Fenodyree

Second suggestion! Show skills in exploitable information, let the antags know which cargo tech is trained in the dakka.

On the topic of more freedom to spend points: If we are going to have hard limits (familiar science for anyone not R&D background for example) Backgrounds should give less set skills, and a few extra points. Eg: Mechanical Engineering Degree gives you professional Mechanical Engineering, instead it gives you Trained and 4 points in occupational. Those 4 points can't be spent compltely unreasonably, because we've got those hard limits on max skills outside your background, but if you want to have a focus on another skill at the expense of your main one, it works.

This is thoughroughly mean spirited considering both are Scientist jobs, which you've just stated are job skills and the rules havent changed. Forgive me for playing with all the things in my department. Want me to make a new character for every different facet of the job? I wonder why there are so few science players. I've made every possible effort for this NOT to be confrontational before this, reached out privately and got asked to post it publicly. So thanks for that, moving on. I shouldn't have given a real example. That's been latched onto and your taking this as me being defensive. In fact all this has accomplished is derailing the main point and had you reiterate what I already knew. If this was an administrative complaint, it'd be a complaint! I'll quote me, admitting fault so we can ignore it. I am guilty of powergaming. You have tools, that aren't a bwoink. Your whole position, is that actions should make and require roleplay. I firmly agree with the first part and nearly completely with the second part. You do however have a resource that you should use, the players in the round. CCIA does not have to handle everything. There are security players, command players, who would love to have things to do. Is subtle messaging a security player to go check out a place OOC in IC? Yes. So is a bwoink, an OOC action that affects what's happening IC. If it's not severe enough for an admin note, and no one's ahelping don't bwoink. Mention it to someone in round. You have prevented prevented the undesired behavior, involved multiple people and leave better feelings all around. If someone's response to that is poor, bwoink away. You'll learn plenty about the situation just from watching thier response IC. That's the suggestion, which I already regret making.

Because they don't consider it important. Because not everyone follows the rules. Because they could and didn't think they'd get in trouble. Because it was the only way they knew. There are loads of IC reasons. Real people get in trouble all the time! I'm not arguing there shouldn't be consequence, just that the first consequences should be IC. If your character does get a huge arrest record then... they should get fired! In character! If they continue to play the character after that, then staff shoud step in. SCC doesn't want to keep someone known for repeatedly breaking into places around and has enforcement on ship to deal with it in the short term. Except, if staff step on it immediately (the first time, in this case), there will never be a repeat record Security won't get to have fun, the investigator won't get to keep a canon case file on a serial troublemaker. Your head of staff won't get to pull you into an IA meeting. Even someone who doesn't care if they lose their character will not do it. Which is a problem, if it's the norm and not the exception. The very first line, Playing to Win, is the bit that matters. If a players actions shut down an antag, that's bad. If its being done explicitly to avoid roleplay, that's bad. If it's being done when there's someone who's job is explicitly to do the thing you're breaking into do, that's bad. There's obviously a point it becomes not okay, but that point isn't the first time it happens. Not on a low pop round, where there isn't someone in the department. Not when everything done was well within skillset. Not when no one was actually upset by the action. Intent is important, the intent was to engage in a niche system, do something outside the norm and then get people involved in it. Lets spin out three examples. 1: Exactly what happened. I get stopped immediately, nothing at all happens, for anyone. 2: I do know the garden grows wood, I go and grow it, I go take the result to security and we shoot it for a bit, playing with the new system. This is fine. 3: I don't know, I break in, a mod sees this and subtle messages security that a patrol over there feels like a good idea. I get in trouble and make a fuss, now the investigator has to prove exactly what I did. Someone points out they can be grown in the garden, everyone laughs in LOOC, a fine gets paid, then we go shoot the gun which might explode. I get a little note in the records about the fine which persists between rounds. Which of these three examples would you prefer to be playing your security officer in? In case one, you've turned sub-optimal play into no play. In case two, this is the platonic ideal if no one ever makes a mistake. In case three, you've turned sub-optimal play into things to do, for multiple people and enforced the rule without the person involved even knowing. Wouldn't it be nice if the rules were enforced using IC systems? Aurora can do it, unlike most RP servers, as the examples people have given make clear. Most servers can't do that, it's a strength, clearly. Checking someone hard OOC the first time, should be reserved for when their actions have upset someone. Had there been a xenobotanist, who ahelped, I'd deserve bwoinks. I don't want to get bogged down in defending myself, if the line is drawn in the sand and I stepped over it, sorry. But the line shouldn't be drawn exactly at that spot. It should be a wiggly line, with security officers, IA and heads of staff guarding the other side of it, with admins standing a little further back with their very big sticks for when that's not enough. The first recourse shouldn't be an OOC one, when IC is more fun for EVERYONE, including the person breaking the rule.

