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S34N: ~59% of all PRs have a head approval. There's ~21% another of PRs that are either pure fixes or refactors that either way already don't require head approval. Thus, the chances of head approval being the thing holding up any given PR is less than 20%. Approximately 63% of head-issued approvals for PRs are issued by me. Removing the requirement for heads to approve feature PRs is not an option. That would just put even more of the work onto the maints. As is, we serve as a sort of filter that stops maints wasting time with things that obviously won't work for design reasons. The requirement for our approval lets us reject those so we prevent them wasting maints' time. We also buffer some of the toxicity from players, so they don't have to deal with it. Ideally we would appoint new maints, but its almost impossible to find candidates for the position of maintainer that are acceptable enough to all the existing heads/maints that they can actually be added. I went on somewhat of a crusade during my two years as head+host trying to get more maints appointed, and even then I was only able to get one extra maint (AA) in the end. Politically, getting a maint appointed requires an extreme level of agreement among not just the heads but also all the existing maintainers. It is an incredibly difficult process. I've always been keen on the idea of junior maints but frankly with all that has been going on in my real life lately I quite simply don't have the energy for such a difficult task right now. Stokes52 In general, getting a feature PR merged usually requires (A) one head approval (B) one maint approval and (C) no heads or maints objecting. When I post a review of a PR that has a green check mark / marked as approved, I am saying that I am voting for that PR in my capacity as a head. Now it requires only (B) and (C) to be merged. I use my reviews to make my votes public. I have tried to encourage other heads/maints to adopt this system too, but most of them don't want to, partly as they dislike dealing with backlash on github. They don't like having to explain why they object to PRs, because they don't want to deal with PR authors messaging them "what do you mean, my code is terrible" or "what do you mean, you don't need another X in the game". When I post a non-approving review with the word "objection" in it, I indicate that I am voting against the PR. A head or maint voting against a PR doesn't automatically kill it, but it does make it MUCH harder for it to pass. Generally it can only pass at that point if another head votes for it regardless, a maint votes for it too, and a discussion is held among the heads/maints which ends with the resolution that it will still be merged despite the objection of at least one head or maint. As for progress indicators, you should probably assume that if it has a head's review/comment explaining that they like the PR, then its waiting for maint approval. If it doesn't, it is still waiting for head approval.

Name: Flick Stroh Age: 28 Gender: Male Race: Human Blood Type: A+ General Occupational Role(s): Head of Security Security Pilot/Officer Engineer Biography: Born in 2537 AD on the human home planet, Sol. Flick was brought up in a civilian household of which his parents never served in the sol military. As a child Flick had always dreamed of joining the Sol navy and near his adulthood joined to finally become a citizen of Sol, which he holds a very nationalistic view of. After his eighteenth birthday he promptly joined the Sol navy eventually finding his place as a pilot. Flick served for five years before being discharged from the navy due to potential smuggling under service and apparent drug addiction and abuse using SolGov stock. Regardless Flick still appreciated his time in the navy and the skills he gained from it as well. [Clearance: Command, security] Records directly after his discharge from the Sol navy are hard to entirely piece together, however it can be assumed through his Sol criminal record and interview that Flick continued smuggling for a criminal ring(undisclosed/still working for?) for some time after his discharge from the navy, possibly as a source of income for him while utilizing his piloting skills learned from the navy. However while Flick continued this for some time he had some form of, falling out with this organization which he would not explain further to the interviewers. However it is possible that this group and falling out could be responsible for the current state of his body of which the main alteration being that of his arms. He has affirmed that he is no longer working under this group although hesitation was noted when this was asked. [Clearance: Command, Medical] He was noted to be hesitant when discussing most aspects of his inorganic features other than basic details of them. Regarding how he lost his original arms he would not discuss but did explain that the ones currently in his possession are less than on brand,(replicas/copies?) which can be noted upon closer inspection of them as they do not appear to be exactly factory standard with some discrepancies. When asked if given the chance if he would prefer new organic arms he promptly refused and stated that in the event he is ever cloned or that the arms he currently has are misplaced, he will require the same ones to be reattached and will take no other replacements. He would not discuss further as to why. Qualifications: Proficient Pilot. Average Medical skills Average Mechanical skills Proficient in Hand To Hand Average Hand Shooting skills Above Average Ship Gunnery Skills Employment Records: Though his actual employment is thin, his time served in the Sol navy provided enough of a skill set to find a suitable place among NanoTrasens vessels Engineering and Security teams, and now defunct Piloting sections. Security Records: Clean Record prior to discharge from SolGov navy. However multiple smuggling and resisting arrest charges in SolGov space. It should be made aware of his possible connections to criminal organizations, most likely one of or multiple smaller pirate groups and or criminal organizations. Though at this time this should not be an issue however continued monitoring aboard NT vessels is advised. Medical Records: Though he would be of nominal fitness(Height - 6'1", Weight - 182 lbs), where he would have two normal arms he instead has two Xion brand cybernetic replacements. During physical examination he would not discuss much about them or how they came to be. Injection scars were also found around his legs which he pushed off from questioning(possible drug addiction). Otherwise the physical examination was nominal. During Mental evaluation the subject of his arms was brought up and though there was minimal discussion about it, it does not appear to directly affect his mental health. It appears that he is quite collected and even cheerful in what he does even when moving around topics he obviously does not want to discuss. Thus his mental state appears nominal as well. Though additional check ups should be performed in the future to keep ensure nothing changes, more so with the possibility of some form of drug addiction. At the end of his medical examination he did note that if anything were to happen to his current arms he would need them reattached as soon as possible, and that if he ever dies and if his arms are severed from his body and unable to be found to rather "leave him dead"(It appears he has some form of deep connection with his arms, perhaps he may indulge more with further consultation. Personnel Photo (Appearance text): one day ill get an actual portrait of flick commissioned He stands at about 6'0" from what you can tell and seems to be decently fit. Though most noticeably both his arms appear to be cybernetic, Xion brand. You seem to see that he has a very light etching on his arms, its rather faded and almost impossible to make out now. On top of this his arms do not appear to be standard issue and looking slightly off from what you've normally seen as well.

