Shimmer

I concur here. This will put half or more of the executive officer staff out of a job, I'd prefer not to see this change go through if the same species restrictions apply.

It would give characters something to talk about, share, bond over. Antagonists don't involve any degree of canonicity, and they are like most of the engagement players get. It's hard to develop a character when you basically retcon them all the time.

Hi. Hello. Greetings. I need to write in a few words at least even if their nonsense to get my brain going forward. I'll start by just throwing out my thoughts in regards to character recognition, especially in event articles, especially especially ESPECIALLY as it pertains to character retention. Do I agree that characters should be getting recognized for what they do in really important tasks? Yeah! Those are significant events, they have a lot of eyes on them, and there are close to zero named anything on them most of the time. It's rare to see named individuals in event articles that aren't big shots like politicians and military leaders and just people who are at the top of the chain in general. Letting the little everywoman get her recognition here and there is fine, and to add to this, I disagree with Sue that this shouldn't be an ego thing. Fuck this, this is an ego thing, people should feel pride over this, everyone has an ego, everyone will feel pride over their character being mentioned on an article. And its fine, it's normal, its human to feel pride over your fictional little spaceperson baby with their smug little sprite being mentioned in a fictional newspaper. What I also think, however, is that people are talking like this will help or improve player retention in some way or another. I think this is a red herring, characters should be recognized because we play a video game and those characters exist in that video game, and it's cute when those same smug little spacepeople get named every once in a while, or are seen at the helm of an award ceremony. The issue is, I doubt this will affect retention in any way but possibly the most minimal one, in either direction really. Think about it, setting aside the sheer amount of effort required to do something remarkable enough that it can be picked up and outed as special and reward worthy, all of this requires stupid amounts of luck. To be one out of a hundred to receive recognition requires not just skill, but timing, right place, right people around you, and the right environment, and the right job. How is this meant to encourage character retention? What I think really causes problems with character retention is the fact that... Well- There isn't all that much to do on the Horizon. It's hard to interact with people in a meaningful way sometimes, how are you supposed to sit down and have a chat with your doctor colleague when the GTR is full of dying and bleeding people. It's not like you can even discuss this after the fact, you can't bond over this, because none of what just happened was canon. Sure, you may have gotten to know the other person, but now what? It can be really hard for new characters to find conversation topics, and there really aren't that many social spaces on the Horizon that don't just get repetitive, or are structured in a way that it's horrendously hard to follow a conversation or talk to most other people. When the bar is full, how are you really supposed to talk to someone on the other end of it? You can try to strike up a chat with the bartender- and should!- but it's likely someone else has done so before you. It takes a certain kind of person to break out of this, we call them extroverts, and I'm sorry but the vast majority of people that play are not that. If you want character retention, you need to find reasons to give for those characters to stay. And above fucking all, you need to stop pushing some of those characters to leave. I can't overstate how many times I've seen characters be called 'relay only' 'neverplayers', and I can't put to words how utterly fucking infuriating it is to see some players both ICly and OOCly go 'lmao lol lmfao haha i've never seen you above deck'. I'm unemployed, I have so much spare time to spend, and I try my best to play as my characters and interact with others in spite of antag shenanigans. Yet even still this stupid insult was applied several times to me and my characters, it's incredibly easy to have one of your characters catch that title and for people to passively-aggressively hold it over your head. Now imagine if I wasn't employed. Imagine if I could afford only one two game per week. Four hours. Four hours where roleplay, intercharacter connection, all of that, isn't guaranteed. Four hours where the possibility of you being pushed to AFK in a bar are more than they should be. Now imagine if you tried to develop your character on the relay, try to test out their personality, try to see names you can watch out for on the manifest for interaction, and you get hit with I've never seen you sis, lmao, who are you? Who tf are you? Is that supposed to be motivating? Does that not push people away? Would you keep playing a character that is invisible according to others? If we are talking about character recognition, a lot of people, players, should stop doing this shit. More opportunities for characters to connect with one other should be given. More social spaces. More reasons for people to interact that don't get forgotten the next round because it's antag related. Give characters a reason to stay. And maybe some of them will even get recognized on that fancy fictional newspaper, too.

