[Design document: New role: Constable]

4 hours ago, Landerlow said:

EXCELLENT job, Norwest. 

I wish I could code. I'd code it in right this instant, heh. 

I was wondering though, for ranged weaponry; How about letting the constable use (and perhaps spawn with) a bola? How do you feel about that? Or do you feel a bola is too powerful? It would be lame if the constable just bola'd anyone on the spot but on the other hand, it is only a single use item and I do think they are hard to come by once the supply in the security vendors is empty. (I forgot if you can get 'em in a cargo crate but it costs credits to order crates and I imagine sec won't order a whole crate just for a bola).

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.

[Design document: New mechanic: Fines]

Update: the fines design has been rolled in with Constables in order to facilitate in-person interaction. Details here:

  

19 hours ago, Norwest said:

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 moderate SOP violation or 2xx [Moderate] crime, 100 credits for a major SOP violation or 3xx [Major] 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.

 

Revised design doc incorporating 'fines and the legbreakers who enforce them' is now in the other thread.

 

[Design document: New role: Constable]

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:

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Constable SOP:

Code Green:

1. Constables are authorized to enforce demotion orders, collect tickets for SOP violations, and apprehend anyone seen conducting a Space Law 1xx (Minor) and 2xx (Moderate) crime. If a suspect is believed to have committed a 3xx (Major), 4xx (Exceptional) or 5xx (Capital) crime, or would require lethal force to apprehend, the Constable is to retreat to a safe location and inform station Security, and is not to attempt the arrest themselves;

2. Constables may not use lethal force except in extreme cases of personal self-defense. As they are not a Security Officer, assault or kidnapping of a Constable shall not be defined as a 3xx (Major) crime;

3. Constables may temporarily pursue an identified suspect who has fled into Maintenance, but may not conduct regular patrols in Maintenance areas. 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 SOP enforcement and peacekeeping if requested;

4. When carrying out an arrest, Constables are required to state the reasons behind an arrest before any further action is taken. Constables must attempt to bring all suspects or witnesses to the Brig without handcuffing or incapacitating them. Should the suspect not cooperate, the Constable may use non-lethal force to detain the subject;

5. Constables are permitted to carry their police baton, a flash, handcuffs, and a can of pepperspray;

6. Constables may not perform searches, and should report all suspicious individuals to station Security instead for follow-up by Security Officers.
 

Code Blue:
1. All guidelines carry over from Code Green.

Code Red:
1. All guidelines carry over from Code Blue.

2. Constables may not possess disablers or lethal weaponry of any type, except in cases of full-scale station hazards such as biohazards, a Syndicate 'declaration of war,' etc. and should return all weapons of this type immediately to the Armory on conclusion of the threat.

 

 

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Constable Wiki
Superiors: Magistrate
Difficulty: Hard
Guides: Space Law, Guide To Combat, Security Items, Standard Operating Procedure, Standard Operating Procedure (Legal), Brigging Procedure
Access: Courtroom, Holding Cells, Maintenance
Duties: Stop minor crimes, enforce Space Law and SOP

As a Constable, you're the go-to guy for petty crimes and minor troublemakers around the station. Let the redshirts go chasing down bloodsuckers, monsters, and things that go bump in the night; your job is to keep the peace in public areas like the Bar and Dorms, and make sure that people pay their tickets on time.


Paul Blyant, Space-Mall Cop
Welcome, Constable. Armed with your boosted muscles, a pair of handcuffs, and (hopefully) a calm temperament, you've been hired to maintain a semblance of order in a station trying to slip into chaos. As a member of the Legal sub-department you answer to the Magistrate, rather than the Head of Security.

Remember: you are not a member of Security, and should not try to be one! There's more than enough Security Officers to dogpile big threats such as changelings or Syndicate traitors; your job is to pay attention to the problems those guys might miss. You're the bouncer who keeps things calm in the central hallways, the guy who stops Joe Greytider from breaking into Chemistry to make meth, and the calm voice who helps defuse a riot when angry Assistants start protesting outside the Bridge.

Pay Up: The Excise Payment System
Like the Internal Affairs Agent, you start with an 'excise payment system,' or EPS, in your backpack. A modified version of the 'EFTPOS' card-readers found around the station, this payment system can automatically connect to the various department accounts (Command, Security, etc.) without needing to know their account numbers and PINs. Internal Affairs can use this system to apply fines for SOP violations, whether that's the Chef not making food or the Roboticist making a HONK mech without permission. People generally don't like paying fines, though, which is where you come in.

Example: Let's say an Internal Affairs Agent (IA Agent, or IAA) has asked for Joe Chemist to be fined for the SOP violation of 'not stocking the Chemistry fridge' (Medical SOP, Chemist section, point 6). To start with, take your handy EPS system and activate it in your hand to show its pop-up menu. From there, you'll want to enter in the following things:
Transaction Purpose: Moderate SOP Violation
Value: 50
Linked Account: Command
Hit 'Lock EPS' on the top right of the menu, and a red 'Payment Due' option should pop up (the EPS spawns with a unique PIN to unlock it; make sure you either change the PIN or save it to your memory!). Your EPS is ready to go, and now all you need is Joe Chemist's ID card. If he hands it over willingly, you swipe it - once - and the ticket is complete. If he doesn't...well, that's why you're here.


