rrrrrr

I think my tone is just landing badly; I have zero intention of being facetious with you, considering that I respect you, your opinion and also enjoy playing this game with you. It probably reflects poorly on me that my responses make you want to stop posting and I apologize for that. I think we may have seen different things because while I fully believe that what you're describing is real, I don't think I've seen it to the extent that you have. My experience as of this year is that people are generally communicative and sort themselves into solving problems based on what's necessary; for example, during a recent round, there was a firefight in starboard-side maintenance on deck two. How this was handled by a mostly-full department involved staging, preparing materials, using the new cart to move sheet metal, and working with Security to fix what we could while negotiations were ongoing. The roleplay in the lead-up to this was fun and the roleplay that occurred during the aftermath was also fun. It was an ideal situation --- but those don't always happen. I agree that there's something of an issue with over-preparedness and people full-tilt sprinting to fix, say, a broken APC, but many of the situations that Engineering as a department deals with are emergencies and sort of require acting quickly. I am also actively planning on adding more content to Engineering to the best of my ability and will be taking time this weekend to do so. I am mostly hampered by a lack of experience with DM and Git but working to understand things better. Engineering, in general, has received a lot of TLC lately from specific developers (Batra, Fabian, both of whom have great stuff in the works, from what I understand!)

Just got back from the doctor's office. Wow, this thread sort of blew up. I think that my post about the actual department size (11) is relevant. I also think that a lot of the discussion going on and seemingly driving this PR is culture-based. I'm going to try and piece-meal give my two-cents on this whole thing, so forgive me if this reply is sort of scattered. First of all, thank you for your reply. I think that this PR is a little premature, personally. I had a thread up about a year ago with a few ideas on how to get more gameplay into engineering and while I'm fairly busy at the moment, life-wise, I'm trying to make some steps into getting those ideas into the game this weekend; Engineering as a department thrives when it has a lot of work to do but, sadly, given the way the game is, a lot of that work comes from non-canon antagonist rounds. Filling this out by adding more random events and making repairs less trivial to do would be a huge first-step. I agree that Engineering suffers from a lack of specialization. This is why I support the return of alt-titles to, specifically, Engineering. While I overall sympathize with what you're saying, having played Engineering very consistently for two years now, essentially exclusively, I don't know if I fully agree that Engineering has a "pervasive and oppressive cultural issue." I agree that there are mild problems present --- for instance, I've had two rounds in the past six months on highpop where there was simply no steel or plasteel present in the equipment room. Other people took it all! I had to ask them for some! What Engineering is currently suffering from is "popularity." There's a lot of vibes-based arguments going on, here, so I'm going to similarly argue based on vibe. Not so long ago, Engineering was not so vibrant and full of warm bodies. Oft would I join a round and there would only be one or two other engineers. Glorious were the few times one, let alone two, atmospheric technicians would be present. This is not the case anymore. Over the past two months or so, I've missed out playing on high-pop rounds because the department was full twice. There are a lot of apprentice characters and, I think, two characters who consistently play tech assistant. I really do not think that reducing the number of slots will solve anything. As a solo engineer, you can get everything on the ship up and running in around thirteen to fifteen minutes. The solution is not to reduce the number of engineer slots (which, I think, would negatively impact roleplay) but to make engineering harder and to give the department more to do.

Comparing and contrasting other departments to Engineering, excluding Head roles, the numbers currently stand at this --- Engineering - 11 (if PR goes through, 7) Medical - 11 Security - 9 (!!! no wonder slots are so coveted...) Science - 10 Operations - 9 As you can see, Engineering is currently on-par with Medical (although Medical's eleven roles all exist in fairly distinct niches, i.e, 2 Physicians, 2 Surgeons, 2 Paramedics, 2 Pharmacists, 1 Psych, 2 Trainer roles.) Overall, I don't think this part of your reply is true. Regarding the cultural issues you mention, I think this has been discussed in the past and I agree that it's "real." I don't personally think the solution involves reducing the number of slots available.

Made a thread for this PR: https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/21376 ... because I think it's a fairly major change and should potentially be discussed before being merged. I personally disagree with this and commented on the PR to that effect, but that doesn't matter. I am one person.

i don't think the tool that lets you click on someone and immediately be able to intuit what's wrong with them needs to be buffed, personally

Going to chime in to say that, as someone who regularly plays engineer, I don't think this is actually true. This is not an actual division of labor that exists. (I do support DCT being an alt-title for ATs, though.) Who deals with breaches and fires first tends to depend more on who arrives there first. I will grant that when there is an extremely hot fire (i.e, INDRA explosion that causes the burn chamber to leak into the reactor room) ATs will be the ones dealing with it because their suits can deal with hotter temperatues (5,000 to 10,0000.) My one criticism is that I think any suggested alt-titles that are three words should be cut down to two for brevity, where possible; i.e, Propulsion Systems Technician/Engineer to something like "Engine Technician."

I feel like calling Bubble "iconic" is a bit of a stretch.

To briefly play devil's advocate for not having a 30-day limit for papers on notice boards --- disposals and paper shredders exist. Presumably, players can do their due diligence in removing outdated/irrelevant papers on departmental noticeboards and janitors can do it for public ones.

Belated reply but that looks really nice. I'm a bit hesitant to add more to really justify it, mostly because I'm not sure if the lore team considers it necessary.

