Nikolai The Beast - Forced Round End, Faked Sing Release

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

BYOND Key: Jackboot

Player Byond Key: Nikolai The Beast

Reason for complaint: We were playing a merc round, and the ops had decided to play as taking over the asteroid and building the nation of Astrodia. Things were going well; we were doing trading, accepting immigrants and workers and generally playing Papers, Please.

~2:40 in, a vote is held. It was 12 to end, 25 to resume. Now, with DO powers, I've seen throughout this entire time Rai has been sending panicky faxes like "they're using slave labour! Send ERT NOW!" and "They're arming up and preparing to attack the station!" I don't at all let it change IC anything, but it's an example of her trying to meta up a conflict.

Then, when the DO's ignore these, she elected to fake a singularity containment breached and calls an emergency evac, then the AI sends the DO's a message saying they're evacuating because Astrodia attacked them.

I think it's completely unacceptable that on green alert, with no attacks from Astrodia (outside a bombing they hadn't even begun investigating yet before calling it) and several players participating in the story by going over to Astrodia, Nikolai (playing Rai) would override the vote to continue and decide himself that the round needs to end because he said so.

We ended up bombing the station because it was ending anyway, with the IC logic that bombing the sing might kill it and not let it eat us, so might as well, right?

But I'm still extremely annoyed that when I've been poked by admins for calling the emergency shuttle when it's not necessary, that he's able to actually follow through with this. And this is when everyone is participating and roleplaying after a continue vote. It shows a flamboyant abuse of Command authority and not what we expect in whitelisted players.

Approximate Date/Time: 3.30.15 7:16pm UST

EDIT:

After talking with Nikolai on Skype, I am extremely disaffected with his explanations.

And because there are no IC punishments in place for what would BEYOND ANY DOUBT IN THE UNIVERSE be a lengthy prison sentence and the loss of her job, and the loss of Aurora to an armed gang now able to waltz in and empty it out, the only other option that would satisfy me is OOC punishment to strip his whitelist which I am now requesting.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Marlon Phoenix

[Guest]

Could you explain how Nik was using their DO powers, exactly? I'm not sure what "DO powers" entails in this context. Misunderstood, moving on.

Also. What the hell is the reasoning for command staff, of all people, to attempt to fake a singularity containment breach?

Even if you want to transfer the round out because you're bored, or don't like the round anymore, there's no excuse for trying to force a round end with an extreme like that.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Guest

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Could you explain how Nik was using their DO powers, exactly? I'm not sure what "DO powers" entails in this context.

Also. What the hell is the reasoning for command staff, of all people, to attempt to fake a singularity containment breach?

 

Poor wording, let me edit it. I meant I could see her faxes.

Her unformatted, large font faxes.

[Blue]

Wait a minute, the whole singularity release was fake?

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Yes. Rai/Nik faked the singularity release to force a shuttle call.

[Blue]

Well that's complete bull. Ending a round just because you didn't get a vote...ICly makes no sense. You would've evacuate the station and leave it at the hands of some thugs that just showed up and just took over a part of the asteroid. You'd get fired so hard.

[Guest]

Not to mention severely breaching SOP on Code flippin' Green and inciting panic on a widespread scale. He out terror'd the terrorists.

I get the OOC reasoning, even though it's still a really bad decision to make... but I'll wait for Nik to give their input on what Rai was thinking at the time.

[Nik]

Oi, Oi, Oi.

Hold your assumptions, lest you be asses.

Firstly, The singularity was faked for an actual reason, the vote was unrelated to anything. Rusty just /did that/ while we plotted this ruse.

Lets start from the beginning.

Rai came on, heard about all this, ignored it entirely. Spent most of the shift attempting to further some genetic experiment she had in mind, and was suddenly informed that the people had weapons, and was supposedly enslaving people.