Book 'Em, Danno
You're allowed to arrest crewmembers for 1xx (Minor) and 2xx (Moderate) crimes, and to issue tickets instead of jail time at your own discretion, though subject to review by the Magistrate. You can also issue SOP tickets side-by-side with criminal ones, subject to review by Internal Affairs. Example: Joe Chemist has been handing out meth yet again, making him guilty of 'Narcotics Distribution.' If it's his first offense, then it's a 5-10 minute sentence in the Brig or a 50-credit ticket; you can decide which one to use depending on what's happened. If he fights you and resists the arrest, slap a 20-credit 'Resisting Arrest' fine on top of it. If you're feeling generous you can skip the additional 20-credit fine for the Chemist violating point 2 of the Chemist SOP ("The Chemist is not permitted to experiment with poisonous mixtures and/or narcotics"), or slap him with that too if you're not. As you can see, even a basic crime can get very complicated, very fast, so make sure you're read up on the details.

Make sure you know Space Law well, as it'll be your job to ensure that it's applied appropriately and fairly. In particular, make sure you're aware of crime stacking, what constitutes contraband, and crime modifiers (in particular the 'Aiding and Abetting,' 'Repeat Offender,' 'Self-Defense,' and 'Refusal to Cooperate' modifiers). When in doubt, consult the Magistrate or Internal Affairs for any questions related to Space Law, fines, or enforcement. You're a member of the Legal sub-department too, so make sure you know your Space Law all the way through!

When in doubt, keep the following guidelines in mind:
1. All fines are charged to the Command departmental account;
2. Minor SOP violations (example: the Chaplain performing a funeral on the body of someone who was cloned) or 1xx/Minor crimes (Resisting Arrest, Drug Possession, etc) are to be charged 20 credits.
3. Moderate SOP violations (example: Cargo Technicians keeping illegal items that were flushed down Disposals) or 2xx/Moderate crimes (Assault, Narcotics Distribution, etc.) are to be charged 50 credits.
4. Major SOP violations like blowing up the supermatter engine are usually dealt with via demotion, but that's something for Internal Affairs and the relevant Head of Staff to handle. While you can't order a demotion yourself, if the person isn't cooperative then you're one of the people who can enforce the order.
5. 3xx/Major, 4xx/Exceptional, or 5xx/Capital crimes are beyond your pay grade; you should report anyone committing one of those crimes to Security, and NOT attempt to arrest them yourself.

Sec Officers are allowed to write tickets too, so check in regularly with them to make sure you're not booking someone for the same crime twice. The IA Agents or the NanoTrasen Representative (NTR) will also be writing SOP tickets, so check with them regularly on Procedure comms (:x channel) in case someone's refusing to pay up. You are Legal's legbreakers, so if someone tells the IA Agent to shove off, it's your job to make sure they aren't ignored.

Paying Their Way
While out on collections duty, you might find that someone's out of dough. Maybe they tried to hide their money from NanoTrasen by taking it out through an ATM, maybe their account was drained by someone else, or maybe they've committed a number of crimes and SOP violations and taken too many hits to the pocketbook. Either way, it's your job to ensure they pay their debt to NanoTrasen one way or another.

Talk with the Magistrate (and if there's no Magistrate, then in order: the Captain => Head of Security => Warden => Officer/Detective) if they want to put the suspect in the Labor Camp to pay off their fine, or just write it off. If it's approved, then put 'em to work in the Labor Camp for whatever the credit amount is that they owe (i.e. if they owe 100 credits, set their prisoner ID to 100 points). Once they - or someone else - has paid their time, release them back into the wild.


Man On A Mission
Busted windows, Chemists making krokodil, Botanists high on bath salts streaking naked around the corridors - there's a lot of petty crime on your average NT station, and the easiest way to see and stop it is to be there when it happens. You're allowed to make arrests under the following conditions:
1) The suspect is presumed guilty of a 1xx (Minor) or 2xx (Medium) crime, and
2) The suspect is in a department or public area.

The changeling with an armblade out is a threat way beyond your paygrade, so follow your SOP and fall back to call it in to Security ("; Changeling with armblade spotted in Departures, need Security!"). Similarly, if your suspect runs into one of the dimly-lit Maintenance corridors around the station, they're in a dangerous area that's best left for Security Officers to handle. Call in the suspect's name (if known) and what they've done to Team Redshirt, and let the guys with numbers and guns go chase them down. While you can go into Maintenance like other crew, you cannot patrol there to make arrests or issue fines, so don't go joining the Security conga lines to hunt down antagonists.

The general comms channel will be your second-best source of info aside from your own eyes, so keep an eye on it while you patrol. 'HELP SCIENCE JOE GREYSHIRT BREAKING THINGS' is your cue, so be ready to roll when you hear it! The camera console in your Labor Camp home office will let you check out areas from a distance, while the Security records console will let you keep the records of your regular troublemakers up to date.


QM's Little Helper
The primary hallways are your patrol area, but you're welcome to request access to patrol departments. The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) will often want a hand with problematic patients, and the Chief Engineer (CE) might need help from Assistants breaking down Engineering's doors to steal their coveted insulated gloves. In such cases, don't be afraid to ask for additional ID access, to be provided by the Head of Personnel (HoP). The Heads of Staff will often need a hand keeping order in their various departments, so make sure they know you're available to help them.

