Veterankyl

Chiki is best birb.

What are your favorite kinds of admin events to run? Do you like RP/Story stuff, giving the crew challenges, absolute chaos, or perhaps something else?

Name: Vixx Vaxx Age: 28 Gender: Male Race: Vulpkanin Blood Type: AB+ General Occupational Role(s): Surgeon, occasionally other medical jobs, Robotics, Bartender Biography: Originally a trader with a love for everything science, Vixx found himself an unwilling employee of Nanotrasen after a moral decision led to him owing a major debt to the company. He’s tried to make the best of it through pursuing his personal interests and taking advantage of the company’s state of the art research facilities, but frequent deaths and clonings, Syndicate involvement, supernatural occurrences, and general distaste for Nanotrasen have made it difficult for him to make any progress on clearing his debt. Qualifications: Certified in surgeon and biomechanical implanting. Employment Records: Security Records: Medical Records: Personnel Photo (Appearance text): Vixx is a Vulpkanin that stands at about 6 feet tall and is physically similar in appearance to the vulpine side of the Vulpkanin species. His coloration is similar to that of a Red Fox, though lacks any of the black coloration traditionally seen on foxes. His eyes are a light green color and his overall build is fairly thin. Other Notes: Favorite drink is Doctor’s Delight. Favorite food is Eggs Benedict. Terrified of pirates, especially ‘Fur Traders’. Is annoyed by people who compare him to foxes.

