Thoughts on New Ship Upgrades/Equipment and Alterations

[Khotgor]

After playing the game for well over 400 hours, and dealing with... a large amount of different randoms for 95% of them, I think that the game would benefit with some newfound upgrades and elements to the ships as well as certain equipment that would make the game more 'enjoyable', especially since there are a number of quirks about the game that makes certain elements work and not work. Just thoughts on what would make the experience for others be a lot more 'pleasant' overall

Emergency Chaff Lights (Cost: 1050)
A ship upgrade that has lights surrounding the roof of the Ship; designed to send out a flash similar to a Stun Grenade that causes any entities surrounding the outside of the ship to be stunned as if hit by it; Once used, takes 75 Seconds until it can be used once again

Originally posted by Khotgor:

There are a number of times on moons, especially the new moons such as Adamance, Artifice, and Embrion where the amount of outdoor entities that are surrounding the ship can be quite hazardous, as well as moons such as Titan and whenever moons such as Vow or March when Forest Keepers decide to surround the ship. Although stun grenades and radar boosters help, the fact is that sometimes the stun grenades can miss and not everyone is going to be at the ship to man a Radar Booster is for example everyone else is still in the facility and a runner is bringing stuff back. Not to mention said hazards can often surround the ship in all angles which means that a simple stun at the door will not always hit the other targets, and still be a hazard. Giving a rather expensive yet reusable tool that allows players to deal with surrounding entities and quickly jump out when need to whilst having an exceptionally long timer to make it not abusable would be something both noobies and experts would appreciate

Long-Distance Radar Enhancer (Cost: 770)
A ship terminal upgrade, allows the player's radar on the terminal to be increased by 25%. Allows a greater amount of area be covered by the Radar to allow Terminal Users to see more rooms, entities, and objects around the player. Will be returned to regular view by putting Long-Distance Radar Enhancer into storage or a toggle on the terminal ["Radar Long" and "Radar Short" can toggle the view monitor to change from the new enhanced version to the original version VIA Terminal]

Originally posted by Khotgor:

Simply put, the L-D Radar Enhancer is made to allow people on the terminal to be more helpful; a lot of the upgrades noted are designed around actually making terminal users, or ship hogs, able to properly help and navigate the runners. As it stands, a lot of people don't like ship hogs because, at the end of the day, one person NOT working is at least 25% inventory space wasted. Giving any sort of benefit to the ship users to actually give them a bit more merit than what they currently is always a benefit

Advance Scanner (Cost: 925)
A ship terminal upgrade, allows the player to scan what actual items are on the moon that they are currently on. This also includes special items such as the Apparatus, outdoor items such as the Bee Hives, enemy items such as Double-Barrel Shotgun and Kitchen Knives, and other items such as Keys [Will note every single item within the map, including Outdoor Items, Special Items (Apparatus), Other Items (Keys), and Enemy Items (Shotguns) on the screen; will not tell the player their value, however]

Originally posted by Khotgor:

This is meant to help less to do with what actual items are generated on the map, but the 'types' of items generated. As it stands, bee hives can often be intertwined with the scanner and when a nutcracker spawns it often causes the scanner to break, which for nutcracker hunters is a benefit for knowing if they exist but hides what actual items are left on the map. The scanner has a multitude of problems that will be addressed with later ship upgrades, but allowing the scanner to be a bit more helpful is never a bad thing

Entity Pinging Messanger (Cost: 525)
A ship terminal upgrade, the Entity Pinging Messanger tells the currently viewed player from the terminal screen to tell them of currently existing items and enemies that are within the same screen as the player [Ping Player will cause this, similar to Ping Radar Booster, except typing the player's name instead of the Radar Booster's; Will note the currently surrounding entities and item quantity that is around the player]

Artificial Voice Director (Cost: 650)
A ship terminal upgrade, a voiced alternative to the Signal Transmittor for a specific viewed player like the Entity Pinging Messanger. Has an AI Voice have a limited amount of directional commands that it relays in order to communicate to the player in a rather subtle way [See Chart Below]

Artificial Voice Director Codes
These are the codes for the Artificial Voice Director

• Direct "1~12" - Player can Write "Direct 1/2/3/4/5/etc to 12" on the Terminal, and the Player currently viewed on the Monitor will get an AI Voice saying "1 O'Clock", "2 O'Clock", "3 O'Clock" all the way up to "12 O'Clock". Good for both clock directions when telling them where to go and also the time outdoors
  
• Direct "Hot/Cold/Warm" - Player can write "Direct Hot", "Direct Cold", or "Direct Warm" on the Terminal and will send a voiced message with the AI Director saying Hot, Cold, or Warm to the player
  
