A thread about Vaurca

[Nanako]

The vaurca seem like an interesting species. I'm not sure if i'd actually want to play one, but they're curious to have around. i like them.

I'm reading over the wiki page for them. Quicklink for reference: http://aurorastation.org/wiki/index.php?title=Vaurca

I have a few questions and thoughts i'd like about them. I also want to note that this page is really huge and it has no Contents list, unlike some others. Can anyone add that? I'm not familiar with wikis.

First of all, Warriors, specifically type BA Vaurca.

I notice that in the Personalities section, it says the following:

 

Playing standard. (Unbound)

....

They can be any job, and can be either Type A or Type BA.

 

However, farther down the page, in the Notable Information section, there's this:

 

Castes

...

The Bound

....

All warriors and standard drones are Bound.

 

All warriors are bound. And by that i'm pretty sure it means all Type B Vaurca.

These two pieces of information directly contradict each other, which isn't good.

Can someone tell me which is actually true? IE, can Unbound vaurca play as type BA, the warrior caste.

And after we've clarified which is correct, could someone maybe update the page to remove this conflict?

Secondly, some questions about the Bound vaurca:

....The Bound are, essentially, lobotomized Type A and B Vaurca that unquestionably follow the orders of superiors to the death.....They seem to not have any sense of possession, willingly giving out any and all of their possessions to those who ask.

These are quite interesting. But what are the limits to this?

They follow orders to the death. Does that mean i can order one to lie down, stay still, and not fight back, while i murder it? Or tell it to jump out of an external airlock?

And what about the posessions? If i run into an appropriately equipped bound engineer, can i tell it to hand over its hardsuit and toolbelt? Could i order a bound vaurca to go into a department where it has access, and steal tools or supplies for me?

I'm sure many of these things would get my character in trouble, but i'm only asking in the sense of the vaurca RP. What kind of orders is, and isn't he compelled to follow?

How do they even get on an NT station anyway? Being of low intelligence and with a poor capability to learn, it seems unlikely they'd ever have the initiative to set out on their own. Are they bought by NT as property, or obtained though diplomatic deals? Do they typically belong to someone else on the station?

Thirdly, about their natural armour:

 

Their most prevalent feature is their hardened exoskeleton, varying in colors in accordance to their hive. It is approximately three inches thick among all Type A Vaurca.

 

Is this a typo, or not thought through properly? Three inches is really, really thick. That puts them close to the level of some armoured vehicles, that's insane. It doesn't seem possible given their generally human proportions, and thin necks. They'd have to have massively atrophied muscles, and/or a lot less internal organs.

Does their armour actually have a mechanical effect? I see in the buffs section at the top, it says

Minor brute damage buff. X.5 addition.

What does this mean. The damage they deal, or the damage they take? Is that saying they take half damage from brute attacks?

If so, that's a pretty huge buff, definitely not minor

I also notice that it says this in the Type BA section:

Type BA have exactly the same physiology as Type A, but seem to posses extreme amounts of augments, more aggressive focused. Examining of their exoskeleton reveals two inches thicker, and supporrted with carbon nano-tubes that provide a stronger-than steel natural armor, but allows type BA to move around freely and at will.

 

so.. five inches thick? That definitely doesn't seem possible, on any but the really giant >12 foot tall ones.

Does that additional thicker, nanotube armour have any mechanical effects ? Ie, do warrior vaurca have more ingame resistance to stuff than workers?

And finally, i'd like to ask about Type BB Vaurca

Type BB range from being 6 feet tall to 9 feet tall. They are quadrupedal, and have very thick exo-skeletons. While most other Vaurca are bipedal, Type BB have four, spindle-like legs, ..... that allow a Type BA to scale nearly any surface, including vertical, and sustain little damage from large drops.

... they come equipped with a bio-generator... They have internal adrenal injectors...and have blood-clotting formulas to treat wounds faster.

Their exoskeleton ... has a thin layer of energy shielding that comes from unknown sources within Type BB itself,

Weaponry wise, they seem to be mobile weapons platforms, without even needing to wield a weapon... two long, razor-sharp arms that come with energy-supplements.... integral energy weapons above their front shoulders that have automated targeting and fast firing speeds....often seen with larger mounts on their backs, ranging from Anti-Air cannons, mortars, siege cannons, or a mounted ballistic/energy machine guns.

 

These things sound pretty damned awesome. They're basically semi-biological Battle Tanks, right?

But right now, they only exist as a couple paragraphs of lore on that page. Are there ever plans for us to see them ingame?

What kind of situations would be appropriate? Something so large and heavily armed is pretty much only good for combat, so they don't seem suited to station life. But could Nanotrasen ever employ them as Emergency Response Team support? Perhaps they could get there under whatever conditions allow Bound Vaurca to be employed.

