Einstein Engines (or a related subsidiary) Third-Party Survey Vessel!

[Oddbomber]

Quote

"The Faraday-class survey vessel is a robust, multi-functional vessel intended to operate for extended-duration expeditions out into remote areas. Fitted with a dynamic, high-powered sensor array and an onboard data processing bank, the Faraday is a purely civilian research vessel tasked with mapping out areas of interest and, more importantly, scouting out sources of H3. In the interest of keeping a low profile in more dangerous sections of space, the Faraday is not armed with any ship-mounted weapons - instead, opting for a powerful array of thrusters which allows it to outrun most threats."

You have been sent to this region to survey planets for points of interest and search for H3. Do so subtly and efficiently.

Disclaimer: This vessel is not an antagonistic third-party ship like the SFA patrol cruiser or the pirate vessel!

The Einstein Engines spyship as a third-party has been disabled practically since third-party vessels were introduced due to concerns regarding the antagonistic-like behavior of some of the players, and how the ship encouraged a hostile attitude towards the ship. While this move was completely reasonable when the balance of hostile/unfriendly third-parties was still being discussed, I do not believe that the reintroduction of some kind of Einstein Engines-related vessel would be problematic at this time. The Southern Fleet Administration third-party and a unathi-crewed pirate ship have been added to the roster of active third-party ships without much trouble - both of those vessels could be described as antagonistic or hostile to the Horizon, with the SFA in particular having attempted to fire a phoron WMD into an SCC-owned mining station and on the Horizon itself during the Dreary Futures event arc. The solution to the latter ship has been to put a notice warning players that the role is "not an excuse to antag". 

My suggestion primarily concerns the replacement of the Einstein Engines third-party spyship into an actual, legitimate survey vessel with it's own goals and tasks in the region. The ship will not be armed outside of small arms for self defense (energy carbines/pistols, a few Banshee suits?), and will rely entirely on diplomacy or it's engines to flee other hostile third-parties. Under no circumstance, excepting emergencies, should the vessel contact or board the Horizon by order of EE Central Command. The ship itself will be a medium-sized vessel formatted for research and surveying, with a small lab, comfortable crew quarters, and a sensors/CIC room. The IFF tag would be EEV, and names could be randomly selected from the names of prominent scientists or something. The crew would ideally include one supervisor, and four-five crewmembers (with IPCs, humans, and skrell available as races). Upon joining, players will be greeted with a reminder to NOT antag and to avoid contacting the Horizon unless strictly necessary. 

I believe that the ship would offer a unique avenue of roleplay for players from the perspective of Einstein Engines, a faction which we haven't really explored outside of a few events and news articles. Furthermore, it would be neat to have a smaller counterpart to the Horizon (as one person so humorously put it, "A phoron-searching vessel and an H3-searching vessel pass nearby. Both ignore each other"). By implementing what we've learned from the SFA ship and pirate ship, the EE third-party has the potential to be a fun, unique research-oriented addition to our roster of warships and grungey cargo haulers. Maybe the research team or mining could accidentally run into an EE excavation team looking for artifacts, or the Bridge could pick up on a distress signal from the Faraday and consider rescuing them? Our players have already used other less-than-friendly third-parties in unique ways to build on the RP of a round, intentionally or otherwise.

 

Thank you for reading my proposal and taking the time to consider it!

[SilverSZ]

Whilst I do love the idea personally and would enjoy seeing an EE ship of this nature added to the pool there's two things I want to mention. One more serious and another that's just a suggestion.

 

Whilst I think the suggestions made will suffice for keeping the EE staff from antagging against the Horizon something that also needs to be considered is the Horizon antagging against the EE ship. Back with the older EE ship I remember a few notable incidents were instigated by the crew first due to our lore around the SCC/EE Rivalry, especially that with NT. 

With the addition of ship weapons this antagonism could still continue even without communication between both sides, I think allowing communication but not boarding could fix this issue as most of the time the Horizon probably wouldn't shoot them if the EE ship did as they said, but it is a cause for concern.

 

Secondly, whilst Human, IPC and Skrell are the obvious choices for crew I would like to see C'thuric Vaurca considered as well. The current lore between the two factions makes the C'thur hive a shareholder and major partner with EE who employs them exclusively from amongst the Vaurca Hives. It's stated that obviously these Vaurca are not employed within Sol at the majority of EE facilities but instead used outside of Sol and in the Federation instead. I'm sure this would be something to talk to the Vaurca loredevs about but I think it would be neat if this special lore relationship was also represented on the ship.

Edited December 31, 2022 by SilverSZ

[Scheveningen]

I like the idea, personally. I do think we need to rehabilitate the EE from being a punch of forgotten-about non-SCC corporate jobbers, as well as prevent their reputation as The Bad Guy from resurfacing. They should just be written as a competitor with less than lukewarm relations, but not outright hostile as the literal pirate xeno-genociders that the SFA+SRF are. 

With regards to any ship weapons, they shouldn't be able to be equipped with anything that can compete with the Horizon, obviously, but I think in comparison to any other ship they should definitely outgun even other Solarian corvettes. They literally openly supply the Alliance, so it'd be a neat foil to the Alliance military to see the EE's scout/patrol ships actually be more specialized rather than general purpose for self-defense.

Silvie's ideas seem to be good additives to the overall suggestion and I'd like to see that incorporated as well. 

[WickedCybs]

The big problem is that we want people to roleplay with each other. The idea of the Horizon and an EE ship "coexisting" on the overmap sounds nice but in practice the Horizon doesn't need to care and the third party ship just siphons pop that gets bored and comes back to the Horizon anyway. That's fine for the factions that aren't diametrically opposed to the SCC but it's going to be a problem for those that are and EE were the worst of that lot even when they ignored the spy concept they were introduced with. I'd also say we have enough extensions of Sol (and EE certainly is when it comes to the narrative) present at the moment.

If they were to be added, it would work if approached from an angle of actually being independent rather than scenery for an overmap. A medium sized ship with a small research lab despite its purpose isn't going to cut it. The ship should be on the bigger end of what we have like the TCFL or Kataphracts. It needs RP spaces for its crew. It needs RP spaces for the people who visit them. It can't exist as the typical overmap ship does at the moment.

I don't think it should exist at all until we have more overmap content though. Adding it prematurely would only see its old problems resurface and wouldn't give it anything to do.

[YourDaddy117]

While I really want the EE ship I do have to agree with Cybs that we're lacking in content. Personally I'd say that goes for all the ships we already have tbh, but in the end I still really believe in an EE ship. It really has the potential to provide an alternative experience to the Horizon while not drawing too much away from it. Frankly I approve of any ways we can flesh out EE as its own entity rather than just "duh badguys". They really have a potential to add a cool experience and fresh perspective in the world. 

So long as it's made clear that the EE ship is a Research Vessel primarily and meant to avoid danger I highly doubt there'll be any serious problems OOCly. 

[MasterAssistant]

I don't intend to press the point regarding lack of overmap content too much (the two posts above do a good job of covering that), but since the EE ship is supposed by design to avoid interacting with the Horizon that leaves it stuck in a position which it can't fully exploit right now. However the idea itself actually has a lot of potential - more non-SCC affiliated civilian ships are good because it also gives other off-ships something to lurk around. For example the SSMD Recon Corvette protecting EE science assets, given the two share similar loyalties. Since they are supposed to be conducting research, they will also drag around their escorts and potentially hit up even more off-ships/away sites.

That said, we should map some more stationary "rally points" IMO. For example, the People's Space Station for the Tajaran sectors of space, or more recently the stranded survivors PR I've seen, which incentivize ships to both levitate towards them and then interact with one-another. Derelicts don't have that much to do besides looting and clearing them, so once you're done with them there's not really any incentive to stick around, and given their repetitive factor some people just won't seek them out at all and try to go straight for the Horizon or lurk about.

Overall? EE research ship - great potential, heavily dependent on execution. I would love to see them act as the missing link between other off-ships, but they may also rely on other ships themselves for interaction. Perhaps implementing some different spawn budget methods (for example adding a variable to every ship to see if they are SCC/Sol/Non-Aligned and then rolling to see how many of X/Y/Z ships are allotted), or a hub station-type away site, etc. Maybe this is a bit demanding or idealistic, since ultimately, like everything in SS13, things rely on who you're playing with, but I do think that mixing things up for off-ships will help them find that sweet spot which is often lacking.

[Waff-AI]

Is two weeks too long? Do I care?

I loved the EE ship when it was around. It led to a lot of issues, absolutely- but we're in a new age of offships, nowadays, with more experience in the matter. Especially with the Solarians running around, we have a lot of potential problems that have proven to be less worrisome when they have something to do.

I think a static research outpost would be the way to go. No shuttle, or a very minimal set of escape pods. Let the EE crew do exciting Dig Site Roleplay on a big asteroid, with visits from the Intrepid to keep things tense and lively. Varying stages of ease-of-access and overmap visibility are there to consider- but it could be cool. EE discovers a horrific alien artifact and calls for help, or tries to pawn it off on the Horizon, or just offers to trade for some supplies to last until next resupply. It solves both the 'we need more places to go' conundrum- what if the Horizon wants in on whatever Einstein's doing, or the miners stumble upon it?- and the 'stop EE from being Burglars 2' problem.

If we want to keep them mobile, of course, there's ways to go about it, but people seem antsy about adding another EE ship after last time. Putting them in as a static influence rather than a mobile force gives them a chance to have a dayjob that isn't 'bother everybody else'.

[Montyfatcat]

As long as people aren't putting EE ship crew to the wall I'm all for this.