I would like to actually touch on this and my experience with enforcement of this stuff. I've previously asked with the lore team, in particularly Stryker, about my headcanon'd shell model line called 'Edna', and whether or not they can be named that on a planet like NHP presuming of course they follow ethnic appearance guidelines. The answer given to me was a no, specifically because of the issue that IPC players would be able to use this as a loophole to skirt around and ignore ethnic guidelines intended for planets like Eridani, Konyang, NHP, Port Antilla etc etc etc. This would allow in theory a Jane Janeson to come from Eridani just because they're technically an IPC. I'm not certain this is a loreteam issue in so much as errant players slipping or skipping by the moderation of those guidelines, but from my personal experience, IPCs are expected to follow what ethnic and cultural guidelines exist for their appropriate origin, and if they do not it is an ahelpable issue.

I've held off on writing feedback until the very last moment on account of both being lazy wanting to try to figure out what sort of traits Komaeda expresses as a command member. Trying to gauge as a trial member of command and as crew. Saaaadly the trial period does not last NEARLY enough for me to be able to do the latter, however I do think I want to comment at least from the perspective of rounds I participated in as Laura, and of rounds I've ghost observed. Holmes came across to me in a way that an established command member did, at least with my limited experience with the role. They were responsive, and they facilitated something I wanted to give one of my service members. I don't think there was a point where I tried to communicate with Holmes and failed to get across to them. They interacted with the crew I sent over to them in a diligent manner even after not being able to find something on their own. Edit: Most recent round with them me and Holmes were the only command members present during an intense hostage situation. I took lead, but everything would've been a lot more overwhelming and probably impossible without someone else taking off some of that pressure and focusing on tasks they are more experienced in. Something Komaeda did diligently and effectively. Leaving a positive note here, +1.

Hey! Thanks for the feedback. Yeah in hindsight I agree that I probably should have went down to bring back the security officers first, but the decision was made largely out of a tired end-of-the-round tunnel vision, I had been prior to this decision doing most of the negotiations with the ninja, including intentional stalling of the antagonist, which is tiring to do for a whole hour, especially giving I'm new to command. So this was more of a groggy "im halfway finished with this dumb paper, ill just take two minutes to sign and fax it" than giving it conscious priority - by that stage, the situation report did nothing more than notify command of 'we've just been robbed. no one died except for our pride.' Hopefully this explains why I did it, I'll keep this in mind next time.

