AI, Tcoms and Stuff to do
The point that K0nFL1QT makes is quite relevant.
* We need to add something for them todo while noone is screwing around with the system
* Or add something else to the portfolio of the IT Department that can be optimized.
(And to say that TComs is a different field is not completely right. At my workplace, we (the IT Department) are responsible for the IP-Telephony including the Emergency Numbers (although we work quite closely with our telephony provider)).
I could think of the following:
* People acutally RPing PDA / Workstation problems.
* Creating Problems for them (Just make Workstations / PDAs randomly break down, get infected with malware / ...)
* ??
CIO / IT Head
Altough I would love and hope to see CIO (Chief Information Officer) become a thing,
I dont think that we will make the "IT Administrator" another head,
but merely make him a Sub Head (like the QM and the CT´s) only bound to instructions from the captain / acting captain / majority command decisions.
(Usually the IT department is only bound to follow instructions from the CIO /CEO if there is no CIO, mostly to prevent stuff like: "I am the head of the Whatever department and I want you to give me more space on the servers, remove it from the other departments if required)
AI Involvement
I could think of a points system, where every Workstation has a set Number of points, that are regenerating with time
(How many points and how fast depends on the Hardware in the Workstation; There should be a few and beefy Workstations in IT)
The IT Guys (IT Administartors / IT Technicians) can use them to install IDS / IPS / AV / trace stuff / ... AND all the bad things if the It Administrator unlocks them (much like the Armory in Sec)
The Antags use the same principle, but they can only install the defensive stuff on their workstation / workstations they compromised
The Ai can decide to become networked.
It takes a minute to connect to the network, but then its essentially a supercomputer with quite a few points.
But the downside is, that its now a valid target for the antags to attempt to hack and takeover. (Change Laws, ...)
Once the AI is networked, there is a 10 minute delay before it can become disconected again. (Just think of some lore reason: "Majory Changes in the routing tables of the core routers are only possible every 10 minutes, because the routing tables need to be recalculated after a major change and the changes needs to propagate to the remote devices")
Now that the AI is networked it shows up as a bright red target on the computer list.
It can also disconnect after the 10 min delay, but it takes 5 minutes to disconnect and the disconnection cant be done while it is currently under attack.
There is the option for a Emergency disconnection, but it will render the AI confined to its core for 12 minutes. It cant use any cams or devices. (Lore Reason: "During a emergency disconnect all outside connections are forcefully removed and need to be reconnected manually.")
Times are subject to balance.
Location of the IT department
There would be two awesome places for the IT Department:
* A backalley in maint. A place where noone wants to go, but has to because their shit is broken.
* A Area thats accessible nicely, maybe can be seen from the Hallway (with tintable windows of course if shit hits the fan, and IT needs some time to work on a problem).
With beautiful workstations, maybe the Server Room next to the IT Department, a few gadgets
a generous work area, some equippment racks, everything has a new and high-tec touch.
Just a great experience to work in.
Edit 1: Updated the Story. Updated the things IT could do when nothing is going wrong.