Reenable Away Missions

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:39 am #157561

Someone disabled away missions, and there was no lead up to it at all. At least oranges had the decency to give a vote before removing the AI. Bring back away missions!

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:46 am

They need some work, honestly. I like the concept, but they just end up arming up the whole crew with nuke ops gear/eating half the crew due to being super lethal.

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 3:10 am #157566

Im mostly just salty that they got disabled right when I added tree cutting.

Post by **oranges** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 4:10 am #157574

Hey, mine was only a test, this is probably grangran codecuck at it again.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 4:14 am #157576

Away missions is a concept that needs to be canned. All it accomplishes is removing players from the station. Things should happen in the station.

Post by **MMMiracles** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 4:25 am #157580

Scott wrote:Away missions is a concept that needs to be canned. All it accomplishes is removing players from the station. Things should happen in the station.

Away missions only do this because majority of the missions we have enabled are a mixture of loot pinatas or death incarnate (unless you employ masterful cheese tactics on NPCs). So what if players want to go out and explore an area that's different from the station they've played on multiple times? Maybe we should add more on-station content if people are running off at the first chance to jump into the away missions.

Also, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I've gotten positive feedback from multiple people on the caves mission and to some extent, snowdin, for an actual attempt at balance between loot and threat level. When I find the motivation to keep working on missions, I still plan on re-balancing existing ones or opting for removal of the lesser ones (challenge mission suc bic dic).

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 4:28 am #157581

Emitter Maze and Wild West need to go. Space Battle might as well, but it's still being maintained so I dunno.

Cheimon · Post by **Cheimon** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 3:36 pm #157654

There just aren't that many good maps. There's no real consistency between loot/death/fun expectations, it takes a lot of players away from the station, and it's just a bit of a weird concept. Having a clear 'other' area adjacent to the station isn't fundamentally problematic, that's what the mining asteroid is, but without more clear direction this stuff isn't good enough to be in game at the moment.

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 7:56 pm #157698

Honestly, I love wizard academy but I still think the simple mob wizards are too strong. They REALLY shouldn't have blink, that makes it way too easy for them to escape, meaning that you HAVE to fight them at range, unable to do so at melee. If that nerf goes through I think this mission will be actually completable.

Incomptinence · Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:04 pm

Away missions are a solid concept we just need to do away with the ones that make the crew indistinguishable from nukes ops with no challenge or a little cheese.

Oh and allow a little knowledge of what is coming so the deadly away missions are just dead drops that eat assistants.

Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:08 pm

It'd be cool if we could work away missions into a gamemode. They start with a centcomm announcement like blob saying that the crew needs to absolve a situation in the "Beta X235 Sector" or some other jargon, then the crew gets to prepare during the 10-15~ minutes the gateway has to warm up. Away missions would have a bunch more antagonist spawners for ghosts so that the crew can have an absolute war. Only problem is that we'd need more away missions like Lava Land, and we'd need to give away missions an objective, such as "Ensure the death of the grand wizard teacher," or "Detonate the syndicate base with their own nuke," or "Destroy the time machine that is creating a temporal rift to the past" (that last one is for the medieval mission).

Incomptinence · Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:12 pm

Well I think maps are generated before the mode type is chosen but I guess it could work.

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:14 pm #157731

I would love for admins to set the mission to wiz academy and pimp the shit out of it with tons of gear and antags, make the round extended, and tell the crew to gear up because it's go time.

Oldman Robustin · Sun Feb 28, 2016 9:01 am

Get rid of the fucking Nanotrasen v. Syndie one with the NT private security or whatever.

- Buckets of guns
- Gateway at the entrance for easy retreating/resupplying/healing
- Tons of ways to abuse LOS and aggro mechanics
- Eshields, eswords, free genetics powers, and room full of magic spells

IMO the whole "away mission has a room full of crazy OP loot but you would never find it unless you ghosted and learned about it" meme needs to stop. Use whatever code lets you randomize loot in contained and go that route for dispersing goodies, or put them behind a challenge that can't be cheesed, but just cramming a bunch of OP shit into a secret room that only a few veterans will use metaknowledge to find is a pretttttty shit mechanic.

InsaneHyena · Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:23 am

No, thank you. Enough is enough, I'm sick of this motherfucking nuke op gear on my motherfucking station!

