Content Suggestion Dimension Nerf's for everyone! (Made by the Forum Goblin's TM)

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What does this suggestion change/add/remove:
This suggestion overall aims to alter Dimensions with the intention of making them less of a crutch for combatives on the server.

Presently, almost all major CI raids use at least 1 dimension per raid as a way of silently entering Foundation, and Dimensions are the go-to when CI are holding down a position. This makes raids repetitive, as CI are constantly using the dimension, and when attempting something interesting for a raid, they are normally flanked by Foundation using Dimensions in response.

Dimensions are currently used in an almost purely combative fashion and it would be more beneficial for the server’s environment if there were more RP applications for Dimensions.

In attempt to address these major issues, the following could be changed/added:

>Scranton Reality Anchors would pull someone out of any dimension if they were in its area of effect for at least 5 seconds.

>If someone inside one of the dimensions walks through the area of effect of a Scranton Reality Anchor, they will be temporarily partially visible in the real world, similar to how Hume Bubbles dimension users appear, or how people in the real world appear to people in the Helper Dimension. This effect could last between 30-60 seconds.

>If someone is in the MC&D Shadow Dimension, a small Shadow would appear at their current location in the real world.

>Make Hume Bubbles more difficult to create, by making them only appear on a different chemical (E.G. Stable Quantum Matter) or make a new Chemical combination specifically for this
  • Could potentially even consider adding a new kind of less combative-focused surface breaching SCP which would be allowed to enter Foundation, where it would have objectives that it could complete in HCZ (Consider placing these objectives in lesser used areas, such as the maintenance rooms & the Data Centre between 076 and 035) for EXP and a little money. This new SCP would have to be very weak at combat, but very fast in order to reliably avoid immediate capture by F or CI. (Maybe it could also have access to a Dimension itself, to try and encourage the use of Dimensions for RP reasons? With the intention there being that it could be discovered while F are checking for CI raiders with Scrantons, using the method described 2 points above, and as a result could potentially attempt to make some form of deal with it? As well as other situations that result in created RP, although this does admittedly create some distinctly combative scenarios that would be fairly common) It’s samples would yield a chemical that would be part of the recipe for the Hume Bubble chemical and there should also be incentive against SCP just freely allowing it to be harvested from them.

Has something similar been suggested before? If so, why is your suggestion different?:
Yes!
https://civilnetworks.net/community/threads/dimension-balance-suggestions.24008/ - The first two suggested changes are very similar, one of which being practically identical. As the last two changes of that suggestion were accepted, the first change suggested in this suggestion effectively asks for a buff to that aspect of the SRA.

Given that this was 5 months ago and Dimensions still remain difficult to create counterplay for despite the changes made since, it feels reasonable to suggest these things at this time to further crack down on the overpowered aspect of Dimensions. This suggestion is also more than that.

https://civilnetworks.net/community/threads/nerf-dimension-raids.27779/ - Also asks for potential nerfs to Dimension raids, but is a little vague, asks for a somewhat similar solution to one suggested here (in the form of adding a new item whereas this asks for changes to one), but is not nearly as thorough or offers as many ideas as this suggestion.

Possible Positives of the suggestion (At least 2):
>A significant portion of the community appears to greatly dislike how dimensions are currently being used - Not to mention the impact the use of have had on server health. This suggestion, or whatever changes it inspires, should hopefully serve to sufficiently resolve their grievances.

>Increased difficulty of CI getting free entry on Foundation using Dimensions, since even though it still protects them and gives them more time, but in exchange they are slightly more detectable, and would have to constantly stay on their feet.

>Improved counterplay against forces that are known to be in the dimension, with these SRA changes you can prepare for their flank by virtue of being able to see their positioning, and would make it easier to pull a dimension hold out of the dimension using a SRA.

>Would potentially make it harder to go around the map undetected, as Hume Bubbles would be rarer/more expensive, and all factions would have to rely more on the naturally spawning ones, or pay a large price to use one.

Possible Negatives of the suggestion:

>Shadow Dimension may be nerfed too hard - As it does cost 30k per.

>Dev time. Changes such as the scranton one or the potential of a new SCP would take a lot of time to create and implement, while other changes like the simple Hume Bubble change would be quite easily changed.

>More things to potentially have to (re)balance. This can be seen as a positive, as it freshens things up for people as the dimensions will no longer be as overpowered, but things will still need to be changed and monitored.

Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted:

>The community has disliked the dimensions for awhile since their release, due to the inability to play around/against them, with it feeling unfair to deal with CI entering Foundation freely with the shadow dimension, Foundation constantly flanking CI raids with no way to react, and CI moving around site constantly using Hume bubbles? Lots of people say that it ruined combat/raids, and honestly, they’re not half wrong.
 
Honestly they should just remove dimensions. Atleast on US they get meta gamed every single raid, whether its be raiders opening one door, in dimension or elastics showing up through dimension. During our last shadow dimension raid people straight up said "follow the floating red line" yet no refunds nor cards/upgrades were refunded, even though have the MTF online said it was meta game. Its not worth the server lag or the problems that come with it.

When i get the clip of it from Nu-7's POV i will post it here.
 
