Content Suggestion E&TS Role Rework

[Zen]

What does this suggestion change/add/remove:

Change the E&TS role structure as follows:

Old Role	New Role
N/A	Director of E&TS* CL4 Slots: 2 Ability to job ban all E&TS roles Also the ability to job ban chefs, which are similarly undersupervised and, while they don't fall under the IC department of E&TS, do fall under the same general category of "Site Staff". Tools: Principal Engineer tools Helmet Camera Model: models/player/suits/male_XX_open.mdl, skin 7** models/jericho/citizens/female_XX.mdl, skin 4** Purpose: RP lead role for E&TS Setting out policies, guides, etc. for the overall department Facilitating RP opportunities with other departments Dealing with RP issues, e.g. repeat problem players, toxicity, etc. Maintaining health of department, e.g. working to improve activity, deal with issues, working with SA/SL/CT/others to improve things Setting out operations for players to do RP with Supervising E&TS roles Handling IC punishments in RP, e.g. working with ISD Handling abuse of the jobs for minging, etc. Actively monitoring Reporting issues to staff, e.g. NITRP Talking to newer players to get them back on track Job banning and other OOC punishments for repeated issues Helping new (and old) players within the department Set an example for other E&TS players in RP
N/A	Principal Engineer CL4 Slots: 2 Ability to job ban CL1-CL3 E&TS roles Tools: Senior Engineer tools IT Technician tools Janitor tools Placer Tool: Engineer items models/props_fortifications/traffic_barrier001.mdl models/props/street/contruction_barricade.mdl Helmet Camera Gas Mask Model: Take the Technical Expert model and modify it slightly to clearly distinguish it, e.g. different colouring, and text on the vest + helmet - leave the details for the art devs to decide Purpose: Similar to Ambassador/Manager/Exec/Curator roles Support DoE Supervise E&TS roles Support E&TS players Provide a way for E&TS players to progress Incentivises continued play rather than stagnating at CL2 and nobody actually continuing to play it Provide a way for E&TS players to gain CL4 experience for roles such as Site Advisor Facilitate RP for other players, e.g. leading operations, communicating with other departments to arrange opportunities
N/A	Biohazard Remediator CL3 008 knowledge similar to Biohazard Researcher Slots: 2 Requires !jobapprove Tools: Janitor tools Infection Scanner Decontamination Foam Applicator Placer Tool: Decontamination Foam Vat Biohazard Signs Janitor items Helmet Camera Hazmat Suit Model: models/cod_aw_hazmat_player.mdl (old E-11 bio model - at least to start with) Purpose: A way for janitor players to progress beyond a CL1 role A way to do janitor gameplay and RP outside of LCZ and nowhere else Potentially makes 008 breaches less irrecoverable Right now, only SCUs and E-11 Bios can actually do anything about 008 spores - but they're also key combatives for fighting the -2 instances, so that's not their main focus during an active breach, so spores that aren't in E-11's main areas (HCZ) often don't get dealt with, even if there aren't any -2s around to defend them. A non-combative with the decon foam user would focus on cleaning up spores within areas that don't have -2 instances but which are otherwise going to lose to them anyway due to abundant spores and too few hazmat suits, e.g. PW. They would also assist in post-breach cleanup, to prevent a mostly recontained breach from spiralling out of control because e.g. there's spores in PW or D-block but E-11 are focusing on HCZ. A janitor-like role that can actually participate in RP that requires any amount of IC knowledge
Technical Expert CL2 Overrides on LCZ CCTV, LHCZ corridors Slots: 5 Tools: Engineer tools IT Technician tools Electrical repair access Gas Mask Purpose: Essentially the "do-all" maintenance job, but which actually still can't do very much, because it's CL2 and can't access half of the site, and very few people are both willing to facilitate their role in RP and in a position to do anything more than open a couple of doors for them every few hours.	Senior Engineer* CL3 Overrides on 079 and 682 chambers Slots: 4 Tools: Engineer tools Vehicle Repair Tool Clipboard Electrical repair access Helmet Camera Gas Mask Model: Same as current. Purpose: Similar to current Technical Expert, but also providing a reasonable clearance level progression instead of 1/1/1 -> 2 and nothing else Actually maintain things in areas like compound and HCZ, instead of them only being looked at every other day because no E&TS role can even look at them Access to RP opportunities that CL3 provides - a lot of general RP is essentially locked behind CL3 right now, either directly or just because so many roles like MTF/DEA/ISD/etc. are all CL3+ and so info is only ever posted on CL3 comms. I have removed the Technician Tool here, because right now the only thing it can do is fix terminals. There isn't nearly enough for IT Technician to do as it is, nevermind with TE/SE also being able to do the same things in roughly the same areas. See below for more details.
IT Technician CL1 Slots: 6 Tools: Technician Tool Purpose: Right now, IT Technician is a role that can only fix terminals in CL1 areas. This is currently a six slot job with 11 terminals to fix total. Terminals do not break very often. Combined with Technical Expert also having the tool, and there not being very many terminals in specifically CL2 areas in addition, IT Technicians very rarely have anything to do. The only thing they can do most of the time is try to create their own RP, which many are not open to engaging with given the job's less than stellar reputation, and which is both difficult for a new player to do, and frankly off-putting for a new player to have to do from the start.	IT Technician* CL2 Overrides on CL3 offices Slots: 4 Tools: Technician Tool Model: Same as current. Purpose: Essentially the same as the current role, but in a way that makes this role actually make some sense to use. With this rework, the IT Technician role now acts as a stepping stone for E&TS roles - while it still doesn't offer a lot of gameplay opportunities, it still offers up more of the map to explore, more opportunities to engage with other players, and overall, a more reasonable balance - a bit more to do, and a few less people essentially competing for the same limited role.
Engineer CL1 Overrides on: LCZ Electrical Centre EZ Maintenance Slots: 6 Electrical repair access Tools: Repair Tool Purpose: Essentially a starting role for new players in general. Maintains CL1 areas as needed - mainly just D-block and a few electrical cabinets.	Engineer* CL1 Overrides on: LCZ Electrical Centre EZ Maintenance LCZ SCP chambers Slots: 4 Tools: Repair Tool Radio Model: Same as current. Purpose: Essentially the same as the current role, but with a more balanced outlook - less people competing to engage with the few things that are both within a CL1 area and damaged, but with better progression opportunities, and more support from experienced players.
Janitor CL1 Slots: 3 Tools: Mop Cleaning Supplies Placer Buyables Purpose: Essentially a starting role for new players in general. Tidies a bit, and has a decent amount to do, given the spawn rates of dirt, but isn't really an essential role.	Janitor Unchanged. Purpose: Essentially the same as it already is, but now with progression opportunities and support from more experienced players, to encourage players to stick around, and to encourage RP.
Summary Ranges from CL1-CL2 Slots: 20 Jobs: 4	Summary Ranges from CL1-CL4 Slots: 21 17 slots if only the * marked changes are implemented Jobs: 7 5 jobs if only the * marked changes are implemented

