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First off I'd like to apologize for being gone for about a week and a half, I just recently moved from Arizona to Montana (about 1100 miles), and should be back in game soon enough! Now for the main purpose of this thread, what is everyone's thoughts and opinions on my IPC CMO, Taps. Any input is good input, and if there's something wrong with the character I can't fix it if I'm not aware, so please be honest in your feedback! Is he my next Nikit Vasili character, or something else?

I have had nice interactions with them ooc, and while I would like to see them a bit more ICly (but unfortunately life is preventing me from playing atm). Their responses are nice, and give me the impression they plan to do good things with their whitelist. Only comment I have is the contractor to nt employee to CE, might take them a while but I can see it being something that can be done +1

I like the idea of it, a lot. Would make sense that a NT owned IPC would be used to trial something as well. Provided it just stays a mix of a normal scanner and a breath analyzer, and maybe added functions that are minor in nature (pen light, stethoscope, etc) ill give it a +1, sterbens a good character too, so I know they'd provide some nice along side it

BYOND key: Simon_The_Miner Character names: Nikit Vasili, Tamir Hanar, P.H.A.X., Taps, Mason Birro are probably my better known characters to varying degrees that still get use. How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Since March 13th of 2018, Aurora was the first server I ever played on and learnt how to play SS13 on. I have taken a small break but plan on returning and playing frequently. Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: Partially because I want to get back to the aurora after having poked around other servers, but mostly because I've been looking for new things to do and new ways to contribute to the server and community in an IC manner by playing a high quality command member. Nikit's my most well known character and as far as I am aware, the most popular one out of all my characters, and I recall many times people have pushed me to consider a head of staff whitelist specifically for Nikit to work as an RD. I used to turn it down all the time, but now I'm thinking it's a good time. Why did you come to Aurora?: My friends, IAMCRYSTALCLEAR and AIMMO got me into the game, and told me aurora was the server they typically played at the time. I got hooked to the game and the community in general, got my first whitelist about 2 weeks after I started, and now hold 3 different species whitelist due to the amount of time I've invested in a server and community I'm proud to call myself a part of. Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: Of course, this isn't my first rodeo with whitelists, and not reading what's expected of a head of staff is just asking for failure. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? Almost a year ago (was June 20th of 2018), if I recall correctly it was a severe warning but has since expired. The warning was due to me attacking an AFK person under the assumption they had passed out from severe brain damage at the time. I admitted fault and told the staff member (satinsprist666) that I was more than willing to accept any punishment they deemed fit for my mistake and lack of foresight. Since then I have had no further issues, both IC (such as IAA reports) and OOC Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: Roleplay is many things, at least under my personal definition. To roleplay it is to participate in an story being actively constructed as a character involved in said story. While roleplaying that character is in a way a reflection of yourself, even if the character is an absolute polar opposite of its player. The reason every character we play is a reflection of ourselves in some manner is represented by how we help shape the story we are crafting on the fly and the fun we have with others. It can be much more than pretending, it is writing, interacting with others with similar interests, and its a way to have fun by pretending to be something we aren't at the moment, or can't be in the case of aliens. It lets us explore new stories and relationships between characters, craft interesting backgrounds for each character, and influence one another with the net goal of having a fun time. What I believe roleplay should be about is having fun in the end, regardless of the story we craft with one another. Sometimes the best stories we will ever read, participate in, or make ourselves are stories of a good life turned for the worse, or a bad one turned for good. We roleplay because we love watching these stories unfold in a way we have at least some shape over, bending it into a good time had by all despite how it turns out in the end. I role play because I'm practically addicted to this process, and love watching different stories unfold together, mingle, separate, and wrap up in a satisfying way regardless of if the ending is good or bad for the characters. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: The OOC purpose of a head of staff whitelist is to help organize, collaborate, and guide others. Head of staffs tend to be more experienced than other players, or at least know what they are doing to a high degree. OOCly they serve as teachers and a sort of miniature dungeon master. They come up with new things to task their department with to keep rounds interesting and fun, as well as teaching the new guys who don't know whats going on and need a helping hand. They are also expected to behave well and set an example for others, acting in what they believe to be the best interest of everyone on the station ICly and OOCly. A head of staff can make and severely enhance a game by their presence and participation on station, or break it by not being there or performing to something other than the best of their abilities. Icly heads of staff are the boss of the department they represent. They also serve as a main function of communication with other departments via their heads of staff, allowing for interdepartmental collaboration and projects. They are expected to help out their employees, set goals for the shift, and maintain a balance between hands on and hands off. Heads of staff also act as an IC role model for characters, and help keep others under control or from doing possibly dangerous or stupid things under the radar which can cause havoc (assuming the player is not an antag at the moment). In many cases the also lead the station against the antags, and their job is to help resolve the situation to the best of their abilities while still OOCly providing for an interesting round for all. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: I believe the OOC responsibilities of any head of staff whitelisted player is to help guide the game into a fun round, while still keeping things reasonable and believable. They are also supposed to work as a source of learning for newer players, either by delegating that new lab assistant to a scientist with a reputation for being a great player and good worker, or teaching the new guys themselves. They are also expected to treat other players as equals, just because they have a head of staff whitelist that many others do not have, doesn't mean they have a free pass to act disrespectful to other players, and should serve as a good member of the community. I plan to uphold these responsibilities to the best of my ability by teaching the new players how to play the game or the role they are interested in while helping guide them to creating a good character, even after the round by offering them the ability to talk to me on discord in case they need help with anything. I also plan to act in a believable manner icly to help promote a fun story for all involved and still allowing conflict to happen ICly to help drive rounds to the point of being interesting and fun. Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau ceti and how it affected your character and their career? Nikit's not a big news guy, but he does keep up to date with what's going on through friends and occasionally checking the news on his PDA. He isn't very actively involved in politics either but back when the election for vice was president running between Fahjil and Aristalus Nikit was torn between the two and ultimately voted for Aristalus the IPC. For more recent things, the Aut'Akh took nikit a little by surprise, as his understanding of the Unathi was rocked. He was originally under the assumption that most hated prosthetic and synthetics, causing him to generally avoid the more vocal ones and speak with ones that were more relaxed on their opinions of synthetics due to his job and dreams. Now that the Aut'Akh have made an appearance and started working on station, Nikit has been more open to unathi in general, and is more likely to approach and speak with one. He never disliked the unathi, but now he has an interest in them. He did take a small break from work to catch up on how Aut'Akhs function so he is prepared to work on them when they are present on the station, and to just boost his skills as a roboticist in general. In the end it's made him more open to getting to know Unathi's, and the time spent studying resulted in his smoking habit to get worse. Nikit has no issues working with or on the Aut'akh, and never had an issue working with unathi (even becoming friends with one and talking about hardsuit modules like two mechanics would with cars), but indirectly developed a worse smoking habit because of them making an appearance on station. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? I currently plan to take on research director for the time being, and will eventually expand out into HOP and maybe HOS or CMO, depending on if I can come up with a quality character for each position. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking.: Nikit Vasili, the science cat and roboticist. Taps is a likely candidate if I start playing CMO. How would you rate your own roleplaying?: I would rate it a solid 8.5/10. I still have some things to master, but I have become good at quickly responding in situation to avoid holding up what is currently going on, make few grammatical mistakes in my messages (some do slip through sometimes), and create believable and reasonable characters. There is always room to improve, and I know of several other people who are better at role playing than I am, but I am confident in my abilities as a player to provide an interesting and believable interaction between other characters, regardless of antag status or my OOC opinion of the character and player. I stay present, don't join rounds I don't believe I can see to the end, and will always try to make my absences from my computer as short as possible. I've never once had anyone tell me directly that I need to improve my roleplaying skills and am always open to input to improve whenever and where ever I can do so. I strive to mutually make the round fun and interesting for anyone I can, while still keeping the round fun for myself such as making ic mistakes on purpose like forgetting to turn off sensors on a person I'm murdering, not attacking while someone is typing, and trying to make my antag rounds engaging and fun for everyone to the best of my abilities. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? I entirely understand that my whitelist may be stripped from me due to poor behavior or performance as a head of staff. Have you familiarize yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? As stated above, this is not my first time going through the whitelist process, and I will always read the wiki before even considering a whitelist application. Extra notes: We really need to update our Wiki on heads of staff, the research director still mentions Genetics as a possible route for traitoring!

Their responses about what responsibilities come with being a head of staff, and how they stress staying in character is important, I'll give them a +1 Hell I'd give them a +2 if I could, when I was playing Nikit and some vines broke out on station during chaos and drama involving a ninja, Nikit, Ramos, and an officer I didn't get the name of all took the time to kill the vines, after that Ramos came up to nikit, stuck a hand out, thanked him for the help instead of screaming over the coms like everyone else, and returned later with a bottle of whiskey as a thank you. That interaction with Ramos made me smile, and showed they realize how important cooperating with coworkers is. Ramos isn't a character that was promoted just because, they'd be a character who was promoted for making connections and healthy relationships with his coworkers in addition to their skills.

I think I saw someone mention in Looc that Thomas Atweeke was using a bug to become entirely invisible, instead of hidden as something like a cig butt like chameleon projectors are supposed to do. The only warning that there would be a kois outbreak (I was nikit that round, and right across the hallway from him) was I think was one mention of kois on the science channel which got ignored because everyone was busy with something else.

I'd be willing to help out with the spriting of everything

@BurgerBB Your probably one of the best code monkeys we have/I know, I'm curious as to how hard it would be to make something like this happen

Hell thats a better idea than what I had, people would need to decide if robotics can do the research for Exoskeletons themselves or if RnD is needed

That's basically what I was thinking, blank exoskeletons for science, with upgrades that could help with those things (recoil dampeners, grounding rods/engineerings resistance to shock) As for the slimes, emergency water sprinklers or slime containment tubes.

Exoskeletons would be something that is believable on the station. They could serve as a the way to access hardsuit modules without having to wear an actual hardsuit. They'd probably more comfortable to wear as well, but by no means something you wear 24/7 (and of course, not safe to EVA in and too big to wear a hardsuit with). There could also be things they can do that hardsuit modules can not, and depending on the suit either buff movement speed or not effect it. Examples could be: Engineering's exoskeleton equipped with tools, fire fighting equipment, electrical shock resistance/immunity, welding mask/gas mask, and lights. Medical's exoskeleton equipped with a roller bed compartment, chemical storage with syringe (which needs to be refilled by the paramedic), health hud, movement speed buff, and health scanner. Science's exoskeleton could be used for developing/testing new exoskeleton parts, modifications, improvements and upgrades. Security's exoskeleton could have a built in warrant projector, MINOR armor boost (same as armor vest at most), taser, stun baton, and when cyborg crisis mode has been activated, maybe a laser gun. Cargo's exoskeleton could have a bounty scanner, crate storage (carry it on the back of the exoskeleton), remote shuttle interface, and ability to charge people for their cargo orders. The exoskeletons could be charged at mech chargers or with an APC (with chance of electrocution), would probably have a standard battery cell unless upgraded by a roboticist, and would probably use less energy than a mech suit.The possibility of having them fold up when not in use for easier transportation, just too big to fit in a bag but still allows someone to carry it from the raider/merc ship on station. They'd probably be able to stand by themselves, in addition to allowing someone with a broken leg to support themselves much like some of the hardsuits do. There could also be different kinds of exoskeletons much like there are mechs, possibly including a "homemade" one featuring spikes and other various sharp things in place of their blood red suit to stand out, mercenaries could possibly order one (probably increased mobility and armor). Pushing past someone wearing one might be harder to do, and of course, hitting someone with an exoskeleton on will hurt more than if you just punch them in the face. Now where would we get such things if they were added to the game? Why, the roboticist. Not only will it give them more things to do, it will allow them to construct useful pieces of equipment without the massive cost of resources it takes to build a mech. It could probably without research or with the ability to get relevant research themselves by toying around with an experimental exoskeleton (maybe specific tasks need to be done while wearing the suit to get points). The experimental exoskeleton would either be available at round start in the robotics lab or able to be built at round start. Robotics will have more ways to contribute to the station, from fixing exoskeletons to building new ones for the departments.

While I'm all for more things for robotics to do and reasons for people to visit robotics, this would remove the few times and reasons to use a mech. Why wait for a gygax to be built when you can send in a G2 officer with an X-ray Gatling gun stuck onto their back. If we had Exoskeletons (basically rig suits but not meant for EVA, and would conflict with Eva suits most of the time) I could see how it would make some sense. They'd probably need to recharge very frequently, move pretty slowly depending on what's attached, and the weapons probably much weaker than the mech counterparts because of available power/safety of user.

I will +1 this, I like the idea of dionaeas using something as a prosthetic to allow it to still work, without sacrificing a nymph permanently. Sure, the nymph that was the arm was damaged, but it was reabsorbed and probably in charge of working with the prosthetic. In a way, it gives diamond more thinking power, and in others it doesn't.

