New Suggestions, Improvements and Quality of Life changes to Medbay

[Dany Albarn]

Hello!

First and foremost: I don't know anything about coding. That's why I naturally have no Idea if some of those suggestions are even implementable / worth the amount of time and effort it takes to implement. I'm fully aware that a coders time is limited, and so I'm trying to keep the changes as simple as possible. I don't think any of those will have any MAJOR effects or balance issues either. Most of them I'd consider general quality of life changes and tweaks.

Without further ado, here are my suggestions:

 

NOTE: I'll try to sort them into colors, dependend on what I think are easier / more difficult to implement.

Green = Propably Easy

Yellow =  Propably not as Easy

Red = Coders pls don't hate me for suggesting that

 

 

1: Put a Medical Hud / Medical belt into the Paramedics locker.

Grabbing those in the Beginning of the shift is easy enough. But there's a good chance that all of these are gone if you're a late joining Paramedic on High Pop. Considering that Docs and Surgeons have those in their starting lockers, it would be just fair that the Paramedic also has a pair of those.

 

2: Add "Chemical Beakers" holding 120u to Chemistry.

Quite a few chemists, me included, prefer the 120u a bucket can hold compared to the 100u of a large beaker. It's easier and quicker to make chems with it, simply because it's easy to divide it by 3 and 4, the amount of chems most meds use to make.

Buckets do the same thing. But

A) It's silly to use buckets as a medical chemist on a RP standpoint, and

B) You have to pesker Cargo for a few of those or steal them from the arrivals garden / pet store, which in turn are kinda needed at their base locations.

 

3: Add a Omnizine Bottle into the Chemistry chem lockers.

SR is propably the most important Reagent a Chemist has to make. Quite a few races aren't clonable, which in return makes it pretty much mandatory from the start. The only ways to get hold of it in the Beginning is either

A) Through the CMO (which is sometimes not possible because there simply isn't a CMO on Station, he isn't cooperating or Hypospray gets stolen) or

B) By heating Donk Pockets, eating them or feeding them to someone, and extracting that stuff through a sleeper and beaker.

A thing to consider are new players. The Wiki doesn't state where to get Omnizine from. A) is easy enough to do for new players. But I doubt that a new chemist would be able to get Omnizine via B)

without some significant help from others.

Another points is: Considering that even the Donk Pocket Manufacturers are putting them into easily available food pockets, why shouldn't a NT research station have a bottle of it in its Chemistry lockers? Just remove the bottle of Oil for it.

 

4: Change the color of the Crew Monitor display to red if someone with maximized Crew Sensors goes into crit.

The Crew Monitor already has a Display, and it could significantly improve the response times of people equipped with a Crew Monitor; especially the Paramedic.

Also, people wouldn't have to check the monitor every minute if someone is in need of help

 

5: Make the Pinpointer beep if the target disables his suit sensors / gets them disabled.

This isn't a Medbay only change, it could be useful for security / the Blueshield as well.

I wouldn't consider it something high on the list, but the disabling of sensors usually means that something could be wrong. And having the Pinpointer beep a few times could draw attention to the Situation, especially if the person is busy.

 

6: Put an Extra Donut Vendor into Medbay. With all kinds of different flavors.

 

This is very important. I'm sure I don't have the explain why.

 

7: Replace the Stationary Crew Monitor in the Medbay Reception with an "Advanced Prototype Crew Monitor"

Alright, let me explain what I mean with that. Medbays little reception room is nothing more than a glorified door openers office in its current state. My suggestion is to add something "Unique" to it, to get Doctors to actually sit in there, which in return will lessen the amount of people being stuck in the medbay lobby because nobody is opening tha damn medbay Door.

Now, let me explain what I mean with an "Advanced Prototype Crew Monitor"

What I'm thinking about is basically a mixture of a Crew Monitor, Health Monitor, and Advanced Crew Scanner.  People using it would not just be able to locate People on the map, they would also be able to see their health status such as Damage, Damage types, Blood level aswell as internal injuries such as Internal Bleeding, Organ Damage and Broken Bones. This would increase the interaction of Doctors and the Paramedic by giving him information about the status of the patient. Also, it would actually give doctors a reason to sit in the door openers office.

