Norwest

Thanks, and a great question; I've heard arguments either way about it on the Discord. I went for a 'no' ultimately because a) bolas can be really effective when used well, including against antags, so it's better if they don't start with it, that b) this means that Constables have to beg, borrow, or steal for one (which isn't a bad thing in and of itself!), but it's easy to make a basic bola from scraps or to get an e-bola from Security if a Constable player decides they really need one, and that c) it reinforces the whole 'win by running away' element we're trying to encourage with Constables. That being said, I'm totally willing to be convinced otherwise here. I'd like to give it a go without bolas at roundstart for Constables, and if it turns out they need some kind of weapon to slow people down, I've no issue with giving them an e-bola and access to more in the future. EDIT: Additionally, sprites have been submitted on the Discord thread discussing this design doc, so we've got one 'default' look and an alternative one for the role: I love the old 'Bri*ish bobby' look, and although the above helmet and armor is a tad too military-looking for the general aesthetic, it's still visually distinct and interesting! For the time being, unless anyone's willing to whip up additional clothing schemes or a 'ConstDrobe' clothing vendor then I'd like to have Constables spawn in the above shirt and left helmet+armor scheme, with one set of any alternative clothing in their personal lockers.

Update: the fines design has been rolled in with Constables in order to facilitate in-person interaction. Details here: Revised design doc incorporating 'fines and the legbreakers who enforce them' is now in the other thread.