CONSTABLES SAVES CATS!

Goal - Send X amount of power back to CC Setup method Clear a large area on lavaland. And place down drills a distance apart from each other, and activate them. These drills could be orderable from cargo or the machine boards orderable and require science to build them? These drills would then start a timer until they complete. During this time, they would disturb the local wildlife. Hoards of lavaland fauna would attempt to attack the drills, and destroy them. It would be the miners and engineers jobs to keep the machines defended and repaired with nanopaste. After the drills have completed drilling, pumps would be placed over the drill holes. These pumps would pump plasma deep underground superheating it, and producing power. This power would be routed into a “power beamer” of sorts, which would blast this concentrated energy back to CC for cargo points. The power beamer’s machine board would be ordered from CC then constructed using high tier science parts. Balancing The more holes you drill, the more power you make, at the cost of disturbing the wildlife each time. Drilling a new hole creates a massive surge of mobs to fight, maintaining a power plant would create a small trickle of mobs. This means that a few powerplants are easy to maintain, however they will complete the goal slowly. Setting up lots of power plants produces more power however you might get overwhelmed with mobs. New lavaland fauna The burrower. A snake like creature that lives underground. Rarely surfaces, unless there is an earthquake or a disturbance in the ground… such as drilling into it. They don’t “move” instead they pop up out of the ground then dig back under, getting slowly closer to their target. They do high damage, however they have low health so you have to shoot them in the brief periods in which they surface. Why is it good for the game? It adds more variety to rounds, giving miners and engineers more to do. Also, @AffectedArc07 wants his argent. Rewards and such are up for discussion.

Old screenshot; Clown in the bathroom, what will he do

Name: Xion Robinson Age: 36 DOB: 17/9/2530 Gender: Transgender Female Race: Human Ethnicity: Sol, Cuban Blood Type: A+ General Occupational Role(s): Bartender, Security Officer, Detective, Captain Biography: Little is known about Xion prior to her arrival at Nanotrasen, but she is heavily scarred along the chest and extremities. She is rumoured to have been involved with various crime syndicates prior to her contracting with NT at the age of 30; police records have recorded evidence of crimes including armed robbery and assault, but this was not known prior to her employment. Generally very friendly to most people, but has a short fuse and will explode violently upon those who mess with her. Despite her shortcomings, she has been heavily profitable for the management of the Cyberiad, and continues to maintain a level of efficiency that outweighs her outbursts. As for medical status, Xion is a chronic alcoholic, drinking just enough to avoid blatant drunkenness; she has had a cybernetic liver installed to replace her failing organic liver, and this cybernetic soon had to be replaced as well. She is also addicted to nicotine, and regularly smokes several packs of cigarettes throughout the shift. She has a Xion Manufacturing (unrelated) cybernetic left arm attached, as her arm was severed and went unrecovered for reattachment, following an explosion during regular security operations. Valuable, if somewhat unstable contributor to Nanotrasen, and a dedicated sister-in-arms who will sacrifice her own life for her compatriots.

