[Feedback] New mechanics around AIs and stationbounds bolting airlock doors

[Amunak]

I created a PR#10310 as an attempt to kind of bring back bolting for AIs and stationbounds without making it overpowered and unfriendly to roleplay and antag players. The main points are:

• AIs and stationbounds can bolt some airlocks, but it is only a handful of types (external airlocks, high security ones [think Engineering Secure Storage, Vault entrance, almost everything near AI core/upload and Bunker] and Hatches [tcommsat and a few other places] plus more or less anything that's bolted at start of round).
• There is a lenghty timer before either bolting or unbolting happens.
• It adds new mechanics and meaning to AI control wire (hacking), so there's more stuff to do for not just the AI but players as well.
• It is highly configurable and versatile, so if the current configuration doesn't work it can be just tweaked and doesn't need to be completely removed.
• I also wanted it to work as at least a small incentive for antags to subvert the AI. At least a little bit.
• Additionally the PR adds a notice for AI players to keep in mind their influence on the round and not to ruin peoples' fun.

For more details read the PR description carefully please. It's long, but it's hard to describe the changes otherwise even if in gameplay they feel natural. There's also a bunch of related and miscellaneous changes and a few bugfixes. There are also some examples of which airlocks this concerns and a ton of screenshots documenting the changes.

It was created with several other threads in mind; from what I've read and seen a lot of people think the AI is kind of useless and boring now, but we also don't want it to allow shutting down the round due to mechanics. The fact that as an AI bound by laws they must obey command doesn't help.

I'm mainly seeking feedback on the points outlined in the PR (or any general feedback if you have some):

• Do you think this is too much of a buff and a return to the previous state? If so, how would you change the defaults for which airlocks can be bolted? (Personally I'm not so sure about the high security doors, but I also think it makes sense if AI has control over them.)
• Waiting 8 seconds for bolts to raise/drop might be too much. But it definitely allows reaction from people; if the AI was trying to lock you in you could just open the doors and they'd bolt open. Is it too much / not enough? Keep in mind in emergencies you want to be able to unbolt fast-ish. We could also just separate the timers (or even override them for specific door types) so the options are endless.
• The "AI Help" text, especially the OOC part might be too wordy. I'm open to suggestions.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Amunak

[Chada1]

I'm personally a fan of these changes, it brings back the ability for the AI to bolt down high security areas like the vault, command, departmental storage areas, and its own core.

But doesn't allow it the ability to lock in Antags and other crew anymore, which was where the main issue would spring up, I think you did a very good job understanding where this issue arised and taking old threads into account when designing these changes, and so even as one of the people who spearheaded the change initially, I'm happy with how this PR is setup.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Chada1

[KingOfThePing]

I think you have the right approach here. I like the changes, they seem thought out and a clear.improvement over the last, removed, iteration. Looking forward to this.

[Flamingo]

This looks good to me. It allows the AI to bolt and unbolt doors again while largely avoiding the problems we had previously with the AI locking people in rooms at the first sight of trouble. Open to seeing where this leads. 

[Lordnesh]

I think eight seconds is good enough. I'm almost tempted to argue it should be ten, but I feel this is a good middle ground to test things out. Making it an audible alert is an excellent change. It'll give the antags A) information about how the AI/crew are planning to deal with them, and B) allow them time to decide if they want to move or stay.

[Amunak]

There has been an update!

As per feedback from Arrow768 traitor/malf AIs and admins can now choose to use the regular (un)bolting and fake being a proper AI. The UI has been updated to add separate "Force (un)bolt" buttons and I also added area and airlock name into the UI.

For details and screenshot see the PR please.

---

As an aside I'm grateful people like the direction! Thank you all.

Edited October 21, 2020 by Amunak

[StationCrab]

I think the five second unbolt was fine.

I can see the bolting process taking longer, possibly even 10+ seconds, the audible notice is also a great idea. This would add tension to bolting, and give people time to react.

Overall this is great, at the very least the AI should be able to lock down its own core. Thanks for taking the time to code this. 

In the future we could even consider re-adding these features to all airlocks, with more low security areas possibly taking longer to lock down than high security ones. That is just something to consider. As a borg I haven't missed bolting too terribly much, but I can certainly see how the AI might feel a bit lacking without at least some ability to secure areas.

As a side note, I think traitor borgs/AI should retain the ability to insta-bolt, as it is a part of their traitor toolkit to be able to lock down areas and cause trouble. 

 

Edited October 21, 2020 by StationCrab

[Tailson]

I like these changes a lot.

Will they work with Geeves' radio jammer changes and disallow door bolting in the range of one of these?

https://github.com/Aurorastation/Aurora.3/pull/10246

 

[Amunak]

26 minutes ago, Tailson said:

Will they work with Geeves' radio jammer changes and disallow door bolting in the range of one of these?

They should, as he cuts off all interaction. If not we'll fix it