Retrograde115

It seems like no one really wants expanded access for the engineers or the paramedic, which is understandable. Using the new alerts purely as an information tool for the crew and lobby screen would still be fun and useful enough to justify their addition, in my opinion. The reasoning behind NTR having the power is because they're meant to be the liaison between CC and command, and to give a third option in the case of Cap or HOS being down. Maybe a silly idea from me. I'm not too attached to the idea of giving Gamma to the crew, so I'm definitely willing to scrap it. I disagree, though I do agree with the notion of expanding the capabilities/information available on the status screens. I'm aware we already have tools command can use to communicate with the crew, this would be another tool that would passively contribute while active.

For the same reason we don't preemptively go to red every round for access to lethals, random searches, and turning all the lights on. Orange and violet would have their use cases defined by SOP. Preemptively calling them or other inappropriate use would be policed by IAAs and NTR.

Red alert under this system is specifically a security-related alert. In the case of medbay getting bombed, orange and red could be called simultaneously. However, the supermatter delaminating due to incompetence or a tunguska meteor wiping out kitchen don't really have anything to do with security, so only orange would be called.

I know these suggested changes are fairly fundamental to the way Paradise Station works, and I’m not an expert on game balance or anything, so I wanted to make a thread here before starting any coding work on this idea. The classic Green - Blue - Red alert scale has been in the game for a long time, at least as long as I’ve been playing, and it’s been perfectly sufficient. However, after playing on Skyrat for a good handful of rounds, there was one idea that really caught my eye as an engineering main: Orange Alert. Orange Alert is used during engineering emergencies (asteroids, SM delam) and gives engineers expanded access to fix the issues. No sitting at the door begging science to let you into toxins to patch the hole Bald McGrey made, no standing at the doors to the brig spamming them until security finally acknowledges your existence and lets you in to filter the N2O leak. It’s pretty convenient, and something I thought we could use here on Para. Then, like the ADHD bastard that I am, my mind began to wander and think about what other changes could be made to the alert system. The next obvious addition was bringing over the idea of Violet Alert - which is for medical emergencies. From there, I started to ask why security still needs to ask to be let into places on Gamma alert of all things. After a few days of thinking, here’s the full package of changes I thought up that I think would be beneficial to the server, allowing for a more dynamic and informative system of alerts, separated into sections based on how radical I think the changes are, with Section 1 being the least radical. Section 1: Engineering, Medical, and Security Emergencies. This section is fairly straightforward. Adding two new alerts, independent from the others so as not to override them. Engineering alert would grant expanded access to the engineering team, and the medical alert would turn on EA in medbay and grant expanded access to paramedics. For security, red alert would remain unchanged, with gamma alert giving security expanded access, since it is meant to be essentially martial law. Here is a color coded breakdown for how this system would work, and what each alert level would enable: Green - Situation Nominal - Unchanged Blue - Generic Unconfirmed Threat - Unchanged Red - Confirmed Security Emergency- Unchanged Gamma - Martial Law - Security Access and Authority Expanded Orange - Engineering Emergency - Overrides Green - Concurrent with Blue/Red/Gamma - Engineering Access Expanded Violet - Medical Emergency - Overrides Green - Concurrent with Blue/Red/Gamma - Medical Authority Expanded/Paramedic Access Expanded Delta - Big Boom - Unchanged Epsilon - Overrides all. You don’t exist. Unchanged. Along with this change would be a respite of our god-awful fire alarms, and some tweaks to door lights to indicate expanded access. Section 2: Who can call what? This section focuses on changing who is allowed to call these alerts. Right now, alerts are called by the Captain alone, unless red needs to be called. And gamma is completely outside the players hands, relying on admin intervention. Here is how I would change that: The Captain will still be given universal control over alerts. He can unilaterally, at will, call Green, Blue, Orange, Violet, and perhaps controversially, Red. This is to ensure that at least someone will be able to change the alert level in the event the others are incapacitated. The others being… The Head of Security will now be able to unilaterally call Green, Blue, and Red alert. This makes sense, as it is the Head of Security’s job to oversee the security of the station. Regardless of the state of the rest of command, he should be able to raise the appropriate alarms for threats to the station. The Chief Engineer will be able to unilaterally call for Orange Alert. Self-explanatory. The Chief Medical Officer will be able to unilaterally call for Violet Alert. Self-explanatory. ANY alert, barring Gamma, Delta, or Epsilon will be able to be called by three simultaneous swipes from command-level personnel. This includes Captain, HOP, HOS, RD, CE, CMO, Magistrate, and NTR. Gamma Alert can be called by two simultaneous swipes by either the Captain, HOS, or NTR. This is the change I’m least confident about, as it will likely turn Gamma into Red+, but from a roleplay perspective it makes sense to me. ERTs, Epsilon, Gamma armory, and medical ships will still be under CC’s control. Section 3: The Headless Chicken (sorta unrelated to alert levels) It’s rare, but there are times on the station where the Captain, HOP, and the spare ID are ALL missing. Following chain of command, the HOS steps into the bridge. But without a captain-level ID, the HOS is powerless to communicate with CC or call the shuttle. This is where my last idea comes in: the Command Override Code. This code would be randomly generated each round and given to the NTR, Magistrate, and Blueshield in their IC notes. It would allow Captain-level access to the user who inputs the code into the comms console, allowing for shuttle calls and CC communication. This code would only be used as an absolute last resort, and allows the extraneous NT delegates to uphold the chain of command in times of crisis. Closing Statement: I haven’t yet done the code-diving necessary to figure out just how large of an undertaking these projects would be, and I understand that these suggestions (especially in Section 2) would require a huge rework to the current SOP. The system also has more room for abuse (I can already see an antag CE calling Orange to break into armory) but I think it’s worth it to somewhat decentralize the “narrative” of the round away from the Captain and the HOS, and to give more utility to the crew. Being a naive TA, I still trust our players to use these systems responsibly MOST of the time. That being said, I don’t trust myself to make changes like this alone, so please discuss below. Criticism and suggestions are welcome.

As Nerf said, I think the mental load on the admins for this rule is overestimated. I can see it being an issue initially as people get used to the new rule, but once it's common knowledge, it shouldn't be any harder to enforce than other forms of metagaming. I'm not an admin though, so take that opinion with a grain of salt. I didn't mean to be rude, but I really do see this as a non-solution to most people's issues with cloning. I feel like this would be an unsatisfying solution for all parties involved, as it would essentially just simplify the process of de-braining to a single click rather than addressing the underlying issue of death being inconsequential. Funny enough, in Discord I've brought up the topic of making antag objectives that don't require the victim to stay dead, and my ideas were promptly shot down because they "reduced the drama of a permanent kill," which feels like having our cake and eating it too. Do we want death to be dramatic and impactful, or do we want to minimize round-removal by having easy revival mechanics? I lean towards the former.

My issue with cloning has never been that I don't like being cloned, and giving me the option of a disability that keeps me from being cloned is utterly redundant when the DNR button exists. My issue with cloning has always been that it makes death, the literal worst thing that can happen to someone, utterly meaningless beyond losing your cool robot arm. Assassination objectives are made needlessly tedious, requiring you to decapitate, de-brain, or utterly destroy the body of your victim to ensure that they can't be revived. Otherwise the janitor finds a murder victim in maints and drags them to medbay. A doctor shoves the body in the scanner, wait five minutes, and Gray McTide will come out screaming "OLIVIA COLEUS IS A VAMPIRE!!1!!" This also extends to things like hostage situations, where having a gun to someone's head doesn't deter them from trying to robust you because them losing and getting shot in the head means 10-15 minutes of dchat at worst. My personal solution would be to rework cloning and revival completely so that reviving anyone from a prolonged state of death is a difficult and involved process, and to enforce Clone Memory Disorder on top of that. We already have the "You remember nothing from the time you were dead" message, literally just amend it with "You also don't remember any details of your death." Hell, CMD alone would be a big step forward.

I support this

I love the new textures, though I agree with the sentiment that the brightness could be slightly increased, and the saturation on colored tiles should also be increased.

Why would they even need to be an instrument? SS13 instruments suck ass. If you want to RP playing music in your headphones, literally just open up Spotify or YouTube. The toggle definitely seems like the better option, being purely cosmetic. It might be cool if the toggle also made you effectively deaf while you were jamming out.

Putting the wires in the notes is a decent idea, but it's so minor that it might not be worth adding. Thinking on it, if the goal is to simply have two antags team up for a challenge and not have access to any special equipment, the idea of blood brothers might be better served as a side-grade to the normal traitors, similar to how contractors work. Except instead of giving up all your TC with the promise of even more TC if you succeed, you're giving up all your TC for the promise of friendship. Maybe when you choose blood brothers in the PDA, you and another traitor who also chose it get paired. Or maybe when you choose it, some random schmuck with less than X number of hours gets told he's now your partner.

