TrainTN

I like the sound of this. It would definitely be handy for players exploring exoplanets, so that they don't have to cut and run back to the Horizon five minutes after landing because a critter got a lucky nibble on their arm. MGS2 is a good example but I'm also reminded a little of Gordon Freeman's HEV suit. Would it be a default function of every hardsuit, or only specific kinds, or what?

That looks good to me, definitely an improvement. Thank you.

Current IDs read like this: "ID (John Baldman (Assistant (NT)))". That's a lot of brackets stacking up on each other. If it is possible to do, I think it would read better if they were changed to this: "ID (John Baldman (NT Assistant))". Or if we wanted to cut down on as many brackets as possible: "ID (John Baldman, NT Assistant)". It's a small thing about presentation but I do think making things look nice where possible is important.

The infirmary reception starts with two medical laptops, I think it would be better if one of them was moved to the examination room which has no computer, unless you count the one in the hallway outside it.

Arrow did say this would happen, at the end of the "Remove Cyborgs" thread.

Of all the things that could be done, people are trying to remove the janitor synth? What the hell?

Agreed. Aurora is not deadly enough to warrant so many methods of keeping people alive. Frankly I wouldn't mind if it was more lethal; it's high-roleplay but my character can take 5 bullets to the brain and be fine 15 minutes later, I've never been able to get over that. I've also had experiences of being critically injured but unable to be helped so I'd sit trapped in a room dying for 10 to 15 minutes straight and all I could think was "Man, I wish I was dying faster, this is really boring." It's a bit hard for me to take the consequences of violence seriously when I feel like it's so easily undone. But I'm on a tangent. Medical has enough tools to work with. It was fine before stasis beds, it'll be fine without. I played before stasis beds and stabilizer harnesses and oxygen tanks on IV stands were a thing and things weren't that hard back then either. Even what Medical has doesn't seem to get used that much. I rarely see patients escorted into sleepers outside of poisonings, and stasis bags I see only once in a while. And is there a reason no one uses the cryotubes? Are they broken, or something else I don't know about? I thought those were the "this guy is extremely screwed, shove 'em in to buy time to think" option that stasis beds are now.

Change 1: is everything I was blabbering about earlier in the thread, but made into a much more detailed, comprehensive, thoughtful, and practical proposal. Synths are a subject of powercreep and need to be scaled back and reworked into more specific purposes instead of catch-all do-everything machines. I'm on board with all of that and I like what I'm reading. Change 2: I don't really like it but I don't feel strongly about it. Restricting it so there can be only one synth per module may be fine, but eliminating modules based on crew slots doesn't sound like a good idea. If there's medical or engineering emergencies, I don't care how much medical or engineering we already have, I'll probably want a synth helping too anyway if it's a dire enough emergency, especially if it's engineering. Change 3: No more whitelists. I'm sick and tired of whitelists. So much of this server is gated behind whitelists. I wouldn't be surprised if next year it started whitelisting human factions like Elyra and Dominia too. Please stop throwing whitelists around as solutions to problems.

I think every synthetic should get the following access privileges: Maintenance, Machinist Workshop, and their Department. Their access within the department should be unlimited, so medical synths can enter the First Responders' room as well as the operating rooms, the engie synths can access the engine and atmospherics, science synths can access all of the research labs, and so on.

Yes, I agree, Make the corporate bags the default, move the job bags to a side option.

I used to play medical a lot a few years back. I've been trying to get back into it, but I'm having to adjust to changes and additions, like the stasis beds and the complex IVs. I appreciate the rundown, because I've found myself blanking out during rounds and uncertain what to do with patients, especially the really messed up ones who need their everything fixed. Though I imagine that's a universal problem.

That's why I think as part of the change, there should be a new regulation requiring the stationbound to request permission to upgrade from its respective department, and then the department ask the machinists "Hey, can our synth get upgraded?" instead of the synth just shoving their way into the workshop and asking for all the toys on their own with no oversight. Maybe add some paperwork for it that the synth has to present. Synth upgrading should require the approval of the department's head of staff, or a member of the department in the absence of a head of staff. Only if there's absolutely no one in the department may the machinist be able to grant the upgrades themselves. How does that sound to you?

Giving the stationbounds tech progression seems alright to me, so long as their starting basic tools are still good enough to assist their department. Also the Machinist should probably require approval from the department or a head of staff before upgrading stationbounds to the more advanced tools, so that you don't get a superborg without the department's permission. It lines up with my suggestion to scale synths' abilities back, without throwing out everything they have. Simplify the modules to serve as "basic" versions, then create "advanced" modules that have more tools and abilities but must be unlocked by RnD. I think that's a decent idea.

Apologies. To address your original post, I find these suggestions add a ton of rules to the role that would be a significant hassle to jump through; in a crisis that would call for engineering and medical synthetics, there is a good chance there would be no time or personnel to reset the synthetics to the needed modules. But I do agree with some of your ideas, like restricting a stationbound's access to only its module's department, and probably maintenance as well just in case. I think we should emphasize that all stationbounds are considered subordinate to crewmembers of their chosen department and take orders from them without question. At the same time, we should make it clear how to roleplay stationbounds and emphasize the different varieties of them and how they may behave. Cyborgs may be mindless servitors running on wetware, but robots and androids should be allowed to have personalities to an extent. Let people be R2-D2. Going off the current wiki guide, the impression I have is that stationbounds may have experienced too much powercreep over time, and modules should be reworked and scaled down somewhat in their abilities so that they can be effective, but not complete supermen that can do everything and replace swathes of the department. For example, I'd changed the Medical module into a more pure Surgical module to make it a dedicated surgeon machine with the effective diagnostic scanners but limited medications, and let the Rescue module be a physician/first responder equivalent that has the superior medications instead but loses its more advanced scanners. I hope that this would achieve a balance of specialization, like Surgeons and Physicians and First Responders have, so that stationbounds can fill gaps in the department as deemed necessary. I am unsure what to do with the Engineering modules, Engineering is a broad category with no cleanly defined sub-categories to fit things into. One of them engineers and builds stuff, the other engineers slightly less and builds slightly more. They both seem bloated to me, lots of synthesizers they probably don't need. Perhaps a change in focus would help: let Engineering be more about regular maintenance and small-scale construction while the Construction module could be reworked into a Damage Control module that's more about rapid emergency repairs? Since robotics was split off from Science, you could drop the Research module's robotics-themed gear and give them to the Engineering module so it can help maintain other synths and exosuits when there's no machinists available, make that more of its job while leaving construction to the engineer crew and the other module. Mining module is fine, though I don't know how much they need an RFD and metal rod synthesizer. Custodial module is fine, people rarely play janitor in my experience and its loadout is very simple and straightforward. Service is... eh? I'd shrink its drink synthesizer to something more basic, I guess. Maybe split Hydroponics into its own separate module so it's less of a "does everything" synth and a player can focus entirely on plants if they wish. Clerical module is a meme. My ideas are far from perfect, and barely concrete, but I'd prefer to make synths more specialized in their departments so that while they're still very good at doing things, they're limited by programming from doing everything, which I think is the most significant complaint about them. I think the ideal to aim for is that they should be competent and capable assistants to the crew without completely outshining them.

That doesn't sounds like "improve don't remove" to me.