FlamingLily

I think we should increase all requirements. Every character must have a cybernetic enhancement allowing their bodies to operate at 150% of a human's capacity. Jokes aside, I concur with everything said so far. Especially that blindness categories need a look at (Perfect: ... Characters with nearsightedness, or other disabilities that may affect the eyes to a minor extent belong in this category.) (Flawed: ... Characters with colorblindness or nearsightedness also belong in this category.) I also think hearing is lacking, insofar that lumping in full 100% deaf with "I can't hear out of one ear" or "I have pretty bad tinnitus but can hear people talking" is kind of needlessly binary. Perhaps also the limbs section. Is an individual with one hand as disadvantaged as someone with tremors, but two hands?

I'm here to revive bodycam discussion because I think the inherent value they give to roleplay far surpasses any detraction they may bring, especially if given enough (reasonable) restrictions. IMO if they're only accessible on higher alerts, and only by warden or HoS, that's going to be able to be abused by antagonists (positively). Adding a glow to the item to signify when a camera is active will also be good. And here's one more idea: vision cones. Not for the seccies, but if we restrict the body camera to only seeing what's in front of the officer, then it, at least in my mind, has some really juicy opportunities for antagonists to get involved. Imagine taking an officer hostage and using the bodycam to interact with the rest of security.

The paint gun's colour picker is pretty useful, tbh, but I don't see a reason why we shouldn't do this.

I agree, we should be considering on gameplay merit, not the realism of it, so to speak. Hivebots, for instance, it may make less sense for them to dodge, but gameplay-wise they should be more of a threat. As to rogue maintenance drones. I think they should be more of a minor nuisance than anything, and thus trivial to dispatch, so I would say no dodging.

I think everything I want to say on this topic has been said, except for this: I think it might be worth considering, if we do want stairs to have more of a gameplay purpose beyond just "what if up and down", that running down stairs can make you trip over. That is all,

While certainly possible, that can be a difficult process which for many people I'm sure makes the role undesirable; that's what I feel alt-titles would work to remedy, by providing a mechanical avenue of trust

I fundamentally do not get the issue with a role with little mechanical obligation and a lot of roleplay obligation on a roleplay server. Like, librarian, assistant, consular and representative, psychologist, chaplain (unless there's vampires) There is no purpose to these roles other than RP, and yet no one would remove them, because the roleplay element is valuable. And so, for what purpose should lab assistant be turned from a RP focused role that can be used to learn the mechanics, into something that a player is expected to use for mechanics, mechanics alone, and leave once you know what you're doing? I wouldn't be entirely against turning the existing "Assistant" role into a lab or research assistant through alt-titles (and following through, one title for each department), though the sudden reduction in access and comms would be disappointing.

