Give the Mechanic EVA

[Reyblood]

Even though Mechanic is meant to explore space or build pods, in practice, the crew does not generally want a pod, and the Mechanic generally goes to explore space, and any and all space ruins are so often tight that a pod can't get in, and the pod itself cannot interact with the ambient, requiring the Mechanic to eventually get out of his pod, thus making the use of EVA gear inevitable.

Mechanic is a part of engineering himself and for some reason the ONLY engineering job that does not have access to EVA Gear(even though ironically the ONLY job in engineering that has to get out of the sector).  I think this would be as simple as adding a suit storag unit with a softsuit or an engineering-themed hardsuit inside, magboots and an oxygen-filled jetpack.

Here's an image of a sad, anonymous Mechanic with a puny softsuit he had to hack into EVA and almost get arrested to get, now his ghost looks sadly at his body, lamenting for both his life AND suit, that he didn't had right to have at roundstart.

 

[Lars]

To play devil's advocate, technically the mechanic doesn't need a suit to build pods and test drive them. The job description is "mechanic" not space explorer.

They can also just fly to engi sector and go in thru the mass drive airlock to grab an engi suit, if not from somewhere else.

[BryanR]

The poor Mechanic could do what everyone else does and ask the HoP for EVA access instead of committing Major Trespass into a restricted area.

[WingedYordle]

Go big or go home @BryanR *Flex*

[Reyblood]

@Lars In theory, is the mechanic's job to make space pods and ONLY make space pods. We must look at the practical part though. (almost) Noone wants space pods, and therefore the Mechanic's job of only building space pods is useless if there is noone willing to have a pod. The Mechanic pretty much fills the role of a space explorer(no mechanic stays in-station to build pods because noone wants pods), and if the crew wants to go space-exploring they just get EVA Gear and throw themselves through the Chapel's driver, and don't ask the Mechanic to make a pod for them. Even the Mechanic Wiki Page states that "your main responsibility will be constructing and maintaining space pods for yourself or the crew" but it also states that "In a typical round you'll mostly find yourself making a pod then zooming around the station". The Mechanic does not have engineering access to get inside the engi outpost's airlocks, and noone has the resistance to stay awake in space to hack the doors and open them without having to heal or die afterwards in a scenary where most of space ruins that has actual loot can also be dangerous to a certain degree.

1. In practice, crew does not want Pods and Mechanic also does not to stay at the station greytiding if they have the capability of looting spess

@BryanR It's impractical. I found myself 30 minutes station-time to get proper preparations to go to space, more 10 minutes to find the sector i want, more 30 minutes to actually loot whatever i want and even more 10 minutes to come back in a round that lasts 2 Hours. You get all round preparating, looting but no time to make use of the loot.

2. Depending on what you want to do, time is scarce, mainly because of the pod's speed, lack of practical access, gear and major dependance on RNG on whether you get what you're looking for or not.

[White In Sky]

I'd rather just break into EVA as mechanic to be honest.

[Lars]

23 hours ago, Reyblood said:

@Lars The Mechanic does not have engineering access to get inside the engi outpost's airlocks, and noone has the resistance to stay awake in space to hack the doors and open them without having to heal or die afterwards

Nah, for some reason, the bottom external airlocks in the outpost mass driver room are free access and unbolted. You can just waltz in and borrow whatever from the two suit storages. Since that and white ship are free access fixed spawns, getting a suit is really a no brainer when you spawn with a GPS.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Lars

[Eldrin-Kanthos]

I have to agree. I play mechanic a lot and frequently multi round times I see the same HoP and ask for the same permission. Couple have mentioned in game I should just have access already.

 

I don't have a fancy argument other than instead of stealing/looting a suit, the mechanic should start with access/a single suit dispenser because frequently once your pod is built you are either an explorer or help recover dead/dying crew clinging to the outer hull.

[Spacemanspark]

Mechanic is meant to build and repair space pods. They aren't space explorers, although I don't mind when they go off to do such. 

 

Don't really agree that they need a suit roundstart tho 

[Skysorrow]

To chime in a little for a bit of an idea. What about a code-locked suit thing in Mechanics, with a simple suit/helmet (space, so not EVA directly), that the Mechanic could request the code from...Say, the HoP (A roundstart paper in their office or something, akin to the PDA server code-lock thing) So while they wouldn't need actual access, they'd still need to get clearance to leave the station with such.

Personally as a Mechanic, I do usually end up trying to play a minor-engineer, helping patch the station up, and patrolling around the exterior after a little space lookie loo to see what's around, so having an atmospherically sound suit is somewhat helpful, even if strictly speaking, not required for the solid job description. Also worth mentioning, the lack of pod building for the crew is also partially because of the lack of space for more than a pod or two in the bay. The Engineering Revamp actually was nice in that matter, due to the garage having space for...technically I think it was 4-6, if people park right.