Kaed

I'm not entirely sure it can be fixed anymore. The biggest problem I have with them is that their whole concept of race religion and culture is based on an electronically based augment hivemind, which they are always disconnected from when they are actually playing on the server, so it's more of a footnote than an actual part of the race for all intents and purposes. To compensate for this, they are apparently super friendly because they're lonely, but that in itself feels off and wrong to me. Nothing about them even feels distinctly 'unathi' anymore. They're part robot, when most unathi have strong anti-synth leanings, and they're all but cuddly, which conflicts with the serious and emotionally reserved flavor of the base race. They're not even really that into the mysticism feel anymore. I have heard someone call them rainbow friendbot lizards before, and that is about how they feel to me. There's also how illogical it feels to me that this small subculture of robonathi living in caves at the top of Moghes just sort of chills there in an eternal stalemate with the people trying to eradicate them. Why do they stay, when they are unwelcome, and how are they managing to defend themselves so well from a larger force? I think the biggest problem I have with the way unathi lore is being written is that it just seems to stagnate constantly at a status quo. Sometimes a new thing is introduced, but it doesn't change anything. Moghes is the same politically right now as it was a year ago, except now there are some weirdos practicing transunathism to the north. Unzi is still continuing to lead the Maraziites in inquisitional tyranny, Not'zar continues to sit around in his palace and talk to people or hold meetings, and Marlon's idea of an exciting lore event is someone putting Unzi on blast while he just sticks up his nose and ignores them before things return to the status quo. By contrast, when I write lore, I like it to change things. The only major event series I wrote involved introducing ancient Akhandi temples that were then destroyed before the whole order fucked off Moghes with a final message about how Unzi was literal cancer to their society. Where did that go, though? Nowhere. Unzi shrugged it off and everyone just sort of forgot about it except to name drop the burned temples once and a while. What would I change? I'd have things fracture more if I had my way. The Aut'akh would leave their homeworld and settle somewhere more difficult to be seiged, so they can develop some kind of culture identity that's separate from unathi, because they sure as fuck aren't unathi anymore for all intents and purposes, and have no businss on Moghes beyond cluttering up the narrative. Unzi would be ousted from his position as High Shitpope of Sk'akh because Not'zar got a backbone for fucking once and kicked him out of the Hegemony for being a giant asshole. Maybe tried to declare him a guwan or something, and this causes a religious schism where Unzi separates from the Hegemony and declares himself the true leader of Sk'akh faith and creates a Maraziite terrorist organization in opposition to the Hegemony. Some of the more pro-Unzi clans also defect from the Hegemony in protest and form a splinter nation that might support lizard Al-Qaeda in semi-secret. There isn't world war like on Cat Planet, but there are factions now beyond the Hegemony, mostly neutral and some of them secretly fund Unzi. They aren't openly hostile, but Not'zar has to split his attention to keeping an eye on them and can't just curb stomp Unzi with all his forces anymore. The Si'akh reacts to High Asspope's defection by pledging his support against lizard al-qaeda to the Hegemony in exchange for his people having real land to live on instead of wandering the wastelands like dirty lizard nomads, and a highly regimented and secular Si'akh nation forms, where Si'akh beliefs and culture is enforced and anyone may join if they wish to seek redemption for their sins. They are allied with the Hegemony in support of stopping Unzi, and their knowledge of the wastelands helps the Hegemony against Unzi, who is moving around there now. Not'zars dad fucking dies for real instead of sitting in a permanent sulk-coma and Not'zar becomes the actual Hegemon after some conflict, giving him real authority for once, and maybe he learns to take things more seriously. I'd progress the Akhandi's storyline somehow too. The terraforming of Moghes would begin happening, but they need a resource from a planet in their system that is being colonized by tajara, leading to a trade deal between the two races.

Ckey/BYOND Username: Kaedwuff Why are you interested in Unathi?: They are the only race I regularly play on the server and enjoy playing. Bestrace 2019, lizard 4 lyfe. What do you think are the core themes about Unathi?: Strong social structure and honor-bound behavior, responsibility to your clan and people. Kind of a warrior race. Do you have any specific projects you want to do?: I'd like to expand on the Akhandi more, maybe poke a bit at the stagnant wastelands biome concept that most of Moghes occupies right now. Perhaps work with tajaran loredevs on an idea involving interactions. What do you like the least about Unathi and what would you want to change? [name at least 1]: I'm a super not huge fan of the way Unzi's behavior has been largely unchecked and he just remains as a constant asshole making moghes miserable for everyone outside of the maraziite order. I also don't like Aut'akh as a concept, much less how little of their actual racial concept is implemented in game. Would you want to become a full Unathi maintainer if you were asked in the future or remain a deputy? Maybe. One step at a time. Additional Comments: ssssss

Rude.

