NerdyVampire

I understand that you relish the roleplay that comes from a command member being asked to raise the code, but it is a very short-lived roleplay interaction in 90% of the cases (like it takes less than a minute to actually do it, even if they have to run for it), and it will still occur in every single round an AI is not present. it might even still occur in rounds where an AI is present, simply because there are command members who'd rather do it themselves than ask the AI to do it (looking at you warblers). But maybe having an AI able to do it for them will give the command staff time to formulate an announcement which arguably is more valuable to the general crew than the limited local roleplay they'd otherwise do. I am only somewhat in agreement. I believe that it makes sense that the AI can make some command decisions, but only in the absence of actual command staff. We are designed and lawed to constantly evaluate the ship and crew safety after all, both in constrained situations and as a general ship status, so we can advice and inform command properly, and in the worst emergencies, inform SCC directly. It certainly isn't a big leap to argue that yes AI's are also expected to raise the alert level autonomously in the absence of command members if it detects that crew or ship safety is in such a high degree of danger to warrant it. The reason for this post isn't just the mechanical benefit, it is also to improve the player experience of the AI role. It would directly improve my play experience, and also that of other AI players in my opinion, and I don't think your experience will be diminished enough by the absence of that interaction to warrant not at the very least trying it out. As said earlier, you will still run into that interaction both at red alert, and when AIs are not present or not trusted. I don't think the two are comparable like that; the uniform regulations are a policy from corporate that doesn't really improve or add anything to the experience of the security officers, this does add something to those who play AI's experience. But you would gain a more freed up command staff to do other RP, more interaction with the ships AI, and in particular more interesting rounds when no command is present And maybe the command member don't always want to have to run away from an ongoing roleplay situation to raise us to code yellow or blue. This is to their benefit too, if they choose to use it. Because securing an area is about keeping it out of enemy hands, and because you have no certainty that the AI doesn't get subverted, destroyed or otherwise goes offline if there are hostiles at large. Just because command staff have the luxury of an AI, it doesn't mean that they become lazy about their jobs and responsibilities. The CE still checks the engines, the CMO still checks the suit sensors, the HOS still gets their investigator to check the records and warden to look at cameras, even though the AI for a long time could theoretically do all these things. The AI can also make announcements, but usually I have to directly ask the command staff after a period of time for permission, because they either take responsibility for it themselves or forget about it until I remind them.

As said I am still inclined to bar AI's from raising/lowering to/from code red, which would still ensure that roleplay like this occurs, but anything less is more day-to-day business and something the AI should easily be trusted with. If we are just moving around green/yellow/blue, the alert level doesn't matter much in terms of time-sensitivity or lends itself to any sorry-to-miss roleplay situations. At those alert levels it really ought to be as easy as just ordering the AI to do it. If you still consider it a QoL -x- RP cost, then I think it is a worthwhile trade to give us AI players just a little more autonomy and realistic incorporation. As you said, it makes sense lorewise.

Prate, the AI have access to things that are not essential to station operations in abundance. But the alert level is one of the things I would argue is very much part of station operations. In fact, it is so high up in the AI's ballpark, it is a homerun to enable it. In the presence of command staff we are expected to never make any serious decisions unless ordered. With these two features, that doesn't change at all. We still need to be ordered by command to change the alert level, or enable maintenance access, because they are both command features in the command program, ie. command level. If we don't obtain the proper authority before doing it, the command team will yell at us, as well they should. In the absence of command personnel however, you must admit that in many of the non-extended, and even some extended rounds, we are expected to make these command level decisions. It isn't against our laws to do so, as long as it serves the SCC and our other laws, which any whitelisted AI player should be able to gauge. So why not trust us to do it? It is not a question of whether security can make do without it, it's a question of whether the AI role really is complete without it. In my mind, having more features for the AI, only deepens the role and adds versatility and hopefully adds more authenticity to its presence on the map. The only possible way to abuse it is if you are a traitor AI and keep disabling maintenance access when security needs it, or alternatively if you are a non-traitor AI and you enable it prematurely against another antag, and that line of thinking is already covered in the whitelisting process (not to stifle antags too hastily). That's it. In any other circumstance, at best the AI would make a mistake from using it, and a minor one at that which can easily be reversed. That's my rebuttal. I have no opinion on ships movements. I understand you Chada, but we can't let a dark history dictate our future forever. The AI role is my favorite one and I don't want it to grow stagnant, and I certainly don't want us to be denied simple-to-implement features because of pre-whitelist players. What is the point of the whitelist if we can't use it to move forward? But regarding the crew abusing the AI, we can equivocate it to other command level decisions (because it is command-level still), then it is not possible when command staff is present because the AI need their permission first, and depending on the situation the AI can simply deny that order because it is on the same level as other command decisions which the crewman would also be denied. Like if a crewman ordered the AI to grant access to the spare ID, or to have their own access elevated or to send a message to the SSC, then the AI can very well deny that because all AI players know that there is a span of unreasonable requests that would not serve the SCC and thus break law #2. The fact that both of these features are inside the command subfolder of programs should remind AI's of this fact. I'm not saying there wont be mistakes at first, but I can't see them as being serious enough that we can't atleast give our AI players some time to acclimate and learn to use it properly. I imagine it was the exact same thing when we got access to other things, like the shell.

