ZipZero

It was, at least in the second vote, 9 for nuke, and 8 against nuke. A single vote isn't exactly a "landslide". I do think the voting system should be changed, but that's a topic for a different thread.

Yeah, see, here's the thing. I was one of the many people who did not ready? Do you know why? Because I hate playing nuke. I'm not going to ready just so that other people can have their ganky armourybombing mode while I sit around having no enjoyment whatsoever. It is my right to not play nuke, as well as it is your right to not play any other gamemode. Only 14 people readied up for that round, meaning that only that many people wanted to play. How long do you expect people to sit in the pre-game lobby? After 10 minutes, I think it's perfectly acceptable to change the gamemode to secret.

That is... wow. That is a very well-written backstory. I think you deserve the whitelist just for that alone. I haven't had much interaction with your characters, beyond observing, but I haven't seen anything unbelievable, or anything that would give me doubts about your ability to RP a diona. +1 from me.

Let me make this brief, before Inverted gets the thread locked. The fact that we're talking about IPCs, rather than bound positronic intelligences, is proof that IPCs are free thinking, and can do things not strictly within their programming. Consider this. IPCs aboard the station are, generally, positronic intelligences that had served bound by laws under NanoTrasen for many years before being able to purchase their own freedom. Why then, if they were unable to think outside their programming, would they have any desire for freedom? Surely, nobody programmed that in - even if someone had, I'm sure NT would have no problem deleting that programming. This is 442 years in the future - do you honestly think technology wouldn't have advanced to the point where artificial intelligence can do the same things humans can? Decades ago, most people could not have imagined how advanced our computers are today - do you really think you can imagine how advanced they would be centuries in the future? And don't try to say "Oh, human brains are special, robots have no soul" because no, human brains are not special. It is nothing more than a complex piece of physical matter. You can give a person chemicals to make them feel a certain way, or cut out parts of the brain to remove someone's senses - there is nothing special, or magical about that, nothing that truly makes it different from programming besides a current lack of understanding - and considering the existence of MMIs, cloning, and loyalty implants, I would say that understanding would have been reached. The point is, our brains, our bodies are nothing more than biological machines; it would be no more accurate to call an IPC a machine than it would be to call a human one. They are not tools, they are not equipment, they are not machines. They are sentient, and sapient, people. Dionaea don't even have brains, yet I don't see anyone clambering to decry their personhood - why all the hate on synthetics? Now, I'd like to bring this to my main point. The head restriction on IPCs is not an issue with them being ill-suited for head roles, or inferior to humans in the way they think; rather, the issue is with people thinking these things, and thus, being disgruntled with the thought of synthetics having a position of authourity over them. Which is a position I can understand existing at that point in time, seeing how it is shared by many people today, as demonstrated in this thread, and hundreds of years have only barely reduced discrimination between our own species in the real world. In fact, I was going to just accept that people thought this way, and leave it there, though I disagree with it, of course. But then something happened. A few days ago, on a future round, it was announced that unathi were able to be captains 20 years past the point in the future where we usually play. And it got me thinking - if unathi, who are only able to be HoS/HoP, are able to take up such a high position as captain for future rounds, what about IPCs? I'm not asking for captain here, of course - but why not one of the head positions that don't hold as much power, such as CMO? And, one final thing to consider. If you were, as a NanoTrasen official, in charge of approving or denying every employee's application to become a head of staff, who would you rather choose for a position - someone who has worked for the company for decades, has shown complete loyalty, and can literally download all knowledge required for their job directly into their brain? Or someone who has only worked for you for a few years, and isn't fully qualified for the position they are applying for?

Three years is still less than five years. I have seen it stated before on head whitelist apps that you need to have at least 5 years of work for NT. And again, Wesley Jesse still doesn't possess the skills to be able to fulfill all of the duties of a CMO, as listed in SOP.

You need to work for NT for at least 5 years before being considered for head of staff. Wesley Jesse has worked for less than 2 years, according to what you wrote. Additionally, a Chief Medical Officer, more than other heads of staff, is supposed to have at least basic working knowledge of most jobs in their department, considering that one of their duties listed in Standard Operating Procedure is "Assistance in Occupying Vacant Positions Not Filled by Present Staff". As far as I can tell, Wesley Jesse only has expertise in making and using medicines. As much as I love him, I don't think Wesley Jesse is a good fit for the position of CMO, at least not at the present time.

