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[Kaitol]

I really need to stop being so by the book as security. I see a scientist with a bomb outside of research and instead of immediately shooting them like I should, I stop to try to talk to them first. And then get stungloved while I'm typing. How am I supposed to RP and give people a chance to talk their way out of it when nobody ever tries to talk.

[Girlinhat]

EDIT: not a traitor. Either neglect or RPed idiocy.

Yep. I was the only traitor that round.

Spoiler: What I did as a traitor (For those who are interested) (click to show/hide)

Saw that my objective was to steal the AI and well... Nope. So I put on my mining hardsuit, bought some C4 and bombed telecoms. A quick trip to the armoury got me some energy guns, which I managed to stun the Captain and the CE. Some quickly made cable restrains later and I managed to swipe the Captain's ID/gun. Obviously I had an agent ID to hide from the AI, so I now had full run of the station. Went to engineering, stole some insulated gloves and went on my merry way. I then decided to sneak into EVA and take all the space suits, but forgot to take a multitool, and EVA was locked down tight. I did manage to ambush Isook and take his tool belt, so it was a good trip anyways. After that I started cutting the solars to cause a black-out (an engineering mishap prevented the singularity engine from being set up) for a while and then went to Arrivals for some food. I think the AI must have turned the lights on at some point, because I remember ambushing the QM from the darkness, but later when the Captain and Luna came everything was nice and bright. Or maybe that was two/three separate encounters. I can't remember exactly. The point is that I somehow managed to survive a 3v1 fight while cornered in arrivals, trying to escape through a window. Thankfully windows block stun shots, so I had a nice little fortess to hide behind, and the Captain's laser gun managed to drive off the attackers before I went critical, though it was very close. After some healing, eating and dicking around the shuttle was called, so I headed to arrivals for the pods. However the AI knew I was there, and a security guard quickly came. I managed to stun him, but forgot to make cable restraints, so started whacking on him with my gun. However he managed to get up, at which point I ran through the breach I had made earlier, then swooped back and managed to stun him again, after which I shot him up with the laser gun before hiding outside the pods. Luckily for me he collasped due to the breaches sucking up all the oxygen, so I escaped safely (and then ganked the captain when I got back to the place where the pods go too).

Mind you that's not the entire thing, but it's close enough. I also had a firefight in engineering with some guy in a space suit, killed beepsky, and stumbled into the CE coming back from mining as the shuttle was arriving, taking his hardsuit with me.

I think that was the most robust round I've ever had.

Related: Stun shots are OP.  Captain's armor and laser gun, taken out with no effort by one shot.  It takes multiple lethal shots to down someone, and yet a single stun shot will knock anyone down.

The "Robust" part of combat is simply luck in being able to shoot first.

[Hanslanda]

Yeah, pretty much. We've been over this.

[Girlinhat]

Also, I've been vaguely debating trying to get into the code and make an entirely different game mode.  It would likely be a construction-oriented style, dropping the players on a ruined station with the task to get so-and-so systems functional.  It could either be pvp with an operative tasked to stop the repairs, or pve with threats like space carp, volatile canisters, leftover diseases, and hunger being an actual issue.  The traitor could have various tasks, like "plant this syndicate AI instead of Nanotrasen" or "prevent reconstruction" or "they're shipping in resources, instead you need to build a battle mech and escape with it."

Another style would be a "stranded" game, where you start in one or more crashed lifepods/shuttles, and need to get local resources, get the ship running, or get a distress call sent.  This could easily have rival factions trying to be 'the only ones to escape' or 'this is your chance to seize power'.

Of course, these would generally be much longer rounds, but I feel there's not enough construction dealt with normally.  Most rounds go to hell before robotics can even assemble a Ripley, much less handle resources and make repairs/additions.

It'd also be a lot of code-diving, which is likely beyond me...

[Inscribed]

Yep. I was the only traitor that round.

