Sycmos

Ultimately I feel that the initial setup and busywork that Engineering is saddled with does not provide ample opportunity for interaction with the crew, and only serves to take up time in a round that could otherwise be spent engaging other characters and performing the premise of the server - roleplay. Spending 20 to 30 minutes setting the engine, shields, RCON, atmospherics and thrusters just so that the ship can function as intended is a considerable amount of time for someone to spend that they might not be able to afford if they cannot stay an entire 2-hour round. Adding random event busywork on top of that, most of which does not involve other characters in any meaningful fashion whatsoever, and you sometimes have rounds where an Engineer at most may have 30 minutes total of real character interaction in a 2-hour round. That's not fun or beneficial to roleplay, it's just tedium. Factorio exists if you want to play a game with tedium, but I don't think most players enjoy Aurora for that reason. Having less mechanical busywork and more fluff would help make the round feel less rushed, and ultimately give Engineers an excuse to interact with other departments, or excuse themselves from uncomfortable situations. It's an easy way to give a little more flavor to an otherwise stale department that is often too overworked with little reward. +1.

There's not much else that I can say that others haven't already said that I'd simply be mirroring, so I'll just leave my commentary at this: 15 minutes is the difference between the primary engine being left at round start and being set up. A tremendous amount can be done in 15 minutes, and given that at times rounds tend to end earlier than what's comfortable for character interactions and gimmicks once they're finally spun up in round taking away that 15 minutes will likely make a negative impact. -1.

This is a great suggestion, from top to bottom. Oftentimes the capacity for actual exploration relies far too much on a number of positions being filled and it is only during a very small timeframe during the day that these slots are often occupied, leaving the remainder of the day and those who play during those hours without the opportunity to capitalize on the new setting. Engineering has a vastly more important role in enabling the functionality of our map and the tedium of maintaining systems has only increased since our transition from a stationary one. Without Engineering present, which happens for a significant amount of the early morning in the US and afternoon in Europe and elsewhere, it makes rounds practically unfeasible unless someone dedicates at least 20 minutes to setup. This essentially makes it so a significant portion of a day's rounds are completely unplayable. If you are an Engineering player during these hours you also have to live with the reality that given the severely limited number of personnel you may have to dedicate a significant portion of the round to roundstart and random event busywork, which can effectively kill the momentum of in-character interactions and potentially end your round if there's injury without medical. Engineering players should not have to pick between roleplaying and making sure the round functions as intended simply because our random events do not discriminate for player count, which hurts low and deadpop players much more than it does highpop. All of these recommendations would significantly improve the quality of life for players across the board in terms of engaging with the setting and allowing time and space for RP, and if that doesn't deserve a +1 then I don't know what does.

BYOND Key: Sycmos Discord Username: Syc#3133 Character Name: Ravna Surtaeva Item Name: (if you are applying for multiple items, it should be made into a list with the description, name and appearance together): - prejoroub fur longcoat: "A dense and heavy longcoat of dyed tenelote leather, with a liner and collar of prejoroub fur and decorative trimming throughout." - Lyod snowglasses: "A pair of protective glasses hand-sculpted of reindeer antler, intended for use in arctic climates to protect from snow blindness." (Thank you Nienna for offering to do the spriting for both.) (Thank you Dinwardo for the 'concept' art of Ravna in traditional Lyodii clothing. Inspiration and influence for the design below.) Item Function(s): The prejoroub fur longcoat will function as any other jacket without a hood, with two storage slots and a zip/unzip function. The Lyod snowglasses effectively function as welding goggles, granting welder protection but at the cost of reduced vision. As they are glasses they cannot be pushed up like goggles, forcing the wearer to make a choice whether to keep them on for protection or remove them entirely for better vision. Why is your character bringing this item to work?: Given the presence of the SCCV Horizon in S'rand'marr at the current moment and the climate of Adhomai I thought it was appropriate to introduce these items as a means for Ravna to better equip herself for the cold climate and display some of her character background. I realize that this is entirely situational to the current event arc but given the possibility for potentially visiting Moroz or another cold planet in the future I thought it would not hurt to show her being resourceful and having apparel she would have worn in the Lyod be used elsewhere on her travels. How did your character obtain this item?: Given that the Lyodii live off of the land that they inhabit the longcoat was handsewn by a family member with a prejoroub pelt that Ravna herself produced, and the snowglasses she carved herself from shed antlers. They are staple cold weather clothing at home, and are about as normal for her to wear as anyone else would wear a jacket elsewhere in cold weather. What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell?: The initial idea for Ravna's background leaned heavily on Sami culture in regards to sustenance practices with tenelote/reindeer herding and planning nomadic migrations around grazing, and borrowed elements of Sakha (Yakut) and Ukrainian historical dress for the design of her tattoos. When it came to her full name (Ravna Tuyaara Sainkho Surtaeva) however I ultimately derived it from Tuvan, Altay and Sakha (Yakut) backgrounds, and looked further into those groups for the manner of dress her people would wear. Given that the Sakha and Selkup (from the region neighboring the Republic of Sakha, as well as Tuva and Altai) are acclimated to living in incredibly cold climates I found it appropriate to incorporate some of their traditional clothing into the 'concept' art I commissioned and presented above, and ultimately was included in the sprite. The snowglasses were a much later idea after Ravna had already existed for some months as I began researching arctic societies and how they performed basic tasks in temperatures far exceeding subzero, and discovered the use of snowgoggles by Inuit groups. While these various groups are somewhat removed from one another culturally and geographically I thought that it was appropriate to utilize these themes and ideas given Moroz' and ultimately Dominia's nebulous Eurasian makeup, and to represent aspects of groups that admittedly do not have much of anything to show for in our lore. Examples: Sprites: (A larger image provided of the sprites, with the .dmi provided.) ravna (1).dmi Additional Comments: I never anticipated that I would make such a big deal out of what really is just a small blurb on a Dominia wiki page, but Ravna has given me a particular drive for exercising otherwise undeveloped lore that I haven't had with any of my other characters to this magnitude. I hope to sometime relatively soon release a canon lore app that will better give this group on Moroz more background so that anyone who has second thoughts about playing one will have more to work with and ultimately feel comfortable being an asset to what the human lore team is ultimately trying to portray with their work. I hope that you all enjoy this as much as I have. It's been enjoyable getting to learn about all of these different groups that I previously knew very little about, and trying to do them some sort of justice by playing a character that exhibits an Aurora-appropriate spin on their history.

I'm calling out @The lancer for being a bum with zero hoes. - bad at Wargame - LRP loredev - toxic

I'm in total agreement with this suggestion. If a hard character limit cannot be enforced there needs to be some guideline on writing a public complaint or other official communication. Complaints and other discussions should not draw the reader or the staff member handling the matter into an exhaustive reply chain that spends more time being disseminated than actually resolving the issue.