Research Delivery
A design document by Markus
Abstract
Research disks with a single research node from Science can be given to CC through the Cargo shuttle in order to receive some rewards. The rewards will depend on what research is delivered and are meant to provide things to the station. It could be Industrial Engineering which would get you an RPED and Autolathe board, useless if you’re in Science or Engineering, but great if you’re anyone else looking to do some shady things or something else.
Background
As Science stands now, it is very repetitive. People expect everything researched and they want it now. It is not rare to see Science broken into only for someone to print, research or otherwise steal things for themselves, all while being a non-antagonist of course. The station heavily relies and expects Science to provide everything.
Goal
Increasing the available amount of involved hands in the basic gameplay loop of the station, focusing on Science and Cargo.
Make Cargo more attractive to other departments by offering more advanced machines and components. Moving some focus for materials and supplies from Science to Cargo.
Method
By implementing a method for Cargo to provide commonly desired machines and or parts, we can effectively shift some of the focus onto Cargo for those staff it is designed to appeal to.
Implementation
Tech Disks
Once something is researched a Scientists will be able to put one research node onto a technology disk.
More than one research node will cause the delivered technology disk to be ignored.
CC Delivery
Sending a technology disk with one research node will cause a look up to see if that research node has any assigned reward. If not, nothing will be returned. If it has a reward associated with it, it will be returned on the way back to Cargo in a crate.
CC Reward
Depending on what is researched a reward will be provided. The reward will be delivered in a crate with a note detailing what node provided it and what is included in the reward. The crate will be a generic unlocked crate.
Here are a few examples of what to expect from some research nodes. The list is not finalized and is incomplete, a full list would be decided and balanced once a PR is made. Most of the rewards are related or part of the research node delivered and are judged according to these variables: powergaming risk, desire and antag eligibility. For example Life Stasis boards have a low antag eligibility and low powergaming risk, but a high desire for Medbay personnel.
| Research | Reward |
|---|---|
| Advanced Engineering | 1x Rapid Construction Device, 3x Compressed Matter Cartridge |
| Cryostasis Techonlogy | 1x Cryotube board, 3x Life Stasis boards |
| Advanced Power Manipulation | 1x MRPACMAN generator board, 1x SUPERPACMAN generator board |
| Applied Bluespace Research | 2x Bluespace Beakers |
| Advanced Biotechnology | 1x Compact Defibrillator, 1x Organ Harvester board, 1x Smoke Machine board |
| Electromagnetic Theory | 2x Inducers |
| Industrial Engineering | 1x Autolathe board, 1x RPED |
| Basic Nanite Programming | 1x Nanite Cloud board, 1x Nanite Program Hub board, 1x Nanite Programmer board, 1x Nanite Program disk |
Map Changes
According to these implementations, items we’ve come to expect on round start to be provided may instead be provided later on, most prominently Life Stasis boards among other items may be removed only to be provided in a large quantity in Cargo.
Future
In the future I would like to see exclusive research nodes being rewards only obtainable through Cargo together with Science.
Ruko had the idea of having Cargo bounties for specific research being made and sent to CC, which could mean you could get a double reward and also make false papers in order to get something from CC that isn’t money.
Once a set of research has been made and sent to CC, I would like if more things gets unlocked for Cargo to buy, let them buy their own Durand if they get enough money and the required research.
Mappers can also provide specific research disks for free in order to justify being able to use them in their map from round start. This would be ideal for Echo Station or other very low-pop maps.