K0NFL1QT

I am under the impression that you, or at least your character/s, largely dislike synthetics. What motivates you to want to shape their lore, and what would you want to change or add specifically to synthetic lore?

Any degree of stun measure security has is more than enough to incap threats you aren't intending to be killing. Conversely, if you die with a laser rifle as security you must be the one doing something wrong, not the antag. Except stuns have been altered to have a reduced effect on armored targets. Just yesterday, I put five accurate stun shots from an e-pistol and five on target shotgun beanbags into an unarmored crewman, who was already injured, and they didn't drop until two hits from a stun baton were applied. Garnascus can verify, as they watched and commented in LOOC at the time. Stuns are not as godlike as they once were and are barely worth using right now; except Security generally has to prioritise live capture over killing in self defense unless their life is in danger. As opposed to ERT being largely unopposed free reign to march around the station hunting down antagonists with their high-quality validhunter gear as a reward for dying? I'm not sure how it's fair that the people who died in the round and most likely did something to deserve it get a second chance to take revenge on the same people that killed them. That seems like pretty poor balance to me. I think that's a disingenuous generalisation of no substance, but will respond. ERT are Central Commands asset protection force. Nanotrasen have vast wealth with which to equip specialised units, to deploy to their facilities which are the basis of their income, so that they aren't destroyed and the income continues to flow. They are meant to be well equipped but not excessively so, and they certainly aren't compared to what is possible. When Command calls ERT, they are accepting that they cannot deal with the situation and are calling in special defense teams to take over for them. You have a very jaded outlook on the situation and completely disregard the already antag-focused balance, and have repeatedly referred to ERT as little more than no-rp validhunters. ERT is a necessary counter balance to overpowered antag abilities and equipment. Who told you that? That's not true at all. Uh. Revolution. Unless that was changed? Counter proposal. What if ERT calls, faxes and the AIs emergency messages were reliant on an emergency antenna, perhaps located in telecoms? If the antenna is powered and undamaged, emergency messages go through fine. If it's offline, then no emergency messages. Also, restrict ERT to players with Command Whitelists to reduce likelihood of the 'salty validhunter' meme, so you get players of trusted quality in these powerful roles.

Thanks for the insightful response to the balance breakdown of antag types versus existing security. Oh wait... Security are already inadequately geared to deal with half the antags. Removing ERT will just result in antags having largely unopposed free reign, safe in the knowledge that there is no repercussions once Sec is wiped and there is no additional escalation to deal with. It's not supposed to be easy to take over the station. ERT are Centcoms Emergency Response to situations that regular security cannot control. ERT is already disabled for some roundtypes. And keep in mind that it can take a good ten minutes after the call for ERT to even be ready to deploy. Fowls change, while I dislike it on principle, at least has provisions that take into account crew deaths so that during situations where antags are on a rampage there is a better chance of a successful call being immediately responded to, but a delayed response otherwise. I think the base chance of 20 is much too small, though. You can have fully half the crew dead and still have only a 70% chance of a reasonable response, unless I misunderstand.

