---
# System prepended metadata

title: Science / Techwebs 2.0

---

# Science / Techwebs 2.0

informal design draft for an informal planned system that's about to get started.

tl;dr:

science is not science

let's make it science

- tech levels are thrown out; forget about them.

## Persistence / Configuration

Techwebs (and all science mechanics that involve persistent data) will feature configuration flags.

- Quick mode: Useful for debugging or downstreams that want round-based gameplay. Difficult mechanics are reduced in tediousness or difficulty, obfuscation is disabled. The game tells you what to do to get what you want, and getting everything shouldn't take more than 2 hours.
- Persistent mode: To be used on Citadel RP's live server. Most mechanics are at the maximum difficulty they're engineered for in code. Players are encouraged to leave notes in the R&D servers of what / how to do things. The game only **hints** at what you need to do, and doesn't tell you. **All progress, however partial, is saved.** Both gain and loss of knowledge persists to future rounds. There are checks and balances to prevent griefing.

## Server

The science server is the single point of truth for research data.

In almost all cases, persistence acts on this object alone, for research data. Nowhere else on the main map (*not submaps* wink wink) is data stored persistently, for science system.

This can be sabotaged. Nodes can be erased, the server can break. It won't be easy to break, but it can be broken.

Stores:
- Techweb data
- Backed up designs
- Research notes written IC by scientists (space limited, because fuck you don't crash the server thanks)
    - unlike papercode this is in markdown and allows for LaTeX because i'm evil and LOATHE PAPERCODE; at the very least you get free math equation support c:
- Future Data (tm) 

The server will furthermore be able to:
- Have its data manipulated with physical access
- Eventually in the far future be transferred into a new networking backend along with anything relying on it - for now its access range is the overmap object it's on.
- Allow/Block read write operations. At roundstart, all areas are allowed, but encrypting R&D consoles is fully usable. You can still "steal" tech data from a R&D console.
- **R&D consoles will lose their access lock functions. Permanently. Protect your consoles.**

## Designs

/datum/design - already underway, lathe design datastructures.

Can fit into design disks, which can store an arbitrary number of designs.

- Persistence: As a stretch goal, designs should be serializable - the station may get an item to print as an event reward, potentially.
- Copy-proofing: DESIGN_RESTRICTED_COPY makes a disk only able to be printed from, and unable to be copied or put into the research network by any means.

## Fabrication

- Prices are being entirely revamped across the board.
    - This will initially buff the everloving shit out of science, because mining will **not yet** be nerfed to compensate. Rest assured I'm coming for the miners right after this step :)
    - Expect realistic material costs (no 3 sheets of diamond for a NIF what the fuck?)
- As part of the lathe refactor, all fabricators will be able to have design disks inserted to print. Not just protolathes.
    - Non-copy-protected designs can be imported into autolathes, which will be able to print with all materials, not just metal / glass.
- All fabricators are getting a sane control & queuing system, and will support reagents. This includes the autolathe.

### Department Lathes

Wowee is it utterly deranged that science is the only department able to print things? 

Designs will get a DESIGN_CATEGORY_FLAGS.

- Engineering gets **all non-prototype machine circuits**, **all non-prototype tools** (this includes power tools - they are barely prototypes), **all non-prototype stock parts** (up to tier 3 - anything above that will have non-beneficial effects at some point).
- At present time, no other departments will be given a protolathe - we do not want to proliferate lathes *too* much.
- Engineering's lathe is a **protolathe and imprinter** combo. This means they do need a read-access R&D console.

## Fabrication Matrix

~~The replacement to short-term R&D levels.
Fabrication Matrix system will not persist.~~

im going to just not do this because the deconstructive analyzer is just not salvageable.

it just isn't.

### Alternatively..

Reverse-engineering system akin to goon / vgstation mechanics that allows you to produce items / machines that are deconstructive-analyzer'd.

Likely to be extremely limited due to how powerful this would be. Heavily WIP.

**Non-persistent.**

## Techwebs

### Knowledge

Techweb nodes just a holder for knowledge.

- "Unlocking" how to print a design isn't any different from having knowledge for it added to the database.
- Machinery basically parse through techwebs and determine what they can / can't do based on the knowledge stored.

### Correlation

Node unlocks:

- Each node has **prerequisites.** 
- Prerequisites are hinted to in persistent mode, and given otherwise.
- To try to get a node, you run a correlation sequence on it. This utilizes the master R&D server (if that is unavailable, R&D consoles can do this, at a slower rate / with a more inefficient method).
- Upon success, you gain that knowledge node.
- Upon failure, you are informed of said failure and hinted to what you need next for it.
- To discourage spamming, this is **extremely** power hungry. The R&D server room will require its own active cooling system, and there's going to be a bunch of mechanics for that later on.