Design Doc - Revised Edition (approved by design/balance teams to go ahead) New Mechanic: Tickets / New Role: Constable Inspiration: Paul Blyant, Space-Mall Cop We could stand to give SOP, and its Internal Affairs enforcers, a little more teeth. We could stand to keep the low-key shittery on the station better controlled, while also providing an interesting counterpart for greytiders, Clowns&Mimes, and other agents of non-antag chaos. We could stand to break up the 'Security hivemind' a bit, and introduce a little bit of dissension and mistrust into Team Redshirt. The ticket system and the new Constable role aim to address all of these elements together. Tickets: Paying Your Way This design introduces a new system of tickets, paid in-person with an ID-swiped 'excise payment system' (a modified EFTPOS scanner). If there's one thing we've seen from the recent 'courier' system change, it's that face-to-face interaction is a Very Good Thing, and that we should be building new mechanics based around encouraging it. 1xx (Minor) crimes will now be handled by paying a fine of 20 credits per violation, and 2xx (Moderate) crimes can be resolved by either a fine of 50 credits per violation or the same 5-10 minutes Brig time, at the discretion of whoever's making the arrest. The fine can either be paid in the field, or by bringing the person to the Brig and processing it there. SOP will now be enforced by fines, too. Internal Affairs and the NTR will be given the power to levy fines for SOP violations, with fees of 20 or 50 credits per individual violation. In either case, if someone is unable to pay their fine, they can serve their time in the criminally-underutilized Labor Camp, by working off their tickets in the 'debtor's prison.' However, actually collecting these fines from unrepentant greytiders is gonna be impossible without getting them in cuffs, soooo... Constables: Corporate Legbreakers Enter the Constable. This role is geared around enforcing the new fines and tickets system, and is specifically designed to remain targeted and focused on greytiders and low-key trouble throughout the shift. If Sec Officers are the station's SWAT team, responding to ':s HALP VAMPIRE SCI MAINTS,' then the Constables are the station's patrol cops, walking a regular beat and ensuring that someone with arrest authority shows up at the Dorms when '; halp joe griffer beating me up.' Internal Affairs/the NTR can write a ticket for SOP violations, and Security members can write a ticket for 1xx (Minor) and 2xx (Moderate) crimes, and since they're a role geared around tickets, Constables can write tickets for both. A Constable can subdue a crewmember in the field to collect a ticket, or bring them in for a 2xx (Moderate) offense such as Assault or Kidnapping if they think it's warranted. Unlike Sec Officers, however, Constables are not allowed to make arrests on anyone they see doing a 3xx (Major) crime or higher, and are expected to call those in to Security instead. Since we don't want to rely on SOP and Space Law alone, though, the Constable's gear has been carefully geared around the goal of "letting them reliably roughhouse greytiders, while also making them minimally-effective at fighting actual antagonists." Perhaps most importantly in terms of avoiding the 'Sec Officer Lite' problem, however, the Constable does not start the round mindshielded. Similar to the HoP they'll be blacklisted from a number of roundstart antag roles (cult, changeling, and vampire) but can be Syndicate traitors on occasion, along with being initially vulnerable to subversion attempts with mindslave implants, Dantalion vampires, cult conversion, etc. This makes the Constable only partially trustworthy by ever-paranoid Security, and keeps them from turning into Sec Officer Lite in the same way that the Brig Physician tended to become. The HoS can try to browbeat Constables into accepting the mindshield implants from their locker, can try to keep the Constables away from the Brig as much as possible, or can simply ignore them when feasible. Either way, however, there will always be an element of doubt and paranoia present, which is something that's currently missing from Security. Similarly, the Constable's inherent untrustworthiness means they'll provide extra work for their own Legal department, who currently lack enough interesting and fun work to do. Internal Affairs will obviously watch other departments for SOP violations to ticket, and the process of assigning and collecting tickets will keep them busier, but IA and the Magistrate will also need to keep an eye on their own legbreakers to make sure the Constables aren't taking a little extra cash on the side. The Constable role is intended to be a little bit shifty and untrustworthy by design, and to both introduce and encourage low-level corruption complications like 'Constables taking a small bribe to overlook Botanists selling drugs.' That being said, Constables are also not required to be corrupt, and can in fact be the One Good Man on the force. The role is meant to be open-ended in this regard, and the alternative uniforms (the 'British bobby' one in particular) are meant for players who want to play their Constable as an upstanding citizen. Whether it's 'bored mallcop writing tickets,' 'corrupt corporate mafia man,' or 'the cops we wish were out on patrol in real life,' the Constable role is meant to give players enough narrative freedom to play the role as honestly - or not - as they want. Necessary Changes: This covers the bare minimum, absolutely-necessary elements needed to get this to the point of a TM. There's a lot of 'nice-to-have' stretch goals, which'll be covered in a separate header below. However, with the basic elements covered here we should be able to go for a basic TM and see how the ticketing mechanic and the new role both handle in practice: 1. The 'Excise Payment System:' An EFTPOS scanner, but modified with a shiny red skin and modified to have always-on access to the department accounts. The EFTPOS normally requires you to know the account number and PIN of any account you're paying into, but this 'EPS' will let you pay directly into one of the various department accounts without also knowing anything more beyond the name ('Command Account,' 'Security Account,' etc). This will be accompanied with a slight modification to Space Law and SOP (details below) which cover the recommended payments for various types of low-level crimes and SOP violations. IA Agents and Constables will each start with an 'EPS' in their backpacks, as tickets and fines are meant to be central to their gameplay. Security Officers can also levy fines, so I'd like for two 'EPS' systems to be in the Brig Processing, along with one each in the Warden, HoS, Magistrate, and NTR Offices. There'll also need to be a reminder about normal ticket amounts, namely the 20-50 credit prices for the time being (exact numbers subject to change based on user experience, ofc), so the wiki will need to be updated with the relevant info (details below). 2. The 'Ticket' security status + SkillsHUD visibility: The Constable is the obvious go-to guy to handle an idiot Engineer who's resisting a demotion. Unfortunately, the SkillsHUD (which the Constable will start with) currently can't view the 'Demote' status on the HUD, which seems an obvious oversight. Additionally, I'd like for arrest statuses (Wanted, Parole, Release, etc.) to include the new 'Ticket' status, which'll be an orange $ sign or similar indicator. Ideally the 'Ticket' status should also be visible on the SkillsHUD, as it falls within the purview of relevant characters (the NTR, IA, and the Constable). 3. New Sprites/Minor Gear: At a minimum, Constables will need to look different from Sec Officers. I'd recommend re-using the sprites from a prior attempt to merge a not-Sec Officer, though other people are welcome to resprite as they wish. Constables will also need a Procedure-only encryption key, along with a renamed version of the IAA's non-bowman headset. 