Preface: This is not really a "suggestion" as of such, more a problem the community is concerned about. Since there is no real place for such a public discussion about this specific topic, I have stolen the suggestion forum for it. I want to make it crystal clear right here that this is NOT intended to bring up any ill-will towards the staff team, and we all agree that the work they do as volunteers is massively appreciated. Everyone has a life, we don't expect you to full-time care for Paradise. However, some of these points do involve asking hard questions to staff, and we want a civil but open discussion about them. The issue at hand: So, what's this all about? Why am I reading this forum thread? Well, if you mosey on over to the Paradise github, you will notice we are sat at about 200 active PRs. This number has been slowly climbing over the past few months and is starting to reach an unmanageable backlog. Why is this a problem? Surely 200 PRs is good since people are actively contributing! Well, yes and no. It's great to see active development and people taking part, but unfortunately we currently have more active development going on than staff are handling, leading to the increase in PRs that are sat there stale. We have a LARGE number of PRs that have been sat stale (or unmerged) for many months, and a handful over a year old! This puts people off contributing, it makes it stressful to have to maintain months old PRs with no feedback on where/why they are not moving anywhere, and quite franlky means the game is not getting as much love as it should from a coding standpoint. What is the cause of the problem? Well, quite frankly, this is what this thread is here to discuss. It's not entirely clear why things are the way they are, or why they are not being resolved. Factors we are aware of: Heads of Staff currently have to actively approve any non-fix/refactor PR. If a PR gets overlooked or no votes, it just sits there forever. (See: https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/15139) Unfortunately, it has become clear that heads are not really able to give the time to sort through our massive PR backlog, with approvals being sporadic at best. Now yes, headmins are busy and we appreciate all the work they do in other sections, but with this issue ongoing for over 6 months, it's clear the situation is NOT going to resolve itself by being left as-is. "Stale" review requests. These happen when a code change is suggested by a maintainer, implemented, but the maintainer does not re-review the code. This issue sort of ties into the lack of active maintainers, with @AffectedArc07 literally carrying the maint role singlehandedly for all intents and purposes. (See: https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/15404) PR limbo. PR limbo happens when a PR is objected to by one person, but does not get any further approvals. This is also linked to both above issues. PRs like this just drift towards the back page and are not tackled or looked at. So they just sit there. (See: https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/15445) Stale PRs. Stale PRs are ones that have not been updated in a long time, and are just sat there. Other codebases handle these by allowing maints to close them at their discresion, however we seem to just let them sit there forever. (See: https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/15442) So, how do we fix it? Well, this is the difficult part. It requires a lot of change somewhere, and I'm not sure where to start tackling it. This is why an open discussion with the community regarding WHY these issues have been allowed to creep up, and HOW the staff heads are planning to resolve the issues. Things I can think of that might alleviate the issues somewhat: More ACTIVE maintainers. We appreciate the work put in by all our maintainers, and we don't want them to feel this is an attack. But currently, AA is the only maint actually doing anything remotely maint-like. He is doing everything and it is, no offense to him, too much for one person to stay sane and handle. Allow heads to object, but remove the requirement for their explicit approval on feature PRs. Let the good judgement of the maintainers (people who are familiar with the game and have a good sense of what will help or not) carry the code, and the heads can step in if they feel something is going to cause issues. Be more aggressive in closing stale PRs. Add a time-limit to review requests, if someone has been requested for a review and has not done so in months, their review should no longer be a hard requirement. Be more active in discussions regarding PRs in PR limbo, try to actively resolve them instead of just sweeping it under the rug and letting them accumulate in the background. These are just a few solutions I can think of. Please, community, share anything you feel is relevant. Lastly, we just need MORE involvement from the heads in the current system, and we should not let stale reviews/objections hold up the whole PR system. @Kyet @necaladun @Dumbdumn5 I'm pinging you three here specifically, because I want each of you to please share with us your thoughts on why things have gone the way they have, and how you feel we can solve the issues.

Hey, good thread. I've only just starting getting involved on the contributing side of Paradise, but I quickly noticed the backlog. Whenever I would ask on the discord what's up, the answer from others has always been some variation of "heads aren't approving things." which it seems is not the full story based on this thread. I wonder if more transparency in the process would help. As a new contributor, it would be nice to know: 1. What the process actually is. I had to learn about the github approval process by asking around and I'm still not totally clear on how it works. I understand that heads vote to approve features, but I don't know much beyond that. As far as I know the github merge policy isn't actually documented anywhere? 2. Transparency on the head votes/approvals. I often see Kyet on github very helpfully approve or object in a comment, but I am never sure what that means. Is that him voting for it? Does that mean it's approved to be merged by all the heads? What else needs to be done? Do the other heads need to vote as well? 3. A clear indicator of when the baton has been passed to the next stage. Maybe this can be accomplished with PR tags or comments, but its not clear to me who "has the baton" on most PRs. Is it awaiting head review? Is approved and awaiting code review? Does it need changes? Has it been objected to? It would be nice to know clearly what stage a PR is in. Sometimes github comments show this, but other times I hear through discord that the story is different on certain PRs. For example, I got a PM from Neca saying he voted for one of my PRs (thank you!), but based on what's in github I don't know what the other heads think, if it has been approved, if they need something more from me, etc. 4. Is it okay to PM people about github stuff? I imagine staff get pinged all the time about random stuff. I don't want to add unnecessarily to the noise, but I'd also like to know how staff/heads/maintainers feel about discord PMs on github issues. Is it okay to ask what the status is or would you guys prefer we keep things in github comments? Is there already too much noise for you guys or is it okay? The impression I get from discord is that many contributors feel their work is being ignored, but maybe that's not the case. Some of the suggestions above might help people see "Hey, we're looking at it, we just haven't been able to move it forward yet." Or, at least it will help people understand what stage their PR is in. Related to maintainers: Like I said, I'm new to the contributor side of things but I've already seen what a madman AA07 is and the work he puts in. A big thank you to everyone who contributes and maintains the github. It's often thankless work and I'm sorry you guys have had to deal with any abuse at all. You make the game possible and we players really appreciate it! It's unfortunate that angry players are usually louder. I don't know what the process is for this, but is there any way we can make it easier for maintainers? Are there any PR reviewers that can step into the role of trial maintainer? Are there any contributors that are ready to step into the PR reviewer role? Is there anything the average player/contributor can do to make their lives easier? Lastly, big thank you to the staff here. Paradise is a really amazing server and the work you guys put in has made something special in SS13 history IMO.

I will add this one to my to do list, with some adjusting.

