Mr.Popper

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I'm against increased slots for this exact reason. No other department has this problem, so really it'd just be raising the amount of sec and med characters, emphasizing their gameplay loops even more than they already are. Just look at planetary events where sec typically make up like half the manifest. It sucks not getting your roll, especially if you only have one character, but I think encouraging players to branch out to underplayed jobs is an overall positive. If Aurora's pop reaches the state of every department being regularly filled during Odyssey I would support this, though even then it should probably depend on the amount of actors/server pop.

I was going to go question by question and explain why I voted X/Y, but realized that would take too long. Here are the highlights instead: Firstly, is Aurora stagnating? I believe I voted no, although I have mixed feelings. I think the gameplay is stagnant and voted as such; the only gameplay loop that seems consistently supported is the command-security-medical trinary, reflected by those departments being disproportionately populated. And based off the survey most people agree with me, at least in the broad strokes. Lore changes won't fix this and radically reinventing Aurora's universe would just be more bells and whistles that aren't really needed. My problems aren't with the current cast of characters, setting, or lore. Aurora already has an amazing community of roleplayers and high quality lore writing to support them. As far as tackling this issue goes, there would be advantages to switching setting, or at least the map. Ignoring Horizon's mapping shortcomings, there are many great suggestions for how a new map could improve gameplay, just look at QuestioningMark's excellent suggestion to make the ship a hub for offships, or some of the ideas sprinkled throughout the survey like resource scarcity. While I'm not vehemently opposed to an independent setting—I voted a middle number like 3 iirc—I think it's missing the root of the problem, that being gameplay. It's a trap that promises "character freedom" (while likely discouraging the different corporate factions, prim and proper characters like primaries, and any other origin tailored to Horizon—essentially the opposite extreme of the current standard) and "freedom of movement" (while stripping the main characters of their powerful benefactor that allows them to go nearly anywhere) at the expense of throwing out countless corporate uniform sprites, axing corporate roleplay, and severing any continuity to SCCV Horizon or NSS Aurora. Again, it can work and I would be interested to see that version of Aurora, but I think it would be an unfortunately shortsighted choice. I also don't want to say "never" because a lot of my concerns could be addressed depending on how it's implemented—a mix between independent and corporate characters would be a good compromise, for example. But IMO most benefits of the independent setting could be achieved by simply switching to a lower profile megacorp ship. Similarly, I don't think a time skip would really fix anything. Like Cat and some others I was initially open to it, but the more I thought the more I grew opposed. At least with switching to a non-SCC faction you can potentially justify keeping your characters around, and I'm sure the staff would facilitate such justification like they did with the Aurora to Horizon change (for all the claims that the two share no common characters they were bridged together with an IC crew transfer). But to skip several years at the same time is essentially killing off most characters—there are some, mostly younger ones that could be developed through a time skip—unless players decide to massively retcon their character's history and motivation at the expense of everyone else's immersion; imagine John Sol, age 50 after the time skip, interacting with Jane Biesel, age 30, when before the time skip they were both 30. It would feel borderline LRP. Character turnover is already a massive issue in Aurora and saying "it'll be in 3 years you can wrap your characters up before then" pretends as if no more characters will be made in the coming 3 years and no new players will join. Imagine a new player putting all their effort into a character in 2027/2028 only to be told "oh yeah there's a time skip and they work somewhere completely different now". I just wouldn't play until that soft reboot. Aurora is not a tabletop game between 5 friends, it's a huge public roleplay with a fluctuating player base, each person with different goals and plans for their characters. And relishing in making everyone drop the characters they've invested time, effort, and sometimes real money into has the same energy as rooting for mass characters death events; it's just weird and counterintuitive to long term play. Some miscellaneous stuff: I voted science in the department vote, although I would be just as enthusiastic about it being replaced by an exploration team so long as there's still room to flavor yourself as a biologist, botanist, archaeologist, etc. Bay seems to have had success with a focus on exploration and I think it would be further enhanced by a shift in focus to offship/expedition activities as in Mark's suggestion, not to mention fitting with Odyssey. I'm weary of "democratizing" weaponry, as vague as the question is. While I think security is too often the focus of rounds, that doesn't mean I want to pick up an AK-47 and start smoking greimorians as a janitor; I want more solutions to problems that are diplomatic, creative, scientific. Some people have suggested making improvised weapons more viable and I think that'd be a good change, though I still would like that to be a last resort. Matt(?) I believe also rightly pointed out that guns need to be limited in accessibility for conflict to occur, otherwise Aurora turns into an action server. The perfect NBT2, to me at least, would be Deep Space 9 meets Ridley Scott's Alien. Everyone is congregated on a ship serving as a hub, with friendly/neutral offships becoming normal jobs like merchant similar to how Bay does it. Crewmembers can go out on adventurers aboard the mining ship, volunteer for the exploration team, or offer their services to one of the independent ships between hauls. All the while you're ruled by probably insane suits, themselves controlled by faceless corporations with competing interests. This would keep Aurora's megacorporate, dysfunctional tone (the 1st most voted option) while compromising by permitting more recurring independent characters (2nd most voted option), and also throw more factions against each other for that juicy conflict. TL;DR: Based off the survey most players are unhappy with gameplay rather than the lore, megacorporate setting, or character freedom (which is tied to the setting). Therefore, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel and killing off the majority of Horizon characters in the process, I think the new setting should focus on facilitating gameplay loops (exploration, offship interaction) and downgrade the crew to a less important, more diverse corporate ship with a strong independent presence as a compromise. Regardless of what direction the staff go, I'm sure they'll cook something special and I hope I get to see it. These are just my thoughts as an Auroroid mostly content with the current high quality output. 💕💕

