Remove prison timers.

[Falamazeer]

I see no point in the prisons with timers when the gulag is an infinitely better option both mechanics wise and RP wise.
Let's ditch boring timers and make our criminal scum pay off their debt to society!

[Loonikus]

The biggest issue with that is that most Security players have no clue how the gulag actually works. If they do know how it works, than 9/10 times they are too lazy and/or busy to get the prisoner all set up. Finally, even after they go through all the trouble to get them into the gulag, most the time the prisoners just refuse to mine and kill themselves. It doesn't help that the gulag shuttle/prep area is probably the worst mapped area on boxstation. I can't think of a single time I've used the gulag where the shuttle hasn't become dangerously cold or depressurized.

So ya, if gulag was actually a viable alternative I'd say this would be a reasonable idea.

[Falamazeer]

I'll bet the mapping issues would be fixed if there was more room and more shuttles to use for it.
The room would be gotten by an overhaul of the sec area without timed cells.

Also, I bet your average sec officer does know how the gulag works, but just doesn't want to use it due to the hassle, Which admittedly should be streamlined.
Also, the warden job would make more sense if he was meant to run the gulag.

[dezzmont]

Sometimes I really don't want to gulag people. This idea assumes you are seeking to maximize punishment, which you really shouldn't be as sec. Sometimes you just want to put someone in for 2 minutes and talk to them.

[lumipharon]

gulag is neat, but it has flaws.

Namely that if you wish to go there to see what the prisoners are up to, help is going to take a long while to get to you if you get mobbed.

Prisoners can literally make the gulag unusable simply by mining a dozen tiles or some shit to space.

If you want to run the gulag the automated way (which you should, you gotta drag the prisoner to the departure area, get an ID out of the box, unlock the console with your ID, insert the prisoner ID, set a number, put it on the prisoner, lock the console, THEN you can put him on the shuttle.

If you want to send a prisoner to the gulag, you have a couple of options.
A: cuff them inside the shuttle and send it via the console. They then have to uncuff themselves, and now have cuffs.
B: dump them in the shuttle without cuffs. They can (and will) get up and tr rush out of the shuttle like a dong and waste your time, and/or space themselves by accident.
C: Cuff them and go on the shuttle with them, then decuff them, where 70% of the time they'll try get back on the shuttle when you leave, and waste even more time.

Also, you're supposed to strip shit off prisoners, same as when you brig them. The problem is, there is just one large exit area, for after you fill your quota, and a button to leave. Which means if you have more then one prisoner, you can't automte it all without a prisoner being able to steal all of the other prisoners shit. Also afaik the prisoner is just left with a depleted prisoner ID when they leave, since there is no way to return it without physically going to the brig and handing it to someone.


So while I still use the gulag whenever I get the chance as a warden, it is NOT a replacement for the brig cells. Mainly I use gulag for repeat shitters. I don't have retard huge quotas, but the real shitters are too lazy to actually mine, and just go brain dead after a while. If they actually bother mining for their freedom, it's usually a good sign that they're not super shitty. (Either that or they're plotting to murder you in revenge.)

The changes I would like to see regardless though, are
A: Instead of fiddling with prisoner ID's and the console, you should just unlock the console, set a quota and print a fresh prisoner ID out there and then.
B: Have a more convenient way of locking a prisoner down in the shuttle for the trip to the gulag, without having to rely on cuffs or some shit. Something like windoor enclosed seats that auto open when the shuttle goes to the gulag would be neat.
C: Having a few lockers to store prisoners shit in, in the exit room. To add to A, the lockers would be locked by the officer with the printed ID, after storing their shit. When the prisoner comes out, they can unlock only their locker, and instead of a button to leave that room, some ID eating thing (perhaps looking like the code red thingy's the heads have) by the door.

I think this would stream line everything and make it much easier to automate.

[Drynwyn]

Please no

The gulag ends up taking way longer than a prison sentence

That's because the gulag point-sentence equivalents were written when minerals were more common, and have never been updated.

[danno]

no

[Phalanx300]

Combine gulag with perma for profit.

[Cipher3]

Mining enough from the gulag is actually really simple and fairly quick unless you have a ridiculously high sentence. But the processing is much more complex, made more so by the lack of use so people aren't aware of how to do it.

[Malkevin]

Gulag is where the Ruskies sent unwanteds to die, space gulag should be the same.

Most of the problems with the gulag are because people keep trying to shoe horn in a duel role of hard labour for timed sentences, timed sentences are a max 10 minute time out in the sin bin - its dumb as fuck to go through all that effort to give an equivalent hard labour sentence.


As it is the gulag is a place I'd only use if I wanted to quietly execute people to stop the AI throwing a bitch fit.
In reality I just throw people in perma because its more convenient, safer to use, and I can actually use the prisoner ID cards I made.

[lumipharon]

Gulag is ideal for people that have been shitty, but aren't technically up for perma. Shitters are too lazy to actualy mine for freedom, and just go brain dead/suicide.