 

 

This List is work in progress. I'll propably add more later on. Also, feel free to discuss and make your own suggestions. Together we can... uh... make Medbay great again? (Even though I like it as it is)

 

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2019 by Dany Albarn

[TheClosetMailman]

Number five and seven is another big fuck you to traitors.

Come on, I can barely murder Generic IPC no. 5 without at least two nurses screaming their exact cords over the comms, and you want to tell them the exact injuries too?

No thank you.

[Dany Albarn]

1 hour ago, TheClosetMailman said:

Number five and seven is another big fuck you to traitors.

Come on, I can barely murder Generic IPC no. 5 without at least two nurses screaming their exact cords over the comms, and you want to tell them the exact injuries too?

No thank you.

I don't see how any of those would make a big impact on traitoring. Let me explain:

The Pinpointer would only beep once the target goes offline. Nobody would be able to call out the location then because, well, the suit sensors are offline. The same information is currently also available if someone pays attention to his pinpointer anyway.

Same with the Advanced Crew Monitor. Imagine someone is getting killed in Sci Maint by an E-Sword. The normal Crew Monitor would be able to tell that someone is dying of Brute Damage in Sci maint, which is the only relevant information anyway. The Advanced Crew Monitor would also tell the viewer that the victim has, for example, a broken chest and leg and 87% Blood. And maybe some Lung and Heart damage.

I think the additional Information isn't really making much of a difference.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Dany Albarn

[Pennwick]

I'm against pretty much all of these for either making life harder for antags or hurting interdepartmental cooperation.

1. On high pop there are sometimes shortages of supplies. However the Belt and Med HUD are neither critical nor terribly hard to get. As someone who works RnD and Botany decently often I'm more than happy to outfit the paradmedic if they swing by the window and ask. Who knows, if you're joining late enough you might even get upgrades.

2. Same as 1 but I could see Chemical Beakers being printable from a Autolathe. Something to get the Chemist out of the lab for a moment at the start of the shift. Giving cargo something to do. They might even be a little larger but fit in none of the grenade types to keep things ballanced.

3. Absolutely not. Procuring omnizine is a mid tier task for the Chemist. They either need to interact with the CMO, or finagle a chimp to get some. Strange Reagent is always liked yes. But we don't want to flatten the difficulty curve to the point its a straight line.

4. This would be an absolute givaway to any traitor who didn't or couldn't manage to turn off suit sensors before critting their target. As soon as someone gets into crit everyone on station carrying one of the things will know about it.

5. If its just crew pinpointers this one might be alright. As you said, if their sensors turn off while you're already tracking an individual then it'll bug out anyway. But at the same time, now you're alerted even if pinpointer is in your backpack.

7. Might be alright but it seems kinda strange that every jumpsuit on station has the equipment needed to relay that info over the radio network. Its strange enough it can transmit basic health data. If its upgraded though it might give too much info too easily. Previously someone who has 200 suffocation damage might have been in an air drained room, accidentally left their mask on, or got vamped. With the upgrade you could tell immediately. Knowledgeable doctors might even be able to tell what weapons are being used just by the damages. To be honest I'd say that its not the crew monitoring console needs a buff. Its that there need to be less handheld crew monitors available. With 8 on station at roundstart and being easy to print from Science half the roundstart security and medical teams could have them. I'd rather see ONE for the Paramedic, ONE for the Blueshield, and in science at the end of the Bluespace and Medical research paths.

[Dany Albarn]

2 hours ago, Pennwick said:

I'm against pretty much all of these for either making life harder for antags or hurting interdepartmental cooperation.

1. On high pop there are sometimes shortages of supplies. However the Belt and Med HUD are neither critical nor terribly hard to get. As someone who works RnD and Botany decently often I'm more than happy to outfit the paradmedic if they swing by the window and ask. Who knows, if you're joining late enough you might even get upgrades.

2. Same as 1 but I could see Chemical Beakers being printable from a Autolathe. Something to get the Chemist out of the lab for a moment at the start of the shift. Giving cargo something to do. They might even be a little larger but fit in none of the grenade types to keep things ballanced.