Demotions are often a messy business, as the Botanist who's called for demotion by the HoP is unlikely to show up at his line with ID in hand. You can help make sure these personnel changes go through, by will or by force, and your Skills HUDSunglasses will let you know if someone's marked for demotion with a red 'D.' If people fight back violently, don't be afraid to take them for a little stroll in a holding cell after they're done getting their ID access revoked.

A Businessman, Doing Business
As a shady enforcer of a corrupt megacorp, you might find yourself in a position to make a little money on the side. Maybe you can let those 'Assault' and 'Resisting Arrest' charges slide, if the guy who did them is willing to pay some credits to your private account instead. Maybe that marijuana should be better off in your pocket, yeah? Maybe you can let someone off with a warning if they give you that nice-looking smuggler's satchel they got from parts unknown...

This job is intended to both allow and encourage low-level corruption and lawbreaking. As a player, your key rules are as follows:
1) Rule 0 - Don't Be A Dick. If you're going to RP as a shady legbreaker, make sure that it's fun for everyone involved. Don't go holding people indefinitely in cells on trumped-up charges, and if someone doesn't want to go along with your scheme, just book 'em for the actual crime and try the next guy. When in doubt, stop and ask yourself 'is the other person on the other side of the screen having fun too?' If not, don't be afraid to back off and check in via LOOC (Local Out-Of-Character) chat to see how they're feeling and to make sure they're OK with things.
2) Rule 7 - Self-Antagging. You might not be mindshielded, but you're still an enforcer of THE LAAAAAW. Taking bribes is all well and good for low-key crimes, but if someone's getting murdered, you should probably call it in to Security. Note what's listed as contraband, too, and make sure you're not running around with S-class contraband regularly. You can 'misplace' things out of Processing if they're left there, but don't go gearing yourself up like a nuclear operative; you're a low-level guy making low-level deals, not Batman Owlman.

Finally, remember that shady things like taking bribes always comes with a risk, and that potential risk is "you're found out and you're the one doing time in the Labor Camp." The more you do the more likely you are to get caught, and if you're found out then take your consequences with pride. Remember the SS13 motto: "Losing is fun!"


An Offer You Can't Refuse
Although the Constable is prevented from being a roundstart cultist, changeling, or vampire for balances purposes (similarly, the Head of Personnel is blacklisted from being a roundstart cultist), you can be a roundstart Syndicate traitor. You won't be fully trusted by Security, but unlike most people on the station, you're both allowed and expected to carry out arrests. Grab your target for a charge, whether real or imagined, and make sure they have a little 'accident' en route to the Brig. If you want to disappear someone permanently, the rarely-used Labor Camp is another easy way to make people go away for good. Make sure to keep an eye out for your other Constable, though, along with watching out for Internal Affairs or the Magistrate snooping around.

While stealing a high-value item might appear harder to achieve, you're also quite well-equipped to handle that too. Just put on the show of being a law-abiding Constable, bonking greytiders and keeping order, and Heads of Staff will almost certainly love to have you around. Once you're set as the chief enforcer for the Medbay, it's a cinch to emag in to the CMO's quarters and grab their hypospray. Or alternatively, if you're helpful enough, they might well turn a blind eye as you go for it at the end of the round. The Captain and his gear might be a tougher target, but if you allow yourself to be mindshielded at the start of the shift by the Head of Security (HoS), you'll probably appear a good deal more trustworthy, and be allowed onto the Bridge to shoo out the Clown.

Or you could just grab a chainsaw and yell 'TIMBERRR!' a couple times before you saw up the Warden and rob the Armory blind before Security can dogpile you. Whatever floats your boat!

 

 

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!)

[Design document: New role: Constable]

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 document: New role: Constable]

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.

[The State of Space Law]

5 hours ago, Mitchs98 said:

That said...Space Law isn't really meant to cover every single detail or scenario in great depth, unfortunately. Even such as it is now I feel that Space Law is fine aside from needing some clarifications(such as the ones I mentioned in this post) added to it to discourage officers from going too gung-ho with lethal weapons.

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.

[Smoke grenades]

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.

[A (Joke) Guide to staying alive while playing the game]

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!

[Detective's Lethal Revolver]

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.

[Traitor item stereotypes job specific.]

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.

[Admin complaint by: Trubus Against: Norwest]

Yeah, I'm glad everyone got the chance to chat in dchat during the round, as I think that sorted out of a lot of frustrations. If you've no objections, I'll close this out.

[Admin complaint by: Trubus Against: Norwest]

There are two elements to this, and I'll deal with both in turn. The first, regarding peeing, is an honest technical issue; the particular /me about "Captain Ian is angry he's not the Captain, so he pees!" didn't show up in my logs when I checked the body. I assumed you were making it up, so I levied that as part of the tempban. You then PMed me on Discord with the following message:

"Hi Norwest, I only want to clear the peeing comment. I only said that because the blueshield at the time killed Ian for literally pissing on the captain. That is all I want to pass on.
[12:31 PM]
And I was only arguing with the rep because they allowed the blueshield to kill a station pet. I'm sorry for my action otherwise."