• Direct "Entity/Item/Trap/Main/Fire" - Player can write "Direct Item", "Direct Entity", "Direct Trap", "Direct Main", or "Direct Fire" when typing into a Terminal and will send a voiced message towards the currently viewed player of such objects
  
• Shortcut (Dir-e-c-t) - Player can simply write "Dir" instead of direct for a quick shortcut in writing, along with added letters before making the whole 'Direct' word out, similar to other written shortcuts on Terminal

Originally posted by Khotgor:

Both the Pinging Messanger and the Voice Director are designed around acting as an upgrade from both the Walkie Talkie and the Signal Transmittor. As it stands, a lot of people DON'T use the Walkie Talkie because A) it wastes an inventory space that most people would rather spend on something else, and B) Some mics for certain people don't want to be heard for multitude of reasons, other due to the mic sometimes break, or the people are constantly talking over the walkie and it makes communicating actual information outside of said held conversation rather impossible, etc. The Voice Director and Pinging Messanger both have the benefit of the Walkie in being much quicker in giving direction than the Signal Transmittor, yet also can be vague enough to not make the game overtly easy and does still require good teamwork in terms of cooperation and direction

Scrap Storage Unit (Cost: 150)
A ship upgrade, allows the player to store scrap loot similar to ship furniature, does not stop the loot from being lost if all players die. Allows the player to be used as a generally useful means of keeping things stored away; also includes utility scrap such as stop signs, DIY flashbangs, and kitchen knives, with the exception of keys. Also helps with the Scan to not cause interference [Storage Opinion has been subdivided into Storage Furniture for original purpose and Storage Scrap for the Storage Unit; player can place currently held items into the Scrap Storage Unit with the 'E'/Interact Key; can be taken out by the player VIA Terminal by writing the scrap's name down and its quantity similar to purchasing items; Currently Stored Items will spawn in the middle of the ship]

Equipment Storage Unit (Cost: 125)
A ship upgrade that is based around the same concept of Scrap Storage Unit, however designed around storing general purchased equipment. This also includes Keys despite being found within general facilities as loot. Like with stored furniature, both Storage Units can have stored items be brought out VIA their own Storage, being spawned on the centre of the ship interference [Storage Opinion has been subdivided into Storage Furniture for original purpose and Storage Equipment for the Storage Unit; player can place currently held items into the Equipment Storage Unit with the 'E'/Interact Key; can be taken out by the player VIA Terminal by writing the equipment's name down and its quantity similar to purchasing items; Currently Stored Items will spawn in the middle of the ship; Equipment Items currently stored items will take priority over purchasable options, with purchasable items being accessed by Denying taking the currently stored items out of storage and the terminal giving the option for purchase next]

Originally posted by Khotgor:

This ties back to the Advanced Scanner, as well as an innate problem with scrap items/equipment items as a whole. As it stands, a lot of scrap items, especially rubber duckies, tea kettles, remotes, fancy lamps, and paintings often find themselves 'underneath' the ship, warping down underneath it in many cases. At the same time, as seen with patch notes, there is a 'limit' to how many items that can be within a ship, and whilst Zeekers changed that limit from 40 to 80, as it stands MOST people who are doing Artifice runs and the like will often exceed that number relatively easily, especially when they are doing said map within the 2nd and 3rd quota when said map offers around 31-37 loot per day. Having said items stored to both not cause problems with the game as well as not warping underneath the ship will be an overall benefit, especially since currently right now the Scanner is often considered useless due to it often scanning items 'IN' the ship alongside those outisde of it, leading it to be relatively useless.

Auto-Pilot Overclock Extender (Cost: 2100)
An extension to the player's in-game upon a Moon per day, extending the time it takes until the auto-pilot leaves by 5 in-game hours (from 8AM to 5AM). This maximizes the amount of time the player spends on a moon from 576~720 Seconds to 756~945 Seconds (9.6~12 Minutes to 12.6~15.75 Minutes) [Extends the Minimum Timer on a map to be slightly above Maximum Timer previously had; Extends Maximum Timer by almost 4 minutes; Designed to allow more time on larger maps like March or Titan; Can not be placed in Storage akin to Terminal]

Auto-Pilot Overclock Extender, Time Changers
These are the alterations to the map that are made when the Auto-Pilot Overclock Extender is added to the ship

• Bee Deactive State - Circuit Bees become Deactive upon 4:57AM instead of 11:57AM
  
• Once Timer Reached 12AM - +1 Indoor Power Level Maximum; +1 Outdoor Power Level Maximum [+1 Indoor/Outdoor to Moon]
  
