Frances

Well, an addition to the brig that would provide more prisoner RP is a communal brig. (Basically, all the little cells lead into one big room. Bay made it work.) Since we're currently reworking our brig, maybe you could speak to Witt and Jamini about that? ((Also, straight jackets exist by design so you can lock someone up and throw away the key. They shouldn't really be used for extended periods of time on a Heavy-RP server, except for the rare occasions where a character goes crazy for a legitimate reason, and ends the round being put in the insanity ward. (Like, they keep trying to escape or break everything). I don't think they should be escapable, because in situations where you would need to use one you gain nothing good ICly or OOCly by the person escaping on their own.)) This was really long to write something unrelated on a mod app, but I figured it was something you'd probably like to talk about anyway, so oh well.

Jackboot, how about making use of tinted windows? That way you can have a nice 3-wide area for each office.

I actually quite like the post that Cass has made. It's a good summary of the problem of small communities turning big. And when looking at any big forum or gaming group, there's always an eventual shift when things become very impersonal, staff are there to enforce the rules, and players are left to their own devices in small subgroups, with a completely uncontrollable "general sentiment". We'll never make it to such an extreme as having a community where most regulars don't know each other (because SS13 is small), but... We've gotten a lot bigger than we were a year ago. I can't deny that. When I first joined Aurora, I'd post art (heh, the old lobby screen), and I'd see the same 5-6 people commenting on it. These people were admins, lore writers, mappers, etc. There was really a smaller team of people, and I think it made issues easier to deal with, because you always felt like you were trying to deal with a specific person. Now, there's a ton of people that I don't even know. And when a problem comes up, you're not dealing with a specific person anymore. You're dealing with "someone". And that someone is going against "the rules", whatever a certain part of the community thinks should or should not be a certain way. What's the solution to that? I don't know. There isn't one to bring back the "tight-knit" feeling of the community, because we have numbers. If you want a smaller server, well, I would honestly recommend starting your own. 24/7 extended? Heck, why not. It could work. But something that I think is important (that Cass highlighted) is that there are no set guidelines on how a lot of things should be (because we're so used to taking decisions together as a small community), and this is bad. Because literally any kind of shit can either fly or not fly at all, simply depending on which specific group of people you end up encountering on a given day. It's not super terribly bad. The general direction the server seems to be headed (more action, relaxed, but still serious RP standards) is something most people agree on. But I'm starting to think we should understand that it's becoming very hard to get a good consensus from all players as we grow bigger and bigger, and we need to rely on and trust our staff more.

I'm tempted to back up Sue with that information. I actually think Ana did a bad job as a HoS/sec member. Not for the harmbatoning, but for asking Mikayla to get off the cargo train in a really brash manner, and arresting her for returning Ana's insults. However, this seems to me like an IC situation. Why? -Ana was not playing as HoS, but was promoted to being one during the round, against her will -Ana had just been through some major IC trauma -People (imo) have a right to fuck up at their job under extenuating circumstances. It's RP, people break irl too. If you were just nearly blown up by a bomb you would probably have a short fuse and make errors of judgement too I would expect somebody in the position of HoS, under normal circumstances, to not start fights themselves or brig people over petty things, but Ana was not a regular HoS, nor were these normal circumstances. As for the beating, the single (intended) hit was fully deserved given you had all of sec chase you around simply because you didn't want to be arrested. also Cass is that a Higurashi gif

I've already got an answer all prepared for that one! I would not get involved into as many projects at once as I did. Basically, there was a time where I was headmin, handling every single unban request (because no one else really did), handling whitelists, spearheading the new map project (along with devs, but code and mapping didn't talk much), and looking into a possible wiki rework for the lore. Theeeeen, I had to leave. Due to circumstances I really did not expect or predict. I tried to tie up as many of these loose ends as I could, but it was sorta lame, both for me and for everyone else involved, to have to quit on so many tasks I was important for all at once. In the future, I'll try to limit myself to 1-2 big things at the same time, simply for the off-chance that if I suddenly disappear or get hit by a bus, it won't ruin everything. Love the questions, btw. They're a good way to get people to talk more (especially on super short applications), and more people should make an effort to ask them.