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Honestly they should just remove dimensions. Atleast on US they get meta gamed every single raid, whether its be raiders opening one door, in dimension or elastics showing up through dimension. During our last shadow dimension raid people straight up said "follow the floating red line" yet no refunds nor cards/upgrades were refunded. Its not worth the server lag or the problems that come with it
i don't think they will sadly. A lot of work went into the dimensions, and although I hate them for A) Not providing any notable RP and B) being stupid, I think they won't be removed.
 
i don't think they will sadly. A lot of work went into the dimensions, and although I hate them for A) Not providing any notable RP and B) being stupid, I think they won't be removed.
At this current moment in time i cant count the number of bugs that comes with shadow dimension. They should of tested it more before relase.
For example i will post a few bugs that come to mind

1. Deployable shields showing up in real world while in dimension
2. Grenades thrown in dimension making noise in the real world
3. Elastics showing up in real world while in dimension
4. Trains in dimension are invisible
5. When it collapses you can get stuck in others
6. All equipped items are invisible in dimension
7. 3D skybox if disabled removes the floor
8. Cars can be driven in dimension (untested)
9. Dimension bridges can just despawn at random
And like i said those are all bugs that come to mind within a span of 10 minutes
 
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Collectively made by:

@Emilia Foddg
I'd like to note at the outset that even though I did author a good portion of this suggestion and contribute a significant amount of ideas to it, I did so at Niox's request; I recognise the extant issues that Dimensions in its current form has and its current impact on the server environment.

One thing I completely forgot to mention somehow - And should, is that... I'm fairly certain Dimensions are a core addon? Or at the very least, requires FTP access; And as such, alterations to it are restricted solely to, at the time of writing, to my understanding, four people? One of whom also runs the entire network and another two of which are volunteers. So I wouldn't be surprised if this was escalated to needing an NL response? Especially since Dimensions is largely a Ventz creation, and probably only he can realistically judge whether or not any changes to Dimensions as a result of this are feasible. But this also means that off the bat, this is just very uphill.

I honestly don't envy anyone on either side here, this is kinda a really sticky thing to deal with. RP on the server suffers because of powerful mechanic used for combative actions with no real compelling and/or recurring RP use for said mechanic, combatives on the server suffer because if they don't do the boring meta thing, they just get hit over the head with it themselves instead - And Ventz, who just wanted to create and put out this really cool idea he had, is now having to deal with the massive aneurysm-inducing headache involved with trying to handle its balancing and integration into the server environment. Essentially, something very cool has been created at a large expense, wherein every conceivable side has lost.

I'm also aware of staff-initiated inquiries currently being made into Dimensions, with surveys and such going around with everyone at every level aware of Dimensions' impact on the server and seemingly trying to find solutions to remedy the negative effects on the environment. This suggestion would have happened with or without my input, and it's my hope that I at least contributed enough to constructively provide more to the conversation in the hopes of developing the necessary improvements for the server.

I personally actually have... I wouldn't say no stake, since as I currently purely focus on GMing, the combative affairs of the server are of enough interest to me (as methods for creating RP, executing events and such is extremely limited during raid/breach conditions) that I would personally be interested in a solution, which either overall reduces or otherwise accelerates instances of combative situations to their logical conclusions as much as reasonably possible - But you get the point that I don't particularly have the same kind of investment that say, a DEA/Nu7/CI, or even an E-11 main would. I would also particularly enjoy discovering a way in which Dimensions could be used for RP, but it's difficult to do so, due to their limited nature - If it wasn't already obvious, figuring out ways in which RP could be added to Dimensions is far beyond my ken.

Honestly, what happens, happens.
-/+ Neutral
Because writer's bias, but aside from trying to alleviate issues with the server environment and how that relates to what I do on the server, I'm largely nonplussed about this specific issue.

Honestly they should just remove dimensions. Atleast on US they get meta gamed every single raid, whether its be raiders opening one door, in dimension or elastics showing up through dimension. During our last shadow dimension raid people straight up said "follow the floating red line" yet no refunds nor cards/upgrades were refunded, even though have the MTF online said it was meta game. Its not worth the server lag or the problems that come with it.

When i get the clip of it from Nu-7's POV i will post it here.
I feel like this specific circumstance is more an issue of rules not being enforced, than it is anything to do with Dimensions.
 
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One thing I completely forgot to mention somehow - And should, is that... I'm fairly certain Dimensions are a core addon? Or at the very least, requires FTP access; And as such, alterations to it are restricted solely to, at the time of writing, to my understanding, four people? One of whom also runs the entire network and another two of which are volunteers. So I wouldn't be surprised if this was escalated to needing an NL response? Especially since Dimensions is largely a Ventz creation, and probably only he can realistically judge whether or not any changes to Dimensions as a result of this are feasible. But this also means that off the bat, this is just very uphill.
I would assume it would be a Content Team decision for the changes, but a Core Dev would be the one actually needing to do it

or not idk, the tag hasnt been changed yet so it should be vibing
 
I would assume it would be a Content Team decision for the changes, but a Core Dev would be the one actually needing to do it
Well it's sorta half-half; Any changes to Dimensions would most likely have to be done by a core dev, any changes to other things could be made by other devs so long as they're not core or otherwise require FTP access.
 
Aug 6, 2022
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>Scranton Reality Anchors would pull someone out of any dimension if they were in its area of effect for at least 5 seconds.

>If someone inside one of the dimensions walks through the area of effect of a Scranton Reality Anchor, they will be temporarily partially visible in the real world, similar to how Hume Bubbles dimension users appear, or how people in the real world appear to people in the Helper Dimension. This effect could last between 30-60 seconds.
i think these already exist, happened to me when i got stuck in 22415 dimension and i asked someone to put a reality anchor down to pull me out (that's what the blue bubble around the reality anchor is for). although the reality anchor needs to run its full course until the person is able to be pulled out unfortunately
 
i think these already exist, happened to me when i got stuck in 22415 dimension and i asked someone to put a reality anchor down to pull me out (that's what the blue bubble around the reality anchor is for). although the reality anchor needs to run its full course until the person is able to be pulled out unfortunately
I know

As for the second point you mentioned.... no. It just doesn't do that.