SS13 Skill System

What can you be good at?

On TGstation, only the MRP ruleset includes a provision about "staying in your lane", and this does not prevent you from knowing everything.

Doppler is a roleplaying server, which means that an individual character should be realistic in their ability. It's natural that an individual has strengths and weaknesses.

The question is, how do we define these within the game?

Paths

Heavy Roleplay - Light Mechanics

What does it look like?
Allow players to select from a list of skills in the character creator. This includes one skill you're an expert at, two you are hire-ably good at, three you're just familiar with, and two you are actively worse at than one unselected.
These have no mechanical advantages/disadvantages, and only show up on
(examine text/general records)

Example
I am playing a character who has a lot of experience for engineering. I decide that I am:
-An expert at atmospherics work
-Good at construction|repair
-Familiar with robotics|mechs|basic weapons
-Untrained with anything unmentioned
-Actively bad at first aid|cooking

It is up to me, the player, to roleplay my own level of skill. Maybe I will emote wrapping a bandage incorrectly, and if I try to cook I can limit myself to only using the microwave.

Pros:
+ Very Simple to code
+ Very little overhead
+/- Does not lock anyone out of mechanics

Cons:
- Uninteractive system
- Players lack incentive to engage with it
- Does not create mechanical roleplay situations

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Balanced Roleplay - Balanced Mechanics

What does it look like?
TGMC-Style skills, with more emphasis on personal choice.
Skills have two flavours, major and minor ones; Both are available in the character creator, and you get to choose which ones you want. If you do not have a skill required for a job, you cannot select that job.

Major skills are the stick, they allow people to do high-end content of that variety. A robotics skill would allow the creation of combat mechs, but anyone would be able to repair a robotic arm or slap a few cyborg parts onto a prebuilt frame.

Minor skills are available during character creation, things that jobs don't rely on but create interesting mechanical scenarios. Perhaps you have additional training in first aid as a bartender, and this quickens the rate at which you use bandages, syringes, and sutures/meshes.

Example
My character is a pro security officer. Their job skill is "Weapons Training" that allows them to use some of the crazier weapons in the game, should security have access to them. Their minor skills are in self-preservation, allowing them to grip their bleeding wounds better, and

Pros:
+ Mechanically forces people to engage with experts
+ Gives people incentive to specialize
+/- Locks people out of high-end mechanics

Cons:
- Way more work
- Fuckloads more work
- Need to make a bunch of cool minor skills

Realistic Path

How do we get there?
The goal is the proposed balanced system, however, this would be a long term investment in code and time. In the initial stages, we can split the PR up into smaller more manageable chunks:

1. Begin with a new tab in character creation where one can select a character's minor skills a-la the Heavy Roleplay system. This will just help flavour characters for now.

2. Add Major Skills to the new tab, these skills will not do anything yet, aside from locking characters out of specific jobs if that character does not have the skill required
   (grey out options in the character selection, with a warning saying "select your skill in the character creation menu" or something)

3. Decide what mechanics you're locking behind each skill. I suggest only high end things such as experimental surgeries, specific machine creations, combat mechs, and rare experimental weapons.

4. Give minor skills mechanical depth, this should ONLY be "carrot"-style buffs and no nerfs.