dessysalta

file in, goon squad

Just an idea, can we add a unique box that's along the lines of "feel free to just kill me with no build up if you need to accomplish a gimmick"? Would be fun to opt into that and then get turned into red mist in a second and watch the scales tip/the rest of the crew lose their shit.

To repost what I said with a more visibly-casual tone, I think I'd be very upset if someone tried to lower the slots of my most-played departments. Gameplay goes hand in hand with roleplay (hence this being a video game you can play and not a server you only write in), obviously, but this wouldn't accomplish anything worthwhile. I echo what was said about it really just pulling the fun out of things; bluntly it'd just reduce role availability in an environment where roles to play can already be hard to get, not factoring in things like time of day and general availability on an individual basis (jobs etc). Personally, I've found it more difficult to engage with Aurora as of late because of the increase in population. I like the increase in population, it's nice to see the thing filled, but I also dislike losing rolls and then having to play in a wholly different department or a role where you have absolutely no authority and can't be given any. It's a hard sell just by virtue of reducing the player count. One thing I will say again is that I do think this change is very anti-roleplay. From the points mentioned above to what Mr. Popper said about medical's environment and associated playerbase, this is at best a band-aid fix and more likely a change that will exacerbate a recurring if not growing issue. I think there are better departments to focus on than engineering. I personally have found that engineering is pretty much a perfect split between roleplay and gameplay. I think sec is also pretty good, though more dependent on gameplay. Operations on the other hand, or the more substantially spoken about science could use more content well before we start cutting into the rest—as much as a plan for them might be out of scope of this thread. Generally, I don't think any slot in any department should be cut down. As others have said, if the problem is the content, then add more content. If it's the players, then correct the players. Maybe do both in one go, I dunno how development works but I have an idea of how some things could work, but this is a huge change even without getting into all of the niche aspects of it. Worst case scenario, I don't want this to turn engineering into an extremely gameplay-first-roleplay-second environment, nor do I think job selection should be more competitive in any department than it already is.

Kira E. Vazquez, Head of Security: "Appreciate the responses and comments regarding my ideas. For some clarification: I'm suggesting we perform a long-range jump once we get to the diagonal; I spoke with a couple technicians up top and they told me it'd take two of the three or so leaps in our budget, all things bein' equal. I think leaving one in our reserves once we're halfway through the system should be fine enough, and it's unlikely we don't find a gate system to get us the hell out of here in that amount of time. S'pecially not if we're hittin' the ones with signals first and foremost. "Still, we can maybe funnel in some supplies from derelicts—but I've been in barely-habited space before, and when we're talking providing for a cruiser that has several thousand lives aboard, the idea is that we pick up anything that isn't nailed down and come back with a hammer. Except with that gaggle of fun-runners behind us, we won't have any time to come back at all. Radio transmissions, dyin' or lively, means real activity for better or worse. Where there's still people, we can get more than poor meals and scrap metal. "I need to emphasize that the reason ships of our caliber are able to last so damn long is because we find a place to hunker down, that or we don't dilly-dally. Can't do the former, gotta do the latter. Like I said, I foresee us using up food and ammo even in the quieter parts of the spiral, and if we're out by the time we come across a real threat... "Tch. Well, we know what happens next. So let's not take the passive route."

The room is cool, still scraped and no less than "dinged up" from all of the commotion just a night before. Your hands, now smooth and burdened with the anxiety of aftermath and no longer shaking from the rumbling of your radio and gunfire, find the terminal's side and press down the button to boot. It whirrs, sputters, and then finally turns on. You briefly wonder if the engineers will get around to fixing it, seeing as they have their work cut out for them for the next few weeks. You dismiss the thought and focus on the task at hand; a few flicks of your fingers, and you play the tape. It's a holovid, saved locally. Records show it was recorded only an hour ago. First is the map, with a few colorful indicators here and there that estimate fuel cost and supply usage. A sigh weaves its way out of you. It's several weeks less than you were expecting, and your stomach rumbles at the idea of being stranded. Before you can navigate to the sectors themselves and order deep-scans, a camera overlay awkwardly slides on top of the projection. Kira E. Vazquez, Head of Security: "Good lord, what the hell did I miss while I was down here?" The short-haired Mictlani woman is still half-dressed, in fact dressing herself as she turns on the camera, funneling herself into a black tank-top and adjusting her shades. She hasn't showered in a few days from the looks of her hair, with a prominent bruise on her shoulder. She's still in her corporate apartment, with all the Solarian paraphernalia you'd expect. "Listen," She grunts, leaning against the doorway with her good arm as she bandages the purple-black splotch. "I've been down this road before, and it doesn't end well. Shit, I'd say it ends pretty badly if we don't play our cards right," As soon as she's finished, she walks off-screen for a few seconds. By the time she returns, she's wearing her iconic authority cap and holding a beer. The label is Virklunder, a limited edition bottle given some space creature or another plastered on the front. "So lemme give you my elevator pitch." The console lets out a few unhappy blips as it pans to the pirate cruiser, then hums more casually upon flicking to Beta Marax II. The commander points a finger at the camera, and on top of the map appears an away-facing hand gesturing to the sector. The holograms are a lot more defined than the shallow camera view plastered overtop. You can see the scars on her knuckles. "Here. Let's be honest, we've got just about fuck and all in the way of supplies from hereon, but as we are now is probably the best we're going to be for the foreseeable future. Even counting derelicts or whatever shoddy, half-failing, staffed-by-a-zombie stations, it's a near-zero chance of surpassing our current shortage." Kira pauses to take a sip, breathing out from her nose as the disgruntled expression softens a bit. "So, we hit the occupied sectors hard. I don't know what those signals are—could be an oasis as much as it could be hivebots—but if we lounge about in these coming weeks, eating our way to the floor, we'll be in even worse condition when we inevitably come into another gang of idiots wanting to poach us. We'll run a course from Marax-Two, to Marax-One, hit a jump to Berkley-Seventy-One, and then shift over to Xar'Qui-fifty-two." She pauses and lets it sit, and as she does the system map runs a few calculations; the console hums, buzzes, and then shudders as the hologram updates with the proposal. Beta Marax II, Beta Marax I, jump diagonally to Berkley 71, resume course at Xar'qui 52. "It's risky," The commander takes another sip of her beer. "But if we head to two empty sectors and lose the food we have, we'll be fighting on empty stomachs and half-wits. Better to floor it while we still have the option, yeah?" The holomap distorts, crinkles, then disappears. What remains is the flat camera view, expanding a bit to allow for a more crisp image of Vazquez, who's setting her beer down in favor of a cigarette. Faint groaning can be heard from a body in the background—given the golden hair, it looks like her wife. "Don't forget: We're still the Horizon. That's the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. We've got plenty of manpower and guns. For now." One last pause, then a sigh. "Let's make use of 'em before we get eaten alive by those pricks back South of us." As the camera, too, flickers and threatens to cut out, the commander mutters under her breath: "Mierda." The holovid finishes, pausing on the last frame before finally fading back to the desktop.