I've volunteered for almost all of the events of the arc, bar the visit to Point Verdant and the Etna visit. I'll try to give as much of my perspective of both individual events, and the entire arc as a whole. basically what im saying is this is going to be long winded and wordy stars help me I'll start with the events I've actively participated in, starting off first with the exclusionist attack, and then the warehouse + NPP assault sort of mixed into one big bag! I'll very immediately deviate from that with something that genuinely bugged me on in both the exclusionist event and the warehouse assault! Something that annoyed me personally is that at certain parts of the events, I did feel very aimless and without someone or something directing me. It was really badly present in the exclusionist raid, you can see in my recording of it I've sent the occasional ahelp that either never got a response, or was wordlessly closed. I do get that admins and moderators are most definitely overwhelmed with tickets during events, but a simple we can't handle that right now, we have bigger priorities, sorry would go a LONG way in not leaving a bitter taste in your mouth and a feeling of being completely ignored. This DOUBLE stings as a volunteer, because we rely on staff for guidance and when we are ignored or nothing is said to us it gives us a sense of aimlessness. This was, thankfully, not present in the NPP assault. I received prompt responses from the team, and good direction. I wish this could be the standard, because it improves the game significantly for the volunteers. As for the exclusionist assault, a few things. My memory of the entire thing is BADLY rusted, but what comes to mind is that there wasn't that much of a plan it to all. So much so, that we didn't even go to the CiC and instead opted to sit in the bridge, something that killed me in the first hit. That part is on our end, but the intent behind this move was very much to pull punches, to give the Horizon an opportunity. We underestimated the Horizon and it's capabilities, and because of that the space fight felt unimpactful, we were never a threat to the Horizon with how prepared it was. If this was pointed out to us, and we were told to not pull our punches as much, I feel like the space phase could've given the event more stakes. The same applies to the cannon fodder. We were designed to die quickly, but I feel like they didn't have too much of an impact. I don't mind them being fragile, I think it's fitting, but if they had more of a punch to them it would've been better. They were all armed with pistols against a crew fully kitted out in armor, hospitalizing someone, which was the intent of every event, was pretty difficult to do. The improvements I would like to see is basically- don't underestimate the Horizon too much. The volunteers are already pulling their punches, pulling your punches with a weak weapon simply means you do very little damage. Moving on to both the warehouse and the NPP. First, the NPP very clearly learned the lessons the warehouse taught both the mappers and the crew, leading to a very focused and organized final event. I see people mentioning that it felt very unfulfilling at the end, and the reason for that is because the Horizon learnt its lessons, the crew was well armed, extremely well organized, they simply surpassed what the expectations were for the event. What's the solution to this? In cases where the Horizon does a little too well, backup spawners of ghostroles that can dish out good damage should be used. After all, if the crew is doing well, they are up to the challenge. On the topic of ghostroles- I will speak for myself- I did not like the fact that the ghostroles were actual IPCs that had to use weapons. I personally would've preferred if instead they were simple mobs that could be controlled, which does annoyingly require custom sprite work for those to stick out. I think it'd have been worth it, imagine if instead of just random IPCs attacking you it'd have been advanced hivebots for ranged attacks, and really buff and dilapidated IPCs. The only time I see regular IPCs being neat is when the cure went through, in which case you probably can squeeze in a few of them in the final stages to appear out of the woodworks and go 'Huh. Wuhuh. Why am I covered in guts?' - which was fun! The last two things I will touch on was Konyang itself. Point Verdant was beautifully well done and crafted, and I genuinely love the map... However, it was a little too well done. It was big, and it required so many ghostroles to fully staff that outside of events and very specific instances it felt empty, no one went down there, and it's size meant that the server took ages to load. I think if the scope for a shore leave map was scaled down a bit, more areas where the crew can hang out without ghostroles were added, and if they were limited to specific days; they'd see much more use. This is the odd case where in my opinion too much effort was put into it, and it ended up hurting it as a result. As for Konyang itself- I hate it. I hate how much effort went into it and that none of my characters were able to see it because at any point in time it was a combat arena with 30-40+ infected IPCs. There was no reason to go down to Konyang other than to fight hivebots and rampants, and this is bad, because all it does it give security something to do, and they have more than plenty to do. If their A.I wasn't that aggressive, and had triggers as to when they attack, it would allow smaller teams to actually touch down and explore the area without intense combat. I get that the danger down on Konyang was supposed to be representative of what is happening on the planet, and it did achieve this! By preventing people from exploring the place without an armed entourage. So a lot of effort that was put into the map just sorta went unseen- who encountered the trinarist memorial, and was able to have a quaint, cute moment with it? To my memory no one, which sucks, because it's a cool bit of lore no one got the chance to interact with. That's all I can really think of right now. I might add more later if I'm reminded of it. None of my points are meant to start an argument, if you reply to them thinking I will argue back, you're an idiot. They are feedback and nothing more. I speak only for myself here.

BYOND key: shimmeristaken Discord Username: shimmeristaken Character names: Tomine Rosenweiss, Ethnea How long have you been playing on Aurora? I've re-joined Aurora around March/April of last year, meaning my most recent consistent playtime on Aurora is roughly a year or so. I also used to play around 2020-2021 (during the KoTW arc) under a different ckey, Timirald, but I don't remember much of my time there nor anyone from my time there, so I don't really count it as proper play time. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? I have a total of three notes and one warning. One was for spamming ghostroles to try to fix a dead ship. Other two of the notes and the warning related to them was for being snappy/snarky/angry towards other players when their behaviour irritated me, crossing the 'Be nice to others' line. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame? There is no singular purpose for heads of staff in my opinion, as they cover multiple areas and responsibilities that are all different to each other. If I had to put it laconically, it will be similar to how I described A.I; Their purpose is to make the round flow better for both the players and the antagonists, achieving so in a myriad of different ways and using different tools. It's not limited to just antagonist rounds either, command members hold the ability to introduce more activity in extended or event rounds if they have an idea, the will to executive that idea and the creativity to make it fun. In my A.I whitelist, I described A.I as a soft gamemaster, they had the tools and ability to push the round in pretty much any manner they wanted, and it is their responsibility to make it flow better. Going by this comparison, command are more senior players / party leaders, the type you can look up to for guidance, and those who can push their respective departments into action, but don't posses the same overwhelming presence that an A.I does. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them? 'Players' are too broad of a category for me to really stuff them into one, so I'll break it down into four groups I think are relevant to command! New players: The most significant responsibility command players hold in my opinion are to new players. Not just new players to Aurora, but to new players to their departments. Command players are an easy person to turn to when players need help, they have the authority, ability, and OOC knowledge to help out new players adjust mechanically into the server or into a department. Be it through direct tutoring, or through the attachment of another senior player; Command can and should ease new players in. Regular players: With regular players, command plays a similar role to what I described AI do in that application. They exist to allow for better round flow, having access to tools and the authority to organize their department and allow for more convenience and direction. In non-antag rounds, command are able to, if willing, introduce interesting elements to the round, expedition, crew organized events and the like. Command players also exist as a direct line for their department to communicate with others, and ease cooperation between them. Command players: Other command players are in a unique position, and the obligation to them is largely to keep to your lane and not to boss about in departments you don't belong. Good communication and information updates are vital for smooth cooperation between departments, and other whitelist holders are essential for that. Antagonists: What's seemingly the most difficult aspect of command, the treatment of antagonist players. Command have a responsibility to allow an antagonists' gimmick to go forward as best as it can, since they are in the best position to easily and thoughtlessly shut it down early into the round. This ties into the obligation to regular players, just as they allow their round to flow better, so should an antagonist's round flow better with the help of command; either by facilitating it to begin with, allowing leeway, or showing the response it calls for. Explain how the recent events in the Spur changed your character and how they came to be employed on the SCCV Horizon. Laura is a synthetic produced for Zeng-Hu pharmacueticals by Siddhartha Systems Incorporated, Xanu, in the year 2452. She was initially assigned as a pilot for the Keiretsu's security detail operating in and around the weeping stars, especially with expeditions going into the Lemurian sea. Her performance and initiative within those assignments, when it came to negotiating with errant vessels or providing aid to Zeng-Hu assets in distress, made way for her slow climb of the corporate ladder. With the increased pirate activity following the phoron scarcity and the Solarian collapse, Laura's performance with the Keiretsu not only earned her freedom, but also a command position in one of it's vessels, continued by a swift recommendation for reassignment to the SCCV Horizon. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Executive Officer, Consular, and Operations Manager! Have you familiarized yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes! Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking: Currently, I only have my trial character in mind, Laura, who is going to be an executive officer. I am planning on playing a Zeng-Hu corporate representative, and then some kind of operations manager, maybe Nanotrasen? Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes, I understand! Have you linked your BYOND account to the Forums? Yes, I have! Extra notes: None that I can think of!

If you've read what I said instead of trying to just argue, you will note that I said the following; it heavily discourages exploration unless done in large groups, or unless well armed. You can look for any insinuation you want, but let me repeat again, my meaning, without you trying to infer something that isn't there; it heavily discourages any expeditions that are unarmed, and are not going in with the mindset that they will end up fighting something. So what you offered as a 'well you have a solution!' wasn't a solution. So the tools available to say, a BC and a sec off, literally aren't enough. So what you are saying is, you require either command to go explore, so you can get access to more weapons (something rarely granted), or you need to make new weapons with science. Return to my first point; heavily discouraged. So what you are proposing to my issue of the fact that there is too much fighting done on the planet, which hinders exploration in favor of a combat arena is... Give people more guns? Look- People don't go down to Konyang to fight IPCs, and those that do are delusional and don't understand what those IPCs are supposed to represent. The solution to that issue, it being, 'you shouldn't execute dozens and dozens and dozens of curable people to get a shiny rock' isn't 'well allow people to do that and give them more guns', its 'reduce the risk involved with going down to the planet so it's not a game of doom'. Allow me to repeat myself- Most people are not violence inclined, players should not be punished for playing reasonable characters. A reasonable person averse to fighting would likewise also not go down to a planet knowing that fighting might occur. When I say violence averse, I do not mean incapable of self defence, but going down to Konyang requires you to go down to it with the mindset of 'It's CRAWLING with IPCs and I might get attacked', it's too hostile for any reasonable character to willingly go down to it unless heavily defended by others, locking out any smaller, sight seeing expeditions that BCs are able to organize. You can't avoid those zombies is the thing, if they spot you, you have to fight, and if they spawn on a planet they are HEAVILY likely to at some point spot you. Tell me, would you be willing to go down on Konyang, given how frequently attacks happen there, knowing that you have 4 fucking shots to make due with? Or are you telling me you'd want to face one of those things in melee with a machete? Again, you are ignoring my primary issue in that you are giving solutions to be more effective at combat, wherein my argument is that this combat is an issue to begin with. You know another solution? You can get a mech! And then stomp all of those infected IPCs to death! And make a notch for everyone you get. You could just go around with a mech and EMP anything that moves! Or use the leviathan to clear the way for expeditions! : D The fact that those solutions are even proposed or needed proves my point. Konyang as it stands is too much of a combat arena, and the solution to that is moving it away from being a combat arena to something else, not giving players more unique ways to gun down Konyang's civilian population, as zombie as they might be.

