Nuclear Operatives: How they look

[Steelpoint]

As the Nuke Ops meta strategy has evolved over the course of several large scale changes to the game over several months, such as the speed reduction and its effect on movement. The standard approach in game as a op is to only use your Syndicate RIG in space and to swap out to use your Helmet/Armour on station for the speed boost. While this offers slightly less overall protection you do not hinder your movement thus being easier to avoid or kill.

This thread is not aimed at these code changes, I am talking about the visual appearance of the Nuke Ops with and without their armour.

The standard syndi RIG suit is a very iconic appearance that even new players can quickly identify as being a "bad guy". However considering that it is uncommon for a operative to wear their RIG on station, most ops now use their armour/helmet on station which presents a different look.



The question I put forward, is the visual style of the operative on the left a style we are fine with? Does it easily show off that this guy is a nuke operative? Is it what we want our operatives to look like?

[miggles]

no. i think the op RIG is one of the most iconic images in SS13, and that they should become more useful again so that wearing them indoors is more viable.
i would argue that a suit of armor designed for breaching spacecraft would probably be lightweight enough to run around in.

[Steelpoint]

no. i think the op RIG is one of the most iconic images in SS13, and that they should become more useful again so that wearing them indoors is more viable.
i would argue that a suit of armor designed for breaching spacecraft would probably be lightweight enough to run around in.

If that is to be the case then we would have to remove the slow down effect on the Syndi RIG.

[leibniz]

The suits (and the jetpack) fit into your backpack, you are supposed to put them away (and swap to armor) indoors.

[Steelpoint]

If we are going to examine this from a historical perspective. Before the speed alteration Nuke Ops would almost always use their RIG suits on station, the only real decision making on the suit was whether to wear the SWAT helmet (For more protection) or the RIG helmet (For flashbang protection) which ultimately came down to personal preference, however people generally leaned towards flashbang immunity. Both helmets can be used in space as well.

With the introduction of the speed alteration, the meta took a while to adapt. After several months the consensus was that "speed > protection" and that the better protection of the RIG suit could not match the speed boost of wearing your armour, hence why now the meta is to almost always take off your RIG on station and stash it in your backpack/hide it.

Personally I do admit I much prefer the iconic look of the syndi RIG suit, but under the current meta you'll very rarely see it on station. Hence why I wanted to see how people felt about the Armour/Helm apperance of Nuke Ops. I feel its lacking however.

[Zelacks]

I think its completely fine, I love the style of OPERATING BLACK. Raiding the maintenance in the left get up is so cool.
I think the ops are slightly less noticeable as the bad guy in the left picture, as I have been caught off guard identifying the enemy when they are in the left set up, though I am pretty sure it is just a moment difference of realization.
But at the same time, I still think that is absolutely fine. The colour scheme and silhouette of the left set up, while clearly not as iconic as the right, is still different enough from all the other roles.

Also probably relevant, It is probably sound to transfer from loud red and obvious rig suits to black and dark gear, especially with the night vision googles to raid the station. (This is completed opiniated, and just based on theme and probably taste)

I think the only concern is that in "marketting" the game, the redsuits are the iconic name to give to the operatives. It might be a big deal, but I think the fact that the suits are still used to get on the station is enough to fulfill that vision.

(PROBABLY OFF TOPIC) Not to mention there are benefits to retaining the space gear, you can zone a lot of the crew by exposing the station to space via bombs, which gives you a mobility advantage as well as controlling who can get near you (right?). This being the case (and perhaps people who are not as aware about the game), there is a still a suitable amount of people that opt to go "redsuits" fully over the black/red set up on the left.

[Fatal]

I think the tactical outfit and armor is fine, but the helmet doesn't fit at all, I prefer the old helmets, but yeah, they're all gone, that old SWAT helmet looked boss though

Maybe a resprite of the syndie helmet is in order

[Cheridan]

The shoes look pretty out of place, actually. They could use jackboots or something. Other than that, I think they look pretty distinctly "bad guy.

One other thing we could look at is a unique armor to go with their unique helmet.

[Cipher3]

Unique armor and shoes definitely needed.

[Steelpoint]

While it would be easy to give them access to jackboots, don't forget that many Ops will buy no-slips which are simply brown shoes.

[Cipher3]

No-slip jackboots, plz add

[miggles]

should noslips be free for syndies?

[cedarbridge]

should noslips be free for syndies?

Personally, I wouldn't take away the clown's ability to save the station and be the hero for once.

[Cheridan]

Nuke Op design is based on population-scaling-TC, they should only get the bare minimum of equipment for free.

It'd be really easy to swap out brown noslips for jackboot-style noslips.

[Steelpoint]

Speaking of that, was the nuke ops TC scaling ever increased when the TC cost of everything was doubled?

