The mood system as it is does not encourage roleplay, you as a player should be the main driving force in how a character feels
You could for example be held at gunpoint and the mood bar is shining in green because you saw ian dance half an hour ago
Let’s say you play a character for some reason who does not like dogs/cats but you still get a mood buff from seeing them
If you also try to do your own thing you are also punished for not taking care of your mood.
6 Likes
The mood system exists to incentivise you in game to side track and do things in character aside from your job or personal objectives.
You as the player are punished by the mood system for not understanding that the character you play as is not intended to feel or handle like a cold, unfeeling empty vessel for your inputs to animate and guide as a blank slate for you to act upon the game world with.
The mood system is suposed to enable emergent scenarios to occur by giving you a reason to storm off angry, This moth hasn’t eaten in 5 hours and you nit-wits are wearing on my last nerve.
Or similarly make you balance what your character needs and the situation you are in demands, boy I’d sure have a better time fixing these broken wires if I moved faster, maybe I should pay attention to if I’m fed or if I should shower.
It gives you an IC reason to not be sitting in your department 24/7, which is also good for traitor characters in that joey, uses-the-moniker and Vanessa nya are all at the bar, but one of them is a traitor who doesn’t worry so much about mood, more so about appearing to worry about it so they can commit espionage and when feigning R&R.
5 Likes
Yea, people have been talking about the mood system ever since it was a thing. It doesn’t really impact the game that much tbh, the only thing it changes is your movement speed, which is only useful if you’re like a tot or smth.
I’ve also picked up knowledge over time of what gives you mood boosts and what doesn’t, so I’ve become pretty proficient on keeping my mood high. My character Cigarette, who is an apathic alcoholic smoker, has basically all the time a really high mood because of his traits.
I think the mood system is a bit redundant, I’d rather change it out for something like “current thoughts” that reminds you of things like eating or other important things, it could also somehow fuse with the personal note system for things that are in the back of your characters head.
I feel like this should be more of a quirk thing. (imo)Quirks are ment to be mechanic counterparts to the lore/vibe of your character, having more quirks that are more like “this character doesn’t/does like x” is desirable
Yea, but it does a pretty terrible job at it. Getting just a few negative moodlets is enough to make your character contemplate suicide. On the other hand, eating breakfast, smoking and taking a shower will make you happier than seeing the birth of your firstborn.
The mood system is a good idea, just kinda impossible to make it work.
5 Likes
I feel like the mood and sanity systems could have a different relationship for sure, along with more job-related moodlets/modifiers.
It doesn’t feel like the system accounts for what your character could be feeling relative to what you should be doing, certain events like chasing a person you know is wanted, mining a large amount of ore, cranking out some research or putting togeather a machine should galvanize the mood of a character dependant on what their job and sanity are at the moment.
1 Like
Me and @kit_Katz made a document about a potential Mood (and by extension, service) overhaul: Fear & Service:
The main points of this bundle of concepts is:
- A complete overhaul of mood and stress handling, adding further stress on… stress, where you’d have to eat, drink or do drugs in face of the harsh conditions of space.
- A wide array of the effect of low mood and high stress… or the other way around.
- Make the psychiatrst and service not a joke of a job, actual mood caretakers that will unfuck you.
- An actual dedicated IPC’s mood and stress mechanic: CPU performance which would give them somethign more unique than just being “humans, but borgs”.
- Food and drinks would matter, based on their taste, flavour, aftertaste (no more humanoid/simian meat on the menu or it will slowly tank your mood) and other effects.
- And other stuff i’m probably forgetting.
It’s a massive undertaking, but sureley different than the current moodlet system that would actually, in the lack of better terms, “force the hand” to roleplay and maybe use cash… which is a topic for another time.
5 Likes
its also a base for more things in the future with mood mattering player behaviour can be shaped around it…
"makes service have a purpose’
2 Likes
Yeah mood is a little fucked and worthless, you try to keep it high but if you can’t just speedrun insanity. Pretty toothless system. Remove the freebie mood boosts and the random ass massive mood debuffs and maybe the system won’t be as shitty so you could add some bite to it.
Going to be coded Soon:tm:?
Like you said, massive undertaking, I wish you well in this endeavor assuming it gets off the paper and put into practice.
1 Like
To add to this, I thought for a while before that drinks should play an important role more. Unless you’re actively seeking out RP or just happen to pass by its very rare (imo) to go to the bar.
I dont think adding “thirst” like a survival game would be good but possibly a debuff like food for being thirsty. Similar to vending machine food, the drinks there could be classed as junk food and not fix it for long.
My two cents. I really need to play the game again / relearn how to code…
1 Like
survival thirst isnt a thing. and even if it was. a part of the design allows for wriggle room with backup options example. vendor items
I know it isn’t, I was using thirst as an example of a way to make more use of the bar and such but stating “survival” thirst would be a bad implementation of it
1 Like
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.