It's an SCC outpost, no a zeng-hu or a Hephaestus outpost. The SCC as itself has barely any presence on Konyang due to it being formerly Solarian, and being dominated by Einstein Engines. This outpost, is clearly marked as an SCC outpost, and conveniently has three landing platforms specifically for the Intrepid, Canary, and Spark, no other vessel can land there. This construction is recent, not old. It's marked as recent by the chainlink being painted on it. The rampant IPCs are DEFINITELY interested in the wildlife, giving anytime they spawn in the wildlife around them undergoes a complete extinction event, including aquatic animals and giant cockatoo birds. I'm not imagining some extinction level event, I'm point out that it is there. If any ruin with IPCs spawn in, the crew, any crew, will get attacked. What is portrayed planetwise is that the place is CRAWLING with infested IPCs, and it is, because if ruins do spawn in they spawn in upwards of 10-20 IPCs in a round. What, you want me to believe middle of nowhere jungle, in what you describe as not an apocalyptic total overrun, has that many infected IPCs? Just there? Just because? Middle of nowhere? Come off it. Either it's badly overrun, and the number makes sense. Or it's not, and the attacks are too frequent for what is supposed to be middle of nowhere. You wanna talk ludonarrative dissonance? Let's talk about the one where the SCC clearly states that fighting those IPCs is to be avoided at ALL costs, and yet permits expeditions to places where everyone knows they are present in large numbers. Why would Konyang permit those, knowing it's citizens will come to harm by expeditions that do not benefit it? It's almost like there is a good reason, a good fucking reason, I said arguing common sense and what makes sense and what doesn't is a stupid idea that will lead nowhere. It doesn't make sense for the SCC to send expeditions there, that's not what the SCC is there for, it's a waste of resources and deeply unprofitable. It doesn't make sense for Konyang to allow to expeditions to take place, because all of them ultimately lead to their citizens being shot dead for no gain. You can't argue 'it doesn't make sense', because if you start going down that path, I can poke holes in just about everything myself, too, and we can turn this into a pointless debate where you are convinced you are right, and so am I, and completely miss the point. So I am asking, plainly, simply, keep this on topic, the topic is not whether or not it makes sense, is whether or not it's enjoyable to do. I did not misrepresent the premise. What I am saying isn't that people aren't exploring the location, is that the infested IPCs attack people before they even notice heavily discourages exploration unless done in huge groups, during lowpop, you are practically forbidden from going down there. As I have mentioned prior, the amount of infected IPCs that spawn are not single digit, they number in the tens to twenties. The expedition shotgun is cute and all, but it has four fucking shots total, ah yes! What a smart and totally sufficient solution to the problem! Or alternatively you as a bridge crew or xenoarch can totally break character, and start making weapons out of pipes. Or request weapons from security or operations that will never get approved, because the answer you will get is 'What are you doing? Going on a hunting party? Make due with your expedition shotgun!' Limitations exist to promote roleplay and corral it into something interesting. This doesn't fucking do it. What you are essentially telling, is that anyone who plays a reasonable person that doesn't seek out violence and actively avoids it, you know, common sense that you put so much emphasis on previously, should be punished by a whole new map area to explore being locked off to them. In essence, play a reasonable character? You're not allowed to enjoy all the new fun parts we added, and you are not allowed to use them for character development. You are only ever allowed to explore the planet if you play someone willing to dome 7 IPCs in a row. How exactly is that good, explain? Why is punishing players for choosing to take a reasonable character, rather than a BOOYAH JOHN SOL, a good thing, again?

