Spitballing a SS14 lore/theme rework

This is a repost from something I’ve also put on the Reddit.

As many have pointed out SS14 in many ways (in basically all the popular servers and in Wizard Den’s general design) isn’t really just recreating SS13 but clearly has it’s own feel. As such I’m sorta of spitballing an idea that could potentially not only make SS14 feel as visually distinct from SS13 as it is gameplay wise but also give it some lore changes that don’t overhaul it completely but could make SS14 feel more congruent as a game.

This is just me spitballing here but I’ve sort of thought about this since back in the Baystation days and I think considering how much Wizard’s Den has changed the core gameplay it would be the best time to consider reworking the lore into something more consistent.

I have to major suggestions that when put together could allow for SS13’s world to remain but not block SS14 as it expansion into it’s own.

A timeline and sense of History.

The primary suggestion consists around giving SS14 a timeline with three distinct eras. Each era could offer a lot of potential in gameplay, offer lots of potential for items, offer a lot for servers to work with (or even adapt completely) and help implement SS13’s original story within the lore.

Era 1: Space-Clunk

The first era would be defined by it’s clunkyness. This is the first Era of distance space travel and as such any truly old wrecks, ships and items come from this era. NanoTrasen was first established around here but it was small, merely a company and mostly Space Government funded. Plasma was discovered as a fuel source and saw a lot of experimentation with and laser weapons first came about.

Expect to see things more visually similar to 1950s-1960s scifi.

This is also the period in which the Third Soviet Union in an built and lost the classic derelict from the recently emerging Syndicate. (which is faintly hinted might have been partially funded by NanoTransen to combat the TSU.)

Humans were basically the only actually wide spread space faring race so any non-human visitor on board was considered enough to drop your tools and marvel at, but most species wouldn’t be able to speak any language a human could understand so communication was difficult.

Cyborg’s are extremely rare and the idea of a station wide AI is far in the future.

This period would also be full of references to the earliest days of SS13, back when Toxins Researcher’s were around. While this technology is rare it’s mostly outdated but still valuable in the way an antique would be.

Laser guns would be heavy backpack items, machines are slow and the Thermo-Electric Generator was considered advanced tech. Genetics isn’t really a thing and cloning is more experimental then anything else.

The average human lifespan would still be about 120~ years.

If this period could be defined by a map it’d be the very first SS13 maps. Seeing anything from this period in space is extremely rare.

Era 2: Retro-Future

This is the period that most aligns with SS13, especially servers like TG-Station , Goonstation and old servers like Baystation.

Visually this period takes heavily from late 1970’s and 1980’s scifi. Expect to see things similar to Alien’s retro-futurism. Laser weapons are still considered advanced tech during this period but have become as portable as a normal firearm but most weapons are still projectile. The Singularity Generator and the modern form of AI’s were also first invented but was considered cutting-edge and kept secret by the few groups that could make it.

Despite Universal translators and similar technologies a fair few conflicts let to a collapse of human/non-human relations. Speciesism became widespread during this period. Nanotransen grew into a pseudo-military megacorperation and was involved in this somewhat, earning the ire of many other groups and birthing the Syndicates hatred of Nanotransen. During this period Nanotransen wasn’t exactly nice to non-humans and while they were occasionally allowed on an advanced facility they were mostly assigned to menial tasks and barred from leadership positions.

This is also what any outdated tech looks like, so for example the microwave in the kitchen would be from Era 3 but most in the maintenance would look more akin to this period. Technology from here as a bit slower then SS14’s tech but it’s still by all means serviceable.

If you were to define this period by a map it would be BoxStation and other 2010~2018 period maps. Visitors would also have never be allowed on a station like SS13, it was advanced secret research station after all. A vast majority of salvage, space junk, abandoned shuttles and abandoned facilities come from this period.

The average human lifespan with genetics and cloning has become extended to be about 200~ years.

Era 3: ‘Modern’ day

This is the period SS14 takes place in. The station feels a bit cleaner (except for places like maint), Laser or energy based weapons are widespread, space travel is common and NanoTransen was forced to demilitarize a bit.

AI is so common PAI’s have become purchase-able and laser guns no longer have inbuilt batteries and instead have remove-able battery mags for quick reloading. Technology such as teleporters are also more widespread. Even FTL Space Ships are owned by civilians.

Technology is quite advanced at this point and due to a partial technological plateau Nanotransen even welcomes visitors to it’s stations. This is also why SS14 isn’t treated as a secret facility. Singularity Generators are pretty common on substantial facilities and Thermo-Electric Generator is considered outdated ‘legacy tech’.

Even minor devices such as the microwave could reflect this change. The old microwave would require a player to manually input the time to cook something, the new one instead uses ‘proprietary advanced algorithms’ to auto-detect the exact correct cooking time for you.

Human and non-human relations also normalized to the point a non-human NanoTransen Captain has become acceptable and a new range of species started to join the wider Space community.

The average human lifespan with genetics and cloning has become extended to be about 300~ years.

Era 4: Cutting-Edge

This period is basically the future of SS14’s world. Technology of this grade is rare, guarded and extremely expensive.

Things like the Captain’s pistol are indicative of this (maybe even recharging itself slowly over time), smick Holo-computers are appearing, the Captain’s PDA has not only an inbuilt map but even an inbuilt crew tracker and his space Armour/Hardsuit/whatever doesn’t slow him down in the slightest due to hidden AI powered motion assisting motors.

Don’t expect to see equipment like this outside of the Captains quarters or the Bridge and even having this tech as anything but a Head is likely to lead to you being arrested or worse.

But… why?

Good question and I have a two big reasons why.

  1. SS13’s setting always had a sense of stagnation and one of SS13’s biggest flaws was that most of the lore had to be explained OOC. I’ve always been a strong believer in Show Don’t Tell if possible and going to the effort of doing so would have a huge potential for lore expansion in-game. Going to the derelict or delving through salvage and seeing even just the machines, walls and items present would help give the place more grounding and a sense of history way better then a lore dump on a website ever could.

  2. Tons of potential. I’d imagine somebody could even make a server set earlier (Imagine an Era 1 server) or maybe even re-adding the old derelict ghost role but in a way cooler way.

But… how?

For walls/machines you could just have an option (maybe in the building menu?) but more importantly I have a second idea that could bring it together as a functioning concept.

Design Disks?

A server I remember playing long ago had a brilliant idea (I’ve forgotten the name but it’s a pretty unique server with a new setting) that could do this perfect for devices like the Circuit Printer and Autolathe. If you screw open the Autolathe you’ll notice you can access a new menu to be able to insert or remove a new item, ‘Design Disks’.

Each fabricating device would need at least one but you could easily have multiple insert-able to add as many items as needed. So now the Protolathe doesn’t actually have new items, instead it alone just works way faster then the Autolathe.

For example all station Lathes always have a ‘Basic Tools Design Disk’ inside but each department would have extras like a ‘Cargo Tech Design Disk’, ‘Research Tech Design Disk’ and ‘Engineering Tech Design Disk’. Design disks can normally only be ordered in locked crates but all Head’s would always have a spare or two of the disks they need in their closets.

For circuit board the Design Disks define what can be printed. The circuit printer spits out circuit boards correct to the period so the derelict for example could circuit printer would only produce old device circuit boards.

So when Science unlocks things they can print out new Disks so the Autolathe can be expanded with new items. This could also be used by Antag’s for their own cheeky fun (like a Revolutionary Design Disk that can print out basic weapons) or can be a great target for stealing.

This would also be reusable for things like Goob Station’s ghost bar to allow fabrication without causing issues or even be used to provide a publicly accessible Autolathe with only the basic tools available.

But how is this relevant to Eras?

Well… there could be Design Disks that Science can’t unlock or be found on the Station. These one’s link into the lore as an outdated Design Disk can only produce items from their Era or even produce items with different skins (So maybe instead of producing a modern wrench an Era 1 disk could produce a retro looking one.)

And what happens when a Salvager searches around a wreck or the like? Well they can find Design Disks. These can produce old versions of items, old tech and fun oddities.

In conclusion:

This could be a great way to truly make SS14 feel different, give tons of new content and add tons for custom servers to work with. SS14 could be given the breathing room it needs to expand while a lot SS13’s content could stay but be put into a previous Era.

To be clear I’m more of a spriter then a scripter and this would be a big change, but in my opinion this could help bridge SS13 and SS14 in a way that wouldn’t harm SS13’s legacy, SS14’s future and instead offer potential and a cool set of tools for server owners.

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