What does this suggestion change/add/remove:
I would like maintenance/engineering to be a full department, with multiple different roles. Parts of this would need to wait until containment maintenance is added, but other parts can exist independently and add quality content to the server.
The role structure for this theoretical department I had in mind would be as follows:
As part of this, it would also make sense for the engineering department to have it's own comms channel like other departments do.
I also think the technician tool should do more, and I have ideas for that, but I'll make a separate suggestion for that. EDIT: Here's the suggestion for this.
EDIT: I have just found this thread suggesting some parts of this that was rejected, but that didn't seem to be suggesting a department structure and broader changes like this, but simply having a maintenance head. The reason it was rejected also seems a bit off, considering it claims that changes to it are already coming, but that was back in April and there's still no update or changes (other than the removal of Containment Specialists). I believe the supposedly upcoming changes are likely referring to the addition of containment maintenance, but it has been implied by developers and staff in the Discord that this is likely a while off still even now, and this suggestion can still mostly be implemented right now in about 15 minutes by an admin, and is fully compatible with what is publicly known about the planned maintenance changes. The rejection also suggests that SA alone are enough to manage roles like this, but considering the ongoing minge issue with these roles, that clearly isn't the case.
Has something similar been suggested before? If so, why is your suggestion different?:
Various changes to tech experts and maintenance have been suggested, but I don't believe this specifically has. It is also not clear what the upcoming changes to maintenance are or when they will arrive, beyond the addition of containment maintenance, and so when suggestions get denied because of upcoming changes, it's very unhelpful. I understand wanting to keep things under wraps until they are ready, but it would be very helpful to get some more communication on this.
Possible Positives of the suggestion (At least 2):
Possible Negatives of the suggestion:
Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted:
It adds a lot of RP potential for maintenance roles, would likely improve the situation with minges commonly using these roles, and adds more to do with these roles, including departmental progression and document making.
This also brings structure to the maintenance roles, meaning there's players that content team can talk to about further maintenance changes, and it adds a base for the planned containment changes to be added to.
Also, for the full list of positives above, I think this is mostly just job configuration, so it shouldn't be much work for staff to make these changes while adding all of those benefits. It's also not just a simple change like simply making CL3 tech experts that could potentially make minges worse, but could instead help solve the minge issue with these roles. I'm of the opinion that the minging in these roles is a combination of a lack of oversight (which these changes would solve) and simply a lack of anything to do during long periods of time where nothing is broken (which these changes would also help with).
Even if not all of this is implemented, literally any improvements along these lines to maintenance would be great, as it's currently pretty dead and could really do with some improvements.
EDIT: The SCiPNet terminals seem to refer to such a department as "Foundation Engineering and Technical Service Department", which is something you can find on the SCP Wiki on a page describing different departments. This brief description is given for it. That sounds like a good enough name to me for this, and would fit with existing content on the server. Shorthand is E&TS.
I would like maintenance/engineering to be a full department, with multiple different roles. Parts of this would need to wait until containment maintenance is added, but other parts can exist independently and add quality content to the server.
The role structure for this theoretical department I had in mind would be as follows:
- Chief Engineer / Head of Engineering / Director of Engineering/E&TS (whatever the name should be, same concept)
- Department chief, can organise training, roleplay, documents, department policies, etc. for maintenance roles
- Can job ban people from maintenance roles
- Can credit other maintenance roles
- CL4, door repair tool, technician tool, pistol purely for self defence (like consultants have), maybe the SCP maintenance tool, radio, clipboard, able to interact with subsystem boxes, headcam
- Whitelisted, selected by site administration
- Senior Engineer
- Support 20 and/or whitelisted, selected by Chief Engineer
- Trusted engineer, can lead roleplay situations, enter LHCZ and other CL3 areas to repair things
- EDIT: Can job ban lower E&TS roles, must alert department head and possibly log details/evidence.
- CL3, door repair tool, technician tool, pistol (self defence, as they will be able to enter LHCZ, etc.), radio, clipboard, able to interact with subsystem boxes, headcam
- Can credit lower maintenance staff or just engineers/IT techs with approval from maintenance chief/staff
- Containment Engineer
- Support 20
and/or whitelisted, selected by Chief Engineer - Trusted engineer, but based purely around SCP maintenance rather than general site maintenance
- CL3, SCP maintenance tool, repair tool, pistol (self defence, LHCZ), radio, possibly a containment beam for passifying SCPs if they have to enter a containment chamber (not sure on this one, should probably just be supported by a combatant), clipboard, headcam
- As is in-progress/planned on the dev tracker here
- Support 20
- Technical Expert - same as it already is, plus radio, clipboard and headcam
- Engineer - same as it already is, plus radio, clipboard and headcam
- IT Technician - same as it already is, plus radio, clipboard and headcam
As part of this, it would also make sense for the engineering department to have it's own comms channel like other departments do.
I also think the technician tool should do more, and I have ideas for that, but I'll make a separate suggestion for that. EDIT: Here's the suggestion for this.
