evandorf

But you’re not required to play them and you’re not required to interact with them. There are people who find them fun to play and fun to interact with. It’s completely subjective. I don’t think removing a role that people enjoy and has utility during lowpop rounds is justified by the reasons given. I think limiting slots on highpop is a good step and possibly even limiting access based on their assignment is reasonable but we should stick to Improve Don’t Remove.

After reading through the replies I still feel like the majority of issues raised with borgs can be resolved with systems already in place ICly and OOCly. An issue would have to be serious enough and without other recourse to overcome the ‘Improve Don’t Remove’ standard. The through-line I see from many of the detractors that has no system in place to correct is the subjective dislike and irritation but I would argue that this runs counter to the other claim that borgs provide no RP value. A dislike of synthetics is almost baked into the existing lore and it’s good to have a “living” reminder of that in-game. Negative interactions with your coworkers are just as valid for RP as positive interactions.

It might be good to make the number of borg slots inversely proportional to the round pop. More borgs when there are fewer people and vice versa. If you canonically make the SCC scrap borgs as cutting cost how will that effect regulations and severe punishments? We already don’t have executions because borgification is a stand-in.

I think a lot of the issues brought up in the original post can be resolved with systems already in place. If a borg is doing your job you have every right to tell them to stop or get reset and do something else unless you’re superceded by your head or the Captain. If there was no machinist to do a reset I would completely be onboard allowing them to respawn to choose another module If a borg is power gaming, meta gaming, or acting outside of its lawset then ahelp it. I’m not totally against a whitelist for them but they are much more manageable than an AI to deal with. As far as them being boring to play or being boring to interact with I would have to say your mileage may vary. I don’t interact with every crew member every round. Having “NPCs” in the background helps the ship feel less empty. I play AI and borg because I have less agency and not despite it. I don’t think it’s fair to say a role should be removed just because you, personally, don’t like it.

Basically I thought it would be interesting for strong races like G2s, some vaurca, unathi, ect to be able to have a very limited ability to use extra large weaponry or tools like the ones mounted on mechs. You would have to give severe penalties for doing so and probably also a likelihood of injuring yourself in the process but it would be fun.

In my experience, one thing that can slow security or command’s roll and really control an area are mines. Even if they’re not completely blocking access somewhere just having them peppered in a zone where people have to be mobile to avoid fire is enough to make most people stop and reconsider. If you made them easier than the normal kind to deactivate, or even have a percent chance to be a dud, makeshift mines might be a good addition for antags and rev specifically since they could force communication without having to necessarily overwhelm/overpower security.

I feel like this suggestion is trying to fix a problem that exists across every antag role; that the most obvious (or simplest) story/situation that can be crafted for the role is either stale, LRP, or unengaging. And I don’t just mean at the gimmick’s conception but throughout the round. If your rev gimmick doesn’t gain traction and you start to flounder then a kneejerk reaction might be to pull out loud weapons and start escalating. But I don’t think the solution to weak gimmicks or story ideas is to limit the tools the antag players have at their disposal. I see similar attitudes towards technomamcer, who IMO has the widest array of tools to craft any number of scenarios. I’ve had a lot of success with techno gimmicks by making it almost unrelated to the techno role, like playing an advanced IRU collecting on a debt, but all those good ideas get washed away in the tide of resentment people have towards the more likely, stale, and less engaging scenarios. Limiting the tools available feels like attempting to police RP indirectly while at the same time making it more difficult for others with better ideas to make those happen.

Could you not just tie weapons into the firearms management that the HoS and Warden have access to? Also, walking walls on green seems like the kind of thing stationbounds are made for. If I’m in my shell as AI I will often put it between weapons fire and the crew even though I have almost no offensive capabilities.

I feel like someone doing this would be akin to a bartender serving an unathi an ethanol drink. I'd rather have people deal with the IC consequences because being able to draw attention to ( and have interactivity with ) the different racial traits adds depth to the setting and IMO is worth the risk. But I agree that it shouldn't be so severe that you are instantly killed. That would be ridiculous.

I have to agree with Matt. Although I liked sec-borgs at the time I think the way they change the dynamic is too much. Now, if you could re-add crisis borgs that have to be remotely piloted by actual crew from the crew armory for emergencies...?

As the title suggests, I just want to be able to set the holodeck to desert and warm my lizard body. Could also make it cold when set to snow or space.

