[Cortical Borer Rework/Objective Ideas]

So the Borer is in a bit of a tough spot at the moment. They're considered antags, but the vast majority are friendly towards the crew and are more often than not a good thing to have. I believe that borers should be a neutral, somewhat hostile entity that needs to be treated less like a pet and more like an actual potential threat to the station. Sure, there'll still be benefits to having one in your head, but the borer should be more interested in its own affairs than the host. To fix that, I believe the borer needs new objectives and/or mechanic changes.

 

• The first objective idea being Create and defend a nest till the end of the shift. This objective essentially requires a borer to find a location for a 'nest' structure, get a host there to build the nest, then have the host sit within the nest for a certain amount of time before becoming assimilated by it, causing the host to (At their choice) either be killed or turned into a borer (defaulting to kill if they don't respond soon enough), and the original borer to be ejected from the body. The nest acts as a permanent borer spawn, creating new borers about every two minutes. Once created, all other borers are informed on its location and given the objective to protect it. Unless the nest is destroyed, no other nests can be built. People infected with borers will be 'struck by sudden guilt' when attempting to harm the nest and won't be able to damage it. Essentially, the more people infected, the harder it'll be for the crew to destroy the nest. Of course, the crew can accept the one sacrificed crew member for an infinite supply of chem injector implants, but they should also consider the fact that the borers may hijack the crew if their nest is threatened.
   
• The second objective idea is Infect enough people to establish the hivemind/Infect as many individuals as possible. This objective requires the borers to infect a certain number of people (About 10, depending on server pop) in order to establish the 'Hivemind'. Borer telepathy will not be altered. Unlocking the hivemind will give the borers new powers that scale based on how many people are infected. Thinks like faster chem creation, longer stun and control duration, or a HuD to identify other infected individuals. The downside is that the increased neurological activity from the borer slowly damages the hosts brain. Now, the borer could use their chems to heal this damage, or they can wait till the host becomes brain dead, which allows them to assume permanent control. The other downsides being that, once the hivemind is established, the borer will always show up on Health HuDs, are are more vulnerable to sugar.
   
• The final idea I have, (Which should require minimal coding) is to randomly give borers simple miscellaneous objectives. No assassinations or grand thefts, but things like 'Consume a certain food' (May or may not be toxic to the host), 'Hug/knock over/punch a certain number of people', or 'Make your host wear certain clothes upon escaping the station'. They're borers. We know next to nothing about them, where they're from, nor why they may want to do all this weird stuff. These are minor things that'd give borer players more to do than just reproduce, and it'd make things interesting for the crew as people wonder why the captain is running around in the clown outfit while hugging everyone. If a lore reason is needed, it can be that the borers are 'collecting experiences and memories of a certain kind to benefit the hivemind'. This isn't gonna make all crew hate borers, but it'll be enough to actually make them disruptive to station affairs.

[Malf AI Mindslave]

I'm pretty sure there's a purchasable ability for malf AI that lets them construct a 'Robot Factory' that immediately borgs and enslave any living person that's put through it. I think that's covers the idea of the AI enslaving people.

[Making pets more lively and engaging.]

I do think pets should be able to eat. Though to prevent griefing, perhaps they should have a limit to how much they can eat at once. That way, all Ian would be able to steal is one taco before he has to wait a while before he can eat again.

[Change the Standard Operating Procedure (Service) of the Chef to include some basic anti Ant measures.]

Ants are a harmful, so would that fall under Space law of Battery?

[Nerf Telescience]

One idea I can see being used is to create 'Bluespace Inhibitors'. Essentially they are wrench-able machines that, for a bit of power, create a bubble around them that prevents any teleporting in or out of the area. Attempting to do so redirects the person/item begin teleport to a spot outside of the bubble. They could be set up round-start in places like the armory, AI core, telecomms control room, plus additional ones can be researched and built by science. I've seen these used on other servers, so they may make for a goo way to balance telescience.

[Wizard Loadouts]

So with the amount of spells and items a wizard has access to, there're a lot of fun and interesting loadouts a wizard can use. I was curious what are some loadouts that others have used or seen. For example, using a classic:

The Mind Swapper: Steal people's jobs, then blow them up.
- No Clothes
- Mind Swap
- Ethereal Jaunt
- Magic Missile
- Disintegrate

[Attack of the Bluespace ants!]

You mean Persistence Station?

[Attack of the Bluespace ants!]

There're also some pretty easy ways of mass producing food. Upgrading the kitchen means dozens of food servings can be cooked at once, xenobiology can make slime cores that spawn food, engineering could break down then rebuild vending machines to reset them to a working state, and cargo could order replacement supplies. There' might be a couple minutes of panic, but I think it's a situation that would quickly be resolved.

[Policy Discussion: Anti-AI Atmos Additions]

The first though I have is that it's a bit metagamey. Almost along the lines of locking down maintenance round start in case of shadowlings or other antags without having any knowledge of them being on the station. Technically, we don't know that there's a potential threat to the station round start, so there's no reason we should take actions that would hinder an antag when we don't know they exist.

Now, if the AI has shown signs of being a threat, then yes, atmos has every right to prevent sabotage. However, if the AI isn't an antag, not only do you have no reason to prevent the AI from accessing atmos, but doing so could be dangerous should something happen that requires the AI's intervention.

[Emergency Supply Mission]

Name of Event: Emergency Supply Mission

One Sentence Description: A nearby station has suffered critical damage due to Syndicate sabotage, and the Cyberiad is the only nearby station capable of providing the needed repair supplies.

Map Changes: No

Code Changes: No

Suggested Number of Players: About 60 or more. Recommended at last a majority of  service, science, supply, and engineering roles filled.

 

Full Description of Event: A nearby NT station has suffered a critical engine failure due to sabotage, and is in desperate need of materials, machines, and general supplies. The Cyberiad is the nearest location that can provide these supplies, so CC sets them the task of collecting and sending all of the requested items in a single shuttle shipment from cargo.

The items requested will be varied and require the cooperation of a majority of the station’s department to accomplish. Items will include raw materials from mining, specific machines that’ll need to be constructed, mechs and equipment that need to be researched, food and plants from the chef and botany, spare space suits and air/oxygen canisters, medical supplies and healing chemicals, and anything else that could be of use for station repairs and resupply, with cargo keeping track of everything collected. The specifics will be up to the admins.

All the items and machines will need to be collected and stored until it’s all ready to be shipped. Only one shuttle shipment may be sent. The station must contact CC before sending the supply shuttle, after which, once everything is loaded and sent, CC will give a reward to the station, likely in the form of supply points or a money bonus for the crew. The station doesn’t need to meet the requirements exactly, but it’ll be encouraged to receive a better reward.

The biggest problem to face the crew will be the syndicate agents aboard the station that’ll likely be interested in the massive supply stash that’ll be gathering. Either for use in doing their objective, or as a part of an objective itself, agents will likely try to steal these supplies for their own use. If needed, custom objectives can be given to traitors to steal items that’ll also be part of the supply list.

[Gamemode Idea: Mafia/Werewolf-esque Game]

For those of you who have played the game Town of Salem, Mafia, or Werewolf, this game mode goes along with a similar 'round' structure. This is jut a rough outline, but I wanna know peoples thoughts on it being a potential game mode.

The Antagonists:

The antagonists of this game mode can either be monster creatures like a werewolf or a well armed group of individuals. Although extremely dangerous in combat, they only have access to their gear and abilities during certain times of the shift. Specifically, the night phase (I'll explain that in a bit.) While in their normal form, they are completely human and can be subdued in any way one normally would, though there's no way to tell they're a killer through any form of examination. However, when the 'night' phase starts, they transform or are geared up with powerful armor and weapons. Their identity is hidden and they gain access to many deadly abilities. At this time, the best course of action for a crew member is to run like hell. At least that is until the 'day' phase begins.

The Phases:

The round goes through two different phases as time goes on. Specifically, a 'day' and a 'night' phase. During the 'day' is when the lights are on and it's business as usual. However, about ten minutes into the shift, all the station's power is abruptly cut, starting the 'night' phase. At this time, the killers are given about thirty seconds to prepare, then either transform into monsters or are given special weapons and gear. The lights can't be restored until the night phase is over, and only non-electrical lights will function. It's at this time that the crew should start panicking. The killers are extremely powerful at this time, being too dangerous to fight head on. The crew's best course of action is to stay out of sight or take cover secure locations. After about ten minutes, the killers will be warned that the power will be restored soon, and the round will enter the 'day' phase. At this time, the lights come back on and the killers revert back to their normal selves. This gives the crew time to recover and prepare for the next night. The day and night cycle will continue till one of the end conditions to happen. The killers must be careful, because if they are seen transforming in or out of their killer form, they can be called out and will have to go into hiding to keep from being captured or killed.

End Conditions:

In order for the round to end, one of three things must happen.

1. The killers win by killing a certain number of crew members.

2. The crew wins by surviving a certain number of night phases then escaping on the shuttle.

3. The crew wins by killing all the antagonists.