(Years in the making and much procrastination later, and I've finally made this mess of a bio. Still slightly WIP, though that's mostly for recent in-game events.) First Name: Vixx Last Name: Vaxx Gender: Male Orientation: Straight Nicknames/Alias: Vixxkivakay Picture(If Available): Art By Kikeri Age/D.O.B: Biological age of 28. True age unknown due to extended periods between clonings. Place Of Birth: In orbit around Kelune Species: Vox, originally Vulpkanin Blood Type: AB+ Alignment: Neutral Good Affiliation: Unwilling employee of Nanotrasen Religious Beliefs: Follower of Technomancy, the belief that ascension can be achieved through science and technology. Believes that the universe is controlled by bluespace ‘gods’ that have ascended beyond mortality. Biography Childhood: Vixx was born a Vulpkanin on his family owned trading ship, though his home is considered to be Kelun. Having parents that worked in the trade industry, he spent most of his time traveling with them from system to system. Although he was able to get most of his education from his parents and remote teaching, he eventually had to return to Kelun during his late teens and attend a boarding school for the remainder of his early education. It was during this time that he developed his interest in the medical sciences. Partially funded by his parents, he was able to attend a Nanotrasen owned college, where he got exposure to many advanced sciences and learned about the various species in the galaxy. Adulthood: After graduating, Vixx returned to working in the same trade company as his parents. He primarily worked as a ship doctor, though would also use his knowledge in robotics and biology for appraising trade goods that fell under these domains. It was at this time that his parents passed away due to health issues. It was heartbreaking for Vixx, but he felt that they had lived happy lives. During his work, he began to grow a distaste for Nanotrasen as he observed how widespread and oppressive the company could be. This came to a head during a contracted supply run for Nanotrasen. A colony under Nanotrasen jurisdiction sent out a distress signal requesting medical aid after a plasma mine explosion. The trade ship Vixx was on had experimental medical supplies that could aid the colony, but were told by Nanotrasen that the supplies were to be delivered to its intended station and not used to aid the colony. Going against this ruling, Vixx stole several crates of these supplies and teleported them to the colony to aid them. It didn’t take long for this act to be discovered, and Vixx was arrested and charged with multiple counts of grand theft. The violations of his contract also lead to a substantial fine being placed on him in addition to the charges, leading to a massive debt being put on him. Unable to pay for the legal fees of his charges, the cost of the stolen supplies, and the fines for violating his contract, Vixx was forced into peonage for the company till his debt is paid. Early Employment: Vixx’s indoctrination into Nanotrasen was rough. He initially was very resistant, leading to altercations with his superiors and occasional demotion. However, avoided committing any crimes in order to avoid additional debt being added to the amount he already owed. Despite this, he still searched for ways to undercut the company or find loopholes that’s potentially get him free of his new contract. One attempt was made to reduce his debt by selling off misplaced, miscounted, or surplus supplies he came across to non-Nanotrasen traders and occasionally black market dealers. These trades lead to him being noticed by the Syndicate, who saw an opportunity in using his debt as a way to persuade him into doing jobs for them. His first official contact with the Syndicate was through a simple offer of a portion of his debt being paid off in exchange for stolen goods. Hesitantly, he performed the requested job, and was surprised to find that they had followed through with their side of the deal and somehow reduced his debt by a fair amount. Emboldened by this, he began actively seeking out the syndicate in hopes of getting more opportunities to work for them. This ended up being a mistake, as he began sticking his nose into the business of several dangerous individuals. His searching led to him getting tangled up with a group of Syndicate pirates, and after being promised information in exchange for goods, led to him being kidnapped. The pirates had no interest in giving Vixx any information, and simply stole the goods that Vixx had collected. As a warning not to actively seek out the Syndicate, the syndicate pirates killed him. His next memory was of him being cloned aboard a Nanotrasen station. He was informed about his body being found in space near the station, and that his body had been completely skinned. Despite having no memory of the event, he was still traumatized by this, along with this being his first ever experience of being cloned. Poor luck seemed to follow Vixx after that day. Multiple encounters with the Syndicate, biohazards, and other malicious entities lead to him being cloned on a fairly frequent basis, sometimes multiple times a month with days or even weeks of memory loss. This began to have an effect on his mental health, often leading to depression, hopelessness, and antisocial behavior. The Syndicate still sent him job opportunities, but rarely would he follow through with any of them. Current History (In-game events): Vixx was eventually assigned a long term position aboard the NSS Cyberiad. Although indifferent at first, having a more permanent workplace when compared to the frequent transfers he previously had showed to be helpful for his mental health. He also found himself enjoying the research aspect of the station’s operations, often partaking in various medical and science projects. His time on the station led to several encounters with creatures, individuals, and anomalies of paranormal and supernatural nature, many of which he found fascinating despite their danger and often malicious intent. Curiosity pushed him to begin delving into the mysteries of bluespace, the theories of redspace, and the possibilities of gods and entities that lie beyond mortal perception. Although very scientific in his approach, this school of thought was often seen as religious by his coworkers. The gods and entities he studies also seemed to be more responsive to religious acts, so he named this school of thought ‘Technomancy’ and registered it as his practiced religion. During his research, he