FEEDBACK: Syndicate Commander Gamemode

[Wildkins]

https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/7421

As per this thread, Syndicate Commander is an in-development gamemode based loosely on Baystation's Deity, swapping out god-worshipping cultists for good old Syndicate sleeper agents. At the start of a Commander round, one player will don the role of the Syndicate Commander and gain control of a set of traitor sleeper agents already active on the station. Using ocular camera implants, tracking bugs, definitely-not-fulton-ripoff teleport beacons, ATM uplinks, and good old fashioned Syndicate Tomfoolery™, the Syndicate Commander will assemble and assist their pawns where necessary to complete the Syndicate's wishes.

Those wishes will also be fluid: the funding and resources supplied to the Syndicate are not uniform, and many competing interests intend to use them to their own gain. Commanders will be able to choose one of these interests (in the same vein as choosing a deity type in deity), offering them specialized and improved equipment, as well as targeted objectives to unlock said equipment, that each cater to a particular playstyle. Stealthy and loud approaches are the obvious ones, of course, but the sky is really the limit here.

To offset the extra power that a commanding force brings to a traitor round, each individual traitor will have fewer TC (10 right now, subject to change), while the commander starts with a healthier pot to distribute. Objects and machines have been added to allow for traitors to exfiltrate both credits and crates of objective or important materiel to the Commander, who can exchange both for TC or specialized equipment as stated above. In such a way the traitors will want to be on the good side of the Commander, and the Commander will need to rely on the traitors to accomplish their own goals.

All of this is subject to change, of course, and before this hits a test-merge or even another significant development milestone I want to hear your ideas and feedback. I've likely missed something so if you're unclear on how this will work or you'd like to know what numbers I'm spitballing for X/Y/Z, ask away.

Edited November 15, 2019 by Wildkins

[The lancer]

will the commander be somewhere on the map in a different z level, on the station, or AI like presence?

[Wildkins]

7 hours ago, The lancer said:

will the commander be somewhere on the map in a different z level, on the station, or AI like presence?

The first. They'll have access to camera implants in all traitors via a camera terminal (plus any other individuals they tag or cameras they hack), but otherwise they'll be a living, breathing human bean on a commander base extension to the merc base. They even have their own (unlockable) small shuttle, in case they need to handle things personally or exfiltrate their operatives.

[The lancer]

Perhaps a cyber warfare focus thing the commander chooses that lets him hack doors or interact with station machinery would be cool.

[Brutishcrab51]

Give him limited AI-style access through a seat or terminal and let him hack doors (with a time-frame similar to the Advanced Hacking Tool from ninja hardsuits) and the ability to access station machinery through cameras. Perhaps make it so the only way he can do that is to hack a camera first?

[Scheveningen]

This seems pretty cool, it's the inverse effect of what the AI gives to the station.

[Wildkins]

RE: hacking doors and otherwise interacting with the environment, I'll have to see how easy that is to implement within the camera framework. It's untreaded ground and definitely something I'll put at the end of the development timeline, but I do think it would be interesting to explore and implement if it's not impossible to do.

[ben10083]

I will support this idea if the commander gets a ai-style view. The reasons are as follows:

1. Allows for the commander to track multiple operatives at once

2. Using just cameras adds the annoying factor of having to discover where each person is, requiring advanced map awareness and making the role needlessly difficult for new people

3. Allows of more dynamic abilities and the capacity to use them easily 

Overall, it will be unfortunate if the commander will have to play with the camera console ui to his right, and constantly jumping cams to try to do things.

[Wildkins]

I'll look into the AI view. It might be outside scope for this initial implementation given that, as far as I've been told and what little I've seen, the AI's camera handling is a gigantic pile of spaghetti and technical debt.

[Wildkins]

okay well I've looked into it and it's not NEARLY as bad as I thought it would be so unless I run into some major stumbling block, expect an AI-style view accessible (probably) via console in some form or another, as well as a few other UI additions to make it easier to track and assist operatives

also these are my very early spitball takes on the different available paths at start, feel free to suggest additions or what have you

also cyberwarrior is the cheesiest name on the planet

[Wildkins]

i can happily report that the backend for an AI/ghost-like viewer that traverses syndicate cameras is now working and in the PR, so that'll take precedence over the camera viewer originally planned

right now it'll only show cameras that are part of NETWORK_SYNDICATE (which is basically emagged borgs, bugged cameras, and implanted traitors) but I'm considering giving something like the basic civilian networks as well (basically just the hallways and such) so it isn't a complete pain to use for new players and/or people who aren't getting a lot of help from their subordinates

the cyberwarfare tree will, of course, have better access to cameras through their unlocks/equipment

 

[Brutishcrab51]

I like it. I am all for this, and am excited to see it.

What sort of objectives will there be? What sort of equipment will the Commander start with, if any? I understand he'll have a shuttle and the ability to get equipment, but I assume he'll also have a handful of syndicate items at spawn in his little addition to the Mercenary base. Whether that's a red voidsuit or what have you, I don't know.

Will they be able to get faction hardsuits and voidsuits?

[Wildkins]

38 minutes ago, Brutishcrab51 said:

What sort of objectives will there be?

I'm not done meshing out the specifics just yet, and that's part of why I reached out now, to gather feedback - but generally speaking I want to strike a balance between the free-form nature of most antags and the traditional traitor objectives on other servers of "steal thing, kill man, escape alive". My plan is to generate a list of objectives that will change depending on which path you decide to choose (so that the objectives more match the path and playstyle you're choosing - loud objectives for the enforcer, quiet ones for the assassin, etc.), and then allow the Commander to pick a suitable set from those, with rewards for completing each in-round. It'll likely come down to one or two major objectives, a few minor ones, and then an extraction objective that'll always be active - and each will grant either a direct reward in-round for completing that objective, or a good amount of TC and cash, or both. Tracking objectives beyond "steal thing, kill man, escape alive" is a bit of a challenge, but I do want to try and reward active play and success mechanically as much as possible. Of course, the ambition mechanic will remain active as well.

42 minutes ago, Brutishcrab51 said:

What sort of equipment will the Commander start with, if any? I understand he'll have a shuttle and the ability to get equipment, but I assume he'll also have a handful of syndicate items at spawn in his little addition to the Mercenary base. Whether that's a red voidsuit or what have you, I don't know.

Will they be able to get faction hardsuits and voidsuits?

In terms of equipment, the Commander starts with essentially your bog-standard Syndicate Officer getup, an uplink, some terminals to do his commandery business, an unlockable shuttle to take to the station, and some very basic medical and security supplies, as well as a voidsuit.

As for faction hardsuits/voidsuits, I'm not entirely sure. I could see them being an unlock if you took an objective to frame an attack from another organization, but that's about it, assuming we're talking about the same thing. As for Syndicate voidsuits/hardsuits, all the normal traitor equipment will be available and the heavier stuff (e.g. hardsuits) will be dependent on certain requirements (either picking the Enforcer path and/or completing objectives to get it as a reward).

[Scheveningen]

come back and finish the job, biggu bossu...~

[Zyrus]

I'd actually love something like this put in for sure. Please finish it.