4. New Weapon: The Constable will need their own unique weapon to apprehend people (suggested custom weapon to follow). The basic design requirements were: a) Not a ranged weapon (extended chases are way more fun than if the Constable just no-sells a greytider with a disabler knockoff) b) Capable of reliably winning 1v1 fights with greytiders, and can't be easily lost (since Constables are expected to rely on this weapon against experienced 'tiders when flashes and pepperspray fail, and the whole 'lack of trust' means it's unlikely they can't count on Security backing them up) c) NOT highly effective against antags (we definitely don't want Constables interfering with Sec-vs-antag fights too much, and we don't need to repeat the 'detcurity' problem of the Detective's old .38 pistol) d) Unique and thematically appropriate for the role (whether they're an upstanding police bobby or a shady corporate legbreaker, the Constable's main tool should be something that reinforces the general look and feel of 'a patrol cop who solves back-alley problems with a beatstick and his fists') There were several great contenders in the Discord chat, including using the pre-existing police baton implant modified to only deal stamina damage, but the finalist was 'knockout muscle enhancer,' a weaker version of the pre-existing 'strong-arm empowered musculature' implant. The existing arm-mounted implant makes unarmed strikes deal 20 brute damage along with significant knockback; 'knockout muscle enhancer' is significantly weaker by design, operating instead like slightly enhanced boxing gloves. It causes the user to deal 15 stamina damage without any knockback when using unarmed harm intent, weakening targets until they fall over; depending on exact force amounts it'll take 6 strikes to fully stamina-exhaust a target. The strikes use the standard boxing notes ('X hits Y with a haymaker!' etc) and should ideally use a custom noise for their hits, so that others are aware these are stamina-only strikes. Like the original, a nearby EMP will cause the user to instead punch themselves. It can be printed in R&D protolathes with sufficient tech levels (I'm guessing...eh, Engineering 5, Biotech 6, and Illegals 2, say? Meh). 'Knockout muscle enhancer' is a useful CQC weapon that can't be taken away, but remains only mildly effective against most outright antagonists. It's a useful tool for a stand-up fight, but if the other guy runs then the Constable is at a real loss. They'll still lose a fight with a stamina-resistant vampire, and against a changeling with EMP Screech or a Syndicate with an EMP implant they're easy pickings - after all, one of the simplest ways to keep Constables away from actual antags is to make them very poorly-suited for fighting them. However, 'boxulature' provides a unique and interesting tool that's very thematically appropriate with the image of Constables as a shady corporate enforcer, and one that encourages extended chases and drawn-out beatdowns. 5. Mapping Changes - Starting Point: Gear-wise, the Constables will thankfully spawn with most gear they already need. Whatever their starting location (see below), we'll want to make sure they have access to two personal lockers (renamed 'Constable personal lockers') and a pepperspray tank. If the spriters come up with alternate clothing options in time for the TM, I'd recommend the alternate clothing options should go into a garment bag in each locker. Aside from that, if anyone's up to map out an actual Constable gear room (see the stretch goals below), I'd be very grateful! The Constables' design goals for access are as follows: a) Other than the stuff they must have, Constables should have minimal outside interaction with Security (we don't want them to turn into Sec Officer Lite, after all) b) Constables must have access to the Holding Cells, and may have access to Brig Processing and Interrogation depending on preference and how it shakes out in practice. However, on all maps Constables should not have access to the Prison Wing, Execution, Evidence, and anything more restricted (note: this may get problematic because the Prison Wing uses the same Holding Cell access - access type #2 - which the Constables will need at a bare minimum) c) Ideally, Constables should have access to the Labor Camp. The area is criminally under-utilized anyway, everything there is already set to the Holding Cell access which Constables will need to have at a minimum, and using it as a 'debtor's prison' fits in thematically very well with the Constables' whole theme. Some maps like the Kerberos/Delta are perfectly suited for this already, whereas others like Cyberiad/Box or Cerebron/Meta will require some additional effort (see below). d) The relevant access numbers are the Brig (#63) and Holding Cells (#2); Constables must have Holding Cell access in order to set Brig timers, and may have Brig access depending on necessity. Obviously, Constables will not be having Security (#1), Detective (#4), or Armory (#3) access, so those are safe for use. With all that said, I think there's basically three general approaches to giving Constables the 'right' access while keeping them away from the 'wrong' ones: 1. Minimalism: This would remove Constables' Brig access entirely, so that they only have Holding Cell access. On all maps there's at least four temporary cells near the front of the Brig, and modifying the double-doors near those cells to accept Holding Cell access (#2) would be sufficient. The Constables' starting position (+pepperspray and personal lockers) would be changed to the Courtroom, and Labor Camp SOP would have the Constables turn over any prisoners going there to Security instead. This 'minimalist' approach is relatively simple to implement, and accomplishes the goal of keeping Constables outside of the Brig, most notably in keeping them clear of the Prison Wing, Evidence, and other places they shouldn't be. However, it also keeps Constables away from the Labor Camp Shuttle, which is problematic since that'd be a great starting point and home-base for them, along with fitting into their general theme really well. Additionally, some poorly-organized maps (*cough*Cerebron!*cough*) utilize Brig access (not Courtroom #42 access - no joke!) on the Courtroom, so there'll need to be a bunch of doors modified anyway. 2. Compromise: This would retain Constable Brig access, but alter the areas they shouldn't go by changing door access there. Evidence, the Prison Wing, and Execution at a minimum would need to be updated from Holding Cell (#2) to Security (#1) access, or alternatively Security+Forensics (access_one, #1 and #4) access in cases where we want the Detective able to travel there too. This will let us use the Labor Camp Shuttle as a home base of sorts for the Constables, while also keeping them separate from Security in the process (since Sec almost never uses the Labor Camp or its shuttle except when evacuating the station). This'll take more time up-front to tweak specific door access codes properly, and may affect things like 'a traitor CE or RD being able to scoot in and easily loot Evidence,' but in the end I think it'll work out best. 3. Maximalist: We add a new 'Constable' access type, modifiable in the ID computer, and add the access to specific doors and areas where Constables should and shouldn't go. This will avoid the issue of interfering with other job types, and let us tweak exactly where Constables are allowed to travel (along with letting them have a private gear room; see the 'stretch goals' section), but will also take a lot more work to code and implement. Notably, we'd need to either make sure that the new access lets Constables still set holding cell timers appropriately on the telescreens, along with having access to necessary computers like the labor camp points manager. After talking with design/balance, option #3 has been chosen for the actual TM. Constables will have Maintenance and the custom 'Constable' access, which will be added to the standard ID computer (under the 'General' tab, similar to the 'Magistrate' and 'Law Office' ID accesses, another little detail to help reinforce that Constables aren't part of Security). We'll need to make sure that entities like the telescreens are set to access_one and allow the Constable access, ditto for the Labor Camp, but this'll help keep them where they belong. 