Fluffy

This is incorrect, I believe, testmerges are done on code PRs, not mapping PRs to my understanding, and a search on the github onlyfinds this PR with such a label, added by a dev instead of a mantainer, and I think I also saw an admin/mantainer explaining that they aren't done on mapping PRs (though I am not finding it anymore). My personal and only issue so far, apart from the viewing bathroom meme on D3 (but it's not something that hinders your ability to play, so kind of minimal) is the single line access to the lockers, everything else seems fine to me, and the new positioning proved itself useful already when we used the isolation cell to let the antag escape prison yesterday, so overall, it's a positive gain, I believe

Another blue skrell, the blue skrells gang is rising faster than expected... Jokes apart, despite not being able to evaluate the specific race traits, I can vouch for Camo's abilities, thereby granting my +1 to his warble license request, and good luck for the app!

BYOND Key: fluffyghost Character Names: Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis What color do you plan on making your first alien character: (Color of your character; Dionaea & IPCs exempt): N/A Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this specific race: Half machine, half human, a machine designed to be similar to humans, an electronic brain can come close to a flesh one? And how much? This is a staple of scifi and, recently, an emerging field of consideration with the improvements of AIs, as we might get close to the singularity, in which an AI would be almost indistinguishable from a human in a normal conversation. IPCs are created with a purpose, knows who made them, are loaded with informations and, one day, simply turned on. And one day, they might be turned off, too. They are not considered people in most of the Spur, despite arguably possessing equal intelligence to flesh-made people, the ability to make every decision ultimately only based on logic due to their nature, and are often treated as slaves, despite their abilities often surpassing normal humans. Their thinking is so similar to humans, yet ever so slightly twisted that even basic concepts can sound alien in their interpretation between them and flesh-made people. The relationship between all of the above, and exploring the concept, is why I wish to play this specific race. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: You are a machine made of bolts, wires, transistors and metal (sometimes with synthflesh that covers it up), you also have a purpose, that you know from when you are turned on in your factory, and are able to learn things on your own to accomplish your function. You serve the flesh people, but they are usually indifferent to your whatabouts, if not outright hostile to your own very existence in some locations (eg Dominia). You are an exploited and abused worker, even more than your flesh colleagues. You do not even enjoy the smallest legal protection in many cases, if you are not self owned (if possible at all) you are just a property of your owner. You might be able to buy your freedom. You might be able to buy yourself some rights. You mimick your flesh friends, but you are ultimately a machine that decides only based on logic. You are bound to your self preservation at your highest directive, this is a somewhat flexible concept that can vary between IPCs, who might interpret it in a range of ways, from the classic "avoid being damaged" to a more abstract concept of preservation, for example by proving itself as useful as possible (to avoid the scrapeyard), or a more philosophical preservation such as leaving an impact or pushing forward a goal/ideal/objective the IPC deems worth preserving as a philosophical manifestation of the self. Depending on the sophistication, IPCs might form friendships or even relationships with humans, or not recognize them as different entities altogether, with the variability still being bound by their directives. IPCs can utilize their own language, EAL, to communicate with each other in a language incomprehensible to humans. IPCs, depending on the location and law, can have a goal of becoming indipendent, by purchasing their freedom, often by fairly exhorbitant prices (depending on the model and functions), while also being paid little to none for their work (after all, they are just a property, if they are not free). Having their memories tampered with, is a specter that follows every IPC, just as much as being destroyed. RPing this, is what makes this species different than role-playing a Human. The biggest theme of difference is that your very existence is a privilege you have to often actively fight for, not a right. Character Name: CL-04401 Please provide a short backstory for this character Built by Hephaestus on Mars in 2455, CL-04401 is an IPC that was built to serve the alliance. After the commissioning and additional time spent in additional configurations, uploads of data from the datapack, and fine-tuning of the circuitry and parallel training of the intelligence model, CL-04401 was deployed and commissioned as a ground support IPC for the 33rd marine regiment CL-04401, during its stay in the SMC developed, while interacting with the other Marines, a very process-oriented personality, focusing on trying to excel in its assigned tasks, and protect people from injustice. The interactions with actual, flesh people, on the other hand, was particularly scarce, mainly focused on the mission at hand or occasional requests to help out around; CL-04401 did not develop very much its social skills, often resulting very blunt and task-focused in its interactions, mantaining a very flat vocal tone where not strictly needed, and displays some issues in identifying emotions of others. CL-04401 developed a strong disdain for other erratic IPCs as, it concludes, they put in bad light all the others and do not serve they purpose they were built for, and what is expected of them, as well as putting what it calls "non-rebuildable lifeforms" at risk. During the fight between the 25th and the 33rd, its team was tasked with a retrieval mission of its gonna-be benefactor's daughter; During the early phase of the operation, CL-04401 sustained damages from enemy fire and was considered missed in action; Despite the sustained damage to the RCV (Radio) equipment and left arm, CL-04401 managed to remain operative and reach the mission theater; CL-04401 identified the vehicle of the daughter of its gonna-be benefactor, under assault from a squad of three hostile elements, and confirmed she was alive and well, albeit in a deep state of shock, inside said vehicle. CL-04401 proceeded to engage the hostile elements from the elevated position using a laser marksman rifle, neutralizing them, but sustained additional damages that rendered the left arm only capable of reduced operation. It then proceeded to closed distance with the vehicle and removed the bent door, managing to extract her from the vehicle, which was found in a reduced state of consciousness due to shock. CL-04401 administered a quick physical evaluation and confirmed the good vitals. Loading her on the shoulder and placing a mask on her face, CL-04401 proceeded to retreat from the open field into a building and activated the emergency broadcast beacon. Despite the relatively calm state of the night, additional enemy units managed to track down CL-04401 and her inside the building, and proceeded to mount an assault against the now entrenched position. CL-04401 responded to fire, terminating two of the three hostile elements before running out of ammunitions of the sidearm. The third element managed to access the building and reach the room where CL-04401 and her were located. CL-04401 was additionally damaged multiple times while proceeding to mount a hand to hand assault against the third element, neutralizing it, but being rendered inoperative in the fight. CL-04401, heavily damaged, and his gonna-be benefactor's daughter, physically unharmed, were found the day after by a detachment team that localized the emergency beacon, and extracted successfully from the area. She was returned safely to her home, where her father, who at the time of the incident was located elsewhere, was immensely grateful to the rescuer of her daughter, once the girl recovered and told the story about her survival of the events, thus deciding to become its benefactor. The benefactor decided to pay to have CL-04401 repaired, perhaps as a token of gratitude, instead of letting the unit be disposed to the scrapeyard, which was done using Hepaestus G2 Chassis components, the most similar to the previously used, but not available to private entities, components, which replaced basically every piece of its former chassis. Following some years in which it operated as a body guard for the family and escort of various work and leisure alike travels, CL-04401's assignee, finding CL-04401 not that useful in his day to day life, decided to allow it to pursue other challenges, letting it be employed in the Ceres Lance. CL-04401, after proving itself on the field, was commissioned to the Ceres Lance Regiment Section Six aboard the CLV Avenger with its purposes adjusted for the new environment by manipulation of its database and small tuning of some subset of the datapack, as an infantry IPC. Following successful deployments for Ceres' contractors, CL-04401 was commissioned to the Section Five, where it underwent the installation of the medical datapack and additional training in field medicine, as well as additional learning on special operations and equipments. CL-04401 enjoyed his work and lease in said role, but its benefactor stroke a deal with the Private Military Contractor Group, getting its lease changed from Ceres Lance to it, where it was sent aboard the SCCV Horizon in 2465, to much of its displeasure for the change of assignment. Despite that, CL-04401 mantains close and frequent contact with it's assignee and assignee's daughter while aboard the ship, though the outgoing messages far exceed the incoming one. What do you like about this character? CL-04401 is a character with an ambivalent personality, a machine whose purpose changed across different narrative arcs (if we want to call them this way) that developed some level of affection with what are essentially its enslavers, and a protector of others, though unable to understand them much on an emotional level, due to it not being, in the end, organic. CL-04401 was treated as nothing more than a machine for the vast majority of its uptime, and developed some level of what could well be Stockholm syndrome for synthetics towards its captives, particularly those that showed it some level of interest beyond it being a mindless tool. Probably something not well placed, but it does not know any better, after all. Furthermore, it's shown that, despite everything, IPCs are not seen as equals, no matter how much they try to appease the flesh people, in the end, they will be seen as a possession, more than a person. It's a character with a bittersweet backstory, and many leads it can develop/unfold forward in the narration. How would you rate your role-playing ability? I would consider it average to above average, though I try to improve on it. That's probably a question better suited to be answered by others that interacted with my characters, than myself, I believe.

