This is an outline for a way to make a lot of lackluster jobs in the game more inherently fun without the need of roleplay or other shit. You can skip this paragraph if you want but it details my motivation. For a long time I've had debates on IRC and otherwise about the game and what the problem with it is round-by-round. SS13 is a game that is fun in bursts for me, and I think a lot of people as well. There's things that are fun, but some of the time you're sitting around not doing much or roleplaying. I don't think there's any problem wrong with roleplaying, because it can make any game fun, but I think it's also a crutch to make boring rounds less boring sometimes.
Only about half of the jobs will get this system, but my goal is not to change the jobs or what they are specifically. For example, chem will still make chems for people and objectives will never often take priority over making stuff for fellow crewmembers. If anything a lot of jobs will see a huge boost in productivity amongst the normal players.
One thing I will note is that these objectives and point systems of jobs in the early game will be 100% optional and (besides a few exceptions) not change your access to things. It's simply to make a handful of boring jobs way more fun and rewarding for people who master them, as well as replace the need to rely on mining or sister sub-departments (see: kitchen and botany).
A short, abstract overview on the system
This is a system that will change not the entire game, but the flow of the game in the first 20-40 minutes to ensure that everyone who signs up to do a specific job feels a sense of progression and mastery. The point of this is to allow a learning curve to job that isn't dictated by memorizing recipes for the most useful chems, but ALL chems and their specific uses. This allows master chemist players to know when to make a chem and the recipe easily. It's to reward this mastery of all chemicals by allowing them to complete all their objectives incredibly fast, as well as stock medbay with a variety of chems that MDs can use for any situation without having to ask for it. This is one job example but I'll be talking about chemistry a lot as it's the easiest example and a lot of other jobs lend to comparison well.Most jobs will have a system of objectives and PDA-bound labor points (LP for short). All LP will be department-bound so you can't switch department and use your points somewhere else if you earned them doing one thing and want to claim rewards in a different job.
There are three types of objectives which give points:
- Controller-based
- Signup-based
- Request-based
- Production-based
I will go into these much more in detail below.
These points can be redeemed for lots of things, ranging from gear or cosmetics to ingredients and such. Examples of gear will also be listed below in department-based sections for organizations' sake. Most, if not all of these rewards will be new items that are sidegrades or slight upgrades that don't ruin the flow of the game. Some departments will naturally have trouble with balance but that's SS13 in a nutshell and these things will be changed over time organically so they don't ruin jobs.
Why this is better than currency
Currency has its usefulness, but also its downsides. Currency is more realistic, so it lends itself a bit better to roleplay, but it also slightly conflicts with the lore of the game. If all the spacemen were using their own money to buy shit on a station, why would NT even stock it? Why would workers earn money that they're essentially just giving back to NT? It's a bad commission-based argument where the NT station becomes less a corporate research vessel and more of a pseudo civilian hangout spot which just has no reason to exist.Gameplay-wise, universal currencies can't be directed as easily. There's no real automated system to earn currencies and spend it on things, and it would allow other people to buy things just by getting access to whatever vendor they want and spending their money there, rather than working in that specific department to earn the points necessary. Universal currencies can also be incredibly easily abused without a million checks and balances, while my points system on a department-based scale will allow fine tuning and balancing for specific situations that are easier and far between.
One final good upside to currency is that it can be applied to all jobs because the head of staff or whatever can give people equal pay and such. As you'll see later, this isn't really the case for my points system.
The New Requests Console
It's necessary to talk about this before we get to the jobs because this is a universal machine for the use of several departments.This is a new machine idea I thought up, to replace the old, underused requests console and smartfridges. It's only going to be used in some job locations, specifically jobs that require requests on a daily basis. This will more or less replace the need for human interaction when asking for stuff. Obviously this is could be a good or a bad thing, but we've tried having human interaction for years and it's not worked. This machine will solve that problem by rewarding the request-maker more than just warm feelings from filling a request.
The request console works as follows:
>Use console
>Request item from a list of items
>All people in that request console's subdepartment (all cooks, chemists, etc) receive automated PDA message
>First person to give the console in question the item receives points
>Person who made the request will receive a PDA message, if available
>Only the person wearing the PDA and the chemist who loaded it will be able to take the item out of the machine
>Heads of staff of the department can also unload things the machine, as well as deconstructing it to make it spit everything out that's loaded, but the worker will not receive points unless the actual person who made the request receives the item from the machine
Some limitations:
>Must have a PDA to request items
>Most PDA/ID combos can only request items every 10 minutes
>Worker with access can reject your request, resetting your request so you can make another
>Inter-departmental IDs can request things more often
(An example of this last one being a medical doctor being able to request things from chemistry much faster, and a cook being able to request things from botany faster if their request is filled)
This console/machine will replace the smartfridge entirely in the kitchen and chemistry. One will be added to the kitchen to serve requests as well.
