Community's closing opinions on 2018's state of CM-13

[KingKire]

This is me asking a question/s that im curious to hear the answer on from our community, from player to other players, since we are all gathered around the same virtual table, separated only by a few electrons of light and space.


A) What people may like about the current meta of the game, what they dont like about it. (i.e what does the game/community today feel like)

B) What has gone right over the past year of updates, what has been lost over the past year of updates. (i.e what DID the game/community feel like in the past)

C) What are the ideas of how the core gameplay / community of CM ss-13 will be in 2019, and which path should it go down, or keep heading down on. (what should we be striving for)

Alternative question: Funny answers, memes, and qoutes for the community ledger that you want others to remember here, context be damned as long as it related to CM-13

Essentially, this is a condensed ledger for the community to write down the thoughts collected over a year of playing and how it went, for posterity's sake. Mostly on the "feeling" of how things went both inside the game, and inside the community (or the forums, essentially, everything that was related with CM-13 as a whole), as opposed to direct numerical stats of (+/-, X/Y).

Edit: *salt and pepper can stay on the table, but care not to dump it on others food of thought*

[Enigmachine]

A military-themed fever dream of screeching, shouting, gunfire, blood, and a rainbow of hairdye colors.

[Skrelo]

Too many female soldiers. All i have to say.

[Build_R_]

I feel like it was a really eventful year anyways, a fair bit of drama early on and later on.
I'm really happy with the way that progress is currently headed though, 2019 seems optimistic with cool new features and updates for both marines and xenos, not to mention the new map.
However, I'm sure in 2019 a lot of the community will still be pining over the 'good old days' of CM instead of enjoying the game.

[Renomaki]

2018 was full of drama in my opinion.

So many high ranking staff members getting kicked or leaving in shame, to the point that I almost assumed the community was going to fall apart at one point. I can only imagine the burdens the new owners have to deal with to keep this game alive after all the big names left.

On the other hand... I think with the retirement of a lot of those big names, the game has changed in a sense to be a lot less.. Hostile? Mainly with Feweh, who often had a bad attitude and I never enjoyed interacting with due to the constant fear of inducing his wrath for a slight. And mind you, Feweh had a favorable opinion of me, so the fact that I still was considerably afraid of interactions with him says things.

And with Apop gone, I think the game has the potential to focus on being more fun, instead of trying and failing to achieve the state of imbalance that Apop desired (that in practice just resulted in a lot of issues overall, from lazy xenos to constantly frustrating marine gameplay).

Of course, there are other things to worry about as of late, such as the problem with the Marine's Chain of Command and how people don't seem to give as much of a shit about it as they used to (if ever), and how some jobs evolved to become incredibly dull overtime (such as how CTs, once one of the most important assets for an RO, are now only really useful during the early stages of the round, or how being a researcher is incredibly boring)

I hope that the game continues to perfect itself in the new year, fixing the current problems and hopefully not creating new ones in the process, and maybe, just maybe... One day we might have something other to fight than just xenos? Would be kinda nice, if you ask me.

[BobatNight]

Too many female soldiers. All i have to say.

[Simo94]

as long as we can still pump shotguns and shoot benos its all good.

[JennerH]

As long as we can still escape pod erp kill xenos we'll be ok

[Sleepy Retard]

ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

better than last year

[GenericUsername]

It good

[Mann handle]

Not enough shit posting or ERP 0/10

[nekcy]

just hefa my shit up, lots of drama and shenanigans, would watch again while sipping some sweet clorox

[kooarbiter]

I wish Dev team would give their thoughts behind the important shit either in changelog or dedicated Dev thread, and hopefully go into specifics of their future plans so we have a bigger picture of where cm is headed

[Build_R_]

I wish Dev team would give their thoughts behind the important shit either in changelog or dedicated Dev thread, and hopefully go into specifics of their future plans so we have a bigger picture of where cm is headed

There was a dev QA a little while ago with all of the devs opinions, hopes for the future and things they are working on. You might want to look at that viewtopic.php?f=64&t=19482

[RobBrown4PM]

Let CAS have custom and independant targeting, same with the CiC and their OB's. Once this happens CM will be a 10/10.

Currently its a meger 9.9/10

Get yer shit togrther Devs!

[Garrison]

Hmm.. where do I begin..? Guess I'll start at last year. I quit CM around December last year, and I came back around Early fall. Boy did I find a lot of surprises.


When I left I thought there would never be a day when Feweh was not a Manager and Apop was not a host. Then when I came back, these two titans were gone, and these new faces such as Emerald Blood and Imperator_Titan had taken their places. The former whom I had no previous knowledge of; and the latter I knew as just an average but well grounded forum user.

All the famous and popular staff members may be gone or retired for reasons ranging from mundane to scandalous. However, the new blood that replaced them has brought the game into a more positive light if you ask me.

The meta as well as game play got a massive upgrade. When I started playing again, we had the tank as well as a vast amount of quality of life stuff for the medbay. Built in anesthetic system for the Operating Tables as well as the Autodoc. My god, I've been around since the days of the Sulaco, these new things were like luxuries to me. I was disappointed that nothing new had happened to the research labs though. Never the less, I'll take what I can get.

Witnessing a fully operational tank inside the game had me awestruck. I couldn't help but think of how much better the marines had it compared to the early days. I never fully realized how OP the tank could be though, even when I was playing Xeno. Its a shame its gone though, but I'm a bit biased on that cause I REALLY REALLY wanted to drive/gun for it before it was removed.

CAS is also new to me, I remember a day when Medevac and airstrikes was only a dream in peoples eyes. Its intriguing to see it become a reality.

For what I felt is the first time, Xenos seem to be the underdog now. While there have been various rough patches trying to amend this. I feel its still a work in progress that the devs will manage to perfect the scales of balance sooner or later.

I really like the new Ovipositor system the queen got. Certainly brought a new layer of depth to the Xeno's side of things. Aside from that though, Xenos have gotten very few toys to play with. I feel like the mutator system only came into play sooner rather then later cause Xeno mains were fed up with not getting anything new to play with or try.


In summary: The year has been a rather big shake up to the game with some ground breaking and literal game breaking content and changes coming and going. While it can be put to some debate, I feel the game has been evolving for the better overall.

[Durper]

Man I don't know what's more heart breaking. I haven't been playing much or going in to the forums anymore but it now feels a lot alien, no more mini-chat, I don't recognize the staff anymore and more and more old users keep disappearing. I miss a lot of things from the past in-game and in the forum now it feels like it's not the server I used to log into anymore.

[ThePiachu]

I wish Dev team would give their thoughts behind the important shit either in changelog or dedicated Dev thread, and hopefully go into specifics of their future plans so we have a bigger picture of where cm is headed

Well, the problem with devs sharing their plans goes like this:

- Devs may plan to do something and never get around to it for many reasons (say, plans change, they prototype something and it doesn't work out, or maybe they outright leave the game)
- Whatever the devs say, some people may interpret as a binding agreement and pester people for down the line, either as a joke or seriously ("Working APC when?")
- Devs sometimes use very specific language that people might misunderstand or misinterpret
- Sometimes the devs like to surprise the community with new features

For those and similar reasons, we generally limit ourselves when talking about future plans to more formal announcements made by Deanthelis - these plans tend to be more concrete and have more follow-through.

[ThePiachu]

Some of the things I enjoyed changelog-wise this year:

- Rules in general being simplified, whether it's Marine Law or otherwise. A bit less bureaucracy is better overall.
- Tank was a very interesting addition. Very fun in some situations, a bit unfun in others, but definitely very interesting!
- DOREC is fun as heck at times
- Nightmare Creator in general opened up a whole host of possibilities for us for the future
- Establishment of the player councils has given the community a good amount of influence over the game and offloaded a fair bit of work from the staff
- Research getting its own chemistry was such a needed addition
- Synth closet and vendors have really made that role very fun to play

And a few highlights from things that happened organically this year:
- Population peaking at 250+ really put our server to the test, now we know we need to focus on performance to keep up with you guys!
- Flesh That Hungers was just fun and weird (for those that missed it - admins spawned a fat corgi that xenos kept feeding, so admins kept making it bigger. In the end it was bigger than some buildings as it went on to devour the Almayer)
- Garfield labs delivered some quality content thanks to DOREC
- The experimental minimal law rounds were something to behold at times
- The 5 hour purge round in November when we couldn't change the map so admins just started throwing all sort of weird stuff at people

[Garrison]

On the other hand... I think with the retirement of a lot of those big names, the game has changed in a sense to be a lot less.. Hostile? Mainly with Feweh, who often had a bad attitude and I never enjoyed interacting with due to the constant fear of inducing his wrath for a slight. And mind you, Feweh had a favorable opinion of me, so the fact that I still was considerably afraid of interactions with him says things.

And with Apop gone, I think the game has the potential to focus on being more fun, instead of trying and failing to achieve the state of imbalance that Apop desired (that in practice just resulted in a lot of issues overall, from lazy xenos to constantly frustrating marine gameplay).

Yeah, I got that feeling too. Most of the staff, especially those at the top, seem far more approachable/friendly now compared to before (with the exception of Apop from my experience, he was rather chill professionally). Feweh was a good manager and "straight to the point" in his work, but his hostility combined with the power he wielded was fear inducing.

