Suggestion for a Karma Costing job that Focuses on Synthetics Repair

[Raydon1206]

As the title states, I had an idea for a karma costing job that could be part of medical or a sub-division of robotics whose purposes are to repair and maintain IPC and People with Implants, as well as provide prosthetics and implants to medical. For this purpose I was thinking they could have a lathe that can only print cybernetic organs and prosthetics/IPC parts. I understand that this might take away work form robotics but.. it really does suck when every mid-round antag blows up robotics and IPC's just.. get shafted due to no place to repair at. Plus it helps medical not have to trek back and forth to robotics every time they need a new prosthetic. As for the area, I was thinking it could use a part of the mech-bay or the offshoot in front of the paramedic in the front section of lobby, across from chemistry. Atleast on the Cyberiad, as for the other two stations I'm a bit clueless. Thoughts on this would be very much appreciated. Suggested Job Titles: Mechanic or Synthetic Technician.

[Calyxman]

was this inspired by the ipc and synthetics repair bay last round

[Spacemanspark]

When you take IPC as a race, you have to come to terms with their downsides. 

One of those is potentially being at the hands of a roboticist who isn't sure on how to fix you, or people bringing you to medical without thinking too much on it. 

I'd rather not streamline IPCs into medical. Roboticists, unless you're like me and enjoy RP in between work, already suffer from a lack of things to do during a round. I'd rather not take away one of their biggest responsibilities. 

[Raydon1206]

Fair enough, should we close the thread then? 

[Longpipe23]

52 minutes ago, Raydon1206 said:

a sub-division of robotics whose purposes are to repair and maintain IPC and People with Implants, as well as provide prosthetics and implants to medical.

So... robotics then? 

[destinycall]

Here's a thought - remove the surgery table and operating table from robotics.  

Anything that requires actual surgery, like IPC repair, implants, and borging, gets moved over to the repair bay and/or med bay, handled by trained cybernetic techs.    If there are no cybernetic techs available, the roboticist might need to be called upon to assist in IPC repairs, when necessary, but this would not be his primary job.   Regular roboticists would be responsible for making or repairing bots, borgs, and mechs, instead of being half-surgeons.

And the repair bay could be located next to medbay for easy access .... and offer extra surgery space when times are hard and lots of crew are broken.  It might even encourage MedChem to make a few medicines for IPCs.

I don't see this as a bad change, personally.   The little surgery corner in Robotics has always felt weirdly out of place to me.   It isn't even sectioned off from the rest of the room.  

I think the cybernetic technicians should have robotics access (but no access to other parts of Science) along with limited medbay access.   This would let them bridge the two depts and help IPC crew get back on their feet faster.

Edited October 9, 2021 by destinycall

[Esenno]

2 hours ago, destinycall said:

remove the surgery table and operating table from robotics.

I feel the last thing any of us truly wants is Robotics having more time to mass produce combat mechs.

2 hours ago, destinycall said:

If there are no cybernetic techs available, the roboticist might need to be called upon to assist in IPC repairs

The issue with this idea is that when roboticists may need to be called due to it not being part of their standard duties they'll likely either not know how to do it or not be as proficient.

2 hours ago, destinycall said:

 The little surgery corner in Robotics has always felt weirdly out of place to me.

It's not really that out of place when you think about the fact that they do borgings and IPC repair.

2 hours ago, destinycall said:

This would let them bridge the two depts

This doesn't work for genetics. I don't see why it would work for this idea.

2 hours ago, destinycall said:

and help IPC crew get back on their feet faster.

The issue for this isn't IPCs not getting repaired fast enough. I think their initial issue was "Man it sucks that robotics gets blown up so often." As an IPC you kinda just have to accept your lot in life in this regard.

[Sweaterkittens]

4 hours ago, Raydon1206 said:

...it really does suck when every mid-round antag blows up robotics and IPC's just.. get shafted due to no place to repair at.

I have to disagree with this. IPCs are arguably the easiest crew to get back on their feet, and part of that boon is the fact that it can be done anywhere, by anyone. To reattach limbs we only need a surface. To be healed from completely dead, we only need wire and cable, which are ubiquitous (and 99% of the time are in the backpack of any IPC, including the dead one you're trying to repair). Our "surgical" tools are just average tools. 

The main issue is, and has always been, that people just don't understand how IPCs work. I think that having a dedicated IPC-repair job might help with people learn that stuff (since a lot of Robos just pick the role to make mechs), but it won't remedy IPCs just not getting fixed despite the fact that 99% of the station has or can easily get the tools to do so. I also think they'd be bored out of their mind on most rounds, given that the Medbay (which heals an overwhelming percentage of the crew) is bored frequently on slow rounds.

4 hours ago, Spacemanspark said:

When you take IPC as a race, you have to come to terms with their downsides. 

One of those is potentially being at the hands of a roboticist who isn't sure on how to fix you, or people bringing you to medical without thinking too much on it. 

I'd rather not streamline IPCs into medical. Roboticists, unless you're like me and enjoy RP in between work, already suffer from a lack of things to do during a round. I'd rather not take away one of their biggest responsibilities. 

Gotta agree with Spark here. I've not played a ton of Robo, but I very quickly discovered how quickly you run out of things to do unless you're mass-manufacturing combat mechs. Robos desperately need more things to do, not less, in my opinion.

1 minute ago, Esenno said:

It's not really that out of place when you think about the fact that they do borgings and IPC repair.

I wouldn't hate for Robotics to have some more unique sprites that fit a "workshop" aesthetic, but that's more of a sprite issue than a code/role one.