EDIT: I have just found this thread suggesting some parts of this that was rejected, but that didn't seem to be suggesting a department structure and broader changes like this, but simply having a maintenance head. The reason it was rejected also seems a bit off, considering it claims that changes to it are already coming, but that was back in April and there's still no update or changes (other than the removal of Containment Specialists). I believe the supposedly upcoming changes are likely referring to the addition of containment maintenance, but it has been implied by developers and staff in the Discord that this is likely a while off still even now, and this suggestion can still mostly be implemented right now in about 15 minutes by an admin, and is fully compatible with what is publicly known about the planned maintenance changes. The rejection also suggests that SA alone are enough to manage roles like this, but considering the ongoing minge issue with these roles, that clearly isn't the case.
Has something similar been suggested before? If so, why is your suggestion different?:
Various changes to tech experts and maintenance have been suggested, but I don't believe this specifically has. It is also not clear what the upcoming changes to maintenance are or when they will arrive, beyond the addition of containment maintenance, and so when suggestions get denied because of upcoming changes, it's very unhelpful. I understand wanting to keep things under wraps until they are ready, but it would be very helpful to get some more communication on this.
Possible Positives of the suggestion (At least 2):
- Tech experts and the like would likely be much less mingey when there's department chiefs that can job ban them for it and actively are doing so as part of their role
- EDIT: Just to point out, the only people who can job ban them right now are SA, and it's difficult enough just to get in contact with one most of the time, nevermind trying to get SA to deal with tech experts. I've tried. It doesn't work, or it takes so long they've probably already logged off for the night.
- Much better maintenance RP and interactions with other site staff
- Less annoyance by tech experts that actually play properly, due to less minges bringing their rep down, and the ability to actually get into CL3/4 places to fix things.
- More to do, as there is a whole new department that you can work in and progress through
- Department can then be expanded/changed in the future as needed, with changes informed by people that regularly play on it, which would be difficult right now
- Engineers can make documents and the like for the department and there's actually a role that can accept them - e.g. guides for new players, roleplay documents, etc.
- More organised and active maintenance roles, as it'd be more interesting to play and there's progression possibilities to work towards, so possibly things get fixed quicker when requested
- Active maintenance players can then work out department policies, documentation, etc. to use, and it can be fleshed out organically by players
- Things likely get fixed quicker with there being much more organisation, radios, comms channel
- Potentially a lot of benefits for something that is mostly just job configuration and the like, so likely not too difficult to do
- EDIT: As I have seen in another suggestion thread around Tech Experts that just got denied - there absolutely is a reason for higher clearance maintenance roles. Actually try playing tech expert and getting into electrical centres or LHCZ to fix something - 9/10 times nobody will ever respond or help you, unless you happen to find somebody nearby with the appropriate clearance to open things for you. Actually, for real, try and request somebody to open HCZ electrical centre once, before you reject based on clearance levels.
- EDIT: Just remembered that the credit system exists - having this department structure would also allow people in these roles to be credited easier/at all (I'm not sure anyone can credit maintenance staff, I've certainly never been to my memory, and it definitely doesn't regularly happen). Right now, it's basically impossible to get any XP other than activity XP on these roles outside of the periods shortly after a breach.
Possible Negatives of the suggestion:
- With there being higher clearance jobs in this area, it is possible that existing minges might try to abuse these. This can be solved using job bans, whitelists and high support level requirements as appropriate
- EDIT: As a few people have pointed out, this could potentially lead to more people being on these roles and detracting from other departments' numbers. I don't personally think this would happen enough to be even really noticeable, but in case this is the case, or content team are concerned about it, Tech Expert and above roles could simply have low slot numbers, e.g. 1 chief, 2 senior, 2 containment, 3 Tech Expert - would lead to likely only like 2 extra people total being away from other departments.
Based on the Positives & Negatives, why should this suggestion be accepted:
It adds a lot of RP potential for maintenance roles, would likely improve the situation with minges commonly using these roles, and adds more to do with these roles, including departmental progression and document making.
This also brings structure to the maintenance roles, meaning there's players that content team can talk to about further maintenance changes, and it adds a base for the planned containment changes to be added to.
Also, for the full list of positives above, I think this is mostly just job configuration, so it shouldn't be much work for staff to make these changes while adding all of those benefits. It's also not just a simple change like simply making CL3 tech experts that could potentially make minges worse, but could instead help solve the minge issue with these roles. I'm of the opinion that the minging in these roles is a combination of a lack of oversight (which these changes would solve) and simply a lack of anything to do during long periods of time where nothing is broken (which these changes would also help with).
Even if not all of this is implemented, literally any improvements along these lines to maintenance would be great, as it's currently pretty dead and could really do with some improvements.
EDIT: The SCiPNet terminals seem to refer to such a department as "Foundation Engineering and Technical Service Department", which is something you can find on the SCP Wiki on a page describing different departments. This brief description is given for it. That sounds like a good enough name to me for this, and would fit with existing content on the server. Shorthand is E&TS.
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