Cuban Pete bombs just aren't working out.

[Probe1]

We've tried to make the machines harder to cheat but they have the fundamental issue of being based on arcade games and exploitable by experience.

Sorry Pete but free max cap bombs just aren't improving the game, except for the players that can reliably beat it. Toxins and max dev is supposed to require some planning, understanding, restricted access, and experience.

Cuba Pete short circuits that and the station is inundated with easy to attain, extremely powerful bombs for the low cost of a one time emag purchase and an arcade.

What was meant to be a fun gag has turned into ProBmbFarm420. Pull the bombs.

[9600bauds]

I'm going to throw my two cents in here: I think it'd be a shame to get rid of Cuban Pete arcades because it's genuinely hilarious when an innocent clueless player gets gibbed by losing to them. THAT's the most redeeming feature about these.

But the bombs are just a shitty concept to begin with. They could easily be nerfed, but let's stop and think first: Should it be extremely hard to get them? Should it be risky? Should the bombs just be weak? Being extremely hard would only serve as some sort of barrier, but it wouldn't stop anyone that already has learned how to get past it. Being risky is iffy because if an antag gets gibbed trying to get muh bombs, well that didn't work out in favor of the round's interest, did it And them being weak bombs is, at the same time, a shame because c'mon, it's Cuban Pete. Maybe if it gave TTVs and it's up to you to outbomb him?

[Probe1]

If you changed it from bombs to TTVs it'd be a panacea and cover us for another few months yeah.

[Intigracy]

Nah just give them a water/potass grenade that's max explosion size.

It's extremely small compared to a bomb.

[Shadowmech88]

I like the TTV idea.

[Iamgoofball]

hasn't it always been a TTV bomb mix? or do you mean making it just a 1v1 me ttv only, final destination, no tanks

[Shadowmech88]

No tanks, just the valve.

[ghost]

What if it gave bits of the bomb?

Could get a hot plasma tank, could get a cold oxygen tank, could get a TTV, could get a timer/signaller/prox sensor

I've been farming Pete for 50 minutes now and all I've gotten is timers, signallers, and this worthless cold plasma tank

[Blithering]

How about grenades instead? Or have the arcade cabinet become a bomb on winning so they aren't farmable.

[9600bauds]

Probably just one-tank bombs if we're nerfing the bomb to something tiny, but that's lame

[Intigracy]

Oh, deleting the arcade when you win sounds nice.

The bombs are still fuckhuge though and there's a way to reliably beat pete.

[9600bauds]

??? How does that fix anything

[Probe1]

freebombs just don't work. trading one bomb for another isn't gonna resolve it.

a TTV instead is an ok solution. then you have to go to ghetto toxins and mix a bomb yourself. that calls the intended method of getting a bomb.

[9600bauds]

we can do more than an OK solution we need an excellent solution

[gbasood]

I mean maybe we just don't need Cuban Pete machines anymore?

Giving people access to bombs without being involved in the process of preparing hte bomb itself isn't the best idea Honestly the biggest lost in my mind is that we lose the reference to Cuban Pete.

[Blithering]

Maybe have it as a spectacular exit scenario, winning the game causes the arcade itself to explode, with the time delay being some relation to your remaining health.

[Intigracy]

You could change it so it still spawns the hat (does it spawn maracas? it should), but gives a random traitor item instead of a bomb.

You still get a prize for winning, just not a station exploding monstrosity.

[Probe1]

we're just looping right back to the start.

arcade machines are not meant for high reward items. they are meant to be high risk high reward but instead are high risk (if you're new) but normally low risk high reward.

[Blithering]

Maybe the hat and maracas are enough of a reward, the maracas are already emaggable to make some boom. Is it possible to have those spawn pre-emagged?

[9600bauds]

assistant finds emagged arcade plays it to win the maracas throws them at people "I DIDN'T KNOW"

[ihadtoregisterforthis]

Change the game to something hard instead.

[9600bauds]

I have my doubts about that, because then people that have practice in beating the game can still lolebincubanpete bomb roundstart

[ghost]

As I have already said, get rid of the bombs from Cuban Pete arcades and change it into RARE PEPE ITEMS like commemorative toxin clocks

If you want to change how the arcade works, disguise it as a normal arcade and have it gib the player if they try to play it but either fail or walk away

[gbasood]

I think keeping Cuban Pete as a game that gives bombs isn't something we should consider as an option anymore. Any system we design will be too easy to win to keep around or too hard to make usable. Our players are really good at finding the easiest ways to blow shit up.

[9600bauds]

Let's not get rid of the arcade gibbing people that lose, though. That's the one redeemable feature of this whole thing.

[MercuryDoll]

If you win, you get a box containing:

A valve a signaller, proxy sensor etc harmless maraccas and hat Cuban Pete's secret recipe for the perfect bombs (as in a paper with a guide on how to make max cap bombs)

This way it's not a free bomb, just the tools and guide to make one. Still a reward, in some way (especially for inexperienced bombmaker and greytiders), but not an instant shuttlecaller.

I've been farming Pete for 50 minutes now and all I've gotten is timers, signallers, and this worthless cold plasma tank

Sounds like Warframe droptables.

[9600bauds]

A paper that literally brings up the wiki guide for toxins when read

Brilliant

[9600bauds]

Here's a fun idea: Make maracas work as an igniter that plays a short midi of Cuban Pete before activating Make Cuban Pete arcade machines only give assemblies using maracas Make the commemorative Toxins clock have a countdown timer that plays that midi at the end, for maximum false bomb scare

[9600bauds]

Which one?

[9600bauds]

maybe if toxins was hard

[Killette2]

How's these 2 cents

Winning a cuban pete gives you randomized rewards with better rewards with increased rarity, for example

50% the time, just hat and rackas 30% of the time C4 19% of the time a maxcap bomb 1% rumba beat virus culture (it's old, look it up if you don't know)

Also another fun thing, is if someone gets a bomb from the cuban pete arcade, it will emit a loud laughing noise or beat and chat message across the Z-level to alert people that it's habbening and to PANIC

[mrpain666]

Im just sick of the 5 minute bombings.

[Intigracy]

oh hey why not just give c4s those are explosive but not round enders

[mrpain666]

that could work, still a decent reward too

[9600bauds]

then you're still giving away high-end items as a reward for buying emags which everyone does anyways except they are very un-cuban

[Shadowmech88]

5 minute bombing is a shitty thing to do, but dictating how our antags are allowed to antag is a slippery slope.

[9600bauds]

Didn't someone get shit for plasmaflooding roundstart every round they got antag, too?

[Shadowmech88]

Kaname Chidori, yes. However I believe their antag ban was more because they'd go braindead/suicide every time they weren't antag, not because they plasmaflooded every time they were.

[Shadowmech88]

@clusterfack Could always make a server vote. If the majority is in favor of making it a new rule, there'd be no reason not to.

[SangriaMonkey]

How often do you actually see bombs as opposed to faggoty minmaxing shit that makes the round drag on for fucking three hours longer than it should?

[9600bauds]

every time Nevill gets antag

[Probe1]

@Shadowmech88 is correct. Kaname had an issue where he would plasmaflood every single time he got antag regardless of objectives (which is fine). Eventually, he'd just go braindead or suicide when he did not get antag. That's really poor behavior and lowers the quality of the server as a whole

@SangriaMonkey like three nights ago I confiscated eight pete bombs from golems. Eight. That's nearly twice as many as are intended to ever be in the round.

It's not limited to one player. Its an uncommon thing to observe an antag dragging an arcade to a pod for some private one on one time with Pete at the start of the shift.

[Killette2]

If my C4 suggestion isn't nice enough, how about this.

What if you could only globally get ONE bomb from the arcade per round?

First come first serve, but you can still make the arcade to trick greedy lootgrabbers into potential death.

This suggestion would solve every problem mentioned from the power creep of the emag to the amount of bombs in the round, while still keeping the sanctuary of cuban pete.

[mrpain666]

That's still one potential round ending bomb five minutes into the round.

[Intigracy]

0 is better than having 1

[Probe1]

unless its a return

[Shadowmech88]

One max-cap bomb isn't even a round-ender anymore. Especially considering the entire hole can now be patched with a single large metal foam grenade.

[ghost]

You're implying people can be bothered with hard work rather than resetting it all, like how it always goes down

Even then, if the only person who can call it is the CE and they insist on rebuilding, they'll get lynched by one angsty greytide who can't hang out in the bar because it's a crater now.

[Probe1]

There is a difference between hard, and futile. We both know that difference DragonBro.

[9600bauds]

Bombcap is too high for bombs to be feasibly fixable right now. One step at a time, though.

[Intigracy]

Bombs can be feasibly fixed pretty easy, I'll show you later