BYOND key: flaminglily Discord Username: flaminglily Character names: Lillian Nyström - Engineer Mira Tilton - Security Officer S.A.R.A. - Janitor (Formerly Quartermaster) Ayah Nasri - Detective Aieszk Kukssal - Hangar Technician GINS-HA - AI Marie-Rose Simillien - Lab Assistant Hazel #S-H14.47 ("Optic") - Paramedic How long have you been playing on Aurora? My discord join date is September 2021, which sounds about right. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? Nothing formal, the occasional "hey, you need to chill" on discord, but that's it to my knowledge. 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? In my opinion, the role of a Head of Staff is twofold, depending on the state of the game. In times of calm, where there are no antagonists or conflict, a head of staff's OOC role lies with activity. They should be an initiator of departmental, ship-based and role-based roleplay (i.e., not character roleplay (this is not to say a head of staff can't do character roleplay, but that's not a unique trait of the head of staff role, anyone can do character roleplay)). A Chief Engineer might assign tasks, come up with a project or an engine experiment. A head of security might hold training; a CMO medical screenings, et cetera. This keeps players engaged with the game and its world. The second role is streamlining mechanics. This can be antagonist related or not, though more often than not it's antagonist related. Coordinating players within departments and with the other departments, spearheading engagement with antagonist gimmicks, either beneficially to the crew or via being a HVT. All of these things are essential components for a head of staff. This also applies to events, as they are mechanical engagements most of the time. Another instance of this is with new players, who will often look to command staff (due to IC authority and experience) for guidance at what to do, and thus a command staff should endeavour to make learning as easy as possible. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them? I think this has a wide overlap with the above question, but one thing that I didn't cover there is what not to do. As command staff, players are granted a larger range of authority and power on an IC level, and a slightly higher OOC level of authority (insofar that they're sought out by new players), and the main responsibility is to avoid abusing that authority in such a way that harms the enjoyment of others. Command staff should, first and foremost, be a role that heightens the round through roleplay, streamlining mechanics, and creating activity. Command staff should avoid actively trying to shut down antagonist rounds and the like. I believe this applies to the head of security as well and that they should take a less active (though, to be clear, not a wholly inactive) role in combating antagonists; more of a sidelines coordinator. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon. Lillian didn't really want to take up a job on the Horizon. Not initially. But, with the Phoron Scarcity, uncertainty of employment being doubled thanks to working on the rapidly-losing-importance NSS Aurora and her faith's strained relationship with her employer, Zavodskoi Interstellar was in a prime position to offer her a deal she couldn't refuse. She'd gain the scholarship of her dreams, a (relatively) cushy, secure job, with a vision for the big leagues. All she had to do was pack things up and head off into the great beyond. Since then, she's developed a love for this ship. The way her supermatter crystal groans, the way her gravgen warps and zaps, and every annoying prick of a vending machine throwing knives at passerbys. It's home. Together, they've saved lives, found Phoron, beat back pirates, and they've only just started. And so, looking back at her choice, or lack thereof, she's sure she made the right one. Though, in the back of her mind, underlying concerns still linger. What of IPC freedom? What of her home in Tau Ceti? Only time will tell. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Immediately, CE. I'd also like to make an XO at some point. And probably a captain. Oh and a Corporate Representative, maybe a consular. and a- you know what i'll just say "CE and XO" for now. 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: Lillian Nyström, as Chief Engineer 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? Yes (unless i'm dense)

I don't have particularly strong opinions on this topic (though I do think out of the two options, the deep storage elevator feels a bit more handwavey than a cargo shuttle), but what if we simply reflavoured the cargo shuttle to instead be trading with local trader outposts? For instance, while we're here in Konyang, maybe we're not buying everything directly from the SCC, maybe most of it is coming from Konyang companies? Maybe we're buying engineering supplies from PACHROM, and similar such ideas. Of course, in Konyang there's still hefty SCC presence, but if we're out deep, near Assunzione, or in nations with less widespread SCC presence such as the Hegemony or Dominia, maybe we're buying from their local companies?

BYOND key: FlamingLily Discord name/id: FlamingLily Borg / AI names: For an AI name I was thinking "General Intelligence Nanotrasen Supercomputer Horizon Assistant" or G.I.N.S.H.A for short. Have you read the Aurora wiki page about the AI?: Yes Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: To be honest, the largest reason is the gameplay (I will address the RP side of things below, don't worry). I've played AI a lot on pretty much every ss13 server I've ever played on, this server excluded (naturally). The extremely unique role that AI holds in SS13 has always captivated me, that state of being where you're distant, but not entirely exempt, from the goings on in the round. AI lets you (for the most part) take a step back and watch for a lot of it, stepping in when you're needed but otherwise not getting too involved. It's kind of like watching an ant farm, I suppose. Sort of like idly watching a Rimworld colony or a Dwarf Fortress, and I think the unique fact that, although this level of distance exists, every person you're watching is a fully functional, real being, and any interactions you have with them will be fully developed interactions. And that neatly brings me to the RP element. This is still a big element as to why I like AI, but it is also something you can get through Cyborg or sometimes IPC. In any case, there is something really compelling me to playing something that is bound by laws and commands, with little enough free will and decision that there's entirely grounds to argue it's not a living thing. Something about mentally running through interactions via an "input - response" analysis and determining what artificial processes would be doing what just really entertains me. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? No Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Of course. Ideally I don't mess up so badly I would get my whitelist stripped, but I'm always aware that it's an option.