Spoiler: What I did as a traitor (For those who are interested) (click to show/hide)

Saw that my objective was to steal the AI and well... Nope. So I put on my mining hardsuit, bought some C4 and bombed telecoms. A quick trip to the armoury got me some energy guns, which I managed to stun the Captain and the CE. Some quickly made cable restrains later and I managed to swipe the Captain's ID/gun. Obviously I had an agent ID to hide from the AI, so I now had full run of the station. Went to engineering, stole some insulated gloves and went on my merry way. I then decided to sneak into EVA and take all the space suits, but forgot to take a multitool, and EVA was locked down tight. I did manage to ambush Isook and take his tool belt, so it was a good trip anyways. After that I started cutting the solars to cause a black-out (an engineering mishap prevented the singularity engine from being set up) for a while and then went to Arrivals for some food. I think the AI must have turned the lights on at some point, because I remember ambushing the QM from the darkness, but later when the Captain and Luna came everything was nice and bright. Or maybe that was two/three separate encounters. I can't remember exactly. The point is that I somehow managed to survive a 3v1 fight while cornered in arrivals, trying to escape through a window. Thankfully windows block stun shots, so I had a nice little fortess to hide behind, and the Captain's laser gun managed to drive off the attackers before I went critical, though it was very close. After some healing, eating and dicking around the shuttle was called, so I headed to arrivals for the pods. However the AI knew I was there, and a security guard quickly came. I managed to stun him, but forgot to make cable restraints, so started whacking on him with my gun. However he managed to get up, at which point I ran through the breach I had made earlier, then swooped back and managed to stun him again, after which I shot him up with the laser gun before hiding outside the pods. Luckily for me he collasped due to the breaches sucking up all the oxygen, so I escaped safely (and then ganked the captain when I got back to the place where the pods go too).

Mind you that's not the entire thing, but it's close enough. I also had a firefight in engineering with some guy in a space suit, killed beepsky, and stumbled into the CE coming back from mining as the shuttle was arriving, taking his hardsuit with me.

I think that was the most robust round I've ever had.

Yeah, I was cursing your name when that damned pod left! I could see you, watch you, but damned if I could get you. And how often did I feel the urge to kill my crew grow. Damned captain tried, repeatedly, to stun you through the damned windows! Very robust round, although I hate you a little bit extra for blowing up the Telecom. Damned annoying to get called everywhere by everyone. At some point, three people called for my hologram at once.

And Girlinhat, the Robustness of USEC_OFFICER's came through repeated victories and evasive action, outsmarting and outmanvouering a whole crew and friendly AI Marianne. He was quite robust that round.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Yeah, I was cursing your name when that damned pod left! I could see you, watch you, but damned if I could get you.

Bugger. I need to re-read the hacking guide then, since I thought I going around and disabling your cameras. Still, that does explain a lot though.

Very robust round, although I hate you a little bit extra for blowing up the Telecom. Damned annoying to get called everywhere by everyone. At some point, three people called for my hologram at once.

Did people really not grab any radios? It's usually the first thing on my mind when telecomms go down. I'm pretty sure a lot of the people I ambushed had them, but I didn't hear that much talking... Or did you change channels? Might have been smart.

Damned captain tried, repeatedly, to stun you through the damned windows!

I forgot that stun doesn't go through windows either, so I had an "Oh shit" moment when the Captain appeared. Luckily for me that second window was there, or things might have gone pear-shaped.

And Girlinhat, the Robustness of USEC_OFFICER's came through repeated victories and evasive action, outsmarting and outmanvouering a whole crew and friendly AI Marianne. He was quite robust that round.

Yeah, the element of surprise is a large component of robustness. So is luck, though I'm not sure which one is more important. Obviously having a ranged stun weapon is the greatest part of robustness.

[Girlinhat]

Yeah, I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere that stun didn't go through windows.  And there he was with the captain's recharging gun shooting lethal.

[wlerin]

Right. So...

I probably should have called the shuttle first, but I thought that, just maybe, the experiment might be a success. I was wrong. The server should probably be restarted.

Ironically enough Engineering itself is still intact...


edit: Nvm, someone managed to call the shuttle. Then died.

Spoiler: Singularity Test 2 (click to show/hide)

Test 2 was conducted during the cult round:


I didn't get to finish it because I didn't want to risk containment loss until the shuttle was already called, and by that time I had been converted and had other things on my mind. We did manage to create a stable 5x5 singularity though.

Spoiler: Singularity Test 3 (click to show/hide)

Since everyone had left I decided to repeat that experiment, only this time, since the main singulo was already set up, I decided to use the next best place on the ship:


Yes, that's the bar and dining hall. It was just the right size.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The radiation triggered the fire alarms and locked down most of the hallways around the bar.