[Ordessa]

I can't answer everything, but I hope I can clear some stuff up. First of all, while these questions certainly show your obvious passion for learning everything about the game, we do have both a lore questions subforum and a questions subforum, normally I wouldnt say this, but at the rate you are going general is going to be entirely your threads.

1. As far as I know, (someone can correct me if possible) the average Vaurca is bound. Not all drones and warriors are, but its quite rare to find an unbound one, hence the wording. I do agree the wiki needs his work, but I imagine silver is doing his best, and I hear he is busy with education. The ratio of bound to unbound is over 99:1.

2. Yes. Bound Vaurca are technically allowed to defend themselves from life threatening injuries, and have a naturual sense of self preservation, but they will 100% do things like steal if you tell them to. If a vaurca is rping correctly of course.Be warned though, you will incurred the punishments icly, not the Vaurca. (Species rp does not override ooc rules, they still will not murder bone). Bound Vaurca are there as employed by nanotrasen as free workers. The hives ( with the exception of lii'dra, the antag hive) seek to improve relations with other factions by sending drones and the occasional worker to assist, in exchange for goodwill. Companies are especially accepting of them despite their comparative newness, because they are essentially slaves.

3. I agree with you 100% about the armor, five inches seems ridiculous. There are no mechanical differences between any Vaurca, only RP and such. And the Vaurca sending a type BB to the station, while it would be cool will probably not happen, as it is a tad overkill. Think USA sending a destroyer to assist an inland mugging. Not only would it be a huge waste of resources, getting a destroyer would be impossible, similar to how getting a biological weapons platform onboard a space station is also difficult.

[EDIT] Reworded stuff to make more sense.

Edited March 13, 2016 by Guest

[SierraKomodo]

Moved to the proper subforum.

[SilverTalismen]

Yes I am aware of the Wiki and its...confusion and misleading nature, I just /don't/ have the free time right now to devote to fixing it, I'm sorry I know, But I have to deal with high-school, and moving houses, But whenever my schedule finally clears up I can work to try and clarify it.

Bound Vaurca and Warriors is a ninety percent ratio, with the 10% the unbound that give directions to the bound and keep them organized

Vaurca drones have a primal self preservation instinct, or the bound do, They won't lie down to die if the are being attacked directly they will attempt to save themselves, After all a dead drone is a useless drone. But as a side note if fighting is going around them and they are under no immediate threat then they should ignore it and continue their work unless requested they aid, You cannot order drones to kill themselves directly, you can send them into dangerous areas to a extent, but again self preservation will kick in.

The armor is to explain their brute buff that last I checked should still be present? meaning they take less brute damage than others, but they take ALOT of burn damage and EMP's kill them and last I checked with new code their limbs are mechanical?

Type BA's are the leaders guardians, they protect the CA's and iron wombs so the hive can continue to reproduce

Yes type BB are like mobile tanks right now, There are no plans to see them ingame but again when my time is free I'll try to set up Vaurca news caster stories and other stuff.

[ChevalierMalFet]

Yes I am aware of the Wiki and its...confusion and misleading nature, I just /don't/ have the free time right now to devote to fixing it, I'm sorry I know, But I have to deal with high-school, and moving houses, But whenever my schedule finally clears up I can work to try and clarify it.

Bound Vaurca and Warriors is a ninety percent ratio, with the 10% the unbound that give directions to the bound and keep them organized

Vaurca drones have a primal self preservation instinct, or the bound do, They won't lie down to die if the are being attacked directly they will attempt to save themselves, After all a dead drone is a useless drone. But as a side note if fighting is going around them and they are under no immediate threat then they should ignore it and continue their work unless requested they aid, You cannot order drones to kill themselves directly, you can send them into dangerous areas to a extent, but again self preservation will kick in.

The armor is to explain their brute buff that last I checked should still be present? meaning they take less brute damage than others, but they take ALOT of burn damage and EMP's kill them and last I checked with new code their limbs are mechanical?

Type BA's are the leaders guardians, they protect the CA's and iron wombs so the hive can continue to reproduce

Yes type BB are like mobile tanks right now, There are no plans to see them ingame but again when my time is free I'll try to set up Vaurca news caster stories and other stuff.

 

Talisman, if you're overwhelmed by this, then I can help you. We can work on this together and get something much better.

[Nanako]

Talisman, if you're overwhelmed by this, then I can help you. We can work on this together and get something much better.

 

I read the Vaurca Dialogues yesterday, all of it. You're pretty cool

This offer should be accepted

[Outboarduniform]

honestly , i haven't really seen any Vaurca , but they always seem to work in service/civilian. i think there are a few engineers/officers and cadets , but that's actually pretty rare from what i've seen. additionally , i have never seen , nor probably ever will see a Vaurca in medical. it probably won't happen.