BYOND Key: FlamingLily Game ID: Round preceeding co4-a0bG Player Byond Key/Character name: Artemis Grey/ReadThisnamePlz Staff involved: No ahelp made; Melariara approved the Delta Alert Reason for complaint: At the end of a changeling round, a particularly combat-heavy one but one that security had resolved by the end of it, Read, as Captain Grey, activated Delta Alert. This occurred a few minutes before the server restarted and had no purpose within the story of the round, it seemed to serve solely as a last minute surprise. The decision was not discussed with any other command to my knowledge (Unsure, however), and it was not discussed with security. There was no discussion on common, no announcement, no information relayed to the crew about it until after the activation; And the announcement that did follow did not give any justified IC reason to activate it. In the round up until this point, there had been absolutely no discussion of "infections" or "anomalies," nor really any RP regarding what was going on at all. For all intents and purposes the changelings were just shapeshifting monsters and that was all that mattered. And, again, by the end of the round all of these monsters were dead. Security had handled everything. The self destruct was absolutely unnecessary ICly and OOCly. Let's talk in character justification for a moment, if we were to assume this was a solely IC motivated decision, it would mean the character of Artemis Grey is willing to destroy the homes and livelihoods of the entire crew, strand them all in deep space, potentially kill a lot of them, and destroy a trillion dollar vessel, all because she doesn't think the ship's security, science, and medical teams could take control of what is apparently an infectious anomaly. She comes to this conclusion with no discussion, no team meetings, and no forethought (let's bundle the entire crew into a much smaller space so that any infections spread much faster). This is not the type of captain the SCC would allow past their background checks. This was not the case. After the round, a brief discussion was had in OOC [Which got slightly heated and as such I was directed to make this complaint.] and more justifications were raised about the idea that it was spreading. The reasoning provided was that it was spreading because three crew members had been changed and it appeared to be the case one after the other. This did not appear to be a viewpoint held by anyone in security or anyone tangentially related. Even were it to be a justified reaction, the manner in which it was used was completely meaningless in the grand scheme of things, which harms the legitimacy of a self destruct as a mechanism. For a captain to activate the self destruct long after the round has ended and with no time to appropriately react, it sets an OOC precedent that delta alerts can be used in this way, which they shouldn't, because it's a meaningless shock-value point that's a borderline end of round grief moment and not something you can easily get emotionally invested in because of this fact. This is also not the first time this has happened. I don't recall the game ID or even when it occured, but I very clearly remember a separate changeling round having an unprompted delta alert called at the end of the round. I can't give many details, as this was a while ago now. Ultimately, this was either an OOC motivated character decision performed for shock value and 'spice' made at the expense of the round, or a purely IC motivated decision that results in the character of Artemis Grey being fundamentally unfit for purpose. Did you attempt to adminhelp the issue at the time? If so, what was the known action taken by administration/moderation? No time Approximate Date/Time: Server time 30/Jul/2023 ~6:40; AEDT 30/Jul/2023 ~4:40

Reporting Personnel: Lillian Nyström Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Ship Engineer Game ID: Immediately prior to cnP-a8go Personnel Involved: Keala Nalika - Hangar Technician, Offender Kada - Head of Security, Witness Secondary Witnesses: Za'Akaix'Gimb Zo'ra - Security Cadet, Secondary Witness Anyone on shift with their headset turned on, Secondary Witness Time of Incident: Approximately 0600 Real Time: (~06:00AM 15/05/2023) Location of Incident: Radio Nature of Incident: [ ] - Workplace Hazard [ ] - Accident/Injury [ ] - Destruction of Property [ ] - Neglect of Duty [X] - Harassment [ ] - Assault [ ] - Misconduct [X] - Other Slander (Place an x in the box that applies. If other, replace line and specify.) Overview of the Incident: At the time of the incident, Technician Nalika started making unsubstantiated claims of Terrorist activity towards my person. I do not know the motivation for doing this, but making such allegations could be particularly harming to my character and career prospects, especially due to my faith, which already has negative associations with an accepted terrorist group. He has routinely insulted me and even made other allegations of various things most recently bribery, but those are not the subject of this report. Only the allegation of terrorism is of my concern. Submitted Evidence: No evidence on hand, but the interaction was made over comms, if the recorder hasn't been purged already, the messages might still be present. Would you like to be personally interviewed?: [X] - Yes [] - No Did you report it to a Head of Staff or a superior? If so, who? If not, why?: Kada, Head of Security Actions taken: Kada issued a warrant for Nalika's arrest, but was unable to execute due to shift transfer. Additional Notes:

