Turn a bug into a feature: Cyborg Advanced Mop
Posted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 10:57 pm
Until https://github.com/tgstation/tgstation/pull/53175, all cyborgs could use the Advanced Mop board due to an oversight. It was a little known thing, and it caused no ire from anyone really. In fact, for those who knew about it, stations were much cleaner due to usually lazy janitors not even thinking about going through the effort of asking for more access and the usually droll and/or sisiphyian task of Janiborg could be split for all of their allies to share. I personally LOVED using the Advanced Mop and would always make sure to get it as soon as the rest of the Utility upgrades were available! Many a cobweb or line of roundstart grime used to be cleaned during that time, and the crew was always appreciative!
---
I say that it was less an "exploit" and was more akin to a genuine upgrade for all borgs who WEREN'T Janiborg. Now you may be asking "ALL borgs? How could ALL borgs benefit from a mop?". Well, see what a sponge on a stick does for...
Standard: Provides a direct upgrade to the unaffected by the cleaning experience system's speed boosts and painfully slow bar of soap module. Who the hell would bother using that slow soap to clean when there's a mop?
Mediborg: On top of mopping blood because blood is yucky, it stops the spread of disease. Unless that isn't how diseases work. In which case WHY DON'T THEY WORK LIKE THAT?
Serviceborg: Cleaning up the inevitable puke gurgling out of one of their customer's mouths.
Engiborg: I forget, doesn't constructing things have a chance of leaving oil slicks? If not, uuuuuuuuhhhh something something less dust near the emitter mirrors. There's probably some use for keeping their workplace/projects neat and tidy!
Miner/Sec/Peacekeeper: And this is where we get to the other dimension of that mop: slippage. If I had a dollar for every crazed killer or syndie I've nonharmfully disarmed with my mop-fu, I'd be able to buy each of them a gift basket for the humiliation of getting thwarted by a little prediction or mindful movement. Mop slips last for about half the time a soap or banana peel slip does and the water dries quicker than a water bucket/fire extinguisher slick, meaning it isn't an "end combat immediately" kind of slip. And I may just be misremembering, but while soap and banana slips cause harm or potential injury, mop slips don't even have the movement delay penalty those have. NO LAW BREAKING! Also, it actually gives sec and peacekeeper borgs something to do during peace times, much less entire greenshifts, besides farting out cookies and pissing off non-humans with the disabler.
Clown: CLOWNBORG HAS NO WAY TO SET UP SLIPPAGE. AT ALL. What kind of clown doesn't whip out the slip?! Also, remorseful Clownborgies can use the mop to clean up smashed pies on the ground.
---
Now, you may be saying to yourself "But won't that remove the uniqueness of the Janiborg? I mean, it's whole thing is cleaning."
You're right. It's so good at cleaning, all it has to do is wander around dragging its ass across the floor. IT DOESN'T EVEN NEED THE MOP! Why mop the floor when walking over the mess accomplishes the same thing? As a result, it couldn't possibly be out-competed by all its friends having a mop because you kinda have to stop to use the mop!
"Y'know, you've convinced me! But surely you don't mean rolling back the PR right? That was unintentional behavior!"
Bring it in line with the rest of the "Cyborg Utility" upgrades. Call it the "Cyborg Advanced Mop module", removing its association with the Janiborg specifically. It would also solve the problem back when this feature was a bug where the board wouldn't go poof after applying, meaning you could give multiple mops to one borg. After sharing said easter egg to a borg one round, he asked to get as many mops as he physically could carry. By the end of it, I think there was about 7 to 10 rows of mops.
---
After the merge, I saw a few passing comments both on the issue report and in the discord about them missing the mop board for all and being surprised and amused that such functionality was a thing, from borg players and organic players.
Please consider making the Advanced Mop board a general cyborg upgrade like the ion thrusters and the self repair module. The organics barely clean up after themselves to begin with, and lord knows the janitor is stretched thin to the point of ambivalence as they are.
---
I say that it was less an "exploit" and was more akin to a genuine upgrade for all borgs who WEREN'T Janiborg. Now you may be asking "ALL borgs? How could ALL borgs benefit from a mop?". Well, see what a sponge on a stick does for...
Standard: Provides a direct upgrade to the unaffected by the cleaning experience system's speed boosts and painfully slow bar of soap module. Who the hell would bother using that slow soap to clean when there's a mop?
Mediborg: On top of mopping blood because blood is yucky, it stops the spread of disease. Unless that isn't how diseases work. In which case WHY DON'T THEY WORK LIKE THAT?
Serviceborg: Cleaning up the inevitable puke gurgling out of one of their customer's mouths.
Engiborg: I forget, doesn't constructing things have a chance of leaving oil slicks? If not, uuuuuuuuhhhh something something less dust near the emitter mirrors. There's probably some use for keeping their workplace/projects neat and tidy!
Miner/Sec/Peacekeeper: And this is where we get to the other dimension of that mop: slippage. If I had a dollar for every crazed killer or syndie I've nonharmfully disarmed with my mop-fu, I'd be able to buy each of them a gift basket for the humiliation of getting thwarted by a little prediction or mindful movement. Mop slips last for about half the time a soap or banana peel slip does and the water dries quicker than a water bucket/fire extinguisher slick, meaning it isn't an "end combat immediately" kind of slip. And I may just be misremembering, but while soap and banana slips cause harm or potential injury, mop slips don't even have the movement delay penalty those have. NO LAW BREAKING! Also, it actually gives sec and peacekeeper borgs something to do during peace times, much less entire greenshifts, besides farting out cookies and pissing off non-humans with the disabler.
Clown: CLOWNBORG HAS NO WAY TO SET UP SLIPPAGE. AT ALL. What kind of clown doesn't whip out the slip?! Also, remorseful Clownborgies can use the mop to clean up smashed pies on the ground.
---
Now, you may be saying to yourself "But won't that remove the uniqueness of the Janiborg? I mean, it's whole thing is cleaning."
You're right. It's so good at cleaning, all it has to do is wander around dragging its ass across the floor. IT DOESN'T EVEN NEED THE MOP! Why mop the floor when walking over the mess accomplishes the same thing? As a result, it couldn't possibly be out-competed by all its friends having a mop because you kinda have to stop to use the mop!
"Y'know, you've convinced me! But surely you don't mean rolling back the PR right? That was unintentional behavior!"
Bring it in line with the rest of the "Cyborg Utility" upgrades. Call it the "Cyborg Advanced Mop module", removing its association with the Janiborg specifically. It would also solve the problem back when this feature was a bug where the board wouldn't go poof after applying, meaning you could give multiple mops to one borg. After sharing said easter egg to a borg one round, he asked to get as many mops as he physically could carry. By the end of it, I think there was about 7 to 10 rows of mops.
---
After the merge, I saw a few passing comments both on the issue report and in the discord about them missing the mop board for all and being surprised and amused that such functionality was a thing, from borg players and organic players.
Please consider making the Advanced Mop board a general cyborg upgrade like the ion thrusters and the self repair module. The organics barely clean up after themselves to begin with, and lord knows the janitor is stretched thin to the point of ambivalence as they are.