remove the assistant cap
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- Joined: Sat Oct 28, 2023 5:35 pm
- Byond Username: Btcbuster
remove the assistant cap
The discussion thread where they randomly inserted the idea of an assistant cap into a slightly related thread is locked, I have made this thread for the discussion of the topic. I dislike the cap. Please discuss below
- Jacquerel
- Code Maintainer
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Re: 1984 Bypass
this is the second thread made about this topic and also the second one made in the wrong place
This is a preventative Forum User message to try and stop a perceived issue escalating before it ever really starts, and does not prevent the headmins from taking a different opinion and deleting my post. No formal action is being taken. No reply to this post is necessary. If you want to discuss the matter further, use forum PMs with me, but I have nothing else to say so I wouldn't waste the time.
- Super Aggro Crag
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- Jacquerel
- Code Maintainer
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Re: 1984 Bypass
It's a suggestion that policy should be changed
viewforum.php?f=33
posting your thread in this subforum means that head admins are required to take some kind of action as a result of your thread (even if the action is to say "no we like it and here's why")
viewforum.php?f=33
posting your thread in this subforum means that head admins are required to take some kind of action as a result of your thread (even if the action is to say "no we like it and here's why")
This is a preventative Forum User message to try and stop a perceived issue escalating before it ever really starts, and does not prevent the headmins from taking a different opinion and deleting my post. No formal action is being taken. No reply to this post is necessary. If you want to discuss the matter further, use forum PMs with me, but I have nothing else to say so I wouldn't waste the time.
- regie
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2023 4:06 pm
- Byond Username: Regie
Re: 1984 Bypass
Ever notice how you can't spell ASSISTANT without ASSSTAIN??
Heheheheh...
Take that greygoofs
Heheheheh...
Take that greygoofs
- Super Aggro Crag
- In Game PermaBanned
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Re: 1984 Bypass
thank youJacquerel wrote: ↑Thu Apr 17, 2025 12:06 am It's a suggestion that policy should be changed
viewforum.php?f=33
posting your thread in this subforum means that head admins are required to take some kind of action as a result of your thread (even if the action is to say "no we like it and here's why")
- RaveRadbury
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Re: 1984 Bypass
I'll just move the topic for 'em
EDIT: Alright it's officially in policy now. Regie made a funny anagram joke before it was but don't take it as an excuse to shitpost in this thread, please.
EDIT: Alright it's officially in policy now. Regie made a funny anagram joke before it was but don't take it as an excuse to shitpost in this thread, please.
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- britgrenadier1
- Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2023 9:47 am
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Re: 1984 Bypass
Turn it back, I miss being able to latejoin as an assistant.
- dendydoom
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Re: remove the assistant cap
i have changed the title of this thread to the actual policy change you want. please dont make meme titles if you want to seriously put forward policy changes no one wants to open the thread to know wtf you're talking about thanks
edit: oh i see someone moved this thread from somewhere else mb
edit: oh i see someone moved this thread from somewhere else mb
MrStonedOne wrote:I always read dendy's walls of text
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- TheLoLSwat
- Joined: Thu Nov 17, 2022 9:56 pm
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- Location: Captain's Office
Re: remove the assistant cap
I don’t think anyone actually likes this (that plays), and that alone should be enough for headmins to end the experiment. One of the big reasons this was tested was that it’s trivial to revert if it didn’t work. Well guess what? It does not work AND nobody is enjoying it.
Many veteran players enjoy just getting on a familiar game / server and talking to the people they know without worrying about anything else. Many new players want to play the universal “level 1 noob” character while learning the game without worrying anbout anything else. Many people with various hourcounts want to have fun playing without wanting to feel burdened by a department or a responsibility (real or imagined). And I don’t think any of those players are wrong in playing the game that way so we shouldn’t be punishing them by keeping assistant locked especially when the issue it solves isn’t even solved
Many veteran players enjoy just getting on a familiar game / server and talking to the people they know without worrying about anything else. Many new players want to play the universal “level 1 noob” character while learning the game without worrying anbout anything else. Many people with various hourcounts want to have fun playing without wanting to feel burdened by a department or a responsibility (real or imagined). And I don’t think any of those players are wrong in playing the game that way so we shouldn’t be punishing them by keeping assistant locked especially when the issue it solves isn’t even solved
- Lullaby
- Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:24 pm
- Byond Username: EldritchLullaby
Re: remove the assistant cap
the assistant cap has convinced me that we should just ban you inherently for picking assistant and having more than 100 hours in the game. personally im pro assistant cap. its made my quartermaster experience soooo much less annoying
have'st thou considered placing thineself among a quantity of bitches
- regie
- Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2023 4:06 pm
- Byond Username: Regie
Re: remove the assistant cap
Naw man, I’m fine with this and I play. Or try to, with all the little issues plaguing the place lately…TheLoLSwat wrote: ↑Fri Apr 18, 2025 3:06 pm I don’t think anyone actually likes this (that plays), and that alone should be enough for headmins to end the experiment. One of the big reasons this was tested was that it’s trivial to revert if it didn’t work. Well guess what? It does not work AND nobody is enjoying it.
Many veteran players enjoy just getting on a familiar game / server and talking to the people they know without worrying about anything else. Many new players want to play the universal “level 1 noob” character while learning the game without worrying anbout anything else. Many people with various hourcounts want to have fun playing without wanting to feel burdened by a department or a responsibility (real or imagined). And I don’t think any of those players are wrong in playing the game that way so we shouldn’t be punishing them by keeping assistant locked especially when the issue it solves isn’t even solved
- TheBibleMelts
- In-Game Game Master
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- Byond Username: TheBibleMelts
Re: remove the assistant cap
i don't mind the cap and think there's been some benefits to it, but if it were up to me i'd have it scale according to pop - 5 assistants per 25-30 players seems fair imo.
the action taken was just a nuclear version of a proposal i made that was denied here viewtopic.php?t=36202
the action taken was just a nuclear version of a proposal i made that was denied here viewtopic.php?t=36202
- RedBaronFlyer
- Joined: Wed Jun 22, 2022 2:41 am
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- Location: SS13, Manuel Division, Roaming the halls looking for messes
Re: remove the assistant cap
Haven't played for a few days but how is the whole thing going? Is it still resulting in players picking a job and then not doing it?
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Cleaner of floors, eater of beef jerky, and long time coward.
I play Eugine Adrian Hynes on Manuel, I'm very uncool.


Cleaner of floors, eater of beef jerky, and long time coward.
I play Eugine Adrian Hynes on Manuel, I'm very uncool.



Super Aggro Crag wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 5:11 pm I assume he did it elsewhere because it's fucking goofball and he never half-asses his shitty ideas, he full asses them so both cheeks are absolutely slathered in shit
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- Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2020 10:43 am
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Re: remove the assistant cap
An assistant cap sure sounds like a good way to prevent new players from having an opportunity to ease themselves into the game.
- Vekter
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- Location: Fucking around with the engine.
Re: remove the assistant cap
If this was actually the concern, we would have implemented the reverse time lock that I suggested years ago, where only players with fewer than 100 hours could play Assistant.BrianBackslide wrote: ↑Sat Apr 19, 2025 6:44 am An assistant cap sure sounds like a good way to prevent new players from having an opportunity to ease themselves into the game.
That was never done, because people complained about not being able to play their funny grief role.
- subject217
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Re: remove the assistant cap
As a person who does not play assistant, and does not particularly like assistant players, I feel that to some respect the assistant cap is counterproductive.
With the current cap of 5, assistant is filled at roundstart, and it's exclusively filled by 2000 hour assistant mains whenever there is any pop. This introduces some issues. We currently don't have a good role for new players, and we don't have an overflow role. We also don't have a no obligations role.
I do think that there is value in having a low stakes, low or no obligations role. The problem isn't with assistant as a role, inasmuch as it is the culture of assistant mains on Manuel. I feel that there's a sense of entitlement about gear in assistant mains. I regularly get called nazi, bitch, cunt, fucking cat bitch, worthless cunt, some others that I forget, just for refusing to give assistants insulated gloves or multitools for free. There is generally a server-wide expectation to give assistants free shit if it doesn't cost you much, and people act like you're Hitler if you don't do this. Or if you stop them from stealing from Tech Storage. A number of players are screaming AI OPEN! at the start of every round, and nothing much is done about that, by other players or by the administration. Assistant shouldn't be all the engineering gear without any of the engineering responsibility, but functionally that's what it is on Manuel after 5 minutes of effort. And while the cap has lowered the number of people doing this, there are still people doing this every round.
Capping it at 5 instead of removing it entirely is a strange choice to me. I guess theoretically in lowpop new players can still take it. But I guess what I'm asking is why it's better to cap assistant, a role that does have some value, than it is to work to change rules enforcement and server culture around assistants? Obviously it's easier to say that than to actually do it, but I don't feel that capping it at 5 assistants has helped very much round to round. It has reduced the greytider mentality to some degree I think, but we have tools for that as well like Rainbowtide that we aren't using right now.
With the current cap of 5, assistant is filled at roundstart, and it's exclusively filled by 2000 hour assistant mains whenever there is any pop. This introduces some issues. We currently don't have a good role for new players, and we don't have an overflow role. We also don't have a no obligations role.
I do think that there is value in having a low stakes, low or no obligations role. The problem isn't with assistant as a role, inasmuch as it is the culture of assistant mains on Manuel. I feel that there's a sense of entitlement about gear in assistant mains. I regularly get called nazi, bitch, cunt, fucking cat bitch, worthless cunt, some others that I forget, just for refusing to give assistants insulated gloves or multitools for free. There is generally a server-wide expectation to give assistants free shit if it doesn't cost you much, and people act like you're Hitler if you don't do this. Or if you stop them from stealing from Tech Storage. A number of players are screaming AI OPEN! at the start of every round, and nothing much is done about that, by other players or by the administration. Assistant shouldn't be all the engineering gear without any of the engineering responsibility, but functionally that's what it is on Manuel after 5 minutes of effort. And while the cap has lowered the number of people doing this, there are still people doing this every round.
Capping it at 5 instead of removing it entirely is a strange choice to me. I guess theoretically in lowpop new players can still take it. But I guess what I'm asking is why it's better to cap assistant, a role that does have some value, than it is to work to change rules enforcement and server culture around assistants? Obviously it's easier to say that than to actually do it, but I don't feel that capping it at 5 assistants has helped very much round to round. It has reduced the greytider mentality to some degree I think, but we have tools for that as well like Rainbowtide that we aren't using right now.
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https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic ... 27&t=20553
viewtopic.php?p=447507
https://tgstation13.org/phpBB/viewtopic ... 27&t=20553
viewtopic.php?p=447507
- Timberpoes
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Re: remove the assistant cap
I voted for it explicitly to give the admins precisely what they wanted, a dumb solution to a problem that only exists because it's something that wasn't properly changed in the first place and is a result of the MRP specific configs being lost and the LRP ones before restored to Manuel.
And to be clear, I implemented the assistant cap as well. And I implemented it properly. I don't half-ass shitty solutions. I make sure they work and address concerns well in advance, so when they fail there's no excuses.
So the assistant cap doesn't (and has never operated in a way that would) cap the total number of players. If no latejoin job slots are available you can latejoin as assistant anyway. The assistant cap also doesn't prevent new players joining or playing. If the player doesn't have the living hours to join as any job except the our least tutorial-like role we have, whose sandbox space is shared with 2000 hour burnouts that treat it like a pass to act like an antag, then they can also bypass the cap to join as an assistant.
Ever wondered why a shift had 6 or 7 assistants despite the cap of 5? There's your answer. It's been like that from the start. All it does is soft cap the number of assistants in the shift until all other job roles are filled, wherein assistant opens back up. And it's still a dumb idea despite that.
We should turn this dumb solution off and we should just put the damn pop cap back on. I don't give a single flying fuck if there aren't enough leftover players to support an additional server if we capped off Manuel. I care about anything except excuses for why we're not making Manuel the best environment to mix the classical tgstation experience a classical roleplay experience. And in my experience, that means capping the pop off.
Our roleplay suffers at higher pop counts. You're forced into more interactions with players, more often, for what are ostensibly going to be more lulsorandom shifts and shorter length shifts. Each interaction is going to be more terse and you're going to be able to spend less time interacting with each individual player.
There's also only a limited amount of job content and gameplay-related fun to go around, and it scales slower than player count does.
If you were the only player on the server, you gain access to the full extent of the sandbox and can reasonably do any content you want. Go do some genetics, set up the SM, drop down to lavaland and do some mining or megafauna hunting. The entire sandbox lives for you. Midpop you might find your department moderately staffed and you limited only to the job you signed up for, but that job's content and fun is all yours. Highpop you might find your department overstaffed and you may end up competing for your own core job content and fun with your colleagues.
That competition to extra the most personal fun out of the game also hits roleplay standards, as might often makes right and the pen stops being quite as mighty as the toolbox.
And that's all ignoring entirely some of the invisibe or esoteric effects that many like to LALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENING THAT DOESN'T FIT MY NARRATIVE over, like the last time the Manuel ghost limit was raised - not even the number of people in shift, but the number of observers we allowed - we saw RP fall as popchasers started targetting Manuel.
Recap Manuel and be done with this circus.
And to be clear, I implemented the assistant cap as well. And I implemented it properly. I don't half-ass shitty solutions. I make sure they work and address concerns well in advance, so when they fail there's no excuses.
So the assistant cap doesn't (and has never operated in a way that would) cap the total number of players. If no latejoin job slots are available you can latejoin as assistant anyway. The assistant cap also doesn't prevent new players joining or playing. If the player doesn't have the living hours to join as any job except the our least tutorial-like role we have, whose sandbox space is shared with 2000 hour burnouts that treat it like a pass to act like an antag, then they can also bypass the cap to join as an assistant.
Ever wondered why a shift had 6 or 7 assistants despite the cap of 5? There's your answer. It's been like that from the start. All it does is soft cap the number of assistants in the shift until all other job roles are filled, wherein assistant opens back up. And it's still a dumb idea despite that.
We should turn this dumb solution off and we should just put the damn pop cap back on. I don't give a single flying fuck if there aren't enough leftover players to support an additional server if we capped off Manuel. I care about anything except excuses for why we're not making Manuel the best environment to mix the classical tgstation experience a classical roleplay experience. And in my experience, that means capping the pop off.
Our roleplay suffers at higher pop counts. You're forced into more interactions with players, more often, for what are ostensibly going to be more lulsorandom shifts and shorter length shifts. Each interaction is going to be more terse and you're going to be able to spend less time interacting with each individual player.
There's also only a limited amount of job content and gameplay-related fun to go around, and it scales slower than player count does.
If you were the only player on the server, you gain access to the full extent of the sandbox and can reasonably do any content you want. Go do some genetics, set up the SM, drop down to lavaland and do some mining or megafauna hunting. The entire sandbox lives for you. Midpop you might find your department moderately staffed and you limited only to the job you signed up for, but that job's content and fun is all yours. Highpop you might find your department overstaffed and you may end up competing for your own core job content and fun with your colleagues.
That competition to extra the most personal fun out of the game also hits roleplay standards, as might often makes right and the pen stops being quite as mighty as the toolbox.
And that's all ignoring entirely some of the invisibe or esoteric effects that many like to LALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENING THAT DOESN'T FIT MY NARRATIVE over, like the last time the Manuel ghost limit was raised - not even the number of people in shift, but the number of observers we allowed - we saw RP fall as popchasers started targetting Manuel.
Recap Manuel and be done with this circus.
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- RaveRadbury
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Re: remove the assistant cap
2nding Timber and not just because I'm in the screenshot.Timberpoes wrote: ↑Sat Apr 19, 2025 6:30 pm Our roleplay suffers at higher pop counts. You're forced into more interactions with players, more often, for what are ostensibly going to be more lulsorandom shifts and shorter length shifts. Each interaction is going to be more terse and you're going to be able to spend less time interacting with each individual player.
There's also only a limited amount of job content and gameplay-related fun to go around, and it scales slower than player count does.
If you were the only player on the server, you gain access to the full extent of the sandbox and can reasonably do any content you want. Go do some genetics, set up the SM, drop down to lavaland and do some mining or megafauna hunting. The entire sandbox lives for you. Midpop you might find your department moderately staffed and you limited only to the job you signed up for, but that job's content and fun is all yours. Highpop you might find your department overstaffed and you may end up competing for your own core job content and fun with your colleagues.
That competition to extract the most personal fun out of the game also hits roleplay standards, as might often makes write and the pen stops being quite as mighty as the toolbox.
And that's all ignoring entirely some of the invisibe or esoteric effects that many like to LALALALALA I'M NOT LISTENING THAT DOESN'T FIT MY NARRATIVE over, like the last time the Manuel ghost limit was raised - not even the number of people in shift, but the number of observers we allowed - we saw RP fall as popchasers started targetting Manuel.
Recap Manuel and be done with this circus.
We'd be better off cutting Manuels popcap in half and cloning it (which gives (You) an opportunity to avoid that one player (You) don't like! Having a 2nd MRP server would make taking the L on a death easier as well.
If we're willing to try assistants like this we should be willing to try cutting manuel into two so people can remember what it was like to have good RP
We used to be able to say "Having a bad time? Switch over to the other server!" with Bagil/Sybil and denying Manuel this release valve (and insisting that a shift to EU ping would somehow not be an issue) has ultimately been detrimental to player resilience and flexibility.
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- Thranos
- Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2022 4:03 am
- Byond Username: Thranos
Re: remove the assistant cap
All this change has done is encourage popchasing tiders to tide in job slots.
This deprives actual job players from being able to do that, and, as a bonus, stops the actual RPing assistants from doing assistant stuff. Assistant, not tider, there's a difference.
Just ban the goddamn tiders already, and remove the cap. It's consistently like the same handful of people, here on Manuel because "oh it has players". The shit they do isn't what Manuel assistant mains do.
This is trying to solve an administrative issue with a config change.
This deprives actual job players from being able to do that, and, as a bonus, stops the actual RPing assistants from doing assistant stuff. Assistant, not tider, there's a difference.
Just ban the goddamn tiders already, and remove the cap. It's consistently like the same handful of people, here on Manuel because "oh it has players". The shit they do isn't what Manuel assistant mains do.
This is trying to solve an administrative issue with a config change.
- BHCipher
- Joined: Sun Feb 23, 2020 3:39 am
- Byond Username: BHat0451
Re: remove the assistant cap
3rding both Timber and Rave on this. Limiting Assistants doesn't help the issue, while limiting server population (and possibly having a secondary server for runoff) is a step in the right direction. RP standards on Manuel have dropped hard multiple times I feel, and especially following the host transfer they've plummeted because of Sybil runoff. Limiting population would lead to more quality interaction rather than quantity, which is good for an environment that espouses to be centered around a balance of crunch and roleplay rather than pure crunch like LRP.
A second MRP server would also possibly help to keep populations in a sweetspot IMO, though there's no way to tell for sure unless it's experimented with.
- MatrixOne
- Joined: Fri May 16, 2014 4:38 pm
- Byond Username: MatrixOne
Re: remove the assistant cap
Please take back the assistant cap. After a long HoP into Acting Captain shift, I just wanted to kick back and relax, but with Assistant capped I am forced to pick between a job I'm not feeling or just not playing any further. The last thing I wanna do after a long shift is to immediately queue up to roll - I wanna take a short break and come back later. But, of course, it'll be taken.
The quality of Manuel at highpop is still poor, even with the assistant cap. Once pop hits over 60, conversations stop. People run past one another, everyone in a rush.
Please return the uncapped assistant - bring back the low-pressure chill social role to us. And I'd be in favor of the pop cap to what it used to be before we copied the config from Terry. so +1 to Timber and Rave.
The quality of Manuel at highpop is still poor, even with the assistant cap. Once pop hits over 60, conversations stop. People run past one another, everyone in a rush.
Please return the uncapped assistant - bring back the low-pressure chill social role to us. And I'd be in favor of the pop cap to what it used to be before we copied the config from Terry. so +1 to Timber and Rave.
- HappyD0gg
- Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2025 2:55 pm
- Byond Username: HappyD0gg
- Location: Earth
Re: remove the assistant cap
Not being able to late join as an assistant either turns players away for a slightly lower pop or makes players choose a random job to just fill the spot and then go do whatever they would have as an assistant.
Instead of people just being assistants they are now assistants with extra/different access, so they still just run around and don't even try to RP, and when they do RP they just say a few words and thats about it.
Instead of setting a cap to stop shitty assistants why not just moderate the quality of RP and the lack thereof.
Instead of people just being assistants they are now assistants with extra/different access, so they still just run around and don't even try to RP, and when they do RP they just say a few words and thats about it.
Instead of setting a cap to stop shitty assistants why not just moderate the quality of RP and the lack thereof.
- alwaysshining
- Joined: Wed Feb 07, 2024 9:03 pm
- Byond Username: Crudbo
Re: remove the assistant cap
I posted about this a bit in player's club thread just after the change but I want to restate my disapproval with the assistant cap in the correct place. In my experience limiting assistants has had only negative impacts on the environment in-game, from the dispersal of NRP greytide behavior into potentially useful job slots, to the increase in tension between sec and crew caused by the boredom of not having a tide to chase around, to the way assistant slots often get filled roundstart with NRPers while our RPing assistant mains just don't get a chance to play. Hallways are empty now, bar RP barely happens, everybody either heads down at their desks all day or runs around griefing with science/engi/paramedic access. It's not good.
I suppose I get if it's all meant to be some 4-dimensional chess scheme to force shitters into job slots so they can be held under more scrutiny for NRP behavior, but from my perspective as a player, an RPer and a jobbie, the change has just led to shifts being more terse, more task-focused, and less social across the board and I'd seriously like to see it reverted.
I suppose I get if it's all meant to be some 4-dimensional chess scheme to force shitters into job slots so they can be held under more scrutiny for NRP behavior, but from my perspective as a player, an RPer and a jobbie, the change has just led to shifts being more terse, more task-focused, and less social across the board and I'd seriously like to see it reverted.
- Thranos
- Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2022 4:03 am
- Byond Username: Thranos
Re: remove the assistant cap
The assistant cap in combination with the ungodly wave of shitters that seemingly nothing is being done about has me on the very verge of just leaving Manuel. It's so fucking bad.
Tiders all over, "defensive maxcaps", people yelling incoherent weird shit down comms all the time (IE someone who broke into a room with a command intercomm just so they could loud text about "eating poop from the NT poop caves" (they were only admin-actioned when they changed subjects to "the woke left")), chickenfighting all over the goddamn place. Tiders taking up job slots thanks to this brilliant fucking decision, obvious metagangs giving each other TTVs and antag.
It took OVER A WEEK for a guy playing a transphobic caricature named "Yakub Nabisco" to get banned, despite multiple people ahelping.
Why are ahelps being neglected?
Where's the administration?
Why aren't they just banning the painfully blatant problem players?
Anti-Doomer Edit- Looks like the tempbans are starting to hit, so maybe it's not so bleak.
Tiders all over, "defensive maxcaps", people yelling incoherent weird shit down comms all the time (IE someone who broke into a room with a command intercomm just so they could loud text about "eating poop from the NT poop caves" (they were only admin-actioned when they changed subjects to "the woke left")), chickenfighting all over the goddamn place. Tiders taking up job slots thanks to this brilliant fucking decision, obvious metagangs giving each other TTVs and antag.
It took OVER A WEEK for a guy playing a transphobic caricature named "Yakub Nabisco" to get banned, despite multiple people ahelping.
Why are ahelps being neglected?
Where's the administration?
Why aren't they just banning the painfully blatant problem players?
Anti-Doomer Edit- Looks like the tempbans are starting to hit, so maybe it's not so bleak.
Last edited by Thranos on Mon Apr 21, 2025 8:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2025 1:07 am
- Byond Username: Wildorado
Re: remove the assistant cap
Personally I appreciate the assistant cap. It has been much quieter in terms of people doing absolutely anything they want during shift and usually the things they do are fully devoid of RP. I believe some of the proposed solutions aren't helpful. I don't support splitting the server pop or capping it. I feel both of these solutions will drive players away from tg and into the arms of a new home.
If you've ever played Manuel at 8am in the USA, you'd know there's MAYBE 8 people on, usually half that. Pop doesn't get high until around 3 or 4pm, dies off after 10pm. 75% of the day is spent with a pop under 20 from my experience. Early morning shifts can last 4 to 6 hours regularly. I feel splitting the server will cause some folks to tend to Manuel A, some to Manuel B. You'll have trouble finding or keeping track of your friends, and 75% of the day will be a server with 2 people in it.
Capping the server will just drive folks who can't join to another server. If someone can't normally get on until 5pm in the USA, the server is already packed and they are regularly excluded due to a cap. Eventually those players will disappear and what has this actually solved?
The assistants treat each shift like their personal sandbox and I feel that takes away from those of us who want to RP like we're actually on a station, like we actually work there, and so on. If you interrupt or try to stop them, they're like piranhas, regardless of your rank. I dread the messy hallways and chaos that are usually caused by a group of assistants pissing around because they have nothing else to do and lack self control. ICly how would a corporation hire a load of absolute knob-heads who can't and won't do shit, and then station them on a research lab? They wouldn't.
I support the assistant cap and in lieu of that, we need something to improve behavior, even a little bit. Maybe a review/change of the rules and add some things that give admins a bit of power to enforce or at least ask people to behave a bit. It doesn't always have to be a drastic admin interaction with notes on accounts, just a comment to the player like "hey can you not act like you need lithium?" Perhaps security guards need more freedom and encouragement to come down harder on people. It's easy to keep being a jerk if your jail sentence was one minute.
If you've ever played Manuel at 8am in the USA, you'd know there's MAYBE 8 people on, usually half that. Pop doesn't get high until around 3 or 4pm, dies off after 10pm. 75% of the day is spent with a pop under 20 from my experience. Early morning shifts can last 4 to 6 hours regularly. I feel splitting the server will cause some folks to tend to Manuel A, some to Manuel B. You'll have trouble finding or keeping track of your friends, and 75% of the day will be a server with 2 people in it.
Capping the server will just drive folks who can't join to another server. If someone can't normally get on until 5pm in the USA, the server is already packed and they are regularly excluded due to a cap. Eventually those players will disappear and what has this actually solved?
The assistants treat each shift like their personal sandbox and I feel that takes away from those of us who want to RP like we're actually on a station, like we actually work there, and so on. If you interrupt or try to stop them, they're like piranhas, regardless of your rank. I dread the messy hallways and chaos that are usually caused by a group of assistants pissing around because they have nothing else to do and lack self control. ICly how would a corporation hire a load of absolute knob-heads who can't and won't do shit, and then station them on a research lab? They wouldn't.
I support the assistant cap and in lieu of that, we need something to improve behavior, even a little bit. Maybe a review/change of the rules and add some things that give admins a bit of power to enforce or at least ask people to behave a bit. It doesn't always have to be a drastic admin interaction with notes on accounts, just a comment to the player like "hey can you not act like you need lithium?" Perhaps security guards need more freedom and encouragement to come down harder on people. It's easy to keep being a jerk if your jail sentence was one minute.
- conrad
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:57 am
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Re: remove the assistant cap
None of this would've been even pondered if admins just assistant jobbanned griefers playing assistant for like, idk, a month each, or some other large arbitrary period of time.
I play the old man Ricky Paxton, and sometimes the borg Z.E.E.P.
Tell me how'd I do here.
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Armhulen wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 11:08 pmThe Spessmen Times wrote:Prohibition agent Sam Salamander bragged that he could find a metacord in any server in under 30 minutes. In Bagil it took him 21 minutes. In Sybil 17 minutes, and Manuel just 11 minutes. But Terry set the record of 35 seconds. Sam asked an assistant on the arrivals shuttle where to get a discord invite, and the assistant linked him one.
RedBaronFlyer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 3:52 pmIt would somehow manage to pick Birdshot Station for headmin if we did that
WineAllWine wrote: ↑Tue Apr 08, 2025 3:07 pm sidebar because I've only just noticed but your signature is a visual car crash
- britgrenadier1
- Joined: Tue Jul 04, 2023 9:47 am
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Re: remove the assistant cap
[Snipped out quote of deleted post(s) -Timberpoes]
Also remove the cap
Also remove the cap
Last edited by Timberpoes on Wed Apr 23, 2025 3:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Snipped out non-
Reason: Snipped out non-
- dendydoom
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Re: remove the assistant cap
please discuss the policy (why you want it or don't want it) not whatever paranoid ramblings are going on here thanks
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- Timberpoes
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Re: remove the assistant cap
I'm going to back Dendy and will also 1984 some of the contentless posts from after this thread was moved to the policy subforum that do nothing to contribute to the greater discussion on the topic.
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- massa
- Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:20 am
- Byond Username: Massa100
Re: remove the assistant cap
The topic's original premise was to remove the assistant cap.