How about a body mod/tatoo salon? Possibly near the rec area, there's a decent maint space above cryo. Basically lets someone give you body markings outside of character creation.

We can already see shoals of carp on sensors. Just throw out a line as we drive by.

I think a dart board would be fun. Put it in the lounge for drunken patrons to make bad decisions with and generate work for medical.

Just to add context to your battle debrief, I was the other Elyran and due to the PEAC and a frag I was deaf until the Ensign and I got back into our ship to recover and regroup. We were getting other sec coming up the main stairs and I chased them down till they fled into medical.

Just out of a personal dislike for lawyers or do you think they’d cause problems ICly?

I am actually in favor of a lawyeresque role. I think it could be very interesting hrp if done correctly but you might have to put it behind a whitelist to make sure they don’t try to actively interfere in command or security actions. It would all be purely bureaucratic and post-chaos accountability.

I think at the very least evidence storage should have direct access to the lab. Maybe shift the office to below interrogations and move the briefing room to where the office is now. Then you could move the lab into the briefing room area and connect it to the office and I evidence storage.

I've had issues with implants and medical recently too. I don't play medical often but what is SOP for possible implants? I imagine intrusive surgery to remove implants should be frowned upon, especially since security has a way of dealing with antags with implants already. I agree though, something needs to change from how it is now.

I don’t know that the oil was necessarily a consideration when determining how fun or difficult fighting hivebots should be. I think it’s likely an emergent threat due to how the robot debris behaves. So much of this game relies on rng, and I think I prefer it that way. Sure, you’ll get boned from time to time but for me it's those weird moments that come from the perfect (or imperfect) storm of variables coming together that make the game enjoyable. The more predictable the game becomes the less interesting it is.

I think that’s more of an issue with the sprite of the spill and the footprints getting tracked everywhere. Even then I don’t think what’s shown is gallons of oil, unless you’re being hyperbolic.

Oil is pretty damn slippery, even when you're walking. I don't know if it's feasible but it would make more sense to have different floors have different slip values if that's not already a thing.

BYOND key: Evandorf Discord name/id: Evandorf Borg / AI names: Servitor (Borg), Patriarch (AI) Have you read the Aurora wiki page about the AI?: Yes Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: I've recently returned to the server after a hiatus and in the time I was gone the AI role was put behind a whitelist. I played the AI Patriarch somewhat frequently on the Aurora 2 as well as a borg by the name of Servitor, albeit the borg was less frequent. As for why I want to play AI as a role, I really enjoy artificial intelligence as a concept and sci-fi trope (my profile picture, for example). I like the "Chinese Room" train of thought and not being able to really know what is sentient and what is programming; discussions on what is alive. Beyond simply liking the role and its aesthetic it can help, especially in lowpop, alleviate some issues and keep things running smoothly Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? I currently have a warning for an issue with beginning a rather disruptive gimmick as a traitor late into a round after being auto-traitored on join. As for its seriousness I think it is relatively mild but cybs can weigh in with their opinion. I had a decent discussion with them and it was more of a lack of judgement on the amount of time the round had left to provide proper escalation than being ignorant of or disregarding the rules. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Yes

Maybe my understanding of valid hunting is wrong then. I understand it as unrealistically going out of your way to try to kill or overcome an antagonist despite fear RP, character motivation, common sense, character ability (power gaming outside of their skill set), character knowledge (using meta knowledge), ect or a mix of reasons and loud antags don’t remove the necessity for those requirements. From what you said it sounds like the main concern from your point of view was whether or not you could get away quickly after taking the shots and not if it was within reason for Theo to risk death to do so. I have to assume that, given your reasons, even if we had not stopped you and simply kept moving you would have still likely shot us. From an OOC perspective, if what happened is within the rules and an engineer can’t be trusted not to pull an automatic pistol on us when we turn our backs then it makes us have to be wary of every crew member we come across and take steps to make sure we’re not going to be ambushed which likely means being hostile or aggressive or going down the murderbone path. I try to restrain myself from going on a killing spree, especially against non sec crew, but I see validhunting as a lack of same restraint only from the perspective of the crew.

I guess I just wonder why the attack had to be made at all. It wasn't self-defense and unless there was a reason Theo felt the need to engage with an already established violent group of individuals it just seems like validhunting.