I like the setting of Horizon, but the mapping leaves a lot to be desired. This is a thread for compiling suggestions towards a hypothetical remap. Keep in mind I'm not a mapper or dev and I don't expect anyone to do all this; this is just to gather feedback for anyone doing so in the future. These are my main points: More verticality. Right now the crew is overwhelmingly congregated in deck 2 with a few attractions on deck 3. There's nothing wrong with keeping the pop concentrated (except when the pop's TOO high) but the wide approach makes Horizon feel small. There's also certain locations that feel haphazardly tacked onto deck 3 like the smoking lounge. I'll go on to propose a 4th deck in this suggestion but I understand not wanting to bloat the map. In that case, just roll my deck 3 suggestions in with the bridge. Following up on the last, try to give every department a reason to be on each deck. I don't want different departments to NEVER interact nor should one deck contain everything of importance. An easy way to do this is to make sure every department has at least 2 floors (which the current map has). Kill the central ring. The stargazer's great but the central ring, especially the gaps between decks, make it feel like a building or station. Make things DIRTY. Most of the Horizon is Star Trek levels of clean. I'd much prefer a grittier vibe like Alien's Nostromo, but to be fair part of that is spriting and aesthetics. Maybe arrange Horizon into layers of maintenance, with the lower decks where the grunts work being poorly maintained in stark contrast to the polished public areas. Darker, spookier maintenance tunnels. The current tunnels are remarkably well lit and feel more cozy than haunting. More mini-lifts, public ladder shafts, less stairs. Engineering in particular needs a lift to transport heavy equipment between decks. Why does my spaceship have stairs everywhere? Public facilities that aren't the holodeck. Either move the thrusters up a deck or spread them out across decks; it's really cool hearing the engines boom in flight but currently you have to be in a very specific part of deck 1 only janitors and engineers go to. Bigger hydroponics and a dedicated cryogenics array. I know these things don't see much use, but they add a lot of credibility to the deep space vibe. More signs/posters with corporate ads on them. Cut the diagonal walls. They're janky, see-through, can't be replaced, and not even particularly immersive; if anything seeing the actual wings makes Horizon feel much smaller than it should be. More escape pods. Ideally there should be some on every deck, save maybe the bridge. Here's one possible layout to give an idea of what I'd like to see, from bottom to top: Flight Deck. Horizon's crucial but ugly underbelly. Landing pads dimly lit by red torches make up much of the deck, with the hectic supply office tacked onto the adjacent corridor as an afterthought. Closest to the main lift is the engineering office, with Horizon's reactor(s) waiting beyond it. Operations and Engineering are headquartered here, sharing a dingy breakroom. Xenoarchaeology also has a laboratory next to SCCV Quark's hangar. Operations. Horizon's lifeblood. Hydroponics, cryogenics, and the ever secretive research labs fill this deck, all protected by the security office. The second floor of the operations department is here, represented by the dingy workshop. Atmospherics and propulsion can also be found in the depths of maintenance. Beside cryogenics is the morgue and medical lift, allowing for critical patients to be quickly frozen. For emergencies, the AI core and bunker hide within twisting corridors, blocked off by blast doors only accessible by command. Security and Research are headquartered here, sharing a firing range. The Promenade. Horizon's downtown. The public and merchant docks are found here, neatly funneling visitors into the library, dining area, bar, and other attractions. For emergencies, the medical department is in a central location accessible to both crew and visitors. Crew can find even more facilities such as the amphitheater and gymnasium tucked deeper into the deck, somewhat private from the docks. Telecommunications and the shield generator are secure behind a bright yellow sign no one would dare cross. Liaison, Consular, and Investigator offices are also open to the public. Medical and Service are headquartered here. The Bridge. Preferably the deck with the bridge should be reduced in size, with just enough room for the bridge itself. Command are literally above the rest of the ship but unable to stay here all round; it only holds the bare necessities. Think of a Star Trek bridge where it's essentially one room connected by an elevator, although it could retain the public bridge atrium we have now. Command is headquartered here. Just to reiterate, the goal with a layout like this is to give everyone a reason to be on every deck. Certain choices may appear inconvenient from a meta standpoint (separating the bridge and the bunker by 2 decks, splitting security and medical, putting the supply office at the very bottom) but their intent is to encourage movement and potentially conflict; command would have to be much more tactical moving to the CIC if it's further away, for example. What do you think? What would you add or remove from the current Horizon? What does your ideal layout look like?