It's wierd how we can both play the same server and have completely opposing interpretations of how rounds play out. In my experience, inactive antags are the majority (due to roundtype chances and gametype player minimums) and Command actually doesn't rush ERT unless it's completely warranted because antags are mass bombing and well armed. Most Command staff I see, both playing alongside and observing as a ghost, will hesitate on calling ERT until long after they should... and a lot of times will simply just not do it at all. Securitys most effective means of defending the station themselves, the shotgun slug, was already removed from their usual access. Now the extreme emergency response is going away too. What's next? Foam batons? Tickle guns? Just for a moment, let's analyse the antag types and see if we can agree on securitys chances, here. Wizard: Generally, either an uncatchable teleporting menace, with the Captains Spare ID, Headset, Antique laser and whatever else they picked from the Armory, or they're the fireballing Necromancer type with a skeleton army composed of the civilians they've ganked. Security can harm them with lasers, but are generally not enough to deal with these threats. Ninja: Again, teleporter that probably got the Captains Spare ID, Headset, laser and their pick of the Armory. With their rigsuit, manauverability, access, and innate lethality, Security is simply not equipped to deal with this threat when they inevitably start murdering crew. Cult: Cult has an array of tools that you are simply not allowed to understand as a non-antag, such as runes and constructs. Security can overcome hostiles with lasers, but cult robes are armored against tasers and stuns. A good cult will probably be operating out of a well prepared cult base. Easy stuns and lethal weaponry; somewhat balanced against Security if they ever do more than preach. Changeling: Has access to easy means of incapacitating and killing crew, through stings and arm blades. They will usually stay stealthy as long as possible, and react only when caught in the act. A good majority of changelings never act so much as to claim a single genome; others will rush arm blade and claim heads. If you kill it, it revives; removing its head is meta. Vampire: Another all access teleporter, but this time with the added bonus of straight up mind control. They can attack you and walk away and you cannot remember it. Given they can also control others, they are potentially either a great round antag or a total shitter. While physically vulnerable to securitys equipment, security is generally not capable of dealing with an experienced vampire player. Mercenary & Heist: Combined due to similarity, Security is just not on an equal footing with these antag teams anymore. They have an abundance of EVA suits, ballistic and laser weapons that Security cannot match. If the antags decide to go hostile, expect a security TPK. Malf: Not really much Security can do here, except flash and smash borgs. The AI will be locked behind bolted and shocked doors, neither of which Security is trained to deal with. You may be locked into a room you cannot escape, then your air vented. Malf is dealt with largely by engineering. Autotraitor: Balanced, due to the antags versatility of available tools and their limited nature. Rev: No additional tools anywhere. Securities equipment, along with whatever Science makes and Cargo orders, is all that needs to be contended with, and you can't exactly predict who will be Rev/Loyalist to guage how things will play out. Frequently the same gimmick, but could be something original now and then. ERT are not the Insta-win button you all seem to treat them as. They're generally just officers with better guns, armor and access. I've seen ERT fail as much as or more than they succeed. Though if Skull has secret round statistics that show objective results, then that is better than opinion.

Give most antags more room to move and they will still wait until they are forced to act before they make any impact on the round. I'm looking at you, Vampire, Cult and Malf. ERT has always been an expectation, except in certain round types where it is already explicitly removed. Emergency Response. As in, the guys you call when you have an emergency, and they respond even if it's just one guy they can spare. It's not always a max squad of competant powergamers on a valid hunt, either. Sometimes they fall down the command elevator shaft, or don't know how to operate internals, or even get on the ERT shuttle in the first place.

Probably, but I couldn'y say exactly what ideas I have without specifics. I've not seen the term trivial lore used before, but if I were to define it I would assume it means lore of little impact and relevance; such as the color of toothpaste on Luna. It's not a thing that needs to be strictly defined and players don't really benefit from knowing this. That depends on the feedback. If it's constructive, I will always consider good feedback. If it's not constructive, or boils down to 'I don't like synths so I will hate whatever you do' then there's no pleasing those people anyway, and I would probably just disregard their opinions as irrelevant. To be clear, I am always happy to take on board good constructive feedback, but I'm not formally applying to a position on lore staff just to immediately surrender my capacity to shape lore to everyone else. Yet I am cautious and will not be making impactful additions without at least presenting some ideas to the lore staff for feedback, and I expect a lot of back and forth between you and me where we each get to give input on things we're working on. Depending on the time and day, probably yes. I have almost week long availability except for several hours on a Sunday where I RPG with real life nerds, and I can be awake and assisting at pretty much any time of the day or night. I applied knowing you are the current Synthetic Maintainer so I expected it to be an assistance role, but I'm happy to adopt a more collaborative stance. As a creative writer, I understand how valuable it can be just to have someone interested and knowledgable in the same things you are, to bounce ideas off for good criticism and to mine for good ideas of their own.