So she moved to the bridge, contacted the AI, and looked into it, attempting to hastily write a message to CC while doing other things. ((I should clarify that I forgot the format existed for the billionth time))

She was originally plotting to get Sec armed and ready if they made a move, then they announced they had a nuke, followed by some gibberish about HAIL ASTEROIDAKA or whatever. This changed her mind.

She contacted Sec, and attempted to discover if they could handle the Asteroid people, which she was told they couldn't. So she thought of a few means to get a way to move the Civilians to safety.

Now, As I know this needs to be repeated, The faked singularity was not because the vote failed, I had voted against it so we could do this.

Rai decided, with some time speaking to Empress, that it would be best to fake a singularity breach to give a excuse to leave, without them being aware that it was an attempt to get the Civvies off before they began getting killed.

However, as she was thinking about waiting on that to speak to them, or see to raiding them, or getting proper CC attention, (To which I had been hunting for the format on the forums for the fax), a bomb blew up escape. So, instead, Rai panicked and scribbled" They have a nuke" and signed it, and moved along with the original plan.

Upon this, The Nuke ops began blowing up the station and detonating the nuke after we left.

She cleared this with most of Sec, the AI, two medical officers and as many as Nasir told in engineering.

Obviously, upon shuttle leaving, she revealed this ruse, and informed everyone that she would be speaking to CC about what she did. She was fully aware that she may be fired, but she reacted to protect the crew, by the simple reasoning of having an oath for both being a doctor, and her religious beliefs. She deemed that getting people away from the bombers is a better choice then staying.

If we would like to meta this, which is why this is an issue, it is people complaining because calling the shuttle is an end to RP, even if it's deemed the best choice.

Now, Hilaaaariously, If they had never called the nuke, I'd have not been so antsy to move everyone off board, and if they hadn't suddenly bombed escape (for reasons beyond me, but I've been questioned why I'd think it was them, to which is a hilarious question, since she had gotten multiple reports of them having more weapons then Security had in the armory.))

Was it the right thing to do? I don't care. It was what Rai would do, because I'm not going to break RP and meta about how calling a shuttle is round end just so we can eventually get bombed and killed (As far as she knew.)

I'm sure this will be an explosion of responses, but fuck it. I did what was best ICLY, fuck the meta of round end. A CMO isn't leaving thirty plus crew next to a bunch of nutters with a nuke and enough guns to make Rambo look like Peewee Herman.

[Nik]

As a secondary note, Rai was fully aware that her actions may have lead her to getting fired and even arrested, but she was doing what was best. Considering that the nuke Ops responded by Blowing the entire god damn station up, I feel like It was entirely justified. I don't care what their intentions /were/, if they respond with a nuke because I had the audacity to act to assist the crew in what was my best way, then so be it.

Lets avoid using If's and maybe's and what might have happened, Folks. What happened is what happened.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

1) We didn't nuke the station and had no plans to nuke the station until the sing was "loose" (unless an op was conspiring without my IC knowledge.) We only took the nuke out of the shuttle because the command and sec of the station was going batshit about Astrodia so much that we were getting sec officers defecting to us, and we wanted a way to force you to pump your brakes. Deterrence, bby. We detonated it because I thought IC'ly it would have a chance of destroying the sing, so I gave the order to blow it before falling continiously unconscious from a popped lung.

Also, you can't justify doing it because of actions that you OOC knew would happen. That's the definition of meta, Nik.

2) A roboticist brought in a Ripley and tried to flood the entire outpost with plasma during the call, which was filled with syndies and innocent people. We took this as an attack. I think that's why the bridge blew up in a bombing (I just learned the bridge blew up) because my only plan was to bomb RnD to cut you off from the science outpost, and have you run out of metal repairing it so we could both charge a fee for people going through us to get to Xenoarch and force you to actually establish an official dialogue with us for trade because before that we were only getting what private staff were arranging with us. We were getting desperate, and needed you to talk to us.

