So, most people who have done/like chem have noticed the recent influx in admin mice destroying all the pills.
While I agree to some point that having all those entities spawned in the same place, the inconsistency on this can get frustrating. I’ve been experimenting with chem lately (when I can stand it, there are certain people in med dept that make my skin crawl, so I actually haven’t been able to test it as much as I like). Here is some feedback/suggestions for admins and players alike who are looking for a new way to enjoy chem without facing the wrath of the adminmice.
I haven’t had the time to really commit to this subject yet, so this will be an ongoing thread that I plan to add on to over time until I can come up with a good format, etc to submit to the wiki.
First off: Chemistry is a medbay job. The main priority in Chem should always be the meds and doctors. Chemists aren’t there to just do their own thing the whole time. Making clf and toxins any time in the first 30 minutes of the round without any reason at all is a huge peeve of mine that I won’t go in to. I understand the reasoning behind the admin mice. I have never seen a shift where 100 pills of Dylovene was needed. MAYBE Bicaridine, but even then, it’s a stretch. There aren’t many departments where I would see the need for public access to the meds. Salvage and Security maybe? But at the end of the day, doctors get bored because no one lets them do their jobs. If tiders or scientists complain about not being able to grab ten pills to go, let them cry about it. It’s not your job to make them happy. It’s your job to serve medbay’s needs first.
2.) Don’t forget that medfab will give you pill cannisters and bottles with plastic and glass. Use it. If the public wants drugs, take orders and fill out a cannister for them. Keep your pills inside medbay with access to doctors, but not public (unless you have a CMO who doesn’t care about anything and uses EA every round - not calling out anyone specific, but you know who you are, and I hope you know that at least half the doctors I’ve talked to hate it as much as I do). Chemists complain that there’s nothing to do - well, here you are. Something to do. Is it the most fun? No. But it’s a job you can do that doesn’t involve getting so bored you accidentally blow up your fellow chemists.
3.) Medfab also makes kit boxes. Make an advanced medkit and fill it with liquid meds that would be needed. My favorites to put in my kits are: 1 bottle Inaprov, 1 bottle Tranex, 1 bottle Bic, 1 bottle Derm, 1 bottle Dylo, 1 pill cannister Iron, 1 pill cannister Arith, and 1 pill cannister Kelo. Make sure to label each thing with it’s use and od amount (I use the format: Drug Name (USE ~ od amount)) - if good labeling is too much work for you, maybe consider a different profession. I like to also include a piece of paper with my kits with instructions. Here’s my most recent format, but this will change in the future to include notes on different racial reactions and metabolization) I’m sure:
BURN - use 10u* Dermaline (heals 3/u of HEAT, SHOCK, COLD) along with one 20u Kelotane pill (heals .66/u of HEAT, SHOCK, COLD) for a total of around 43 BURN healing
BRUTE - use 15u* Bicaridine (heals 4/u of BRUTE) for a total of 60 BRUTE healing
POISON - use 20u* of Dylovene (heals 2/u of POISON) for a total of 40 POISON healing
BLOODLOSS - use 15u* of Tranexamic Acid (reduces bleeding) along with one or two 20u Iron (restores blood level) pills, supplement with blood packs (restores bloodloss) if needed
ASPHYXIATION - use 10u of Inaprovaline (heals 10/u of ASPHYX, reduces bleeding) for a total of 100 ASPHYXIATION healing
RADIATION - take one 10u Arithrazine pill (heals 6/u of RADS, deals 1/u of BRUTE) for a total of 60 RADIATION healing and taking 10 BRUTE damage
*USING MORE THAN THE RECOMMENDED AMOUNT MAY RESULT IN A FATAL OVERDOSE
4.) Wayward mice may still make their way to medbay. Keep all windoors closed to keep any stray pills safe. The goal of this guide, however, is to do away with loose pills to appease the Centcomm gods while also making sure that your medical professionals don’t go without the much needed pills to save lives. Remember, with cloning effectively gone (since science would rather spend their time making grappling hooks than cloning), Chemistry is more important than ever. You’ll really shine when you have bottles of Tranex ready after a carp attack - not to mention, if a mouse decides to drink an entire bottle of tranex, you’ll be out 30u, but they’ll be taking 6/u BLOODLOSS after 15u so, in short, they dead.
5.) If you’ve already done this, check in with your doctors, see if any have any special requests. Make special pill cannisters for them with three of each of the main drugs (Bic, Derm/Kelo, Dylo). Now, THIS is where some ADMIN FEEDBACK comes in and I’m not sure how this would be coded to cater to this need, but we need to be able to use our drug labeler on the pill bottles. So we can label what’s inside without everything having to be the same medication. We just don’t have the beakers to deal with transfering three different drugs in and out of the chemMaster. It’s the kind of thing that is frustrating enough that it would actually dissuade people. And a small fix like that would be huge.
6.) Once you’ve got medbay (read: medbay, NOT the public) well stocked, go ahead and then turn your attention to the needs of the public. Do janitors need some space cleaner? Do the botanists need more robust harvest or EZ nutrient? Go for it, make them what they want.
7.) Is everyone happy? Obviously they’re not, this is Space Station. But are they happy enough? Probably by now. So start experiementing SAFELY (read: don’t blow up chemlab). Always wanted to learn how to make Pax foam? Do it. Is Meth on your list? Have fun fam. Chemistry shouldn’t be without it’s perks. But it shouldn’t be without focus or direction either. Remember, everyone is playing this game with you and some are counting on you to do your job and do it well. When people are dying, you shouldn’t be making toxins, you should be refilling/restocking your kits. You can top off the bottles and cannisters to make sure they’re full. You can make as needed extra meds like Lepo or Cryo (if you didn’t already do that in step 5) or Phalanximine if you had a new intern inject someone with Spaceacillin from the toxin boxes.
As I said, this will be a work in progress, but I’m submitting it here for feedback and suggestions. If you’re an admin and made it this far, please reread number 5 and let me know if that’s something you think could be added to the game features.
Take care, be safe, make good choices, and be nice to each other.
_NotACat