I then checked with the Blueshield, and confirmed his logs included that particular comment. I then responded to you with the following:

"I didn't see any logs of Ian emoting peeing, which is why I placed the tempban. However, the Blueshield confirmed that Ian stated "peeing" among other various problematic emotes ("KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM KILL HIM,") etc. Looks like some sort of bug, so I'm willing to lift the tempban for that. Do please treat other players more respectfully in the future, however; you were definitely going a bit overboard in your treatment of Command members there."
[12:40 PM]

(I should note that this occurred slightly prior to this admin complaint being submitted, for the record)

Based on that, yes, I would agree that the "peeing" reference was an honest error based on some logs not going through. I believe that's adequately resolved.

 

Now, as for your behavior towards other players, I'll quote the following:

[2022-06-06T19:13:12] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (114,140,2):  'You killed a station pet over peeing'
[2022-06-06T19:14:12] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,141,2):  'It's called SR you tool'
[2022-06-06T19:14:22] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2):  'Don't be fucking stupid.'
[2022-06-06T19:14:51] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2):  'You're a trash of a representative.'
[2022-06-06T19:15:03] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2):  'I require you to fax Central and explained what happen.'
[2022-06-06T19:16:15] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2): (headset) 'The NanoTrasen Representative is allowing anyone to kill station pets on station as it's not damages to station property because they can be revived. Go ham, crew.'
[2022-06-06T19:18:25] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2): (headset) 'I've seen what happen, I don't need command coms to see a blueshield murdering Ian for pissing on the floor.'
[2022-06-06T19:18:42] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2): (headset) 'You are not fit to be a representative as that blueshield is not fit to be a blueshield.'
[2022-06-06T19:20:00] SAY: Trubus/(Wolf O'Donnell) (115,140,2): (headset) 'As it shows, you have no evidence to back up your case. You are trash.'

Somewhere along the line there, you crossed into a Rule 0 violation ("Don't be a dick"), since verbal abuse towards other players reached the point of keeping them from enjoying the game. The NT Rep, who was originally willing to take on the acting Captain role (i.e. to get more involved in the round), quit and cryo'd shortly after this interaction with you, and some later dchat commentary suggested that you were a major contributor to him leaving the round early. That's a real problem.

Additionally, the NTR was right that you were missing some important details. You've rejoined the round and so I know you're getting the inside story courtesy of people in dchat now, but Ian's player was outright breaking the rules in their emotes (""Ian is FUMING as the new captain is a woman, so he pees AGAIN," along with various other stuff mentioned above). They were about to get bwoinked, and I don't think that the Blueshield smacking Ian was much of an issue given the provocations the player was providing. All in all, that was - and will be - left at a verbal warning.

[AEG Rework Suggestion]

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.

[Misjudment of ERT Response early on in Cult Round.]

As warning was given early (" DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (174,107,2): As a note, can you submit admin complaints about a round still taking place?" - "Complaint submitted" in Discord; link https://discordapp.com/channels/145533722026967040/565872046312259594/866812293979439104), I'll be responding early to this one. Boidca's progression in-game is as follows:

1. He was one of the starting cultists, and was caught early on. I should note, for the record, that he was caught by a regular Seccie rather than by the ERT: "[2021-07-19T21:24:58] ATTACK: Mitchs98/(Goobina)(129,146,2) against Boidca/(Jadon Carter)(ANTAG)(130,146,2): Shot with a /obj/item/projectile/beam/disabler" He ended up having a bit of a Freudian slip shortly afterwards ("[2021-07-19T21:24:58] SAY: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (130,146,2):  'We fucked that up'"), and cryo'd immediately after deconversion. Note: the ERT was not active on-station at this time.

2. Boidca was a tad salty in dchat, to a degree I think is worth mentioning:

 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (118,154,2): Who the fuck
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (118,154,2): Do I need to salt at
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (118,154,2): For sending paranormal ert
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (118,154,2): for FOUR CULTISTS 20 MINS IN
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (118,148,2): Who the fuck thought that was a grand idea?
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (114,110,2): What in the flying fuck justified looking at the ammound of cultists, and sending two paranormal ert with instant deconverts?
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (112,139,2): What an utter shitshow.
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (120,141,2): Fucking bullll shit
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (113,140,2): Literally why
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (113,139,2): I cyro'd out of rage, because how can a cultist expect two paranormal ert to rock up 30 mins in?
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (113,141,2): It's quite bullshit.
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (182,117,2): And you just... fucking randomly add more cult??
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (178,117,2): Jesus christ
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (180,116,2): That's fine, but making more cult is just admitting the fuckup
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (155,128,2): Which it is.
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (113,140,2): I'm ticked off
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (113,140,2): I've said my bit, utter cock up and very unfun.
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (113,140,2): Admins decided a grand total of 5 cultists 25 mins in needed 2 paranormal ert
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (70,104,2): It's as if the original 5 cultists were told to do one and all these new guys get to play the round
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (71,104,2): But like you said, too much salt- log off.
 DEADCHAT: Boidca/(Jadon Carter) (174,107,2): As a note, can you submit admin complaints about a round still taking place?
 

