Hey medical players, instead of going full ad hominem on an admin and getting emotional on changes, let’s focus on the discussion.
Hi @AdmiralObvious , thanks for the contribution. Changes in medbay excites me, and I would love to help how to make this change align better with what the community wants. I will focus on talking about how Bica is used in the shifts, rather than the math. For math fanatics, Github is the place to go.
I noticed a couple of points of the PR after trying it out on Vulture.
Pros:
- Beginner-friendly, casual chemist players can make chems without worrying
- Take away pressure to complete 13 chems in 10 minutes
- Less jugs = less refill = more time
- Encourage role playing/having fun with the environment and players
- Encourage the experimental nature of a chemist (mixing chems in jug or jugmixes)
- Learn about other department (i.e. botany)
Cons:
- Less interesting gameplay for veteran chemists
- Heavy use of carbon
- Low efficiency (each patients takes more than two runs back and forth and 2 syringes of 15u of healing chems to get healed), which can pose a traffic problem during crisis on high pop (80 players)
- Takes time for players to get accustomed with the change, as chemists have a rigid routine to follow
- [Combat wise] Slow acting chems are a disadvantage for nukies
- Overdosing happens frequently (a nice touch to the playing experience, but a pain in the ass for medical players)
Status Quo of Bica:
Bica does not get the respect it deserves, but medical players still give Arith and Bic to patients with radiation. Bica is still needed, just not the first go-to for Brute damage types. At this point, Bica is associated with two things: Arith and mixed brute damage below 20.
What else heals damage below/equal 50, and better thanks to its wide-spectrum properties? Tricordrazine is the name. Tricor can be found in medkits and Mediborgs, making it a convenient and generally good chems to use. Bic can be found in pill form, but Tricor outshines.
Bica’s mental association with Arith and limited healing properties make it the Bica we know and love today.
Main issue:
The PR does not address the status quo of Bica usage.
I fail to see the big picture that this PR is trying to solve. There are a couple of immediate improvements that medicine can benefit from. This is not one of those.
Numbers balancing will impact how players play the game and create meta. If Bica has wider healing properties and stronger healing effectiveness than Advanced Brutes, what is a good reason to make those then?
You said it was annoying to spam Bica in the OOC chat. As a chemist that round, I see no incentive in making Advanced Brutes. The PR is working as it intended.
How to improve the situation?:
If players still use Dermaline thanks to how fast it acts, why not make Bica act faster and leave advanced brutes’s healing effectiveness untouched? Advanced brutes may act slower if you would like to balance it.
I am sure there are solutions out there that both admin and community can agree on. Feel free to leave feedback or direct message if any interested player would like to.