[Cheridan]

Speaking of that, was the nuke ops TC scaling ever increased when the TC cost of everything was doubled?

Yeah, the scaling modifier was raised proportionally.

[paprika]

The turtleneck, gloves, swat helmet, and gas mask look is just as iconic to me as the blood red hardsuit. The only real problem I see here is the fact that they spawn with black sneakers instead of jackboots. Not sure why that is, or why nobody has ever bothered to change it. Also the syndie hardsuit will likely have its useless flashlights replaced with a function that allows you to toggle combat/spacewalk mode.

Combat mode on the hardsuit will mean you don't have slowdown but you also don't have a pressure sealed hardsuit. Spacewalk mode seals your hardsuit but obstructs your movement like any other hardsuit.
And for the helmet, combat mode would mean your glowing visor is turned off and folded back so you can hide in the dark with your NVGs but you're vulnerable to flashbangs. Spacewalk mode would have your visor eyeslits glowing at all times for balance.

This sound good? It'd basically replace the need to change clothes once on station entirely.

[miggles]

because syndies are stylish as fuck

heres another nuke ops question: should the C20r stun borgs?

[paprika]

Fuck no. Also I edited my other post.

[cedarbridge]

because syndies are stylish as fuck

heres another nuke ops question: should the C20r stun borgs?

No that would be terrible.

[miggles]

why?

[miggles]

The turtleneck, gloves, swat helmet, and gas mask look is just as iconic to me as the blood red hardsuit. The only real problem I see here is the fact that they spawn with black sneakers instead of jackboots. Not sure why that is, or why nobody has ever bothered to change it. Also the syndie hardsuit will likely have its useless flashlights replaced with a function that allows you to toggle combat/spacewalk mode.

Combat mode on the hardsuit will mean you don't have slowdown but you also don't have a pressure sealed hardsuit. Spacewalk mode seals your hardsuit but obstructs your movement like any other hardsuit.
And for the helmet, combat mode would mean your glowing visor is turned off and folded back so you can hide in the dark with your NVGs but you're vulnerable to flashbangs. Spacewalk mode would have your visor eyeslits glowing at all times for balance.

This sound good? It'd basically replace the need to change clothes once on station entirely.

fuck yes this is a great idea good job

[cedarbridge]

why?

Ops already have 2 ranged AOE borg stuns and any op team with a borg has a third borg stun and has already wedgied the AI leading the station borgs. Ops don't need more tools to shit on borgs.

[miggles]

2 stuns? i thought there was just the ion rifle. unless you mean EMP grenades
also, borgs have all the tools to shit on ops just fine, and i dont think that should be the case
a borg can rush an op with an e-shield and a firearm and just stunbaton him and cuff him and boom hes dead. unless youre the guy with the ion rifle or you can run away there isnt much you can do
on the inverse, the op team should be the ones steamrolling everyone. which, usually, they do, but if an op without any sort of EMP gets caught out by a secborg there is really very little he can do

[cedarbridge]

2 stuns? i thought there was just the ion rifle. unless you mean EMP grenades
also, borgs have all the tools to shit on ops just fine, and i dont think that should be the case
a borg can rush an op with an e-shield and a firearm and just stunbaton him and cuff him and boom hes dead. unless youre the guy with the ion rifle or you can run away there isnt much you can do
on the inverse, the op team should be the ones steamrolling everyone. which, usually, they do, but if an op without any sort of EMP gets caught out by a secborg there is really very little he can do

You reminded me of a 4th. So that means we've got EMP, Ion Rifle, Flashbangs, and syndieborg. And this is all assuming the ops didn't subvert the AI though too many op teams just skip to killing the AI instead. And even then NONE OF THIS HAS TO DO WITH OP CLOTHING MIGGLES GEEZ

[paprika]

I'll put dual mode hardsuit on the list for december 4th. It'd be pretty easy to do, if someone made some sprite edits for me later.

[lumipharon]

It doesn't really make much IC sense having the ligh 'fixed on' when in space mode though, since space itself is magically illuminated, and nvg's always work anyway so, I unno.

Also remove the current syndie helmet sprite, it's literally a bicycle helmet, it looks so derpy. The swat helmet looks good, and is more tacticool.

[paprika]

It looks more like a russian tank helmet to me

Also >not operating with bicycle helmets

Spoiler:

[cedarbridge]

It looks more like a russian tank helmet to me

Also >not operating with bicycle helmets

Spoiler:

Clearly we're missing out on armored baseball caps.

[oranges]

Special operations helmets in the armoury please, so I can look taticool

[deathhoof]

Removing move around deduction for rig suit is retarded as fuck. Get good at breaking grav gen scrubs

[paprika]

That makes you move slower than normal now

[callanrockslol]

I want the stupid sexy nukeops spacesuits back.

[Kuraudo]

Best nuke ops suit: