Aceofspades1228

So for about the first two months of being on the Aurora server, I main-ed a medical resident. I hadn't played in at least two years, and wanted to get back into how medical worked based on my limited memory and knowledge back when I first played, etc. During this time, I realized that what I was expect to know and not to know was incredibly vague and obtuse, and even would change from CMO to CMO, and Admin to Admin when it came to Ahelps. On the subject of cloning in particular, I was given three contradictory answers by Admins on whether I knew how to clone or not as a resident ("You know how to clone, you can only clone alone in an emergency, you do not know how to clone at all). The medical resident role has a major problem in that OOCly, they're supposed to be in-training, someone who doesn't know how the medical system of the Aurora works, and wishes to be taught it by other doctors. ICly though, you already have your Medical Doctorate if you're a resident, and should know how to administer bicaradine, set the IV drip, do surgery... Adding to this is the fact that, with how the server is laid out, medical rarely has time to train a resident about anything more advanced than what we can ICly do to a monkey and not get arrested for animal cruelty. Medical is either sitting and waiting for something to happen, or everyone scrambling in preparation for when something does occur. When we have three patients with popped lungs, we don't usually have the time to prepare the resident to attempt surgery with supervision- it goes to the first medical doctor to get the patient, with the resident having to just observe and ask what happened in the aftermath. I heavily support the idea of adding either medical interns or medical students to the list of internship roles, as it both designates the lack of experience that a brand-new player in that job would have. The medical student role would have even less access then the medical resident does (as it is, a medical resident can enter the Operating theatre on their own), in exchange for having little to no actual responsibility other then observe and ask questions. A resident meanwhile would be expected to be somewhat competent and on-point when it comes to most basic medical treatments (what medicines to give what forms of injury, how to perform basic/advanced surgeries, etc.), however they wouldn't be expected to know more advanced treatments off the top of their head, and require aid on such matters. I don't agree with having the beginner role be 'medical orderly' however, due to the fact that, as Chada said, the training an orderly receives is different then the other roles in medical have. It'd be similar to having the nurse role become the new form of 'resident'. Yes, the two usually overlap in duties (A medical resident at this point is basically treated as a nurse for all intents and purposes on server), but the requirements ICly for both are completely different.

I've already joked about Ling letting you play a bootleg Alex Mercer, and I've also called for something like this in the past. It'd both keep the people who are absorbed in the game in some capacity (in the same way that someone who gets caught by a corer borer is still in the game), while also making it so we don't have to redesign the entire Changeling gamemode to be less murder happy- by making the murder victims still capable of participating in some way (even if it's simply by giving the changeing advice on what to say and do in order to act as them properly.), we deal with one of the biggest problems of the round type. I think one issue though with it is that it'd make it nearly impossible to clone changeling victims in the aftermath- if they agree to join the hivemind, then they're signing away the ability to get cloned and be put back in the game under 'normal' circumstance, and if they don't agree to join the hivemind then they're being a sore sport, and making it that much more harder for the changeling player to succeed. This isn't that big of an issue, however- with cult, if you get turned into a construct, you can't be cloned either I believe, though admittedly the body is outright destroyed in that case.

I'm giving Eli a definite +1, Eli has proven themselves to be a good roleplayer over the course of the last few months that they've been here, capable of playing a multitude of characters that are fun to interact with. They're very comfortable playing a supporting role on station- not stealing the spotlight from the rest of the crew in order to play hero, nor do they make characters who have so much going on that they become hard to relate to. Eli also is someone who helps with expanding the lore simply by interacting with them. Eli ICly is a delight because they really do make SS13 feel like a sci-fi setting- they make the Aurora really feel like it's 400 years in the future. While Eli gave themself a 6/10 on roleplay ability, I'd personally say they're higher on that scale- while they might struggle with painRP or playing out extreme grief in their own words, their ability to improvise is top notch, and I've never seen them break character during my time playing alongside their characters. TL;DR Eli is a good roleplayer and helps with server lore by her mere presence.