So Kyet's been doing these, but doesn't want to touch CMO because he's a scrub when it comes to the art of life and death, so I decided I'd rip him off and do one for CMO. F Tier: Chief of Grief This is just a greytider in a blue jacket really, and is cruisin for a bruisin with the banhammer. - Puts patients in disposals rather than healing them - Steals surgery tools for their own use (See below) - Forces surgery on people that isn't needed, such as removing their appendix just to eat it. - OD's on the Psych's meth E Tier: The useless. Not a griefer, but is just useless and a waste of the slot. Could be jobbanned from CMO easily with no great loss, they need to actually play as a good doctor. - Just doesn't do anything. - Doesn't speak on command or medical radio at all. - Doesn't delegate, just lets medbay run by itself without helping out. - Leaves the hypospray and compact defib in the locker because they're useless. D Tier: The super doctor Acts as a super doctor with chem and genetics access, without actually being a chief officer. Not bad as a doctor, but not a commander. - Uses chemistry to get all their own meds, not actually helping out the rest of medbay. - Takes patients away from people to do surgery when the other person had it handled (This is one of the worst things you can do to another doctor.) - Doesn't communicate with medbay or command, just tries to fix everyone themselves. - Takes all the supplies for themselves. C Tier: The decent commander This is the bare minimum a CMO should be doing. If you're doing this, you've passed. Only with a C though, so your parents will still be disappointed in you like they've always been. - Ensures medbay is properly set up - cloning, cryo, chemistry, etc. - Tells people to max suit sensors at the start of the shift then every 20 or so minutes. - Co-ordinates medbay over the medbay, making sure people are aware of incoming patients and are prepared for them - E.G. preparing charcoal when a bunch of spider victims are coming in. - Does the tricky stuff others might not know - brain transplants, SR, etc. - Takes patients away only when it's clear the doctors are stuffing up - like fixing internal bleeding when it's being ignored by newbie doctors (And then telling them why and what they should do in future!) B Tier: A good CMO A CMO worth their salt, keeps medbay running like clockwork. - Co-ordinates with Command to let them know of threats, such as blood drained bodies (Vampires!), or that most of mining is dead so not to expect minerals. This can also include viruses, xenos, multiple copies of the same body, or other things that command need to know about. - Makes sure chemistry are doing their job, and fills in if there are no chemists to produce the basic healing chems needed - Mannitol, Synthflesh, Cryo, etc. If chemistry are present but not doing their job (Eg, making meth and space drugs), then fires their asses and gets chemists that actually do their job. - Makes sure that advanced chems like mito are ready when the basics are done in chemistry. - Keeps an eye on genetics handing out powers. - Is also a good doctor, able to breeze through surgeries etc, and does them if no one else is available. - Oversees triage and makes sure that the people who need treatment first are getting it -Regularly checks the morgue to make sure the coroner is actually cloning people and not just gothing it up in the dark. If there are green lights on any of the morgue trays, then clones them themselves while yelling at the coroner for ignoring it. - Makes sure any Ody mechs delivered are locked away properly for paramedic use. - Not scared to use the telebaton on the clown trying to slip people who are busy saving lives and throw them out. - Keeps an eye on virology, making sure that the viro isn't releasing a bad virus, any released are being cured, and that good ones are broadcast for all and put in the public fridge. - Grabs a bottle of space cleaner and makes sure medbay is clean if the janitor is busy. A Tier: Leonard Bones McCoy A God of Life And Death. Makes medbay run smoothly, and insures that the only people dying are the ones the CMO wants to stay dead. - Keeps a careful eye on things like the syringe gun and straight jacket, to make sure no one is kidnapping people with them, especially the psych. - Uses the telebaton and other tools to kick troublemakers out of medbay, and reports them to security if needed. Might even deliver a straightjacketed and ether'd clown to security if they're causing too much trouble. Or just puts them in cryo with a bottle of ether for a few minutes before throwing them out - remember, medical essentially has it's own brig cells with less escape risk. - Helps new doctors when there is time, teaching them basics and advanced techniques, or assigns them an experienced doctor to shadow. If it's quiet, humanizes a monkey, then beats the crap out of them to give new doctors some practice. - Makes sure that Slimes and Vox are being properly given new bodies if there old ones aren't being fixed up. If a fresh one with SM can't be made, then gets them at least into a human body. Or Tajaran if you're feeling cruel. - Might even bring a welder and cable for those annoying mechanical bits the rest of med can't fix up. - Skilled enough to actually help a viro fix any virus releases, and advise on better mixes for public release ones, which are announced, the forms stamped, and a copy put next to the public fridge so people can see the symptoms. Also makes sure a good name is chosen for it. - Hits the quarantine shutters in the 0.1% of times it's actually needed and helpful, but also TELLS EVERYONE WHY. - Kills off the monkeys in virology and genetics if there's a threat because of them (Biohazards like a virus or white terror spiders) - Gets advanced tools for surgery when available, yells at R&D to upgrade them. Bonus if they put a labelled hypospray of hydrocodene in surgery. Bonus: My loadout! Here's what I usually supply myself with at the start of every shift: Penlight in the ear, switched on. 5 Brute, 5 Burn patches in a patch kit - add a shitload of synthflesh when chemistry has some - in the belt. 5 Mannitol, 2 Mutadone, 5 Salbutamol, 5 SR pills in a pill bottle, in the belt. Advanced Health Analyzer on the jacket. Hypospray emptied of omnizene and given to chemistry. Refilled with a 50/50 salbutamol/atropine mix. Both half-full bottles combined and kept to refill it. In the belt. A bottle of charcoal emptied into a medical hypospray. In the belt, labelled if possible. Compact defib in the backpack, to be swapped with medical belt if needed. Surgeon cap, nitrile gloves, sterile mask, stethoscope - gotta look the part. Finally, make sure to always gib Korala whenever they come in, even if it's for 3 brute damage.