Some pAI suggestions from a new player!

[Anuntakenusername]

So I've only been playing Space Station 13 for two months or so, and the majority of that time has been spent on Paradise. So far I love the game and the server, but I had a few suggestions to make pAI's (A role I've been playing a lot lately) more interesting! I understand the thought process behind keeping them from having a massive effect on the world, but I don't think most of my suggestions would change things too drastically. This post is LONG by the way, but most of my individual suggestions aren't massive and wide ranging I hope. I just like to be detailed and to include my reasons for my suggestions.

One last note before I get properly started.. Please, PLEASE consider adding more pAI's and/or randomizing their spawns. More upgrades to the role will lead to more people wanting to play it of course, but the main reason I suggest this? You almost always end up working for a civilian or the RD because of where the pre-placed pAI's are unless you wait for new pAI's to be built and basically sit out a large part of the round. If one was always in sec or in the bridge, that'd add some real variety to people like myself who love this role for some reason.

 

The lighter, easier suggestions:

1st - Upgraded host bioscan. Out of all of my suggestions, I think this is the one that should be added as soon as possible. Even if staff thought that the scan should be upped in cost from five to ten or something, it currently serves almost no purpose. It tells you damage numbers, but you can see health bars with the medical hud and examine people to see what type of damage they've taken. So what should it do? I think it should do just about everything! I believe the scan should act as a health analyzer and perhaps even a body scanner all in one. I understand that's a massive change from what it currently does, but it currently does almost nothing. This would immediately make pAI's more useful in so many situations, and give the person playing them more to do. From doing scans in medbay when there's multiple injured (Please let them print the report for people too, just like a body scanner!), to working in the brig medbay for the brig physician that doesn't start with a scanner of their own. You could even print a report for your injured master while they're running to medbay or being taken to medbay for treatment and save precious time, allowing them to go straight into surgery since you already scanned them!

I understand that again, this suggestion is pretty big. A health analyzer AND a body scanner? That almost sounds ludicrous! The pAI still has to climb onto the person to scan them though, and this is a player who can't interact in the vast majority of ways with the world that others can. It also follows the trend of giving the pAI options that aren't directly physical and are wholly unique to them.

 

2nd - Interfacing! I think this is another thing that should be added as soon as possible and uses elements already available in the game. pAI's should be able to interface with every computer (Or the ones they have access to, given to them by a swipe of their master's ID) by using the same cable that's used in door jack. By default, they'd be able to hit a button and drop the cable, with another person plugging it in.This would allow them to further assist their master in multiple ways, such as..  Record keeping! This is exactly what a personal assistant should be doing. From updating medical and security records to monitoring cameras as a security pAI, this gives them a lot to do and still follows the rule of requiring someone else to help them interface by plugging their cable in. I don't think it'd particularly break anything if they could interface with computers without another person helping them plug in, though. I've heard that on other servers the pAI can be swiped on a computer, and after that it can interface with it from anywhere remotely. I understand that may be difficult to do, so maybe after it's plugged in to a computer once the pAI can activate it without assistance from then on. It would be cool to remote to computers you've been swiped on, though!

To be clear, door jack would remain a separate upgrade but I believe this computer function should also be a base one considering how many assistant elements it adds without affecting the physical world too much. (Connecting to previous computers remotely would be an upgrade, though.) Door jack could use speeding up though. Maybe thirty seconds instead of a minute considering it's already limited use.

 

3rd - Let them write! This is another thing that would allow the pAI to participate in the game without killing people or massively affecting events. I would suggest that pAI's have a pen and a pack of paper, (Say they start with an infinite stack, and they can't replace it with anything else or drop it.) and they are able to write. Why? It allows them to do paperwork for their roles and act like a true assistant. End up as the pAI for the HoP? You can help them with their paperwork, and the same for IAA or the NT rep. If there's any worries about the feasibility of it in character, just say that chassis' like the fox or cat write with the pen in their mouth. They ARE an artificial intelligence after all, a machine. Not an actual animal! I think this should also be default by the way, given that it's such a basic function.