3) You deduced the bomb was us despite having zero investigation into the matter, and having us repeatedly ask if you needed our supplies and assistance. You immediately blamed us despite us making zero hostile actions against you or anyone else. We allowed people in, we allowed them to leave, we peacefully detained a trespassing QM and handed him back with no issues or demands. You escalated the situation up until I concede we attacked you, but you had no more than suspicions and lied to CC to get your evac justified.

4) I can't murder everyone on the station with welder bombs then go "It was what my character would do, IC'ly". No. That's a terrible excuse. If there was the risk of this round being canon and you'd never be able to play Rai again because of his action, you wouldn't have done it. You went into this plan knowing full well you could force the round to end without making any attempt to do anything else to interact with the ops. You never:

Opened a line of dialogue.

Accused us first.

Armed up sec.

Explained properly to CC.

Attempted to investigate the matter.

We rag on about antags not powergaming and it being such a massive crime, but what you did was such a powergamey thing to do ("Got my greentext of everyone being safe!") that ended a lot of RP going on. I never got the chance to run a presidential campaign against two diona. They probably would have won. Nuke op asteroid ruled by Diona engineer. Did anyone want to see that? Well, they can't now!

Edited April 1, 2015 by Marlon Phoenix

[Nik]

Jackboot, it doesn't matter what /YOU DID/, it's what /HAPPENED/, and what happened was we got bombed and nuked. I don't care what your intentions were, but we ate two bombs, maybe three, I didn't check, and we ended up with a bunch of dudes with guns and bombs. Maybe should go see what the other OPS did before you say anymore, because you clearly didn't fully speak with them.

Secondly, who else would have high level explosives except the dude with the guns.

Thirdly, the griefer was annoying. He doesn't count to shit, he was just a griefer.

Fourthly, and this is the most important, you are arguing that we can't call the shuttle to solve a concern because of a METAGAME reason, that it technically ends the round. That's not a god damn excuse, the shuttle is to be used to get people out of harm. What we got was a bunch of bombs, dudes with guns, implied slavery, and nukes.

[Tainavaa]

If what actually happened isn't a good reason to call an evac shuttle then there's no reason to fake a loose singularity. There is NO excuse to fake a reason for evac. Jackboot is right, if this was a canon round and Rai FAKED a reason for evac then Rai would be out of a job.

If there is no legitimate reason to evac, then you shouldn't be evaccing. If the current situation didn't call for an evac then don't call for an evac. If it did then say so.

[Blue]

Four armed men arrive on the asteroid.

They quickly take over, enslaving the miners.

They establish their own nation.

NT approves this nation.

Tensions build up between the crew and Asteroidia.

Bombs start going off.

You call the shuttle, send the whole crew off, and leave the entirety of the station at the hands of another nation.

Yeah, that's not a good choice, now is it? Rai can't be that blunt, can she?

Either way, there were multiple ways to get Asteroidia down. In fact, my character, Beeps the Spiderbot, was actively trying to get an organized "coup" to tear down the "government" from within. He launched an espionage campaign, earned their trust, gathered intelligence, and reported it to his friends. He came up with a brilliant plan to abolish slavery and cripple Asteroidia from the inside, but the scientists didn't care about people. So he was going to go to Asteroidia and try to get them to get into a conflict with Aurora, which would yield the same effect. But the moment I arrived in Asteroidia, the shuttle is called.

See? You could have done something else. I refuse to believe that security could not have found a way to infilitrate and sabatoge the outpost. I mean, all you really had to do was find a way to take out their atmos, engine, medbay, or processors and they'd basically have to halt whatever expansion they were planning and then they'd have to negotiate with Aurora. More RP.

It doesn't matter if Rai sees the shuttle as the best option at the moment. It might have been. There are multiple incidents where the shuttle would be the best option. But unless it's the last option other than "Slow, painful death" you should never use it. Destroying everyone else's RP because your character wanted to be safe is not an excuse. You're ending the round for EVERYBODY, not just Rai.

[canon35]

Just an note. We were prepared to investigate the Astrodia. A lot can be resolved just by asking CC for a DO investigation.

[Tainavaa]

I just said if there's a legitimate reason then there's no reason to fake one.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

The second bomb was because of the station's terrorist attack against Astrodia. The op playing the one who actually detonated it will have to confirm; I ONLY ordered a bomb on RnD because we wanted to try to make you need our materials.

The nuke was, again, an IC attempt to destroy the sing. You can't be mad at us for blowing up the station 4noraisin when you went through all this trouble to make us thing a sing was loose and about to devour half the solar system.

[GlamourChariot]

Will not post my opinion here, but some extra information to quell all of the assumptions people are making in this thread:

1. Nik claims to have done everything IC, and accepts any judgement that may be done in respects to his characters and their abilities to be heads

2. He decided to fake the Singularity after CC denied his request for help, despite being told it was denied because he didn't use the proper format; later stating it was because "the format is dumb"

3. He had planned to fake the Singularity BEFORE the bomb attacks, as a means to get everyone off station due to fears and a lack of help from CC, the reason for which is stated above

4. He was very clear that he did NOT do it in an attempt to circumvent the vote that failed, but rather for the reasons outlined above

Also, a friendly reminder to keep things civil. This topic can and will be closed if it devolves into bashing, circular arguments or otherwise ceases to have any real value.

That is all.

[VoltageHero]

I wasn't really going to jump in here, but it seems like it's being pretty one-sided.

 

You never:

Armed up sec.

 

This is false. Jade was yet again (why this happens a lot, I'll never understand) given somewhat control of Security, and was told to keep things "under wraps" more or less. People supposedly had breached the Security comms, and Rai wanted Security armed, and wait for ERT to come and help. The AI allowed Security to arm up, which three of the four active Security members did. Nothing about the situation was said over comms due to the possible breach, and wording in the PDAs were pretty vague, in case the PDAs had been broken into as well.

It was, a 'silent Code Red'. That was the basic gist. The Nuke Ops WASN'T supposed to know a lot of the things going on, so that nothing actually brought danger to the station. Security gearing up was also a safe-guard.

Later, Rai called both Nasir (Nightmare's Nasir) and Jade back into the bridge. Basically, Rai told us that she didn't think this was a situation that they were in a situation, that they should really fight. Rai had gotten a message back from ERT, saying they basically couldn't help. Deciding to see what Security could do, I informed her that we only had three active and equipped officers. Against people of an unknown number (a number that kept drifting numerous times), she decided to go to Nasir, and take the 'escape' route. She (if I'm recalling correctly) informed Nasir of the fact that they were going to make a 'false' announcement of the Singulo being released. The AI stated that it could make this announcement, and if Engineering backed it up, that people would believe it. This was to get people out of the station, and away from the people constantly screaming things about Asteroid-land. I told Security to patrol for anybody suspicious, and kinda ignored most of it.

Then the station started getting blown up.

So no, the shuttle wasn't called because of the vote not passing. I'd really suggest you guys to take a look at both sides (when it isn't black-and-white), before jumping all over something so quickly.

[Aqy]

They quickly take over, enslaving the miners.

I'd like to point out that the people on the asteroid were not enslaved. As was stated by Glaive during the round, although I have no quote for this. We were free to leave whenever we pleased, and were asked if we wanted citizenship. There were even announcements that they had purchased the asteroid. To be honest, I personally saw the most aggression come form the station to the asteroid in the from of a guy in a mech trying to kill Glaive, and attempting to drill open a plasma tank.

[Tainavaa]

What Aqy said. There were clearly ulterior motives. Nobody makes up a reason for an evac if there already is a legitimate reason, especially when there were IC ques that indicated otherwise. I was observing and while there may have been some insane people freaking out, the only logical thing Rai could think to do was to make up a reason when there was supposedly a valid reason already? I very much doubt that.