It wouldn't make sense for the SCC to build a forward exploration outpost in a place infested so badly with IPCs you can't step outside. How did they build this outpost if the planet is that badly infested? Did they kill two dozen IPCs to protect the construction crews? Did dozens of the same crew perish in it's construction? Why are there still pirate hideouts, villages, firewatch towers, communications bases, if it's so badly overrun there is no possibility what so ever to live down there unharassed. The villagers and firewatchers and pirates have no fencing, and the former have no means to defend themselves. Should all of them stop existing because it doesn't make sense, the area is too hostile for it? It doesn't make sense for the SCC to be allowing expeditions down there in the first place, it would be extremely unprofitable to send down exploration teams to a zombieland in which they are almost certain to be attacked. Why do jeweller cockatoos spawn in there? It doesn't make sense for them to live in such dangerous places, half of the time those birds just die! Wouldn't they migrate away somewhere less dangerous and zombie-y? If it's so baaaadly infested, why are there rounds in which none of those ruins spawn in, and so, no infected IPCs are around? Shouldn't they be like carp then, a random spawn? Afterall, it's that badly overrun! Oh but that's not the point of my thread, is it? We can argue what does and doesn't make sense until we're blue in the face, and in any other thread I will! The point of the thread is that it isn't fucking fun. It isn't fun to gear every single expedition to a planet with a lot of effort put to it, and a lot of uniqueness to it, and a lot of love put into it, to the same degree as if you're going down to Mordor. It isn't fun to fight those IPCs again and again and again and again and have to either dismiss them entirely because it's the seventh time you had to kill them or to pretend to be mournful over a simplemob. It's not fun to not be able to explore places like the trinarist altar, a site that's made beautifully by all means, because you are required to grab with you security officers that usually don't give a shit about the off site and it's meaning. It's not fucking fun that security, a department that already has the MOST amount of gameplay and players out of EVERY OTHER DEPARTMENT, again gets yet even MORE gameplay and yet MORE reasons to play it over others departments in the game, to the detriment of other roles who's purpose is purely exploratory in nature! Want to go down as a xenoarch or BC to mess around on a hand crafted planet? Boo hoo, get yourself people from a department that already has all the toys, and all the stuff to do, because otherwise you will literally die. I think the problem of 'it makes' sense can be suspended here, ey? Lly puts it well, I'd prefer characters be able to walk and take in the scenery of the planet, it's more soulful and more useful for character development than knockoff project zomboid, another notch on the shotgun edition:tm: It'd be better than what we have right now, where you can, technically completely without issue hunt IPCs and claim that anytime you kill them it's self defence. They're always going to be the attack party. A miner, can, just, gear up in a hard suit, KA, walk around 'mining' while waiting for an IPC to attack them and rack up those numbers. Prove it wasn't self defence! Something like this would be a good alternative. My biggest issue right now is that they spot you before you have any indication they are near you and there is no way to evade them. If they spot you, you can't outrun them, you have to fight. Something like either an aggro system, or a detention radius, like say, enter within 5 tiles of the mob to get them to attack, outside of that you're gold.

I think the way infected IPCs currently causes a lot of issues with players willing to explore Konyang outside of point verdant, because as it stands right now, the way IPCs spawn are through a set of a specific map ruins. Well what's the problem with that? It's that they're not locked in to that specific ruin, meaning those really fast, instant agro mobs rush players in the middle of nowhere away from any indication they could possibly be there in the middle of the jungle. This leads to either of two issues, issue A is where you disregard the fact that you are not supposed to kill those IPCs, given their Konyang citizens, and you treat them as just simple mobs like carp or reavers, leading into the funny issue of quadruple murders happening without a second thought put to it. Or issue B, you don't treat them as simple mobs, meaning it's very hard to justify going down to the planet to explore sites and ruins on it that aren't focused on either hivebots or those that show off the devastation brought upon by the virus. It's frustrating, because if you want to play a non-violence inclined character, be they BC, or xenoarch, or miner, you are essentially locked out of reasonably exploring Konyang, which sucks because it locks out those same characters from being able to share what they saw. Too many of those same stories or memories just end up being 'i was zombied, it was horrible :c' which imo doesn't really feel fun to interact with or explore. It feels hollow, uninteresting. So what the fuck is my actual suggestion to all those problems I find? Redesign the way the ruins in which infested IPCs spawn and work. Make them more similar to the hivebot ruins, wherein all the infected IPCs are locked inside and unable to leave. You can go in and fight them, you have that option, but you also have an easier option of retreat, there is an indication of a threat rather than being randomly ambushed, and it allows players to explore interesting, visual ruins found on Konyang, like the trinarist altar for example. It also allows xenoarcheologists to explore the place with less worry, allowing them to look for alien artefacts on the planet known for having been the source of a significant alien artefact - positronics.

