Make Stethoscope Craftable

Dorian · 2014-06-25T19:11:41.000Z

I haven’t tried modding before, but if nobody else finds it expedient to do this I might attempt it myself. After wandering around multiple cities and raiding a dozen doctors’ offices to try to get one of these stupid things, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s definitely too rare.

Basically, exactly what the title says. If you google “make a stethoscope”, you’ll notice that it isn’t exactly difficult to make a simple version. Low-skill characters should be able to do this to create a (somewhat-unreliable) listening device for the purpose of safe-cracking, while characters with a high enough fabrication skill should be able to craft a pretty close facsimile of the real deal.

Any thoughts?

HunterAlpha1 · 2014-06-25T19:20:31.000Z

Yeah definitely something that should be craftable.

vache · 2014-06-25T19:21:53.000Z

Actually, I think they just haven’t been added to doctor’s office spawn lists. The place to go for them right now is hospitals.

I’m not a big fan of the idea that the player should be able to craft everything. In this case especially, given that the only usage of a stethoscope is for safe cracking, which I would expect a poorly made one, even one of medical quality, would absolutely not suffice. Also, I don’t think just picking up a stethoscope should make the player an expert safe cracker, but that’s another discussion for another thread.

FunsizeNinja123 · 2014-06-25T19:41:11.000Z

vache:

I’m not a big fan of the idea that the player should be able to craft everything.

John_Candlebury · 2014-06-25T19:53:18.000Z

Just take the safes outside and ram them with a throwaway vehicle if you are having particular problem with them, I am really not a fan of making stethoscopes craftable either.

Dorian · 2014-06-25T20:06:18.000Z

FunsizeNinja123:

[quote=“vache, post:3, topic:6613”]I’m not a big fan of the idea that the player should be able to craft everything.[/quote]

Yeah, I get this sentiment. However, I suspect it would be much more sensible for the player to not be able to craft stuff like, say… oh, incredibly complex integrated bionics. Stethoscope… not so complicated.

In other words, I would find it much less gamey to be able to craft the thing that lets me GET the incredibly complex and powerful thing, than to just craft the incredibly complex and powerful thing which was cutting-edge just before the world imploded.

Arek_PL · 2014-06-25T21:36:15.000Z

maybe need for medium skills (5 first aid and 7 mechanic?) and make safecracking based on mechanic skill like picking a lock need mechanic skill

KA101 · 2014-06-25T23:57:54.000Z

[quote=“vache, post:3, topic:6613”]Actually, I think they just haven’t been added to doctor’s office spawn lists. The place to go for them right now is hospitals.

I’m not a big fan of the idea that the player should be able to craft everything. In this case especially, given that the only usage of a stethoscope is for safe cracking, which I would expect a poorly made one, even one of medical quality, would absolutely not suffice. Also, I don’t think just picking up a stethoscope should make the player an expert safe cracker, but that’s another discussion for another thread.[/quote]

OK. Having 'em spawn in doctor offices should be doable. Want medical residents to spawn with one? (They’re in their coat and pack supplies; having the scope isn’t out of the question.)

Update: according to mapgen.cpp and item_groups.json, they already can spawn in doctors’ offices. They’re in the surgery group. Will PR the medical-resident starting with one, though.

Dorian · 2014-06-26T02:00:06.000Z

Handy. Thanks, KA101.

IcedPee · 2014-06-26T02:19:05.000Z

You kids with your stethoscopes and vehicles, doesn’t anybody appreciate the value of a good old-fashioned jackhammer? Gets you into the vault AND into the safes for the low low cost of some gasoline!

(Which is handy for those bank vaults that are inexplicably impossible to get into because lol no console for the doors).

Arek_PL · 2014-06-26T07:43:41.000Z

i like pickaxe more but hacking console and safecracking safe save a lot of time water and food

IcedPee · 2014-06-26T15:05:00.000Z

Arek_PL:

i like pickaxe more but hacking console and safecracking safe save a lot of time water and food

So what do you do when you find those banks with a layer of non-openable metal doors before the vault with no console applicable to them?

jimboblordofeskimos · 2014-06-26T15:24:11.000Z

IcedPee:

[quote=“Arek_PL, post:11, topic:6613”]i like pickaxe more but hacking console and safecracking safe save a lot of time water and food

So what do you do when you find those banks with a layer of non-openable metal doors before the vault with no console applicable to them?[/quote]

Apply a hacksaw to the bars on the sides of the doors, works in prisons as well.

HunterAlpha1 · 2014-06-27T07:00:48.000Z

You don’t actually need a state of the art stethoscope to crack a safe, a makeshift one will do for the ones in banks. Vaults in private residences, not so much. Don’t ask how I know.

Datanazush · 2014-06-27T07:54:22.000Z

HunterAlpha1:

You don’t actually need a state of the art stethoscope to crack a safe, a makeshift one will do for the ones in banks. Vaults in private residences, not so much. Don’t ask how I know.

Locksmithing teaches you some weird skills.

This could actually be a great time to introduce a use for the cordless drill; You don’t really care what happens to the safe after you’ve got it open, so why don’t you just drill it open?

Rivet · 2014-06-27T07:56:50.000Z

Datanazush:

This could actually be a great time to introduce a use for the cordless drill; You don’t really care what happens to the safe after you’ve got it open, so why don’t you just drill it open?

I drilled the lock out of a broken filing cabinet once. Took far longer than you’d think, and it was one of those crappy lowest-bidder models used in colleges (I was doing it at my teacher’s behest, I swear!) so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that trying to do so to an actual safe with a standard drill motor would probably be danged near impossible.

Datanazush · 2014-06-27T08:11:36.000Z

Rivet:

[quote=“Datanazush, post:15, topic:6613”]This could actually be a great time to introduce a use for the cordless drill; You don’t really care what happens to the safe after you’ve got it open, so why don’t you just drill it open?

I drilled the lock out of a broken filing cabinet once. Took far longer than you’d think, and it was one of those crappy lowest-bidder models used in colleges (I was doing it at my teacher’s behest, I swear!) so I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that trying to do so to an actual safe with a standard drill motor would probably be danged near impossible.[/quote]

Yeah, locksmiths use a specialized drillbit with a lot of knowhow (Don’t drill the tungsten plate it’ll chew up your bit and you need to replace it every other minute), but then again at the same time modern safes are all universally designed to either be dampened so a stethoscope won’t do shit, or they use a heavy lock or keypad.

Also you try to avoid drilling into the actual lock, do it from the side if you can help it.

Rivet · 2014-06-27T09:16:08.000Z

I used a metal-cutting bit, so it blasted through the lock like it was made of tissue paper.

Couldn’t go through the side since the goal was to break the lock out without ruining the teacher’s file cabinet - he had a cabinet that was locked but no key with which to unlock it.

kevin.granade · 2014-06-27T16:06:12.000Z

Safecracking is way more technically-oriented than I’d be interested in modelling in-game, which is why we’re going with the hollywood stethescope approach. It could stand to have a large-ish difficulty bump though, maybe along with a higher rate of useful things like guns in them?
If someone is interested in elaborating on it though, it shouldn’t interfere with the rest of the game, so I’ve got no problem with it.

vache · 2014-06-27T16:24:03.000Z

I think it would be nice if we had a special abilities type system, that tracks things you know that don’t necessarily need to be their own skill. Basically it would be extending the ‘p’ menu to a tabbed menu that includes bionics, active mutations, martial arts styles you know and their descriptions, and any special skills/abilities you have (such as knowing how to crack a safe, or how to fly a plane, etc.). The abilities would be learned in books, taken at char gen, or taught by NPCs, and it could even include unlocked abilities. Also as part of the extended system, it would be nice if you had a set of hotkeys, say F1-F12, and you could bind an activated ability to it that would turn on whenever you hit the hotkey, so you don’t have to go through the menu every time for your most used abilities.