Every point pro removing the cap is just behavioral projections, any pro post justifies itself with "muh greys le tiding". That's not real and really never was. Even Timber said it was an absurd, silly change.
I'm not shitposting or anything. These bad changes and PRs consistently come with the same/similar specific chorus casting aspersions about hypothetical behaviors they don't approve of, that they couldn't have played to experience. I don't see any motivation to make the server better or more alive, I just see a homeowner's association putting thousands in fines on someone's house over the color they painted it, hoping to put a lien on it.
The content of my post is that these bad choices are born of and supported by interpersonal control issues, not any constructive intent.
Every point pro removing the cap is just behavioral projections, any pro post justifies itself with "muh greys le tiding". That's not real and really never was. Even Timber said it was an absurd, silly change.
I'm not shitposting or anything. These bad changes and PRs consistently come with the same/similar specific chorus casting aspersions about hypothetical behaviors they don't approve of, that they couldn't have played to experience. I don't see any motivation to make the server better or more alive, I just see a homeowner's association putting thousands in fines on someone's house over the color they painted it, hoping to put a lien on it.
The content of my post is that these bad choices are born of and supported by interpersonal control issues, not any constructive intent.







- Lullaby
- Joined: Sun Dec 29, 2019 7:24 pm
- Byond Username: EldritchLullaby
Re: remove the assistant cap
this thread has served no purpose other than to make me support the assistant cap even more. "the tide isnt real" is cope. i havent had people break into my department for gamer loot in ages. its fucking awesome. hell even on highpop often times EVA will go unlooted, secure storage unlooted, do you know how crazy it is to see a fully stocked EVA?
have'st thou considered placing thineself among a quantity of bitches
- massa
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- conrad
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:57 am
- Byond Username: Conrad Thunderbunch
- Location: Set free
Re: remove the assistant cap
Yes. Terry doesn't have the cap and Sybil doesn't exist.
I play the old man Ricky Paxton, and sometimes the borg Z.E.E.P.
Tell me how'd I do here.
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Armhulen wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 11:08 pmThe Spessmen Times wrote:Prohibition agent Sam Salamander bragged that he could find a metacord in any server in under 30 minutes. In Bagil it took him 21 minutes. In Sybil 17 minutes, and Manuel just 11 minutes. But Terry set the record of 35 seconds. Sam asked an assistant on the arrivals shuttle where to get a discord invite, and the assistant linked him one.
RedBaronFlyer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 3:52 pmIt would somehow manage to pick Birdshot Station for headmin if we did that
WineAllWine wrote: ↑Tue Apr 08, 2025 3:07 pm sidebar because I've only just noticed but your signature is a visual car crash
- massa
- Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:20 am
- Byond Username: Massa100
Re: remove the assistant cap
oh lmao idrc then sounds like something manny would do
saw a bunch of assistants on terry and realized we good. sybil gamers we are SO back we won again.
saw a bunch of assistants on terry and realized we good. sybil gamers we are SO back we won again.







- xzero314
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Re: remove the assistant cap
I think it has worked out fantastically so far. Not having 20 assistants running around during high pop is a massive improvement. If it has to go because it is quite heavily disliked then I can live with that. But it cant be said it has not done a great job.TheLoLSwat wrote: ↑Fri Apr 18, 2025 3:06 pm I don’t think anyone actually likes this (that plays), and that alone should be enough for headmins to end the experiment. One of the big reasons this was tested was that it’s trivial to revert if it didn’t work. Well guess what? It does not work AND nobody is enjoying it.
Many veteran players enjoy just getting on a familiar game / server and talking to the people they know without worrying about anything else. Many new players want to play the universal “level 1 noob” character while learning the game without worrying anbout anything else. Many people with various hourcounts want to have fun playing without wanting to feel burdened by a department or a responsibility (real or imagined). And I don’t think any of those players are wrong in playing the game that way so we shouldn’t be punishing them by keeping assistant locked especially when the issue it solves isn’t even solved
- Sonnzer
- Joined: Thu Mar 28, 2024 4:52 pm
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- Location: Aft Maintenance
Re: remove the assistant cap
Not really a big fan.
Assistant at its core is a low responsibility role. Officially you're meant to """assist""" people but between you and me this obviously never really happens.
As MatrixOne stated, and I'll second, sometimes you just want to relax and the best way to do that is such a role as Assistant.
I'd also like to second what Thranos said in the fact that the individuals who are normally acting up have just switched to actual jobs like engineering, but it has not discouraged them. If anything, it has only given them easier ways to shit up the place.
I'm sure the administration is working hard to fix these issues through noting/PMing/Temp bans but I stand here and can only agree with the people who think nothing is happening. Of course, it's hard to see if the admins are actually doing something if you're not an admin. The only records of punishments you get are either permanent bans on the database, or from appeals made on the forums.
So, while I get people are frustrated with the lack of perceivable punishment, I also get that it's not always obvious.