I mean, I see what you're saying, but the problem is that 'fearRP' just doesn't happen in most PLAYERS, borgs notwithstanding. I built this kit around the idea that if it was there, it's counterplay to antagonists would be to render them less harmful, instead of killing or disabling them. The average extra-station antag team is armed with machine guns and rigs, and it's entirely feasible for them to mow down an underarmed security within the first half hour of the game. Most traitors with weapons also would be using kinetic guns. I'd like to create a mentality that one has to work AROUND the protector or get RID of it before they can assault the crew or security team, but they shouldn't directly fear it. It should be encouraged by this kit to sacrifice itself for others, which is what a robot would be doing in any case, because they have no sense of self-preservation in the fact of protecting the crew. It's worth noting that the whole 'suck up the bullets' defense would work exactly once before the borg is destroyed or drained of power, and is only feasible to activate after combat has already started, due to it's heavy energy drain. This antag doesn't 'assault' anyone, it protects the crew (which is something security really doesn't do that much already, they mostly chase down antagonists). I just wish I could figure out how to... like, encourage it to help the crew at large instead of just buddying up with security all day like sec borgs did. I'm open to ideas on that.

And drago swoops in with a hastily assembled set of ports from other servers mere hours after I make a proposal to create Protector modules. Oh well, I guess I can use some of this stuff when I eventually finish Protectors. Sure, whatever. It's better than no sec borg I guess.

Lol. You're blaming a uniform for player behavior. Correlation is not causation. All you'd do is have shitcurity in the Amory-approved uniforms instead.

Since we appear to be removing the security module (something I don't disagree with) but NOT replacing it with a new module that everyone was asking for (something I very much disagree with), I have decided that it shall fall upon me to handle this mess. To that extent, I will pitch you the idea I have and will be starting work on after writing this post. The protector module will, for now, use the same colors and chassis options as the sec borg used, for lack of a different sprite artist, but right now the idea will involve the following items available in the module (some are already available to sec borgs and borgs in general) Corp Reg database (already a module, but book sprite sprite may be replaced with something more appropriate) Flash Crowbar Police Tape Sec HUD Pepper Spray (Not sure if I want to force them to refill it like officers have to or have it refill while charging) Hypospray (Inaprovaline and maybe some painkillers only, stuff to ease people's suffering and stabilize them) Defensive Barrier Deployment System (Places energy barrier similar to what the malf AI can place down for a hefty energy cost) Electronic Pacifier (Basically a weaker ion rifle without lethal mode that only affects the square it hits, is mostly for discharging laser weapons/rigsuits and stunning hostile synthetics) Kinetic Defense Array (I don't know if I'll actually be able to do this, but I have this idea for them to be able to turn on an energy-expensive module that causes bullets and non-hitscan projectiles to redirect themselves to hit the borg instead of whatever they were aiming at. This would essentially be an emergency use only module, which would drain most standard batteries in 10 seconds or less and will likely result in the borg being destroyed instead of crewmembers it is protecting. This would, by current design of the game, make security favored over antagonists briefly, since security usually has hitscan lasers, while antagonists have kinetic weapons) HACKED: Energy Refraction Field (Can be turned on to give the borg the same property that cult Juggernauts have, where lasers will bounce off them and possibly injure nearby people), along with EMP resistance. HACKED: Ion Rifle (just the one you can find in the armory, with lethal mode and all) As you can see, this basic concept revolves around defense and low level pacification of hostiles without actually causing serious harm to anything you might find during a serious assault, and gives security advantages over antagonists via indirect defensive abilities that favor them over antagonists. Meanwhile, after being hacked, they gain some strong powers that cause them to be able to fuck over the security team. Feedback accepted!

This is a typical rounds contents for the vault. There's some variation based on RNG, but for the most part this is about what you will find in the vault. Generally speaking, only the captain is allowed to legitimately visit the contents without permission from someone else. There's a big problem, though, with the setup. The captain can't actually access the vault. In fact, no one can legitimately access the vault without assistance from either hacking or a synthetic. This is because the vault is bolted shut at round start and there is no mechanism in place to actually open it. At times in the past when it was full of weapons and antag-bait stuff, that made sense, but there has been a paradigm shift since then. The vault now contains objects that are specifically useful to legitimate crewmember use only, such as high quality KA and cardox grenades, along with some material resources that science or medical could use for certain things. I assume these were added for the crew to use in certain circumstances, but if that's the case, the vault shouldn't be under lockdown at all times that cannot be lifted without the aid of an engineer or synethetic. We should add some kind of button or swiper that can unbolt and open the vault using captain-level access. Additionally, we might need to add some regulations that permit the use of vault contents with captain/head permission, because the pervasive mentality among the crew seems to be the out of date 'if it is in the vault it belongs there don't touch ever' mindset.