There's more, but I figure that's enough already. I should note for future reference that no action was taken against Boidca for the above statements; there are no PMs between us during this time period or immediately afterwards, whether in-game or via Discord. My own in-game responses to the above were as follows:

[2021-07-19T21:22:28] DEADCHAT: Norwest/(Joseph Baker) (158,46,2): Well, the ERT request included both the cult and the engineering mess, and frankly, having 'battle chaplains' /does/ get players into the round quicker, by removing the amount of people stuck waiting around in Processing for holy water.
[2021-07-19T21:36:09] DEADCHAT: Norwest/(Master Sergeant Hawking) (113,94,2): OK. You're welcome to log off anytime, then." [[in response to the "too much salt- log off" comment.]]

 

 

 

The Paranormal ERT were included in the call since several cultists were in Processing being stuffed full of holy water. My reasoning was repeatedly stated in deadchat (see above, along with this comment made after S34N had started to apologize for the ERT call: [2021-07-19T21:38:57] DEADCHAT: Norwest/(Master Sergeant Hawking) (113,92,2): It's not their [[other admins']] mistake, either. I added the paranormal ERT to the mix; there's no need for any other 'mins to take the heat for it. I've heard /constant/ dchat salt about how ERTs are "too slow, too late, never enough" - so yeah, when I got an ERT request for an active cult /and/ a busted engine, I added two paranormal ERT to the mix. Their job was to grab rosary beads, and keep cultists from being stuck in Processing forever.").

Regarding the veracity of the complaint itself, I will stand by my initial reasoning: "[2021-07-19T21:39:43] DEADCHAT: Norwest/(Master Sergeant Hawking) (113,92,2): I don't strongly regret it, either. The cult was not sunk by the ERT; that's just after-the-fact whining." "[2021-07-19T21:41:31] DEADCHAT: Norwest/(Master Sergeant Hawking) (97,92,2): I'd have added the extra cultists anyway, because you guys were turning into cultstended." I added two Paranormal ERT members to ensure that at least one would focus on deconversions, and end up accomplishing the reason they were summoned. I added four more cultists at the same time, yes, but that's because the initial ones were all caught and being deconverted without the ERT's help. It was effectively a second chance for a cult that was dying out; the ERT was to help smooth the process over, so that win or lose, there wouldn't be an un-fun pileup in the Brig of brain-damaged cultists hoping that the Warden would be on the ball enough to notice when they were deconverted. As the cult ended up winning the round through a successful summons, I do not believe that the two Paranormal ERT members were extremely crippling to their efforts.

 

Regarding others' opinions on the complaint, I'll quote the relevant post-round Discord talking:

-S34N: Sec caught both of you without any help from the ERT, hell you'd bolted that officer in and they still got both of you

-S34N: Yes, the paranormal ERT was a mistake IMO, but it ended up having a negligible impact on the round.

-BubbleGrug: Yes the ERT wasnt necessary. But, it didnt matter

-Boidca: Because it's a misjudgement of the effective strength of the cult.

There's more, but it largely follows the same pattern of discussion.

 

 

I'll ping @necaladun for his final judgment on the subject, but frankly, I don't believe that the ERT are the root cause of this complaint. I certainly could have communicated my reasoning more clearly, such as specifying to the Paranormal ERT that I wanted them focusing on deconversion in the Brig itself, but I don't believe any of this is an issue so objectively terrible that it needed its own thread. Boidca, I believe the real issue is your own internal coping mechanisms for handling anger. I think the fundamental problem here is that you're angry you 'lost' so early into the round, and are using the ERT as a useful tool to redirect that anger outwards.

I would recommend you re-consider your own anger coping mechanisms, including replacing this sort of harmful redirection with harmless restructuring (such as 'burning off' anger through exercise or playing a singleplayer game, rather than directing it at other humans). Other alternatives include the use of humor, personal cognitive restructuring ("talking it out in your own head," basically), trying for more helpful communication early-on rather than the sort of "Who the fuck do I need to salt at" statements made above, and so on. If you wish to submit constructive criticism regarding how you'd like the situation to be handled and/or communicated to the crew in the future, I'm willing to listen. However, I would ask that you first take some time - a day or two, let's say - and wait until that initial surge of emotion has burned itself off before replying.

[Screenshot thread!]

On 3/31/2021 at 12:41 PM, Anteci said:

Was Captain after been away a while, we had abductors, and i was glad to see abductors doing a gimmick. We tried to talk, but overzealous security got in the way, can't blame them really.

Despite Security doing their best to kill them, they still wanted to help, after station was wrecked by loose singulo, and meteors. 11/10 love to see such RP, and gimmicks.

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

[Shadowlings post mindshield thralling nerf]

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.

[Spawn proper paperwork for job's that could make use of it]

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.

[Add new job: Orderly]

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.

[Change "Assasinate X" objectives to "Send a message to X"]

I like the idea of this, and wouldn't mind manually updating objectives if someone ahelped asking for it in-game. Problem is, it's a lot easier to track "dead" than "legless," or any of the similar suggestions. The closest we can get is "marooned," which is fairly easy to record (target not present on escape shuttle/pod at end of round), ditto for "dead" one way or another. To give an example, let's consider how you'd record if someone is legless at the end of the round:

-The first obvious approach is to log whether or not the target mob still possesses "/obj/item/organ/external/arm" and "/obj/item/organ/external/arm/right" at the end of round. Problem is, what happens if they get prosthetics? Those are logged separately, ditto for if arms&legs are augmented as opposed to simply robotic replacements.