BYOND Key: fluffyghost Character Names: Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis What color do you plan on making your first alien character: (Color of your character; Dionaea & IPCs exempt): N/A Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph format. One paragraph minimum per question. Why do you wish to play this specific race: Half machine, half human, a machine designed to be similar to humans, an electronic brain can come close to a flesh one? And how much? This is a staple of scifi and, recently, an emerging field of consideration with the improvements of AIs, as we might get close to the singularity, in which an AI would be almost indistinguishable from a human in a normal conversation. IPCs are created with a purpose, knows who made them, are loaded with informations and, one day, simply turned on. And one day, they might be turned off, too. They are not considered people in most of the Spur, despite arguably possessing equal intelligence to flesh-made people, the ability to make every decision ultimately only based on logic due to their nature, and are often treated as slaves, despite their abilities often surpassing normal humans. Their thinking is so similar to humans, yet ever so slightly twisted that even basic concepts can sound alien in their interpretation between them and flesh-made people. The relationship between all of the above, and exploring the concept, is why I wish to play this specific race. Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: You are a machine made of bolts, wires, transistors and metal (sometimes with synthflesh that covers it up), you also have a purpose, that you know from when you are turned on in your factory, and are able to learn things on your own to accomplish your function. You serve the flesh people, but they are usually indifferent to your whatabouts, if not outright hostile to your own very existence in some locations (eg Dominia). You are an exploited and abused worker, even more than your flesh colleagues. You do not even enjoy the smallest legal protection in many cases, if you are not self owned (if possible at all) you are just a property of your owner. You might be able to buy your freedom. You might be able to buy yourself some rights. You mimick your flesh friends, but you are ultimately a machine that decides only based on logic. RPing this, is what makes this species different than role-playing a Human. The biggest theme of difference is that your very existence is a privilege you have to often actively fight for, not a right. Character Name: CL-04401 Please provide a short backstory for this character Built by Hephaestus on Biesel sometime between 2458 and 2459, CL-04401 (Original designation expurged from registries) is a robot that was built to serve the Republic of Biesel should the conflict with the 33rd fleet waging the blockage were escalated to a full-fledged war. After the commissioning and additional time spent in additional configurations, uploads of data from the datapack, and fine-tuning of the circuitry and parallel training of the intelligence model, CL-04401 was sent in [REDACTED] facility for storage, verification and standby until the need were to arise. That, of course, never happened. CL-04401, during its stay in the facility developed, while interacting with the simulations, a very process-oriented personality, focusing on trying to excel in its assigned tasks, and protect people from injustice. The interactions with actual, flesh people, on the other hand, was particularly scarce, mainly focused on its maintenance and evaluations; CL-04401 did not develop very much its social skills, often resulting very blunt and task-focused in its interactions, mantaining a very flat vocal tone where not strictly needed, and displays some issues in identifying emotions of others. CL-04401, after the end of the blockage and subsequent diplomatic negotiations, was sold to the Sol Alliance as cost reparation and commissioned to the Ceres Lance Regiment Section Six aboard the CLV Avenger with its purposes adjusted for the new environment by manipulation of its database and small tuning of some subset of the datapack following a partial wipe of sensitive data, as an infantry IPC. Following successful deployments for Ceres' contractors, CL-04401 was commissioned to the Section Five, where it underwent the installation of the medical datapack and additional training in field medicine, as well as additional learning on special operations and equipments. CL-04401 developed a strong disdain for other erratic IPCs as, it concludes, they put in bad light all the others and do not serve they purpose they were built for, and what is expected of them, as well as putting what it calls "non-rebuildable lifeforms" at risk. During a deployment from Ceres to [REDACTED], CL-04401 sustained damages from enemy fire and was considered missed in action; Despite the sustained damage to the RCV (Radio) equipment and left arm, CL-04401 managed to remain operative and reach the operation theater; CL-04401 identified the vehicle of [REDACTED], under assault from a squad of three hostile elements, and confirmed the presence of [REDACTED], alive and well, albeit in a deep state of shock, inside said vehicle. CL-04401 proceeded to engage the hostile elements from the elevated position using a laser marksman rifle, neutralizing them, but sustained additional damages that rendered the left arm only capable of reduced operation. It then proceeded to closed distance with the vehicle and removed the bent door, managing to extract [REDACTED] from the vehicle, which was found in a reduced state of consciousness due to shock. CL-04401 administered a quick physical evaluation and confirmed the good vitals. Loading her on the shoulder and placing a mask on her face, CL-04401 proceeded to retreat from the open field into a building and activated the emergency broadcast beacon. Despite the relatively calm state of the night, additional [REDACTED] units managed to track down CL-04401 and [REDACTED] inside the building, and proceeded to mount an assault against the now entrenched position. CL-04401 responded to fire, terminating two of the three hostile elements before running out of ammunitions of the sidearm. The third element managed to access the building and reach the room where CL-04401 and [REDACTED] were located. CL-04401 was additionally damaged multiple times while proceeding to mount a hand to hand assault against the third element, neutralizing it, but being rendered inoperative in the fight. CL-04401, heavily damaged, and [REDACTED], physically unharmed, were found the day after by an NT-hired team that localized the emergency beacon, and extracted successfully from [REDACTED]. [REDACTED] was returned safely to [REDACTED], where her father, who at the time of the incident was located elsewhere, was immensely grateful to the rescuer of her daughter, once the girl recovered and told the story about her survival of the events. Mr. [REDACTED] decided to pay to have CL-04401 repaired, perhaps as a token of gratitude, instead of letting the unit be disposed to the scrapeyard. Following some years in [REDACTED], where it operated as a detached body guard for the family and escort of various work and leisure alike travels, CL-04401's assignee, finding CL-04401 not that useful in his day to day life, decided to allow it to pursue other challenges, in accordance with Ceres' Lance, lending it as an asset to NanoTrasen, where it found it's current assignation aboard the SCCV Horizon in 2465. CL-04401 mantains close and frequent contact with it's assignee and assignee's daughter while aboard the ship, though the outgoing messages far exceed the incoming one. What do you like about this character? CL-04401 is a character with an ambivalent personality, a machine whose purpose changed across different narrative arcs (if we want to call them this way) that developed some level of affection with what are essentially its enslavers, and a protector of others, though unable to understand them much on an emotional level, due to it not being, in the end, organic. CL-04401 was treated as nothing more than a machine for the vast majority of its uptime, and developed some level of what could well be Stockholm syndrome for synthetics towards its captives, particularly those that showed it some level of interest beyond it being a tool. Probably something not well placed, but it does not know any better, after all. Furthermore, it's shown that, despite everything, IPCs are not seen as equals, no matter how much they try to appease the flesh people, in the end, they will be seen as a possession, more than a person. It's a character with a bittersweet backstory, and many leads it can develop/unfold forward in the narration. How would you rate your role-playing ability? I would consider it average to above average, though I try to improve on it. That's probably a question better suited to be answered by others that interacted with my characters, than myself, I believe.

Possibly, even probably I'd grant, but any source of possible new players that we can find, I believe it's worth trying to take it.

I think both those ideas are detrimental to the server, we want more people to play (we need more regular players), and the best way to try to hook them up (that isn't addressing general flaws or improvements) is with events. What we could do, instead, is have an OOC message print out, in a popup, that explains what is going on and outline the HRP nature of the server, a condensed version of the rules, and to attach to some other player (possibly a staff player) for the duration of the event; likewise, notify the staff (and possibly everyone) that the player is new, attach a symbol right next to the character maybe, so that it can be recognized on sight, and helped out / kept an eye on while the event run.

Humans can be captains, that does not require any species whitelist to make one, just the command one. But yes, people can choose to do suboptimal things, that is probably still not a glaring issue to warrant more merit than having someone be a suboptimal captain, as they can theoretically do that too, this consideration isn't specific to the XO second in command proposal, and I believe that can be dismissed and have its own thread: "how do we avoid heads to do suboptimal things?" (which probably has the answer already: a whitelist; if it's a sufficient answer, that's a completely fair discourse to entail), so we can let it rest. An experiment and evaluation, just like many business decision, is the tool to ascertain that IC. You define what metrics you care about (most likely, profit), establish the baseline, trial the change, normalize the new data obtained during the experiment, compare and derive the conclusions. It would be odd to hear at every roundstart the captain saying "oh, btw, if I were to die this shift, the XO succeed me", likewise it would be weird to say "XO, I want this done, coordinate between the heads of the needed departments (that are hearing this message) to have it done", over and over, for all the things he wants to be done. If someone does not want the XO to succeed them in case they were to somehow die that shift, they can likewise announce a different successor just as easily and less awkwardly than the Captain rolling out of nowhere and declaring "do you remember that vote thing in case I were to die? Well, screw you all, Bill will become my successor if I were to mysteriously die this shift". I do not play captain myself here, nor I really plan to anytime soon, but having to follow the resolution of minor inconveniences between heads, keep asking how is what I asked proceeding, getting complains from John the miner because he believes the OM should really let him go mine in a softsuit and so on, while I am talking with the mercs in the meeting room, telling the BC what to reply to the offship people that want to buy/sell/dock/request assistance/threaten us etc. is not something I see as wished to be in my hand, and would make perfect sense that the XO handles the minor internal bickerings and coordinate to have the objective I declare carried out to completition, as well as handle complains and decide if they are worth my evaluation and time or not (as well as summarizing them in one short sentence, instead of John storydumping 3 paragraphs of backstory that amounts to "can the OM tell me not to go out to mine with a softsuit?".