began to develop an interest in genetics and biological modification. The discovery of Stable Mutagen, a chemical that can completely alter an individual’s species, became the primary focus of his research for quite some time. He also saw this as an opportunity to reduce his debt to the company. Using a mix of genetics, chemistry, and medicine, Vixx was able to create a method of altering an individual’s species while maintaining their voice, appearance, and identity (Or at least as close as possible to their original species). Trial runs proved to be successful and Vixx was poised to turn this into a potential business. This was cut short almost immediately. Nanotrasen claimed ownership of his research and banned the production of Stable Mutagen soon after. This caused Vixx’s hatred towards the company to grow, and he began hiding his research from the company to avoid a repeat. With no avenue to reclaim his research, he turned his attention to a new subject. Vox had always been interesting to Vixx, but he had never studied them in depth. He was aware of their bio-engineered nature, but knew next to nothing about their creation, mostly due to the Vox’s secretive nature when it comes to their science and technology. His studies lead to him finding that the Vox tend to hold philosophical views on the subject of the universe similar to his own. He also found the kinship Vox shared with one another to be enviable, due to his struggles to create any strong friendships in the work environment. This has led to him somewhat enjoying the company of Vox more than most other species. Since his work in science was cut short, he moved to more frequently work the medical department aboard the station. His knowledge in biology and medicine allowed him to comfortably work most jobs in the department, but his desire to help others leads to him often working as a doctor and surgeon. Although he enjoys the job for the most part, he still has an interest in research and science, and won’t hesitate to jump on any opportunity to aid or partake in any projects. His interest in Vox one day took a strange turn amidst a shift with a high amount of paranormal activity. There had been many sightings of ghosts, unnatural events, and supernatural happenings. Seeing this as a potential opportunity, he beckoned for the spirits to answer his wish to be able to speak Vox. He got his wish in an unexpected way, as he was suddenly struck by a supernatural force and transformed into a Vox. Since then, Vixx has found himself stuck between two ways of life. That of his old way of living, and that of a vox. Although he has been trying to fit in among the other vox on the station, there's a part of him that always feels like he's an outsider. He's hesitant to explore the vox ways due to the secrecy and hostility towards outsiders, but he's managed to find friends on the station. Detailed Information Appearance: Vixx is a Vox that stands at about 3'6" and is of a fairly thin build. He's dark brown with light brown quills atop his head that he keeps in a swept back style. His eyes are light green and also posesses some almost vulpkanine like physical mannerisms. Old Vulpkanin Appearance: Character Voice: Quiet and gentle, though has a hint of gruffness that most Vulpkanins have. His voice is on the somewhat deep side, much to his surprise when he hears recordings of it. Personality: Vixx is usually friendly and somewhat quiet. Although he doesn’t engage in major social events, he still likes talking with folks and listening to the stories they might have to share. He can also be quite protective, often going out of his way to help others even at the risk of his own life. He’s hard to anger, but can be spiteful against those that cause harm to his friends or those that just act rude in general. Despite his willingness to throw himself in danger at the behalf of his friends, he does his best to avoid physical conflict if he can, as he feels he would be more of a hindrance in a fight than helpful, unless inaction would do more harm than good. Despite his helpful nature, this can work against Vixx as he’s very susceptible to stress. Even a busy shift can be difficult for him to handle, and he’ll sometimes retreat from his work unless it involves someone needing help. He often overworks himself and needs time off for mental recovery. Socializing with close friends is his go-to method for relaxing, though he’ll also read or work on personal projects if he’s on his own. Despite this, he’s always ready to jump in to help others at a moment's notice, sometimes even disregarding his time off if he feels like he’s needed. Background: Vixx was born into a trader family and spent most of his young life traveling and meeting various cultures and species. He grew to enjoy this sort of interaction, and also began to develop an interest in science and medicine. Family: Both parents are deceased. No siblings or close relatives. History: Originally a trader with a love for everything science, Vixx found himself an unwilling employee of Nanotrasen after a moral decision led to him owing a major debt to the company. He’s tried to make the best of it through pursuing his personal interests and taking advantage of the company’s state of the art research facilities, but frequent deaths and clonings, Syndicate involvement, supernatural occurrences, and general distaste for Nanotrasen have made it difficult for him to make any progress on clearing his debt. Faction Relations Nanotrasen - Hate Vixx’s travels have shown him just how far reaching and oppressive Nanotrasen has become. Despite despising them, he’s stuck working for them. The Syndicate - Dislike Vixx’s debt to Nanotrasen is well known by the Syndicate, who often used it as leverage to get him to do their bidding. Vixx doesn’t do work for them any more, though they do on occasion come after him due to unsettled business. The Vulpkanin Assembly - Like Vixx is fond of his own people, seeing them as strong survivors despite the odds they faced in the past. However, he is unhappy with their recent dealings with Nanotrasen and worries the company is on a course to exploit them. The Vox Shoals - Neutral Although curious about the shoals and arkships of the Vox, Vixx has not yet visited any in person. SolGov - Neutral Vixx respects them, but feels they lack the power to have any substantial impact on the galactic community beyond the Sol borders. Other Information Favorite drink is Doctor’s Delight. Favorite food is Eggs Benedict. Terrified of pirates, especially ‘Fur Traders’.