-This also glosses over species complications, as different species have different limbs. IPCs have an entirely separate listing, and different race's limbs are coded slightly differently. Organics and cyborgs can be screened out from this particular objective, or issued a separate one (EMP target AI at least once, perhaps), but the coding complications start to build up once you add in new species into the mix.

-This also doesn't account for BS cases like slimeperson limb regeneration, or IPC rapid limb re-attachment. Do we require that the original limb (as marked by its in-game unique ID) be re-attached, or will the target regenerating a new limb fix it?

 

Basically, while I can appreciate not wanting to assassinate people, what you're proposing is a lot more complicated than you might imagine. There's a lot of behind-the-scenes coding which'd be needed for even one of these objectives, let alone the whole list of 'em. I'm not saying this is a complete block, and I wouldn't mind manually replacing objectives with a similar "send a message" sorts of ones, but I'm unsure if it could be easily and effectively automated.

[New role: Constable]

On 6/18/2020 at 12:56 PM, McRamon said:

Well this was suggested many times before, in a form of security cadet for example. I dont remember reasons it was rejected though.

I myself support the idea, but i want to give my corrections:

Preferably new uniform, right now you suggest constables to wear the exact uniform i wear as security officer. Probably could be good idea to make them more blueish in terms of gear color, easier distinguishable from regular sec.

Secondly, i would remove court room (aka useless room) and make a constable prep room there. Ideally i would also give them their unique comms channel (hos/magi would have access to it,maybe iaa too), but thats unlikely to happen. 

No sec huds for constable, just regular sunglasses maybe, sec huds would encourage them to hunt criminals, which, if i understood it correctly, not their job. For me, its more like a universal bouncer/peacekeeper job, person who can solve issues at hop desk line, in bar, or in medbay. Sitting on camera and helping in processing is also good addition to their duties.

 

Overall, that role should be encouraged OOCly by staff to be taken by newer players, but also could be a good opportunity for older players to have nice peaceful security RP moments.

 

For gear, i recommend:

Constable uniform (Or gray Sec uniform, but new one is better), constable armor/jacket, constable cap, cuffs, pepper, flash, seclite.

But here is the problem. 90% of security officer job is using baton and taser, and constables will learn nothing about them. Not only that, without at least baton, avarage greytider will outrobust constable with simple prison trick. How to solve it, i am not sure. Maybe give constables special protected batons that a bound to their dna? I dunno

 

I've seen it suggested before as well, and I've no issue with making "Security Cadet" an alternate title for the Constable as you suggest. Ultimately, though, I think it's best to bundle multiple potential roles in one rather than specializing everything, and the position has enough leeway to be both 'low-speed security' and 'baldie with a baton' at the same time. To address your other points in turn:

-Uniforms: You've got a good point regarding the importance of uniforms, but doing so requires additional coding and prep work. While I agree that Constable-specific uniforms would be handy, I'd rather see the role implemented first, with additional uniforms and role-specific gear added later. This also has the advantage of adding new uniforms and kit after there's been proper playtesting with the community as a whole, too.

-Unique room/channel: No arguments there either, and certainly adding a separate Constable-specific radio channel would make them a less desirable target for antags looking to get Sec comms. That being said, it runs into the same fundamental problem: more work, more coding, and more things to argue about. I'd rather have an imperfect role in-game than no role.

-SecHUDs: Ultimately, I don't think you can do the Security role without the HUD. You need in-the-field access to Sec records, the ability to recognize someone on the fly, and so on; while I'd certainly like to make the Constable's HUD a read-only one, that would again require more coding to implement. The simplest compromise I can think of would be a regular SecHUD for Constables, as that'd differentiate them from regular Sec Officers while still providing them the basic necessities to perform their duties.

-Violence: Agreed that pepperspray and a flash won't stop a smart baldie. That being said, it /will/ stop a dumb one, and most of our 'tiders aren't of the brainy variety. Additionally, it'll teach them how to use other gear in their repertoire that isn't just the Almighty Stunbaton and taser. I've no issue with, say, a limited-ammo disabler for Constables that uses a mindshield lock (i.e. only functions when the person holding it has a mindshield), but I've heard from above that mindshield locks are verboten, so I'd prefer instead to focus on something achievable. Good point re the seclite, though, and I'll make sure to add that above.

[New role: Constable]

Tl;dr version: Currently, Seccies have to juggle low-speed stuff like "teach a baldie how to not hit himself" and "toss the Clown out of Medbay again" alongside high-speed stuff like "harmbaton a vampire" and "cremate changelings." These two roles don't gel very well, so let's split them into two complementary positions.

 

Introduction: As a job, the Security Officer is easily one of the most thankless ones. There is no learner position, no easy way to get into the job, and lethal consequences when you make a mistake. You're thrown into the deep end right from roundstart and expected to swim, and it's no surprise that few people do. Even for those who figure out how2redshirt, the role remains an extremely demanding one at all times; "quiet Sec round" is a contradiction in terms.