• Once Timer Reaches 1AM - +1 Indoor Power Level Maximum; +1 Outdoor Power Level Maximum [+2 Indoor/Outdoor to Moon]
  
• Once Timer Reaches 2AM - +1 Indoor Power Level Maximum; +1 Outdoor Power Level Maximum [+3 Indoor/Outdoor to Moon]
  
• Once Timer Reaches 3AM - +1 Indoor Power Level Maximum; +1 Outdoor Power Level Maximum [+4 Indoor/Outdoor to Moon]
  
• Once Timer Reaches 4AM - +1 Indoor Power Level Maximum; +1 Outdoor Power Level Maximum [+5 Indoor/Outdoor to Moon]
  
• Once Timer Reaches 5AM - Autopilot Takes off

Originally posted by Khotgor:

This is a thought I had as to why I hate Titan and March so much, and although I do love Artifice a lot there IS a problem with the map that, although being much smaller than the other hard maps, runs into the same problem that interferes with the core concept of the game: There isn't enough time to explore the interior. The Issue I have with Titan and March, especially if the fire exit spawns are bad (and it happens a LOT in this game, spawning way too close to main entrance and not far enough into the interior dungeon), and many times where a large assortment of loot is often DEEP within the facility, sometimes being nearly unreachable due to how far the loot has spawned as well as whatever artificial barriers (Terminal Doors, Hazards, Entities, etc) that are simply blocking the way and wasting time, especially with the likes of Coil-Heads and Jesters that of all the entities in the game often slows the game down considerably. If you play a Titan map, you more than likely will never get or find any of the loot that is spawned at the other side of the map, especially if the fire exit decides to be right next to main. You don't have enough time to find the items, bring it back, and then go back to the other end even if you were able to reach the other end.

Which is why, in V49, people LOVED Rend way more because you COULD get all of the items on that map with so much ease and reliability, being the Hard Moon variant of Assurance. It was just more reliable. Artifice has a similar issue, although it has less to do with the interior size and more have to do with both the obstacles, the HUGE amount of loot that is generated on this map in comparison to the others, and the distance of the ship to the facility. Not to mention the game can inherintly screw you over if it wants to with the time; A day is randomized so that each day on a moon may be shorter or longer than the others, with every 3 real time seconds either adding 4 OR 5 minutes to the in-game timer... which means that, for a day, the maximum time you stay on a moon is around 9.6 minutes to 12 minutes (or 576 to 720 seconds). That's garbage; that means, when you play a map like titan, you have to PRAY that the timer that you have is closer to 12 minutes than 9.6 minutes, because if it is closer to being a shorter day then you are going to have at most almost 2.5 minutes abscent from play.

This is designed to give the players extra time, whilst also still having a bit of difficulty associated with it. It gives the player 5 in-game hours, or 12.6 ~ 15.75 minutes for the player to make use of; this is made specifically to have the maximum timer of the old 16-hour day will be nearly the same as the Minimum Timer; each time an hour passes after 12AM however, it also increases the maximum power level of indoor and outdoor by 1, allowing way more hazards to be spawned within the map at any given time until it reaches 4am, reaching a +5 Indoor/Outdoor Power Level to the map. This would also benefit solo players, since a lot of times they will stick to maps like Assurance because they are physically incapable of grabbing all the items in most of the other maps that have a higher item quantity, even with quick speed upgrades such as Jetpacks and TZP helping them.

[Khotgor]

Item Add-Ons
These are the types of items I think would benefit a lot of runners when it comes to exploring many of the maps without it being an overpowered tool

Light Dart Gun (Cost: 200; Weight: 10)
Gives the player an 12-round 'gun' that is designed around shooting Darts into objects or terrain that causes them to have an innate glow to them, such as a Light/Glow Stick. Can have its colours changed to be either Red, Purple, Green, or Yellow similar to the Spray Can. Can be recharged at the Ship like a Flashlight, and gives a permanent light source to anything it is stuck on until players leave the Moon. Can also be used to set off mines when shot or cause Turrets to spin [Press 'Q' to change its colour]

Originally posted by Khotgor:

I do love the Spray Can in concept, but I also dislike it for the same reasons why I think a lot of people dislike the TZP Inhaler; they have a limited amount of uses before they deplete, and for an item that is worth 50 dollars that is quite a hefty price. Although the Light Dart Gun can't be used in the same way due to having a limited amount of shots before recharging, the fact that it is a cross between a flashlight and a spray can alongside being a rechargable tool would be something that a LOT of people would love to make use of.

