/tg/Station 13

Clowns were originally intended as a punishment role and a laughing stock. Over time, they changed and went on to make fun at the expense of crew, becoming a license to grief instead.

We should go back to how things should be, restore the balance and add stuff that will make crew laugh at the clowns instead of the other way around. Stuff like random chance of tripping or being easier to push while wearing clown shoes.

Since being the "funny man" means you get a free pass to stir up trouble, why not add some disadvantages to that?

This is one of those delicate balancing acts. Too weak and they're legitimately unfun and no one wants to play them, too strong and they're a license to griff.

i think they're fine as they are now personally, clowns are already at a disadvantage due to being unable to use guns/stunprods/cuffs without risking fucking yourself over, slow movement speed due to shoes (if you take them off you deserve to be gibbed tbqh), and the crew's generalized attitude of looking for any excuse to lynch and space you. i actually think they need a small buff in terms of survivability, honestly.

There's nothing mechanically wrong with Clowns. It's the community and gameplay meta that's the problem.

Clown shoes already slow you down and clowns are innately clumsy. Literally git gud if you get dunked

It's not about being dunked, it's about making them a laughing stock they should be.

Can you imagine how fun it would be to see a clown randomly tripping on its own shoes? Landing on the floor from an assistant's single push? Accidentally drop an airhorn out of clumsiness and have it stolen from them? At last they'd be the entertainers the crew deserve.

Way more amusing that the same old annoyance of overusing banana peels, assaulting people and breaking stuff, that's for sure.

I think there should be a little more diversity in terms of comedy props. Like a buzzer that makes you incapable of moving for half a second and plays the same sound effect as getting airlock-shocked (decent cooldown so it couldn't be abused as a weapon). You could make it invisible on examine and lacking in an in-hand sprite for maximum surprise. Clowns could have a 25% chance of shocking themselves with it.

I've also suggested being able to make remote firing assemblies for guns, just use a cap gun in place of an actual firearm or a foam force gun. It'd be pretty funny to scare the crap out of the captain by putting a cap gun hooked up to said assembly (set to a motion/laser trip-wire trigger) in their bedroom along with some cardboard Nuke OP cut-outs.

Another idea might be a sound synthesizer that can play some generic sound files (and with some tools, can be modded to play some more antagonist themed sound effects). Bonus points if they can be hooked up to remote assemblies and hidden under floors.

>Half a second
>25% chance to shock yourself

Make it 3 seconds and remove the self-stun and I'd be down to clown

Personally I found slipping people and feeding them a poison cocktail from a beer bottle while playing sad trombone sounds pretty darn hilarious.

But that might just be me.

ShadowDimentio wrote:>Half a second
>25% chance to shock yourself

Make it 3 seconds and remove the self-stun and I'd be down to clown

It's a prank not stun gloves you retard

ShadowDimentio wrote:>Half a second
>25% chance to shock yourself

Make it 3 seconds and remove the self-stun and I'd be down to clown

iamgoofball wrote:

ShadowDimentio wrote:>Half a second
>25% chance to shock yourself

Make it 3 seconds and remove the self-stun and I'd be down to clown

It's a prank not stun gloves you retard

3 seconds, but they stun both of you. zing!

clowns should tell jokes not get gimmicks

yes I realize I coded a clown gimmick

this will never happen but we should make juggling a thing, juggle up to x amount of object and if you bump into a wall/somebody else you drop all of them on yourself. i want to see clowns juggling chainsaws man

also, why the actual flying fuck dont we have unicycles? i would also personally like to see the clown car be implemented but again that will never happen

bandit wrote:clowns should tell jokes not get gimmicks

yes I realize I coded a clown gimmick

Code mime gimmicks to compensate.

DemonFiren wrote:

bandit wrote:clowns should tell jokes not get gimmicks

yes I realize I coded a clown gimmick

Code mime gimmicks to compensate.

mimes are already OP clowns, all the shitlery of a normal clown but no clumsy checks and a fucking invisible wall that blocks all projectiles. make clowns great again

That's my point.
Mimes have no choice but to be shitters. Give them something to actually entertain people with. Sure, slap on some downsides if you think it necessary, but pull them out of the pit they're in.