6. New Role: Unlock requirements: 20 hrs as a Security Officer, 4 hrs as Internal Affairs Agent Starting text: "You are the Constable. Your job is to mediate disputes and maintain public order." Department/boss/starting location: Legal (reports to Magistrate), starts in Labor Camp shuttle checkpoint* Starting access: Constable*, Courtroom, Maintenance Starting equipment: custom jumpsuit, armored jacket, and soft cap (similar stats to the Sec jumpsuit, standard armored jacket, and Security soft cap), Skills HUDSunglasses, black shoes, radio (non-bowman, has Procedure encryption only), and a cardboard 'Constable equipment box' (starts in backpack) containing pepperspray, flash, handcuffs, security hailer, an 'excise payment system,' and a security holobarrier creator. Has standard Security PDA (with read-only Sec Records access and ability to summon bots). Starts with 'Fist Aid' Starting numbers: 1 at lowpop (<50 crew), 2 at higher population. Can be altered by HoP or other on-station ID computer. Does not start with a mindshield, but like the HoP the Constable is ineligible for certain antagonist types (cultist, changeling, and vampire in particular). *Please see 'Mapping Issues' section above; this assumes we go ahead with the third version listed above Stretch Goals: These are a bunch of 'nice to have' ideas which I'd love to see in the future, but aren't strictly necessary to move ahead with the whole concept: 1. Constable Gear Room: Shady back room? Shady back room! This'd be a roughly 3x3 Constable-only area, with things like a 'ConstDrobe' containing alternate clothing options and additional basic gear like handcuffs and a pepperspray refiller. This would also serve as an ideal place for Syndicate Constables to check their uplinks, store stolen gear, and for both antag and non-antag Constables to carry out not-totally-legal business deals like "selling emag swipes to the crew." 2. Constable-only access: The easiest way to keep Constables where we want 'em is to simply add a specific and unique access type. This also makes their own back-room more secure, and lets us modify exactly what places they can and can't go in Security (thus reinforcing the divide that these guys aren't card-carrying members of Sec). 3. Constable DRIP: If there's one thing that sells a role, it's looking the part. I've seen a number of interesting suggestions for alternate Constable getups, from a Bri*ish bobby cap to a uniform straight out of We Happy Few, ditto for a unique whistle that'd replace the classic Sechailer ("HALT! Security!" works well enough for the testmerge, but we do wanna reinforce that these guys aren't Sec). 4. A Constable-only ranged tool: Although the Constable's gear is designed to enable long chases, this may get too frustrating in practice. Therefore, one concept batted around was a method of temporarily slowing greytiders only long enough for the Constable to get to melee range and start decking them. One option would be for the Constable's whistle to have a short targeted 'instill fear' option that would slow a single target down for 1-2 seconds; the whistle would have a 30-second cooldown, and only work on non-antag crew to avoid being effective against antags (though this runs into the issue of 'how do we avoid having the Constable meta antags by using their whistle?' etc). Either way, depending on how the TM goes it may be nice to have a unique ranged option like this that'd let the Constable catch up to fleeing greytiders while keeping them minimally-effective against actual antagonists. One suggestion has been the laser pointer, for instance; we'll see how that is received in practice. 5. A simple 'demotion notification' method: Idiots resisting demotions is a common issue, and one that's practically tailor-made for Constables to help with. It'll help greatly if Constables know who needs help and when, though, so there should be a way for Heads of Staff to notify Constables quickly and easily. This can take the form of a special request console option for the Heads of Staff ('notify regarding demotion,' with an input option for the person's name, and an automated message that gets sent out on Security and Procedure comms), a 'ping Constables' option in the Heads of Staff PDAs or the consoles in their offices, etc. Alternatively, someone getting set to demote could cause the console where it was issued to send out an automated message on Procedure comms, similar to how the holding cell telescreens send out an automated message for every Brig sentence carried out. 6. Moving the EFTPOS functionality to Security R.O.B.U.S.T. cartridges: 'Gear bloat' is already a thing, and having to haul around more stuff is always a pain. Additionally, the EFTPOS functionality has always been pretty clunky, and isn't optimized for this particular use-case. I'd like for 'Ticket Payment' to be added to Security PDA cartridges, where the cartridge can automatically transfer funds from the account of any ID inserted into a departmental account. This would significantly streamline the process of moving money around the station, making it a lot more relevant to regular spessmen gameplay, and also mean that Constables, IA Agents, and Sec Officers wouldn't have to haul around yet more random stuff. 7. There's quite a few other options for Constable weapons, and if someone's willing to code them, I'd love to give Constable players the option to choose, similar to how /tg/ lets the Curator pick their loadout of choice for the round. This could be a less-effective but nodrop-flagged version of the police baton, a set of thematically-appropriate gloves to apply boxing damage, an implant, etc. There's a lot of options, and if someone wants to put in the work of coding something different, I'd love to see what they could come up with! 8. Rule/Wiki Changes: Assuming the TM is fully merged, we'll want to update Legal SOP with a how-to of how a ticket should be applied IC. Similarly, we'll need to update the Space Law and SOP with a notice of what SOP violations (minor or major) should be charged, and how and when it shouldn't. I'd be happy to do all that (the suggested Constable SOP, and the first draft of a future Constable Wiki page, is attached below), but I figure it'd be helpful to TM it first and see how things go. Finally, regarding corruption: the relevant portion of Rule 5 reads "The Captain and members of Security are expected to follow and have a good understanding of Space Law and SOP (Standard Operating Procedure). Consistent abuse of these positions will lead to a Jobban; however, you may request to play a corrupt member of Security via Adminhelp, with valid justification." This part of the rule is a toughie for low-level corruption like what the Constable is supposed to encourage, but I also don't want to actually alter the rules without observing the results of the testmerge, seeing what happens, and getting user feedback. We may or may not want to alter this wording, depending on how the TM goes. Either way, it's good food for thought for the future. Additional Info: Conclusion: Although it's not a massive change-up in terms of code, this new ticket system touches on a lot of important basic gameplay loops. This design involves a non-mindshielded character making arrests, for instance, along with encouraging low-level bribes and similar criminal behavior. There's a lot to unpack here, and I'm happy to cover the details; feel free to PM me on Discord at .norwest if you'd like to ask me directly. That being said, please consider taking a look at the most recent Discord thread which led to this document, along with reading the Q&A sections from earlier in this thread. These concepts have gone through a lot of work and discussion, but on reviewing them I feel satisfied that we've got a durable, reasonable, and above all, fun role which is more than just Greytider+ or Sec Officer Lite. Giving IA Agents the ability to levy fines, and sending Constables out to collect them, is a solid gameplay loop that builds on good in-game foundations. Giving the station an 'enforcer' role who remains focused on low-key violence all the way through the round helps avoid the shitty, un-fun anarchy that can take effect later in a chaotic round. And for the greytiders, Clowns&Mimes, and general low-key troublemaker players who aren't outright shitters, I expect the people playing those characters will have more fun if there's a dedicated 'opposition' role like the Constable around. It means there's someone with the time and interest to interact with them, rather than Sec Officers who tend to go "too busy, got a 'cling to kill, don't do crime pls." Constables can be fought, bribed, or even worked with, but either way they're unlikely to be boring. Thank you for reading all this, and remember: don't do crime! (or if you do, I want my cut!)