[ChevalierMalFet]

I'm actually writing another Dialogue about this, but to spoil it for you, here's how I do it.

1) A BA is any body that's been deviated from the norm while still maintaining a basic checklist of features. All warriors are BA - the basic A-type body isn't very good at combat - but not all BA are warriors. Za'Akaix'Zishik Zo'Ra is a BA, but his body is even less warlike than the average - it's tall and skinny and has very dextrous fingers for operating human keyboards. Relatively elite Vaurca will have bodies 'hot-rodded' for their use, introducing various modifications that they'd find useful while still staying within the checklist. (I assume the checklist consists of things like height and weight, caloric requirements, a list of viable senses, and whatnot - or it might consist of a pool of components that can't be exceeded.)

2) Bound Vaurca, in their hives, are public property; there are rules about how you can treat them, just like there are rules about not littering in public parks. Bound Vaurca on the station are bodies that have been sold to NT by their hives, which I presume has established rules about their treatment and use - but to NT as a whole, they are property rather than people. (After all, the people whose bodies they are live safely in the Virtual.) If I were to guess about a rule of thumb, the Bound are 'trained' to think of themselves as property, with only a few very basic rules about what to do with themselves that only kick in when they are left to their own devices. I would think the rules work something like this.

1. Identify your supervisor.

1a. Identify any subinfeudated supervisors

2. Do whatever your supervisor tells you.

3. In the absence of instruction, feed yourself, conserve energy, and stay out of the way.

If, for instance, a Bound is a miner, then their supervisor is the Quartermaster - but only because he's been subinfeudated; their actual supervisor is the Captain. (The Captain's orders outweigh the Quartermaster's orders, but in the absence of an order from the Captain, the miner has to follow the orders of the QM.) Bound Vaurca may or may not (or ought to, in my opinion) have a rule against ever harming another person, unless they're in a security field, but I think they would be incapable of determining harm from higher-order decisions - you probably couldn't tell a Bound to rip somebody's throat out, but you probably could tell them to flood the station with plasma because to them it's just turning a knob.

Then again, I would suggest somebody write a "standard contract" that all Bound Vaurca have to follow, since obviously they can't use their own judgment or initiative. Maybe if the order comes from the Captain, they can in fact kill people.

As for the armor, three inches or five inches is obviously ridiculous. I think that's a typo and it's supposed to be centimeters, or maybe even just be outright incorrect.

I think that in the game, if we were ever to represent BB or even proper BA warrior Vaurca, they would have a special set of equipment - a hardsuit or even an exosuit - that they couldn't take off.

[Dreviore]

I'm actually writing another Dialogue about this, but to spoil it for you, here's how I do it.

1) A BA is any body that's been deviated from the norm while still maintaining a basic checklist of features. All warriors are BA - the basic A-type body isn't very good at combat - but not all BA are warriors. Za'Akaix'Zishik Zo'Ra is a BA, but his body is even less warlike than the average - it's tall and skinny and has very dextrous fingers for operating human keyboards. Relatively elite Vaurca will have bodies 'hot-rodded' for their use, introducing various modifications that they'd find useful while still staying within the checklist. (I assume the checklist consists of things like height and weight, caloric requirements, a list of viable senses, and whatnot - or it might consist of a pool of components that can't be exceeded.)

2) Bound Vaurca, in their hives, are public property; there are rules about how you can treat them, just like there are rules about not littering in public parks. Bound Vaurca on the station are bodies that have been sold to NT by their hives, which I presume has established rules about their treatment and use - but to NT as a whole, they are property rather than people. (After all, the people whose bodies they are live safely in the Virtual.) If I were to guess about a rule of thumb, the Bound are 'trained' to think of themselves as property, with only a few very basic rules about what to do with themselves that only kick in when they are left to their own devices. I would think the rules work something like this.

1. Identify your supervisor.

1a. Identify any subinfeudated supervisors

2. Do whatever your supervisor tells you.

3. In the absence of instruction, feed yourself, conserve energy, and stay out of the way.

If, for instance, a Bound is a miner, then their supervisor is the Quartermaster - but only because he's been subinfeudated; their actual supervisor is the Captain. (The Captain's orders outweigh the Quartermaster's orders, but in the absence of an order from the Captain, the miner has to follow the orders of the QM.) Bound Vaurca may or may not (or ought to, in my opinion) have a rule against ever harming another person, unless they're in a security field, but I think they would be incapable of determining harm from higher-order decisions - you probably couldn't tell a Bound to rip somebody's throat out, but you probably could tell them to flood the station with plasma because to them it's just turning a knob.