A few issues come to mind with this suggestion that I feel need to be addressed. The primary role of BCs is, and always will be, flight. That is the whole purpose of the role, I as a player, speaking for myself, enjoy this aspect of BC a lot and Konyang as a sector not offering much opportunity to fly, given the low amount of points of interest, lack of randomized points of interest meaning you see the same names frequently etc etc etc already means a HEAVILY diminished gameplay opportunity for bridgecrew as is. To automate one of the few functions that are as of now their one and only niche feels... Odd? I would not mind an automated shuttle with the caveat that it is only operable when there are no bridge crew aboard, or if there is one, that they can somehow unlock it if the logged BC is not the type to enjoy ferrying but rather other aspects of the role. There is a further issue, and that is- if this shuttle is automated- how is it used, exactly? Does it use the same system as the merchant shuttle, and the deprecated transit shuttle, as well as the mercenary shuttle? It goes from point A, solely, to point B, solely, when an input is given. The issue arises that you can in theory be on the other side of the system and still be able to access Konyang in seconds, which is somewhat immersion breaking, but oh well, can be suspended for the sake of disbelief... ...and then there is the aforementioned point about people using it as an advanced maintenance tunnel to evade security. How is that going to be rectified?

I don't understand exactly what does this improve? It removes to ability to revive pets for...? Realism? Immersion? I just do not understand what harm this brings, and it being completely unexplained in the PR itself is just confusing. What purpose to this PR serve should be front and center when you are removing items, none of us are psychics, none of us can read into the reasons behind it.

And having a Solarian consular on board will actually make that antagonism be felt. As it stands now, Sol being anti-SCC is not felt in any way, the presence of an antagonistic force is felt MUCH more than the lack there of. It's a background thing no one pays attention to unless their attention is brought to it. News articles are neat, and interesting, and well written, but how is Sol's antagonism felt on the Horizon? If you were to remove that element, would literally anything change? Re-adding a Solarian Consular, at the very minimum, brings this antagonism to light. They're not a corporate employee, they're only allowed to be there. A well played consular can try to push things in a direction that are contrary to the SCC's (Specifically Nanotrasens) interests.

FUCK YES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE a lot of my characters are musically inclined, and its PAINFUL that i cant have one of my characters bring down a guitar to play for a friend or a partner, because theyre locked behind orders or finding some other way to make use of it. It also allows for character development, as inconsequential as it is. A person learning to play an instrument IS an interesting dynamic because its not Elianne McElianna learning how to fire gigatron ubercannonen at antag number 5. if people are being annoying with it, really is no different than someone being annoying by crowbarring lights or dragging characters around, it still falls into the same 'ahelp a cunt being a cunt'.

Thank you! I think Ethnea would adjust quite well into Zeng-Hu, Einstein Engines already instilled a sense of obeying perfectionism in her, Zeng-Hu would just add an additional grateful fervor to it all, the crumbs of liberty she'd feel pushing her to adopt to that new culture willingly, rather than just because a superior ordered her to do so. Sure! IPCs aren't born with human instincts and an inherent understanding of human social cues, all of that behavior, the subtle mannerisms humans display: gentle gestures, implications, inferring words - the younger an IPC is, and the less time and IPC has spent around such things, the harder it would be for them to pick up on those things. Everything would be a lot more literal and statement-of-fact lacking that essential nuance. In the case of Ethnea, for example, she is not super young as to not get any implications or to not understand any of that nuance, she's worked with humans for years, but she would still come across as a lot more naive when it comes to more serious topics, especially something like geopolitics which are COMPLETELY alien to her.

BYOND Ckey: shimmeristaken Discord username: shimmeristaken Character names: Tomine Rosenweiss, Alexandra Plisetskaya, Eirwyn Llywelyn Species you are applying to play: IPC ------------------------------ General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: (IPCs exempt) Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: 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 species?: I find their primary dynamic interesting, owned IPCs are essentially treated as a very autonomous and advanced piece of equipment by the majority of the Spur, they are almost a synthetic in that regard but with a major difference - space for development as a character, since unlike bound synthetics, IPCs have the capacity to learn and integrate with their environment, acting differently as the character develops. I also like their second-class dynamic, and the variety in the opinions held by various factions and origins towards them. I think it introduces an interesting element to roleplay, some people will see IPCs as nothing more than tools, others see danger, and some see them as equals. It allows for roleplay opportunities not afforded to your average Solarian. What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: IPCs are a lot more mechanical in the way they think and act, they do not act off of human instinct, all of their behaviors and mannerisms are learned, from understanding social cues to interactions with the outside world. The only thing I would consider as some inherent "instinct" with them would be their inherent desire for self preservation, and whatever directives their manufacturers or owners have given them. ------------------------------ Character Application Character Name: Ethnea Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. Ethnea was constructed in 2463 by Einstein Engines, withing the Utgardian Plains of Callisto. She was part of an effort by Einstein Engines to consolidate their Solarian IPC assets within Callisto, given the secession of Konyang and the Alliance's loss of their previous IPC production center. Einstein Engines prides itself on its advanced shell models, Ethnea was one of many, her purpose to act as a general bridge crew for Einstein vessels, pilot, navigator, communications officer, most of her assignments were to Helium-3 transports, moving gas harvested in the Oort cloud by Pluto and purchased through the Solarian government. The time she spent with Einstein Engines reinforced a form of cautious perfectionism within her, its corporate culture pushing Ethnea to her absolute limits with the constant threat of severe punishment looming above in the case of underperformance. It forced her to adopt a timid, hardworking and people pleasing personality, learning that trying to talk back to her handlers only resulted in threats to herself, Ethnea sought to avoid those in any way she could. Most of her interactions with wider Solarian culture were limited to Callisto, where she was given very brief and leashed leave to spend as she saw fit, within that short period Ethnea explored every corner of the planet she could, and grew to consider herself as a Callistean, spending a considerable amount of time in the neon lit streets of Ha Wan. Having been produced during the turmoil of the Solarian civil war, and its navy's ever growing need for Helium-3, Ethnea existed to plug in holes within this recently expanded market exploited by Einstein Engines. Yet, as the civil war drew to a close, and the situation both in the northern and southern territories of the Alliance stabilized, the supply chains leading there were reinforced and optimized, the need for a shell like Ethnea grew lesser and lesser. Her adequate performance and comparatively recent production saved her from the usual practice of scrapping, Einstein Engines instead choosing to sell her off in a small batch of other similar positronics. She was purchased by Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals somewhere in the middle of 2465, a few months after the end of the war. With new owners came new responsibilities, instead of a freighter pilot she was placed at the helm of various research vessels operating within Coalition territory, her longest missions being within Light’s Edge. Zeng-Hu’s far more egalitarian stance on IPCs had a profound effect on Ethnea, being part of long term research and archeological groups introduced her to an environment less willing to constantly remind her of disposability, punishments now being replaced with incentives. The Keiretsu reinforced that sense of perfectionism, but gave it a new direction, a far more passionate one all with the ultimate goal of trying to prove herself worthy of the incentives, rather than a persistent attempt to avoid punishment. Being around researchers also gave Ethnea a spark of curiosity and wanderlust towards the wider spur, helped by the fact that she found herself within a new territory, the Coalition being a place alien and unique to her - one she wanted to explore. The same fire with which she explored her home planet was now directed outwards, fate giving her the opportunity. How has the recent events of the Orion Spur impacted your character? Events such as the Phoron Scarcity, the Solarian Collapse or even the Invasions of Biesel for interstellar-wide affairs, while region-specific events such as the Peacekeeper Mandate, The Titan Rises or even Cold Dawn may impact your character. Ethnea was created as a consequence of the consolidation of IPC production on Callisto following the beginning of the Solarian civil war and the consequent secession of Konyang, her initial purpose was to be a gear in the ever growing Helium-3 market that started to balloon as a result of the phoron crisis, pushing the Solarian economy towards reliance on Helium-3 produced within the Oort cloud. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? The differences in treatment of IPCs between Einstein Engines and Zeng-Hu are immense, while both corporations urge their positronic workers to strive for perfection, encouraging them to out perform their colleagues, her brief time with Zeng-Hu gave her an opportunity to experience some degree of freedom not afforded by her much less egalitarian former owners. This increased liberty left her feeling gratitude towards her new owners, a generally positive and supportive view of the Keiretsu, which she views herself as a part of rather than an extension of.

That would be a good way to increase survival rate for miners who aren't robust, honestly, and give them a reason to ask a machinist for a suit.

Echoing this, the armory should be removed, there have already been cases where BCs used the guns found inside to act as security. I know this action is ahelpable, but even still bridge crew do NOT need a whole armory all to themselves, in emergencies they had a small cabinet with carbines and armor as is, and when they REALLY need to arm themselves there is already an armory on the other side of deck three.

BYOND Key: HotStuff Staff BYOND Key: campinFUNkiller Game ID: THE DISCORD CHANNEL GRRRRRRRRR Reason for complaint: I have decided to lodge this totally legitimate, serious complaint about a certain campinkiller, whom has shamelessly, without shame, without ANY remorse, STOLEN the creation of a channel from another user!! Such behaviour is totally unbelievable unacceptable and I WILL BE TAKING LEGAL ACTION Evidence/logs/etc: Additional remarks: