Ideas how to make the Gateway better.

[Alliostra]

So, i had some ideas on how to make the Gateway better. I think that instead of just promoting civilians to "gateway explorers", normal crew with jobs should take part in a gateway exploration with the goal to build a base and prepare the planet for colonisation. Please note that is is NOT a proposal or anything like this, these ideas just crossed my mind and i wanted to share them.

New Mechanics: The gateway on the station always leads to another gateway on a planet, connecting these two. the gateway is off by default, and must be turned on in order to teleport people to the second gateway. the gateway can only be opened for~15-20 seconds before closing itself, and cannot be activated for five minutes afterwards, unless three keys have been inserted, which can always be found on the planet. Before being able to communicate with crew on the station over the radio, a tcomms relay must be built on the gateway planet. im not sure if procedural generation could work for this, but if it would, that would be the intended option for the gateway worlds.

 

New Jobs:

Gateway team leader:

This Highly trained ERT-Commader like has very good knowledge of combat, medical, construction, and being a leader. their job is to supervise everything happening in the gateway and make sure that gateway SOP is being followed in the gateway. they only receive orders from the gateway organisator, the HoS and the Captain.

Gateway organisator:

This high-ranking NT officer is in charge of everything happening in the gateway. They have access to the gateway supply storage and are the only ones apart from HoS and Captain the can use the gateway activation computer. Their job is to supply the gateway team by teleporting crates to them using an RCS, as well as giving general orders to the exploration and colonisation team. They aqlso have to recruit the people necessary for exploring the gateway and decide on who to send after the exploration team has reported about the situation in the gateway. They have to remain on the station and only enter the gateway in extreme emergency situations.

New Rooms:

Gateway storage:

this room contains various crates that contain anything needed to survive and colonize the gateway. this includes materials, weapons, atmos stuff, medical equipment and scientific equipment.

Gateway room:

like the old one, but far more secure, e.g not just protected by one door.

Gateway SOP:

1: the gateway organisator is in charge of everything in the gateway, followed by the gateway team leader.

2: The goal of the gateway exploration is to collect any data about the gateway they find. this includes: Atmosphere condition, Hostile activity, Mineral deposits, and so on. Once the agteway team leader declares that theyve gathered enough data, they write a report and send it to the gateway organisator, who the decides what happens next. The report has to classify the gateway as on of the five planetary danger tiers (PDT)

PDT1(harmless) breathable atmosphere, little to no hostile wildlife.

PDT2(Atmospehric dangers): no breathable atomsphere, little to no hostile wildlife

PDT3(dangerous): moderate to high, but still manageable wildlife, breathable atmosphere.

PDT4(dangerous): moderate to high, but still manageable wildlife, no breathable atmosphere.

PDT5(inhospitable): wildlife is too dangerous to handle, hostile humanoid activity, or dangerous atmosphere like plasma.

To uphold a constant connection between the gateways, three keys must be inserted. the gateway team has to try to find these keys and insert them into the gateway.

3: the gateway expedition MUST consist of these crewmembers:

The team leader obvs

1-2 Sec ofiicers. they are to be armed with lethal weapons, and have to protect the rest of the team

1-2 Engineers: the first thing the engineer(s) have to do is to build a tcomms relay and a bluspace cargo telepad, which will be used to provide means of communication and cargo transfer with the  station. afterwards, they have to built a base which provides rudimentary protection against atmospheric and wildlife dangers.

1 Miner, who has no general duties, but will often have to dig a way through caves or mine minerals.

1 Doctor, who has to take care of injured team mebers

1 Scientist, whose job is toprovide some of the data neccessary to write the report

1 Xenobiologist who has to classify how dangerous the wildlife, if present is.

The Organisator can additionally add these team members:

any increased amount of the crew listed above

1 atmos technician, who has to make sure the air in the base is actually breathable.

4: after the gateway organisator has received the report, they may decide if when and how the colonisation - or other measurements happen.

at PDT1,  it is advised that the enginerrs construct other buildings apart from the base, and outfit them with equipment necessary for: botany, science, storage and, medical treatment. after these buildings have been built, they may build empty houses for civilians to live in. After these buildings have been built, botanists, scientists, medical personnel and civillians are allowed to enter the gateway to start doing their espective jobs.

at PTD 2, it is advised that all buildings have a gas-proof connection to the base, but apart from that, its the same as PDT1

at PDT3, there must be enough protection against the wildlife to ensure the safety of the colonists. the rest is same as PTD1

at PTD4, the measurements frrom PTD2 and PTD3 are to be combined.

at PTD5, the captain, gateway organisator, and the HoS have to discuss what to do about the status of the gateway. the results of the discussion have to be sent to the expedition team and must be executed. they may send in additional armed forces to purge wildlife such as terror spiders or EoCs such as the syndicate.

5: All weapons and contraband found in the gateway are to be handed to the team leader immediately unless teres an extreme emergency. Non-dangerous items may be kept by crew for the duration of them being in the gateway. when the expedition team returns, there must be checked if they have brought anything with them from the gateway. the expedition team members may ask the organisator for items that they would like to keep, and the organisator may permit crew keeping items from the gateway.

Thats about it. please be gentle if you find any grammatical errors or typos since im not a native english speaker.

[Terrorxide]

I just fell in love with your idea. Compliment to you putting so much work into that idea.

[Aletmagne]

There's a few problems with this method mainly around the fact that these crewmembers are basically unreachable. Nothing is worse than having to kill a shift miner who is never on the station for very long, having to kill a gateway explorer that's comfortably building away in a nice little colony world would be a nightmare.

I had my own ideas for the gateway, maybe I'll get round to make a post of my own. Eventually. Maybe...

[Fursamie]

I don’t think NT officials nor ERT commanders would be on the NSS Cyberaid. It would be realistic if they had just hired Gateway Explorers and called it a day. And plus, I don’t think the organizer is a head off staff. If not, 

1. Who would be the head of staff for this mini gateway department?
2. Most of the time, people in departments are more or less equal besides when it comes to the head of staff or someone like the QM.

Other than that, it’s a pretty solid idea.

[Malphystoh]

I've always wanted to do something similar to this. When its the abandoned xeno station or even hotel / wizard place. Creating a fully functioning area with its own mini departments. and @Aletmagne assuming their titles reflected their gateway status i think it would be fairly simple to track someone down. Especially considering GPS.

[Biffthegreat]

Better as an event on a busy shift.

That way all you need is an order from Central to "fill these roles" rather than any coding or serious labour in implementing. 

 

I was going to say that it would make a good station goal, but it would be too hard to check and there is the problem Aletmange raised about  that "it would cause (antag target) crew to be unreachable.

 

As an event special antags could be installed manually with any number of made up taskssuch as "installing syndicate radios to listen in to the gateway base" or "plant a syndicate teleport beacon on the base (for nuke ops to tele in through)" and so on and so on. 

Or if we are bored of syndicates, splat some wizards down in there, or better yet... MORPHS!!!

It could also make sure an appropriate gateway target was set - spiders being most funny.