Expanded PDA function

[Fatal]

Alright, quick idea I have, helped by the recent SECHUD update

I propose, all PDAs, have an emergency request function, similar to a 999 (or 911) call, for Security and Medical emergencies

To stop it being abused, I'd say it should have a 5 minute cooldown on use, and obviously, an emergency request would alert anyone with a SecHUD or a MedHUD of that kind to the request

I know there would be some assistants who would abuse this, but, we can't have nice things without someone abusing it, some ideas for how to stop that would be nice (besides the obvious removing someones PDA if they abuse it)

Would be useful in having to listen to the pointless radio chatter just to hear someone should "SEC TO XXX", when they could alert you via your SecHUD instead (or even medhud, for when you find some crit dude and don't want to drag him to medbay)

[Lo6a4evskiy]

>making PDAing HoS when being killed in maint legitimate

yeah, I'm not so sure it's a good idea...

I had some similar idea for fire alarms though. Like, making it into "emergency panel" or whatever.

[Fatal]

Panels on the walls that link to HUDs would be a good idea also, but that means mappers have to add the panels

Obviously its not meant to be a life saver when you are being killed in maint, but for when you see someone in need

[Lo6a4evskiy]

No, I meant expanding fire alarms, adding buttons for "medical emergency" and "security emergency" and "engineering emergency", though engineers don't have HUDs. Mesons, I suppose.

for when you see someone in need

Radio? PDA messaging?

[Fatal]

The whole point is that it's easy to miss radio messages over the chatter, and PDA messaging ONE specific person can be quite slow, also they might be dead, the PDA alert will let everyone with a HUD know

[Lo6a4evskiy]

Yeah, why not just have security and doctors alerted every time somebody is punched. We could have that, you know. For some reason we don't.

[MMMiracles]

Make it rely on telecomms being active and/or have EMPs disable it, just like headsets. Abusing it just means whoever uses it will get ignored next time they actually use it for a real emergency.

[Fatal]

I was thinking it should be reliant upon the PDA messaging server, as you would expect, and EMPs should disable it also of course, seems reasonably fair

[peoplearestrange]

Yeah, why not just have security and doctors alerted every time somebody is punched. We could have that, you know. For some reason we don't.

>crew monitoring console

[Lo6a4evskiy]

>crew monitoring console

>sarcasm

[cedarbridge]

pointless radio chatter

Those are called "other players." Something sec doesn't listen to anyway.

[Ikarrus]

Hey, PDAs could be a good tool to add a security call function for heads of staff. Sends a message to everyone in security, for example.

[Fragnostic]

I love it. Using it for no reason, or for a small issue that isn't considered an emergency should be arrestable for the misuse of an emergency hotline (30 sec- 1 min?). Cooldown sounds great, and repeated misuse should be considered obstruction of justice (1 min-2min?). All personnel wearing sec/medHUDs or sec/medi Borgs should get the message in the same format that Beepsky arresting someone produces. Only this should generate a message sort of like:
Urist McGreyshirt is requesting Emergency Assistance near [hallway name]! (x, y)

And it should only display the coordinates of the PDA if the 'Location Services' are enabled. Otherwise, it should give the general location, like near whatever hallway or whatever department, but no specific room, to keep it balanced. Maybe we could have an emergency response team?

[Lo6a4evskiy]

Yeah what about a button that teleports whole security team to your location and spawns medibots all around you

[Fatal]

Please, constructive comments..

I figure the location messages would be the same as the ones beepsky uses, those aren't too specific, but good enough

I honestly don't see why anyone could dislike this, it simply makes knowing where people are needing security easier to handle, it doesn't create any inbalance because it simply replaces the "SEC TO XXXX" on the radio with nice blue messages from your HUD

[Raven776]

If you add this sort of thing, it might allow more room to buff antags to be more interesting through their tools.

[Lo6a4evskiy]

Please, constructive comments..

People are already complaining a lot that being antagonist is getting to hard. There is a serious problem in that people can call for help very easily. It's why parapen used to be a must have. Sure, we have EMP and stuff, but it doesn't prevent PDA messaging. It's really easy to get help unless you're in some REALLY remote corner. We really don't need any more ways to do that, especially those that only require you to have PDA in your belt/pocket/ID slot. Having a popup opened with help message ready to be sent is bad enough, this is exactly that, but legitimate, easier, quicker and not considered powergaming.