(NOTE: This is posted on behalf of Botanist, who forgor their login) The 'dixel' is a single pixel in the unmentionable region of all male sprites. As a result, all clothing objects must cover it. I, Botanist, believe that this throws the proportions off. Which looks better: the left (dixel'd) or the right (castrated)? Must we forever be in thrall to such ancient sprites? Can anything be done? What do you think? Best wishes, Botanist

It's definitely convenient OOC to be able to tell if someone is a borg or IPC at a glance, but blurring the line compliments the lore in a way I think outweighs that. Legally, IPCs are not people, they're barely even crew. I think making them more different from humans rather than less would spark interest and make that bit of discrimination lore easier to engage with, although at the end of the day that's up to synth lore and their vision for the species. I will say, especially based off the reactions in this thread, creating original non-humanoid sprites rather than recycling borgs' would appear far more polished and alleviate the OOC concern of sussing out borgs at a glance without affecting the roleplay. Borgs were my first thought because I imagined closer ties with IPCs would give a low-RP role more interactions to work with. That's true. Assuming synth lore isn't cooking something in secret, I figured it was just a gameplay limitation as it wouldn't make much sense for the ancient drones that IPCs are based off of to be humanoid. Then again, every alien race except Dionae is naturally humanoid, so maybe that is the case. It's completely up to lore.

I thought clothes showing as invisible on them would be innocuous, it's not problematic on Bulwarks, but you're right. I didn't consider the PVP or balance angle of armor/weapon visibility. If it's going to be a whole process of drastically respriting them then that defeats the point of recycling the borg sprites. Should I make a new suggestion for adding non-humanoid synths or retool this thread to that specific discussion?