Alright so I've made my opinion known on the discord a couple of times, but for prosperity sake I'll repeat it here, where it's more centralized and won't get rapidly buried into obscurity. For the vast majority of this arc, I genuinely had fun, as a passive observer at first, and then as a secondary character on Kingston's Investigation Team. And I will say, this arc really was made a lot by how much people got into it. People planning IC patrols in the hallways, buddying up when going off due to a known serial killer, it was all in good fun, and wasn't something that utterly broke the dynamic of the station in such a way that people who didn't actively read the Bugle were left lost or in the dark. It was all good fun. The entire arc about Holmes, I can't complain too much about. It was a good bit of world building on the state of the Biesel government, and was a fun little side-tour from the main storyline of actually catching the killer. It does bother me though that the protests organize by Gonzales, which got over 50 players to agree and partake in, were so quickly swept under the rug and left utterly no impact on the outcome of the outcome of that arc, whether subtle or direct- no matter what, Holmes was most likely going to be released when the killings started up again, so there's very little pointing that our protest actually had any effect in that regard. Perhaps 50 people protesting a serial killer getting arrested isn't that big a deal from an IC perspective, but the ability to get 50+ active players to agree, with very few repeating Ckeys on the list, IS a big deal. It was a bit of a missed opportunity to at least make the playerbase feel like they played an active role in some part of the outcome of that arc, even if in reality things would have ended up more or less the same way. Now, the ending. Oh boy, the ending. I realize that Brutish attempting to play Dirty Harry wasn't something that was planned out by the lore team, and according to Garn they weren't even told that it was going to happen- all Brutish asked was if they could do something that went against their loyalty implant, and they were told that they could, without clarifying *what* they were planning to do. I do not think the following court arc was at all necessary too, even with Halstere's actions in mind. The entire court arc of Drea's confession and the murder weapon being thrown out and it being declared a mistrial just felt wrong to me, because it made almost everything that Ferguson did (start an investigation team, run the prints, find the ID, get the confession, get the murder weapon, etc. etc. etc.) feel completely and utterly pointless, and just a waste of time for everyone involved, whether or not they were an actively involved or just passive. We were suddenly back to step one of this entire investigation without any hope of actually succeeding anymore, and it took Halstere (the person who fucked it all up in the first place) sniping Drea from the grassy knoll and getting to play vigilante to end the arc on an even remotely bittersweet one. Perhaps this is realistic. Perhaps we were supposed to feel as betrayed and annoyed as our own characters that it was all for naught. That was the last thing we felt about the arc however, because it suddenly was taken out of our hands and we were no longer capable of trying to nudge it back onto trajectory, and it just left a bitter taste. There are times when it's good to let the players feel annoyed and hopeless, but doing it at the very end of the player-involved section isn't going to make people look back with enjoyment at all. The arc would have been better if it had just ended with Drea being arrested, and it being vague on whether or not the charges could even stand up in court, without actually going into more details then that. The other issue the arc ran into, and directly related to my point above, is that once it entered the courtroom phase it just felt like it was dragging on for some people. The arc was very fun, but it was starting to wear out its welcome and become just a slog (the comparison I use is the Namek arc in DBZ where it just felt like it was going on and on and on, with the viewer seeing the exact same sights again and again), with the climax of Drea being caught bringing it into a slightly bittersweet, but still climatic finish. The epilogue being done through the Bugle makes perfect sense, there's only so much that can be done on the Aurora after all. But the fact the entire final part of the arc (the courtroom and Drea's assassination) was done in a location that nobody could even attempt to interact with just made it feel like it was going even more slow. The amount of participation going on during the other two were good- the first part, when it was just starting, had a lot of passive involvement, with the examples I gave above of people walking together both in game and on the relay being just one. The second part, the main investigation and Holmes arrest, had a lot of stuff that happened on the station proper, that even if you weren't an active participant in were still happening around you- the protest (which, even if I stated above it felt like it did nothing, still was a fun little bit of player involvement, even if the fact the narrative barely changed to acknowledge it), the search for the maintenance ID, the arrest of Drea, etc. The third part though had nothing similar, and in our defense there was nothing we could do to participate. It was entirely off site, and a lot of people who otherwise could have participated were specifically banned from doing so. With everything I said about the last third/ending of the arc, I want to repeat that the first two parts were very, very well done. There was just the right amount of player involvement where nobody could really mess up how the entire thing went down, while still making players feel like their actions had some, small effect on the entire outcome, even if it was just how many bodies there were by the end. This entire arc was a net positive in general, and the mystery of who the killer was, the search to find them, and the fear that you might end up being the next victim was honestly very enjoyable to partake in. I enjoyed this entire thing, and I wouldn't be opposed to something similar to this happening again in the future.

So the way bail works in the real world is that it's used as commodity by the court to ensure that you return, so you don't spend 3 months in jail waiting for your court date and proceed to lose your job, your house, and your family dog. You return to the court hearing during your trial, you get the money back. There's an incentive to show up because otherwise, the money you spent on bail (which is rarely a small amount) never is going to be returned. The biggest issue with your recommendation for bail to be a thing is that the amount of credits a character has one round has *no* bearing on the amount they hold on another. There's absolutely no reason to NOT go out on bail because, for all intents and purposes, it is a get-out-of-jail card free. If I pay the bail, that's the end of it for the rest of the round, and if I don't do anything else, there's no long term punishment. At most, you can't smoke 30 packets of cigarettes for the rest of the round, or need to hassle someone in command to give you access to one of the station accounts to make a purchase related to your job. And if I can't get out on bail, then it is completely possible that it's due to the fact that RNG screwed me over, and made me 500 credits short of what it would cost. Along with that, many of the regulations that can easily get you to 30+ minutes in the brig (or, for that matter, have to pay a fine for) are not minor infractions- they're assault, sedition, infiltration, all rather serious crimes. Many of them already have being given a tracking implant a portion of the punishment already, so adding that as an additional step towards bail would be redundant. In the end, being caught in SS13 should be similar to getting killed in it- it should have consequences. And under the idea you brought up for bail, the consequences for getting caught for a slew of charges are minimal, possibly nonexistent based on what department you're in.

I don't think this would sideline psychiatrist/psychologists, as their measure of treatment/cure is still the best. It just makes it so that their absence isn't so punishing. I'd like some opinions before I move forward with this. I am all for this being the official policy on mental trauma's, as it deals with pretty much every issue I brought up in my first post here. While a chemist is needed at the very least to properly clone someone and not risk leaving them an utter mess if they end up with a mental trauma like monophobia, it still leaves medical *considerably* more able to deal with the brain damage system that we currently have. Cloud does bring up a good point though in whether a patient should be marked down as mentally sound afterwards by a Medical doctor, or if you'd need a psychiatrist to give them an evaluation before allowing them to go back to work. While a psychiatrist being the only one to do it would make sense from a IC and lore perspective wise, the biggest issue would be that, if a doctor is left unable to do the check themselves, it would be only a bit better than not cloning them at all during most rounds- yes, they're back to life, but they have to have all their access and equipment taken away from them and have to go spend time in the bar for the rest of the shift. While that might be a good punishment for dying in the first place (You're brought back, but can't just walk back onto the job like nothing happened), it would still be unsatisfying to the player themselves as they're still left in a position they can't do the job they wish to do, not out of any fault of their own (sans getting killed), but because another player decided they didn't feel like playing psychiatrist that day. Alright, with all that said I would recommend letting a doctor, *if there isn't a psychiatrist onboard* do the mental evaluation so the cloned and/or brain-damaged player can get on with their game and not have to go cyro immediately after being released due to their round being more or less over.

Burger, you didn't wait 24 hours before declaring that the code you're sitting on is better then it is now. It feels like you were going to code and submit this as a PR no matter what feedback you got here, because 15 hours isn't even remotely enough time for a sufficient amount of people to come onto the forums and check suggestions and give earnest critique. As for my opinion on the matter, I do see the benefit in giving the target a brief disorientation effect (randomly moving in different directions) after being flashed, though don't think the white screen should be replaced with the 'blind' effect. I also can agree with having blurry vision immediately afterwards due to readjusting to the light of the station proper.

I think the importance here is to have the guideline simply so it's firmly stated that any doctor can prescribe medication for psychological trauma, and it can be pointed to anytime this discussion comes up in the future. From a gameplay perspective, a lot of the medications are meant to be a delaying measure instead of a cure themselves- they won't heal the trauma for the whole round, but it'll keep the player from having to truly deal with it for a bit of time until a psychiatrist DOES arrive. A lot of people have it in their head however that only a psychiatrist is allowed to prescribe, as we've mentioned, and the issue arises when even the admins don't know for certain. A few admins already admitted they didn't know an MD is allowed to prescribe psychiatric medication IRL on discord, and to expect them to search up and research information like that on their own time is silly, they're busy and can't go fact check every situation that comes up, especially when realism is thrown out the window a lot in SS13 for the sake of the game still being fun for the community. Having it clearly stated on the wiki *somewhere* would help solve this problem, as it'd give a player backing evidence in a easy-to-access location that would give them the answer they need on the matter. Whether it should go on the psychiatric page or the 'guide to medicine' page is another matter entirely, but having it at least said somewhere that a medical doctor is allowed to prescribe psychiatric medicine would be a big help. addendum: I do distinctly believe long-term treatment of mental trauma's should be handled by a psychiatrist, I can also imagine a medical doctor would, for example, be completely capable of diagnosing a patient as having occipital lobe trauma, cerebral paralysis, or a concussion, all of which are mental traumas.

