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I remember when I first joined some years ago, I was still learning doctor. Some nerd vet needed minor surgery but there was a line of people in worse conditions… so naturally their meta friend hacks the door, pushes my patient off the table, steals the tools, and starts fixing their friend’s foot. they were charged with manslaughter as the other patient died.

Watching the CMO who clearly had no medical knowledge almost kill the RD who only came in for basic HUD implant start shift. As coroner, broke in and took over before they could die. CMO shortly cryo’d.

Edit: some updates are done in the comments section as I received feedback on Discord as well. 1. Introduction My proposed changes are here. It has two tabs on the top. This is a design document, putting it up here for debate. Even if you do not like the proposed changes, I expect everyone in this topic to contribute with a constructive criticism. If you just say "this won't work, because" I will likely disregard your opinion. If you say "this won't work, because x, but y might solve it", then we have a fruitful discussion and we can build on it. This idea is not perfect, very few ideas are born perfect. I need input to make it better. 1.1 The Goal To make engineering more impactful and self-sustaining, not to overly rely on science for their early(!) work. Currently, engineering is unable to rebuild any department without first begging science/robotics to print them circuits, not to mention parts. To make science less of a "we can build our own station" department and more focused on "we can make advanced stuff nobody else can" (while blowing up our own chemistry over and over again). The aim is to make engineering responsible for rebuilding/expanding the station, without relying on science (at least for the first half) and reinforcing the notion that science exists to make wacky stuff. To clean up the autolathe's bloated list a bit. To make engineering once again an appealing job. We are an atmospherics-based game and yet engineering is one of the least popular departments. 1.2 The Non-Goal To make engineering the new powergamer department. To nerf science to the point it is no longer appealing for non-powergaming/antagonist players. This change will definitely hurt powergamers, but I do not want to appeal to that party. 2. The How-To: Circuit Imprinters This is the main point of this change, to cull science's ability to completely rebuild the station and cutting out that damn middle-man - that is, the entire department of engineering. Currently, being an engineer sucks. Any scientist can do your job and do it with better parts. Here is an attempt to change that. Again, my proposed changes are here. It has two tabs on the top. 2.1 The Robotics Circuit Imprinter This one is the smallest, so starting with this. It retains the ability to print the absolute minimum they need, namely: Exosuit parts Their own machines, including an autolathe board Mech bay equipment Cyborg rechargers This also helps new players to be less overwhelmed with all the stuff they can do. Instead, they can focus on learning the absolutely cursed robot maintenance. 2.2 The Science Circuit Imprinter I am aware that this won't be popular (just like this entire design document) but here we go. Science retains the ability to print: Any machines they have in science already (which is A LOT) Teleportation-related circuits Telecomms-related circuits AI-related circuits The gibber for antagman reasons 2.3 The Engineering Circuit Imprinter The engineering imprinter's job is to be able to rebuild any areas of the station, with a few notable exceptions. EXCEPTION: Chemistry machines. We do not want engineering to powergame with these machines, thus they get no access to it. If they need to rebuild the entirety of chemistry, the tool storage should have spare circuits. EXCEPTION: Most of science's circuit imprinter's product list. We do not want engineering to become the new RND powergame central, thus they get no access to AI-related stuff and the like. EXCEPTION: Telecomms. The only "rebuild the station" part engineering will still need to rely on the tech storage/science. ADDITION: Some circuits, such as the APC/air alarm circuits would be moved to this machine from the autolathe. One important factor is machine parts - matter bins, manipulators, and the rest. Engineering has to start with a low amount of machine parts (e.g. 10 matter bins, 10 manipulators, 5 capacitors, etc.), strictly tier ones. This starting amount should be able for engineering to rebuild a few areas during the most intense rounds (nukies) and to create one or two rooms (for projects and station goals), but engineering should become reliant on science after a while, again. We don't want to make engineering completely self-sustaining either. 