Carver

Seems entirely sensible, especially if by antagonists you mean off-station ones.

A documentation of personal notes and self-critique from the trial: 1) Despite assuming I would feel most comfortable with XO, I ended up never trying my XO due to a personal concern that it would get minimal feedback due to very little 'departmental interaction', as Service was predominantly empty during the time slot I would play (Post-Midnight, EST), in addition to the rest of Command often being empty during the same period. While I still wish I had tried it, I don't believe it would have offered much viable experience due to the latter factor. 2) Hesitation had me fearful of playing Captain, as I am uncertain in my ability to correctly judge candidates for interim positions. The immense influx of information (both true and false) can also prove overwhelming during intense situations, which I learned during the one round my Head of Security had been voted to the position of Acting Captain. I imagine this eases up with experience, but for the trial I felt more comfortable being subordinate to a Captain than being in their shoes. 3) Playing as Head of Security was enlightening, if as stressful as I could often imagine during some rounds where making the correct decision wasn't readily clear. Through more rounds of it, the sense of being overwhelmed lessened, and my too-many-hours playing Security over the years added a barrier of confidence that made it much easier to adjust to. Curiously, Security was also absolutely stacked during my time slot, so I found it the most likely role to ascertain good feedback. 4) If I observed any particularly recurring habits that may be judged negatively, it was my uncertainty on when exactly to raise to yellow - given Carp have not required armoury distribution in some time (as with either a single radio request or via their own proactivity, Officers typically deal with Carp without heavy need for encouragement), and the only round I experienced a level 7 biohazard as Command we had already raised to Blue due to an active Cult. Faxes were also something I was somewhat uncertain on, as some incidents that seemed too minor for them I found other Command encouraging a small fax for. Final thoughts: It is likely even if the trial passes, it will be some time before I can gain the confidence to try Captain as a role. I didn't advertise terribly much and, in addition to my preferred time slot being on the lower side of player population, it shows. I now understand why Command characters often carry laptops, after running back and forth to an office to make announcements roughly four times per round. Overall, Command felt most enjoyable when other members were present whom one could bounce ideas off of and help facilitate better communication between departments.

There's a notable difference in potential metagame issues between someone observing that there are off-station antagonists, and knowing precisely who the on-stations are.

My only concern is people who pay attention to the lobby readying might reeeeaaaally notice when Felix Friendly doesn't spawn in immediately despite being there, especially if it's a single slot role that had competition - to then notice them conveniently arrive some time later.

Carter was quite communicative and helpful, helped keep me up to date over the Command channel and assisted well with announcements and faxes. Kept from panicking in a tense situation, too. Often saw him walking about, socializing with the greater crew. +1 if he cuts the hair.

The lounges are great and I would be sad to lose any of them. Comfiest little conversation spots.

Oh when I said excessive I meant for Vaurca given the height of the ceilings and that the walls are often very smooth metal. Horror forms, yeah, myriad of ways they could reach the ceiling on their own.

I like the armoury being somewhat restricted to encourage crew cooperation on lower pop, but I do very much agree that lockers should be crackable via sufficient melee force.

With #2 if it gets separated tho, that might take an outfit from a potential 15/15 to a 16/15. That's my concern.

This sounds like it would heavily complicate the loadout system unless old combined sets came together bundled. I wouldn't want to lose points on an outfit that already fits.

Seems a bit excessive for a station species, but I can imagine horror form being large enough to not need the height boost of a table/chair.

BYOND key: GMR25 Discord Username: Realm Code#0760 Character names: Frederick Dayton, Bridge Crewman Larus Tomasson, Chef Theodore Godwin, Security Officer And a few others I haven't played since the Aurora, and am considering bringing back (either as command characters, or when I feel a strong urge to play a department). How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Coming up on 8 years, on and off. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? Unless you count one or two forum warnings for being rather blunt or making a funny review, the only action taken that I can remember over the years were one or two I'd personally asked for when I had wished to take a break (in 2015 and 2016 I believe?). In those cases, I believe I'd contacted either Skull or Soundscopes (or both?). My memory is a bit poor and the years have blurred together. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: Ensuring the organization and sanity of a department during a round, while trying your best to ensure it does not fall into some ridiculous pattern under the least extraordinary of circumstances. From there, attempting to direct it toward meaningfully contributing to the round while keeping the crew (and sometimes central command) informed about the happenings of the round. If absolutely needed, take the temporary role of a conductor and nudge the direction of your subordinates toward improving round engagement if nothing has happened for some time - whether it's the Captain organizing a ship dinner, or a department-wide training session as a Head when you have the learner slots filled. Your goal is to more or less try to keep the crew reasonably engaged in the round, while trying to reign in subordinates who act exceedingly out of line. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Similar to above, keep people engaged and in the know. Helping tutor new players in your department who need it, while not being too strict on those same new players if they make mistakes within a round. Effectively, try to set a good example for new members to the server in general. I already tend to try and help people who have questions that I can answer, so I would continue to do this. Though I will admit, I'm prone to being a bit shitposty at times in the discord general channel and server OOC. But when a discussion is serious I'll generally straighten up, or disengage if I don't feel I have anything to add to it. Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau ceti and how it affected your character and their career? I'll use the first character I designed for Command for this example, Captain Alfred Preston, a Solarian expatriate turned citizen of Biesel. The deficit of Phoron had left him in a professional bind, pushed then to meet ever-growing quotas that bordered on impossible. The later invasion of the 35th Battlefleet pressured him toward renouncing his Solarian citizenship, in fear of it causing potential harm toward his future within NanoTrasen, a decision he was not happy with. Yet this decision is perhaps one of the few things that's kept his career afloat during the formation of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. Now, with the launch of the SCCV Horizon he's found an opportunity to put his experience toward a proactive position where any truly great discoveries may put him in the spotlight of his superiors (And ideally for him, secure an opportunity for a wealthy retirement). What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Captain, Head of Security and XO, with XO being most likely during a trial so I can build more comfort and confidence in my understanding of Command. Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking.: Alfred Preston, Captain Emil Lehtinen, Executive Officer Reed Calom, Head of Security Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes. Have you linked your byond account to the forums? Assuming the 'Byond CKey' section in Linked Accounts is that, yes. Extra notes: I've not been the most active of the last few years due to focusing on my personal life (and the last couple of months due to a dead computer, else I'd have posted this a month and a half ago like I'd planned to), but I told myself I'd return to actively playing for NBT and so far I've been greatly enjoying it. I'll make a prioritized effort toward heightening my activity during any trial period, though I usually tend to play during off-hours for the server. I'll also note, I tend to drink a lot, but I generally make a point not to play when I'm heavily intoxicated. Ask me more questions as needed, I find theoreticals to be fun.