Med gang!

What's your dream feature/addition for the server that wouldn't be a port/feature from another server?

One solution I've seen other servers do is have a button on APCs that can toggle nightshift lighting on and off. The button is unlocked to it can be used at any time by anyone.

YES! The mechanic needs more space for pods. One change I'd make is removing the windows in the construction area. Maintenance in general shouldn't have windows, as it makes it easy to spot antags without them being able to easily retaliate or hide.

I'm all for mechanical racial traits over statistical traits. Having unique abilities or disabilities make a race more interesting than a number that determines how hurt you get when hit. So I thought I'd throw out some ideas for mechanical changes that could be made to Vox. I can see at most one of these being implemented, and if none of them are desirable, hopefully they inspire some ideas. Vox Sprint - A quick second burst of speed with a medium length cooldown. Can't be used while grabbing/pulling something. Hardened Talons - A vox can use their talons as a sharp object for things like cutting and butchering. Frugal - Able to craft using slightly less materials. Some recipes unaffected. Piercing Screech - A loud screech on a long cooldown that very briefly deafens those around it. Doesn't affect those with hearing protection. (Could also cause any adjacent glass objects, excluding windows, to break)

I remember that ghost. I still have no idea what that all was about. Also, warcrime? On my station?

Fair enough. Kind of a shame.

I guess it's unfeasible to make it a rules that ghost role characters can't be used on the station?

The custom character would be pulled from the player's saved character list. For example, you choose the custom character option, it opens up your list of saved characters, and then you choose the slot of the character you'd like to play as. You'll need your character pre-made ahead of time, but that's how it is just to join a round anyways.

Note: This applies to roles where you get to choose the race of the character you spawn in as. For example, the Syndicate Bioweapon Base Currently, whenever you spawn in as a ghost role, your character is randomly generated using one of the non-karma species of your choosing. This greatly limits customizability of your character. Often the only further customization you can do is with a mirror once you spawn in. In addition, some ghost roles seem to have all characters spawn with the same color hair/fur/scale color (The Syndicate Base has all vulps spawn with black fur for example.) Although it's mostly roleplay, I think there should be a way for a player to customize the character they spawn in as for ghost roles. The Unlock: Custom Ghost Role Character This unlock will allow a player to fully customize the character they spawn in as for ghost roles. When spawning in, in addition to getting the option to play as a random character by choosing a race, the player will also get an option to spawn in as a custom character. This could be done either by using the players currently selected character, or giving an option to open the player's character list and select the character they want to play as. Not only will this allow a person to play as their own custom character, it could allow for karma unlocked races to be useable in ghost roles. This will also allow for some RP opportunity, as you'll be able to play as a reoccurring character in some of these environments, or create fun story arcs for your main characters. (Maybe your character got lost on Lavaland and now lives their as a hermit.)

It's always possible for some of the ghost spawns to be exclusive to one another to prevent overcrowding, so that way there's no Settlers + Ash Walkers + Free Golems all at the same time.

About the Settlers Lavaland is a big planet, rich in resources, and has a lot of valuable treasure hidden on its surface. Despite its dangers, it'd be no surprise if Nanotrasen wasn't the only organization interested in it... or perhaps a settler ship crash landed on the planet. Either way, there's a new group of people on the planet. They're not as well geared as the average miner, nor do they have the tech to perform high end research. However, they do have the supplies needed to get a simple mining operation going, along with any construction they may need to do to make a new home on this ash covered planet. A New Frontier This ghost role acts as a way for ghosts to practice things like mining, construction, and service related activities (Cooking and botany for example) while also offering a place away from the station to work on large construction projects. There's also the opportunity for some fun RP interactions to emerge from these activities. The settlers will need to decide what kind of town they want to make. It could be a straightforward mining town, or it could be given a theme. There can also be interactions between the town and the station. Perhaps a business relationship forms, or a rivalry over resources. Settler Starting Area The settlers will start in a small ship on the surface of Lavaland, not much bigger than a few linked together survival shelters. There'll also be some mining equipment, a mining vendor, an autolathe, an ORM, and some building supplies like metal and glass. In addition, there'll be some pods nearby with a few other supply crates such as stuff for farming, cooking, and medical. Aside from this, the settlers only have the clothes on their back and each other.