I'll support something like this, as long as there is only some consistency with hunger, not turning people into robots who eat at the exact same time. A variation for each player on when they need to eat would be nice. The whole becoming hungry since you ran thing is something I'd love to see removed.

I love Jawdat. Not too serious but doesn't slack off. He will let security do its own thing (unless he's an antag) instead of making a crew milita to fend off [insert team antag here]. The round I remember the most was when I was playing my Forensic Technician and they were going around sniping people. In the end I accused them, and OOC I knew it was them in the end, but ICly the interaction with my character giving them the benefit of the doubt (because Brazilians love their Xenos) and their joke about their Tiedie shirt left me with a smile.

There's several IC reasons for it, a combination of things led to it, and I don't want to spoil what it is. In the wise words of Alb, find out ICly. As for this, the biggest reason I asked was because as a changeling, OOC I knew a lot of people hate the antag because it's based around being the silent killer and not being caught. I don't like making people overly angry without a good reason (such as the betterment of the rounds progression). I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to ruin someone's round and cause needless salt.

I wish I could but Nikits not old enough (a little over two years to go), I also don't trust myself with a command role anyway

He's a newer character of mine, but I feel like some input on him would really be nice with shaping his character further in the future!

So my sandwich friend, Alb must have rubbed off on me for me to say this but, find out ICly probabky the sterile mask or way of dressing As for how, it's because I found a Phazon head in the same round, and I doubt naming an IPC P.H.A.Z.O.N. or P.H.A.Z. would really fly for a reason like that. Originally t was going to be P.H.A.C. but you can see what that sounds like. So I stuck random letters on the end and got P.H.A.X.

One, thank you for the honesty, can't improve what I don't know is wrong, and two, once I get a chance today I'll go in and fix some of these things up.

BYOND Key: SimonTheMiner Character Names: Nikit Vasili: Roboticist Tamir Hanar: Engineering apprentice Hashim Prruzhulkanich: Virologist Luiz Reighner: Forensic Technician Species you are applying to play: IPC What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): IPC's exempt Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes, would be dumb to try applying without reading the wiki. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question Why do you wish to play this specific race: Well, ever since I joined the aurora, and made the stupid choice of being a roboticist science main, I came to fall in love with IPCs. They have become the highlight of some of my rounds as I got to open them up, repair them, and have a chat with them along the way. I've also dabbled in AI a few times, and while I find playing a synthetic character fun, I feel getting to go down and get my synthetic hands into the nitty gritty of everyday station work would be much more appealing to me. This will also make a fine addition to my whitelist collection. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: The biggest thing that stands out to me that IPC's can only emulate emotions, not actually experience them. They are complex machines but when you get down to it, they think in 1s and 0s, and acted based on cause and effect, not their emulated and fake emotions. While they can mimic organic behavior to a degree, its only good mimicry at best, and not entirely how they actually are. They do, however, use this mimicry to their advantage when trying to purchase their freedom. They will generally speak to their creators in a respectful manner, and may begin speaking similar to them (but not perfectly like them due to their incomplete understanding of languages and such). They will speak in a very literal sense due to their analytical natures, however the way they structure how they speak can vary from individuals (and in a way, similar to how the way different species speak differently from one another, Tajarans in third person, dionaea using we). Synthetics are also unable to modify themselves, and have several kill switches to prevent them from doing so. Character Name: P.H.A.X. Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs Nikit Vasili, mechatronics engineer for Nanotrasen, has always loved working with and maintaining IPCs. They can be the highlight of his day, as he finds them very interesting and sometimes easier to understand than other people are, due to their more analytical way of thinking. Because of this enjoyment with working on them, Nikit decided that he would apply for the ability to officially assemble a G2 industrial frame as he does not have the money to build/buy one for himself. Once he got the go-ahead, he worked on getting the needed parts and fitting posibrain to construct P.H.A.X., dedicating time and effort to ensure that everything was just perfect. After construction, Nikit would look for any excuse under the sun to continue to work with P.H.A.X. (Anything from routine maintenance to straight up asking if they could speak with it for a while). Over time Nikit rubbed off onto P.H.A.X. in its general behavior, causing it to act like Nikit in some ways (including the pro synth values Nikit has). While Nikit would consider P.H.A.X. his own, they do belong to NT as that is who paid for their construction in the end, and a good IPC needs to be able to pay itself off, doesn't it? Due to the nature of G2 industrial frames and it being what P.H.A.X. was programmed to do, it was assigned to work in the engineering department as a general station engineer. P.H.A.X. did take a little bit of time to learn the ins and outs of how organics interact with one another. It did have the ability to emulate emotions to an average degree, allowing it to make a few basic (and skewed) friendships with people that can prove helpful to it. Because it never specialized in anything in the engineering department, it remained a station engineer and did a little bit of everything. It would step out of the way when others who were clearly more proficient in the field came to take over, and would do it's best to help out if it would make the process faster or more efficient. As Nikit continuously encouraged it to work towards its own freedom with the reasoning that it will allow the IPC more options and choices to pick from. This caused some greed in P.H.A.X., which made it cold towards those who present no advantage to it for make a relationship. It would also begin doing odd jobs or extra work for extra money, assuming the payout would be worth its time in the end for the time it would have to spend on the job. What do you like about this character? It's in a department that I know well, is made by a roboticist that is known for his like of synthetics, and has a goal to reach. Playing a character that is literally a piece of property in the eyes of most people would provide for some really good RP interactions, such as trying to stay out of trouble as much as possible, out of fear of being dismantled or being turned into an android or in general working towards it's goal of freedom. It would also be fairly respectful of people in the engineering and science departments, due to them being responsible for it existing and serving as its gateway to eventual freedom. They will likely do what they can to get on as many peoples good side, as that will increase it's chances of reaching its goal (And out of character, I just like being a nice person, this will give me even more reason to be nice). How would you rate your role-playing ability? I'll give myself an 8 out of 10. I'm much better than I was when I first came to the Aurora, and I have two whitelists under my belt, but I still have some things I can work on a little bit over time. Notes:

You'd probably want to ask the IPC, Dionaea, and Unathi loredevs this, as for a dionaea IPC I'm not entirely sure if that would be possible, considering the nature of dionaea. Theoretically for the unathi they'd probably be tough and a little slower.

From what I hear the Aurora used to have shells for alien races. I also hear that the IPC whitelist needed to get access to them was abused as a means of bypassing all the other whitelists. The reason I'm proposing bringing them back (with some tweaks to help prevent abuse) is because ICly I'm sure shells of xeno races exist. Method 1: Multiple Whitelists. Multiple whitelists (mainly IPC and the race the shell will be of) would be a simple way of preventing abuse, as it would require a player to have knowledge of both races. If that doesn't prove enough, a slightly excessive but still viable solution would be miniwhitelists granted on the fly by admins to players they believe would be able to play the shell in question properly. This would be the more hands off way of allowing xenoshells to be played, sparing the admins handing out miniwhitelists on the fly. Method 2: It's own whitelist. Yes more whitelists, but it's another option. It could possibly require one whitelist (either IPC or race the shell will be) and then the whitelist itself for xenoshells. This is the more hands on approach to allowing xenoshells back. Method 3: Antag only club This one is pretty self explanatory, only antagonists (see tators and maybe merc/raiders/ninjas), have the ability to be a xenoshells and only for the duration of round. For our traitor friends maybe just a small TC cost to become a full fledged IPC shell (EMP sheilding and suit coolers not included). For our merc/raider/ninja friends they get the option to choose to be a shell for species they have the respective whitelists for (so if you have a tajaran whitelist but not a unathi one you can't be a unathi shell, soulless machine). It'd essentially be vox, but a little less restricted to raider only in terms of antagery. What raider team wouldn't want a stolen tajaran shell to confuse the crew, or a private mercenary team buying a sturdy unathi shell for scaring and hurting people? To note, this is a shot in the wild, I have no idea how people would respond to this for the most part, but curiosity and the idea of playing a xenoshell made me want to suggest this.

Maybe twice, I was involved both times, and when it was used in combat both times it was used in a defensive way (one wasn't even really combat, it was sneaking up on a distracted officer). The first time I saw it I was a traitor, I stabbed a surgeon with it because they kept grabbing me and I was trying to flee. The other time (Burger was involved this time) me and a dionaea were going about mugging people. After I attempted to run away when the officer wanted to search my bag (to which burger then chased me into medical with a stun baton) my dionaea partner came up and stabbed him in the back with the parapen, saving an unconscious me from a pair of handcuffs and giving us an officer to hold hostage.