Deitus wrote:

DemonFiren wrote:

bandit wrote:clowns should tell jokes not get gimmicks

yes I realize I coded a clown gimmick

Code mime gimmicks to compensate.

mimes are already OP clowns, all the shitlery of a normal clown but no clumsy checks and a fucking invisible wall that blocks all projectiles. make clowns great again

Make it so clowns do extra damage to mimes. They can be the savior that rescues the crew from greytiding mimes.

DemonFiren wrote:That's my point.
Mimes have no choice but to be shitters. Give them something to actually entertain people with. Sure, slap on some downsides if you think it necessary, but pull them out of the pit they're in.

They could do what they're supposed to do and actually do mime stuff. Act out the typical antics crew members get into by doing shit like pretending to hack an invisible airlock only to get zapped by it. Try to pantomime the entirety of WGW. Do the whole stuck in a glass box thing and add a twist on it where there's no air in the box.

When I was a mime I would mime being a animu Mary sue and throw invisible ki blasts

Mimes can't talk. If they get attacked in maint they can't chelp there's nukers or whatever, that's a pretty rough nerf.

iamgoofball wrote:

ShadowDimentio wrote:>Half a second
>25% chance to shock yourself

Make it 3 seconds and remove the self-stun and I'd be down to clown

It's a prank not stun gloves you retard

It's just a prank bro

You guys got this whole thing wrong again.

Crew should have means to abuse clowns and laugh at their misfortune, not the other way around.

Sligneris wrote:You guys got this whole thing wrong again.

Crew should have means to abuse clowns and laugh at their misfortune, not the other way around.

the crew already looks for the barest reason to lynch the clown, they dont need more reason to be shit on

ShadowDimentio wrote:Mimes can't talk. If they get attacked in maint they can't chelp there's nukers or whatever, that's a pretty rough nerf.

Well they can but usually a mime who talks will have their murderer given a medal, not arrested

Super Aggro Crag wrote:When I was a mime I would mime being a animu Mary sue and throw invisible ki blasts

I remember playing one and hunting xenos with the bartender and some assistants. Cocked and fired an invisible shotgun before being faceraped.

Clowns were added as a griefer punishment, have become the single most iconic thing about SS13. I'm not seeing much of a glory days to return to.

That said, Armhulen's idea of a MUTUAL incap effect? Something that's guaranteed to slip/stun the clown at least as long as it does their target? I think that be a genuinely great idea. I can get behind a skilled clown being less bugs bunny (always makes the other person a buffoon and laughs), more someone who makes themselves just as much of one.

no because clown will just team up with other people and it will get nerfed when security lobby complains, so we won't merge it.

Clowns need a one shot use of the HONKblaster. Using it causes them to go mute for a long time, deals massive stamina damage to the clown, and is again a one shot ability.

The ultimate HONK

Why do we even have mimes again?

Clown could use more joke items and things to prank people with like whoopie cushions, hand buzzers or a way to rig a pie or bucket of water to a door so the person gets hit when they walk though. Non lethal non stunning of course, but enough to be noticeable when it happens and would expand the list of tator items they can get.

Also a clown specific vending machine that the clown that works like mining in that doing certain actions or pranks gives the clown points he can spend on better loot and prank items, the clown hardsuit could be moved to this machine. As balance the hop, hos or captain could inspect the machine and wipe out points if the clown is being shit.

I'd tell you why we have mimes, but that would go against the vow.

If it's just a "Slip X people to unlock Y" system it'd be shit. You'd have endless amounts of shit clowns just mass slipping people. If you want a reward system for clowns pranking, you need to find a way to make the quality of the prank come from the person who suffered it, or watched it happen. Only way I could figure it is have the clown track how many people laugh around them, or say Honk in the are around them. It registers name so you can't have a clown friend just stand them and laugh/honk endlessly at the clown for easy points either.