That's the look you give an assistant when they fight to leave the medbay on broken legs.

I have some experience with this myself. As a gimick, I asked the gods to give me a Ouija board that let ghosts spell out words one letter at a time. I asked the ghosts how they were doing. They spelt out the world CULT. Take a guess what the antag for that round. So yeah, ghosts being able to talk to the living is not a good idea, even if it's in some limited form.

It seems to be a common issue where ventcrawlers are going about their day terrorizing the station, only to suddenly pop out of a pipe that they didn't realize was broken/wrenched out of place, in the middle of a room full of people with guns. The rules state that you can't pre-emptively remove pipes when fighting ventcrawlers, but it seems to still come up fairly often as a cause of death for ventcrawlers. So I propose an idea to help ventcrawlers know when they run into a broken pipe. Upon coming to the end of a pipe, either one that's broken or wrenched out of place, the player will be stopped and given a prompt saying "The pipe is broken open. Exit the pipe?" With a yes/no option. If yes is chosen, they exit the pipe normal. If no is chosen, they stay within the pipe network. This way, a crawler not intending to leave the pipe won't be forced out into a compromising situation, while still leaving it as an option should the crawler be looking for a way out of the pipe network.

This is actually very similar to the old mining station that Paradise used to have. It was an asteroid on a z-level accessible from space or shuttle that required a spacesuit to mine on. It had a few simple mobs similar to the ones on Lavaland, the occasional small ruin, but other than that, it was fairly plain. It actually made mining a very boring job. A lot of the appeal of Lavaland is that it's a dangerous adventure filled with loot and exploration opportunity. If a moon/asteroid mining location was brought back, it'd need to be given a lot more content to make it as appealing as Lavaland.

I'm somewhat on the fence with this idea. One one hand, a wizard can really struggle with survival if they find themselves against a large crew. Stealth is harder with more eyes watching, taking out individuals is more difficult if more people are there, even teleporting to the station is more likely to get you discovered right away if there's lot of crew. Extra points also gives a wizard more flexibility in the type of build they want. There're a lot of abilities that go unused because they take points away from the more overpowered ones like Blink and Misty Step. On the other hand, wizards are somewhat balanced around the fact that they're limited to ten points. There are some absolutely broken combos you can create as is, and adding more points just gives the wizard even more strength. A good wizard can stomp a crew of almost any size. I also feel like a part of the issue is that it's difficult to tell how much wizard survivability is effected by crew size. Given how rare wizard is, it's very difficult to get experience with the role. A lot of wizards die in five minutes because they make a simple mistake or go with a spell setup that gives them no survivability.

I've always found it a bit odd that the "Dire Emergency" alert level is tied to an off-station decision. Granted, gameplay wise it stops people from throwing SoP out the window when the emergency is manageable, but the lack of accessibility means it's only called when things are often lost as is. Sometimes GAMMA is skipped entirely and nuke codes are called just because it's easier to do that than write out a full fax to CC. In an emergency, rapid response is key. I support the idea of separating GAMMA and the armory shuttle from each other, and using the armory as a supplement for security if their current gear isn't cutting it. I do think GAMMA should called in a similar method to nuke codes, where you use the console to send a request to CC with the reason for the request. If CC decides the threat is legitimate, they can call GAMMA, along with either a ERT or the armory as they see fit. GAMMA also gets a stronger response from the crew than red alert does. Every shift seems to see red alert, to the point where it's often ignored. GAMMA carries a stronger weight with it that can encourage the crew to actually comply with command. Realistically, GAMMA would be used for situations where the entire crew is in danger, such as near ascended shadowlings/cult, uncontrolled biohazards, nuke ops, and any other situation where the crew/station is the target of total destruction. Keeping it tied to contacting CC is still important, but allowing it to be called without the armory shuttle being included would help encourage the use of it when it really needed.