Everything about what I said on Rookie's unathi app applies here; amazing roleplayer. I'll also tack on wonderful mechanics, so I bet they'll pass the command whitelist with flying colors. +1

See title! I've been meaning to make this thread for awhile, I dunno if it'll take off or if anyone will use it, but similarly for awhile I've wanted a place to ask for people who want to make duo/trio/etc. groups of characters that know each other or are otherwise related (be they siblings, unathi clanmates, Z.I.s/IRUs/other corporate robots in a line, diona split from a larger mass, or whatever else) without getting run over in say, general/OOC. Ask here, coordinate here, do whatever. I figure a "I'd like to make [x duo/etc] with [xyz traits/gimmick]" is probably how most conversations will go. Anyways does someone wanna make a Zavod handler for my ZI Nietzschka 🥺

Rookie is an amazing roleplayer who has a wonderful understanding of depth and all that goes into making a real, thinking, feeling person out here in the Spur. I'd give him the whitelist if he asked, but seeing as he made an application you might as well grade it for funsies (hint: it's really good). +1

Bunkers have the go-ahead from both human and synth lore "so long as they don't have admin-tier stats". A gear crate for Ceres' Lance is on the table, too, but that's out of scope here and I just figured I'd mention it.

Hunter-Killer rigs are designed for/can only be used by the specific Purpose entity, the chassis of which are admin-spawn only, per synth lore here. That said, synth lore (at the time) also said they could potentially be toned down. The former of those two links also has the original Hepht H-K chassis sprites, whether or not that's useful is up to you. Edit: Could you also add the knockoff NT variant of the breacher?

I generally would like to see hardsuits in use more often. Empty hardsuits aren't that powerful and I'd like to see people parading around in them. Also, their modularity here could probably be offset by the cost of worthwhile modules (that and not all hardsuits accept the same ones; speaking of, to the person who came up with the mechanics examine thing, add that to hardsuit modules pls).

I think that what i suggested about borers can be a decent enough rebuttal to this, though I generally agree that it doesn't really make much sense. Either way, I could see there be either a special system for synthetic absorption or at least some kind of handwave (maybe they're absorbing their databanks/the emotions and memories tied to the parts themselves?). Turning into metal is still in-bounds methinks because The Thing could copy clothing and that definitely included some metal things. Or we could just make it so they can't absorb but can still copy the appearance of synths. I dunno, I think it could work with some justification. I think these gamemodes have good use cases if arguably niche and reliant on buildup and crew interaction. Though more honestly, yeah, they're very old and underwhelming; good gimmicks for both of them I feel are a rarity compared to how often I actually see them. They tend to result in very "I am a God"-based gimmicks, and having that every single time is unideal. However, I don't think that's cause to neglect something that could otherwise develop them for the better. A full rework of both (or at least vampires) would be ideal, but would be fairly large undertakings by the dev team when they currently have a lot more to worry about. That said, the idea has been discussed before, although to not much depth. I've however seen people suggest left and right that vampire would be better off with power selections and clans a la Vampire: The Masquerade, and I agree with those vehemently. If it ever does roll around, we could rework it so IPCs have a niche within it. Last idea: if these would be impossible, how about we just come up with a couple similar, but not 1:1 antagonists that are considered as part of the same group? Say instead of Vampire it's called Bloodfeast, or some other weird name. If you're readied up for Bloodfeast as a human, you get vampire. If you're readied up for Bloodfeast as an IPC, you get vamIPCre, or whatever the equivalent would be. I'm spitballing, obviously. These would need heavy refining, but some kind of IPC-only antag that hits the broad strokes of and could be played as the antag they're complimenting would be neat.