I'm giving my +1 to this app, Ferguson has been the owner of the ISD server on discord for quite a bit now already and has been running it rather well, along with being an overall swell person OOC- If there's new players in security, I don't doubt for a minute that he'd be willing to help train and tutor them until they come into their own, something that is important for a head to do. Along with that, Ferguson has shown himself to have little trouble making and staying in character during my time interacting with him, and gives his character realistic limitations that help enhance and open up new roleplay opportunities, instead of negating them. They would be someone who keeps the powergaming in their own department to a minimum, while at the same time keeping things fair for the normal crew against antagonists. All of these things are important for command, and all of them they've already proven to be quite qualified to do in what limited roles they do have. tl;dr: Ferguson is a good roleplayer, good at keeping order in chaotic environments, and would enhance the crew working with and under him. +1

Shaking things up, just like old time.

Memories of walking off the arrival shuttle to a clown running at me from the end of an empty hallway, wielding a bonesaw.

Alright, as Resilynn mentioned if we decide we need to go the 'single use' syringe route, we need to increase the amount of syringes available to medical. By, like, orders of magnitude- if we want to give a person a 15 unit dosage of something as it is right now, we would need to use a grand total of three entirely different syringes, which means we would run out of the starting gear incredibly quickly. The idea of using an auto-lathe to sterilize the syringes is another idea mentioned, and personally I could get behind that if we really decide we're gonna go down this route. The third and final idea is to have the needletip of a syringe be replaceable- whether at a medplus vending machine or some wall dispenser (similar to what security has for their pepperspray), after using a syringe you can walk up to a wall dispenser and use it to replace and dispose of the needle proper.

Even a failed attempt to get involved with the station is better then never attempting at all. Besides, the cigarette cartons sold in the vending machines are absurdly expensive, like 200 credits for a box, which is about a sixth of what the civilian sector makes in a week according to the lore. While I get that's probably a joke about the rising cost of cigarettes IRL, it'd be nice to have an option that won't bankrupt visitors. Also gives cargo something else to put in that store absolutely nobody uses instead of whatever crap they had laying around in their warehouse.

So with the new medical update that added new chemicals to make to deal with mental traumas and the like, one of the side additions was making nicotine an actual chemical, which gives a calming and relaxing effect when taken. Also added was inhaling reagents will cause the patient to get some effect off of them, though it's considerably weaker then a straight injection, or even orally taking the chemical. Once the reagent in the cigarette is emptied into the person, the cigarette goes out, etc. The issue with this though, arises with the fact the cigarettes that hydroponics can make using their bio-generator does not contain nicotine, meaning that they're completely empty. Now, this actually does open up a few possibilities if you are a social person and don't feel like literally just watching grass grow- working with medical to make 'healthy' cigarettes with the chemist, working with the chef to be a real bastard and put jalapeno pepper spice in the cigarettes you're selling, whatever your creative ass feels like. However, barring Reishi and Ambrosia, which'll just get your door busted down by security, hydroponics has nothing of their own the can normally put into the cigarettes thanks to having nothing that can create nicotine, making them making cigarettes is more-or-less a waste of biopoints, and removes a possible way to engage with the crew during a round by selling them Aurora cigarettes. So my recommendation would be the introduction of Tobacco to the seed dispensers, whether it be with sprites ripped directly from /TG/, or just a reuse of the Ambrosia sprites, which would contain nicotine as a chemical contained within. I know tobacco and nicotine aren't the exact same thing, but this is for streamlining. When tobacco and cigarettes are combined, the tobacco is placed directly within, and contains enough nicotine to either fill the cigarette completely, or only to the halfway mark (so you can put other reagents in of your own). If we feel like getting more in depth with how tobacco would work in regards to other narcotic drugs, when introduced to unstable mutagen, it can mutate directly into Ambrosia Vulgaris, also meaning that a hydroponics player without a multitool and friends in cargo/science is capable of getting access to ambrosia and promptly getting dogpiled by security for being THAT guy.

I'm willing to give this a +1, I've seen Tbear13 play Tyler White and Mark Sulyard, and can say with certainty they're a capable roleplayer, and I do really think they can make this character work subtly and without being a disruption to any given round as a whole. I trust that they'd be able to play a character with this sort of "gimmick" and have it not feel one-shot or forced, but instead have it create unique interactions with the rest of the crew.