Free space:
The requests console is replacing the smartfridge, meaning you can shove whatever you want into it as 'up for grabs' if there is no current request for the item. Anyone can take whatever they want from this section of the machine but it will be logged and so you have to be wearing a PDA to do so. Taking things and loading things into this section gives you no points, it's just a place to stick things if you make things for your roundstart objectives.
The detective will have access to all request console logs and the HoS as well. Chemist sticks acid in there? Someone takes it and burns someone's face off? You can arrest them, depending on the situation. Obviously a chemist could straight up hand someone acid, but this is to prevent people loading the new console with dangerous stuff willy-nilly.
Rewards machine
It's a machine that scans your PDA/ID and lets you use your points to buy shit. It's not that complicated. It will be department-based though, so only chemists can buy chemistry stuff from chemistry rewards machine with chemistry LP.Objective types in-depth
Signup-based objectives:You get these objectives in your PDA in an 'objectives' screen when you latejoin or roundstart join as a specific job. They are not affected by your head of staff or anyone else but you and your PDA. Other people can steal your PDA and do your objectives, but you cannot 'combine labor points' between PDAs so there's no real incentive to do this.
Once you complete an objective or set of objectives like producing x amount of chemicals or making x foods and loading them into a compatible department requests machine(see 'free space' above), you get progressively harder objectives. Eventually you can complete all your signup-based objectives and at that point you can simply fill requests for more. For an untrained worker this could take about 40 minutes as you'll be looking up recipes and acquiring materials, but for a skilled worker this could take 15-20 minutes.
There would be no other way to get these objectives besides joining as a job, because that could be abused pretty easily for tons of points. People who switch jobs can just fill requests for points or produce things for the production points.
Request-based objectives:
These are added when someone makes a request. They can be redeemed for less points than signup-based objectives to prevent abuse but reward you for filling requests in the new requests machine.
Production-based objectives:
This is for loading anything into the requests fridge. You get a flat bonus for just about anything you make but it will be a very tiny amount of points so just mass producing shit will not be an efficient way to get rewards at all, especially when your resources could be limited.
Controller-based objectives:
The only department using this system of objectives will be Security and to some extent mining, so see the section titled "Security" to learn more about this system.
Department specific examples of the new objective gameplay system below
Chemistry
Starting with this because it's the easiest example and it's the easiest to implement.Objectives type:
-Signup-based
-Request-based
-Production-based
Rewards Examples:
-Stand-in synthetic compounds for rare materials in recipes, effectively doing the same thing as liquid uranium/diamond/plasma but can't use them in research/etc
-Acidproof gear
-Grenade casings
-Etc
The point here is to allow chemists to eventually make any chem they want using synthetic compounds purchased from the rewards machine. This requires a lot of labor and it won't be enough to mass produce super dangerous shit, but it means you no longer have to rely on mining or carpotoxin or anything like that. Everything will be at your fingertips if you're skilled and can make most recipes. Nothing will be RNG based. As long as you make good pills or patches and stock the machine you get points as well so you're always being rewarded for making things.
Kitchen
Objectives type:-Signup-based
-Request-based
-Production-based
Rewards Examples:
-Rare ingredients for food
-Fancy mints
-Possibly upgrades for microwave/etc
-Rare DINERS & DIVES flame chef outfit + sunglasses
Kitchen operates similar to chemistry. In addition to mass-producing food to store in the requests machine at the kitchen for the crew, you can do specific objectives at roundstart or specific requests from the machine for points. Specific objectives would be increasingly harder and reward more points.
Bar
Objectives type:-Signup-based
-Production-based (unique scans only)
Rewards Examples:
-Rare ingredients for cocktails
-Special nonlethal ammo types for his shotgun
-Cool hats
Make drinks, scan drinks with your PDA, get points. Botany rarely gives you the ingredients you need for better cocktails, so the rewards machine would give the bartender a bit of progression as well as fun for his customers who are always thirsty for interesting poisons.
He would not have a requests machine, because the bar is a social climate. This is the one place where I don't want to remove the human element of asking for a drink, because the bartender is mostly a roleplay job. However, I still want there to be a way to scan drinks you make for objectives, so the PDA would be the way to do it. Keep in mind you wouldn't be able to scan a cocktail more than once, so you'd eventually make them all if you wanted to get the most amount of points and all the COOL HATS.
Tl;dr: In addition to specific cocktail objectives he gets points for every unique cocktail he scans. So an objective for a martini would give him +2 points and scanning a martini for the first time would give him an additional +2.
Botany
Objectives type:-Signup-based
-Request-based
-Production-based
Rewards Examples:
-Rare seeds
-Better nutrients
-Chems for mutations and shit
Much like the kitchen, except botany will have two requests fridges. One connected between that department and kitchen, so that the chef can request ingredients, as well as one facing the hallway so crewmembers can request plants.
Growing specific plants and scanning them for objectives as well as some points for production.