3. Absolutely not. Procuring omnizine is a mid tier task for the Chemist. They either need to interact with the CMO, or finagle a chimp to get some. Strange Reagent is always liked yes. But we don't want to flatten the difficulty curve to the point its a straight line.

4. This would be an absolute givaway to any traitor who didn't or couldn't manage to turn off suit sensors before critting their target. As soon as someone gets into crit everyone on station carrying one of the things will know about it.

5. If its just crew pinpointers this one might be alright. As you said, if their sensors turn off while you're already tracking an individual then it'll bug out anyway. But at the same time, now you're alerted even if pinpointer is in your backpack.

7. Might be alright but it seems kinda strange that every jumpsuit on station has the equipment needed to relay that info over the radio network. Its strange enough it can transmit basic health data. If its upgraded though it might give too much info too easily. Previously someone who has 200 suffocation damage might have been in an air drained room, accidentally left their mask on, or got vamped. With the upgrade you could tell immediately. Knowledgeable doctors might even be able to tell what weapons are being used just by the damages. To be honest I'd say that its not the crew monitoring console needs a buff. Its that there need to be less handheld crew monitors available. With 8 on station at roundstart and being easy to print from Science half the roundstart security and medical teams could have them. I'd rather see ONE for the Paramedic, ONE for the Blueshield, and in science at the end of the Bluespace and Medical research paths.

Thanks for your reply! It made me rethink some of the suggestions I had made. I didn't really consider the viewpoints of Antags too much I have to admit. Or the interaction between departments. But I disagree with some of your points.

1. I agree, they are not critical. It's not a big change, but I think it would be fair for a paramedic to have a pair of those because they're as crucial for his work as for the other docs. I just don't see a reason why they shouldn't be in his locker in the first place. And peskering science for stuff doesn't always work, especially because quite often nobody is responding. And time can be crucial for paramedics. Having to wait for 10 minutes until a scientist shows pity and prints you a medhud is just no fun. Especially if you should have one in the first place.

2. They shouldn't fit into granades, I agree with you. I'd be fine if you can get those from cargo too. But I mean, Chemistry already starts with Large Beakers. People who prefer the 100u beakers can start right away while people who prefer the 120u buckets gotta take a big walk around the station. So I don't know if it really makes a difference if chemistry also start with some slightly larger beakers, so that people can pick the ones they prefer.

3. I disagree with you there. SR is waaay too important to be a mid tier task. It's propably the most important chem a chemist has to produce. The current ways to get Omnizine are really unreliable, cumbersome and counter intuitive, especially for new players. Should a chemist really have to beg his CMO for a chem that's readily available in some donk pockets? Interaction is important, yes. The whole game is based on interaction. But it makes no sense. The current methods to get Omnizine are simply not reliable enough. No CMO to give you his Hypo? Tough luck. Chef isn't in the kitchen and no response from the AI to let you in to grab them? Sucks for you. I had dozens of shifts where It was really a pain in the ass to get it. That's no fun for anyone. Not for the chemist, and not for the person who's waiting to get revived. I also don't think it's really impacting the difficulty curve of the job in any way. You already have more than enough stuff to prepare anyway. And it would give chemists a breather.

4. That's a point I haven't considered yet. I suppose that would make an antags job indeed a lot tougher. Hmm. Maybe a delay until the screen turns red would work. That would give antags enough time to disable the sensors.  But yeah, I agree with you. Traitors would hate that change.

5. The beeping would only start once it bugs out, as you said. I guess it wouldn't make that much of a difference because the sensors are disabled anyway at that point. But maybe another slight delay to the beeping alert would be appropriate.

7. Hmm. I mean it's already relaying the exact location and amount of damage someone has taken. But I get what you are saying. Maybe toning it down a bit and not showing the exact damage numbers for internal damage would make more sense. For example: "Subject's Heartbeat seems irregular" for heart damage, "Subject seems to have fractures" for, well, fractures and "Subject seems to have trouble breathing" for lung damage. Adding a little bit of text instead of raw numbers would make it more interesting anyway in my opinion.

Accidently leaving the mask on and being in an air drained room... I mean. You can already tell that from the current monitors. And Vampires should disable someones sensors anyways before doing the succ. I don't think the monitor would cause trouble to antags.