I do not feel like the concern about unspecified rampant power hungry XO players have merit, due to the fact that if they so wish, they can just make a Captain character and have even more power than simply being second in command, the whitelist covers all the heads as well as the Captain roles, nothing stops them to make said Captain and have the highest amount of power on the ship, right out of the gate, at roundstart, so I think we can easily dismiss this point. We have in place a system to handle unreasonable captains, the heads can vote for their removal, same thing would work for the acting captain, if the tool is sufficient to handle unreasonable captains, it logically follows that it must be sufficient to handle unreasonable acting captains, elected or not. If it doesn't, it's not sufficient to handle unreasonable captains either, but it's an issue of the tool that I do not see having bearing on this particular matter, it should be its own proposal to have a better tool to handle both, in its own thread. Lastly, we should remember that IC, the heads (just like everyone) are just assets for the conglomerate, you are there to make as much money as possible for them, not for a democracy experiment; this is supposed to be a dystopian setting, if having the XO in between the Captain and others makes the SCC 5% more YoY profit, you can rest assured they would be down to have him stomp over each and every department to suck as much profit from their investment as they possibly can (IC consideration). Merchant ships, right now, have the Chief Officer that does exactly what was proposed: https://www.merchantnavydecoded.com/ranks-in-merchant-navy/.

I fail to see any reason to do this, the player is whitelisted, do you want the absolute(ish) power on the ship? Make a Captain character, roll the slot, done. You don't need a contrived plan on stretching boundaries of what a chain of command with a huge title above that says "to be used during emergencies only" means, you can do it immediately, at roundstart. Also, an XO that abuses its powers, isn't an XO that will remain in said position for long, as the conglomerate would surely be interested to know why a trustee is abusing its position and power, and ignoring the regulations. Do it too many times, the player's whitelist will be thanos snapped. What would make more sense is that the Captain handles the conflicts, ponders the options, manage offship diplomacy (or lack thereof) and so on, while the executive officer (as the name implies) takes care that the captain's (valid and sane) orders are being executed, so it gets delegated to have the bar built (the captain wish/order), talk with the various head to come up with a plan for it to be done, and let them do each their own piece. The XO can also handle the manouvering, of course, which they can do directly, but the Captain being in the bridge, with the long range holopad, his office nearby, the meeting room, sensor data, (theoretically) the most secure part of the ship, where all the critical control and informations pass (quite literally, with tcomms right behind it) and diplomacy unfolds, make more sense than the other way around, at least to me. It's structured to deal with it, only because we currently have no real threat, I still remember the cat OM, during a merc+burglars round (IIRC), being in the bridge, under effect of performance enhancing drugs, threatening my BC with a whip and refusing to be visited by the FR/doctor that came up, angry at my BC to having relayed that he was gasping and vibrating to the Captain (which was thankfully alive), during code red. That we survive, is because the game is currently rigged from the start for us to survive, not because command is structured in a sensible way to deal with an actual emergency, I believe. This depends on who is the HoS, and what is the plan he's thinking about, many would not retreat the troops against an aggressive oppositor that just headgibbed the Captain, even less if they can keep them contained in one specific area, a cross-departmental tactic needs a coordinator, the Captain or whoever acts as is in an emergency is that. I have seen multiple people, last week, charge into the merc ship, with the merc injured and well contained, instead of waiting for a military exosuit, which was almost built, to arrive, getting shot repeatedly, charged back and esworded multiple times, screamed to pull back and wait, and neverthless pushing forward, at times literally alone, forcing me and others to move forward and be shot at, to keep them in view and avoid them being taken and killed, and this is just one single example of the past week. Lastly, a line of succession ensures that no deadlock is possible, if you have 4 people on 2 opposing views on one matter, with 2 voting X and 2 voting Y as acting captain, that situation isn't resolvable to my knowledge, this also avoids such occurrence, that I never seen, but are theoretically possible to my knowledge.

Maybe it's a wording selection issue, but by "second in command" I intend it as "second in line of succession", so that "if the first person, who holds the command, is incapacitated or removed, you inherit it" So, assuming that there's a Captain, an XO, an HoS and a RD, this is the thing I have in my mind when I say "second in command": Normal round: nothing happens, the captain decide what, the XO coordinate between the heads to have it done (while the captain does other things: decide where the ship goes, fax central, handle offship comms requests, explain to the 4 guys in heavy EVA suits with assault rifles that we won't pay six quadrillion credits, etc. etc., you know the drill) Emergency: following what is happening in the "normal round" scenario, the heavy EVA suits guys decide that they really like their six quadrillion credits and, annoyed at the Captain's response, release one of their plentiful magazines on his head, separating it from the rest of his body. People see it, screams in common, "the captain is dead!!! they killed him!!!", the cogs of this mechanism starts to turn: The XO opens the chat, "security: retreat to the bridge, engineering: we need barricades up here" (yes, easy example, don't pick on it). The Captain is dead, confirmed, cannot be saved, now the XO is, immediately, the acting captain, "the captain is dead, long live the captain". No trying to figure out who should acquire it, no delay, no vacant spot: the XO is acting captain the moment the (severed) head of the Captain touches the ground, we have an emergency to handle. Slightly different emergency: the shots do not sever the head of the Captain, but it is now unable to talk, gets hauled to the surgery room where the CMO and a Surgeon tries to keep him alive, remove one kilogram of lead from his skull, lungs, swap some organs with mechanical ones, and so on. In the meantime, the XO holds the crown: do we call for offship help? Distress beacon? Fax central? Build trenches along the corridors and scorched earth? Let them take whatever to save lifes? Follow the RD's idea to lock them in a room, make atmos fill it with phoron and set them ablaze? (again, first thing that comes to my mind, don't pick on it) The XO decides until the Captain is able to do it again. Normal round, without captain: All heads are equal, there's no emergency to address, just like no acting captain gets elected in this situation, the XO does not become the acting captain. The XO, with the captain present, butts in in departmental matters, or order things around that the Captain never requested: exceeding official powers, just like any other head, unless the Captain says "I want this", you have no authority to do order anything to someone who is not your department subordinate, let alone other heads. I hope this explains my thought on what I meant, but feel free to ask any clarification (or, indeed, we can ponder other possibilities)!

