dessysalta

god dammit josie

I disagree with votes being the decider for ghost roles since their randomness is based on weight to reflect certain special roles (i.e. the SFA spawning very rarely because theyre a dying fleet, or the TCAF spawning a bunch because we're in biesel, etc) as well as potentially making it impossible to enjoy certain roles you like just because other people don't vote for them. It's not the same as voting for a gamemode and variety is kind of the spice of life in this instance so we don't get more favoritism than we already do. I'd liken it to why we don't get to vote for which map we get in Odyssey, which was discussed in that thread: (by Dreamix) Keep in mind there's a lot of ships that involve xenos and the explicit purpose of those ships aside from being fun on their own is to allow players to dip their toes into what being those species is like. The Unathite Kataphracts, Skrellian Tirakqi or whatever it is, the Tajaran circus and freighter, IPC Golden Deep merchant vessel, etc. all allow playing of that species on the ship even without a whitelist so players who want to try it have a chance to. That said they don't exist every round because then we wouldn't see other ships like the freebooter/pirate spawn, SPLF, generic freighter, Cyclops, and many others. I especially don't like the concept of saying "no, I don't like your ghost role, you don't get to have it" rather than voting for one you do want since that's de-facto bullying for the people who might enjoy one type or another (besides, what could you reasonably say is the reason you're voting "no" to that role? personal preference? most all of the ghost roles never interfere with the round, with the only ones that can being certain antagonist off-ships that are still incentivized not to, or ERT-lites that can't board the Horizon unless it broadcasts a distress signal anyways). If voting were to be implemented for ghost roles I would recommend it's "soft" voting. What I mean is: You can vote multiple times for all the ones you'd be okay with seeing (not perfect, but just okay with). At the end, the votes are tallied, and based on the percentage of votes, there's a boost in the weight of one/all of the off-ships that were voted for. This means it's not guaranteed and so it still stays somewhat random. You're not allowed to vote against something. I explained why I think this is a bad idea. Besides, rising tides lift all ships etc etc. Ships that rolled for the current round (whether through being voted in or happenstance) aren't allowed to be voted for (or can be voted for at a reduced rate or something). Encourages variety and keeps things from being samey. Besides, the randomness we have already allows for these ships to show up like 10 rounds in a row if you're lucky, they don't need any more help than a one-off occurrence.

+1, welcome to Adhomai. In all seriousness, Tzui has wooed me from the start with characters like Hans Jaeger (never forgetting that dude btw) and Samuel Hound, with Yasuko being one of my personal favorites. I love the personality he gives them and how he stands out among his peers. Give him another whitelist, will you please?

spork major

IPCs should get the prompt upon spawning to set their tag to a specific kind of ownership/tagless; merc gets it by default, whereas on Ody you have to switch to some other species and then back again to get the prompt.

Fyni is an amazing roleplayer and I can't overstate the amount of fun I've had interacting with their characters. I have no doubts they can play a lizard. +1

Only the storyteller should be allowed. Map votes are exclusionary and there's no guarantee anyone will vote for the one you specifically want to play on; it should be beholden to the story and not "well I just think this one looks cool"s imo.

1. I think this is really cool. I don't really have much to say aside from I like depth in the lore and this adds to that. 2. Lore apps are implemented (like added to the wiki, not necessarily approved) faster if they're formatted like the wiki so they can be copy-pasted 1:1 (or nearly), but it's not a requirement. I'm not a lore dev, I'm just speaking from past experience.

Ririlsk Guwan is such a charming character and my only complaint is the fact I don't get to interact with them very often. I like how realistic they are as a person and how perfectly they fit into the "Guwan trying to get by" niche.

