I don't mean to necropost
which I might do for a couple of threads, but I wanted to give my take on this as someone who's played as a pilot several times.
nerdass wrote: the job was created originally if i remember right because explorers would occasionally fuck off with the shuttle, and it was deemed a good way to add a little bit of fluff that FLYING SHIP SUPER HARD THING.
Gonna have to correct you on this one
which was mainly why I wanted to post here, outside of other servers Pilot was added with Explorer and SAR/Field Medic when the update rolled out with everybody having access to the cockpit. The Explorer's access was limited from the cockpit later on because some players were either trying to solo the expedition or was trolling by making the shuttle inaccessible via fucking off with it to a planet and getting themselves killed. The PR that added the Exploration roles is here:
https://github.com/VOREStation/VOREStation/pull/2848As for the role itself... initially, I felt that a dedicated Pilot role was necessary due to skill set concerns. But, just like being able to operate a car in our time, operating a shuttle would feel more like a skill that many people would end up learning and the role would end up as nothing more than a role bloat. Before April 2020 piloting was pretty easy to do since it relied mostly on 'Autopilot' via selecting a destination and no hazards to maneuver around. Now, there's a reason for the role to exist as autopilot got nerfed when an 'overworld' map with hazards were added and it made the autopilot system unable to determine what is dangerous to fly around. So, players would need to actually man the shuttle or ITV ship to prevent their ride from being damaged by outside forces.
I'm neutral towards the existence of the role itself because while a role dedicated to piloting a shuttle/ship would be seen as a common role a lot of people would be capable of piloting the thing themselves by several decades just like cars. I might just be rambling at this point, but I can't really think of whether or not it should stay
mostly because I got a headache as I was typing this and can't think clearly.