Note: This guide is more oriented to Box Station (NSS Cyberiad), there may be some differences on the other map (Most notably, locations and pictures)
Note 2: This guide will not be covering a Traitor AI (or as people like to call it by their incorrect name: Malf AI)
Have you been thinking of becoming the AI or has become the AI but don't know what you are doing? Very well, I hope this guide will be useful to you, as there are various things that is not very much covered in the wiki, but can only be learned from past experience and might be hard to grasp in one single round.
Starting as the AI
If you have yet to do so, you should take a look at the server's rules regarding synthetics, they may be different from other servers. https://www.paradisestation.org/wiki/index.php/Advanced_Rules#Silicon_and_Drone_Policy
Welcome to your sattelite, AI unit! Seems you have been selected by Nanotrasen to be assigned as the station's AI. First thing after joining, like cyborgs, you will be prompted to name yourself or stay with what you were given (You can ask an admin to help fix your name if you wrote it wrong, though there are some limitation to what the admins can do such as numbers).
After giving yourself a name, you will see lots of buttons on your screen.
Your screen and on-screen buttons:
These buttons not all the things you can do yourself, there's more. See the status on the top right screen? Well, if you switch your tab to "AI Commands" You will see a bunch more.
The AI Commands tab:
The Status Tab allows you to see various information about your borgs and also your health:
Cyborgs that are linked to you will show up on the status tab. Linked cyborgs are under your control, you can ask them to do things as if you were their head of staff (because you basically are). Cyborgs are also walking cameras, wherever they go, you can see them.
You have 5 types of cyborgs available, each with different tools:
First thing into the round, It is mostly your job to set telecommunicatons up or be asked later on not even 5 minutes into the shift to do so. So you should learn how it works or atleast how to set it up.
Telecommunication Hub:
Now that you (should) have set the telecomms up. Let's get you started with what you will get to do for the next two hours. Your most common tasks will likely include the following:
Opening doors/ Adjusting Door settings/ Bolting Doors etc.
Tracking People/ Reporting their location/ Reporting their identity
Commanding Borgs
Using machines/ computers
Checking alerts
Reporting things you see
Relaying information from a department to an another
or basically, anything the crew wants you to do.
Your radio channels, incase you didn't know:
Your rights and duty to open doors... and do other things
Let's get started with a few common devices you will likely get to use on your AI round. You can interact with way more items than what is written here. I suggest you learn them through by playing as an AI/Borgs. Remember, your powers are limited by power, and sight. Where there is no power, you can't control things. Where you can't see, you can't control.
Airlocks (Doors):
APCs (Area Power Controllers):
Air alarms:
Holopads:
Robots:
Robotics Control Console
< This one (In the Research Director's office)
Your Laws are Your Masters
No matter what time of day it is, who the captain is, how much you hate the crew on that round. Your lawset is your master. Follow them. Follow them. As per the silicons policy of Paradise, Laws are to be followed according to their priority, if there are any laws conflict, follow the law higher in the list.
Example:
How to change the AI laws, For Beginner AI who has never been in command edition
Your sattelite, an arsernal that requires commanding
Most new AIs forgets the defenses that the AI sattelite is already fitted with, of course it can't protect you from everything but it can protect you from most things.
There's two things that is required for you to live 1. Your core or 2. your APC
< Keep the core AND APC safe , (If you aren't supposed to protect yourself then don't, follow your laws)
If your APC is destroyed or disabled or discharged, you will slowly lose integrity (This is on the status tab). Your AI core will automatically attempt to open the APC interface it takes about a minute for the APC interface to open. In the meantime, you can use your binary chat to tell your borgs that you are in the processing of dying.
A detailed text on how to defend your core:
Okay, telecomms went out for these "Ionospheric Anomalies" what do I do?
don't worry, the telecomms will return in about 5 minutes. Though, sometimes this is not announced to the crew. You should make an announcement about the ionspheric anomalies and advise them to use station bounced radios / intercomms.
But what about yourself? Well, your core does have three wall mounted intercomms next to it. Just switch the general intercomms microphone to on and everything you say will be on Commons.
Reminder! Without telecomms, the intercomms will transmit to station bounced radios and other intercomms. They will not reach the headsets.
< The southern intercomms is the commons one, on the box station that is.
If you are thinking of leaving early, remember to Wipe Core!
You can do this by going to the OOC tab and clicking Wipe Core. It frees up the AI slot for other people to take.
Thank you for reading till the end,
I have likely missed a few things in this guide, but oh well. I saw there was a lack of an AI guide and I hope this made you more knowledgable about how to actually do things as the AI and more or less be able to start learning much more deeper into how to be a better AI. This is a lot of information and I highly doubt you will get all of this from just reading and trying it out once. After all, most of SS13 is just about learning along the way.