Then again, I would suggest somebody write a "standard contract" that all Bound Vaurca have to follow, since obviously they can't use their own judgment or initiative. Maybe if the order comes from the Captain, they can in fact kill people.

As for the armor, three inches or five inches is obviously ridiculous. I think that's a typo and it's supposed to be centimeters, or maybe even just be outright incorrect.

I think that in the game, if we were ever to represent BB or even proper BA warrior Vaurca, they would have a special set of equipment - a hardsuit or even an exosuit - that they couldn't take off.

 

See on the actual server, people seem to think Bound obey EVERYONE.

I agree with how you said it, they obey their direct supervisors, and anyone of higher rank then their supervisors.

So...

Miner - Captain>HoP>Quartermaster

Security officer - Captain>HoS>Fellow Officers (Someone tried to tell me if a crewmember was arrested and told them to let them go, bound would have to obey)

[LordRaven001]

Bound can't be any other job then civilian or service according to the race rules so they should not have the authority to arrest or release prisoners. Bound vaurca are only supervised by their hive they do not care about your rank on the space station everyone is of the same authority unless your a vaurca from that hive.

[Nanako]

See on the actual server, people seem to think Bound obey EVERYONE.

I agree with how you said it, they obey their direct supervisors, and anyone of higher rank then their supervisors.

So...

Miner - Captain>HoP>Quartermaster

Security officer - Captain>HoS>Fellow Officers (Someone tried to tell me if a crewmember was arrested and told them to let them go, bound would have to obey)

 

Well if they don't try to obey everyone, then what's really the point? Only following orders from their appropriate superior officers just makes them a normal crewman, that destroys a lot of fun RP value with them.

I really like having caurca around. I always order them to turn up sensors, take care of them if they get hurt, and when antags are around i usually end up drafting them as a personal bodyguard to follow me around, or to investigate scary sounds without risking one of our few medical personnel. Its fun to have someone to micromanage, and i've had great experiences with vaurca players through it.

[Guest]

I honestly dislike the Unbound Vaurca, a lot. My characters have great distrust for them because they seem to screw around and not be good representatives of their race that their queen would want to be.

I love the Bound ones, though. I would never think to abuse one but it's good to stretch a little authority now and then, ask them to get something done, and lo and behold they get something done. The ones who roleplay them arguably also have a great deal of humility and police themselves better than the other side of the spectrum does.

It would be nice to see the Unbound ones be, while still somewhat freethinking and complex in their own way, much more intensively focused on impressing and being excellent diplomats in the sense, to prove to the other races that the Vaurca are a worthy investment.

[Nanako]

Bound can't be any other job then civilian or service according to the race rules so they should not have the authority to arrest or release prisoners.

 

You can play them as any civilian job with the addition of engineering apprentice and medical intern. Theoretically, they can also be played as fully-qualified engineers as well. They can be Type A, or BA, depending on how you want to design your character.

 

civilian jobs, E/M interns, and engineers are allowed.

I agree with your assertion about ranks too, they probably don't have sufficient mental capacity to comprehend a chain of command and its hierarchy. But they have an instinctual/chemical submission to higher ranking vaurca, which is probably not dependant on knowledge

[LordRaven001]

Bound can't be any other job then civilian or service according to the race rules so they should not have the authority to arrest or release prisoners.

 

You can play them as any civilian job with the addition of engineering apprentice and medical intern. Theoretically, they can also be played as fully-qualified engineers as well. They can be Type A, or BA, depending on how you want to design your character.

 

civilian jobs, E/M interns, and engineers are allowed.

I agree with your assertion about ranks too, they probably don't have sufficient mental capacity to comprehend a chain of command and its hierarchy. But they have an instinctual/chemical submission to higher ranking vaurca, which is probably not dependant on knowledge

 

Bound Vaurca value there unbound vaurca as gods sourta speak,

Ka'Viax Zotra Zo'ra (My bound) Would listen to anything Ka'Akaix (Name) Zo'ra stated as it is an unbound, If it was Ka'Akaix (Name) LIi'dra or any of the other hives it would not listen to them as superiors as they are from a different hive, Bound have no clue what chain of command are as they are a hivemind in paradise, They do not see the world/station as other people, Paradise is all they see so they imagine the station as a client hive of there hive, They are assigned jobs by the queen/prince class via the hivemind uplink, And they will do that job unless an unbound vaurca orders them to a new directive, the most non-vaurca can do I think is order them to do a temporary assignment/duty, Thats what I believe but our Vaurca Wiki doesn't say anything about that, Thats just how I play mine.

So the chain of command for unbound would not rely on rank but species,

Hope this helps. c: