Imo webbings and ammo belts should have space for more utility equipment besides the dry one-type storage they get now. My idea:
Hostel Webbing Vest: A normal Webbing except it has a hostel slot if anybody wants to squeeze a sidearm in their kit. I think the shoulder hostel is more of a noir classic SS13 item that doesn’t fit the theme.
Medical Webbing vest: A Webbing vest that has 2 or 3 more slots that only fit small things like bandages, ointment, scanners etc.
Tool Carrier Webbing Vest: A Webbing with 3 additional slots for small tools like screwdrivers, wire cutters and wrenches. I know at least I like to carry a few tools regardless my role when deploying.
General Ammo Belt: an Ammo belt with limited additional slots for meds, tools, and anything reasonably small the marine wants to fit in their kit. I don’t see how making the shotgun shell belt have more space but I can definitely see how the mag belt work.
Combat medic belt: The same as before only you have extra slots for pistol mags only.
I like the brainstorming though.
Unfortunately, a lot of this looks like power creep.
But maybe there’s alternative methods to storage, that don’t increase things that we haven’t thought of!
I meant for the extra space to be for things that don’t have too great impact in favour of the marines as to not become OP. Like I don’t see how giving the marine some space for bandages is gonna affect the xenos all that much. Besides equipment that could make a difference is not widely available like grenades nor is there an increase in say mag capacity. This is more of a mild utility buff.
When I make my loadout, I often take the refillable injectors because !! is amazing.
This usually goes in my helmet along with my bandages.
If I could store bandages in a new additional slot with the ammo I am taking anyway, then I would ALSO be able to take tricordizone.
So then I’d have, 3 shots KL, 3 shots BI, 3 shots Tram, 3 shots tri.
With only 3 shots to treat brute damage, getting the ability to get 3 additional shots of healing will make me much more resiliant instead of thinking “I only have 1 shot of bicardine left. I better conserve it.”
Yes, I can scavenge more bicardine or even take extra injectors in a bag. But in an event where I would lose my bag, and access to loot bodies, I would have “too many good options” so to speak.
This is just an example, but I’m sure you can extrapolate how it could benefit 80~ marines to have 80 more injectors of tricordizine.
Dont just trow arround powercreep because it sounds cool, it doesnt fit the discussion at all.
Specialized stroage would mostly be a QoL thing. You can already do that, but you have to jump through hoops for it. Or the tools that do allow it, are kinda shit. Besides, the only balance factor, the invetory slots, are not the discussion point here. There is nothing in this that could be concidert powercreep. Feauture creep is more fitting, wich is more of a concern and an actual reason not to do this.
We dont really need so many fancy webbings or belts. Rather some exiting ones need some rebalance and maybe increase their avalibility. I personally find it a bit dumb that stuff like small intel pouches are so little of in req, and also no big ones. Big ones only IO can buy.
I was mostly specifying the “additional” slots for medical gear in an ammo belt being power creep.
Sorry if I hadn’t clarified appropriately.
I do think fancy webbing for various jobs is cool. I think we’ll need to think of new more unique variations, AND make the existing ones more available.
I am completely open to this & had been part of an effort to have tool webbing given to com techs.
I want this variety, but I also had PRs and thoughts denied by the maintenance staff with explanations of direction and thought processes so I think I have some idea of what would/would not be approved.
That’s the only reason why I am typing words that sound negative. Whether or not I agree with them, I believe it to be the truth which is difficult to get with most maintainers being very busy with IRL stuff not being able to respond to every idea to get it to fruition.
But it’s possible I am getting some things wrong; so if any maintainers are out there, if I am getting things wrong, please let me know, so I can echo your aspirations for CM correctly.
Ehh, i wouldnt focus to much on how maints staff decided in the past.
For one the maints staff is always changing, and also they arent expert of their fields. They are smucks that just have enough free time to try and keep stuff orderly.
They sometimes have people on it that not always have good takes. Like Steelpoint, who tryd fixing OT by removing it. Or who tried to make SG fun by forcrcing SGs to deathball and making the gun very restrictive. (That was the very fun IFF change TM a while ago, the one no one enjoyd)
Besides, it doesnt need a maintainer to get an idea through. Every Pr gets reviewd at some point. It needs someone to make the PR for it, to bring an idea to fruition. Like, the specialized storage mostly needs sprite work. I dont like it 100% but i can also see how it can work very well.
So if you really want it ingame, make a pr. You wont get banned or something for PRs that arent picture perfect balance wise. Generally, git ban is hard to aquire. So just make a PR, if it dont work, try at a later date when maint team changed a bit. But dont fall into that pit “it wont get aproved anyway”. Thats the mindset that robs us of the greatest things. Of creativity we need.