Besides the flak Bokaza caught in two unfortunate incidents, I... haven't really seen any of this. Provide examples, maybe? Fingerpointing isn't bad if it's used to solve a problem, but I haven't seen people get more hostile than they used to be. Certain people always got heated about certain things, and it doesn't mean that they're being dicks to other people.

It's honestly a bit of a debate. The largest structural sprites are front facing (think tables, seats, and such, as well as anything your character can visually interact with), while smaller items (toolboxes, bins, handheld items) tend to be drawn in an iso perpsective. There's a large amount of "big" sprites that are drawn in iso perspective (lockers, vending machines, most lab equipment), and thinking about what to do with them honestly gives me a big headache. Computers should be front-facing because they most often interact with chairs which are also front-facing, but they match the whole "set" of isometric science equipment, so... I don't really know. I tried to come up with an alternative, but we've got another one on its way. Guess we'll just see if people like it or not.

Just replying to highlight one of the cool things about these weapons *is* that they have the same sound as a real gun. Of course, in a RP environment, I don't know if we want this. But it can be used to an extent to mess with people.

Weapons already have their own special attack verbs, however, it'd be fairly easy to find a way to let people set their attack verbs for unarmed combat. The question is, do we want to? (And for the rest, yeah, I'm gonna say these are things that should be emoted.)

They're being put in, as I was just told. Which makes this whole thread a bit redundant. What does everybody mean by depth, btw? Do the sprites look actually flat, or do people simply dislike that they're not in an iso, 45-degree perspective?

I endorse this application, because I feel like you need to achieve your true form by unlocking every possible non-human race offered to you in this game.

But- but, important decision thread things have polls, no? And I always made polls on my threads when I was on staff don't...tell me I was breaking the rules In all seriousness, we really can't have polls, to gauge a general feel of whether people like a proposed change or not?

. Do we want new computer sprites? A while ago, I heard some people complain that the ones we have are weird and not space-ish. This is my effort to make something more sci-fi looking, as well as front-facing (instead of 45deg iso) New vs old, for comparison. I'd just like to know if these are liked better than the current ones before I start making the full set, as there's a looooot of computers to redraw (it doesn't take long for each, but altogether it becomes really tedious). (Also, can a mod add a Yes/No poll to this? Regular users can't create polls for some reason.)

I actually believe the staff tries to enforce "tasteful" to a degree, for everything pertaining to race, religion, etc. Is this the kind of comedic jab that takes it too far? Because I've seen a few super trolly Muslim characters (those that bomb the station while screaming "jihad", for example), and those were removed right quick. But loosely throwing around the word "Infidel", as long as the chaplain puts a decent effort into creating an act, isn't the greatest sin against political correctness there could be. This is the Internet. And we're playing SS13. Show me something dumber than that, however, and I'll oppose it. But the way things stand right now, I don't see the problem. These things are clearly not meant in an offending manner, they're just, crude humor.

For the Credit, I'm not asking for the complete economic status, just a general conversion rate, so that people can have an idea that 1 Credit = this much in today's money. For the alien races, I'd like to hear a short blurb from each of their responsible caretaker. 1-2 sentences at most.

It's a minor detail, but it's also not a feature that would be terribly difficult to add, unless I'm wrong. Simply a matter of replacing a [doDisplayVoteOption] by a if(time>2:00) [doDisplayVoteOption]. And it helps a bit. Not having to worry about cancelling votes called too early would be great, plus it gets the message across that you shouldn't start a vote until the 2:00 mark.

Answer any questions you can answer, and feel free to post your own questions/answers you think should be added to the FAQ. As the FAQ gathers more information, I'll start breaking it up into categories, such as "basic info", "species", etc.

