Synnono

Pretty much exactly this. Our population has been pretty high recently, and with that comes a lot of chaotic rounds. I feel like encouraging that chaos would make us more in the style of a CM or lower-RP server focused on gameplay instead of stories. A little ultraviolence and disaster is fine, but too much of it both ruins its novelty and starts to block calmer/more player-driven character development on the server.

Briefly weighing in here as one of the people who has dealt with Absynth's CCIA actions. For clarity, 'refusing to testify' as an offender in an IR is not typically punishable. Characters have the option of not showing up to interviews. If they choose not to, they are treated in the harshest possible way during the evaluation of the facts that leads to discipline, and they are giving up whatever opportunity they had to speak in defense of themselves. It has not been enforced as a fault on the player's part in the past. Specifically in regards to "making new characters to dodge character-specific consequence," the only evidence of this I am aware of is the re-purposing of Makenzie Gronko as a Shaft Miner after she was demoted from her position as an Atmospheric Technician, and Serena Johnson (the previous shaft miner) was brought up in a separate IR for behavior similar to Gronko's.

TO: Ka'Akaix'Kzon Zo'ra, Medical Doctor, NSS Aurora FROM: AMS, CCIAAMS, NTCC Odin SUBJECT: RE: Incident Report -------------------- BODY: This is an automated message to inform you that an investigation has now been opened regarding your incident report, and assigned to CCIAA Liesel Metz (Synnono). You may be contacted by the duty officer for an interview, or you may contact them directly if you have any questions. -------------------- DTG: 12-13:16-TAU CETI STANDARD-10-2459 SIGN: CCIAAMS

TO: Daniel Carmichael, Security Officer, NSS Aurora FROM: AMS, CCIAAMS, NTCC Odin SUBJECT: RE: Incident Report -------------------- BODY: This is an automated message to inform you that an investigation has now been opened regarding your incident report, and assigned to CCIAA Liesel Metz (Synnono). You may be contacted by the duty officer for an interview, or you may contact them directly if you have any questions. -------------------- DTG: 12-13:16-TAU CETI STANDARD-10-2459 SIGN: CCIAAMS

The following active action is linked to Jarod Dvorsky in the WI: This action is viewable from the welcome screen when you join the server, as the game alerts you that you are linked to an action. Meanwhile, the character's play history from that effective date: Once this was noticed, the player was actioned by Incog. Also worth noting: Jarod was listed as a witness and supervising command staff member of an offender in an IR that I just closed. However, when I contacted you for an in-game interview, you mentioned being unable to log in to the server due to RL circumstances. It's coincidental timing that this appeal was filed the night I closed that incident - has your situation improved, or do you still have no real way to play?

The technical issues that are affecting AI play on new map should not be addressed by altering an IC system and OOC role that those AIs did not previously control. They should be addressed with fixes, or with features more directly relevant to what the AI already controls in their own suggestion threads. The former is already planned, like you've mentioned. Drones do not (or are supposed to not) have the autonomy to accept complex instructions from anyone, AIs included. While it gets a bit iffy when a traitor emags one, an AI would be simply altering their lawset. Even with that, laws like "obey the commands of MURDER.EXE" or "prevent Johnny McHeadOfSecurity from leaving his office" are stretches. They should lack the ability to understand most of what they're being told or identify individuals, and have an almost non-existent capacity to learn or reason it out. Going back to the other points in the OP: [mention]ben10083[/mention]: 1. I don't see why not, but how does this affect the drones? They can already walk everywhere. 2. Sure. People already use them to make random luxury versions of existing rooms, why not carpet? 3. They aren't meant to be anything close to other synthetics in terms of resistance to damage, and arguably they should be away from round elements that cause it in the first place. What is your reasoning here? 4. See above 5. The latter option of detecting components might be fine. I wouldn't want a science borg to start with an RPE, as it is a prototype that requires research to engineer and is not in mass production. 6. I don't see a reason for this - drones are not often using plastic, and they are already infinite sources of it by virtue of recharge stations. What is your reasoning here? 7. No strong opinions on this one. Not sure if the mob type is compatible.

My main point in my other post was in response to the OP's idea that "the notes would be most useful for CCIAA investigating an incident report." I meant to point out that aside from adding a little roleplay flavor, they probably would not. There are somewhat redundant systems already in place on the staff side that record items both IC and OOC, as well as the WI-integrated security notes which I feel are adequately implemented. Players are not supposed to modify those records which affect their characters canonically, but they should have the ability to do so in other cases since they are being created in a largely unmoderated way by other players. As for allowing Heads to more effectively control their departments, I don't see enough benefit compared to the risk of some sort of long-term misuse, especially if players can't do anything about the notes themselves. Any Head player who spends time with their staff will quickly get an idea of what they should or should not be trusted with, and can take action appropriately, like they do now. It would be very easy to effectively blacklist a character with a nasty note after a bad interaction with them, with very little immediate oversight. On the other hand, it would require that a pattern of bad behavior be established on the part of the Head character before anyone who does have such oversight even looks into it. Subsequently, looking into it would also probably require an as-of-yet uninvented appeals process. It almost seems like a layer of bureaucracy for its own sake, which I feel that only a small subsection of the playerbase genuinely enjoys.

Yes, and the OOC reason is that these roles are not for players wanting to take an active role in the round. They are for observers with the ability to maintain the station while not disrupting the flow of a round. I don't think we should be making balance changes to MalfAI by allowing one to customize their lawset. MalfAI (and all antag roles) are difficult to play in many situations, but also remember that the point is to create a story, not to win. If you have no or limited help from cyborgs as an AI, it might mean you need to come up with a plan to effectively manipulate the crew instead, or go down some other avenue of RP that isn't as direct as getting the cyborgs to turn your core into an electrified doom fortress. Drones have a tiny respawn timer and a lot of tools, and as far as I know they don't have slot limits either. I feel like making them an active part of malf/paranoia would skew things too heavily toward mayhem.