Okay, I'll be specific about the case that crystalized this thought. I'm playing a weapons scientist, and OOCly, I've done all the modweapons stuff there is to do, no one else joined research this round, it's extended, R&D's done, there's no one for me to bounce off of. So I think, skills are in! Apparently they set the quality of things you make in the construction menu, I've got high mechanical engineering, improvised guns are a thing, I'll do that, then go over to security and ask to have some ammo and shoot it. Then come up with some science explenation for why this is advancing research. I look at the recipy and see that making an improvised gun needs wood. OOCly, I know that you can get wood from tower cap spores, and I assume that as that's a weird mushroom only xenobotany has them. And hey, another skill I took, I've got trained gardening, that's enough to grow some mushrooms. So I break into xenobotany, steal an axe and some towercap spores to grow. Am I doing xenobotany? I'd argue not, I haven't touched the gene machines, or the special spawns. I have just committed petty theft and trespass in character. If I'd been caught, I'd have been an indignant scientist upset at these officers interfering in what's clearly so minor it doesn't need their attention, and OOCly I'd have been enjoying it, even if I ended with a permenant record mark. Maybe the Captain would need to be called to put my in my place! What did happen, is I get a bwoink, warned not to do another departments job and told not to steal a hatchet and then I leave the round immediately feeling bad. I then find out post round that the public garden has tower cap spores and I could have just gone there. Now I feel bad for raising a fuss about it and that I the player, am the idiot. If the Captain had been called and told me that, I'd have been an idiot in character, it'd have been roleplay, and I'd have ENJOYED being dumb. No one else gets to have roleplay if administrators step in, it's the full stop, you broke the rules, end what you are doing. As long as what's being done isn't actively harming someone else's enjoyment (like a xenobotanist showing up and going wtf, all my plants are grown I have nothing to do), I really think it should be handled ICly.

I have not experienced that. Any actions even close to illegal, I got told not to, with every case the laws I broke being explicitly pointed out. So, I'm not precious about the character, if I was I'd play a more straight lace character, but I am finding that I feel compelled to be completely law abiding.