Some of the things I enjoyed changelog-wise this year:

- Rules in general being simplified, whether it's Marine Law or otherwise. A bit less bureaucracy is better overall.
- Tank was a very interesting addition. Very fun in some situations, a bit unfun in others, but definitely very interesting!
- DOREC is fun as heck at times
- Nightmare Creator in general opened up a whole host of possibilities for us for the future
- Establishment of the player councils has given the community a good amount of influence over the game and offloaded a fair bit of work from the staff
- Research getting its own chemistry was such a needed addition
- Synth closet and vendors have really made that role very fun to play

Forgot to comment on these, the nightmare creator has so much potential to be exploited. Synths were a really good addition too, and an incredible solution to low pop issues. I've never managed to get on the whitelists, so I don't entirely know how the council worked before and after it started taking in veteran whitelisted players.

[OatzAndHoes]

A) What people may like about the current meta of the game, what they dont like about it. (i.e what does the game/community today feel like)

I'm going to be honest, until this last update or two, I really wasn't enjoying the game anymore. Combat felt stale, slow and clumsy, while it felt like creativity was actively being punished. This last combat overhaul has really changed things up on the combat side for me. Wins and losses feel a lot more skill based due to the increased xeno speed and increased marine deadliness. It seems like skilled players can single-handedly make a difference in the battle now, where that wasn't the case 6 months ago. I still feel like we have a bit of a ways to go in enabling creativity again (*cough* *cough* the skill system turning PFCs into retarded toddlers), but overall things seem on the upswing.

B) What has gone right over the past year of updates, what has been lost over the past year of updates. (i.e what DID the game/community feel like in the past)

Big things that went right:

• mutator system: seriously has added some major depth to xeno gameplay. Really good work.
• weapons buffs: Has made skilled marine players a force to be reckoned with again. Marine victories now seem to consist of more than just throwing numbers at the problem.
• New sprites: I wasn't a fan at first because the lurkers were too easy to spot, but that seems to have been fixed. Very nice work.

Things that went wrong:

• removal of depth of gameplay: I want to expand on this point a little. The marines side used to reward creativity with classic SS13 mechanics alot, and was a big part in keeping the game from getting stale for veterans. For example, the old building system, while less polished, allowed for some seriously creative FOB designs. Instead of just 3 different types of barricades, we had walls, false walls, electric grills that could be shot through(actually giving a reason to maintain power or bring a generator down to the FOB), and a small number of plastisteel barricades. While I do think the new fobs look better, there simpley isn't the same depth in fob construction anymore. I used to have hours long debates with other engineers on the best way to construct a fob. Now it's so straightforward and idiotproof that there doesn't need to be much debate.
• Skill locks on EVERYTHING: Similar to the last point, skill locks have killed a lot of the spontaniety behind playing a human. I'll give a good example. Earlier in the year when prison was still new me and a group of survivors decided to RP as escaped convicts. I was acting as the leader of our gang, but I was accidentally FF'd in the lung by one of the gang who was trying to open a locker. We made our way to medbay to find me meds, but the power was out so the vendors wouldn't work. We then fought our way past xenos to get to engineering, where we set the power up, and then moved back to medbay to get me quickclot and peri. All this while I was barely kept alive by a steady supply of dexalin pills that I was popping like mad and starting to run out of. Finally when we got to the medbay machines, they couldn't be hacked anymore because of a stealthnerf which ID locked on them and prevented hacks. I suffocated on my own blood and like that the whole story ended anti-climatically. This had all the makings of a great story of teamwork and determination between a group of players, but instead ended on a boring note because devs didn't like how we were playing the game.

C) What are the ideas of how the core gameplay / community of CM ss-13 will be in 2019, and which path should it go down, or keep heading down on. (what should we be striving for)

• Keep up the work on objectives and such. They really seem like a step in the right direction
• Continue to tweak the combat balance, but it feels like this latest update may be very close to perfect
• Start encouraging player creativity again. I understand the war against powergaming, but I really think that a lot of things which made this game great have been lost in recent years due to this.
• More engineering fortification types that do different things besides just block xenos

I took a 6 month hiaitus from playing in july because I didn't like the direction the server was moving in at the time, but I feel like we're starting to turn towards a better place. Keep up the hard work devs we appreciate it.

[kamenkuro]

Xenos are still terribly boring to play.
Unless they fixed it, the rounds are predictable and go terribly.
Waiting for an update where they unfuck everything before I jump into a round again

[Amaxin]

Still no standard bearer class, unplayable.

[OneShot00]

We need better burgers

[Eliteempire]

Req needs more points