It also later shorted the APC supplying the particle accelerator, so I had to hack a few things to get it back on and continue the experiment. Before the accelerator stopped firing, power readings suggested that the contained 5x5 singularity was putting out much more energy than it usually does at that size. Because of that I assumed the experiment was successful and didn't call the shuttle. I did, however, turn on the accelerator again.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Not only did it trigger alarms and break the arcade machine, it also zapped open most of the locked supply crates.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And while I was investigating those crates, I finally got my answer:



Yes, the 5x5 singularity *can* break containment.

Spoiler: Conclusions (click to show/hide)

What is unique about the 3x3+ sizes seems to be that they will not move into a square immediately adjacent the field, so when they grow they won't swallow the field generators. In this test and test 2, which had the same configuration, the 3x3 size remained stationary in the center the entire time:


 The 1x1 size, on the other hand, doesn't care, and very much will move right next to a field generator and grow, hence the inner containment field.

Being trapped next to the field doesn't keep any size from growing. Obviously.

[Knirisk]

Does anyone else think that the 7x7 singularity looks scary as shit? It reminds me too much of Giygas.

Actually, that would be a really really sweet alternative to Nar-Sie. Giygas. The entire station goes dark and the only thing you can see coming towards you is motherfucking Giygas, swallowing everything. One phrase, repeated over and over, in larger text in relation to your proximity to Giygas: "It hurts."

[wlerin]

That's the 9x9 one, actually. The 7x7 is a royal blue colour. You rarely see it because it's only one step away from doom, and most people turn off the PA before it gets there.

But yes, it is quite scary.

[Girlinhat]

This is most curious.  I've never looked too closely at the singulo, but it looks very interesting.  The fact that you can set one up in the bar is impressive!  I should think that the bomb range would be another ideal location, assuming no one fires bombs at it.  Nothing could go wrong at this location.

I've also heard of using Atmosia as a backup singulo.  This does of course beg the question, how many could we fit onto a station?  Easily, the normal singulo, the bar, the bomb range, the chapel, and probably the holodeck.  What would we do with the power of 5 singulo at once?  Aside from the obvious...

Wire them directly to the main grid and gib anyone who tries to open a door.

[wlerin]

Well, the engineering singulo itself, when wired directly into the grid, already provides far more power than the station could ever conceivably use. You'd have to deploy 6-8 power sinks (600k W per tick each) to 'use' all that power. Or create way more machinery than the station currently has available.



Also, the mention of the 7x7 singulo has got me thinking. Turns out I do need to do a fourth experiment.

Thing is...
I never actually *saw* the 7x7 stage this time around. It was a safe 5x5 (albeit one putting out a little too much power) before I went around the corner, then the next I saw it it was 9x9. Did it jump straight from 5x5 to 9x9? Intriguing...

This may require several experiments. First, verify that it does indeed skip the 7x7 stage; then, since the characteristics of the 5x5 and 7x7 are different (Notably, the 5x5 loses power much more quickly than the 7x7, so you can safely leave the PA on at 0 strength to sustain that stage. Doing so with the 7x7 usually leads to uncontrolled growth), does this mean we can have the sustainability of the 5x5 with the power output of the 7x7? And if so, how much power can we get from it?

Both might be doable in a single experiment.

[Girlinhat]

Know what I think the game needs?  Something for research to do further on.  Particle Accelerators and Matter Generators would both consume massive power to use!  Potentially fantastic options as well, like using PA (the collision sort, not the Singulo sort) to generate strange matter and radiation and of course dimensional rifts.  Mass Fabs could be used to generate things like silver and diamond on less rational substances.  There's plenty of 'blue space' material unexplored yet.

[Kaitol]

I've never seen anyone totally complete research in an average round. Generally something goes wrong first. Like getting murdered. Or the singularity. Or a server crash.

Speaking of I really need to figure out how to get farther in R&D. Always hit a wall.

[kilakan]

whenever I play RD I could max out research within an hour given the right materials, the only issue is getting the chemist to give you acid or having a miner.    On an average round that has people that do thier jobs somewhat reliably?  Hell yeah I can max out research halfway through the round...