Took a lot of time to think on this. And posted a bit on discord about it.

Came up with 3 real arguments for and against point buy. And came up with an alternate solution that might work better than pure point buy. A kind of best of both worlds.

Removing a lot of context from those points.
Cons
1. Point Buy is very mechanistic. And leads to hyper optimization of characters over playing to story. In short it leads to justification as means, rather than means as justification. IE I have X stat, this is why, not This is why I have X stat. The order there is important.
2. Point Buy would lead to a need to file away at the niches, no longer would you be likely to see terrible, or absolutely incredible for example. The costs would be prohibitive in a balanced system to include those ranges.
3. Point Buy allows for some truly grotesque builds that would because of hyper optimization allow for 0 karma griefing that would be prevented or more easily noticable in the current systems.
Pros
1. Point buy would allow more agency by the player to dictate roles and allow greater freedom of choice in player builds.
2. Point buy would equalize a bit the field of play, it would become your choice, rather than randomnesses choice whether or not your characters were statistically inclined for combat for instance.
3. The nature of pointbuy would open up a bit more the information on race statistic ranges, and allow better comparisons to be made. At least in an ideal system where enough information was given to a player to provide them with an educated choice.

I would propose a hybrid system.

Stats are rolled as they are now.

Then 1 is subtracted from each stat.

And you are given the option to rearrange those 4 points. With a max of 3 put into any one stat.

In our current system that would not overbalance and allow too much boosting of one stat, but would allow you to correct your stats to playable ranges if you were to roll something untenable if you include the class bonuses.

Agreed on this.

The skill as a whole was broken completely as well last K new.

Heck the effect in general was broken as well for everyone but the NPC last I knew. Even for non-standard sources of armor repair.

So, one of the best ways to get into the habit of doing thinks.

Any time you are saying something ICly.

Type out your say,

then also type out a think, that adds additional context.

Every two or three poses try to update your mood or throw in a feel.

"So what do you want me to do anyway?" said Amos the Hitman to the Guild Middle man.

think What's his angle? And what am not seeing?

feel cautious, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up.

"I want you to execute the contract our boss ordered, but I have an additional requirement for you." The Guild Middle man asks simple and sweet. "Cause as much property damage as possible as you do so."

think He just wants me to be caught. I should clarify this with the boss. This could be a test.

emote nod simply.
hemote eyes go towards the door. Mind clearly elsewhere.

"I can do that." Amos responds.
Looks a lot better from your end, and from a storytelling end.

Than.

"So what do you want me to do anyway?" said Amos the Hitman.

"I want you to execute the contract our boss ordered, but I have an additional requirement for you." The Guild Middle man asks simple and sweet. "Cause as much property damage as possible as you do so."

"I can do that." Amos responds.


In fact, it's not even "ready next time you log in." Technically, the NPC is an armour tailor that just happens to also repair it in the process, and since the item is (presumably) already your size, it tends to take ten minutes to fix it because the time is based on how far from your current size it is, and in most cases, it was already your size. Thus, it takes the minimum possible time of 1 hour (10 minutes) to "tailor" it, and incidentally repair it in the process. This makes it pointless to look for a dude with the armour repair skill.

Quote from: Roon on Today at 08:44:46 AMDoesn't help that there's an NPC that will repair your armour for pennies, so even if you advertise that you have the skill, nobody will bring their damaged armour to you.

This is the issue with Armor Repair, without even mentioning that for a VERY long time Armor Repair just straight up did not work. Like, codedly, it did not work.

But that you can have an NPC do it to perfection at the cost of "grabbing it next time you log in" is laughable. The only armor that degrades significantly enough is shields and usually those take like an entire scrab shell to repair. Why not just make the shield and junk the bad one?

Doesn't help that there's an NPC that will repair your armour for pennies, so even if you advertise that you have the skill, nobody will bring their damaged armour to you.

There is also "mood"!

Because I wasn't playing very much and wanted to make the most of my time, I entered a bio almost every single time I played.  Just a few sentences summarising any developments in his life.  I thought it was kinda fun, and I liked the idea staff could read it any time they want and basically be able to completely engage with the character without feeling like I was filing really dull char reports

Armor Repair should honestly just be rolled into using Armor Making. It doesnt' really make sense as a separate skill and it's nigh impossible to level. "Sorry I can carve you the greatest piece of silt-horror plate you've ever seen but hammering out a dent in your scrab helmet is completely beyond me."

Of all the skills in Armageddon, I can't think of one that's harder to skill up than armor repair. Which is a shame - because a lot of guilds, like dune trader, have incredibly useful skills like armor making branch from it.

Can armor repair be made easier to skill up? Maybe make it so armor doesn't need to be damaged to attempt to """maintain""" it?

If you're like me, you're already doing the thinks, but in your head instead of your PCs.

So you thinking this: "It's late afternoon now. Tonight should I try to steal some shit, log out, or spam contact to see who is on?"

Becomes this:
think Am I feeling lucky, tired or lonely?
em stares off in the middle distance
feel lucky
think Let's steal some shit.

I type fast so it's easy for me to type out thinks in game as I have them in my head. If I was a slow typer I'd probably avoid them.  But they benefit more than benders and staff: they help focus and pace your RP and flesh out your logs, if you keep them. 

PS I rarely bother with bios but shorter and more frequent than never  is probably the way to go.