dessysalta

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.

What it says on the tin. Now, hear me out: I understand (or at least, I figure) that the reason these antags are taken off IPCs are for either balance purposes or coding purposes (seeing as IPCs currently, and very soon will especially behave very different from organics). That said, I think these could allow for some pretty neat gimmick ideas, and ideally with the IPC rework balance won't be as much of a concern (if it even is now). I think that being able to be a V1 ULTRAKILL kind of robot fueled by blood (see also the new biofuel generator in the rework), a horrid mess of meat and wiring or a great imitation of both, a combat-enhanced IPC with highly complex augments (armblades/spiderhead/adrenaline), or a fucked up amalgamation of psionics and technology (which has some amount of precedent with psionic-based pistols in the Federation, unsure what else) are all very barebones and surface level examples of what could be accomplished with it. I know awhile back there was a similar suggestion of turning borers into spiderbots that could infect every species, but it looks like it was locked due to inactivity. If it's worth anything, I'd also like to address what was said in that thread here, in case any similar opinions hold up 5y later. For the sake of readability I'll put it in a spoiler: With a recent thread discussing the idea of making vampire/changeling be an uplink item, I think this feels in-bounds and in-line with what's being said over there. Aurora is already known for it's incredibly free-form gimmicks, so I think we should be extending that to every antagonist instead of barring them arbitrarily. P.S. It's currently 8 AM and I pulled an all nighter, so I'm a little tired when I wrote this. If my points seem bad, imagine I wrote them 10x better, thanks. For real though, I think it'd be cool.

Not sure what to say to this other than I support it. I'd rather it be just as open-ended as most antag stuff. Giving the option for other antagonists like merc to get it only makes it more versatile and relieves admins from some stress. Particularly since mercs can buy 3 (with 4 mercs) or 4 (with 5-6) at most. I think although the abilities both antags get are strong as fuck, we have rules in place for powergaming that'll minimize most of it. I think it could run the risk of being too much given what mercs start with? But I definitely don't see an issue with giving it to operatives and traitors. I really doubt people will be playing souped up vampires/changelings with assault rifles; if it ends up being a concern an OOC blurb or reminder would be nice.

Either to helmets or as gun attachments, please. It's not often, but it happens frequently enough to be annoying whenever I need to go into maintenance or a dark part of the ship telling myself "welp, time to one-hand an AR or find a lantern to slip in my pocket".

Hi, I was the secoff during the latter half of that round. To add onto what Loorey said, acting as security while non-security is reserved for the worst of circumstances, and generally requires a good in-character reason to do so regardless. Situations that aren't mass-cas(ualty) often don't warrant a citizen's arrest unless you have strong reason to believe there's going to be mass-cas in the very near future with no one to stop it—even so, you need to get into the logistics of it. Medical student is presented with a hostage situation, decides to break into the armory or find a gun, go gung-ho around the antagonist to scare them off? Even in a hypothetical scenario where this works and no shots are fired, this is stretching the limit of what a reasonable person would do, particularly one with so much to lose and not a whole lot to gain. Hostages are already a huge bargaining chip that stops normal security from antagonizing them without a well thought-out plan, factoring in power armor and military-grade weaponry and even common sense and it's no contest. When there doesn't exist any security on or off-duty, there's usually slack given in order to interact with the antagonist; this more means you can act with hostility towards them, not that you can gear up past bare essentials (which usually means what's on your person/what a reasonable person would take with them to minimize injury to themselves). Hostages, like the ones mentioned during the round (though I don't have the full story), can organize break outs particularly in severe circumstances like this. I've been spoken to a few times about acting as security in non-security positions, and it really is highly situational. Off-duty Vedhra warrior for hive K'lax, sees horrorform changeling and thinks its Lii'draic? Feel free to engage, but be on the defense more than offense. On-duty bartender with security too busy to handle what might be a vampire? Put down the bat and get some fear RP going on. When red alert is called, that usually means all bets are off and you can assume that things are about to be fucked if they're not already, but still try and wait for guidance from your other crew members, if not a head of staff (and as Loorey said, ahelp to be sure). More OOCly, it's just not a good idea to play the hero as medical, especially if you're the only one in the department. People, including antagonists, rely on you to make sure no one dies or is kept out of the round for too awfully long. This doesn't mean you should be a doormat, but think of a scenario where another non-security character might pick up a weapon, and restrict yourself to something twice that severity before you opt into that kind of play. You'll eventually learn to play it by ear and figure out when it would be reasonable to rush into the defense and blast them to bits, but it's exceedingly rare and needs to be justified up the wazoo before it can be considered.

These armors do a lot. Looking at the raw numbers is kind of a fool's errand unless you've seen them in combat time and time again. It might not seem like much, but using those things against their intended targets makes a ginormous difference, and anything above ~60% is basically negating the vast majority of fights short of being magdumped by 3 people at once—I once dumped ~15-20 5.56 rounds into a guy with ballistic armor, some point blank, only for him to walk his ass to medical and live. Now if my buddies had lasers or swords, would he have wanted the heavy armor instead? Probably, but that sort of gets into why specialized plate carriers are used at all if you're not entirely certain what you're going against. Plate carriers are already fairly decent, the specialized ones' whole purpose is to be used by people/officers who know absolutely-for-sure they're going to be dealing with them exclusively. Otherwise, stick to generalist. The heavy carrier and helmet are purchasable for negligible TC cost and given to several antags (most notably mercs) for free. Security getting two of them when they have 4 (5 counting the warden) officers is plenty when you consider the opposition is going to be at least on par; part of picking your weapon is understanding the matchup and being ready to GTFO or swap if you see a specialized carrier on the field, likewise as a secoff look at the weapons on their person and plan accordingly. If you buff their armor even more you're probably going to end up with more people rushing mindlessly into combat as tanks, when as security especially you should be playing as a team and strategizing, pulling back, and acting with fear for your own life. It's worth considering that security will almost always have homefield advantage of medical, operations, research, command and to a degree engineering; they don't need better armor with the entire crew behind them. That and most secoffs will know when to swap their plates back out long before they get shot to death, if they make a mistake. And part of the reason they aren't stronger, I'm guessing, is because if we gave sec the god armor by default they would never reach out to RnD/the machinist for anything specialized because they wouldn't need it.

What information would they be providing in this instance? It's rare people will talk about every place they've worked just to back up how old they are, and there's enough people who are 20 who act like they're 40 and vice versa, especially online.

I don't know how storage systems work, but would a locker or armory cabinet-adjacent thing that holds exclusively certain kinds of suits and gear be in-bounds? An easier way to grab suits and tanks a la the armory, with expanded storage could help with that sort of thing. That or what Lordnesh suggested, emergency bubbles could see more use.

It's been a minute since I gave my two cents on an app, but I figured I'd chime in here again: Lent is a friend of mine I've known since some of my earlier experiences on Aurora and is a big reason I got into unathi lore in general. They've inspired me to make so many things over the years, from the Zandiziite additions to my baby the Hammertail Smiths. From their characters to their developments as a lore dep, what they do speaks to me and I love their direction, their decisions—everything unathi. When they were accepted as lore deputy I knew it was a matter of time before they'd be accepted as a lore writer. +1. Get in there and do the Hegemon proud you magnificent bastard.