Miners
Objectives type:-Controller-based
-Production-based
Rewards Examples:
-Pre-existing gear
-Weapon upgrades
Miners will continue to get a flat point bonus for their requests machine, except now, the QM can select a mineral type to 'prioritize' from his PDA, which will grant extra points to miners based on the rarity of the material. Effectively, instead of getting objectives for mining which can be tedious as fuck, the objective for miners can change dynamically depending on what the QM wants them to focus on mining.
I had some other plans here as well for miner progression, including making their weapon choice matter more. Mining gear ideas will go in a different post though if I get around to fixing my old mining design doc.
Security Officers
Objectives type:-Controller-based
Rewards Examples:
-Better handcuffs and arresting gear
-Different outfits and accessories
No, I don't want officers to get rewarded for brigging people. Sometimes officers don't have to arrest anyone. Security is incredibly situational and a 'good security officer' is hard to define sometimes.
Rather than having points and objectives for officers hardcoded, the Warden or Head of Security will hand out points to officers. These points generate slowly over time, rather than being available at roundstart, so that the HoS can't just dump 50 points into one officer at roundstart to get him endround reward gear.
HoS and Warden won't really need points and rewards because they start with gear in the armory that's incredibly good for robusting anyway.
Chaplain
Objectives type:-Objective-based
Rewards Examples:
Holy relics!
Different costumes!
Healing prayers!
The Chaplain will have a basic sense of progression. Rather than having a ton of costumes stuffed in his locker he can just choose the one he wants by doing some fun objectives and staying busy.
Blessing tiles with holy water, reviving people's (friendly) pets, blessing crewmembers with special buffs. All will be objectives for the chaplain, and while a cheeky chaplain might kidnap Ian to kill and then revive him like Corgi-Christ, the end result will be an alive pet anyway. Might add a restriction to doing damage to non-hostile simple_animals so he can't just murder everyone's pets for points.
This could also mean the Chaplain can have cool and powerful items while having to work for them so he isn't just picked for roundstart powergame points.
Librarian
Objectives type:-Objective-based
Rewards Examples:
...
Oh Librarian, where some people see a boring roleplay job and WGW reader, I see such potential. You are the job often overlooked, never anything fun to do but stock shelves.
No longer.
The Jobjectives progression system will reward you for your efforts, stocking shelves and looking up specific books for the right shelves. Ancient, off-limits tomes that are locked away from most librarians will be your reward. But you know, deep in your core, that something is coming. You know one day this collection of metal and glass floating in space is another meal for Nar'Sie and his followers. While the chaplain scoffs at your department and criticizes you for the many hours you spend in your office alone, you will show him the true meaning of knowledge. Fear not, where religion will fail, you will succeed. Your knowledge will surpass Nar'sie's dogmatic followers and the chaplain's invisible God one day.
Maybe some harmless fun spells and cosmetics for the Librarian, who studies dark tomes in secret. A cult-of-one.
No planned objectives or rewards for these jobs below
- Medical DoctorsSaving lives and ERP is a reward in itself, don't you think? Plus we all know Nanotrasen pays them the best on payroll anyway.
- Genetics
Points for every new power isolated on a disk? Kind of a rewarding progression in itself, so why give rewards for that?
- Virology
Maybe for every unique isolated symptom you get points? what would rewards be, more plasma?
- Robotics
Maybe scanning new completed mechs with your PDA? What would rewards be? A mech is pretty much a reward already...
- Toxins
Now we're playing with fire, not sure I want to reward bomb makers since maxcap is so easily meta-able. Maybe give toxins specific objectives and your goal is to make a specific-size bomb instead of maxcap.
- Xenobio
Kind of has its own progression system and rewards that come from slime cores, don't really want to fuck with this.
- RnD
Adding a rewards system here, while I could think of some ways to go about it, would require a complete rework of the rnd system. Probably going to do this last, if at all.
- Cargo
The stock system and the old points generation or crate selling system works fine. I don't think cargo techs need any rewards when almost everything is already at their fingertips by playing the stocks or pushing crates. They could possibly get rewarded their points back if someone requests things in the requests machine, but honestly, I prefer cargo just giving people whatever they want.
- Engineering & Atmos
Yeah I could see some ways for them to earn labor points, but I prefer these guys start off the round with the best gear possible to maintain the station. Progression here is kind of an inverse relationship with how fucked the station gets from traitors and events. They should be focusing on fixing instead of building autismforts in my opinion.
- Detective
No real reason to reward him, he starts with the best gear he needs to get his job done honestly. Being a detective and catching perps is reward in itself I think.
- Mime and Clown
HOOOOOOOOOONK
- Lawyers
...What do they even do?
- Assistants
? ? ??? ?
If you've made it this far and read all of this, thanks for spending your time to do it. Give me feedback on the idea as a whole or the specific departments all you'd like.
this