Additional elements to be altered: Fines: During the critiquing, someone raised an excellent point that we should be encouraging face-to-face gameplay like the courier system does, rather than allowing for fines to be levied remotely. Aside from being simpler and easier to code, this gives a lot more for Constables and Internal Affairs to do, rather than just 'sit in your office and type up pseudo-emails.' Example gameplay: -Jane Chef doesn't make food for 15 minutes, so the IA Agent levies a fine for an SOP breach. -When Jane refuses to pay, the Constable is called and fights her; Jane tries to run away and gets dogpiled by a pair of Constables. -The Constable cuffs Jane, swipes her ID to fine her account for the SOP breach, and then offers her the chance to pay the Constable directly for the crime. Jane cries bloody murder and gets hauled off to the Holding Cells instead. -IA now has a case to investigate against the Constable, aaand the cycle continues! With this in mind, I'd like to propose an 'excise payment machine,' based on the pre-existing EFTPOS systems. It's got the usual EFTPOS functionality, but has a slightly different-colored sprite and automatically has the account and PINs of the departmental accounts. You can charge directly into those accounts without having to know the numbers directly, which'll streamline collecting fines 'for the public good.' You can also charge money to your personal account, because we want to leave open the possibility of corruption for this whole system, but we want to streamline paying fines and generally make it easy to do. This avoids a lot of the prior confusion and difficulty of modifying a bunch of DBs, and should be easier to implement. I'd like each Constable to start with one 'excise payment machine,' along with having a pair in the Brig Processing and one more each in the Warden and HoS Office (since Security is encouraged to get in on all this low-key corruption action too, lol). The Space Law and SOP pages will be updated with the appropriate numbers of the fine amounts themselves (20 credits for a small SOP violation or 1xx [Minor] crime, 50 credits for a major SOP violation or 2xx [Moderate] crime, along with details like fine stacking and increases for repeat offenses (doubles on repeated SOP violations of the same variety, or the same crime). Space Law will also allow for anyone who's unable to pay to instead serve time working off their debt in the Labor Camp.