This also makes the game much more stressful than it needs to be for everyone involved. For Seccies, it means calls of "FUCKIN SHITSEC GO HOME" at the same time they're getting calls of "HALP VAMP SCI MAINT," which tends to leave the redshirt in question burned out and uncaring. I've heard this phenomenon discussed in real-life law enforcement, where it's referred to as "paradoxical policing:" law enforcement is derided for their misbehavior over minor crimes like noise complaints at the very same time they're being called out for not doing enough to stop major crimes. For the crew, it makes calling Security a dubious proposition, as you aren't liable to get a rapid response and might well get complete shitcurity if you do.

Another major issue is of gaining experience and learning the role: as there isn't any new place to learn how2redshirt, new Sec Officers are left trying to figure things out on the go. This is a problem with other roles as well, but a lesser one since other jobs are ultimately trying to help. A Medical Doctor or Roboticist might get some LOOC salt if they're taking a while in fixing someone, but that's a much more rare thing since they're ultimately still trying to assist the person. A Sec Officer is virtually guaranteed to get insulted, especially if they appear new, because much of their role is messing with other players' fun. Even taking too long to strip someone in Processing will get people complaining on comms, let alone if the other player manages to unbuckle themselves. Given that sort of problematic learning environment, some sort of intervention to help newbies would be very useful.

One of the solutions used IRL is something I think we could adopt here, which is splitting the people handling major crimes apart from the people handling minor ones. As of now, Sec Officers are a single murderblob tasked with handling both "halp baldie beating me" and "HALP LING ABSORBING ME MAINT," which tends to leave them responding with either too much force to the first incident or too little for the other. It also leaves a more "low-speed" Security role for both baldies trying to learn the game and more experienced players looking for an easier round, and provides a much more tangible sense of little-s security to the crew (since a Constable will likely respond when you call, as opposed to the Sec Officer busy battling antags in Sci Maint).

 

 

New position: Constable

Scope: Limited.

New code needed: Minimal. The key requirements are adding the new job with its starting text, equipment, and access.

Starting text: "You are the Constable. Your job is to assist other crew and safeguard the station."

Access: Brig, Holding Cells, Maintenance (similar to the Detective, does not have 'Security' access at roundstart).

Starting location: Sec Briefing Room.

Starting numbers: 4 (can be changed by HoP). No whitelist, fewer hours requirements than the Sec Officer (meant to serve as the intro to the Sec Officer role).

Equipment: Security jacket, handcuffs, flash, pepperspray, energy bola, standard SecHUD, belt with seclite, non-bowman Security headset. Starts with a grey Sec uniform and a black Corporate ballcap (all Sec headgear has the same stats as the Helmet). Has mindshield.

The uniform, esp. the jacket, ballcap and SecHUD, would provide Constables with a clearly different 'look' than regular Sec Officers while still providing protection. The regular SecHUD and non-bowman headset would provide a meaningful in-game difference between Constables and Sec Officers (in that Constables can still be taken down by flashes and flashbangs), while allowing for easy correction by more experienced players (modding their SecHUDs with regular sunglasses to get flash protection, and wheedling a bowman headset out of the many spares in the Sec Gear Room).

Lacking a taser and stunbaton would force Constables to both play more conservatively and leave very dangerous antags to the Sec Officers, and also make them use the other bits of the Security repertoire. Flashes, pepperspray, recruiting bystanders, and the old expedient of "just set them to arrest and let Beepsky handle it" are all viable options when you aren't expected to take down a fully-powered vampire.

 

 

FAQs:

1. The Constable has less gear and access than the Sec Officer. Why do you think anyone would play the role?

I'm suggesting the role because I would like to play it: more specifically, I would like a Security job that actually lets me be Officer Friendly instead of 24/7 ASS TO THE GRASS BALLS TO THE WALL HARMBATON IN FREEFALL YEEHAW. I'd like a job where I get to laugh when the Clown slips me, instead of going "Damnit, that vamp's gonna get away!" when I fall over. Some rounds I want to pound face into plating with a cut-off riot shotgun, and some rounds I'd like to gently shoo the Clown out of Cargo without having to murder anyone in the process.

 

2. The Constable lacks a ranged stun, and can't easily catch someone if they decide to run. How do you expect them to stop anyone?

I'm planning on them being able to stop a baldie on the run with an energy bola; if in-game practice shows that Constables truly do need some form of ranged stun, I'd suggest a disabler (harder for newbies to screw up with disabler shots than a taser, still plenty effective, already in code, differentiates them from Sec Officers, etc). However, I'd like to keep the role based around the non-combat portions of the Security role, and "set the baldie to arrest and have him picked up by other redshirts" seems very appropriate for the position.

 

3. The Constable is a role meant for newbies, but still has useful gear. What's stopping people from just murdering Constables for their stuff?

Circumstances, co-workers, and conscience. Constables aren't meant to be running deep into Maintenance areas, and should be leaving the high-level threats for other Seccies. While I'm sure some baldies will merely take the role as a stepping-stone to being a bonafide redshirt and will go haring down into Med-Sci Maint, they're knowingly putting themselves at risk in the first place. The ones who stick to public areas will be kept much more safe by their circumstances.

Secondly, the Constable role is meant to be much more community-oriented than the Sec Officer one. While Sec Officers are meant to carry out a high-level conflict with antags, Constables are supposed to be Officer Friendly, who gets close and familiar with the rest of the crew. This should provide them with some protection in practice, as the crew they've befriended will doubtlessly help them much more than an unfamiliar face in a Sec uniform.