Especially we don't need this with the trend of removing instawin items like parapen, which is a correct one in my opinion, but it doesn't make sense to also add things that are only counterable by the stuff we want gone.

[Reimoo]

This isn't a traitor nerf. Far from it.

>jack some guy's PDA
>send an emergency request in some dark corner of maint
>wack the dumb fool that responds to it alone

It's literally a free security gear button.

or, alternatively
>send the call and chuck the PDA into some locker
>do antag shenanigans while security is distracted

Endless possibilities. People need to get creative.

[Fragnostic]

Please, constructive comments..

People are already complaining a lot that being antagonist is getting to hard. There is a serious problem in that people can call for help very easily. It's why parapen used to be a must haver.

Especially we don't need this with the trend of removing instawin items like parapen, which is a correct one in my opinion, but it doesn't make sense to also add things that are only counterable by the stuff we want gone.

You just outlined everything wrong with antags, play to win, and unoriginality. The parapen being nerfed was good, along with C4 not planting on mobs. True, the parapen is pretty much worthless now, but before that being an antag was really too easy. In the workplace, outside dorms, a brief glance in maint...all it took was 5 TC and you had instant removal from the round. Nothing to search for on crew monitoring, nothing to clone, nothing to see here. Paprika's signature at one point was their own personal greentext achieved with 10TC, two parapens and two C4 bricks. Anyone who has ever been parapenned usually assumed they wouldn't have to ghost to observe.

The complaint that it is too hard to be an antag really means "it is too hard to be an antag and win instantly with little to no effort. You mean, you are given tools, abilities, comrades, magic, technology, and other people to assist you in your goals and it's too hard? Not everything will go as planned, but a quick strategy, some deception, and preparation goes a long way. I played YogStation one day, and I was sort of new to science. This roboticist noticed that I struggled and offered to teach me. We talked and spent about 30 minutes completely together, interacting, having a great time, showing me little tricks and everything. He had me make him an EMP chemgrenade to learn grenade production, he instructed me in how to make a basic TTV bomb, and taught me how deactivate cameras by practicing on the camera in the Toxins Test Room. He seemed genuine and sincere, and I trusted him completely. He invites me to watch the testing of the bomb he taught me to make. I ask him to test it already, that I really wanted to see it. He says that I will in a minute. He primes the EMP chemnade I made him and drops it. My headset overloads. I happily say that it works, proud of what I made. He then flashes me, and I began to feel uneasy. I tell him to cut it out when he starts putting his hands around my neck, and I only screamed help when he started extending his proboscis. Too bad nobody heard, since he EMPd my headset with the grenade he taught me to make. Too bad nobody saw me get choked and absorbed, since I disabled the camera that he showed me to deactivate. Too bad I couldn't be found, since he launched my body into the testing area with the mass driver that he now taught me how to activate. Too bad I couldn't be cloned, since he destroyed the testing field with the bomb he taught me how to build. Too bad I never saw it coming, since he worked hard to earn my trust.
He was my teacher. I was his assassination target.

It's too hard to be an antag now if you want an easy way to win instantly every time.

[cedarbridge]

People need to get creative.

Essentially this. When antags don't even bother to consider their own departments 90% of the time, its time to realize its not TC gear that's making the antags bad. Its the antags being uncreative and unrobust.

[Silavite]

Please, constructive comments..

People are already complaining a lot that being antagonist is getting to hard. There is a serious problem in that people can call for help very easily. It's why parapen used to be a must haver.

Especially we don't need this with the trend of removing instawin items like parapen, which is a correct one in my opinion, but it doesn't make sense to also add things that are only counterable by the stuff we want gone.

You just outlined everything wrong with antags, play to win, and unoriginality. The parapen being nerfed was good, along with C4 not planting on mobs. True, the parapen is pretty much worthless now, but before that being an antag was really too easy. In the workplace, outside dorms, a brief glance in maint...all it took was 5 TC and you had instant removal from the round. Nothing to search for on crew monitoring, nothing to clone, nothing to see here. Paprika's signature at one point was their own personal greentext achieved with 10TC, two parapens and two C4 bricks. Anyone who has ever been parapenned usually assumed they wouldn't have to ghost to observe.