If you fuck with the cloning process like that, it's tantamount to grief; like putting acid in the cryo cell so everyone who goes through it dies. Don't do it. It's shitty. And cloning ALREADY depends on chemistry. Cloning requires and consumes synthmeat, which requires clonexadone and blood to make, and then cloning aftercare require alkysine which is also from chemistry.

Regarding synthetics and what aspects of their lore I would like to specifically advance; primarily, a culture of their own. I would like to build on the outcome of the last 'antag contest' to eventually change synthetics from a collective of enslaved constructs to a race of its own, with the power to determine its own future, and with places, systems and ways of being that are unique to their nature. This could include a primarily synthetic colonisation effort, growing from a colony somewhere to a city, with the potential for that societal seed to grow into a galactic power in its own right over time. Think China; abundant cheap labor, mass manufacturing, highly industrial, but with access to vast amounts of intellectual capital for specialist fields and an inherant aptitude for financial markets. I do not envision them becoming warlike and conquering, given they are transitioning from recent indenture themselves. I would like them to discover a way to co-exist with the organic races, even if relations are strained; any attempt at militaristic expansion would be crushed by a multitude of allied organic races, and they would be aware of this. Yet being industrious, aware of their own still precarious existance, and with the potential for rapid technological advancement, they could in time be capable of robust defense solutions to protect what they are building. I hope that satisfies your desire for more tangible plans.

Restating what I said on discord for forum review. I am responsible for the original draft of Directive Four, which initially only covered Research before it was expanded to Cargo by later dev contribution. The initial intent of Directive Four was to let geneticists test in their lab without being accosted, to permit scientists to prototype weapons, equipment and gadgets and use them for testing and roleplay within the department, and provide a basis for treating slime outbreaks. As in, if they aren't in the lab then the xenobiologist can be charged and the loose specimen terminated. I can see how the specific wording can be interpreted to mean 'do not issue anything from Research unless it's an emergency', but that was not the intent, and infact would be counter intuitive to RnDs purpose. I would support modifying the directive to permit issuance of RnD products with oversight/paperwork, especially since the prevalance of scientists walking around casually with laser cannons has been drastically curtailed with the holy firing pin update.

Forgot to mention; I also wrote the original draft of Directive Four, and the CSI guide, but wiki staff maintain that. Relevant? You decide.

It would just be better to ban/warn kids who act like gordon freeman when instead they should be acting like the NPCs. There would be nobody left. I prefer environments where abuse is mechanically limited, so people don't assume they can do whatever they physically can. It makes sense for a research facility to minimise the chance of gun misuse of all things. You can still test weapons at the range, but getting them to work outside of where they're supposed to be tested now becomes more challenging. I will agree that the 'chance to break a pin' when extracting it from a weapon should probably go though; pointless RNG is neither fun nor realistic.

Delayed ERT is better than none at all. As much as I dislike it, perhaps it's a fair compromise.

Firing pins are good. RIP science militia.

Most of the crew, and Command, are going to be incapable of protecting themselves from the sort of threat that justifies an ERT. Chances are, if you make an ERT call fail, Command won't live to make another one. -1.

Ckey/BYOND Username: K0NFL1QT Position Being Applied For (coder, mapper, spriter): Synthetic Lore Deputy Past Experiences/Knowledge: No experience lore crafting in the way done here, but I am an avid Sci-Fi fan and long time roleplayer. In my own time I have crafted three worlds for RPGs, one for a fantasy setting and two variations for a sci-fi setting. I was a long term DM for a Neverwinter Nights server, while it lasted, largely responsible for smaller and more personal events for the players while the server and setting owner handled more overarching plots. Examples of Past Work: This is the introduction blurb to an Ultramodern 5 game I wanted to start, early 2017. It was based around the player group being part of a special forces task force responsible for high risk swift response missions, the Special Tactical Response Infantry & Defense Enforcement Reserves, or S.T.R.I.D.ER. Part S.W.A.T, part A-Team. The setting was post-post-apocalyptic Earth, set in the future after numerous concurrent catastrophes push the survivors of humanity into isolated and fortified city-states, separated by miles of rampant overgrowth, mutated flora and genetically restructred fauna, not to mention human tribes and other dangers. There's much more to the setting than this introduction lays out, as it was intended to only introduce players to the world and not completely spoil every suprise, but this is just an introduction and, hopefully, enough of an example of my capacity to write lore. Preferred Mode of Communication (Skype, Steam, etc.): Discord: K0NFL1QT Additional Comments: Just going to pre-emptively answer some stock questions here. 01010100 01101000 01100001 01101110 01101011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101110 01110011 01101001 01100100 01100101 01110010 01100001 01110100 01101001 01101111 01101110 00101110