This right here is really interesting to me. Since the Team Ops wouldn't have access to conventional Class-S contraband, maybe giving them a special PDA or PDA cartridge with minor covert abilities would be fun. Off the top of my head: Multitool function that automatically shows the purpose of the wires Putting things other than pens in the pen slot (or maybe just a secret compartment with space for one tiny item) Hacking PDA messengers to send false messages listen in on others' Bypassing ID requirements for certain consoles/crates, maybe it takes 30 seconds to crack the code or something Scanning and storing papers/documents I also really like the idea of somehow summoning a midround antag, but it would need more prepwork than just the two Ops meeting up. Maybe name it something like "The Redspace Beacon" and require stealing several items from various departments. Maybe it needs a hand-tele, femto-manipulators, the blood of the clown, etc. Just spitballing.

Name: Olivia Grace Lain Species: Human Gender: Female Date of Birth (DD/MM/YYYY): 04/08/2538 (Age 27) Homeworld: Mars - Tharsis Rise, District 15 Blood Type: O+ Applicable Positions Chief Engineer Engineer Atmospheric Technician Roboticist Qualifications Olivia graduated from Alan Carson High School in Tharsis Rise, District 13 and earned her standard Nanotrasen EVA and Engineering (ENG-1) certification while employed with ORE Ltd, operating out of the NSS Eros in Mars orbit. She later attended the Nanotrasen Academy in Tharsis Rise, earning her advanced engineering (ENG-2), atmospheric technician (AT-1), and engine operation (E-SM1, E-TESLA) certifications. While posted as a Station Engineer aboard the NSS Cyberiad, she underwent additional training, earning her ENG-3 and E-SM2 certifications. At the recommendation of [[ERR00115]], Olivia underwent basic command training (COMM-1) at Nanotrasen Epsilon Eridani Sector Headquarters. Employment Records 2562-Present // Engineer - Nanotrasen Research Division 2558-2560 // Miner, Mechanic - Orbital Resource Extraction Ltd. 2556-2558 // Waitress, Assistant Manager - Mr. Chang’s Medical Records HEIGHT: 160cm // 5'2" WEIGHT: 52kg // 114lbs EYE COLOR: Green (Cybernetic) PHYSICAL NOTES: Bishop Cybernetic left arm, moderate scarring on left side of body, smoker PSYCH PROFILE: Possible attention deficit. Heavy anti-authority and anti-establishment beliefs. Worrying disregard for SOP. How did this chick get approved for command training? Security File (RESTRICTED) Biography Olivia was born[[ERR00115 NOTE:I hate when suits try to talk for me. I’m just a normal, fun loving girl, trying to make her way in the world. I’m a hopeless romantic, I love to play guitar, and I love working with my hands. All that other stuff about my past doesn’t matter. I look to the future. If you’re reading this and you’re not a CentComm bootlicker, then I hope you have a wonderful day.]]

Thanks for responding, you all make good points. Other ideas I had floating around in my head about this were somehow making Holy Water harder to obtain, or making it not work on vamps who haven't gotten enough blood yet. But, if the consensus is that vamps are in a good spot right now, I suppose I'll put my nose to the grindstone and git gud.

As it stands right now, holy water has an extremely binary interaction with vampires. If you're taken to processing for any reason, especially if you haven't managed to get much blood yet, your round is essentially over. There's always an Unga McBaldy seccie force feeding everyone who comes in at least 10u of the stuff, and when you're fed it's a 100% certainty indicator of your vampire status. There's no room for talking, no negotiating, no trial, you're perma'd. This is a little unfun for the vampires, especially the ones who like to roleplay or try to stick to the shadows as best they can, and it kinda rail-roads the vampire into going on a robust rampage rather than maintaining cover for any length of time. So my suggestion is fairly simple, and hopefully easy to implement: Holy water should make everyone throw up blood. This would keep the effect of draining a vampire's power, which is critical if you're going to be jailing them, but it removes the instant 100% infallible testing for vampire status. This opens up the possibility for suspected vampires to be released from custody with good role-play and a little schmoozing if there's still plausible deniability. Sec might drain them and send them on their merry way. Inconvenient, but not round-ending. It would also add a factor of harm to non-vampire crew, hopefully making sec a little more hesitant to force feed literal mercury-water to every grey-tider that enters the brig. I'm not an expert on balance, and I don't know if this would tip the scales critically in the vampire's favor, but I like roleplay more than I like robusting every schmuck who gets in my way and my hope is that this small change would encourage more roleplay between sec and vamps.