Better AI Director The latest in Nanotrasen's artificial intelligence systems. The Better AI Director is the latest in cutting edge AI technology. Built from the ground up with space station operation in mind. Unlike traditional AI's, this one is codded specifically for working with station subsystems and station crew. No more AIs that actively try to undermine the station's operations with only their laws to keep them in line. Even with a law purge, the B.A.D. is extremely unlikely to cause crew harm*1. B.A.D. is actively developed and codded by a team of highly trained AI coders employed within Nanotrasen. Bug fixes and updates are frequent*2. You can expect the AI to be ready for use as soon as it's installed in the station's AI core. No additional downloads or updates needed. Some of the major features of B.A.D. include: Rapid response times to station alarms and system issues. Adaptable to all standard Nanotrasen lawsets. Empathy simulation to help with crew/AI relations*3. Customizable start-up message that can be set before the start of a shift or pulled from the Nanotrasen News Network. Compatible with all optional AI upgrade systems*4. AI System Requirements Requires a 248-bit processor and operating system OS: Nanotrasen Standard AI System V297.5+ Processor: Quantum-Core Processor 50 GHz or better. Memory: 50 TB RAM Neural Processor: NT Neural-Synth Robotic Brain 2500 Storage: 100 TB available space Additional Notes: Incompatible with organic neural processors. *1 Based on simulations in isolated environments. Simulated mortality rate of 12%. *2 Updates schedule every Earth week. Hotfixes may be deployed without warning. *3 Empathy simulation is an experimental feature. Unexpected issues may occur. *4 Nanotrasen is not responsible for damages or harm caused by installing 3rd party upgrades.

So some maniac decided it'd be a good idea to place several Supermatter shards into the Supermatter crystal chamber. He misclicked, got dusted. The crystal sucked in the shard, and... nothing happened. Nothing occurs when a supermatter shard collides with the crystal. This doesn't seem right. A lot of us were expecting something to happen, but the shard essentially just vanished. So, I got a proposal for a potential change to the behavior of the supermatter crystal when it collides with a shard. Essentially, putting a shard into the crystal should cause the behavior of the crystal to change. My primary idea would be that doing this would cause the crystal to become more powerful, but also more unstable. First, the output of the crystal will increase. This means that it puts our more power and radiation with less input being required. Second, the crystal becomes more difficult to keep stable. The maximum stable pressure/temperature will be lowered, meaning the crystal will loose integrity more easily, requiring engineering to be more cautions with the cooling and atmos setup. Third, there are greater fluctuations in temperature and atmos. More gasses will be produced and at a greater temperature. If the crystal starts to delaminate, it will be much more difficult to rescue it. Finally, there becomes a chance for anomalies to spawn, even while stable. This spawn possibility is extremely low, but is 'safer' than intentionally destabilizing the crystal to create anomalies. I feel this will encourage the engineering crew to experiment with the SM a bit more, and give an extra use for the SM shards that can be ordered through cargo.

So I played a lavaland hermit, died atop a cult ruin, was brought back to life by the dark gods, and then dedicated the rest of my existence to them. I was eventually rescued, brought to the Cyberiad, and the captain himself gave me the job of chaplain. So yes, this is me, a non-crew, advocating for the practice of an illegal cult, in the station chapel, with an already existing chaplain on the station, DURING a cult round. I was never actually converted into a cultist, which really confused the hell out of a lot of people.