 

4th - Allow them to speak on other frequencies. Unless I'm mistaken, pAI's can currently only speak on common. If their master was in some way able to have their pAI interface with their headset to give them access to their radio stations, I believe that would be a big improvement. Currently if you're riding around with your owner you can hear their channels but you can't respond on them, and if you hop off them you can't hear anymore either. Even if this was a five point upgrade, I think this is another low effort thing that should be added. Being able to interact and act as an assistant for your master would be much more interesting if you could talk for them to their peers, or call for help on their specific channel if something goes wrong. 

 

And now.. The slightly more extreme suggestions.

1st - Opening doors. I understand why this one wasn't added up until this point, but I also don't agree with it. I don't believe pAI's should ever be the sort of physical force that other entities are, but this limitation can really hamper things. Say for example your master is killed or attacked and you're stuck in a room? There's not much you can do besides yell on the radio, you can't run out of the room and try to get help. You can't even take small walks through the same department to talk to their co-workers because all the doors need to be opened for you. Similarly to the radio suggestion, I think owners should be able to use their ID on their pAI and give them the same access their master has. Apparently this is already a thing on another server, but I've never seen it myself. If people still have a problem with this, I'd be fine with opening doors being an upgrade or there being a delay of say, five or ten seconds where a pAI has to stand at a door before it opens. Anything is better than nothing. 

 

2nd - Dragging things. I again get why this isn't already implemented, but I believe allowing a pAI to drag things around without putting them into an inventory wouldn't break the game, it'd just allow them to do more as assistants, especially if it was done in conjunction with letting them go through doors. Not much more to add to this idea, it sort of speaks for itself. I believe this should be a default ability and not an upgrade, just because it allows more basic elements for the role so there's more to do.

 

3rd - A single defensive option in the form of a shock. Now I know what you're thinking, that's too far! But hear me out. This one would almost certainly need to be an upgrade, and it would likely work the same way as a taser. It would have significant limitations though. In addition to being an upgrade that costs memory, it would only be a single shot, have a lengthy (Maybe five minutes, maybe longer even?) cooldown, and it would do no damage. This is purely meant to be a last resort defensive option for you to assist your master if they're in danger, since you have zero ways to help them otherwise. I would be fine with some sort of short range shock around the person carrying you too, but I understand that's probably harder to develop. I'd leave it up to the coders to figure out how this works, from something like a wizard spell to a "weapon" you can equip with the mentioned limitations mentioned above. I want to be clear though that I've got absolutely no desire to see pAI's become murder machines, but a single and heavily limited defensive option just allows them to have more utility. It gives them a SINGLE chance to help their master, and not even themselves since it can't be used while walking around.

Now.. I understand this post is SUPER long so if you read this far.. Thank you! I've very much enjoyed my time playing as a pAI, and the only reason I care so much is because I want to keep playing it. I want more to do so I can keep enjoying this role! Please consider my suggestions, and thank you. 

Edited February 21, 2018 by Anuntakenusername

[Anuntakenusername]

Just wanted to add on my second point about interfacing.. I learned after posting this that borgs and drones can interface with computers! So for that specific point, I think just adding this functionality to pAI's is the simplest and most concise improvement. I've heard there's some permission limitations though for borgs and drones, so if possible I'd suggest that something like an ID swipe I mentioned above would give the pAI access to the same consoles it's master has. 

[Desolate]

Borgs and drones have laws they have to follow.

 

Also I can guarantee any sort of stun or shock is a no go.

[Anuntakenusername]

34 minutes ago, Desolate said:

Borgs and drones have laws they have to follow.

 

Also I can guarantee any sort of stun or shock is a no go.

That's fine. I just wanted to include all my ideas, from what I thought was likely to get approval to the more outrageous stuff. You never know! And in this case a pAI would only have access to the computers that their master does if some sort of permission like that (An ID card swipe on the pAI) was possible, so. It shouldn't matter.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Anuntakenusername

[Desolate]

It's all good. Keep the suggestions coming!

[Tayswift]

6 hours ago, Anuntakenusername said:

Say for example your master is killed or attacked and you're stuck in a room? There's not much you can do besides yell on the radio, you can't run out of the room and try to get help.

PAIs are already used as a sentient death alarm. They're not supposed to be able to help you out of a situation. It's an RP role that shouldn't affect the round.

[Anuntakenusername]

6 hours ago, Tayswift said:

PAIs are already used as a sentient death alarm. They're not supposed to be able to help you out of a situation. It's an RP role that shouldn't affect the round.

But why? There's no other RP role that has so little to do or so few ways to affect the round. I think allowing them to use computers just furthers their ability to act as an assistant without messing with the physical world, which I understand wanting to limit that. I think that suggestion and the spawning changes (More or randomized pAI's in other departments for variety for the person playing one) are good changes that don't make them some kind of crazy force. I also just made this list as a sort of collection of all my ideas, and I'm not necessarily suggesting that ALL OF THEM are added all at once, or even ever if that's the problem you're having. If every one of them is popped in at once pAI's would become a little ridiculous and much less reliant on RP, certainly.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Anuntakenusername

[CodyRex123]

I have to say the only one I care about at least is the 4th one!

That and the being forced to fold up is.... a bit stupid in my book unless its your master doing it.

[Anuntakenusername]

10 minutes ago, CodyRex123 said:

I have to say the only one I care about at least is the 4th one!

That and the being forced to fold up is.... a bit stupid in my book unless its your master doing it.

Thank you for the response! <3 I actually don't mind the folding thing too much, but maybe others not being able to bop you once to do it would be nice. So your master still could, but other people would have to hit you twice or something. The only reason it bothers me is just getting snatched randomly or deleted for no reason (Happened to me once) is kind of silly. 

Edited February 22, 2018 by Anuntakenusername

[Tayswift]

6 hours ago, Anuntakenusername said:

But why? There's no other RP role that has so little to do or so few ways to affect the round.

There are quite a few RP only ghost roles that aren't supposed to affect the round. Ian, for example. The whole point of these RP only ghost roles is that there's no harm in creating a ton of them, giving ghosts things to do and not creating additional work for admins. If you power creep these ghost roles then it'll turn into something like emagged maint drone which ended up being very toxic before it was finally nerfed multiple times.

[Dinarzad]

On 2/21/2018 at 8:38 PM, Tayswift said:

There are quite a few RP only ghost roles that aren't supposed to affect the round. Ian, for example. The whole point of these RP only ghost roles is that there's no harm in creating a ton of them, giving ghosts things to do and not creating additional work for admins. If you power creep these ghost roles then it'll turn into something like emagged maint drone which ended up being very toxic before it was finally nerfed multiple times.

Playing as an NPC/animal does not even slightly compare to a pAI, which has to be researched and printed from a protolathe to be produced and only 2-3 exist on station at round start, requires a dead/observing player to control, and a person to want one.
If you make a role or feature useless or not fun to play as, it gets tossed aside, such as why Kidan have been under review for changes multiple times.
The ability to emag a maintenance drone was not toxic, and the issue itself was highly divisive as the SEVERAL PR's attest to, it was far from being a unanimous opinion. Portraying it as such is disingenuous.

These are ideas. Please respond to them as such and critique them instead of immediately crossing your arms and going "Nope", it stifles conversation and further reduces desire for players to input any work into the server itself.

As for the ideas themselves,
1: This one is probably the most feasible and has been requested several times in the past. I am unsure as to reasoning of not implementing it, it could just be as simple as lack of desire on the part of people to code it, it's not like they're required too or anything.  Frankly I see no reason, balance wise, NOT to implement it, as the entire point of a 'medical assistant' would be to act a Nurse of sorts and assist doctors with diagonsis and monitoring health of patients. But that's me, you'd need someone on the Staff for a more accurate/in-depth take on why it has not been done or their feelingso n it.

2:  This one is... sketchy. pAI are supposed to be handy assistants, helpful tools for certain jobs and a constant companion, interfacing with computers or machines is starting to hit a borderline. Personally, I'd love it, but definitely not with remote access, that feels like it would definitely be too much utility, able to, say, remotely activate a telescience computer or such.
Record keeping is lacking, as far as I know, mostly as "Troll protection". The fear is someone could play a pAI, even as a clown and just go diddle in the records, setting everyone to arrest, etc. Which is a justified concern, assholes will be assholes.  I think it'd be fine to let them write in records but not change status', but that's my own take on it.

3: I can't see much inherently wrong with a printer module, aside maybe giving chemists an infinite supply of Ash for things. (You can burn paper into ash piles and slap it into a beaker in order to make some chems.) Could even make a noisy printer sound if balance was a concern for something, no hiding in tunnels to print a forged document for example.

4:  EXTREMELY often requested, and a damned shame they can't. THIS one though I CAN explain a bit.  pAI radios do not function as normal headsets, instead they are literally just given a station-bounced radio built into them, so that means it can only talk over the general channel.  You can change the radio's frequency, just like SBR's, but justl ike SBR's it can't go into department frequency ranges.  This would take a more in-depth's recoding of how the feature works, again, more reliant on someone to have the drive and desire to want to go muddle into that spaghetti pile.

As for them ore extreme suggestions,

1:  Opening doors isssss... eh.  I think they should be able to open the general use doors, like those in the hallways, but aside that, I don't think they need to. They should not have wandered so far away from their owner if they get stuck in the middle of the bridge or Security.

2: Dragging tihngs. I believe, at one point, they COULD drag things, small things.  The problem was, players used to to yakkity sax around with people's ID's I think. Not entirely sure, but another case of "Assholes ruined it for everyone."

3: This is the one that, flat out, will probably never happen and I don't think it should.  pAI SHOULD be defenseless, you are a glorified iPhone, you are what happens if Siri becomes a true AI with sentient knowledge, or Cortana was put into a smartphone.  You are there to be a virtual secretary/friend, and adding a self-defense option just isn't going to fly, because then anyone with a pAI could have a form of self-defense, from a device that already is going to shriek and scream bloody murder if their master is under assault.
Which is itself another problem and the main reason pAI's don't get much attention I think, is the Death alarm aspect. Any sort of pAI overhaul or re-feature would likely need a means of bypassing or disabling that, in order to get much in the way of buffs or additional utility.

[CodyRex123]

In response to above, Dinarzad. specifically about 4 of the 'medium suggestions' is that station bounced radios can already be set to other comms frequencies by the user as long as they have (I think) a headset with the encryption keys, so maybe what can be done is the ability to 'copy' a encryption key to stick into the pAI or just straight up have the holder decide what channels the pAI will be able to access of the channels the holder can, though that gives a smallish exploit of syndicate allies helping each other out by using pAIs to 'lend a ear' to other department radios and such, maybe a bit roundabout but they could trade pAIs a moment and give the access or whatever. At least how I imagine it.

pAIs can already ask the AI to open doors and usually the AI is nice enough to do so, basic access would be nice but not needed, possible syndi upgrade or something to make them more useful for syndicate, who are also generally the ones that use em.

Lets make a note that mid-round antags are played by players, why not give some more 'minor protag' role abilities? I get that the goal is to widdle down the station's crew. But the fact is that anybody can become a diona nymph and become a big impact on the station with just a few minutes and a dire situation pressuring command, those of us that do pAI don't care for becoming a big role, we just want close interactions and more people picking up pAIs, maybe this is actually the wrong way to go about it (giving more useful abilities, those people looking for things to help them out, so forth) but right about now it also seems like the best way with OOC muted during rounds.