Medical Orderlies when

The rule seems perfectly fine worded. Don't do something your character could not reasonably do just to gain an advantage in the game. Your examples are also resolvable under other rules (Usually the "Don't make ridiculously unreasonable characters" rules.)

Seems like a relatively easy issue to counter, just add: "INFO: Administrator Notes applied prior to XX/XX/XX are not shown. Contact Head Administration to view." to the top of the window that shows your notes. Sure it doesn't exactly counter the issue as it stands presently for notes prior to implementation of the new system, but I think it's good enough when you consider the manhours needed to manually sort all of them

Comoe has been a pretty good HoS when we've done shifts together, and I haven't seen much of Abdul but that's likely because both XO and Bridge (Unsure if Abdul's been made proper XO) are relatively insular roles thanks to being command/support and not really a greater department (I mean XO is in charge of service but I rarely play that either, so). If camo can take HoS, I'm sure they'd be fine as command, +1

I'm definitely glad the final PR only touches gloves and not footwear, but I still don't think I'm a fan. I like the flavour and ultimately I think the inclusion is harmless. If they can be equipped in the loadout then I really don't think there's any issue of being starved out of gloves, and as for 'loadout points', you get fifteen, and three individual loadout slots per character, meaning that if you really want to spend 15 points on accessories for your off-shifts, you can do so and still have a loadout of things you bring in while on-shift. And even with all of that, if there's still an issue of 'not enough gloves', just add more. Add an extra sterile gloves box, or maybe two, and you'll be set for the entire department. Janitorial has 4 gloves available per person, Engineering has eight for humans and four per species for xenos, I don't know about medical but if they're the issue then I really just think 'add more'.

More than fine, the stuff I'm applying for is, in my opinion, foundational to the setting and as such I wouldn't expect a short review time at all.

I actually find Comic Sans easier to read than most fonts so I did not intend for it to be difficult to read. I've changed it to Arial.

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Medium-Large Species: General Short Description: An overview of how each megacorporation (SCC and Einstien included) treats its workers, generally. Each corp's (general biesellite [Or solarian, for EE]) position on: Benefits, Pay, Contract requirements, Job Security, Individual bargaining and Organised bargaining (Unions). Also an overview of Biesel's labour laws. How will this be reflected on-station?: More background flavour for characters, more avenues for RP both for everyone, and especially for Corporate Reps, and extra encouragement for inter-corporation factionalism Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Some of what I propose here definitely already exists, such as EE being described as the most 'fair' megacorp and Zavodskoi's high pay, but I propose to expand this to every megacorporation, both to fill what I see as gaps with some of the corps, and to reinforce Biesel as a corporate-run dystopia of a setting. 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: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQzhBUHKDhB8nbfWAjl2FVGe7gclF9DGJGdAW5lWe8cU7GjzuBDzSGThgIhCzimlXoKPDp_LWfivReQ/pub

