Tcomms "Nerf"

[Leanfrog]

So, as it is currently whenever Tcomms or any other major thing goes down, RND is capable of just shitting out a new version almost immediately, we'll keep the focus of this on Tcomms for now as to keep things brief, for example, a terror or xeno sneaks onto the AI sat and destroys the Tcomms hub, at first glance this is a really bad thing people can't communicate anymore but OOOOPS, RND has just immediately built a new Tcomms hub with no repercussions for it going down and comms are back up with effectively no downtime.

So my suggestion is this, make Tcomms have a "rebooting" period whenever comms are taken offline, be it manually shut down or destroyed. This would enable the destruction of the Tcomms hub to actually be impactful, additionally this shouldn't affect Malf AI too much, the forced downtime of comms being shut off would reflect the usual bluff of "ions".

Overall a minor change that should still create a reasonable impact on how things go down this also eliminates the potential of people pre-building tcomms hubs to just shut down breaking comms even harder, if you were to ask me I'd say at base the downtime should be around 5 minutes but the period of downtime is up for debate.

[Carthusia]

I like, ive seen new Tcoms get setup within a minute before, it was harder back in the day when it required an entire sat of its own to hold all the various terminals, but the fact its now just a board, some metal and a couple of bits mashed into one terminal makes its destruction a non issue so long as RND is operational

[AffectedArc07]

10 hours ago, Leanfrog said:

So, as it is currently whenever Tcomms or any other major thing goes down, RND is capable of just shitting out a new version almost immediately, we'll keep the focus of this on Tcomms for now as to keep things brief, for example, a terror or xeno sneaks onto the AI sat and destroys the Tcomms hub, at first glance this is a really bad thing people can't communicate anymore but OOOOPS, RND has just immediately built a new Tcomms hub with no repercussions for it going down and comms are back up with effectively no downtime.

So my suggestion is this, make Tcomms have a "rebooting" period whenever comms are taken offline, be it manually shut down or destroyed. This would enable the destruction of the Tcomms hub to actually be impactful, additionally this shouldn't affect Malf AI too much, the forced downtime of comms being shut off would reflect the usual bluff of "ions".

Overall a minor change that should still create a reasonable impact on how things go down this also eliminates the potential of people pre-building tcomms hubs to just shut down breaking comms even harder, if you were to ask me I'd say at base the downtime should be around 5 minutes but the period of downtime is up for debate.

Absolutely.

 

My biggest mistake with new tcomms was making it so easy to repair.

 

I did at one point consider making the machine only able to operate in cold temperatures, but felt that may be too extreme. However, now the issue has been raised like this, I may consider it.

[Nerfection]

2 hours ago, AffectedArc07 said:

I did at one point consider making the machine only able to operate in cold temperatures, but felt that may be too extreme. However, now the issue has been raised like this, I may consider it.

I really like the idea of the telecoms room having some specific environmental requirements. Perhaps could it be something more than just cold, as if that is the only requirement, then replacement telecoms would only need to be budged into the cold server room, which is only a few tiles away from RnD where it would usually be built. 

[PacifistDalek]

Perhaps Tcomms could be a bigger machine a-la the station goals or gravity gen, so you have to clear a specific room for it if you want to build a new one.You have to put in a bit of effort or it becomes more vulnerable to attack. Keeps the actual setup simple, and if you do want to shit one out you can but that leaves it vulnerable to attack. Plus there are some good sprites on other servers that could be easily converted into some kind of radio tower style setup.

[MattTheFicus]

Perhaps have "relays" in specific spots around the Station that you need to relink to the central Telecomms system? 

[S34N]

You could even make it require some mcguffin from cargo

[Shadowradar1212]

On 9/28/2022 at 12:38 AM, Leanfrog said:

So, as it is currently whenever Tcomms or any other major thing goes down, RND is capable of just shitting out a new version almost immediately, we'll keep the focus of this on Tcomms for now as to keep things brief, for example, a terror or xeno sneaks onto the AI sat and destroys the Tcomms hub, at first glance this is a really bad thing people can't communicate anymore but OOOOPS, RND has just immediately built a new Tcomms hub with no repercussions for it going down and comms are back up with effectively no downtime.

So my suggestion is this, make Tcomms have a "rebooting" period whenever comms are taken offline, be it manually shut down or destroyed. This would enable the destruction of the Tcomms hub to actually be impactful, additionally this shouldn't affect Malf AI too much, the forced downtime of comms being shut off would reflect the usual bluff of "ions".

Overall a minor change that should still create a reasonable impact on how things go down this also eliminates the potential of people pre-building tcomms hubs to just shut down breaking comms even harder, if you were to ask me I'd say at base the downtime should be around 5 minutes but the period of downtime is up for debate.

pretty much 100% spot on, in fact ironically, you're better off making an aux telecomms first and shoving it behind a hundred rwalls and putting on a translator to some horrific language nobody understands and ever could, (clownish my beloved) than actually, sabotaging and bombing tcomms. but then you have the issue that nobody can actually find or get to it to fix it, leaving comms out nearly the entire round AND shutting off ERT comms and the like by making it into utter gibberish.

 

plus that's a LOT of investment just to say, kidnap and contract the captain without a sec response only to have tcomms now located in the middle of the brig or the bridge's upload chamber surrounded by turrets before you even got over because the AI yelled about it.

[Miraviel]

On 9/28/2022 at 7:35 PM, S34N said:

You could even make it require some mcguffin from cargo

I'm usually down for nerfing science by moving stuff to cargo, but telecomms is something I'd entirely leave for science (as it should be the RD's job to manage it).

A reboot timer would be enough I think. Make ionospheric anomalies long to reboot (3-5 minutes as per the event), 8-10 minutes if it was completely rebuilt. This way it'd be worth it to completely destroy it, since the crew would be without tcomms for 10+ minutes, at least.

If you want to complicate it, ensure that it only works in cold but pressurised rooms (to avoid them being built in vacuum). I am aware that science has a cold room, but it is not as good as you think - any biohazard that is capable of prying open vents now has a quiet and safe route to telecomms, and they can just take it down again, disabling it for another ten minutes.

[Charliminator]

I really do like the cold room idea. 

[Leanfrog]

8 hours ago, Charliminator said:

I really do like the cold room idea. 

I also like the idea of it requiring a cold room but as mentioned above by others I feel it wouldn't change anything since science already starts with one, and it'd be very easy for them to just shove a new one down in there, but if it requires a cold room and has a reset period like in Miravel's post that seems fine and would encourage actually setting something secure up.

[AffectedArc07]

5 hours ago, Leanfrog said:

I also like the idea of it requiring a cold room but as mentioned above by others I feel it wouldn't change anything since science already starts with one, and it'd be very easy for them to just shove a new one down in there, but if it requires a cold room and has a reset period like in Miravel's post that seems fine and would encourage actually setting something secure up.

Could make it require a room away from servers due to interference or whatever

[LforLouise]

Simply remove tcomms and employ assistants as message runners, or make Ian a carrier corgidgeon.

12 hours ago, AffectedArc07 said:

Could make it require a room away from servers due to interference or whatever

Alternatively make the little PDA room thingy near gravgen a coldroom and put tcomms in there - the PDA messaging server is already in it, so it would make some sense

 

[AffectedArc07]

2 hours ago, LforLouise said:

Simply remove tcomms and employ assistants as message runners, or make Ian a carrier corgidgeon.

Alternatively make the little PDA room thingy near gravgen a coldroom and put tcomms in there - the PDA messaging server is already in it, so it would make some sense

 

The reason it *isnt* in here is because it makes it far too difficult for nukies and the likes to sabotage.