Design has been brought up in Discord (thanks Landerlow!), and the following changes are proposed: 1. Mindshield removal: The Constable is to start without a mindshield, and is eligible to be a Syndicate agent. Like the HoP, they're blacklisted from many roundstart antag roles (cult in particular, and I'm not opposed to blacklisting them from changeling/vampire at roundstart too); however, they can either start as a Syndicate agent or become one mid-round. (there was obviously a lot of discussion about this, but the key deciding factor was to make the Constable a reasonably-shady guy, one who neither Security nor Legal would trust too much. The blacklists should keep the Constable from overly affecting the round if they're an antagonist, but also keep Security from fully trusting the corporate legbreakers too much either) 1(a). In line with this, the Constable can either voluntarily receive a mindshield from the HoS, or be pressured into taking one. (Yay for emergent gameplay! Security may choose to browbeat the Constables into receiving a mindshield to protect 'em from Dantalion vampires or mindslave implants, or might choose to do nothing. I expect this to be a different discussion between different people every round, and for the question of mindshields to keep a certain degree of mistrust between Constables and Security, which is by design. This is meant to be a paranoid station, after all) 2. Initial hours increased to 20 hours as a Security Officer (was 4), and 4 hours as Internal Affairs Agent (was 2) (This was in line with the Constable being made less-trustworthy, and therefore less likely to count on support from station Security. Without that, any Constable will need to be more self-sufficient) 3. One starting Constable role at lowpop (<50 players), increases to 2 at higher. Can still be increased further by HoP or other on-station ID computers. (this is both to encourage the 'buddy cop' approach, and to have the Constables keep an eye on each other for misbehavior) 4. SOP changes: The SOP about Constables in Maints has been altered to let Constables pursue targets into Maintenance, but not patrol there. As before, Constables are not to conduct searches. Revised SOP point #1: "1. Constables may pursue a suspect who flees into Maintenance, but may not conduct regular patrols in Maintenance and should instead report suspicious persons spotted there to station Security. Constables may not demand access to the interior of other Departments during regular patrols, but may be provided access by the Head of Personnel or by the relevant Head of Staff to assist with peacekeeping if requested;" (This was revised to allow for some leeway on pursuing people into Maints, while still making it clear that Constables shouldn't be getting too involved in Maintenance, as that's meant to be antag-friendly territory. Conversely, with the whole 'no mindshield' revision Constables are a lot less trustworthy on the whole, and there's less of a risk of Sec Officers trusting Constables to buddy up in Maintenance) 4. Loadout: Several options were suggested for a Constable melee weapon, with the following design goals in mind: a) Not usable at range (to both prevent Constables from easily affecting Sec-vs-antag fights, for instance, and to encourage longer and more exciting chases), b) Can't easily be taken away (since Constables will spend a lot of time wrangling greytiders, and can expect to face a lot of wall shoves and vendor-crushing), c) Gives Constables an advantage in a 1v1 fight vs. an experienced greytider, and also doesn't let Constables easily dominate a fight with a regular antag (similar to the design approach for the judo belt, basically), and finally d) If possible, is also thematically appropriate with the image of Constables as a semi-trustworthy corporate legbreaker. Based on the above, the following options were suggested: -Keep the judo belt, OR use a judo bio-chip implant -Use the police baton implant that's already in code, minus the knockdown (20-30 stamina effect only, so 4-5 hits to stamcrit) -Use a modified stamina-dealing form of the Enhanced Musculature implant, minus the knockback (your punches do 20 stam damage on harm intent) Overall, I'd prefer the musculature option. It gives a cool, unique effect that's very thematically appropriate for a greytide-wrangling legbreaker, it makes Constables dangerous in close-quarters without giving them a means of overly affecting others at range, it's vulnerable to EMPs (which antags have easy access to) while remaining effective against greytiders, and it can't be taken away by an experienced 'tider. I acknowledge this will take some additional work, as it'll need a custom option which also automatically installs itself on the left arm (so that it doesn't overwrite IPC power cords in their right arms), but I think it's the best option for the character. Assuming this is implemented, the Constable will then lose the starting judo belt, and the Constable SOP will be modified to remove the mention of a judo belt. Conclusion: The big change was the mindshield removal, and I'll admit I took a lot of convincing myself. However, I've been convinced that it would go a long way to making the role a lot more interesting: it neatly solves the issue of 'detcurity' by making Security distrust Constables, it makes the role a good deal potentially more sinister while still letting them be helpful peacekeepers, and it introduces immediate complications (does the HoS try to force the Constables to use mindshield implants? Do the Constables accept them themselves, and if so, what happens when some HoS inevitably mindshields a Constable traitor? etc.) which will be dynamically resolved in different and interesting ways each round.

