Girdio

I've only recently come back to Aurora so I was only able to be around for the last two events of this arc, in turn that's the only aspect I'll touch on. Feel free to dismiss it, as I don't have my finger on the pulse of Aurora exactly, but I feel that it's important to have the perspective of someone who hasn't been playing in the current state of Aurora as long. I was ghosting for the last event, to be clear. Obviously the biggest discussion point is regarding combat and how it's handled. I certainly thought it was weird for the Horizon to be going on the offensive, especially with the (from my understanding) outmatched situation they'd be in. For the crew to basically decide en-masse "I want to help security board the military vessel for an active warhead" seemed a bit far-fetched. Maybe some of the non-security that went had military backgrounds I'm not aware of, or other combat experience. Even still, most of the non-security were woefully under-equipped but yet still had the confidence of someone in a fully equipped mech. Personally, if I there had to be boarding going on I would have liked to see the Horizon be on the defensive. Perhaps as a last ditch effort in a losing battle, the SFA piled into a vessel and tried to board the Horizon. Yes, it would have been putting more characters at risk but it would have created a real threat, and felt more fitting for the ship itself. A defensive line set up between the non-combative crew, the few still able to try to protect them, and the SFA boarders. "Joe Schmo never held a gun before, and he despised the thought but knowing he had to pick one up to defend himself and his friends in the science department forced his hand," sounds better than "Joe Blow wanted to go disarm a bomb and shoot some Solarians". Deaths should exist. Yes, there should be impact in the round. At the same time, I feel that character death is always going to be hard to commit to. Most people don't want to lose a character they've spent weeks, months, or years building. Trying to be the literal bullet in the chamber that could utterly erase someone's character development and connections to IC characters? I don't think it's a surprise that event leaders don't want to commit more to someone dying. That said, I don't think character death is necessary, but instead earned character consequences are. Make someone actually feel as if what their character did have weight, to it's highs and lows. I'm aware this happened well on the mutiny event, but I feel that this is the better route to approach canon impacts. Maybe a consequence is someone dying, but it should feel earned. It should be something where someone goes "I didn't want to die, but I'm okay with it because it furthers the narrative in a good way". It's hard to say how exactly to do that at the moment, of course.

As pointed out by Rooster, medical itself is already difficult for people to get into. I've always wanted to get into medical throughout my years of SS13 experience, but it's never been something I've been able to simply because the complexity, no matter what server. Is it difficult for someone who's been in medical for a few months? Probably not. But for someone new to medical, it's a daunting experience. Knowing that it has become more difficult, it's going to be seen as too difficult for some people. I guess something important I'm also wondering is, who would the change benefit? It seems that this change would only be benefiting medical players who are tired of the routine, while hurting the rest. I feel like it wouldn't be adding any roleplay advantages (I could be wrong), and is just there because it seems too easy for you. Personally I think if you're finding a department too easy, that may be a good excuse to try out other departments and learn new mechanics. I don't mean that as in "you should play something else instead of changing everything!", but instead I feel that certain departments lose their glitter after playing them too long and a perspective shift can be helpful.

Pee.