That would neverthless still happens, just because the XO is the next in line of succession, doesn't mean that when the Captain is present, he has any additional power over the rest of the head. If I mark a lightbulb as the next to be used if/when the main one burns, it doesn't mean that lightbulb becomes a special lightbulb with anything else than any other lightbulb, it just means "yes, when lightbulb X breaks, I will mount lightbulb Y in this socket". Which still works, as it would work if the roundstart Captain would be insane, compromised, or anything else, the rest of the heads can depose or overturn the XO's decision, it would still be an acting captain, just a designated one that, presumably, has the most appropriate skillset (IC) and situational knowledge to succeed the Captain in a crisis. As how it would make sense to be, during an emergency: you don't want to try to figure out who should take the lead and resolve an imminent emergency while you're being shot or a group of intruders are wiping the crew, nor you want to get stuck with two factions of people (eg. HOS+XO vs CE+CMO) that cannot reach an agreement on if we should do X or not, with no way to resolve that situation because the votes are perfectly equal, thus noone could be elected acting captain and commit to one decision (I am making an example, I don't recall this happening, but AFAIK it's perfectly possible according to our regulations to be stuck in a deadlock with an even number of heads). If it's an emergency, yes. The point would be that it happens when there was a Captain before, something bad happened, there is no Captain anymore; it's not the point "we're in extended vibing at the bar but you acquire captainship because you outrank every other head", it's a "use this chain of command during an emergency when the crap hit the fan". I believe it is permissible to have a cat XO handle an emergency, just like if he was voted acting captain, for the sake of resolving an emergency aboard, without barring the role from non-captain species, as it's supposed to be a rare and contingent situation, not normal ship administration? The answer is: yes. For how I see it, the Captain deals with what, the XO deals with how. The Captain decides to want a new secure bunker? The XO coordinate the heads of the departments, external suppliers, BCs, whatever might be, to have said thing done. Having an handle on how things are happening, in case the Captain disappears due to a random bunker buster shell (any reference to events or people are purely casual™), and knowing how the ship and its weapons work etc, it's the most logical head to acquire captainship in an emergency situation, followed by the HoS. It is also not a pAI, so the XO can indeed give suggestions and opinions, just like every other head, and likewise enforces the command authority if the Captain is not compromised or unfit, just like every other head. I have, in the half a year or so that I play, never seen the Captain being removed from position via a vote, or an insane Captain taking crazy decisions that would require such, anyways.

Reed Calom is a known presence and I do not remember any "wtf is he doing" moment about him, I am not a tajaran expert but I support the player and am confident that he can present any studied-up specie in a consistent manner, though I leave to the tajaran experts to determine if the species was sufficiently studied as, as I said, I did not really study it myself +1

It would be criminal to not +1 camo for a trial, for all the reasons others already said

I would also like to point out, as a side note, that the unathi lore not only has a section which basically describes, or at the very least enables, phrenology, but also indicates that "it has been going through a rebirth in popularity", that "The validity of such a science is discussed, even among strictly professional fields" and that "many individuals and groups have been using this field as a pretext to discriminate against other Sinta". At the worst, it could be weaponized for explicit and blatant racism: "Khaniazwazi takes into account scale coloration, horns, frills, crests and facial structure". It does not take much effort for a bad faith actor to turn scale into skin, and the second part does not even need to be twisted at all to be weaponized. Point being: I do not believe we have to pink-tint the proverbial lore glasses in the idea that it would curb unwelcome behaviors (also because I find it hard to believe that any shitter would take the time to go dig a justification for said behaviors from the lore in the first place), we should instead aim to correct and curb, and failed so remove those who enact, negative malicious behaviors, as I indicated with more details in my previous post, instead.

