may be here on /tg/). I have a coder lined up who is willing to make the changes necessary to make them mesh with /tg/, so any mechanical issues are merely hurdles and not walls!
Mechanical Issues
- Roundstart Space-worthy suits: Despite Plasmamen being a nearly a direct downgrade of humans, some players were concerned about the fact that they effectively start with an EVA suit. To remedy this, the Plasma Suit will be non-spaceworthy at roundstart. Plasmamen in the Engineering department will start with a spaceworthy suit, as they require it for their job. All others will require a Plasma Suit EVA Kit, which can be researched in R&D at relatively low tech levels, and is applied in a similar manner to Goliath Plates - that is, simply use it on the armor to upgrade it. A related issue that was brought to my attention is the fact that it will be difficult to permabrig Plasmamen who have spaceworthy suits. That is simply a matter of closing the shutters on the individual cell, keeping them from the main perma area.
- Pocket Access: On /tg/, pockets are inaccessible when most exosuits are being worn - which makes sense, thematically. However, this did bring up the unique problem of what security is to do if they need to search a Plasmaman. Either they take off the suit and he burns to death, or they potentially leave him with that dangerous EMAG in his pocket. In response to this, Plasma Suits will not restrict access to anything beneath them, in order for security to still be able to effectively search them - as well as thematically representing the fact that life-support suits intended to be worn constantly would have access to undergarments for ease of use purposes.
- Eating and Medical attention: Plasmamen will not require food, so removing the suit to eat won't be an issue. They can still ingest and process food if they require nutriment, but they won't generate hunger like humans. As far as medical attention goes, patches can be applied like any exosuit, although things such as bruise/ointment packs will still be unable to be applied to a suited Plasmaman. The suits WILL have an injection port, allowing for syringes to be used on them.
- Changeling Transformation sting: Due to the potential to instanteously turn people into flaming skeletons that are suffocating, the changeling transformation sting will be unusable when a Plasmaman's genome is selected. You will still be able to transform into them normally.
- The 'Snowflake' Issue: This is a bit hard to tackle, but I think it's important, as one thing that seems to be a common sentiment among /tg/ players is that we hate snowflakes. What exactly is a snowflake? Much like powergaming, the term is thrown around quite a lot. Generally, the worst examples are people that constantly demand attention, act overly aggressive, and use their race/backstory as an excuse for being a shitter. I suppose the best way to convince people that this isn't a race that will encourage people to be snowflakes is to look at the races that DO encourage that type of behavior. Catbeasts, for example. Tajarans are a race that is inarguably furry, as well as being as good as if not better than humans. Races like that attract players who have no interests aside from turning the round into a movie featuring them as the lead. To them, they are the protagonist (or antagonist) and if things are not revolving around them, if other players do not genuflect before them, they start acting out. On the other hand, a race like Plasmamen are arguably a direct downgrade from humans. They do not attract the furry crowd, and they don't attract the people that are looking for any leg-up they can use to enact their powergamey Mary-sue fantasies.
- Cantina Station 13: One of the issues with new races is the possibility that they'll eventually outnumber humans, or lead to what Paradise Station has, where the crew looks like the Cantina scene from Star Wars - i.e., tons of different races and very few humans. To a lot of people this detracts from the experience, and I have to agree. However, once again this is due mostly to the fact that the non-human races on those sorts of servers are sidegrades or upgrades to humans, which gives very little incentive to NOT play them. Nanotrasen is a human-owned corporation, employs mostly humans (per our lore) and it just doesn't make a lot of sense in our server to have nonhumans in any sort of position of power. IC-wise, even if racism wasn't prolific, it's still unlikely that they would be placing, say, Lizard-people (who are lore-wise mainly used for manual labor) into a Captain or Head of Security position. Plasmamen are downgrades, and they will be restricted from head roles in much the same way that lizard-people currently are. I don't believe they'll be selected so often as to ever even coming CLOSE to outnumbering humans.
