[Feb '22] Improvements and Bug Fixes
Rolling thread of fixes for Feburary 2022

When scanning two hubs without networks together, they would refuse to scan and say they are already connected to a network. This has been fixed.

EYEPOD CREATE BUG

Eyepods when leaving a non-room inventory would traceback, this has been fixed.

DEVICE DISCONNECT FIXED

There was an edge case when a hub was disconnected or reset that it wasn't clearing its local cache of connected devices. This left some weird behavior behind and has been fixed.

UNSCAN BRIDGE DETECTION UPGRADED

It was only possible to unscan hubs from another bridged hub if that hub was bridging traffic to the hub you were unscanning previously. Now either end of the bridge can initiate an unscan.

NETWORK SCANNER TB PROTECTION ADDED

It seems like there was an edge case in network scanners to produce a traceback when evaluating network structures. This was probably related to devices not clearing their cached device fields on disconnection, and thus is already fixed. But just to be safe I added some more protections into the code.

SCANNER DELETE BRIDGE FIXED

It was possible after changing a bridge's filters that the device scanner would miss deleting the bridge on one half of the network. This has been fixed.

BRIDGE FILTER RECIPROCITY FIXED

When editing filters on bridges, it set the filters for the outgoing network but not the incoming network. This had no functional impact, but it was still annoying and unintended, so it has been fixed.

What was formerly called the munitions workbench has always been for repairing armor, but we originally named it because we were going to be adding other features to it, but we've rethought that plan and have decided to make this more clear that its about repairing armor. So this is now called an Armor Maintenance Mannequin.

It still works largely the same except you now need to remove your armor and place it on the mannequin. It'll still take scrap to repair things like before. Additionally, since its a mannequin, you can display armor or clothing on it now too.

You'll now get the successful catch message BEFORE it explodes all over you. No more catching a recyclable after it explodes.

This was not a bug, it was actually intentional that they did. But after thinking about it, I decided to nerf cameras so they have to be installed in order to broadcast video. Makes it more interesting for devices that don't have that requirement.

TV POWER TOGGLE FIXED

Televisions are black sheep, and they had a power state separate from the one I added to monitors. I've deleted the code that was left on television monitors and changed them to use the new soft power states I added for normal monitors and they now work.

FEED TOGGLE TRACEBACK FIXED

It was possible to run into an edge case traceback when toggling feeds. This has been fixed.

NLM CONTROL TRACEBACKS FIXED

Some tracebacks happening in the NLM control room have been fixed / converted to the new system.

Cybernetic transcoder hubs have been fixed and given a fresh coat of paint.

RCUs now support the tune command just like monitors, and are capable of displaying the video output of multiple robots at once. Additionally, robots can now be used as cameras on security networks.

Sometimes when flying into a coordinate space without a building a rooftop would generate. Except this also happened at ground level. This has been fixed so vacant lots will generate instead of roofs if at ground level.

Vehicles display stop messages once again.

(Edited by MirageGM at 2:59 pm on 2/11/2022)

sACDs have been returned to service (partially). They've undergone an overhaul and have been brought up to the standard of the rest of the robots. This was a massive undertaking that has led to the follow changes to sACDs, and ACDs:

* Thruster parts have a maximum weight they can sustain flight with.

* Going over this weight will cause the robot to fly slower.

* If the robot has an effective speed of zero, it can no longer fly.

* Different thrusters have different speeds and different energy consumption rates.

* Drones now have TWO hover heights. They can hover at eye level, or hover above people.

* Drones that are hovering above people cannot be reached by smack or melee attacks.

As the kinks are worked out of these robots they will be slowly reintroduced into the world.

A check has been added so that you can no longer take a shower while sitting down. This did not make sense and is now fixed.

SINUS REFACTOR MODULE

The sinus refactor module now behaves appropriately when exposed to solvent spray.

LAID WHILE OOC

Laid can no longer be used while OOC ($void, @ooc, etc).

Made it so choking robots does nothing. They're robots. C'mon dudes.

COMBAT ENDS ON UNCONSCIOUS

Since robots can be unconscious and not dead, the combat code now checks if something is unconscious and not just unconscious from dying so you don't keep attacking things that are clearly already defeated.

It is now possible to force driver/passenger/person from vehicle. This is a contested check and depends on many factors, such as doors being unlocked, missing, windows down, and more.

There are many ways to interrupt this in often hilarious ways. Enjoy being able to drag people out of cars, now.

In an attempt to demystify vehicles, a vehicle billboard has been added to Southside Motors. This billboard exposes information about the price, loadout, and some previous hidden values that correlate to vehicle performance.

I will continue to expand this system as I modify, tune, and fix vehicles as they've been set up.

Some of you will notice you are using more fuel. Some of you less. Before, this value was changed when a part was installed or removed. So installing an engine might result in your economy changing for better or for worse. It wasn't fair and incredibly unintuitive for builders to make vehicles.

So I removed it. This same problem existed for topspeed. These values are calculated dynamically now based on what's installed. This is now dependent on the number of engines you have, the heftiness of your vehicle, your speed, and the type of engine you have.

Some vehicles can now be made offroad capable by the installing of offroad tires.

A few engines and tires and have been rebalanced in light of new changes. Most notably, the only one I'm going to call out is industrial engines are installable in normal engine locations now.

It is now possible to rev your aerodyne.

Unpowered vehicles are now immune to road hazards like debris. No more fucking up your skateboard on debris that totally doesn't exist in the game yet.

This entire time the code that calculated control modifiers while driving was actually not working as intended. None of the parts' handle mods were being accounted for, and the math turning it into a penalty was also wrong.

All of this has been EXTREMELY TESTED WITH GREAT SCRUTINY, and now with 100% certainty I can say these mods are now applying correctly. Driving is now much harder.

There was a bug that allowed players to install two or more cyberware/nanos at the same time. This has been patched.

..Normally I don't give exact numbers on my patchnotes. I'm going to make an exception this time because there's no way to see this limit in game and this is a rebalance of existing items.

Touch screens have a feed limit of 2 from 4 now.

Video columns have a limit of 8 from 4.

Robot controllers have a limit of 3 from 4.

Hobby Robot controllers have a limit of 1 from 4.

Wall screens have a limit of 8 from 12

Security monitors have a limit of 6 from 4.

Monitors have a limit of 1 from 4.

The price of hobby robot controllers has been drastically reduced.

The price of touch screens has been drastically reduced.

The price of video columns has been massively increased, not that they're purchaseable.

The price of security monitors has been slightly increased.

The eval check to see how well you can pilot has been adjusted to be more precise in line with feedback.

LOOK [PERSON]'S [BODY PART]

You can now look at individual parts or sections of a person's body. A side effect of this change is that exposing your head will expose your head, eyes, ears and face.

Tattoos now support two messages. A brief message seen when you look at someone and a more detailed message seen when you look at someone's specific body part. All your existing tattoos count as the more detailed message, but until you upgrade them, will still be seen when someone looks at you.

To upgrade your existing tattoos to the new format, use the command @upgrade-tats. If you mess up while upgrading your tattoos, you can use @reset-tattoo-upgrade up to 2 times to reset your tattoos to their old form so you can attempt to @upgrade-tats again.

Remember, the new brief form of your tattoo should:

- be a short sentence that refers to its location

- be accurate to the Detailed Form

- be shorter than the Detailed Form

- not be misleading

- use pronouns like %N or %p

It is time for this puppy to fly.

I have enabled vehicle combat for the game and some of the items have been seeded into the game world. This is a whole, new shiny combat system so let me explain what some of the expected functions are so you can tell me if I messed up:

1. It is not possible to attack vehicles that have no one in them.

2. Vehicles with no weapons or ammo will just circle each other like peacocks in heat.

3. On foot characters automatically succeed flee checks where a vehicle is firing on them, assuming the direction they are fleeing cannot be followed by a vehicle.

4. It is extremely difficult to hit a player with a vehicle heavy weapon inside the city, there are too many obstacles.

5. It is not extremely difficult to hit a player with a vehicle heavy weapon outside the city.

6. Your current throttle (acc/brake) will affect your dodge bonuses, so maybe accelerate to full if you are attacked. On the other hand this causes a lot of heat, so maybe don't. Your choice.

7. If you are being attacked and you shut off your vehicle, the attacks will not stop.

8. If you are being attacked and you leave your vehicle, the attacks will not stop.

9. If you exit aerial combat by shutting off your engine and falling like a brick: this auto-succeeds a flee check. You idiot.

I think this covers the basics. Lots of messages flow weirdly, we're depending on players, when they interact with this content, to @typo messages they see in the combat engine.

Be sure to review the Vehicle Combat thread in this subforum for information on how to ICly react to these changes (Hint: Nothing has changed.)

Completely rewrote the cybernetic video transcoder implant to be on par with the other network features.

Reread your help file, as all of the commands have changed.

It is now possible to tune into and out of feeds, look at all your feeds you're tuned into, and more.

Video link and unlink for transcoders has been updated to support ordinals for when there's duplicates in a room.

Added sepsis to the game, and now you can catch it from the sewers.

Orbs have been re-released back into the game world.

10 variants of external vehicle armor have been added that can be mounted to many different kinds of vehicle hardpoints.

If there is shit in your character's hands while they're driving, you now take a penalty to checks to control the vehicle.

Additionally, you will get a message saying so every so often.

It's been commonly accepted because of the Grasshopper's description that it's offroad. The billboard pointed out it is not. This has been fixed. It now is.

The bulkiness of a vehicle now matters for towing. Tow vehicles cannot tow vehicles bigger than they are now. The locust is larger than the tow truck, answering the age old question.. could a tow truck tow a locust? The answer is no.

Fixed a possible traceback when looking at an orb.

Inspecting a vehicle part will also tell you what kind of vehicle can accept the part. Not all parts fit in all types of vehicles.