There needs to be some randomness, some danger or even some more interactivity than just deconstructing stuff. I mean, why would you need a fancy science-space-station if all it does is deconstruct 20th century shotguns to get xray guns?
So many coders added some fancy gadget to science, without any thought of balance. Most of those items are cool as fuck, can't deny that. But they are not fun to play against, as there is nearly no counter. As Antag you either win before the 20min mark, or the fun is gone. Most of the stuff RnD can make removes entire aspects of the game and buffs powergaming people way too much.
Stuff that I think should not be that easy to get / widespread on the station or just entirely removed and made antag/admin only:
- - Nightvision of any kind
What is the use of all that creepy dark maintenance, when every second person has a night vision anyways? They are so cheap and easy to get, even assistants won't get refused if they ask for them. Especially with Shadowling coming up, darkness needs to be creepy again. There was a time when the nightvision from the abandoned teleporter was a rare and valuable item. Be the xeno, slash the APC so there is no light? Crew don't care.
- Xray/Thermal implants
They just break everything. Why are they this easy to get? Or even in the game? They remove so many aspects from the game. You can not hide anywhere anymore, you can not lure people into traps. You can do nothing except go murderbonering in bright daylight. Because that's what every place becomes as soon those they get handed out. If I play something Security/Validhunting related job, I can check by science after 30mins, get my nightvisions and an xray implant. Got a cultbase? Lingstash? ERP-hideout? Doesn't matter, I will see you perfectly. No need to run and trying to hide behind some wall, I know you are there. Xray as Genetics power was fine, as it takes ages and actual work to get and apply to people, but with RnD it is just way too easy.
- Xray guns
They are nice and interesting, yes. But way too easy to get. Just now the blob round that made me make this post: 25mins. You need to win in 25mins (minus the burst-time, even) as blob, or you are gone. If you do not roll acid, you are fucked. This is absolutely no fun for the blob player, and no challenge at all for the crew. All it takes is one competent Miner and one Scientist.
- - Remove the deconstructor. Move RnD completly to the experminetor. Low tech levels should be easy to get, medium ones a higher fail risk (= item loss or harm), and high level tech should require a lot of risk, luck and failure to get. Make the whole RnD process more interactive than "steal teleporter board" and "order shotguns".
- Add an extremely high tech-level requirement to the overpowered stuff. Those high tech levels should only come from xeno-items or syndieitems. Have Scientists dig for them or something, find the Xenogun, get a chance to get tech for X-Rays (if you do not fuck it up in the expermentor). Deconstruct the syndie-thermals or a ling-brain to get to thermal-implants. Deconstruct a changeling-corpse for the nostun-implants. Stuff like that. You should not be able to get all the imbalanced items in a normal shift though, maybe 1/4 of them or so, to keep it fresh. They should be items you are proud of being able to produce, not just another thing you spam out every round