- Griefing: Something brought to my attention recently was a player's concern that a Plasmaman could grief simply by taking off their suit and running into others while they're on fire, to ignite them as well. On the flip side, a few players were also concerned that they could be easily griefed by being slipped and having their suit removed while they were down. While this appears to be a mechanics issue at first glance, I believe it to be an OOC issue. In both instances, they should be treated the same way that doing the equivalent would be treated - that is to say, if you slipped someone, and set them on fire with CLF3/Phlog for no reason as a nonantag, that would be considered griefing and/or highly shitty behavior. If you set yourself alight and ran through the crowded escape wing, that would also be highly shitty behavior. It may be easier to perpetrate those particular situations as a Plasmaman, but that doesn't mean the consequences should be any different. I would like to clarify however, that they are nonhuman, and will be subject to the same reduced consideration (IC) that Lizard-people are given.
Plasmamen will be a round-start race option, limited from Head, Security (for the time being) and Service roles aside from Janitor and Cook. They will start with a Plasma Suit (jumpsuit), Plasma Helmet, and an internals tank 3/4 filled, along with their job-related gear. It will take twice as long for others to remove the Plasma Suit (jumpsuit) and Helmet as it does to remove items normally. The jumpsuit + helmet will have Bio 100, keep them from bursting into flames in 'normal' atmospherics, but otherwise provide them with no protection. Additionally, the jumpsuit will start with 10 self-extinguishes and will have an inherent slowdown of 1, that does not stack with hardsuits or softsuits.
Plasmamen only breath plasma, any other gases are toxic. If their body comes into contact with oxygen, it will spontaneously ignite. They have radiation immunity and do not require eating.
New/Updated Items
- Plasma Suit (jumpsuit): Non-spaceworthy, provides Bio 100 protection, has a non-stacking slow of 1, and is pressurized to keep Plasmamen from bursting into flames when in an area with oxygen. It takes twice as long to remove as most jumpsuits, and begins with 10 self-extinguisher charges.
- Plasma Helmet:It will take twice as long to remove as other helmets, provides Bio protection in conjuction with the suit, but is otherwise the same as the Plasma Helmet currently in our code.
- Plasma Suit + Plasma Helmet: Non-spaceworthy, provides 100 Bio, slowdown of 1. Had an Injection port and items under it are accessible while it is worn. Both the suit and the helmet take twice as long to remove as other suits do. It begins with 10 self-extinguisher charges.
- Plasma Suit EVA Kit: Available from R&D at relatively low tech levels. When applied to a Plasma Suit, protects it's wearer from the temperature and pressure of deep space. It is a small item.
- Plasma Suit Extinguisher Cartridge: Available from R&D at relatively low tech levels. When applied to a Plasma Suit (jumpsuit), set the number of self-extinguisher charges to 10. it is a small item.
- Plasma Suit Crate: Can be ordered from Cargo, 20 points. Contains 2 Plasma Suits (jumpsuit), 2 Plasma Helmets, and 2 spare Plasma Internals.
- Life Support Membrane: Semi-transparent undergarment to be worn underneath a Plasmasuit. Simply a thematic jumpsuit for Plasmamen.
Update: 10/5/2015 - Added "change examining mobs to use appearance var instead of the embedded species image" - Suggested by Jordie
Update: 10/6/2015 - Changed "Add injection port to suit" to "Disable thickmaterial on suit to enable injections" and added "Stop cloned plasmamen from incinerating/suffocating until they are ejected from the clone pod" - Thanks for bringing that up Grazyn
Update: 10/9/2015 - Removed "Stop cloned plasmamen from incinerating/suffocating until they are ejected from the clone pod" from Code changes and added naming conventions to Lore.
Update: 10/11/2015 - BIG jumpsuit update! Plasmamen will now use a specialized jumpsuit as life support instead of an exosuit. Removed many entries from code-change and added a couple new entries. Struck through information that is no longer applicable.
Update: 10/14/2015 - Added "Make Plasmamen 'burn out' after being dead for a long period of time, so that they do not continue to burn"
Update: 10/15/2015 - Added "Add Plasmamen as a separate config file from Lizardpeople" - requested by Shadowlight, so that they can be disabled in case of an issue without having to recompile.
Update: 10/22/2015 - Added "When plasmamen are 'husked' via excessive burn damage or absorption, do not use the husked human sprite" and updated naming conventions.
Update: 11/13/2015 - MERGED update! Updated OP with a list of current issues being addressed.
Update: 11/19/2015 - Updated lore to include a formal name for Plasmamen, as well updating the "current issues" list in regards to Slings bursting into flames. Thank you to Amelius for initially bringing this issue to our attention.