Coms Rolling Encryption & Punchcards

Open Drulikar opened this issue 1 month ago • 2 comments

About the pull request

This PR is a follow up to #11024 reworking how clarity is calculated heavily. Namely now when comms are down several computers in CIC need to be used to keep a rolling authentication code current. (This replaces the mechanic of message length and delay for clarity)

A mentor guide explaining this PR can be found here: https://forum.cm-ss13.com/t/guide-to-decoding-encrypting-encoding/17991

The process for completing a challenge goes like this:

Get a random series of numbers from the decoder computer.
Optionally print a punch card for the next step If the decoder has punch cards stocked (starts with 10 and 20 more are on the table - low chance for a single failed punch so double check the resulting number).
Enter that number into the cipher computer (keep in mind its intentionally hex so if you want to enter the value directly you need to convert to decimal - though you can scroll the input to iterate numbers).
Shift an offset until it creates a word.
Optionally print a punch card for the next step again.
Enter the required offset using the knob as well as the resulting number (punch card entry does not alter offset knob).
Submit the encoding: If you are incorrect the PONG result will be ****. If you are correct but not timely it will be missing some number of letters directly proportional to the resulting clarity. If correct and timely it'll read PONG.

Challenges have a configured grace time (currently 1 minute) but otherwise degrade at the same rate that comms clarity degrades over time (currently 2.5% every 30s). That means if you're very timely you could technically resubmit the same answer again and get a bit of clarity back again, but after that grace time its directly proportional to the age of the challenge for how it would degrade normally.

Challenge phrases are a config so technically they could change at any point. The UIs are designed around 7 letter words, but I gave them enough height to support another row of numbers. The first configured word determines the length of words for all. The configured value will be forced uppercase, and anything not A-Z will be forced to be -.

Most art assets (card bgs, card logos, and item icons) were done with the help of Blundir. Inkscape SVG of the punch card is also in the assets. The font used is https://www.1001fonts.com/special-elite-font.html#license

Some other changes:

stars_decode_html() is massively faster now using a regex (it performed abysmally on these punch cards without the change).
USCM and WY paper item icons are now properly set on Initialize. For example if you spawned USCM paper it would revert to the paper icon because update_icon explicitly set anything without data to "paper"
The CRT theme now sets the round gauge ring color.
Fax windows now open with the same window size as papers.
The photocopier now has the correct amount when copying bundles.
objectives_controller no longer places things in containers' contents twice.
See below:

Explain why it's good for the game

Adds a minigame mechanic using a Caesar cipher that requires the attention from someone with at least SKILL_INTEL_TRAINED regularly while comms are down
Submitting an encoding gives feedback to the user what the strength of the comms are (namely just if the code they put in was correct and timely)
Adds punch cards that can be used to copy values between these machines
Punch cards visually display the data punched out and are supported in bundles, faxes, fax bundles
You can even write in the margin for the punch card (one is spawned with instructions)
Additional intel loot that you can find (though doesn't count towards intel points but I am sure someone will incorporate them eventually somehow) - blank ones have the utility of being able to restock the computers in CIC

Testing Photographs and Procedure

More Screenshots & Videos

https://youtu.be/4pYSN1n4Vko

After clarity calculation tweaks again:

New Hyperdyne assets:

Blanks are now actually in contents so that writing can be preserved:

Changelog

:cl: Drathek Blundir add: Added rolling encryption Caesar cipher minigame to maintain comms clarity without a comms tower. add: Added punch card papers which can be used to copy values for the minigame that can also be written on, bundled, faxed that actually visually display the punched data. Using blank punch cards on one of the computer restocks 5 punch cards. Some can be randomly found with intel loot. balance: Comms clarity now degrades over time (only matters if comms are down) but can be reset back to near full clarity using the cipher minigame. qol: Fax windows now open with the same dimensions as papers (larger). fix: USCM and WY paper item icons are now properly set on Initialize. fix: The photocopier now sets the correct amount of papers when copying a bundle. fix: The objectives_controller no longer adds items to object contents twice. ui: Added 3 interfaces: Decoder computer, Cipher computer, and Encoder computer. code: Papers and faxes now support adding additional stylesheets and header data (used to accommodate punch cards and give them flavor of a white background when faxed). refactor: Reworked stars_decode_html to use a regex and is much faster at parsing. imageadd: Added punch card assets including two background and two logos used (WY and Hyperdyne). maptweak: Changed 3 of the computers in CIC and placed a few blank punch cards on the table next to them. config: Various configs changed to accommodate this, namely that challenge words can be configured for the minigame. The first word determines the length of all. /:cl:

Nov 15 '25 11:11 Drulikar

Test merge deployment history:

Test Merge Deployed @ 11/16/2025 06:48:34 +00:00:

Coms Rolling Encryption & Punchcards

About the pull request

Explain why it's good for the game

Testing Photographs and Procedure

Changelog

Test merge deployment history:

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