What? Add all (or at least the highest quality) borg sprites as an IPC subspecies. How? Ideally they would all fall under the same subspecies as opposed to a dozen extra subspecies for every sprite, but I'm not sure if that's doable. Maybe hairstyle chicanery? If not, at least a few of the non-humanoid sprites would be cool. Customization would mostly have to be in the form of body marking recoloring since a lot of the sprites aren't humanoid and thus incompatible with normal clothes. Why? Borgs have a lot of cool sprites and it's a shame they're relegated to just, well, borgs. IPCs are lacking in "generic" models except for baselines and shells, so adding another homebrew-friendly option would be much appreciated. Also it would be interesting to see more non-humanoid IPCs. Seeing a drone IPC hovering around or a crab scurrying down the hall and realizing "Oh that's my coworker" would really cement the idea that the species is new, diverse, and most importantly, alien. There's a precedent here with the weirder Vaurcaesian bioforms like Bulwark. Cons: Someone has to code it. The borg sprites would naturally be incompatible with most item/clothing sprites. I'm sure a lot of the simpler ones like hats could be made workable but, going back to the Vaurca example, Bulwarks are incompatible with most loadout items and do just fine. It might blur the line between the synth and AI teams and create unwanted confusion between them. With the IPC medical rework in progress, stopping to add a whole new subspecies would be very inconvenient for the devs. Waiting until the rework is done and there's a basis for adding new subspecies would probably be best. Pros: The sprites are already made. At most body markings would need to be sprited. Solidifying non-humanoid IPCs as a common thing would, IMO, add a lot of interest to the species. How much less eye-catching would Vaurcae be without Breeders and Bulwarks? Blurs the line between cyborgs and IPCs. This could be undesirable from an OOC standpoint, but IC borgs tend to be a roleplay blackhole where it's common for even IPCs/pro-synth people to treat them like non-entities without repercussion. Bridging the gap (at least visually) between them and IPCs would encourage both more nuanced treatment of borgs and dehumanization of IPCs, depending on a character's beliefs. More variety for characters and the species as a whole. Borgs have very nondescript designs megacorp-wise, so they would be perfect for representing homebrew models and non-SCC synths originating from places like Elyra or even Einstein Engines.

If Odyssey is going to be a successful gamemode then this false dichotomy between "civilians" that sit around being helpless and elite jobs that hog all the fun needs to go because, while you still have a round if you're uninvolved in a secret gimmick, there is usually no one to roleplay with in Odyssey when you're segregated from most of the crew. Roleplay-wise, what makes a Security Officer, Engineer, or Paramedic that much more important than a line cook or Hangar Technician? They aren't superheroes trained for the high stakes situations that occur in non-canon rounds, they're normal people normally tasked with serving the crew of a normal ship; a Zeng-Hu research outpost infested with GMO abominations is just as much a fish out of water situation for a security guard as a line cook. Paramedics are EMT, not combat medics. Engineers keep the ship running, they're not combat engineers. Security Officers aren't badass commandos, they're goons that bwoink troublemakers and protect the crew. So bring crew for them to protect! Only bringing the people who are mechanically useful when there's room for Cooks or Hangar Technicians because "we have MREs" or "I can move all the crates" disregards roleplay in favor of getting to the shooty action as fast as possible. I don't even consider good involvement as non-sec to be picking up a gun and mowing people down, I just want to be able to visit the map everyone is at and roleplay with the given scenario. In defense of Command, there are definitely Odysseys which escalate to where it's fair to evacuate non-combatants. It's also excessive to talk about admin action when Odyssey is so experimental and there are no hard rules for it yet. Ideally, Storytellers should be discouraged from starting with the intensity cranked up to 100 or giving an opening announcement where non-sec aren't welcome. Not to disrespect the regular Storytellers because you guys do a great job and I can't even recall this happening, but if an Odyssey is so high intensity that it opens with "WAR: IT'S WAR DOWN HERE, ONLY SEND SEC AND MED" then that's just bad escalation. The Odyssey that provoked this suggestion didn't seem to be this; to my knowledge Command was using reports of a nuclear device to justify excluding the "civilians" even though the action was only occurring deep within the map. Engineering even made an extravagant FOB for Service to staff right beside the landing zone, so it's not like they would be in excessive danger. Most Odyssey maps are like this where there's a large safe zone around the Intrepid. Also bear in mind: the nuke is prebuilt into that map. Should non-sec and non-med just be barred from ever seeing that Odyssey because there's a nuke? That's ridiculous. TL;DR: sec, med, and eng's mechanical utility shouldn't be mistaken for them being the main characters; they're realistically just as unprepared for high intensity rounds as everyone else. There are points of escalation where it's reasonable to evac non-essential crew or stop sending them down as others have said, but an Odyssey shouldn't start and end that way. Maybe that could be a new escalation rule idk. Also cut Command and storytellers some slack it's a new gamemode 💋💋