(Spoiler tags for large image) In all seriousness, though. Do you think this is something that could be changed for future rounds, similar to how unathi captains are possible 20 years in the future? Even if certain positions were restricted, such as the captain.

I have been waiting for this ever since PARAGON first met Android. Android is a wonderful character to interact with, as I'm sure anyone who has met Andy agrees with. Critsy is, truly, one of the best RPer of synthetics we have, and I can't wait to see what Andy will do with hands (And no laws!). I would say you deserve this +1 from me. And I'd like to think PARAGON's little stunt with the purge module had something to do with this. Andy would probably be a telescientist, correct?

I'm just going to stop you right there. Skull, I never said anything like this. Please stop being so hostile towards me.

How will you get through the processing checkpoint, if the blast doors are down by default? The medbay is on the other side, and having to wait to be processed before being able to treat a patient will likely cause someone to die at the end of some rounds. And, I already had imagined that centcomm was a multi-level station, and that we just saw a small part of it - do we really need to rework it?

Oh, good. At least somebody wants to discuss this calmly, and without resorting to chanting "because I said so". Let me respond to a few things here. Tajara are not "naturally subservient", nor are they primative. They were in, if I remember correctly, an industrial era. Unathi, also, were not tribal. And, it was NT/SA influence that caused the revolutions on Adhomai. It seems like you really need to reread the lore on this. That's certainly a reasonable cause for the restriction, though this raises the question - why would people feel this way? Personally, I wouldn't have any problem with a synthetic intelligence having a position of authourity over me, and I heavily dislike such forced discrimination in fictional universes. There's already enough of that in real life, do you really think anybody wants anyone wants to sit down after a day of dealing with discrimination, only to have to deal with it in whatever game they play? While it certainly makes sense to have some restriction, there should be exceptions. After all, can you really think of a good reason why NT would hire someone as a head of staff who has worked for them for only a fraction of their life, or someone who has worked for them all of their existence? They are not tools - the fact that they have free will shows this. They are no more machines than any human is - it could be argued that they are synthetic machines in the same way as there are organic machines, such as a human body. And, quoting from my IPC app here, " I think it would be wrong to say they do not have emotions at all, though - for instance, a sense of self-preservation could be comparable to fear". Really, though, I think all of this is an IC issue. We should have events regarding synthetic rights, perhaps involving the Synthetic Intelligence Movement. And perhaps the outcome of such events could permanently change how NT handles synthetics in the future.

BYOND Key: MasterZipZero Character name: PARAGON Item name: Data chip Why is your character carrying said item to work? It's an external storage device that PARAGON uses to store a recording of the shift, for ease of filing paperwork. It can also be used to transfer data between synthetics, or to back up data. Item function(s): I would like it to go on the head slot, and be small enough to fit in a briefcase. Any of the actual data transfer functions can just be RPed. Item description: A small bluespace data chip, marked with a tiny heart. Item appearance: Similar to data disks, I would like this to be animated. My attempt at making the sprites: And here's a .dmi file I made for it, if that helps: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/23512113/PARA_data.dmi Additional comments: I have already RPed having this item and using it to provide files from PARAGON's database to replace lost memories in a fellow synthetic. I would really like to have this as an actual item, though, potentially allowing it to be taken.

As much as I love having one of the medical hardsuits easily accessible in medical storage, as it helps medical save lives, I see what you're saying. Though it's certainly not powergaming on the same level as science carrying around a whole armoury in their backpack, it could still be seen as a problem. However, I'm not going to metagame to put medical at a disadvantage. This issue really needs to be dealt with IC. As any reasonable argument should have concessions on both sides, I support a change in SOP stating that the hardsuits are to stay in EVA storage until it is code red, there is a present threat to station integrity, or personnel must be recovered from a vaccuum (or, in the case of security, chasing EVA criminals). What is everyone else's thoughts on this?

omg, the christmas odysseus is there and that's sorta wonderful Yes, that is the whole reason I had PARAGON move. The old place just wasn't big enough.

PARAGON has recently moved from this small closet at central command: To this slightly larger closet at central command:

What is EmPrESS's view on unbound synthetics, such as IPCs? I'm afraid I haven't been able to find this out for myself, as I constantly have to treat whatever injuries the crew manages to acquire for themselves.