Helios · Post by **Helios** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:09 pm #158007

Bring back Beach as the sole away mission

Dawgas · Post by **Dawgas** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 1:55 pm #158017

hi, this thread from like, three and a half years ago or whatever is still relevant today
based TLE, etc

https://www.theforgottenzone.com/hosted ... =9&t=10984

while some minor fears haven't come to pass, ultimately away missions are in about the same state as far as gameplay goes since their implementation

in this time we only have wjohnston's missions as good ones and they're what away missions should've been at that point - remove not keep around and be nostalgic about

Lumbermancer · Sun Feb 28, 2016 3:12 pm

No, If you want away missions make them a separate mode. Splitting round playerbase into two groups sucks.

Buggy · Post by **Buggy** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 7:57 pm #158086

I fixed up the beach away mission, so we could just enable that, but unfortunately I can't use the new map merge tool so I can't actually make a PR for it that doesn't have 5,000 line edits

kevinz000 · Post by **kevinz000** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:34 pm #158098

Zilenan91 wrote:Emitter Maze and Wild West need to go. Space Battle might as well, but it's still being maintained so I dunno.

Take it from someone who does the shit that helped the removal.
Wild west is one of the more balanced missions.
There's no reason to remove lethal missions. You have to accept the risk of death to go in.

kevinz000 · Post by **kevinz000** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 8:40 pm #158099

Oldman Robustin wrote:Get rid of the fucking Nanotrasen v. Syndie one with the NT private security or whatever.

- Buckets of guns
- Gateway at the entrance for easy retreating/resupplying/healing
- Tons of ways to abuse LOS and aggro mechanics
- Eshields, eswords, free genetics powers, and room full of magic spells

IMO the whole "away mission has a room full of crazy OP loot but you would never find it unless you ghosted and learned about it" meme needs to stop. Use whatever code lets you randomize loot in contained and go that route for dispersing goodies, or put them behind a challenge that can't be cheesed, but just cramming a bunch of OP shit into a secret room that only a few veterans will use metaknowledge to find is a pretttttty shit mechanic.

Remove the spawn at the gate.
Someone who knows what they're doing can still clear the gate with two medikits.
Make mobs be smarter. Use snpcs. Or something. Also the Los thing even most players don't do it well enough to not get wrecked by a vet curving their boolets around corners.
Genetic powers need more challenge. More mobs with smgs lol

Post by **lumipharon** » Sun Feb 28, 2016 11:32 pm #158130

Having small groups of Snpc's in missions (as a kind of boss or 'elite' enemies) would be really neat.

For example, if the snowdin ops were SNPC's, so when a player gets close enough to the syndie outpost the sleepers open and they all run around and grab medkits/loot the armoury, then viciously defend the base, healing each other with kits and sleeper etc.
THAT would be entertaining (although cheesable with xray lasers but eh).

Mon Feb 29, 2016 1:40 am

put in some of those new mech pilot mobs

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 1:50 am #158176

There were some on Space Battle I think. Either way it was still a loot hut.

Post by **MMMiracles** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:19 am #158225

Syndicate mobs actually gib upon death now, so there's literally no loot from them anymore. This also makes wild west and space battle significantly more difficult as there's no more free guns.

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:22 am #158227

Wild West has stechkins everywhere though

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:28 am #158249

Zilenan91 wrote:Wild West has stechkins everywhere though

You burn those stechkins on the massive fucking swarm of faithless that storm you right before the gateway.

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:39 am #158250

There's like infinity boxes of 10mm ammo on the outskirts of the first base.

Also you can just run around all of those faithless, there's literally no point in fighting them unless you have a death wish. Just run straight for the gate and you should be able to get out in time unless you get absolutely rekt by RnG.

Post by **lumipharon** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:41 am #158251

why would you stechkin faithless when you can just get the dualsword?

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:42 am #158252

You can get pooped on by RnG if you melee them en masse.

Drynwyn · Post by **Drynwyn** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 1:30 am #158430

Zilenan91 wrote:You can get pooped on by RnG if you melee them en masse.

