Policy for creation/use of weaponized exosuits

[NerdyVampire]

I cannot find any proper policy on the use/creation of weaponized exosuits (it used to be under the umbrella policy of scientific experimentation I think), and given the nature of weaponized exosuits, I believe it is due time we cement when/where we should see them in-round.

The following is my first draft for a policy, which I feel is both reasonable and within what we ought to expect for heavy armaments like these.

Weaponized Exosuits

Exosuits may only be outfitted with ranged weaponry (firearms, harmful grenades, etc.) after obtaining written authorization from a departmental head, outlining the limits of its use. This includes exosuits that are intended for expeditions and away missions. Weaponized exosuits may not be piloted for combat aboard the SCCV Horizon during less than code red situations, unless with captain-level authorisation. Piloting a weaponized exosuit without proper authorisation aboard the SCCV Horizon constitutes as gross negligence.
 

Reasoning: If a combat mech is required to fight antagonists, then the situation ought to warrant a red alert, and the mech should be custom ordered for the situation. Combat mechs should not be freely constructed without any involvement of department heads, as they should not be warranted without established expectations of heavy combat, such as orders from central command warning of piracy or already established presence of a dangerous individuals aboard.

Feel free to argue for or against, and come with alternatives if you feel it can be worded differently.

[Peppermint]

I mean if someone is building combat mechs it's powergaming kinda so should just be ahelped. This doesn't need to be a policy.

[Fluffy]

Opposed, making mechs is the job of the machinist, whose primary gameloop is making mechs (alongside bots and working with the borgs, but they are kind of secondary mechanics here), asking for an "authorization from a department head" doesn't really make sense, nor it would make sense, it's like saying that a Warden have to ask for an authorization for distributing weapons: It doesn't, it just needs an IC  justification for it - I don't see a reason to barren people to fullfil their mechanical avenues where there's an IC sense in what they're doing; combat mechs also require materials and research to be of any use, so there's not really a balance concern either, because anything that didn't got mining materials and R&D unlocking levels would be laughable to fight against, and if the ship put effort into having good gear available, then they got the right to have the good stuff available

Handing off 5 heavy mechs just because would be eyebrow rising, having one heavy mech in the workshop that you're "working on" / bringing it to a firing range makes perfect sense, and when the shit hits the fan, it also makes sense to give it out to help. No powergaming involved there, as it doesn't ignore any RP not it's trying to win at all costs; I already elaborated on the later point here, so I won't repeat the point again here, though as usual, let me know for any question

[Carver]

If a combat exosuit was made without the HoS or Captain asking for one (outside of unusual extenuating circumstances or the mechanist being an antag), you're pretty well justified to just ahelp the situation I would imagine. No different than the Warden ordering hyper-lethal weapons from Operations really.

[Noble Row]

It takes a while to build a full mech in the first place and is largely dependent on having BOTH research and mining to provide the machinists the materials necessary to make an effective combat mech that isn't a powerloader with a taser. Even basic weapons are locked behind research.

 

Additionally, how I've been handling it as staff (and something I got bwoinked for long before I was staff) is that you shouldn't be making a combat mech without reason, but as soon as the antags let the bullets fly, then it's free game. Just don't go hunting antags yourself.

 

Plus even when security gets combat mechs they hardly ever use them unless you hunt them down and force them into the thing. And mechs are notoriously easy to kill if the pilot doesn't know what they're doing.

 

As the others have said, if there's an issue, ahelp it. 9 times out of 10 the machinist is new and just got excited at the extremely rare occurance of both getting resources from mining in a timely fashion, and having a scientist do research at the same time. Once they're spoken to they don't really do it again from what I've seen.