Initially I thought I was not going to make it to the event, but I did actually manage to catch it at around the ~45 minute mark and played ("Played" in this context meaning sitting and watching sensors during ship to ship combat and then sitting and watching sensors during boarding) but I'd like to second Peppermint's concerns. For the record, I only had a hunch, but it definitely felt like, when the Helios was 'Disabled", that was code for "Admins have decided the horizon has won this battle" and disabled their guns. (Even though the Horizon had no weapons working and I think was immobilised?). Again, I have no proof of this, but if this IS what happened, it falls into the classic game master trap of "Making your players roll for a check that has a guaranteed outcome", A.K.A. trying to give players the illusion of choice/skill/chance/control over the narrative, while also having a pre-determined narrative that must happen. I feel like there was never any doubt that the Horizon would win the battle, or at the very least, the space battle, cause otherwise that'd mean the horizon would be destroyed WHOOPS NBT is cancelled. I GUESS consequences could have existed if the boarding failed, but allegedly that never would have happened either. Also, I personally don't even think there should have been a boarding, but w/e. I would also like to bring attention back to this thread regarding the concerns over this event being yet-another combat event, and pointing out that they were all quite valid. This was just another ship-to-ship then boarding event, and while maybe it was interesting, it's definitely wearing thin, and ultimately I don't think I have much to add that hasn't already been said. Personally, sitting in the ship doing absolutely nothing may have been the only thing preventing me from being hells of burned out (I probably should have just gone observer). But ultimately, it did feel quite railroady, especially the boarding encouragement, it did thrust the horizon and it's crew into yet another bombastic backstory stuffer, that honestly I really don't think contributes to anything. Yes, I did miss the first 45 minutes of the round, but I also read the newscaster, and it did just seem like there was one message saying "oh yeah a ship got through turns out the horizon needs to fight now" Taking a step back to talk about the arc as a whole, I want to summarise my concerns in a few words: I HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS GOING ON. I didn't even know we were 'on the trail', that's how divorced these events were from any out of game information. I've mentioned this a lot in the thread I linked above, but to re-iterate Overall, I think this was a narrative and event misstep. It might be worth retconning, but I don't think that's a good idea immediately or even soon after, so I don't know. Was it fun? Eh.... I can't say, i didn't do any combat. But with the lag I was having, I think that was for the best.

I just lost a reply and can't be assed to rewrite it fully so here's a brief summary: More availability for players who can't play the events to learn what happens and to incorporate that into their character More in-game reflection of the greater state of the Spur More out-of-game reflection of in-game events (See: Nanotrasen pulling out of Elyra after Border Dispute, and hopefully what Cael mentioned above:)

The fact that the SFA had a hidden hideout in the Badlands gives the decision immensely more grounds than I had thought, And while I'm not going to go fully into retracting my criticisms so far, this certainly does help. That being said, I do believe the fact that I haven't heard of this until now is a bit of an issue in and of itself. I feel that there could have been more feedback for those who don't make it to the events When considering the level of engagement one would expect from a fight between military ships, I would argue the Horizon is still under-trained (maybe not untrained) and under-equipped. They've been trained for defensive engagements, not offensive ones, under the assumption that that's what's happening I feel that if it's urgent enough to bring in the Horizon, there'd probably be far more TCFL/PMC/NT/Whoever presence than just who's available. It just seems like a better first extreme, in any case. I understand the intent of these articles, but all three of them read "The beginning of the end" to me, not the lowest low of the scarcity. The bluespace gates being shut down doesn't come off as that big of a deal, especially with no followup on economic impact or anything that it causes, and Orion doing its own thing just seems like a smart forethought. The Vaurca article, and the next two or three following it about Vaurca/Biesel relations is closer to what I would expect may necessitate the Horizon's drafting, but with those articles only coming from the Vaurca-sphere of the situation, it really has seemed isolated and not reflective of the situation across the spur. Simply put, I think more articles about the effects of the crisis would have helped build to this. And, jumping ahead slightly, I think they should just Get Good. I'm being facetious, obviously, but focusing on events when it comes to storytelling and not always-accessible mediums like the news articles, basically results in "If you don't live in an American time zone, you do not get to partake in the lore." What I will say is this: I think the idea of "This is article #1 of the Whatever Arc" is a good addition and would help people wrap their head around the news stories, like has happened for the Oracle. Obviously most articles for other 'News Outlets' are less arc-heavy, so maybe labelling based on topic could work, I'm not sure. Either way, Articles were good and accessible. That's all I wanted to hear, I just wanted to be sure. Which is why I still don't think they'd reasonably be willing to risk their second source of Phoron as well, but whatever. Ultimately, I've come half way around on this event narrative to a sort of indifferent neutrality. My major frustration, I think, is how little development there has seemed to be around it through out of game channels, such as Articles. Maybe i'm the odd one out and everyone does truly hate the news articles, but I doubt it. I'm not going to go over my OOC concerns again, because at the end of the day, I'm probably not going to be able to show up for the event, anyway. I just sincerely hope that more developments will occur visible to those that don't make it, as opposed to having so much stuff solely in events. Couldn't have said it better myself, honestly. And I want to take this segue to express that I am truly grateful of all the effort that's being put into these events, into the lore, into the server and its development. Obviously, I don't agree with every decision, but ultimately you all do in fact do wonderful work, and I want to thank you for making this community one of the best SS13 communities that exist