Hacker's Transmittor (Cost: 500; Weight: 16)
Allows the use of certain terminal commands with the use of the "/" typing key when it is within the player's inventory. Only useful for certain terminal codes, include Radar Booster Codes (Flash/Ping) and Special Codes (Terminal Doors, Turrets and other Hazards, etc). Is unable to make use of other Terminal Commands

Originally posted by Khotgor:

Hazards and Terminal Doors right now are in a weird spot at the moment. As it stands, with maps like Assurance and the like, there is generally a strange curve where there is either little to not hazards such as Turrets on the map... or being well over a dozen that are spawned. Most maps have a strange bell curve where many of said hazards can often arrive as being bare or quite plentiful, with a few maps holding this exception. Terminal Doors can also be a rather ill conjuration in a facility where many people are often barred from exploring unless they find a fuse box (which might be behind said terminal door in the first place), go back to the ship (which wastes time) or pull the apparatus (which not only spawns enemies faster, but also makes everything dark and like the fuse box can be behind the terminal door). Having a Hacker's Transmittor be designed to deal with said things would be an inherint benefit. Even if the Hacker's Transmittor is weighted by 16 and has a hefty price, the fact that it can deal with said obstacles in a pinch would be appealing to quite a few people. That and the fact that it could be potentially used with the Radar Booster would make a combination that a lot of people would appreciate, especially against obstacles like Coil Heads and Jesters which at the moment are very much either a show breaker or a show slower.

Advanced Lockpick (Cost: 75; Weight: 7)
Allows the player to open locked doors; takes 5 seconds instead of 30 seconds to open a locked door.

Originally posted by Khotgor:

People love the concept of the Lockpick that currently exists, but a lot of people don't like it; I am very much someone who will buy it from the store if it is only 4 or 6 bucks due to a discount, but otherwise think that 20 bucks is way too expensive for its worth. The reason is simple; when people think of lockpickers, they think of the bad RNG times where, at main or fire, the main path towards more loot is often blocked by 2, 3, sometimes even 4 locked doors that are in the way, barring both progress and wasting time in unlocking. The issue with the Lockpicker is that although unlike a Key it can unlock all said doors, it also takes 30 seconds for each door. If you have 3 locked doors in the way of fire exit that are barring your way, you are wasting 1.5 minutes of your time... 1.5 minutes of your time when you currently have around 9.6 to 12 minutes per moon. That doesn't even include any added seconds you are wasting by thinking "oh, I unlocked the first door, might as well leave the lockpicker behind and see whats inside", only to find out its another dead end with another locked door... or the fact that you are looking around in said previously locked rooms, especially if its a mansion dungeon or a facility loot room, seeing if there are any items nearby before you use the lockpicker for 'another' locked door. The artificial slowdown of either not bringing enough keys to a surprise excess of locked doors or relying on the lockpicker is not great.

The Advanced Lockpicker is designed to be a better Lockpicker that exceeds that of keys. Right now, the popular and correct concensous is that Keys are generally more valuable than Lockpickers, and the reason is that keys are instant, weigh 0 pounds, and can have other benefits such as stormy days or using with hoarding bugs to find their nest. The Advanced Lockpicker being 75 might seem expensive, but the fact that it would open locked doors within 5 seconds rather than 30 would be appealing to a large amount of people

Door Barrer (Cost: 75: Weight: 8)
Can be placed on any door; causes the door to be unopenable for 30 seconds so long as the Bar is on the door

Originally posted by Khotgor:

An alternative 'conflict' tool, unlike the stun grenade and shovels the Door Barrer is designed around keeping entities locked in an area and unable to reach them. s it stands, a lot of doors 'can' bar certain entities behind them sometimes (more on that later), but this is made specifically to ensure that they stay locked up. Helpful when dealing with Thumpers and the like so you can lock Thumpers behind doors and explore somewhere else when you feel like it. The weight of 8 is made specifically to reflect the previous Shovel Weight and how Zeekers nerfed it due to how good it was at killing a number of entities from being a hazard; as the Door Barrer does not kill said entities, it can often lead the Door Barrer to be somewhat of a replacement for those that want a reusable tool with dealing against entities from being a problem

Entity Changes
Certain changes to existing entities that might need alterations

Coil-Head Damaged Reduced from 90 to 45 Damage
Coilheads right now have a problem in that they don't always work as they should be; many times, Coilheads that should be stopped by Doors for 15 seconds will often 'warp' past the door after the player... Coilheads also have a tendency to still keep 'moving' towards a player, even when multiple players are looking at them and in a massive hallway without obstruction. Coilheads are also the only enemy in the game aside from Jesters that, alone or with other entities, cause an absolute slowdown. Although Jesters are relatively easier to deal with, Coilheads has a dominating presence that makes them already dangerous on their own, and with other entities a major problem. Having their damage reduced from 90 to 45 should give a chance for currently low (20/25hp) players a chance to not instantly die and instead enter critical mode, leaving the player still at risk of death yet also giving them a chance. Considering up to 5 Coilheads can dominate a map with a low power level supporting this with little to no ways of 'removing' them (especially on Mansion maps without Terminal Doors), and the fact that Coil-Heads often break their own programming/rules means that a simple nerf that leaves them still potently dangerous yet somewhat more dealable to compensate for the lack of consistent behavior and dominating presence is recommended IMO.