The complaint that it is too hard to be an antag really means "it is too hard to be an antag and win instantly with little to no effort. You mean, you are given tools, abilities, comrades, magic, technology, and other people to assist you in your goals and it's too hard? Not everything will go as planned, but a quick strategy, some deception, and preparation goes a long way. I played YogStation one day, and I was sort of new to science. This roboticist noticed that I struggled and offered to teach me. We talked and spent about 30 minutes completely together, interacting, having a great time, showing me little tricks and everything. He had me make him an EMP chemgrenade to learn grenade production, he instructed me in how to make a basic TTV bomb, and taught me how deactivate cameras by practicing on the camera in the Toxins Test Room. He seemed genuine and sincere, and I trusted him completely. He invites me to watch the testing of the bomb he taught me to make. I ask him to test it already, that I really wanted to see it. He says that I will in a minute. He primes the EMP chemnade I made him and drops it. My headset overloads. I happily say that it works, proud of what I made. He then flashes me, and I began to feel uneasy. I tell him to cut it out when he starts putting his hands around my neck, and I only screamed help when he started extending his proboscis. Too bad nobody heard, since he EMPd my headset with the grenade he taught me to make. Too bad nobody saw me get choked and absorbed, since I disabled the camera that he showed me to deactivate. Too bad I couldn't be found, since he launched my body into the testing area with the mass driver that he now taught me how to activate. Too bad I couldn't be cloned, since he destroyed the testing field with the bomb he taught me how to build. Too bad I never saw it coming, since he worked hard to earn my trust.
He was my teacher. I was his assassination target.

It's too hard to be an antag now if you want an easy way to win instantly every time.

I've done such things before, but the problem comes when you have to steal the hypospray and the CMO refuses to get out of Odysseus, or when you're a geneticist and you're tasked with killing a shaft miner.... what do you do in that kind of situation?

To the topic at hand, I think it would be a good addition. I also agree that there should be IC brig punishment for misuse of it and that it should be disabled by EMP.

[Lo6a4evskiy]

This isn't a traitor nerf. Far from it.

>jack some guy's PDA
>send an emergency request in some dark corner of maint
>wack the dumb fool that responds to it alone

It's literally a free security gear button.

Okay. Then I don't want it because it will be incredibly annoying for me as a security officer. Cooldown is nothing - good luck preventing 30 revs from spamming this thing. Or even a bunch of dorks caught by nuke ops. Yeah, guys, we got it, there are nuke ops, you can stop spamming your shitty button. Oh, right, we cannot tell you that in any way.

I find this whole HUD messaging idea iffy, because it spams you with messages without anything you can do about it and it's just a piece of glass, so it's not really meant for huge interactivity. However, beepsky isn't very spammy by itself, this will be.

blah blah blah creative

Dude, can you just explain why we need ANOTHER way to call for help?

Like, why add this? What problems will it solve that are problems now?

[Ikarrus]

To go along with the discussion in http://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1421 , I'd actually like it to be given only to Heads of Staff, and let them input a brief message to be sent as well

[Fatal]

How about: Being able to turn off the SECHUD message popup, if 30 revs do start spamming it, problem is gone easily (click on sechud whilst in hands to toggle various modes?)

Having it only for heads works as well, to give more power to them, and with there being so few heads, the issue of spam isn't a problem

[cedarbridge]

Worth mentioning, PDA code is a spaghetti dinosaur.

[MedicInDisquise]

Other functions for the PDA could be stuff like a portable arcade machine, instant camera checking, etc. So much potential with the PDA. 911 and the ability to bomb PDA's are just the tip of the iceberg.

At telecomms, Tech Storage, or made by R&D, we should have more cartridges. Plus more default functions on the PDA. Not all cartridges have to be useful; I would highly enjoy an Arcade Machine and Clown Viruses and other FUN stuff.

[Ikarrus]

https://github.com/tgstation/-tg-station/pull/4928