There is a problem right now, with not enough antagonists. There is a rule: The primary goal of antangonists is to DRIVE A STORY AND TO GENERATE INTERACTION. Be creative when coming up with objectives, and try to do things which will be fun for others, not only yourself. Do not resort to the bare minimums of generating a story through mechanical means, either. This means: no unmotivated/not roleplayed out mass murders, etcetera. See the rules below for further clarification. That's a good rule, in a vacuum. It means that antagonists are expected to make the game fun for everyone else. It also makes playing antag stressful. Even those good at it don't want to do it all the time. In two months of playing security, I have not seen a single arrest of a non-antag, outside of adminbus. I have also seen a lot of secret rounds, where there were no antags becuase no one wanted to take that stress, round was extended where nothing happened, people got bored and cryo'd. There's a big emphasis in this server, on extended things being canon. Canon events, canon expeditions. So let non-antags, break the law. Not in big ways, murder is saved for actual antags, but everything in the minor section? Let it happen, let it be canon and let the consequences also be canon. I would love to arrest someone for trespass, I would love to be arrested for trespass. I wouldn't even mind an admin who sees trespass subtle messaging a security officer, or someone in the department that they feel like checking a certain room. There's a character that constantly breaks into the kitchen? Into the security records, IC issue. If they get fired, enforce that as canon. Don't bwoink it unless it's actually powergaming. Offship people get a lot more leeway and therefore offship roles are more fun at lowpop. This is also bad, because we want pop on the main ship. Joining as an offship role, because you can't do your job on station without breaking a rule takes an extra person off the ship. Powergaming = Also know as 'playing to win'. If you're trying to complete your objectives, kill the antagonists, or 'win', at all costs and ignore RP, you may be better off somewhere else. This includes having your character unafraid of death or pain, resistant to any torture, ready to battle alone against a crowd of opponents, or, being unarmed, senselessly attacking a gun wielder or hostage taker. This also includes loading up your character with items 'just in case', for example wearing internals 'just in case' there's a hull breach or plasma leak. Or wearing a spacesuit indoors for no reason. Further, this includes using knowledge that your character would not possess: such as knowledge of changelings, the cult, syndicate, etcetera, and acting on it. This is a good definition of what not to do, but it's being enforced well outside the text here. Anything your job isn't supposed to do is powergaming and therefore cause for administrative action and I think that's bad. We've got skills now, check the character's skills, refine over time what the skills permit. Doing that requires that you allow skills to be used outside their job, or you should prevent customizing skills. It should be pretty obvious over time where the system is being abused. When it's not obvious, subtle message a security officer. That's a lot more fun for everyone involved. Please don't take this as an I got bwoinked and am mad about it. I'm in euro timezone, and I'd really like actual rounds earlier, which won't happen unless people are allowed to do stuff they wouldn't do on highpop. Maybe that'd inspire someone to join as a secoff to shove the offender in the brig. I remember an old time on bay, where euro timeslot would have regular 15 person rounds and if the roboticist took the mining shuttle down and did it themselves, it was accepted, until a miner showed up. Very stream of consciousness. tl:dr, Let minor crimes be handled IC.

Did good on two really crazy rounds! Wish you'd tell us lowly security officers what's happening on Command net more, but that's hardly a complaint. +1

Half speed feels really good in heavy armour. A touch slow in voidsuits maybe. Duffle bags are still hell. You can still hit insane speeds with combos of drugs, but the more sensible single hyperzine, or kilosemine is pretty reasonable. If you mix hyper, kilo, coffee and synap, you still go faster than ghosts.

I looked into why, it wasn't IPCs fault, EMP projectiles were bugged and now are fixed. That said, I'll rephase my comment to haywire shells do ALMOST nothing. I took 26 hits to kill an IPC and doing it didn't drop their powercell under 70%. The ion/stun projectile is your best bet as far as EMPs go, but that only comes from the ion rifle which is 4 shots. Also, it doesn't stun. It gives the overlay that the IPCs hands are disabled, but they can still act as normal. Stun should at a minimum apply confused, any maybe ignore component plating and go straight to damaging wiring, etc. As it is 4 ion stun shots is worse than punching.

Shotgun haywire shells have absolutely no effect on IPCs.

