Remove/Tweak Emaggable Maint Drones

[sdtwbaj]

 

Right.

 

Maint drones, they're already-dead players' tickets back into the round, with the stipulation that they are to not interact with crew.

 

So it seems a little overpowered to mark these entirely looked over second-life type things as able to be emagged, and therefore able to murder, maim, etc. players.

 

The entire point of a maint drone is to be a second-life sandbox do-whatever thing, getting emagged both ruins that for the drone, or ruins that for some poor player.

 

Emagging cyborgs should be enough, don't put this on maint drones too.

 

If one absolutely insists, though, the emagged laws should include forbidding direct intervention, like no opening a window right next to a person, no hacksawing them to death, etc.

 

[scrubmcnoob]

 

Maint drones are relatively weak compared to normal crew member and have to get caught by an emag smack in the first place.

I like this aspect of maint drones having a double edge to them.

They could either be a friendly drone that fixes everything and does not get in the way or a destructive drone that causes harm but goes unnoticed and unstopped.

 

[sdtwbaj]

 

Maint drones are relatively weak compared to normal crew member and have to get caught by an emag smack in the first place.

I like this aspect of maint drones having a double edge to them.

They could either be a friendly drone that fixes everything and does not get in the way or a destructive drone that causes harm but goes unnoticed and unstopped.

*gets emagged*

*suddenly goes and slices up person who killed them/sec officer who arrested them/ai*

 

it's OP tbh, they're the only non-simple mob that literally anybody can instarespawn into.

 

[Psyentific]

You'd probably want to change emagged maint drones to simply be the maint drone's destructive counterpart. So his job is to wreck up the joint, all of the joint, forever, but not actually interact/kill/help people.

[sdtwbaj]

 

You'd probably want to change emagged maint drones to simply be the maint drone's destructive counterpart. So his job is to wreck up the joint, all of the joint, forever, but not actually interact/kill/help people.

oo i like it

 

[Dinarzad]

 

Maint drones are relatively weak compared to normal crew member and have to get caught by an emag smack in the first place.

I like this aspect of maint drones having a double edge to them.

They could either be a friendly drone that fixes everything and does not get in the way or a destructive drone that causes harm but goes unnoticed and unstopped.

*gets emagged*

*suddenly goes and slices up person who killed them/sec officer who arrested them/ai*

 

it's OP tbh, they're the only non-simple mob that literally anybody can instarespawn into.

 

Actually it takes 10 minutes of being a ghost to spawn as a drone. It's ... really not "Insta-respawn"

In addition, Drones are not all THAT often e-magged. I've seen evil drones like... two maybe three times in a month. There's WAY better an safer options them evil drones.

Drones are very easily destroyed, and as soon as it starts hitting someone, you put up a GIANT red flag that someone is a traitor, and from the Traitor's perspective, you're also putting faith into a drone to get the job done. You're better off getting a holoparasite if you want a cohort, or an emagged borg.

 

[sdtwbaj]

 

Maint drones are relatively weak compared to normal crew member and have to get caught by an emag smack in the first place.

I like this aspect of maint drones having a double edge to them.

They could either be a friendly drone that fixes everything and does not get in the way or a destructive drone that causes harm but goes unnoticed and unstopped.

*gets emagged*

*suddenly goes and slices up person who killed them/sec officer who arrested them/ai*

 

it's OP tbh, they're the only non-simple mob that literally anybody can instarespawn into.

 

Actually it takes 10 minutes of being a ghost to spawn as a drone. It's ... really not "Insta-respawn"

In addition, Drones are not all THAT often e-magged. I've seen evil drones like... two maybe three times in a month. There's WAY better an safer options them evil drones.

Drones are very easily destroyed, and as soon as it starts hitting someone, you put up a GIANT red flag that someone is a traitor, and from the Traitor's perspective, you're also putting faith into a drone to get the job done. You're better off getting a holoparasite if you want a cohort, or an emagged borg.

 

re clarification: the only guaranteed non-simple respawn

 

emagged borg makes a lot more sense, because it's far more conspicuous and far less chances that it's a dead person (despite posibrains).

 

i like the idea of emagging flipping it and making it into a swarmer of sorts.

 

[Machofish]

 

From personal experience with maint drones, I've been killed as an AI within the first 30 minutes of a match by a single emagged drone casually waltzing into my core with the sonic hammer. In many ways an emagged drone is more versatile, concealable and deadly than an emagged borg - especially when emagging a drone requires a single click compared to the riskier and more finnicky process of screwing around with a borg's panel in order to emag them.

 

Need to kill the AI? A drone does that on its own. The captain is hiding in their office and you need to assassinate them? Drone. Need a locker stolen, but don't want your fingerprints on the scene? Emag a drone and have it open the doors for you. Need to sabotage the engine? Send an emagged drone to turn off the emitters and/or overload the PA. Want to convince the crew that the AI is rogue? Order the drone to destroy telecomms, then have it electrify all the doors in medbay and brig. If your emagged drone is caught, it doesn't matter - because even if the drone gets taken out, there's no feasible way for security to trace it back to you.

 

The problem here isn't that drones can be emagged - it's that emagged drones are disproportionately effective at infiltrating, sabotaging and assassinating a wide variety of targets with almost complete impunity. At present, I would suggest that emagged drones be made a separately-ordered traitor item all on their own.

 

[Farya]

 

From personal experience with maint drones, I've been killed as an AI within the first 30 minutes of a match by a single emagged drone casually waltzing into my core with the sonic hammer. In many ways an emagged drone is more versatile, concealable and deadly than an emagged borg - especially when emagging a drone requires a single click compared to the riskier and more finnicky process of screwing around with a borg's panel in order to emag them.

 

Need to kill the AI? A drone does that on its own. The captain is hiding in their office and you need to assassinate them? Drone. Need a locker stolen, but don't want your fingerprints on the scene? Emag a drone and have it open the doors for you. Need to sabotage the engine? Send an emagged drone to turn off the emitters and/or overload the PA. Want to convince the crew that the AI is rogue? Order the drone to destroy telecomms, then have it electrify all the doors in medbay and brig. If your emagged drone is caught, it doesn't matter - because even if the drone gets taken out, there's no feasible way for security to trace it back to you.

 

The problem here isn't that drones can be emagged - it's that emagged drones are disproportionately effective at infiltrating, sabotaging and assassinating a wide variety of targets with almost complete impunity. At present, I would suggest that emagged drones be made a separately-ordered traitor item all on their own.

Also some syndicate skin for them and different equipment. Make drone a bit like terror drone in Red Alert.

 

[sdtwbaj]

I like that idea, only if the drone has to go hack something (an ai terminal?) to control shit, and AI is told it's been compromised.

[improvedname]

Something something hard to catch something high brute jack hammer something bone breaking

[Dinarzad]

 

Something something hard to catch something high brute jack hammer something bone breaking

 

They don't get a Sonic Jackhammer though, they get a Mining Drill (For... sssssome reason..)

I wanna say a Diamond one, but I'm not... sure.

 

Still not sure why a mining drill of all things. They used to get a Plasma cutter which made more sense, but was sort of OP. I don't entirely know if they NEED any special emagged item like borgs get, they're fairly equipped with murder tools as it is, industrial welders and the like.

 

[sdtwbaj]

not to mention they can rcd a hole to spess right under/next to the person

[Dinarzad]

 

not to mention they can rcd a hole to spess right under/next to the person

Nnnno. Drones do not have an RCD, not even e-magged ones. That's only engineering borgs.

 

Besides, people forget there's a drone console in engineering that can issue a kill command, as far as I know emagging a drone doesn't make it immune to that.

 

[improvedname]

 

Something something hard to catch something high brute jack hammer something bone breaking

 

They don't get a Sonic Jackhammer though, they get a Mining Drill (For... sssssome reason..)

I wanna say a Diamond one, but I'm not... sure.

 

Still not sure why a mining drill of all things. They used to get a Plasma cutter which made more sense, but was sort of OP. I don't entirely know if they NEED any special emagged item like borgs get, they're fairly equipped with murder tools as it is, industrial welders and the like.

 

My headcannon is they should get a toolbox that wouldnt make sense anyways

Anyhow i be happier if they get nothing and it also be cool when they are emagged they should spark some times to show they are emagged

 

[Sothangel]

Emagging a maint drone means you cannot remotely kill it, just to clarify.

[Dinarzad]

 

Emagging a maint drone means you cannot remotely kill it, just to clarify.

 

Oh.

Well then.

That... honestly seems like it shouldn't be the case. I mean the entire point of the console is "In case of malf-y drone, press 'The button' ".

Considering Drones can respawn and have decent murder tools, it'd sorta make them like a disposal little spider bot for traitors to send at people, even if they "Survive" it'll probably be blown remotely. Assuming someone got it's number anyway.

 

I'd be kinda all for that changing.

 

[Sothangel]

Maybe... Make it so you can only destroy them from the drone machine on the engi-sat. Gives it an *Official* usage, means drones can still get stuff done but it takes a moment for anyone to remotely detonate them.

[sdtwbaj]

 

Maybe... Make it so you can only destroy them from the drone machine on the engi-sat. Gives it an *Official* usage, means drones can still get stuff done but it takes a moment for anyone to remotely detonate them.

enginesat is too vulnerable

 

take apart the shuttle computer and ur gud

 

[Farya]

 

Maybe... Make it so you can only destroy them from the drone machine on the engi-sat. Gives it an *Official* usage, means drones can still get stuff done but it takes a moment for anyone to remotely detonate them.

enginesat is too vulnerable

 

take apart the shuttle computer and ur gud

People cant in EVA now? You can get to engi sat without jetpack with just rig and extingusher. We also have pod pilot

 

[SomanB]

**

Edited November 22, 2016 by Guest

[sdtwbaj]

 

Emagged borgs are enough tbh, why do we need to emag drones too?

 

I like the idea of it flipping the script and just making it designed to wreck everything forever.

 

[Dinarzad]

 

Emagged borgs are enough tbh, why do we need to emag drones too?

 

I like the idea of it flipping the script and just making it designed to wreck everything forever.

Why do we need the ability to emag an arcade game? Or a Security hailer, who shouldn't even HAVE an Emag to casually use to begin with?

Because it's a thing for traitors to do, a route to take. If you're gonna ask "Why do we have to have this"

Then the answer is going to be "We don't have to, but that doesn't mean we should remove it."

 

Drones are by their nature, ignored by the crew a bit more then borgs are. They're a stealthier alternative in many scenarios, to cyborgs who are expected to take orders as per normal. A cyborg can give you a situational advantage (Medical borg for heals on demand, etc.) A drone is a totally overlooked synthetic that has a full compliment of engineering tools. It can make false walls for the traitor to get around easily, or can be sent to put the station on edge by shocking doors, syphoning air. Bonus points if the traitor in question emags APCs to make it look like a malf AI.

 

And just because a drone is a dead player getting back into the round, doesn't mean jack diddles. Revenants, Swarmers, Xenos, Level 5 Biohazards, Holoparasites/Scarab Swarms, Cyborgs (You can print posibrains) and more, are all pulled from dead players. Five of those mentioned are straight up antags.

 

[sdtwbaj]

 

Because it really improves the experience to be drilled to death by a pretty powerful little drone.

 

Flipping the script still seems like the best way, turning a drone into your slave bitch is just a little too much. Again, there's borgs for that, they're just as unnoticed as a maint drone.

 

[Dinarzad]

 

Because it really improves the experience to be drilled to death by a pretty powerful little drone.

 

Flipping the script still seems like the best way, turning a drone into your slave bitch is just a little too much. Again, there's borgs for that, they're just as unnoticed as a maint drone.

 

"Pretty powerful" is an extreme overstatement. As an emagged drone I was sent to kill a Warden, who I jumped on at a pretty ideal time, even shocked doors so he could run.

He killed me long before I ever even got him into critical, it was the electrified door that hurt him worse then I ever did.

 

Drones have 1/6th the HP of a borg, throwing a single wrench at them knocks them down to about 75% HP. They're NOT hard to blow up, especially if you just throw shit from a distance. They cannot self-repair and either take the hits or they scurry away.

 

Secondly, being killed is NEVER an improvement to player experience so that's a moot point. Is it REALLY that much more fun to be instant killed by a hellmix from a spray bottle by that same traitor? Or having a changeling sting you and husk you in maintenance?

It's not always YOUR player experience that matters, Death happens. It's SS13, get cloned and try again, tab out, join as a borg or a drone or any other numerous aspects. A drone cannot move your body, so unless the traitor in question is waiting in the wings, your body is going to be found and cloned.

 

And borgs are nowhere near as unnoticed as drones. Like... like the moment a borg does anything someone doesn't like, someone starts screaming that it's rogue. They're expected to talk and RP and take orders, from both the AI and crew in general. A drone can't talk except to other drones so it scuttling around and ignoring people is pretty standard.