Ah, and about "knowledgeable doctors might even be able to tell what weapons are being used just by the damages", what exactly do you mean with that?

[TheClosetMailman]

Pretty easy to tell someone got e-sworded if they lose their head, aint it? 

Or got shot, when the sensor start mentioning embedded objects. 

So yeah, a big fuck you to antags. 

[Fox McCloud]

2: Add "Chemical Beakers" holding 120u to Chemistry.

Discussed before and turned down. The reason is that 120 units beakers become problematic for chemical reactions and balance---this isn't an issue for buckets (which can't be used in grenades or the likes), but for beakers? It becomes a big problem

 

Add a Omnizine Bottle into the Chemistry chem lockers.

It's a chemical meant to be worked for with a semi-decent amount of effort and convolutedness involved in acquiring it. It's not something medbay is entitled to nor should they be handed.

 

Make the Pinpointer beep if the target disables his suit sensors / gets them disabled.

Absolutely not. Suit sensors, crew monitors, and crew pinpointers are already ridiculously powerful for full time crew-watchers. This just makes it all that much harder for antags. Reaching the point of "everyone effectively has a death alarm" is not a healthy state for the game

 

Put an Extra Donut Vendor into Medbay. With all kinds of different flavors.

 

I'm assuming this is some kind of joke--either case, we want more dependence on the chef and more co-operation, not less.

 

Replace the Stationary Crew Monitor in the Medbay Reception with an "Advanced Prototype Crew Monitor"

We do want some level of triage, guesswork, and dependence on multiple people in multiple spots in medbay.

[WingedYordle]

I am agreeing with McCloud.

Buckets are easily obtainable anyway if you really need 120 units.

CMO will normally give you their tool with omnizine in it or find a friend to eat a donk pocket and dialysis it.

Rounds will be instantly ruined with the pin pointer alerts. Just no

I don’t eat sweets. That is why we have chefs

[Dany Albarn]

1 hour ago, Fox McCloud said:

 

 

Discussed before and turned down. The reason is that 120 units beakers become problematic for chemical reactions and balance---this isn't an issue for buckets (which can't be used in grenades or the likes), but for beakers? It becomes a big problem

 

 

 

It's a chemical meant to be worked for with a semi-decent amount of effort and convolutedness involved in acquiring it. It's not something medbay is entitled to nor should they be handed.

 

 

 

Absolutely not. Suit sensors, crew monitors, and crew pinpointers are already ridiculously powerful for full time crew-watchers. This just makes it all that much harder for antags. Reaching the point of "everyone effectively has a death alarm" is not a healthy state for the game

 

 

 

 

I'm assuming this is some kind of joke--either case, we want more dependence on the chef and more co-operation, not less.

 

 

 

We do want some level of triage, guesswork, and dependence on multiple people in multiple spots in medbay.

2: Like I said above, making them "too big" for granade casings and basically incompatible would solve that Issue, wouldn't it? Imagine them just being a reskin of normal buckets, just less silly to work with.

 

3: The difficulty in aquiring it doesn't bother me the least. But as explained above, the way of aquiring it currently is just unreliable and frustrating.

Putting it into a bottle at round start may be too easy, and you've heard that suggestion propably more than once, but how about making it a craftable chem in chemistry?

For example by combining multiple Mid to High Tier Chemicals like Pentetic Acid, Atropine, Syntflesh and Holy Water into a low yielding result like 4 to 1 (or hell, even 8 to 1) into Omnizine would also solve that issue. It would take a lot of time to produce, it would also be low yielding, but it would also be a worst case scenario backup way to get a hold of it in case someone already snatched the Donk Pockets and the Hypo if you're a late joining Chemist, which happened to me more than once.

 

4: Pennwick already pointed out some Issues with my Suggestions about the Pinpointers / Crew Monitors that I didn't really consider before making that suggestion. I agree with you two there, Traitors already have it hard enough.

 

5: But... but. Donuts. Nah, just kidding. It was a joke suggestion. But about the Chef... yeah. The Chef really isn't getting any love at all. Especially with all those overpowered drinking Vendors around each corner. Damn Hot Chocolate / Chicken Soup cups.