I don't agree with either of these. The corporate uniform is fine how it is. This perception that dressing in black makes you look like a soldier, which is somehow unprofessional(?) is baffling to me. It looks far more professional than wearing a light shirt and pants like a desk worker.

Yes, please, nitpick the hasty google image search results I found to demonstrate the difference between a security guard in black and a security guard in a light-colored shirt and tie. That's definitely correct way to respond to the argument. And while it's true that I haven't played security in a week or so, generally the first thing I do is take off the ugly default uniform which I barely glance at, and put on the good corporate uniform. The fact that I mixed up which of the two ugly uniforms you start out with does not really have any bearing on me saying I think the corporate uniform is the most professional looking one. A shirt and tie is not the uniform vibe used anywhere else in this entire facility. Doctors don't wear a tie. Scientists don't wear a tie. Neither do engineers or maybe anyone except some civilian roles or the captain if they want to bring one to work. And when I think 'corporate research facility' I think about guys in black with sunglasses on asking you why you're here in this restricted area while they talk into their headset to the rest of the security team, not someone dressed in business casual waddling around through the hallways holding a flashlight. I also don't give a flying frick about necropolis, but I don't see why only they should be allowed to wear black. Black is good color, and blue accents make it look better. Again, we can argue about this forever, but it comes down to personal opinions. I don't even really want the other uniforms removed that much, I just refuse to let you shove your whims down mine and everyone else's throats when there are options for both our tastes at hand. I like the black coveralls. You like the business casual. let's just get along instead of trying to make the other one's favorite go away.

No. The black one is the only one I can actually stand to wear. It looks crisp and nice, the blue one is ugly and bland and should be removed. Look, I can also make broad assumptions based on personal opinions! For what it's worth, I was also against the bluesec change, red looked much nicer, and blue was already taken by command and medical, and we now have three different shades of blue as thematic colors. But no, we have people saying it looks 'too intimidating', just like we are right now. We have to draw the line somewhere, this drift about insisting security dress like mall cops is stupid. Some of us like to look professional and slick instead of like we work in an office. I want to be this Not this: At least black gives them some identity beyond tepid mall cop design. We are a professional research station on an isolated asteroid that is closed to the public without special permission, not a department store. The image we present SHOULD be slightly intimidating. We have a back room with fucking laser guns and armor. But hey, if you want to look like you belong in a mall in washed out blue shirt and pants, more power to you. Don't try and tell me I have to look like that though by taking away my desired appearance, though. This is the second time you've tried to push this no-corporate agenda on us, Amory. We can keep having this fight forever if you want, or you can just let it drop and just wear what you want to wear instead of trying to force things on me and others who like wearing corporate uniforms. The ability and willingness to sprite does not make you inherently more important than everyone else. Personally, I think with our recent concept of different companies contracting, it makes even more sense for security members to have several different potential backgrounds with uniforms attached. Just like how every doctor in medical and every scientist in research does not follow the exact same backstory or field, security officers aren't all just copies of each other.

I've been giving it some thought, and I think one of the biggest blocking points that the Malfunction gamemode has is that their strongest weapon is gated behind a preposterously difficult to bypass timer. The station override can take somewhere between 13-23 minutes depending on your progress in the round, and while it is running, the AI is almost completely helpless - all their powers are disabled, and they can do little but sit around and wait for the process to finish. If they've already been revealed as a malfunctioning AI, the chances are this will result in their doom at the hands of a team of engineers and security members. Even the warning messages that show up as the override progresses are intended to facilitate stealth - almost none of them indicate in any meaningful way that the AI is responsible, meaning they strongly encourage a stealth malf gameplay. So I propose two things for this simple change in malf gameplay dynamic to make them a less passive role: First, the Override ability should now have a cost. A very high one. I'd place it somewhere around 40-50 APCs worth of CPU to start the process, and as before while it's running your system is locked and can't perform other actions. However, unlike before, there will be a way to interrupt this process, allowing the AI to halt the takeover to allow them to use their other abilities to defend themselves. However, starting it up again will require another high investment of CPU. Barring the upgrade that gives you extra CPU capacity, this means you will have to have have progressed a certain amount in the round before you can use this ability. Second, the takeover messages will become increasingly alarming as they go along, and by the second or third warning there will be indisputable evidence that the AI is responsible. No longer will AI be allowed to or encouraged to make the station suddenly go into delta out of nowhere because they spend an hour and a half pretending to be normal before suddenly trying to detonate the station. If they want to blow the station up, the crew should have the ability to fight against it before it becomes inescapable, and the AI should be able to defend itself from them.

Now see, this makes sense. I can get behind this as a concept. Though I still think it would be functionally identical in appearance to having colored silicon gel in your prosthetic.

Now that's just mechanics and IC disconnect. How does a 40 lb monkey turn into a 150+ lb slime person because an ounce of slime juice was injected into them? Where does the extra mass come from? It only works like that because there's no 'slime monkey' race just like how all slime people look like slimy humans, because there is no slime unathi or slime skrell in code

This isn't about a minimum time, it's about the role barely having been implemented and trying to add a feature that basically turns them into paperwork correction machines. Let them get a feel for the role they'll have in the general roleplay meta before giving them events to match.

Where are they getting the slime people though. Again, slime people only exist via infection, they aren't a naturally occurring or reproducing species. You would have to have a person turned into a slime just to harvest their limbs every time. Who are they using for this? Honestly, given that this outdated slime mechanic is starting to develop weird lore ideas I'd much prefer slime people be removed entirely and maybe do a full xenobiology rework, hm. That's off topic though, I just want to say this idea doesn't really make sense if you think about it too hard in the context it's presented in.

But slime people don't exist outside of research facilities like the Aurora... it's not like there's a mass production line of people being turned into slimes to harvest their limbs. It's a silly mechanical gimmick for xenobiologists, not a species. They don't exist outside of someone being turned into one by a slime infection. Furthermore, there is zero way to moderate slime limbs being used in game, we don't have an economic framework for 'super pricey shit only rich people have'.

We've barely even had this role in the game for a month and you already want things that will mechanically appear to help you generate roleplay? Are things really that sparse?

You could fill that with a silicon-based colored gel if you wanted to, there's no reason this extremely rare creature needs to be used to fill it.

I think this is an overly silly idea, and I'm not sure how you would interface a slime with a vertebrates nervous system. The only reason you can transplant a slime arm right now is because all humanoids are based off of the same code and it's incredibly lazy and easy to work with but doesn't always make sense. To be honest I'd rather not this be a thing, slaves are not supposed to be a public resource, it's a semi secret research facility that even has them.

I see that as a positive thing, personally. It makes for interesting scenarios where visitors get in trouble.

A frequent problem I've seen with the way security works is that the moment some sort of antag-related crime is reported (i.e. breaking in somewhere, an assault, etc) the entire security team rolls in at once to see what's happening, making it nearly impossible for the antagonist to respond to this in a way that does not involve them either fleeing or getting captured. I propose that we put some more logical regulations on how the security team is supposed to behave. It is very rare that every security guard in a mall or company building runs over the moment a crime is reported, because part of their job is patrolling and keeping an eye out for criminal activity, not rubbernecking to see what interesting thing is going on over there. Security officers should be assigned, either by the head or by group consent, to respond to a problem, and unless something extremely serious is happening, such as a break-in to the vault, gunfire, or a head of staff being in danger, no more than 1-2 security members should be responding to an incident. Individuals who repeatedly flee from security without violence should also not be mobbed up on like this, security should be encouraged to behave more intelligently and move as a team, with a couple going to the site of where the fugitive is, while the rest move to monitor possible exits the fleeing fugitive might be using. Detectives shouldn't be responding to every incident, I often see them trailing after officers to see what is happening and also be there to shoot at things with their revolver JUST IN CASE(tm) they become violent. Basically, unless the person is obviously hostile or a threat, I'd like if it security would stop acting like a mob trying to all feel involved in direct antagonist interaction and act more like a security force. It is this 'unga bunga lynch antag' mentality that is causing rounds where antagonists repeatedly flee from security every time they show up, because ALL of them show up, and the antagonist doesn't know how to deal with it other than to gtfo. There is 0 incentive for an antagonist to stick around to roleplay where 4-6+ security members are hovering over them, and way more to have a more chill criminal interaction with them when just 1-2 are there and they're not having to constantly watch a half dozen people for signs of attack. You can't roleplay with a hostile mob, it just doesn't work that way, and unless you've been murdering people or something, you shouldn't have to face one.

Will it be produced through an ability or are vampires going to be filled with special VampBlood (Patent Pending) Also, I eagerly await the slew of player complaints about power gaming and ganking that result from a vampire blood grenade bloodslaving an entire group.

Given that this mechanic is not a grab and click mechanic anymore and requires you to feed people a mystical blood, I would like it both to cost far less blood investment and also be available earlier than current enthrall.

While I like this concept a lot more than 'grab + strongrab + click enthrall", I also have 0 trust in the playerbase to regularly behave in a manner that facilitates this happening any other way than it being forced. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's worth a try either way.