### Sources - the core problem of persistent techwebs

This is the biggest hangup at the moment. The current planned knowledge sources:

- Deconstruction of rare / exotic materials / items, acquired from overmaps / adminbus / whatever.
- Scanning and harvesting particles from specific anomalies.
- Scanning specific sectors, scanning general overmaps sectors.
- Performing certain actions in overmaps.
- Analyzing certain gases.
- Analyzing specific types and sizes of bombs.
- Analyzing specific planetary atmospheres.
- Scanning specific mobs.

As you can see, not a lot of this can be drawn on for days or weeks, or at least, not in an interesting way.

### Sabotage - the core problem of persistent techwebs #2

Coders will never keep up with players, and they shouldn't.
Techwebs will **need** to suffer occasional partial or full resets.

Handling this is difficult.

- We will not allow scientists to go full Hestia Marines every round to prevent data loss.
- We don't want people to feel like their time is wasted.
- We **need** this regardless so coders can keep up, and so the station doesn't have permanent access to endgame gear.
- Canon rounds make all of this even more tricky.
    - There's some serious lore implications of **why** we have to re-discover technologies, over and over.

Some spitballed ideas:
- Techwebs knowledge is an unique pointer (in C++ terms). You can move it, not copy it. This means stealing data physically removes it from the server until the server gains it back.
- Techwebs only persists knowledge, and runs an automatic "correlation run" (graph closure) at roundstart. This means **designs don't persist, only knowledge.** What this means in practice is that you can lose say, a crucial knowledge node on the application of a material, and be unable to produce items related to it / utilize machinery reliant on that knowledge.

### Storage

- Tech disks: Store up to x knowledge nodes
- Design disks: Store up to x designs
- R&D master server can be sabotaged. This will, until the Networks Update, require **physical access**.
- TECHNODE_RESTRICTED_COPY flag on event / special techweb nodes that make them unable to be moved off of a tech disk. The core server room will have banks of disk slots (persistently stored).

## what science will get - future considerations

This is not negotiable. Designs will not be immediately hit with the bat of balancing - things are being replaced *slowly*, however you can expect this paradigm to be final in due time.

The split between science and cargo is prototypes, and reliable equipment shipped in.

- Science, by default, will always get, even without techwebs progression, a core set of designs meant to sustain the station. They are joint with cargo in supplying the station.
    - These designs should be at, or below average. With raw materials to use, they will be at, or **very** slightly above average.
    - Average is relative - for guns, an energy gun or a single-fire pistol is considered "average". For tools, unupgraded tools are considered "average". Power tools are slightly above average.
- Cargo, by default, will be able to buy items of below, at, and above average, for costs determined by who they're buying from.
    - They are a source of "reliable", mainstream, but mildly expensive items. e.g. Science will be able to print an energy gun equivalent for way, way less than what cargo has the ability to buy it for. Cargo's advantage is it has designs from factions that outshine science.
- Science should get prototypes by default as well as spread out through the tech tree.
    - These prototypes should rarely be risk-free, cost-less "flat upgrades". They should either enable a new function (quantum pad keycards, desynchronizers, etc), or be a prototype (fuel rod cannons, floral rays, prototype magnetic weapons) that is unreliable or otherwise useful within somewhat of a niche case.
    - Fabrications is slowly going to just become a means to an end to print prototypes and assist the rest of science and the station. Fabrication (R&D) is **not** an interesting science mechanic in of itself.
- **Weapons:**
    - All ballistics in science are to be true prototypes. This is a nicer way of saying all the current ones will be removed.
    - All R&D / Fabrication weaponry will be phased out for a new curated set of core designs as per the above, along with a *copious* amount of experimental weapons with their own quirks and niches.
    - Mecha are to be handled in the mecha rework. Someone else will hopefully handle that, as I want to be hands off on mecha design if at all possible.
    - Rigsuits will be readily available from science, but be subject to the strict paradigms outlined in [rigs](/mWH04y8ISzahFFUBRs21iA)
    - Non-fabrication areas of science will not intentionally have weapons, as opposed to weaponizable things. I'll leave it at that. Think about Engineering not having weapons but a lot of metal to make floor tiles with.

## telescience

[Telescience / Teleportation](/Ao-b5yOdS9CLqg3M0yg7jA)

This is being rolled out before most of this happens, so science will get major new content pretty quickly.

## xenobio

we don't care about you guys, wait for [Genetics Backend](/d-chcX6kSzOk9taPOlj3_Q)

## xenobot

we don't care about you guys, wait for [Genetics Backend](/d-chcX6kSzOk9taPOlj3_Q)

## toxins (materials science)

~~we don't care about you guys~~ a PR is open for dynamic gases and atmos science, you guys are being merged into duality science/engineering materials science later, RIP bozo

- materials science will be getting a R-UST reactor for creating exotic materials with, roundstart.
- the particle focus system will be rolled into this.

## circuitry

we don't care about you guys, it's literally scratch programming x powergaming, sorry

## xenoarch

you guys are going to get the most overpowered update of all but it'll be a while (tl;dr: Noita spellcrafting)