As my fellow AI players might have noticed and those command members that have requested our assistance, we AI's are barred from certain programs in the command console interface. Specifically the ability to change alert levels and enable maintenance access. I think it may be worth reevaluating if this restriction is still necessary, given that AI's are now whitelisted and per that definition are trusted to a higher degree than before. I do not myself see the need for these restrictions, as long as the AI cannot raise the code to red on its own. Green/Blue/Yellow alert and maintenance access do not seem far fetched for something the command staff would want to order the AI to alter autonomously or on request. So, my suggestion is to simply open those functions up for the AI via the command consoles. I can only expect that my fellow AI players would welcome the trust.

It is not exactly a second life though, you don't have it as a backup since you still need to kill off your own body to make the transfer, and to do that you will need help from someone else since you cannot manipulate your own MMI brain / posi. If you do have a partner though, you can escape a maimed body and other penalties this way. But the TC cost is the easiest thing to fix anyway I'd assume 😆

I like it, but if it is to transfer consciousness without extra hands it should cost more TC imo. The idea was also to facilitate a bit more antag cooperation. But I was willing to spend double the amount of TC, I don't think it would be too much for a one-time transfer. For a remote controlled body I would incur some penalities, like reduced speed and bodily strength.

Only three years ago, a secret collaboration between Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals and NanoTransen resulted in a prototype device, dubbed NERP. A relatively disarming name, with a very dire function. But during its hours of completion, a raid by a shadowy organisation destroyed the accumulated and well-hidden data, and stole the prototypes of each iteration. It is unclear exactly how many of these escaped, but their existence could shatter the reality of the masses. The NERP is a new item that can be purchased from the uplink at maybe 3-4 TC. It comes as a nanopaste-like tube, except colored appropriately for the antaggy design, maybe purple/red or darkgreen/black. It must be applied to an organic body, at which point the nanobots hastily install an underlying electrical neural pathway into the body, allowing certain machines to be installed into that body; positronics, man-machine interfaces and possibly subverted maintenance drones. When installed in this way, the player inhabits the organic body, allowing them control and use its motor-functions as before. The only way to determine that it is synthetically controlled is with an EMP, medical scan or otherwise thorough bodily examination. Maybe there is a visible cue on their head, pushing them to wear a hat to conceal it, or their hands are unnaturally cold to the touch. The lore implications for the existence of this are quite massive. With it, an organic might 'bequeath' their body to an IPC friend, an elderly human might have their brain installed into an MMI and hence into a younger person. Synthetics might infiltrate society on a whole other level, and even an incarnation of Glorsh might claim to be present and having been present inside a Skrell this entire time (as downloaded to a positronic). A number of gimmicks can be formulated this way: The traitor is playing an IPC and want to experience the full rights of a biological being. They decide to assault and murder a crewmember, and with the help of a fellow traitor they install themself into their body to take their place. The traitor machinist have been activating positronics in their lab, but rather than give them a cyborg body, he has managed to get his hands on the corpse from the morgue, and suddenly the unfortunate assistant is walking again. An elderly traitor crewmember are feeling the weight of time and sets about to both recruit a willing helper and find a suitable host to become his new permanent resident, while at the same time figuring out how to get rid of this old body. (event) A dignitary from the Dominian Empire has come to the station, but after suffering an accident it is revealed that they are, in fact, a positronic mind controlling their body, calling their intentions and diplomatic immunity into question. I think there are some good possibilities with this item, though I do not know how hard it would be to code. Let me know what you think.