And now I'm going to shamelessly double(triple?)post, because I had some questions of my own to add to the FAQ. -How much is a Credit worth, in reference to the USD in 2015? -What is the social status of every alien race on the Aurora? -What are some other general tidbits of knowledge every Aurora employee would know in 2457?

[Reserved] just being cautious 9_9

Good morning, I noticed we don't have any sort of quick-reference guide for the lore. The Background Summary exists on the wiki, but it's still rather long to read, and mostly covers information about the races. I will try to maintain some sort of general FAQ in this post. Questions should be aimed at general, important info about the lore anyone should know to roleplay. Feel free to ask anything you think fits that bill in this thread, and if a lore team member answers, I'll do my best to categorize and add the information to the OP. Without further ado, I'm going to open with some very general questions most of us probably know the answer to. Table What is my character's job? What is NanoTrasen? What is the state of Plasma in our universe? How serious is the Aurora? Is it an elite station? Where is the Aurora located? Where do humans come from? What is the language characters speak? Is it English? What is my character's job? Your character is working on the NSS Aurora, a plasma research station owned by the megacorporation NanoTrasen. The most important part of the Aurora is the Research wing and its science personnel, while the rest of the station's departments exist to support the station crew. The Aurora has been active for 11 years. What is NanoTrasen? NanoTrasen is a megacorporation, specializing in biomedical research, which has been established over 100 years ago. One of the largest corporations across the universe, it has recently begun exploiting the market of Plasma research - Plasma being a highly elusive element with many possible applications. What is the state of Plasma in our universe? Plasma is abundant where it can be extracted, but is still considered rare and valuable - treat it as if you were working in a gold or diamond mine. The asteroid field by the Aurora contains a sizeable amount of Plasma, but it is mostly extracted for research and to meet the station's needs, not to be extracted as a commodity to be used off-station. How serious is the Aurora? Is it an elite station? The Aurora is one of NanoTrasen's few Plasma research stations. It contains incredibly expensive equipment, and hosts the elite of the scientific community. The rest of the station's crew should be consequently competent (though this is not always true). The station is in restricted space, and does not accept any visitors. Where is the Aurora located? The Aurora is located in the Tau Ceti system, a system neighbor to Sol. While the station itself exists in the outer edge of the system, where the most important Plasma deposits lie, bluespace shuttles ferry the station crew back to Tau Ceti's main population hubs every day. Where do humans come from? Humans live mainly in three major systems: Sol, Tau Ceti, and Epsilon Eridani. Most members of alien species working on the Aurora also live in Tau Ceti, although a few still have ties with their respective, more distant homeworld. What is the language characters speak? Is it English? The main language characters speak on the Aurora is Tau Ceti Common, an offshoot of Sol Common widespread in the Tau Ceti system. It is often referred to as "Common" or "Basic".

I don't think the situation of "two extended rounds in a row, followed by a wizard round where the wizard dies immediately, and no admins are on" is a very common one, however.

I've got to agree with Blue. I've never noticed Voltage saying anything particularly out of place in OOC.

I've used the Technic Launcher before and it was pretty great. Let me know if/when you're feeling like setting something up, and I'll try to push a few people to join.

Nuke Ops is actually in secret, but it requires a certain amount of people to ready for it to enter the rotation - and it rarely happens because people tend not to ready at the start of a secret round, but wait to see who joins. I can't find the secret roundtype code, but I believe you need either 15 or 25 players to ready up in order to access all the possible gamemodes of the rotation. As for ninja, it's not in it because it used to be buggy, and is also considered to be a notch under all the other gamemodes as far as popularity is concerned.

I'd love to play as well. I would probably suggest Tekkit as a modpack, given certain people here would have a propensity for creating complex systems/mechanisms, plus the machinery/future theme would definitely help with the general interest for sci-fi. That was not entirely coherent. But yeah, Tekkit would probably fit well for a SS13 community minecraft server.