[VoltageHero]

What Aqy said. There were clearly ulterior motives. Nobody makes up a reason for an evac if there already is a legitimate reason, especially when there were IC ques that indicated otherwise. Instead of making an attempt to find out even though there was constant chatter over the radio that indicated otherwise. I was observing and while there may have been some insane people freaking out, the only logical thing Rai could think to do was to make up a reason when there was supposedly a valid reason already? I very much doubt that.

 

If you announce over the comms that you're leaving because you're afraid people might blow you up, that won't end very well.

It doesn't matter how "nice" or "honest" somebody is acting. If somebody has a weapon, or a high explosive in this case, you wouldn't take the chance that they're going to just let you go, just like that. In the end, anything can be an act. Taking a risk, and announcing your intentions to leave with a possible threat listening in, isn't the best idea.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

A single bomb detonating in RnD and killing exactly no one is not a situation where you could justify faking a singularity release to get out. No one died. Command and control did not collapse. We never made moves to even move onto the station that you knew about.

I'm not angry that you were plotting to fuck out shit up in preemptive "THEY'RE BAD GUYS, I FEEL IT IN MY GUT" strikes and violating CC orders. W/e, it could have been interesting RP, I guess? I'm angry that everyone's RP was cut short and the whole round was thrown FUBAR completely by your own metagamey behaviour in knowing that everyone would be safe and snuggle on CC, and that you would face no consequences for doing it because the round was non-canon.

Honestly, it's extremely disheartening because we were doing something different with ops that I haven't seen before, and everyone was having a grand old time with it in a period where everyone complains about nukes being the same every time.

And you just up and killed that so you could end it before anything might have happened.

If I preemptively murder people because they're scary, I get in trouble for self-antagging. If I end an entire round because of something that might happen, I should get in trouble. It's the same exact thing but on a different scale.

You call the shuttle when there's no feasable way to salvage the station or ensure everyone is safe. You call it after shit hits the fan. You don't commit an act of terrorism and cut short everyone's fun because of how your character feels it should go.

It's not fair to everyone else. It really killed my urge to play and lowered my opinion of the ability for the people in question to have a sense of sportsmanship.

[VoltageHero]

A single bomb detonating in RnD and killing exactly no one is not a situation where you could justify faking a singularity release to get out. No one died. Command and control did not collapse. We never made moves to even move onto the station that you knew about.

 

Did...we just ignore the previous statements of the fake singulo release being planned before the bomb attacks, or what?

Judging from the responses, it seems more or less that people are just upset that their RP was cut short. That said, that happens to a lot of people, for different reasons. That isn't exactly a reason to file a complaint every time it happens.

Edited April 1, 2015 by Guest

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

A single bomb detonating in RnD and killing exactly no one is not a situation where you could justify faking a singularity release to get out. No one died. Command and control did not collapse. We never made moves to even move onto the station that you knew about.

 

Did...we just ignore the previous statements of the fake singulo release being planned before the bomb attacks, or what?

 

I didn't. It still doesn't justify it. Planning to end the round with a fake singularity release is no different from ending the round right off the bat. It's still ending the round with zero rp.

[VoltageHero]

A single bomb detonating in RnD and killing exactly no one is not a situation where you could justify faking a singularity release to get out. No one died. Command and control did not collapse. We never made moves to even move onto the station that you knew about.

 

Did...we just ignore the previous statements of the fake singulo release being planned before the bomb attacks, or what?

 

I didn't. It still doesn't justify it. Planning to end the round with a fake singularity release is no different from ending the round right off the bat. It's still ending the round with zero rp.

 

Except it did have RP.

Just not for you. The people involved had RP, just like the people on the asteroid had RP. Not everybody was involved in that RP, so does that make it zero RP for those people?

Again, I think it's just boiling down to the fact that you wanted the round to go on longer, and are upset that it wasn't able to. That's fine and all, but things happen.