Anyways, I digress, the cap is bad and I think it only serves as a detriment. I'd rather have actually useful people in a role and keep the shitters to their confinement role. Less access, less avenues to do this sort of thing. I think some sort of encouragement needs to be done for these players because maybe they just need a shove in the right direction to do good.
Remove the cap.
Assistant at its core is a low responsibility role. Officially you're meant to """assist""" people but between you and me this obviously never really happens.
As MatrixOne stated, and I'll second, sometimes you just want to relax and the best way to do that is such a role as Assistant.
I'd also like to second what Thranos said in the fact that the individuals who are normally acting up have just switched to actual jobs like engineering, but it has not discouraged them. If anything, it has only given them easier ways to shit up the place.
I'm sure the administration is working hard to fix these issues through noting/PMing/Temp bans but I stand here and can only agree with the people who think nothing is happening. Of course, it's hard to see if the admins are actually doing something if you're not an admin. The only records of punishments you get are either permanent bans on the database, or from appeals made on the forums.
So, while I get people are frustrated with the lack of perceivable punishment, I also get that it's not always obvious.
Anyways, I digress, the cap is bad and I think it only serves as a detriment. I'd rather have actually useful people in a role and keep the shitters to their confinement role. Less access, less avenues to do this sort of thing. I think some sort of encouragement needs to be done for these players because maybe they just need a shove in the right direction to do good.
Remove the cap.
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- Joined: Tue May 24, 2022 8:06 pm
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Re: remove the assistant cap
The cap is a shitty solution to shitter behaviour. If we need to think of a way to go about banning shitters then that's something for a new policy.
- massa
- Joined: Mon Dec 06, 2021 6:20 am
- Byond Username: Massa100
Re: remove the assistant cap
what if i wanna be there and hang out and chill but not be a jobbie
a crew is a crew brah. assistants still do stuff. they build shops, they ask for EVA access to explore space. they get other jobs, they build forts new departments in maintenance.
when you go to dorms and you see all those toys, those are basically for assistants. the painting easels in maint, the communal chicken and cow. obviously these are for the rest of the crew, but i consider much of these 'assistant content'. assistants are nondescript and free form members of the crew, not just a strange miasma.
a crew is a crew brah. assistants still do stuff. they build shops, they ask for EVA access to explore space. they get other jobs, they build forts new departments in maintenance.
when you go to dorms and you see all those toys, those are basically for assistants. the painting easels in maint, the communal chicken and cow. obviously these are for the rest of the crew, but i consider much of these 'assistant content'. assistants are nondescript and free form members of the crew, not just a strange miasma.







- Stabbystab
- Joined: Mon Sep 25, 2023 2:36 pm
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- Location: SERBIA! SERBIA!
Re: remove the assistant cap
It feels like you’re punishing everyone for the sins of a few. Sure shitters are annoying but you should go ban and note them and not impose a punishment on everyone
- conrad
- Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2023 11:57 am
- Byond Username: Conrad Thunderbunch
- Location: Set free
Re: remove the assistant cap
Finally someone who understands.Stabbystab wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 9:11 pm It feels like you’re punishing everyone for the sins of a few. Sure shitters are annoying but you should go ban and note them and not impose a punishment on everyone
I play the old man Ricky Paxton, and sometimes the borg Z.E.E.P.
Tell me how'd I do here.
⋆
𝒯𝒶𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒶 𝓈𝒶𝒷𝒶𝓉𝒾𝒸𝒶𝓁.
⋆
And now a word from our sponsors:



Tell me how'd I do here.




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Armhulen wrote: ↑Thu Nov 30, 2023 11:08 pmThe Spessmen Times wrote:Prohibition agent Sam Salamander bragged that he could find a metacord in any server in under 30 minutes. In Bagil it took him 21 minutes. In Sybil 17 minutes, and Manuel just 11 minutes. But Terry set the record of 35 seconds. Sam asked an assistant on the arrivals shuttle where to get a discord invite, and the assistant linked him one.
RedBaronFlyer wrote: ↑Wed Feb 14, 2024 3:52 pmIt would somehow manage to pick Birdshot Station for headmin if we did that
WineAllWine wrote: ↑Tue Apr 08, 2025 3:07 pm sidebar because I've only just noticed but your signature is a visual car crash
- drpupper
- Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2024 3:50 pm
- Byond Username: Dr_pupper
Re: remove the assistant cap
assistants should be uncapped for sake of A) veteran players who want to make silly little shops B) new players not yet comfortable enough to be an official part of a department and C) players who want to play the job simulator without necessarily doing a specific job.
as a cargo main, especially one who likes to play QM a lot, it's already annoying enough when i have techs who don't do their jobs and then fuck off somewhere. i'd prefer these players have the option to pick assistant
as a cargo main, especially one who likes to play QM a lot, it's already annoying enough when i have techs who don't do their jobs and then fuck off somewhere. i'd prefer these players have the option to pick assistant
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