Please try to edit your original post rather than making follow-ups before someone responds. I would be wary of implementing point number 4, as doing this would effectively give a malfunctioning AI an infinite number of malicious, tiny engineers with all-access. Since an AI doesn't typically control drones in the first place, why do you want the malf version to have this ability? Keep in mind that drones are intended to be a low-intensity observer role. They don't need a ton of buffs since they can just respawn ten minutes later without penalty.

I'm not sure how much I like this idea as it was presented. Heads already have a high amount of authority within their departments during the shift, and CCIA has a liaison with the admin team to help them with the logging of what actually happened in a round when that is necessary. Aside from the roleplay value of being able to indicate a Head of Staff doesn't like someone (or their work) during the course of an investigation, the benefit to agents would be limited. CCIA also has its own persistent notation system that is already hooked into the WI, and is used from case to case. I do like the idea of station IAAs being able (and obligated) to review these notes, but since they can be added by a Head who then disappears for a month or more, I don't see it happening for anyone but the most common faces on the Command team. Because we have so many rounds where antag influence affects non-antag characters to different degrees, I feel as though a lot of these notes are ultimately going to be dinging players for behavior that the round brought upon them, rather than something the character would naturally do on a normal workday. Then, like Garnascus said, the note sticks and the player can't do anything about it short of some sort of appeal (a thing we don't typically entertain with other kinds of notes). Even a Head character who doesn't intend to abuse this system may end up just creating more bias than is necessary. Ultimately I just don't think it's worth it. It isn't an additive enough change for the potential downside. ALSO: I know right? Please have a look here!

Happily endorsing this. While Moondancer's individual characters can occasionally set some people off, there are few people here who construct them with the same level of care and attention to detail that this player uses. They are also a longtime member of the community who is aware of the expectations of staff and players, and I think they will do their best to meet them. Ferrin the character will also probably do just fine in a leadership role, from what I've seen of her over the past year. A question for the applicant: Why is Ferrin deciding that now is the time to lead the department? She can occasionally feel closed to other people, which may have an impact on her ability to lead. What appeals to her about taking the Director's role, when her interests have previously been more narrow?

I disagree, They're a former biotech company turned energy giant, producing and distributing vendor food is exactly the kind of thing they would contract out rather than waste production on. Edit: I also think that NT drugging the food is a little on-the-nose. If you can't find enough evil corporate dysfunction in the corporation as it stands, it may be worth looking a little harder.

This is somewhat unrelated to the application, and I'm sorry for that, but please consider editing your previous post if you have something to add to the discussion before someone else has posted again. It disjoints otherwise connected thoughts and crowds the recent post view at the bottom of the window otherwise.

See: The Rat God Slow-Heating Ovens Cheongsams Black Coffee The Lack of Ladders in The Research Sub-Level Bone-Breaking Drug Overdoses Probably Half of Our Guns Snek People And Many More To the actual suggestion, I really don't think we should be trying to code away undesirable behavior. That is what admins, moderators, CCIA, and in some cases loredevs are for. The majority of the development team is not focused on policing behavior of any sort, and they shouldn't be. Better yet, handling behavior in character and creating something from the interaction is probably a better option than all of the above, when it can apply.

"To get your way" falls under "just for the hell of it" in this case. It's 'easier' because it implies that you're operating in a non-standard or emergency situation that requires fast executive-level decisions, which normal conditions don't present. People who use the loophole blatantly to win disputes, or to beat the station over the head with authority when that authority isn't needed, are going to be noticed for it.

I have no faith that the dev and map teams are willing to consider this (I've been whining about a lack of stairs or accessible ladders since the map released) but I would enjoy to see either of those somewhere, someday, at some point, in a place where the average civilian role with none of the above items or access might stand a chance of believably going up a z-level. Edit: Time to piggyback on this with my pre-existing related suggestion to make Emergency Maintenance Access something Command remembers to use, sometimes, maybe.

Command Staff can authorize emergency maintenance access to allow anyone to use the maintenance tunnels, like when those airlocks automatically unlock during a radiation storm. This is a useful feature for both the crew trying to escape a bad situation and for antags to get places they shouldn't, but I feel it's currently underused because it requires that two Heads of Staff swipe their IDs at two different authenticators at the same time. Generally speaking, late game is a bit of a mess. Telecoms are often offline, one or more of the heads are missing or dead, and the pesky malf AI is shocking the door out of the toilet, trapping the Captain inside. It's hard for the surviving Heads to coordinate much of the time, and this feature is not always on their minds even when it would be useful. Since I don't believe emergency maintenance access is as serious as say, calling an ERT (something else the authenticators allow), I want to suggest the following changes to make the feature more impactful on a round: 1. Have Emergency Maintenance Access be an option on the command console, rather than the keycard authenticator, and require only one head of staff authorization. If abuse is a concern, make it require that Code Red already be in a effect for the button to work, so that a swipe had to have occurred once already. 2. Have Emergency Maintenance Access trigger automatically when an evacuation shuttle is called, and turn back off if the evacuation shuttle is recalled. This is to allow the survivors of an emergency a better chance to escape, along with giving anyone else the chance to use the chaos and the tunnels to get around. Since ladders are all locked behind maintenance access on the new map, I think it just makes sense to give people access to them in an emergency where the station is being abandoned.

Posting this because the engineers responsible won't remember to. Entirely renovated maintenance cafeteria with functional appliances, supply of plants, dairy cow, booze-o-mat with hard and soft drinks, and access from the main corridor.