While I think you're right that Space Law is generally fine, I think @Joey has a point that people have been gettin' waaaay too liberal with the "armed and dangerous" clause lately. From an admin perspective, I've definitely seen a recent uptick in Sec players using the "armed and dangerous" clause and similar rules-lawyering to justify some pretty unnecessary killing. With the player meta changing, it makes sense to adjust the precise wording of Space Law a bit to cut down on "freebie" options that justify killing antags unnecessarily. When antags go HAM, we can cut 'em back with IC or OOC responses, from a bwoink to an NT kill-team. Security isn't constrained in the same ways, which means it's vital to keep things like Space Law current with the player meta to cut down on the rules-lawyers using it as license to kill without consequences.

To clarify: Flick's trade actually involved a renamed version of the Owlman utility belt, which auto-regenerates 4 smoke grenades and 2 standard bolas over time. I love that thing, because it creates an interestingly different style of fighting when used. Instead of the usual disabler spam or flashbang funsies, smoke grenades force people to either get close, wait it out, or fire blindly, all of which make for a fun change of pace. I'd love to see more smoke grenades, and especially would love to see a way to easily craft them so that regular 'tiders and the like and quickly replace the things on the go. A key element, I think, was having the ability to make more of the damn things.

Good advice. Now, obviously any food you could get from the Kitchen could be poisoned, so make sure you don't eat anything during your shift. You don't want to get carpotoxin or space ants, after all! Also, guns are very bad news. If you see someone with a gun, beat 'em to death. Command-looking guy with a gun? Gotta be a traitor. Security Officer-looking guy with a gun? Definitely an impersonator. If you see 'em, get those floor tiles ready!

More than anything else, the main thing I'd like to see is the Detective separated from Security, and the mindshield removed. No Sec comms, and no guarantee of safety around him - go full Dirty Harry with the guy. With traitor Detectives out and about, I'd support reverting their gun back to rubber bullets without a conversion option, so that it's basically just a disabler with some minor brute damage. However, making the Det a potential threat would do a lot more than exactly which bullets were in his gun, IMO.

I know these are stereotypes, but I should clarify for anyone reading that you're not even gonna get the admins noticing unless you go way outta line with accidently killing bystanders. Examples: 1. Killing someone by accident with a prox mine/poisoned food is fine, so long as you're actually trying to be around the thing when it's used. Don't just dump the hazards all over Maintenance/the Kitchen for every greytider to pick up, and you're all good rules-wise if one Joe Rando does anyway. We understand "shit happens" if the wrong guy comes around the corner. 2. Viruses are all fine, so long as it's not contagious. We 'mins don't want your custom murderbug killing half the station, yeah, but long as it doesn't have Cough/Sneeze/etc or some other way to spread around quick, you're fine. If someone gets themselves infected while treating the victim, their funeral. 3. E20/feral cat grenade: We're not against bombs, we just don't want them in the center of the station. You bomb your target in the solars? All good, just don't kill half the Engineering team in the process if you can, please. We don't want you going kaboom in the Bar or whatever unless you're a hijack antag, but it's a big station and there are a lotta deserted places to use a Syndie minibomb or equivalent. Overall: Look, we get that mistakes happen. It's you vs. the station, so yeah, you're not gonna be Pierce Brosnan's 007. That's all right. Just try to keep the murder limited to the people you /have/ to kill, don't blow up half the station or release the engine, and pay attention when you're PMed about it. Shit happens, and you'll be fine even if you're bwoinked, so long as you don't fly off the rails.