I don't think we need a command learner role, since bridge crew in and of itself is meant to be that introductory role more than anything. Mining is where you learn how to pilot and hangar tech is where you learn gunnery (to a point), and just going out to fly a bit on a deadpop shift isn't so bad. Bridge crew teaches you how to fire the guns on the Horizon as well as be a glorified assistant for the rest of command. It's not particularly complicated or high stress until ship combat begins. If you're worried about starting out as one, don't be. Ask for help, even in LOOC, about what you should be doing and how to do certain things. There's surprisingly not much to know aside from paperwork, delivering items, and the occasional (or frequent) pilot job. If you want to be extra cautious, play a character who recently got their pilot's license for cruisers, and don't be afraid to turn down opportunities if you don't think you're ready for them. (Obviously there's a time and place for some things, so if you get asked to grab a drink from the command bar or you're the last crewman alive, you'll still have to do those.) If you're still worried, you can ask admins to let you play as an assistant for the SCC and have OOC permission to fly the ships. Frame it as an introductory period or internship, and introduce yourself to heads of staff that way ICly and OOCly before you turn that character into an actual crewman. Don't expect to be called across the ship constantly or sent on impossible errands or require a lot of interdepartmental knowledge. You're just the command-designated assistant and pilot. The most you'll be doing is leading away teams or taking on limited authority in very specific circumstances that a head of staff needs your help, and you can always delegate leadership to someone else in the former case. It's unlikely anyone will get on your case if for some reason you get 20 things on your plate at once, especially if you say you're new to the role.

Out of curiosity, what made you choose to make phoron be less relevant (or potentially irrelevant in some cases) for IPCs specifically? Does this apply to cyborgs or other robotics, too?

Completely agree with Comet, I like the proposed changes, although I have to say that bioshells/organic reactors are a novel concept and should absolutely be explored/implemented if not soon then on a long enough timeline. I think we'd be the only server to approach them with a degree of seriousness, one that isn't just "robots but human bodies". (And please do not limit them to a single frame.) As a suggestion, I recommend the parts that can be swapped out not be too restrictive mechanically but instead ICly. There would be some exceptions, but for instance having some kind of Zavodskoi patented design only for use in Z.I.s or particularly custom or expensive off-brand posis I think would add to the depth of a lot of characters without leading to a FOMO moment of having not picked the "cool" or "meta" frame for whatever's trying to be accomplished. Or maybe having certain parts cost loadout points a la the augment system? Baselines being able to mix and match is an okay start, but I fear this will run into situations where it's only baselines with strange limbs or parts inside of them. In fact I think it would neuter some existing scrapper characters that rely off the gimmick of not being constructed correctly or being jury-rigged to function. Part of the appeal of being able to mix and match is the justification behind it, and having the freedom to have a certain trait or belief or whatever (see: Unathi's gender roles and religion) so long as you can reasonably justify it makes for very interesting and diverse characters. I wouldn't like to see too many instances of a megacorp having an interesting system or unorthodox piece of tech just for the sake of giving it to them. I'm sort of torn between the two spectrums—realistically most of what could be suggested for unusual or nonstandard power sources and components would already be available and experimented upon in the public market, and so restricting them to frame or megacorp would suck in a lot of instances (and then you'd have to draw a line about what "is" or "isn't" too complex/available for a certain frame, etc.) I'd also like to echo what's been said about untagged shells. They exist and there should be some safety precautions in place to make sure they aren't outed so easily. Personally I'd suggest additional ways to repair themselves in private without risking being seen as what they are, as the nebulous warning message for trying to repair yourself seems to not make much sense for the three-decades-self-owned synthetic with a degree in engineering. As far as radiation immunity, I'd make it a visual thing like we saw on Konyang iirc. The more radiation they absorb, the harder it becomes to see things until they either decon or visit a machinist (or rest for awhile). Goes hand in hand with how radiation affects cameras IRL without being too disruptive and still enforcing their superiority over the organic dude in a radstorm.

I've played a few rounds both as command and not, as well as an antag and Derrick is a great character, with Toomie having the skill to back it up. I like the way they approach situations, and they have a habit of having thing done before you're even done asking. +1

Seconding Goolie. I love the characters Lenny writes and among other things like being inspired to make a pirate, and having our two Sinta have an official duel on the Horizon, I can't imagine anyone else as a better pick for Vaurca. +1. Let's see it. P.S. VEDHRA SWEEP!!

I'll be the first to say that Goolie's writing capabilities are off the charts; he's able to make realistic, believable, and to a degree hateable (hey, you did this to yourself) characters that have just an inane amount of depth to them. I love being on the receiving end of his more popular characters like Ska'zaszhk because of the charm interlaced with deep sensibilities and motives. +1. Shaken, not stirred.