The way I approach this is extremely minimal job hopping, but it's a personal preference that I doubt would be popular as a server rule. I have a different character for every role in Security and have them stick exclusively to the job I've crafted them for. My CMO can fill in for just about any role in their department, but I only ever bring them on as CMO and rarely as a chemist. My CE is capable of electricals and atmos, so I also will rarely bring them on as those roles if CE is taken. I have an RD with robotics specialisation, but I have a separate character to play the roboticist job. I don't think I have ever brought a character on as an assistant or visitor because a characters usual role is occupied, nor would I bring a Head of Staff character on as a janitor, bartender or chef; it doesn't make sense for my characters to do that.

Or just ID lock them to the RD and Xenobiologist only, it's far safer than requiring commonly available tools. But yes, I'd support giving Xenobiology access to more creatures. Further mechanics can be implemented down the line. I'd like to see Xenobiologists tasked with subduing, restraining and capturing the local cave dwellers for study. Or other local wildlife. Slime based xenobio is old, stale and pointless.

But in that case, you'd be better off removing the shotguns entirely because beanbags vs mercs makes for a bad time. Hence why this suggestion is for replacing the shotguns with more appropriate weapons; still lethal for when lethals are required, but not insta-kill.

This really grinds my gears and shows a fundamental lack of understanding of what a detective and CSI actually is. I would suggest further differentiating the two jobs by having their qualifications changed. As I understand, a detective in US police forces is actually a promotion from regular officer if you can prove you have the insight, logic and other mental capacities for deduction and investigation; change the detectives qualification to not require forensics degrees but instead a few years of standard officer employment with a good record, rather than just a cadetship. A CSI is far more akin to a scientist or doctor, requiring hard science and medical degrees, and is hired specifically for their lab based on their education rather than rising up through the ranks of regular officers.

Plus one for the suggestion because of precisely these reasons. As is, you have to struggle with space wind for a while until you get enough points to get your magboots. And it can be hell. It wouldn't be so bad if space wind was a once in a while thing, but it'll hit you and keep pushing you down for a minute or two.

I am not sure what more context you want, That is like an hour of chat. I don't mind if someone's gimmick is being a gun nut, but here we have like 6 gun nuts, it is not a very imaginitve conversation in terms of RP. If one guy had been going on about women, or fast space ships, or anything else, it then there would only have been about 5 people that couldn't be bothered thinking up a personality for their character. But no one did. Put it this way. For starters, pointing to RP logs where characters talk about things they like... is not evidence of 'lack of RP'. You actually provided evidence that directly contradicts your claim. You're free to think it's unoriginal that security characters have an interest in guns, but you'd have to then say it's unoriginal for Research characters to be enthusiastic about science, or engineering characters to be enthusiastic about construction. If anyone has real life private security experience, I'd expect over represented enthusiasm about guns to be realistic. As for the presence or lack of powergaming; does Security powergame? I don't think so. Every facet of security, from their uniforms to their equipment to when they can use their equipment, has been set that way by staff and mappers. If there are issues, such as I feel there may be with shotguns right now, then treat that as an individual problem block in a whole jenga tower of otherwise functional blocks. Security has a lot of attention scrutinising their behaviour, IC and OOC. What they can and cannot do is very clearly outlined and strictly enforced and we have framework to keep things in check, player to player and staff to player. But, ultimately, Security is the primary antag facing department; it's first and foremost Securitys job to enforce regulations and protect the crew , which naturally brings them into conflict with antagonists every round there is one. They are a reactionary force, and on the whole they react as they are permitted and with the tools they are given.