Hey, this isn't conducive to the discussion. If you want to talk mapping and development, don't do it in the discussion of event direction

To preface my feedback, I want to be explicitly clear: This is not a complaint about the event (It has not happened yet), so if the response I am given is "Wait until the post-event feedback thread", I'm just going to repeat myself. The issue I have is with the narrative background leading up to the event. Sputnik's original post is excellently written, so I'm going to shamelessly steal the format for my own. FROM AN IC PERSPECTIVE The Horizon being dragged into this battle makes absolutely zero sense. I'm going to boil my reasoning down into neat dot points, and also pre-emptively address potential feedback I am given from them. 1. The Horizon is absolutely not the closest ship to Valley Hale, nor does its speed justify dragging it all the way from the Badlands. If you expect me to believe the Horizon could get there in time, let alone before TCFL or PMC ships from the CRZ (Who are right there, mind you), and be the only ship capable of doing so, then you expect too much from me. 2. The Horizon is unequipped and untrained for a military engagement ("You don't know what's going to happen in the event", no, I don't, and neither does the SCC, as I have been told, so that excuse does not work, because everyone SHOULD be expecting explicit military engagement.) (Side note I fucking hate discord's new font) 3. "All resources are needed to combat this threat." Why? The only threat is the Phoron Warhead, seeing as the SFA are a decaying fleet thanks to Nralakk, and there is absolutely no way Biesel's combined forces from the TCFL, All the PMCs, NT's fleet, and any other corporate warships can get there to defend it (Including the Icarus, which is explicitly stationed there). 3.5. "The Horizon has experimental Phoron Sensors, and this can be useful in finding the warhead." Yes, fine. I'll concede that point, because it is actually logical and does make sense. However, on its own, I do not believe it's justification enough to bring the Horizon in. 4. The Phoron Scarcity doesn't work as a justification to bring the Horizon in, for two reasons: First, it doesn't even seem, unless I've missed something, that the scarcity has reached a level of desperation that most people would be willing to fight over it. Warlords who have no infrastructure, sure. Moghes or Ahdomai, with varying degrees of Megacorporate independence, sure. But not the bulk of megacorp owned humanity, in any case. And two: The Horizon is also a source of Phoron. This, in my opinion, is particularly egregious. I do not believe any Megacorporation would be insane enough to, upon learning that One of their sources of Phoron, would go "Hmm yes. We can't risk losing our source of Phoron. Let's send in the Other source of Phoron, to ensure that if we lose one, we lose both." You don't get to be a megacorporation CEO in control of an entire government by throwing all your eggs in one basket and taking unnecessary risk for minimal reward (Again: Untrained crew, Unequipped ship, Probably can't even get there in time) 5. Corporate Relations. Admittedly, this one is less of a "Doesn't make sense" and more of a "Natural result of an illogical decision", but as there's no rumblings of it existing yet, I am listing it. The Horizon is an SCC Profit Creator. Orchard Moon is a NT profit maker. Yes, Phoron is essential to basically all the other Megacorps in the SCC, but when considering point four, above, it wouldn't make sense for the other SCC members to at the very least be upset about this (illogical) decision to bring the Horizon in to defend. 6. As if a diplomatic incident with Elyra wasn't enough, the Horizon (A Civilian vessel (No, "Corporate" does not mean it can't be "Civilian". It is a civilian vessel), not a Military vessel), has a crew consisting of Multiple Consular staff, Representatives, Diplomats, High SCS Skrell, Dominian Nobility, and no doubt rich passengers. Voluntarily throwing all of these people under the line of fire Does Not Make Sense FROM AN OOC PERSPECTIVE (And yes, this section does touch on "You haven't seen the event yet so you can't criticise its contents", but the issue is that the narrative basis is CLEARLY implying a combat event, and to go back on that now would come off dishonest) 1. It's invalidating. I have a