3. The How-To: Autolathes Separate the autolathe into cargo/science and engineering subtypes to 1) avoid engineering always needing to build their own autolathe, thus getting access to non-departmental tools 2) reduce autolathe bloat 3) make science less able to build its own station. Again, my proposed changes are here. It has two tabs on the top. 3.1 The Cargo-Science Autolathe This one is mainly untouched apart from a few changes. Circuits are moved to the engineering circuit imprinter (APC module, fire alarm electronics, vendor circuit, etc.) Engineering-related items are moved to engineering autolathe (geiger counter, RPD, compressed matter cartridge). DISCUSS: Some contraband items shouldn't be locked behind contraband, since it just encourages people to roundstart hack their machines. This includes: destination tagger, hand labeler, conveyor belt parts, desk bell, spray can. None of these are malicious, they should be accessible from the get-go. DISCUSS: Some items are redundant or out of place, such as: industrial welding tool, mirror, rapid cable layer. These items should be just removed, unless they serve a function I am not aware of. DISCUSS: Some items should be made more rare artificially, namely: safe internals (very rarely used, tech storage should start with two and that's it) and the RCD - I propose this to be in a CE-locked supply crate, so cargo and science would still technically get access to a powergaming RCD should they need one, they would just need to make work for it. This would also allow the CE to order and gift an RCD to an engineer they trust with their work (or to their antag buddies). 3.2 The Engineering Autolathe This would be a new addition. Its goal would be to provide engineering with printable refillers without giving them access to non-department specific tools, such as surgery tools. You can see the list on the link above. It would be significantly weaker than the cargo/science autolathe to make the cargo autolathe dominant - not only the engineering lathe doesn't have most of the cargo one's products, but it would be also unable to print ammo. This is to ensure that engineering won't instantly become the new antaghub instead of science. 4. The How-To: Changed accesses To ensure that science/robotics doesn't default to "just stealing an engineering imprinter/autolathe from the tech storage", their access to the tech storage would be revoked. This can be alleviated by allowing robotics to start with an autolathe circuit (or an entire machine), since that and insulated gloves are all they ever need from that room. This would also end the ages-old "robotics stole the autolathe circuit from the tech storage, ree!!!" quarrel as well as roboticists bolting from robotics to the tech storage for them insulated gloves. I don't think they need insuls, but if we all agree they need insuls, they should just start with two pairs in their lab. 5. Regarding concerns Drastic changes: I am aware that these changes are drastic, but I also believe we need drastic changes. Science is powergame paradise and an incredibly self-reliant department. It is able to generate infinite resources, infinite power, and build almost anything that is accessible on the station. On the other spectrum, engineering is insignificant to the point that the department only has a few regular players and the engineering events (shorted APCs, emagged airlocks, breached maintenance, etc.) are barely if ever responded to. Engineering cyborgs vastly outperform organic engineers (another issue in itself), nothing can be done under an hour unless you have a buddy in science/cargo who actually does what you ask from them, and the whole "magic of creation" dies when you realize you need to repeatedly tap the desk bell on the RND table for machine parts, only to realize the entire department is either already culted or 90% traitors. Nerfing antagonists: I can't shed a tear for scientist antagonists being nerfed, they already have a wide variety of tools they can work with. However, should this change nerf anyone outside of science/robotics, do let me know. Antagonists are one thing I am not well-versed in and I do not want to cripple them either with my changes. Overbuffing engineering: If the above-mentioned changes would give way to unforeseen powercreep by the engineering department, do let me know. I do not want them to become the new powergame hub. I want them to become a force to reckon with. Since this is a major balance change, please keep this in mind. "But x is also overpowered, why should be y nerfed!" is a very bad argument that hurls us into a loop of never-changing features. Try replacing it with "but x is also overpowered, let's deal with that as well". Looking forward to your input!

Y'all like Lizards? Here's some Lizards. [ From left to right: Lusooso, Fenton, Sulls, Koick, Keos, Ozz ]

Time for a yearly update. November 2, 2021. - - - - - x - - - - -