Replace blood with styptic powder

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 1:58 am #158438

Had 3 healing viruses a nuke op hardsuit and a tactical turtleneck on, like 60 melee armor. Didn't stop them from chainstunning me with RnG knockdowns until I died. The faithless need the RnG knockdown or else they're a joke.

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:13 am #158471

I just made a brand new RP away mission. Like beach, but more fun. Plus, there is some loot like chainsaws and a riot shotgun. Also, theres a recyclerlumbermill saw that gibs anyone who touches it

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:16 am #158472

pr it

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 5:55 am #158477

Just did: https://github.com/tgstation/-tg-station/pull/15852

Now with pictures!

Post by **Cobby** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 2:01 pm #158517

We should add more space exploration maps and less gateway missions, although gateway missions are pretty cool if they aren't just 'free stuff lmao'.

Luke Cox · Post by **Luke Cox** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 7:36 pm #158574

What we need is more variety. Some can be syndicate/xeno deathtraps, some abandoned stations, and some completely benign (i.e. shop). Also, give roles to ghosts wherever possible, like the wizard academy.

Shadowlight213 · Tue Mar 01, 2016 9:50 pm

Helios wrote: Bring back Beach as the sole away mission

That's was actually the plan. The only away mission enabled was going to be beach, but beach was completely broken.
I think the two major things away missions need are making rcds not work on them (or make all the walls indestructible but that seems like overkill) and a change to how they are loaded so they can be changed using verbs rather than be locked to a config.
All of the missions are still enabled on basil by the way.

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:00 pm #158606

palpatine213 wrote:
Helios wrote: Bring back Beach as the sole away mission
That's was actually the plan. The only away mission enabled was going to be beach, but beach was completely broken.
I think the two major things away missions need are making rcds not work on them (or make all the walls indestructible but that seems like overkill) and a change to how they are loaded so they can be changed using verbs rather than be locked to a config.
All of the missions are still enabled on basil by the way.

Cabin is slightly more loot filled then beach. Nothing to bad though. The strongest loot on the map is probably the single riot shotgun.

cocothegogo · Wed Mar 02, 2016 12:59 am

How the fuck do you manage to completely break a z level that literally consists of some sand and some water sprites?

Zellion · Post by **Zellion** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 1:41 am #158666

I might be the only one but I kinda liked the away missions that didn't have any enemies and was just explorable with some cool outfits or such. The xeno research station and the abandoned station were really cool.

onleavedontatme · Wed Mar 02, 2016 8:18 pm

Zellion wrote:I might be the only one but I kinda liked the away missions that didn't have any enemies and was just explorable with some cool outfits or such. The xeno research station and the abandoned station were really cool.

They're cool a couple of times and then you know them and they're not worth doing anymore

Post by **lumipharon** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 10:39 pm #158933

Lucky they're optional.

onleavedontatme · Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:45 pm

lumipharon wrote:Lucky they're optional.

Really sucked to gather an away team, get cooperation from various departments to arm up, etc, then wait 20 minutes only to end up in an empty room.

Zilenan91 · Post by **Zilenan91** » Wed Mar 02, 2016 11:52 pm #158953

I still think that we should keep Wizard Academy in after Cabin gets finished, it's still the best one we have by far. There are some good arguments you could make for some nerfs for it too.

Post by **lumipharon** » Thu Mar 03, 2016 4:06 am #159003

Kor wrote:
lumipharon wrote:Lucky they're optional.
Really sucked to gather an away team, get cooperation from various departments to arm up, etc, then wait 20 minutes only to end up in an empty room.

I unno, do actual station related things for 20 minutes then send a borg through to scout it out or some shit.

kazeespada · Post by **kazeespada** » Fri Mar 04, 2016 2:24 am #159173

Cabin is ready.

Helios · Post by **Helios** » Fri Mar 04, 2016 3:36 am #159199

Kor wrote:
lumipharon wrote:Lucky they're optional.
Really sucked to gather an away team, get cooperation from various departments to arm up, etc, then wait 20 minutes only to end up in an empty room.

You know the solution could be if it's a non-hostile away mission, it's visible from round start as opposed to a non-hostile one. Like a fire alarm light in the gateway room

TechnoAlchemist · Sat Mar 05, 2016 1:38 am

Kaze please remove the bunnies from cabin or at least stop them from emoting every time they move it is very spammy

Bring Back Away Missions?