grand total of two characters who wouldn't immediately go "No fuck this" and immediately leave the Horizon after getting those orders. One of whom is a literal slave (owned IPC), and the other isn't much better, being an Eridani suit. There is no IC way to rationalise everyone else's decision not to quit, forcing me to either ignore a facet of their character, retcon them, or ignore the very existence of this event (Bonus points for guessing what I plan to do) 2. It's repetitive. Oh boy. We're going back to Valley Hale, back To fighting the SFA, Back back back. There's nothing new here, it's all old material and I'm sorry to say but it really kills my interest. We've already left Valley Hale, the SFA were already defeated by Nralakk, why are we doing it again 3. It's boring. Every round is combat of some kind, this is SS13, that's how the game works, so why must every event ALSO be combat. Where are the exploration events, the rescue events, the diplomatic events, it's just combat. The Horizon is an exploration ship, and you can say "It's never meant to be a research vessel" but it is, don't lie, it's a science and exploration ship. When your science wing takes up a good 20% of the workspace, and you have a dedicated science exploration shuttle, you're a science ship. Every other department supports the operation of the ship, except science. It's the only one that doesn't directly support the ship, it's the top of the food chain, it's the goal of the ship. 4. It's draining. When every event is "HEY GUYS DO YOU LIKE WAR I LIKE WAR HAVE SOME WAR," it makes you tired. Videogames are escapism, and the real world is "HEY GUYS DO YOU LIKE WAR..." If you want to have realistic characters that persistently remember events, you'd have no choice but to have them pretty much cripplingly traumatised to a point where the mental stress on you, in real life, is damaging. Or, you just ignore the events. (If your events are best ignored and treated as non-canon, then there is an issue). 5. It's isolated. The entire Dreary Futures arc has felt like this thing that only happens to the Aurora Station SS13 Game Server, not to the SCCV Horizon in the Orion Spur. I wasn't around for KOTW, so take my comparison with a HEFTY grain of salt, but from what I've seen from others, the people loved KOTW because it felt like a Spur-Wide news event FIRST, and a NSS Aurora event only where it was impacted. Similarly, I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Peacekeeper mandate, Mandate Continues, Oppression of Mictlan arc, whatever you want to call it, and yes, while there was no In-game effect, it definitely made the setting feel alive, made my gameplay more interesting by people talking about it. "No one reads the news articles" Is a grand and solid way to ensure that no one does, because you've stopped making them. The background universal lore is just as important as the front and centre event lore, and it's saddening to see that idea being lost. I didn't even know the Leviathan was meant to be experimental since yesterday, because I wasn't there for the events due to time zones. That's how isolated these events have been. ADMITTEDLY, I only just now have realised I somehow did miss an article of background info regarding the upcoming event. Of course, this was one article, and that's all the background that there is. 6. It's unwanted. This one is pretty clear, from the replies in this thread. There's vastly more people who don't want this event, from what I can see, anyway (maybe I am wrong and overestimating things, but this seems to be the biggest outcry of distaste I've seen from any event announcement, even the ones that bring out the "remove cyborgs" crowd [Let's not get into that discussion here, though.]), anywhere from lowly players such as myself up to actual members of the staff team. This is more than just an appeal to popularity, because events are reliant on player turnout, and while I'm sure these events will still get fine turnout, if people don't want to participate, it will make the event worse overall I honestly think a far better way to approach this event is just... Have the Horizon be attacked in the badlands by someone. That would entirely fix the IC issues, and while sure, a lot of these OOC ones would remain, it would be a marked improvement. Another solution is to have an event not focused on combat, but who knows.