BYOND key: Timby Discord Username: botanist Character names: Maja Gretzsky, LENNY How long have you been playing on Aurora? Since 2014-2015. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? Yes, several, as far as I know, all on my now-lost CKEY. I believe that I was once permanently banned after submitting a joke appeal to a week-long ban. I also had a reputation as someone who was terminally unserious. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame? For starters, the OOC purpose of everybody playing this game is (hopefully) to create an interesting and engaging story; it only stands to reason that command roles have that responsibility times ten. You can make or break rounds depending on how you respond to certain things, which gimmicks you entertain, and so on. I believe heavily in the maxim "yes, and" which comes from improvisational comedy; you should never say "no" to anything (within reason.) You should build on what other people are giving you, even if you can't directly give them what they want. Beyond that, another OOC purpose is directing your department, managing, delegating, and so on. I previously played Head of Security and Captain, so I think I still have this in my bones. I "get" it. You gotta manage. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them? I think I answered most of this question with my previous answer; your responsibility as a player, period, is to create an interesting story within the round. More broadly, to entertain one another. That's all that role- playing is. It's entertainment. Another important part is to not make yourself a problem for other people, or at least not a problem that feels unmanageable. Everybody's had a bad boss. I think that it's okay to play a Head of Staff who is, to be blunt, an asshole. The SCC is not a mom-and-pop shop where the owners know your name and your order and they smile every time you walk in through the door. It's a massive conglomerate of competing megacorporations, some of whom hate each other, all of whom have only one goal in mind: making that sweet, sweet schmoney. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon. I'd be bring out an old, old character that I previously played as Captain back in the day, Walther Brooks --- Brooks was a Solarian who believed fully and completely in NanoTrasen's mission. (Remember when it was just NanoTrasen? Pepperidge Farms remembers!!) The only thing that mattered to him, ultimately, was making sure the (at the time) station's mission wasn't threatened; naturally, this meant making sure that any present heads of staff were taking the due diligence to actually manage their departments, checking in on ones without a head of staff, making sure no one was being brutally murdered, so on and so forth. I'm not sure if I played Brooks on any canon events (or if those even existed back then), but I'd play him as a true believer coming out of retirement due to how important he believes the Horizon's mission is. Phoron is foundational to the intergalactic economy. The Horizon's mission is to discover new sources of phoron. It's pretty straightforward... Aside from that, I'd play him as having been retired for a few years. (I didn't play for a long time.) He has a Bachelor's in Criminology, a Masters in Management, and (now) a PhD in Business Administration. He believes that work transcends species, nationality, and sex. The Solarian Collapse and Einstein Engines' resultant takeover of the Solarian market disturbed him greatly; the formation of the SCC pleased him... basically, a true-blue believer in the SCC! Other minor, dumb character details: he's Swiss, meaning that he technically has no stake in intergalactic politics. He has a long, long career with NanoTrasen and previous work experience as an elementary school teacher. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Captain. Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking: Walter Brooks, Captain Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes. Have you linked your BYOND account to the Forums? No. Wait. Maybe. I dunno. Extra notes: I have none.

This is great --- I highly support it (although my support doesn't mean much) and it'd pair nicely with the skill system, when that comes around. Baystation 12 does something similar with the way their engineering department works. (Curiously, they also have a "Senior Engineer" role... could be worth discussing in the future? Who knows.)

Lore Impact: My heart says "small," but my brain says "moderate." Species: Human and potentially any synthetic or skrell characters who have lived in the Sol system. Short Description: A few neat little details added to Unity Station; that is to say, changing the station's description from being a somewhat vague series of layered decks to a suitably large Gundam-style cylinder station with a population to match the political and bureaucratic class of a nation that covers multiple star systems. It also moves Unity Station from Earth orbit to Earth-Moon L5, a metaphorical "half-way" point between Earth and Luna. How will this be reflected on-station? Background fodder for Solarian consuls, diplomatic aides, bodyguards, and potentially any character actually from Unity Station. I propose an accent tag. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists? It adds minor detail to an important place. It makes the setting moderately "crunchier" by implying that realistic space colonies may exist elsewhere. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Yes. Long Description The "Sol" page is really great and provides wonderful run-downs of each planet in the Sol System, all of which provide wonderful fodder for writing a character. Oft have I read it and gone, "wow, Ganymede!" or "wow, the asteroid belt!" Recently, I read it and went, "wow, Unity Station!" This proposal adds a little more detail to Unity Station: what it looks like, what kind of person lives there, and why space stations are so darn cool. Hope you enjoy reading. As in my prior lore canonization app to add some details, I will be quoting directly from the wiki page and underlining my suggested additions. I've only included sentences that I've changed to, uh, not include a big block of text. [I FADE INTO A BLUE MIST AS THE WIND SWEEPS ME AWAY] Located at Earth-Moon L5, Unity Station is the seat of the Alliance’s modern government. ... Alliance architects built Unity Station as an O'Neill Cylinder, a design that, while antiquated after the invention of artificial gravity generators, had proven to be a straightforward way of housing a large number of people in a pleasant and Earth-like environment. Important governmental buildings, such as the Prime Minister's residence and the Senate, are surrounded by kilometers of residential suburbs and commercial districts. The station's docks also serve as the Interstellar War Memorial, permanently hosting the museum ship ASSNV Cincinnatus — ... Due to this design Unity Station has a permanent population of around five million, and is a member state of the Alliance which elects its own senators. This is what the proposed accent tag would look like: I understand with a (not so) heavy heart that accent tags are a bit of a hard sell, but I think they go a long way in encouraging players to explore unappreciated backgrounds. (Remember when the Orepit accent got added?) Either way, sort of an optional thing I'm throwing in. I swear I'm usually better at spriting, it's just that accent tags are hard and I mashed Earth and Luna's together and, uh, yeah, not great.

As I've already explained, this is completely serious. I'm not joking. I would be willing to do this.

I finally have access to my forum account, so I can post! For the record, this is a serious post. This is a serious suggestion. What do you all think? Which one looks better?