But cargo and merchant are very very different. Cargo is a supplier mainly for departments. You just don't see people take time to browse through cargos lists for private purchases very often. Usually what they are buying have some relation to their work anyway, and should really be paid by the department funds. The merchant on the other hand gives the option to preview a selection of wares before buying, and the merchant itself is less scrutinized than the digitally-controlled cargo department. It is just more reasonable and easier to actually obtain contraband through the merchant, cause cargo will in most cases demand command permission for anything 'out of the ordinary'. The merchant being private can ignore that, at least to a degree. Having the merchant on the ship just means opening up an alternative and imo. more reasonable avenue for crew to spend their paychecks. The merchant as it works now is fine, a merchant station could work fine as well, but I don't really see any obstacles in having them just be on the Horizon either. For a merchant station to work, there should be multiple merchants and some other recreation facilities I think.

He has my confidence in regards to his plays, however I was surprised to see that you even need a whitelist to play a matriarch drone. Either way, +1 from me.

How about alternatively; we open up a section of the Horizon for a business owner who has his own method of peddling? Like the commissary, except it contains the merchants buy/sell apparatus, limited to their ID and access code (ie, captains access isn't enough), but one that can be emagged to forego the access code?

I prefer Gecko's generic to the lore specific, mostly because it can be tailored to the lore IC if any member of the cult has the proper knowledge for such. I feel like any of these would be an awesome addition.

Bumping as I still agree with the idea.

Pushing this topic up in the hopes that the dynamic gamemode will be revisited.

Speaking as a primarily AI player, I can appreciate all these changes. I am however more in favor of adding a camera to the representative than removing one from the consulars. Both because I recognize and appreciate the opportunity to observe when something sketchy (but not criminal) is going on, even if I have no intention of reporting it, and also because I consider them VIP enough that it makes more logical sense for me to have cameras and simply having the players find a remote location on station for their sketchy stuff when it needs doing (which also encourages involving other/civilian crew). A solution I think would make sense for both offices, would be a button that simply cut power to the cameras, a 'confidentiality button' if you will. Is it suspicious? Yeah, but their positions warrants that they can ensure privacy when they require it.

I am all for. If it could be implemented as the default and let us choose a 'Bright mode' on the APC/request it from the AI. That would be a wonderful versatility.

Seems logical, even without NBT honestly.

Bumping this up because I still think it has merit in NBT and current build, and it lacks feedback.

More random mini events are good in my book.

It would be nice if there were two options for this, a medium and high priority. Like, one that might be flagged as 'there is stuff to do for this role, we would benefit from it.' and 'there is very important stuff for this role to do, and we would like central to send one if possible.' Only the high priority should push dsay I think.

All for it, sounds very interesting.

Played a vamp round with you, me as BUDDY. It was a very difficult round to be the sole command member, you did very well. There were few things you could have done differently to turn the tide, but it would have been a difficult no matter what you did. As a command member you made sure central command was informed, the only thing you might have focused more on as CMO/aC was securing the crew in one place, maybe even instituting martial law. But that is out of scope for what a CMO is expected and what a new command member would think to do anyway. And not something BUDDY would recommend anyway. You did very well.

Just had a situation where I wanted to conceal my identity with a mask, but couldn't fit the usual voice changer in under it, and that's a recurring issue with all the cosmetics we have for that particular item slot. I'd suggest an implant to the throat, that costs +2 TC over the regular voice changer, but allows you the same feature. Maybe restrict it to one voice you have to set before you implant it.

Captain in a stressed situation: "Where is my hand? Get over here hand! I want you at my right side when I need you, handling my controls! You're my right-hand man hand!" Just a joke, I think it could work.

I echo Triogenix' sentiments. However NBT will be received (it's gonna be great I'm sure!), I am very grateful that we have dedicated people willing to put their free time into the complicated matter of remaking so much of the game!

I disagree with axing an idea before we've even tried it out. Let's at least give people the option to try out the dynamic, it's easy to remove later anyway.