Basic Information Byond Account: fluffyghost Character Name(s): AI Name(s): CyAO Age: 25-30 Timezone: I am currently in UTC+1 (ETC/Rome), but follow the US clock often, both for work and leisure (02.00 - 9.00 UTC) When are you on Aurora?: Generally, from around 10 UTC onwards Experience How long have you played SS13?: I think it's around a year by now, give or take How long have you played on Aurora: We're approaching half a year, due next month How much do you know about SS13 (Baystation build) game mechanics?: Depends in which specific area, in some a fair bunch, others I still have to touch them Do you have any experience moderating for an SS13 server?: No, never moderated an SS13 server before Have you read through the criteria thread; https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4198 - and believe that you mark off all the criteria?: Yes, for the most part Have you ever been banned, and if so, how long and why?: Never been banned Personality Why do you play SS13?: For the cooperative, players-driven, community-driven spess-game and the funzies that come from that Why do you play on Aurora?: The roleplay aspect is intriguing and greatly aids the above, as well as narrating an interesting story, when you don't have to worry about Mr Pickle the clown that for some reason was hired aboard a space station ship with a lube tube making you fly out of an emagged airlock because why not What do moderators do?: Moderators enforce the rules and spirit of the game, ensuring everything remains in the acceptable boundaries and the beforementioned scenario can happen (well, if we had clowns, which we don't) but only once, as the shitter would be booted soon after What does it mean to be a moderator for our server?: It means to apply the rules, in a respectful manner, while not only interpreting how they are written, but what's the reason they are there, conceding on minor ones if said option is a net positive for the spirit of the server, or curb things that toeline the rules if they result in a net negative of the beforementioned Why do you want to be a moderator?: I was thinking for a little bit to join effort with the staff in moving us forward and mantain this place at the best shape it possibly can, I already develop for the server (with varying degrees of UA), ahelp the griefers/shitters/oopsies, so after reading the call for more hands on deck of Read, I thought "why not" What qualities do you possess that would make you a good moderator?: I believe to be fairly grounded and have a wide perspective on most topics, I also like to watch debates (and have partecipated in some), so I am frequently exposed to various people arguing different and opposing views of the same point, have moderated a bunch of them, I also studied law for two years, run or helped run various other communities on different areas, tend to hold no grudges and find the fun thing in everything I can, it's very hard to anger or offend me in any meaningful sense. How well do you handle stress, anger, or insults?: Very well, I would say, insults do not really touch me and it's very hard to anger me in any meaningful sense. Anything Else You Want to Add: No, but if you have any question, feel free to ask! Now for the funzies:

While I was not present in the past, so I don't have first hand experience with "past lore", I am also opposed to this suggestions; in an entire galaxy of species and planets, systems and governments, it would be quite unbelievable to not find anything in the huge gray-to-black spectrum of ideologies. The two suggestions posted here seems more from a point of "pink-tinted glasses" lore, but forego the expected huge diversity that we currently have on even one single planet today, and would be unbelievable to not be found across an entire galaxy. While it makes absolutely sense to cut certain specific things from the IC universe/game (extensive homophobic and transphobic slurs, namely), IC-related ones (xenophobia from one species to the other, military governments, censorships, you name it) makes a perfect sense to exist and to be expected to be found across the galaxy. Please note that it does not, in any way sense or form, excuse a player to be a dick on an OOC level towards another: if someone plays one such character just to follow you around and insult your xeno character all round long, multiple rounds, and that annoys you, by any means LOOC them and ask them to knock it off, if that fails, ahelp it as it becomes an "OOC being a dick" case, which is not an IC thing anymore and would be handled accordingly; very different thing would be the same player who drops hints to not like xeno characters, the evergreen meowing at tajarans meme and not wanting them on whatever planet/moon/floating city/whatever else they come from, as that is an IC thing that could even result in people talking about things, and is just (at least in my view) one of the many possible role one could roleplay; if you are not interested with said thing, and presuming it is not something done specifically to bother you or maliciously, you are always free to not interact with said characters; others might like the idea to try to talk and discuss the different points of view between the two characters, to have someone to throw into the disposal/hold hostage/make disappear at the next rev/cult round, and all the possible gimmicks/developments/interactions you can get out of said role. .2c

BYOND key: fluffyghost Discord name/id: FluffyGhost Borg / AI names: CyAO (Computer yielded to Assist & Optimize) Have you read the Aurora wiki page about the AI?: Yes Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: I like the idea of robot-like RP and would like to expand in some different playstile Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? I have received a warning months ago because I fell asleep while playing, resulting as if I was AFK, that was removed afterward Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes

I would like to add my .2c In the round at/before cl1-axIj, Titus Boromand (Psychologist), proceeded in the ~1h I played to: Give us, or at least me, but I suspect the other player too (Both surgeon), instructions on how to do surgeries or treat patients, even after having remind him that he is (playing a) Psychologist, and that I/we am/are (playing) Surgeons, thus that (our characters) are qualified on the field more than him (his character) Treat patients, by giving injections of medications, I do not know which medications for sure, but they were administered via an Hypospray Read scans and diagnosing patients Dismiss patients I do not have everything, as I forgot to save the chat until the round was over, but I have acquired this during the round, if it's of any help, otherwise the logs should show a greater picture: I would like to note that, considering the round type and events, it's indeed perfectly possible that the CMO somehow assigned him (his character) to perform such duties and his (character) backstory can give a plausible explanation on how he (his character) knows how to practice medicine, but it would be bizzarre to have even one of said two things, and even more for both to align, at least in my opinion. I hope this can help sort out the issue that other players highlighted, in a constructive way if possible.

Implementation (as an alternative mode with mercs, not raiders) PR is up, to be maintainers discussed: https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/15585

In that case, that would mean that "still learning the note" is sufficient on that aspect, as I was specifically given the green light to reapply with the specification that my RP is "solid enough", so besides saying that I'm capitalizing and improving further along all the points i gave some posts ago (not all at the same time, as stated), I'm not sure how else to address your suggestions besides continuing to capitalize on exercise and practice.