Reporting Personnel: Jack Ryder Rank of Reporting Personnel: Security Officer Game ID: bRm-aJy4 Personnel Involved: Offender - Clement Beach Other - Rrazujun Rrhazkal-Jawdat Other - Kimby Hingte Other - Mikeel Ka'Best Witnesses - several from that shift, as it occured by the main level elevators during the time a shift end shuttle was inbound Time of Incident: Approximately 9:30 AM Real time: Approximately 9:30 AM Location of Incident: Hallway out Research/Brig front desk Nature of Incident: []Workplace Hazard []Accident/Injury []Destruction of Property []Neglect of Duty []Harassment []Assault [x]Misconduct []Other _____ (Place an x in the box that applies. If other, replace line and specify.) Overview of the Incident: Dr Mikeel Ka'Best was alleged to have stolen the bear pelt hat of a fellow Doctor, Kimby Hingte. I moved to the location and found Dr Hingte chasing Dr Ka'Best outside of medical, wearing the hat they were alleged to have stolen. I requested they stop running and they fled further up towards the brig. I further requesting they stop fleeing and they did not comply. I chased the suspect around the central ring, back past medical, the holodeck, and up by RnD, where I drew my taser and applied a single, accurate taser shot, which hit the suspect, Dr Mikeel Ka'Best, in the head. The suspect stopped running and fell to the ground, whereupon I placed them in cuffs and proceeded to further investigate the situation. Dr Kimby Hingte then asserted that the hat, that he owned and Dr Ka'Best was wearing, was in fact not stolen, and they had not reported it as such. A nearby medical stationbound, name of B00P, had witnessed the theft and reported it to Head of Security Clement Beach, who tasked me to the situation. Head of Personel Rrazujun Rrhazkal-Jawdat then attended the scene and claimed that I had stomped Dr Ka'Best in the chest while he was down, which I had not done. Head of Security Clement Beach arrived on the scene as the station bound unit confessed to being the reporter of the crime. Dr Mikeel Ka'Best was not taken in on any charges. I was charged, and fined, for i117 for tasing a suspect when they were running and not complying with requests to cease running. i117, excessive use of force in detainment; repeatedly batoning a prisoner after they've been handcuffed, Using force against an unarmed and compliant suspect, and usage of lethal weapons in a non-lethal situation. I am hereby requesting the charge be removed from my record and the fine reimbursed on the grounds that it is patently false and not applicable. I used the minimal effective force for a fleeing suspect out of range of other alternatives, and did not in any way physically abuse the suspect. Actions taken: Accepted the fine at the Head of Securitys order and followed up with a report to CCIA immediately following the shift.

Regular shells are less than desirable most of the time because they spray and have friendly fire risks. Slugs are simply the superior choice when lethals are required. And that's the problem. If you make shotguns and slugs harder to access, and instead give Sec lethals that don't instagib, I think we can all have much more enjoyable and reasonable shootouts.

It has been stated multiple times by multiple staff that lately the server has been moving in an undesirable direction, regarding gun use and escalation. To that end, I put forward replacing shotguns with weapons that have less insta-kill potential. Security stops getting in trouble for headgibs, antags don't presume they're going to get headgibbed on sight so they're more inclined to roleplay and be less lethal themselves; it brings the deadliness down a touch, all round. Now, I'm not saying Security needs to be stripped of lethal ballistics; they are necessary to have in storage. I just suggest stocking guns that don't gib so easily, like Auto Rifles. Ideally something that requires two hands to use and has decent ammo capacity, with semi, burst or full auto fire modes. Instead of shotguns with slugs, we could have a couple rifles, several magazines of regular ammo and then a limited amount of AP ammo. Yay or nay?

The whole point of Head of Staff stamps is that they are given to someone with years of experience and corporate loyalty, to authorise dangerous, expensive or department affecting changes. Do not put this power in the hands of random borgs. The clerical borg is not a stand in HoP and they should not have Command access.