Have Hygrodere be Passive when Boombox is used - Have Hygroderes that are 'active' with the presence of the Boombox be passive towards the player's existence


Item Changes
These are the changes to certain items I think could use a bit of a boost to make slightly better

TZP-Inhaler Reduced from 120 to 90 in Price
Drop the TZP-Inhaler's price down from 120 to 90. Although a relatively useful item, the fact that it both has a large amount of debuffs to not make it 'broken' and the fact that it has a limited amount of uses before it is depleted makes it a relatively unattractive option to most unless there is a good discount. Dropping the price from 120 to 90 would give the relatively frowned item a better chance to shine

TZP-Inhaler Drug/Poison Indicator
Have the suit tell you if the player has gained a Light Inhalation, Heavy Inhalation, or Overdose Inhalation when using it. Having it be based on set seconds (4/8/12) can often be difficult to time, and a lot of people do not want to use a finite tool that they may 'waste' inhails with by adding an extra second or two in their inhalation. Having the suit give a good 'beep' to tell the player they have reached said thresholds would help a lot in not waisting it; a lot of players also don't know what the hell it is for, and don't know how to use it and won't be able to without a proper wiki. Just having the suit tell you rather than keeping it vague for not really any reason other than the sake of vaguery is silly; just add an indicator that they reached the threshold then leave it at that

TZP and Spray Can Amount Indicators
As it stands, both these items have the same problem when they are finite resources that don't really have an indication as to how much is in their canisters... which is a problem, since it means that the players won't be able to tell how much they have left when they take them off the ship. The Double-Barrel Shotgun has this fixed by having there be different sound ques when you press the E button to reload to tell you if it is full, holds one shell, or no shells. That could be done, but an easier solution would be to give them a 'not-energy bar' (maybe purple or blue to act as the opposite of the yellow bar) to tell the player how much said items have before they are permanently depleted

Boombox Weight Reduced from 16 to 8 ~ 0 Weight
It is silly that the Boombox weighs around 16 pounds whilst the Extension Ladder weighs 0, despite most people more willing to go into moons with the Boombox due to the 'vibes'. The fact that it takes up a space AND weight makes it unappealing, whilst the Extension Ladder is weightless and is often left behind in key areas to climb up or drop off items, thus not taking space until taking back to the ship at the end of the day

Boombox Plays Music when player is not having it currently in hand akin to Flashlight and Walkie Talkie being still active
Have the Boombox be able to play even when not currently held or when holding a two-handed object, similar to how the Walkie Talkie and Flashlight are still active when not holding it as the current item

[cazrpm]

oh my yapper

[voidduck]

im not reading that

[Khotgor]

Then don't read and move on. Have a good day.

[GaskinZ]

Ok I'm not responding to all of these but after reading the first 4, I can see these ideas stem from a concept of thinking that because you can, that you should.

The first one is just a radar booster tacked onto the ship permanently.

The second one sounds good on paper, but ultimately falls apart when you realize being able to see further makes the labels on the screen smaller as the screens actual shape stays the same.

Number three here doesn't really serve much purpose. If anything it should just tell us if there are items held by hostiles (butlers, nutcrackers, yippies), or outside. We don't need a list of item types to scroll through while are teammates are being killed by brackens.

And finally four is just a radar booster for a person. It's not needed.

[Kyle]

Definitely something for mods to add in rather than official. They're a bit too advanced and specific for a random group-based game. Even with a group of friends, good luck agreeing on what to buy and using it effectively. A short list of good tools is sometimes better.

That's also ignoring the potential balance issues with some. Mobile terminal commands + radar booster + macros = very powerful player, as a specific example. It would be a lot of workload to keep it fair.

The concept of improving TZP for QoL is interesting, but I'm pretty sure the point of the item is a risk/reward balance for late-game groups. Once you have all your tools and are making enough to afford 1-2 moon swaps per quota, what else is there to spend it on other than consumable tools? That's when they come into play. It might help you recover more heavy loot, or you might blind yourself at the wrong time.