I have tagged role changes above here with * that I think are essential and that would be a great starting step for CT to use as a basis and then consider any further changes/reversions from there.

Information in italics is something that has changed from the old version of the job.

**Suit model images:

Spoiler: Model Images

Has something similar been suggested before? If so, why is your suggestion different?:
Yes. Some differences apply between this and other versions of this by me and others, but a key difference here is mainly that three other departments have had similar reworks recently despite them being less in need of it than these roles are. E&TS has direly needed reworking, even if only a minor one, for a variety of reasons (laid out below), for a very long time. The changes the other departments have received make sense, and I believe that so does this, so I'm hoping that CT will consider this under a similar premise.

This is also different from most others in that it maintains roughly the same number of job slots as what already exists, but structures their use much more sensibly and productively than the current jobs do. Depending on the specific implementation, it could actually have less assigned job slots overall, and as little as one extra job. The primary focus is restructuring rather than straight up expansion of the department and its presence on the server. This intends to make things work better, rather than just making E&TS bigger.

Possible Positives of the suggestion (At least 2):

• See "Purpose" sections of each job's description above for individual jobs' positives.
• Provides a much more reasonable progression structure, so that players don't just abandon it because they hit CL2 within a week and there's nowhere else to go, especially with the current general lack of support.
• Incentivises more experienced roleplayers to support newer players in this area.
• Provides another progression path into senior roles such as Site Administration.
  • And in a way that balances more towards non-combative roles, which is nice.
• Provides more RP opportunities both to E&TS players and for other players to RP with.
• Provides better oversight of jobs that are currently lacking in this, leading to them often being abused by players that often really should have been banned for NITRP - but because nobody's actually keeping an eye on things longer-term, things just stay under the radar and continue to be a moderate annoyance to the entire server.
• The only actual dev work potentially required here would be:
  • Setting up a prop placer tool for Principal Engineer+
  • A variation of the Engineer/Technical Expert model for Principal Engineer (and maybe for DoE?)
  • Everything else can be configured by a Senior Admin+ as-is, with the only additional work being creating a new forums application format (which can easily be essentially a duplicate of other director role ones), and SA needing to keep tabs on it like they do other departments (which the fact that they don't even do that [because it's realistically impossible with the current structure] is already an issue).

Possible Negatives of the suggestion:

• There generally tends to be a lot of pushback against anything related to E&TS.
  • I feel like this suggestion addresses any of the valid (or at least repeatedly raised) concerns I can think of - skewing player count towards a department that isn't a focus of the server, providing opportunities for minges to cause problems, etc. are all addressed in the specifics I've laid out here.
  • A lot of the basic complaints I ever see here seem to essentially boil down to "these roles are for minges", completely ignoring the fact that that's what half of this is intending to fix.

Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted:
I feel that I have addressed pretty much every reasonable complaint I have seen on previous E&TS (or adjacent) role change suggestions. It doesn't expand the presence of the department - it just makes it better structured. It doesn't demand a lot of dev time (and realistically could be done without any if a couple of small parts were dropped, at least at first). It is actively working to reduce the issue of players abusing these jobs to FailRP/minge.

Those are just the reasons it shouldn't be denied. It should be accepted because it encourages roleplay, opens up various RP opportunities both as and with these roles, addresses an existing issue with abuse of roles, encourages players to both stick around and continue doing RP and to support other, newer players at the same time, and just generally encourages a broader range of active RP.

I feel like implementing this suggestion at worst leads to some decent RP opportunities now and then at the expense of relatively little work from SL compared to most other suggestions.

 

[Zen]

nono am not saying wait for Site-9, am just mentioning that *that* a simlier system was anncouned in a fireside chat, god I wish they'd bring it here, site-9 is at least another eighty years away

Ah, I see. I've gotten so many responses saying to just wait for Site-9 on previous suggestions I thought that was what you meant.

 

[Remmy]

Your persistence is aggravating, but this is a really well thought-out suggestion and introduces a 'direction' to roles which most consider to otherwise be throwaway. It looks like most departments now have a 'Senior' CL3 and CL4 position, a term which I despise because Clearance Levels do not have upper and lower ceilings. Formalising ET&S's role in the server with structure and accountability is a nice idea, and it gives you a chance to nurture newer players who'll be forced to go down the ET&S route for their XP.