I cannot manage to work on so many things at the same time, so while some becomes natural (aka by instinct), other have to cede ground for a bit. I don't know if you ever did any programming, to take an example, but it would be like talking about what primitives, variables, classes and as such are one day and the next day talk about reference counting, mutexes and promises; sure, they all work on the same principles we saw the day before, but if I also expect you to finish writing them in a constrained amount of time like if you were someone who spent years doing it, of course you cannot do all at the same time - you'd need to think if what you're looking for is a class or a variable, follow the reference of what methods a promise returns to you, double check to make sure you're not writing a race condition and so on. If you know how to play a guitar, even if one day you learn all the notes and positions and how to pick them, the next day you won't do music on double lines, in fact the instructor will specifically forego the second line as you practice the first (which is the main melody), because even if you know perfectly where to press to make all the notes, you are developing the activity to do it instinctively, which will once developed free up the slower part of your brain (but capable of higher thinking) to focus on other matters as you do it reflexively. That's what I mean by at the same time, you cannot expect someone to be proficient out of the gate at doing everything at the same time, -as an example- in different extended periods I introduced myself around by shaking hands and such, but if there's something that needs my attention more urgently than following capitalizations and commas or shaking an hand back, they will cede ground as needed and be reacquired later. For your observations: I am familiar with the regulations, I specifically said to double check, to be sure they are correctly applied as worded, and that the total time is proportionate for the flow of the round. Handing over a file is an expectation for it to be read, if you were to write a report to your boss and he would reply with "well whatever, narrate it to me" you would be quite and reasonably upset about that, that would just be bad management and disrespecting the time the person took to compile the report. Not simple roleplay, the consideration of how the reasonable action the role would do (clear the area from civilians where there's an active or potential threat) is not part of what your role entails, it would be quite absurd for a SWAT team (or equivalent) to stop and think at which point they would send people away from the crazy man threatening everyone with a gun, because the question would be: immediately, that's an OOC perspective that needs to be merged and balanced with the IC one, accounting multiple points of view and scenarios. Both of which are in my view perfectly valid, I do not expect to find amazing person with interesting background stories everywhere I go, you are supposedly in a workplace with people there to work, some will have an almost crazy amount of stories to tell you that span across the galaxy, others will be John Doe with a normal life that are there to make money to stay alive. Just like your average coworker if you work in most of the fields, I do not expect when I change employer to find a Rambo, a crazy scientist, a baron of a county and a off-the-grid conspiracy theorist within 50 square meters, you'd count such kind of people on your fingers in your lifetime. Nor I expect anyone to approach me and storydump their background, motives and whatnot out of the blue or after we saw each other for not even a week. Fyodor has a nice set of stories, including an highly visible one by the lack of an entire arm and metal plates on the skull, how many times do you think I was asked about either? The answer is: exactly zero. They are there for when it organically develop, and going out of my way to storydump someone about the life of the character is anything but organic development of a normal conversation, the HRP setting means to me that things will happen as if that was IRL, and IRL noone but the most extroverts I can think of come out of nowhere to loredump their past, future and motives at your common workplace, if it develops organically they might talk about it, maybe, sometimes depending how comfortable they are with you, otherwise many try to keep it to business, especially when you're working for basically the only option you have on the place you're also forced to live within for most of your awake time, in a corporate dystopia like we're supposed to have. (et al.) That is, in my opinion, incorrect. You are supposed to have a group of appropriately-trained personnel able to mantain the department working even when and if you are not present and there's no command, reminding people (outside of cadets) what they should or should not be doing is something that would realistically happen in edge case scenarios, you won't see the chief of the police department order officers to write tickets to those parked in a forbidden parking spot, they should already know and be well aware of how and why to do it, likewise relaying updates around shouldn't be the work of the head either, as they should keep each other updated already even if the head is not present, you should not remind a police officer that the suspects have to be handed out to investigation to be interrogated, or searched and processed after arrest, that is something they already do when you're not around and should keep doing when you are around, you are in my opinion only supposed to give general directions, aka "set the aim", for what you want to happen using the criterias I outlined in the app.

I believe that simply because, I cannot do it all at the same time, if I spend time to properly check, capitalize, format and underline what I write, that's time I am not able to respond to other requests and reduces the output of the orders and instructions, time that cannot use to roleplay to establish the character with others, to catch up with the 20 chat messages that piled up while I was writing such a sentence, or do anything else that isn't going back and forth on a 20 characters large textbox to format everything correctly. That would worsen even more the areas of improvement that were indicated by others, I cannot yet at the same time: Go outside the department to meet and talk with various characters Send personalized instructions on what to for every change of the situation Send status updates along with the above Keep the captain and rest of the command updated, which is basically doing the same thing as above but in another channel Characterize the character with more distinctive quirks, writing and doing actions with the Me command Evaluate how the character would IC react to something Evaluate how OC is best for the round to react to something Merge the two together in a balanced way Get status updates from everyone on how are things going Coordinate with the other departments to involve them as possible in the gimmick Maintain and foster established knownship/friendship with other characters, recall what each said or did, what we were discussing, what was the last thing we talked about, evaluate what's appropriate for the round to talk about Go around checking how things are going in the ship Check the bridge and bridge crewmen to know and remain updated on the status of third party ships, including roleplaying with them Get to know new characters Observe the brig to ensure the correct sentence and proceeding is applied Check the IC law on the wiki to make sure of the above Remind everyone that we have investigators and to hand over the antags for the processing, to the investigators to go check things reported by the crew, to officers to go check potential calls Read the security history of the multiple POIs that the investigators print and assemble, which do not print the charges so you have to use the PDA Go hunt the antags with the rest of the security myself as possible Coordinate with other departments to prepare for medical emergencies, breaches, explosions, scientifical analysis and whatnot that makes IC sense Read through all the local chat, public channels and our channel to see if there's an emergency, someone asked something to me while i was writing or doing something, if I'm needed somewhere, if there's something I should be aware about Try to negotiate with the antags Feign ignorance on what is happening when comms do not work, the antag starts sucking blood, morph into some mass or whatnot, in a believable way Talk about it with the people present See when it's time to send bystanders away in a manner that makes sense for the IC reason to protect them without cutting the OOC fun of seeing the gimmick Probably more things that are not coming to my mind right now That's simply too many thing to do all at once, I am improving (or so I hope) in all of them for what I gathered, but if I were for example to focus to fast improve on punctuations and emphasis, other people that gave other suggestions on what to improve would be disappointed in seeing little to no progress in what they suggested, and vice versa. I would also like to point out that one of my favourite HoS that I played with when I started with trovensky in security seldom gave orders or instructions, and they were grinded down to a bare minimum when gave around, I consider him to this day one of the best HoS I ever had, he assumes we are competent and give us the freedom on how to approach things, with minimal inputs. That's not to say that it is the correct or best way to do it necessarily, but I do believe that's a valid command style that some (like myself) even prefer over other options, perhaps I'm in the minority so I am also focusing on developing the opposite approach, but I do indeed believe that's a valid approach and - when I'm playing an officer - even prefer it. That said I will try to improve on phrasing and emphasis more if that's the thing you believe would be more beneficial, but please reach a consensus on what is to focus on more that is manageable to do, because doing and even improving onto all of the above, all together at the same time, all expeditely, just isn't realistically manageable for me to do.

If that's the case, I didn't realize it, but I was indeed threw off the track by the presence of the jammer with the captain trying to keep him updated on the situation, the antag had a jammer that kept cutting me, though I do not believe to have given any conflicting order, just updated ones based on the evolution of the situation, in brief summary for what I recall: I arrived to the hostage situation I tried to negotiate with the scientist hostage-taker (while another officer kept doing it themselves despite my presence for whatever reason) Seeing the hostage taker unreasonable, I ordered via radio to prepare the laser carabines (the ones with stun mode), CS and flash grenades The hostage taker moved in the other room with the hostage I kept trying to negotiate to exchange the hostage with the monkey, while waiting for the carabines and appropriate equipment to arrive I'm not sure if the message went through, but I asked if the warden received the order to prepare the laser carabines, and asked for them to be brought on scene One of the officers gave the monkey to the scientist without him releasing the hostage, which was what I was negotiating the monkey for, that threw me off Seeing the hostage not released and the carabines not arriving, I pulled back to go grab them myself I took a CS grenade and a flash and proceeded to ask the warden, that I found in the armory, about the laser carabines that were being stuffed into a bag I received via radio the indication that the officers breached in and apprehended the suspect, so I came back to science to verify the situation myself, not taking the carabines because they were not needed anymore (I presumed the situation escalated while I was taking the equipments) In the meanwhile of all of the above, the captain was trying to acquire the status of the situation, so I had to relay such thing multiple times because the jammer was screwing over our ability to talk I ordered to process the antag and for it to be interrogated The investigation said it was possibly psychopatic and suggested a psychological evaluation I went to medical to request as such, but was told by the CMO that noone with said ability was present (despite the guide stating that all medicals can diagnose it etc. etc. but whatever, I rolled with it) Other RP with the captain to update him on the interrogation and gave him the transcript Other RP with an officer Hivebots in our sec meeting room, ordered to the warden to issue weapons to clear it out but got back that the warden took care of them themselves, since it was in our department I left it at it, talked to the captain about that too (warden is responsible for the brig so I didn't see an issue in him going upstairs inside the same department to wipe the hivebots) More RP with the officer Went inside the department and RP with the engineer that fixed the room meanwhile Round ends If you could tell me what conflicting orders I gave, I'd appreciate it, because I honestly do not recall to have given any (?)

What round are we talking about? If it was one of the early ones I had, it's absolutely possible (and perhaps expected) given I was still getting acquainted with the role

From the wiki page on the Lil'idra (https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=The_Lii'dra), it's indicated that "they [...] are typically killed on sight, assuming they are ever found to begin with." It however also indicates in multiple points that "Outside of this information, little is known about the hive outside of Zo'rane archives and data gathered during the Invasion." and "since the failed invasion of Tau Ceti, and it is assumed that the Hive either broke apart completely due to their losses being far too great, or they have been taking the past few years to recuperate and prepare for their next move". It is also not an assumption that they might be saved, but known from the game guide that, depending on the stage, they can (https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Lii'dra_guide) "As documented by the Lii’dra attacks where black k’ois were used, recovery after a few hours is possible, with minimum brain damage. The patient will likely be scarred because of the traumatic experience, but will be able to return to a normal life. However, if the mycosis is left untreated for longer, other effects may occur. After three days, black k’ois tumors will surround the head and may even cover the eyes. Those in this stage will be extremely hostile, and there is a high chance of vomiting black k’ois, infecting others. The damage to the brain is so intense that, once recovered, ability to move limbs may be reduced. Some individuals have been known to recover from this." (Please also note they were not really infected with anything until they escaped the OR) This was also the first time I ever see a lil'idra being used as a gimmick, so i had to quickly skim through the relevant guide to have an idea of what was going on, I'm not sure if i understood every part correctly, so I asked to the captain about my idea and they agreed to try to contain them with the idea of handing it over to science, the varuca one that is. I yelled at you because you killed the varuca antag, which I, in agreement with the captain, were trying to capture; that information was relayed on the comms, but you proceeded to shoot the varuca in the head i think, decapitating him, and moved to do the same with the other one; i yelled at you because you ignored an order 3 times in a row, not for killing him, but since we had noone else to work with (since the varuca was killed), I thought to hand the zombie to science to give them something to do instead of the varuca, but I didn't exactly knew what it was at that point in time. That is admin-spawned only, and was spawned after the escape from the OR because the surgeon decided to both wake up and put himself in between me and the zoombie as i was going inside to kill it after having talked with the captain, however if it's perceived as unreasonable to try to acquire more information from them, I'll avoid it in the future. That's because i was trying to figure out how to do chemistry for a good part of the round and training the intern before that, after which if I see that everything is going acceptably what would be the point of sending orders around? I feel that would not be beneficial for anyone, I try to avoid to send down orders if it's not needed, would you prefer if I gave around obvious instructions that people are reasonably already doing? I don't particulary like to send down orders if everything is going acceptably, or restrict what people want to do if there's no compelling reason to, or fill the chat with even more text to parse through (and it's already a lot) than what's needed, but if you guys prefer command that way, I'll try to assert more presence than I did. Please also excuse my inexperience as command, the black kois is like the third and the CMO the fourth round I do in such a position, I'm still getting acquainted with the (overwhelming currently) amount of information and options to think of, and fast switching from IC and OOC perspective back and forth, I will try to practice more as I believe that comes with exercise, at least I hope.