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The detective's revolver was changed somewhat recently in the first combat update PR. This change removed the non-lethal rounds that caused stamina damage and instead loaded the detective's revolver with lethal rounds. While previously you could load the revolver with lethal rounds this came with the risk of the gun blowing up in your face each time it was fired and took more work than just having them at round start. Personally, I am not a fan of this change as, while the intention of this change was to reduce the amount of det-curity, I have witnessed a lot of detectives still just blasting people with their revolver. And as you can probably guess, for most antags it is a lot worse to be shot by a revolver with lethal rounds versus non-lethal rounds, because of things such as broken bones, internal bleeding, and death. I would like to hear other people's points of view on this change though as there are probably some good things about this change that I haven't covered, such as more bad detectives getting job-banned for abusing their job?

This post is shorter than usual, as well as a few days late. I'll choose to blame the ice storm in my area. Right. Malfunction was a gamemode in which the AI personality (or maybe core) sent to the station was subverted before being installed. The AI had one simple objective: Do not allow any lifeforms, be it organic or synthetic to escape on the shuttle alive. AIs, Cyborgs, Maintenance drones, and pAIs are not considered alive. Rather, that is how it is worded now, to eliminate confusion about IPCs. The spirit of the objective has remained the same, but the gamemode has not. A traitor AI will now have the very same hijack-esque objective, and like most hijacks, they almost always fail horribly in this objective. Unlike most hijackers, they aren't encouraged to use this to "do whatever." Perhaps more importantly, they are extremely easily ousted as "malf," (and we'll talk about that soon) and when that happens, they are then valid to the entire crew. This is very much unlike other hijacking antagonists, and it's a remnant of the old Malfunction gamemode. Here's a list of ways the AI immediately becomes valid to the entire crew. Of course, you never have to use APCs or CPU modules as AI, and if no one leaves on the emergency shuttle, you technically get a green flag on your hijack objective anyway. You'll have to protect the shuttle for three minutes because you don't have an emag, however. After not hacking APCs or doing anything loud for two hours, assuming your cyborgs haven't ousted you, and you start hacking a little bit before the shuttle, the best case scenario might land you at departures with several cyborgs, 150 CPU and white-hot plasma burning everyone in sight. Best of luck dealing with anyone that has a hardsuit and tools, as well as all the other traitors that want on the shuttle for their own objectives. Most of the CPU modules are not friendly to stealth malf AIs, especially after the gamemode was removed and the modules reworked. Ironically, after the removal of the gamemode all about the malfunctioning AI, it has only become easier to identify when you need to blow the borgs and call the shuttle. The reason crew is allowed to arm up, as stated before, is because the malfunctioning AI is a remnant of the old gamemode. The excuse in this mode was very similar to the crew fighting a blob, or xenomorphs, terror spiders. They are considered "station threats," and are balanced around the crew arming up and killing them. With the removal of the gamemode, the round no longer technically ends after the AI dies, but the shuttle will probably be called anyway. The AI is still considered a station threat currently, because malf AI will always have hijack, and it is assumed malf AI will always try to doomsday. If we want to give AI players more versatility, the first step would be removing the guaranteed hijack objective, and treating it like any other traitor. The second step would be no longer considering it a station threat until it starts to doomsday. There could be stealthier modules, a way to temporarily hack borgs that wasn't a death sentence for AI or the borg. Or perhaps the antagonist is fine as it is, and we should just stop calling the shuttle after we kill the threat.

I am of the opinion that detcurity has always been a problem, but the lethal revolver just makes it more prominent and noticeable when you are shooting people with lethal rounds vs rubber ones. I don't know why the PR for the introduction of the lethal revolver seemed to imply that having it would lesson detcurity issues, perhaps using the thinking that deadly consequences meets equal consequences for discharging the revolver in situations where it isn't needed. That doesn't solve the mindset some people have playing the role. I can imagine it is also a very difficult thing to enforce, because sometimes the detective is quite valid in using the revolver and d-chat will still shout DETCURITY simply for the fact they are defending themselves against a lethal threat using lethal rounds. Recently though since I started playing again, definitely seems to be a spike in detcurity moments - that is just observing detectives going into maints on patrol with security or generally acting as another body, going to calls for backup and the like when there's plenty of security around to answer the call (this one i see a lot). That's all without any revolver issues mind you. Could be argued that having a lethal revolver emboldens detectives to do these things - I'm not so sure on that. Again, mindsets that are not being challenged. There's also odd disparity between the security team and the detective. You have sec with their non-lethal methods that usually remains the case until powered/uncontainable/lethal threats are found, and then you have a security attached role with a lethal revolver. It's an odd mix. I'm not against the lethal revolver, and the feel for having it is very noir, but it was introduced without any real changes to combatting the troublesome detcurity mindset. It's never going to happen - but one possible mitigating change could be to separate the detective and turn them into a P.I. Making them an actual 'aid/helper' to security rather than part of the department. Denying them access to sec-coms and sec-gear in general, doesn't prevent but does mitigate them joining up with security for the most part, and this should be supported by SOP/LAW changes. Then you can either make the case for a P.I to have rubber bullets or a 'special exemption' to be made for their lethal revolver; with consequences that go with that considering they are not attached to sec-department anymore. Making them a P.I would also open up the role to more rp-opportunities. The downside is rather obvious as it would mean less efficiency when it comes to aiding security and cooperation will have to be initiated by security for the most part. But nothing stops security enlisting the aid of the detective regardless, and the detective will be more encouraged to solve/trace antags the old way that doesn't involve listening to sec-coms and waiting for officers to spot an antag. Lets face it; lethal revolver or not, detcurity is still an ongoing issue. Their lethal capability has just made them more pronounced now when they do shoot someone. It's a role that is supposed to be a good dose of roleplay backed up by helping security solve crimes, but often than not turns into them patrolling/hunting antags with their pew-pew. If you look at why that mindset is happening rather than the equipment, can probably start tackling the problem.