Suggested Changes: -Change the w_class of the AEG to 5. -Give the AEG the 'bothhands' flag similar to the L6 SAW. -Change the max_w_class of the Bag of Holding to 4. Why It's Good For The Game: 1: The AEG is just too good. The moment the first miners return with uranium ore, every laser weapon on-station is instantly outclassed. Let's compare it with the exotic, interesting weapons which are made irrelevant: -The Captain's unique laser gun? Second-tier; it's only got lethals, while the AEG's got full-spectrum shootyness. -Red-ERT Security lasers? No self-charging means the crew is armed better than the Emergency Response Team sent to save 'em. -Sec's own arsenal? Can't self-charge, limited fire options; AEGs are better across the board. Fifteen minutes into the round, most of Security's own Armory is made sub-par at best. The only weapons which keep some limited viability are those which provide a unique capability the AEG can't duplicate, such as X-ray lasers on blobs, immolators on vampires, and ballistics weapons against desword users and cult Juggernauts. However, for everything else the AEG is a no-duh upgrade. A competent R&D team means that Security will be running around with lethals early, because who wants to run back for a recharge when you can carry out a self-charging weapon? It's a no-brainer. This also heavily affects simplemob antagonists, terror spiders in particular. Tspiders depend on their webs, but with R&D printing AEGs like crazy, they can just keep firing the things until entire rooms are cleared of webs. And with AEGs being small and portable, you can easily stack three or four and keep up literally endless laser fire. AEGs are EMP-resistant, they have tasers and disablers on the side, and have no downsides whatsoever to them. 2: My solution is to keep the weapon's advantages (self-charging, lethal and non-lethal modes), but to add some complications to offset them and make other laser weapons viable again. By increasing the AEG size to 5 (huge), equivalent to a combat shotgun or L6 SAW, and adding the 'bothhands' flag, the AEG is turned from "endless AEG laser spam" into a one-off weapon that can be used to complement an arsenal. Instead of an AEG in one hand, a riot shield in the other, and three more in your backpack, you've now got a single weapon that will recharge...in time. Not being able to stow the weapon also puts the AEG at a disadvantage for everyday use, as you can't simply carry the thing in your backpack/armor/belt as you can currently. Sure, you can still haul it, but now even the roundstart laser weapons have a new niche of "everyday carry" that the AEG can't displace them from. 3: The powergamer's solution to this will be, as always, the Bag of Holding. A BoH can hold up to 7 weight-5 weapons such as the combat shotgun, and holding/dragging another BoH lets one move around - and use - absurd numbers of large guns. I understand that Mining would be significantly complicated without having BoHs, so I'm not going to suggest they be removed completely. Instead, I'd like the BoH's max_w_class to be dropped to 4 ("bulky") rather than 5 ("huge"). This will still let the BoH be useful for Mining and other areas, while preventing it from being used to spam heavy weapons as easily as it is today. I recognize that this doesn't stop people from using the bluespace locker, regular lockers, etc. and simply dragging around endless weapons in that, but that's a problem for a separate discussion. For the AEG in particular, I believe the above tweaks would be enough to keep the weapon's utility without making it the /only/ sensible option that it is currently.

Glad you liked it! It's a shame no one took us up on the offer, as I was actually genuine there, lol

Honestly, I just prefer anything that ends shadowling rounds sooner. I've yet to really enjoy one, from the mess of trying to pin down a robust shadowling to the inevitable whining from thralls; hell, even getting thralled and told "go kidnap fresh meat" is more of a chore than something enjoyable. If we have to keep the roundtype around then I'd support Corocan's suggestion of locking mindshield-melting behind getting a certain number of thralls (3 for one shadowling, 4 for two, 5 for three, etc.). That being said, given how much I hate the roundtype my first vote is for simply pulling it from regular rotation.

I like the idea, although this'd lead to a lot of random "paper" names cluttering up the tag. That's not a real problem on the player side of things, but the endless "obj/item/paper/reqform" and "obj/item/paper/jobchange" would mess up the admin side of it. Still worth it in the end, though, as just having paperwork easily accessible (without having to futz with godawful BBCode) would almost certainly make people more likely to use it.

I'm a fan of "Fist Aid," myself; I'm totally gonna say that the next time I have to restrain some tweaker idiot at work to treat them. Lessee, to lay out their background: "You are the Orderly. Your job is to keep the Medbay clean and safe." Access: Medbay, Surgery (to help with patient movement and keeping Surgery safe from tspiders, slaughter demons, and similar baddies), Maintenance. Starting Equipment: Uniform, shoes, ID+PDA (Medical cartridge), Medical headset, soap, space cleaner, 1 pair of handcuffs. Has CQC applicable in Medbay areas, like the Chef's "Close-Quarters Cooking." Ideally would have a specialized Orderly Vest, perhaps grey or dark blue, to differentiate them from other Medbay personnel. Starting Location: Medbay front desk (it's a semi-private place for the Orderly to call their own, and them being there is just generally useful). Could also have an 'Orderly's Locker' in the front desk area, Surgery access, to give the Orderly a greater attachment to the area. Starting Numbers: 1, cannot be changed by HoP. Orderly SOP: 1. The Orderly is required to issue verbal warnings before resorting to force. The Orderly may not use force on Security personnel at any time without express permission from the Captain or Head of Security; 2. The Orderly may use Fist Aid, their close-quarters combat training, in order to subdue and secure unruly individuals in the Medbay itself. However, they may not use lethal or near-lethal force unless the subject cannot be secured via other means (if they're an un-stunnable hulk, for instance) or if the Orderly's own life is in danger. If the individual retreats from the Medbay, the Orderly must /not/ pursue, and shall instead report them to Security for later apprehending; 3. The Orderly is exempt from legal ramifications when dutifully handling unruly individuals in the Medbay, provided that they followed Guidelines 1 and 2; 4. The Orderly may not possess lethal weaponry, such as lasers or combat shotguns. Exception is made during major emergencies, such as Nuclear Operatives or Blob Organisms; 5. The Orderly may assist the CMO in carrying out lawful orders, such as barring select personnel from the Medbay or demoting Medbay staff. However, the Captain and Head of Security's authority supercedes the CMO on matters of station security, and the Orderly shall follow their instructions in such matters.