Modular Lasers are cool! Unfortunately, since a change 6 years ago (they were added 8 years ago), they've also been bugged. Double unfortunately, they were bugged in a way that made them nearly infinitely stronger. So for basically their entire lifespan on the server the perception of them has been that they are completely overpowered, and I've heard some real horror stories about how they were used. The concept however is really good and I think will fit really well with the more scrappy future envisioned in NBT 2. (Special components could be found/scavenged as an actual reward for xenoarch that isn't anomalies, but that's out of scope for now.) First the bug, I'll fix this regardless of the feedback I get here. Energy weapons were changed to pass the User that fired them along to the projectile, which overwrote a the bypass_degrade flag. Second, firedelay changed at some point and they were left with 0 firedelay, meaning you could shoot them as fast as you could click. This means that for the last 6 years, the balance mechanism for these guns was just turned off. They should have been taking damage proportional to how OP they were, with high chances to just explode if you built say, a 10 shot, 60 damage incendiary shotgun, that shoots faster than a machine gun. However, with these bugs fixed, the numbers do not match up to current normal weapons. The very best reliable gun you could build after this fix, will be less than half as good as a laser rifle. My proposals: 1: Simplest & Weak I leave all numbers as they are. It will be possible to make guns better than armoury spawns, but they will break very quickly. Usually in less than one full charge. (5-10 shots, there's a 100% chance for a fully modded gun to take damage) It will be nearly certain that powerful guns will injure the user. Damage to the gun isn't sensible, adding a stock gives the gun a 60% chance of the capacitor exploding. Adding heat vents (A mod intended to improve reliability), makes the reliability of other mods worse. 2: Simple-ish & Strong I will adjust the numbers to make the very best modular guns as close to the old Laser Cannon and Advanced Egun as I can. (Still requiring minerals, gold, diamond, uranium, high tech levels, etc) It will be possible to make guns more powerful than the Laser Cannon and the Egun, but they will break rapidly. (The damage they take proportional to their damage, firerate, etc) Only the most unstable and lethal of weapons have a chance of seriously injuring the user. High damage weapons will degrade the lens, high fire rate will degrade the emitter, unique & powerful mods will degrade the capacitor. (This is the bit that damages the user if it goes wrong). A mid-range 99%-ish reliable weapon will be a slight improvement on armoury spawns. These improvements will be tradeoffs, (higher capacity traded for damage, burst rate traded for accuracy, etc.) 3: Full Overhaul & Complicated but Strongest (With lots of effort) I will wait for the implementation of the skill system. I will set similar numbers to proposal 2, making freshly printed weapons close to the Laser Cannon and Advanced Egun. Damaged components, repaired by a skilled technician will become MORE reliable. (High science, guns, electronics? Need to wait for details and playtest of the skills) Components repaired by unskilled or average technicians will get randomly more or less reliable, trending to less. As the gun gets passed what it's fired at, the amount of improvement possible will scale with what it's used for. Field tests on real targets allow big improvements. Monkeys on the range small improvements. This will mean that its not likely R&D will have more than one tested and reliable prototype at a time. Each new print will require new tests and repairs. (With risks of getting irradiated, etc for more powerful guns) The ceiling of power will actually be put much higher, but will require cooperating between security, mining (mining should be given guns too, they dug up the diamonds) and R&D. Without cooperation and use in round, it would take repeated range tests and repairs, and lots of materials. This is noticeable (if you're an antag and sec is suspicious) and means that unless you're very good or very lucky, you cant equip security with these before the mercs show up. (Please let it be a skill gate and not an admin enforced rule not to give them out, please.) I obviously like number 3 best, but it's by far the most work and I am hesitant to begin it if the system isn't going to be used. There is a lot of stigma behind these guns, and R&D equipment being used in general. As far as I know scientists need signed RD approval to hand out ANYTHING at the moment. If I do this I hope heads of staff will give them a second chance and not just throw them in the evidence lockers. I'd like some rules clarification on if R&D would even be allowed to hand these out for field testing. I also would really appreciate feedback and some actual hard numbers to try and aim for. It's all very well code diving for the damage and I'm pretty robust, but I haven't been playing here long. Also some advice from better devs

Have not seen the armoury get used less, but I also haven't seen a round without a Warden or HoS, or a round that didn't warrant the armoury. I hope we get the middle ground of officers getting a single lethal magazine for their pistols but not yet. I have seen M'sai taj get absolutely annihilated which wouldn't have happened as badly before.