Why not have something like a heavy-duty penlight, just like there's a heavy-duty version of the default flashlight, as regular penlights don't produce much light?

You can already pick things up. If you have metal as your active module, you can pick up metal off the ground until it's a full stack. Same with wires, floor tiles, and all the other materials you have. And, the mining modules already have an ore bag that autofills when you go over the ore, I believe.

Oh? I was misinformed, then. Sorry. Tasers should down them in one hit, though.

Please, tell me where I blamed our dev team for these problems. I didn't. I blame Bay's, not ours. And, again, I posted this here so that the devs can work on it when unoccupied, as there was a discussion about it filling up OOC at the time.

I find no problem with the weakness to lasers. It certainly makes up for the benefits an IPC has, such as, yes, no pain crit. Though, it is a little weird that shots to the arm would be so deadly. Causes overheating, perhaps?

I don't see how my suggestions are rude. I certainly didn't intend it to be that way. I was simply identifying some of the problems myself and other IPC players face that detract from our enjoyment. I posted it here to stop the discussions that were happening in OOC, filling the chat. The devs can address any of these issues, if they wish, when they are not busy.

I truly enjoy the TruLem series of synthetics, and I would love to see another one added to that list. Another IPC would certainly be useful in the synthetic revolution fun to play with.

I have a question. How would EmPrESS function without laws? How would they react if their laws were to be removed?

Earlier today (or yesterday, depending on your time zone), there was a discussion in OOC about certain unpopular IPC mechanics. Speaking with some people who play IPCs frequently, I have identified the main problems that, I feel, detract from the enjoyment of playing as an IPC. IPC specific language - Every other species gets their own language. Humans get Sol Common, tajara get Siik'maas, dionaea get rootspeak, etc. So, why not IPCs? Positronic brains already can use binary speak, so it would make sense that IPCs could as well, given that they have positronic brains in their head. Since having access to the regular binary channel would likely cause problems, I suggest the creation of a new language. Baystation's wiki mentions an Encoded Audio Language, perhaps we could use something like that? Overheating in hardsuits - Now, I do enjoy the recent change where IPCs will overheat in hardsuits. It makes sense, given that they require air to cool their chassis. The problem is that there's no practical way to cool them down. Cooled internals, which should work, provide no benefit. While suit cooling units do work, they are too large to carry easily, can't be mounted to the suit, start with a tiny capacity initial battery, are limited in supply, and can't be accessed by everyone who might need them. My solution to this is to start portable suit cooling units off with a higher capacity power cell, place one at mining, one at xenoarch, and one at the syndicate shuttle, make them small enough that you can fit them in a backpack, and allow them to attach to both hard and softsuits. Self-repair - IPCs are, for some reason, unable to repair themselves. This bothers me, as all others are able to heal themselves in some way. Organics can give themselves medicine, and can use welding and wires to repair damage to their own prosthetics, so why can an IPC not use the same tools on their mechanical parts? I get rather tired of having to visit a roboticist every time someone throws a book at me, or trips me with lubricated floors, especially when there are none on the crew. Skull, I believe, had mentioned something about repairing during combat. However, organics are already able to do this (enough medicine, welder/wires for prosthetics), it makes no sense to punish all IPC players for the actions of a hypothetical few, and IPCs already have enough weaknesses in combat. Just today, I saw one IPC go into critical from 2 laser shots to the arm. A single shot from an ion rifle will blow the head right off. And, I have no personal experience in this, but if an EMP can kill an organic with mechanical parts, I can just imagine what it would do to someone with a mechanical everything. I don't think it would be a problem to remove the self-repair restriction. So, an overview. Here are the problems, and my suggested solutions: Problem: IPCs do not have their own language. Solution: Give IPCs their own language. Problem: Difficult to cool down hardsuits for IPC use. Solution: Make cooling units smaller and able to attach to EVA suits, give them a higher capacity default power cell, and place one at mining, xenoarch, and the syndicate shuttle. Problem: IPCs cannot repair themselves. Solution: Allow IPCs to repair themselves. There are other things I dislike regarding IPCs, namely the head restriction, but that is a discussion for another time. Edits: Issue 2, included softsuits and syndicate shuttle suggestions. Issue 3, removed information about taser stunning