A little of column A, a little of column B. Let it be flexible depending on the situation and you can have the best of both worlds. I consider it serious, but I also enjoy making a joke here and there. As for "lore shouldn't try to follow mechanics", I heavily agree with this statement. Instead, mechanics should generally follow lore (within reason - balance can be tricky). Lore offers a guiding trail for interesting mechanical implementations, such as Srom.

Because this isn't Mass Effect and Commander has always been a horrid reference name?

I'm not sure how that's related to the suggestion though. This would simply be renaming an existing mechanic/procedure to more accurately reflect what it does, he didn't suggest any actual mechanical changes.

Breaking on any intent would make sense. Having to cycle through intents in combat just to make your molotov actually function sounds dreadful.

My only concern is this may limit crew access to the merchant by only a handful of people being able to then reach them (not mentioning the travel time and opportunity cost from such), if they operate from a base instead of flying to the Horizon. One of the nice things about merchant is that everyone can access the store and their wares.

Looks fantastic. Eager to play more Chef when it's live.

I think it's just a bit of weirdness to be dealt with until a wall sprite comes along. I'd do it myself but I have no experience with the multi-frame animated sprites required by vending machines.

I heavily disagree with this. The cook doesn't need to make everything, and if they want a variety open they can ask the gardener to cycle their crops as needed. You should have plenty of space already to grow what you want while catering to the chef's needs (especially if they're being reasonable and planning ahead to make a specific set of courses). I like what I saw on the updated version on page 2 a lot! I especially adore how I'd be able to swap the cookware on the stovetops without needing to move due to the closeness of the chef utensil vendor, and being able to read what people say without interruption throughout the whole kitchen space. So long as that locker in the freezer with the gloves has the various chef uniforms, I have zero complaints on how this would function - and only mild aesthetic complaints with the chef's dinnerware vendor looking clumsy at the corner of that counter (though this would require a wall-vendor sprite to resolve... or just access-lock it so it won't need the windows) especially with it being identical in sprite to the plastic dispensing one adjacent to it. I'll hope one day that we get polarizing windows for those exterior hull windows, so the woes of chefs (and bartenders who like the other side of the bar) about Carp may be lessened - but that's a subject for another thread at this point I would suppose.

I mildly prefer 'Chief Security Officer' just for consistency with the CMO and CE, but even if it's not adjusted I do like this (and especially like it over the suggestion of Commander, Commander always sounded awful like a bad Mass Effect reference). The only loss is that it's harder for me to find an excuse to call the Security Head 'Hoss' from now on.

I do not need more than a side-eye to look someone over, and you wouldn't really notice that unless you were Spiderman and had a sixth sense.

I wouldn't be happy with a merger given the kitchen already feels cramped if there's a second chef. The current bar set-up is perfect for me; a counter by the hall for people who just want to sit and socialize, plus a few secondary areas for people to have drinks while holding private conversation (and the second counter for the second bartender). I'd much like the bar areas left as-is. Sharing working space is very awkward, and if it were merged I wouldn't actually see the value of having bartenders as a role given it'd just become a formal restaurant and they'd be effectively just waiters.

I can see the argument for this. I just really liked that hallway ventilation issues didn't affect the kitchen (or vice versa), and it gave me more of a feel of running a small diner rather than just being a lunch lady. As for the old iteration not having one, the thought was that the old design had the room for one to be comfortably added without looking out of place. As well, thank you for addressing my other concerns.

My only comment is that it's very strange to have it in maintenance. Doubly strange that it shares a wall with the Consular's Office, that has to be an incredible diplomatic faux pas.