Thirdly, Constables are meant to be a beginner's role. While murdering a Constable will certainly be doable, their gear is differentiated from standard Sec Officer kit, and should mark you out as someone who killed an 'Officer Friendly' on the station. Lacking flash/hearing protection, flashbangs and Armory weapons, and a taser/stunbaton, Constables are also a much less appealing target than an actual Sec Officer.

None of this is ironclad protection, but then again, it really shouldn't be. Taking on any Sec role is accepting your position in the round as valid-salad, and you might just get axed anyway - them's the digs. However, if you play the role as intended as a Nice Guy(tm) who sticks to public areas and makes an effort to actually help out crewmates, you'll be fairly well-protected from the inevitable game of murderbone throughout the round.

 

4. What else can the Constable do aside from 'Being Officer Friendly?'

A) Dispatching: Watch comms and cams, keep a handheld crew monitor with you, and monitor other Seccies for their own safety. Call out when someone's in trouble, pinpoint a hostile's location, and ensure that calls for help are being properly responded to.

B) Desk-jockeying: Man the Brig front desk, staff Processing, and watch over the holding cells. Assist the Warden with moving prisoners, question 'tiders and antags, and help keep Sec records updated. Work as a bailiff in the event a court case is called.

C) Training: Work with other Constables - or baldie Sec Officers - to get them oriented in how to safely handle a cuffed person, dangerous gear to confiscate, the ins and outs of Space Law, and so on.

Other roles such as the Warden, IAA, or regular Sec Officers can do these jobs, but they all suffer from either overwork (Warden, Sec Officer) or severe understaffing (IAA). A Constable looking for something to do should be able to slot in to camera duty or training fellow Constables with minimal difficulty, and with a positive benefit to the round as a whole.

 

5. What else would you like to see implemented with the Constable role?

Departmental checkpoints. While it's not required for the role to function, I would definitely like to see Constables having basic 3x3 places to work across the station. I know that this question has been hotly debated before, so I'm not going to try and scratch off everything on my redshirt wishlist, but if possible I'd definitely like to see Constables having places to update records, get replacement gear (flashes, cuffs, etc.), and watch cameras.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read this suggestion. If you've comments, ideas, or thoughts on how to improve it, I'm all ears.

[The Worst Enemy]

There's nothing clean about dying out in the Black.
The lucky ones have proper suits; they're protected from the elements, or at least 'till I get involved. The unlucky ones get to feel their blood seep out through their skin, gasping at air which won't ever come, feeling their eyeballs boil out from their skulls. Killing out here is an ugly business.

And best of all, I'm up against the worst sort of enemies. "Prep to breach," I mutter into my headset.

His name was Edward. Brown hair going to grey, bit of a paunch, loved to go on about his synthsteaks and the pets he trained. Nice fellow. I pulse the jets and float aside as Edward charges towards me, teeth bared in a killer's grin and staring at me with the wild eyes of a fanatic. I yank the heavy shotgun onto target, but my co-worker-turned-cultist doesn't flinch even as the twinkling laser sight settles onto his visor. I pull the trigger, feeling the dull vibration and heavy kick as the oxygenated powder sparks and fires. Edward's face disappears, his visor shattering into a crystal cloud that reflects the distant sunlight. His body begins to slowly float away, drifting end over end from the push I'd just applied, as I swerve to find my next target.

Nguyen is my next victim. She's not dressed for the party; rather than wearing a heavy space suit, she's clad only in her engineering jumpsuit and regular work clothes. If she feels fear at the certainty of dying out here in the Black, I can't see any in the wild howl distorting her face. Her eyes have doubtlessly already ruptured, exploding outwards from the inexorable pull of vacuum, but all I can see is the occasional chunk of flesh and blood leaking past the eldritch-glowing blindfold over her eyes. She's fast, unencumbered by gear or doubt, and she's on me in a flash. I swing the butt of the shotgun around, slowly pushing her off my chest, and another pulse of the jets gets me the distance I need. Another dull vibration and distant kick, and Nguyen is left flailing. Her hands wave desperately, grasping for something in the void, and my stim-fueled mind can't help but remember her animatedly waving her arms in the cafeteria. She was always a bright spark of enthusiasm, full of interest in the sort of wiring jobs and grav-engine work that'd make my eyes glaze over, and I wonder how much of that old enthusiasm she'd brought to her new profession. I blink the thought away, sight the weapon on center-of-mass, and pull the trigger twice. The second shot goes wide, severing her left hand, and the limb is sent spinning away with the fingers left in a rough "OK" sign.

There's a sudden thump, arcing pain, and the hiss of escaping air. I glance rightwards to see a snarling alien face staring me visor-to-visor. Plopbop-something, they were called; they grew odd plants and spent most of their time in the pool ("I've got a stereotype to live up to, after all" they'd burble). They smile as my blood coats the visor, tongue arcing out from between their teeth, and yank again on the wickedly-curved knife sticking out of my thigh. My armoured suit resists the blade, but the weapon glows and the metal of my suit bubbles under the stress.

It's too close for the long-barreled shotgun. I go for my backup weapon, stick it into Plopbop's gorget, whisper something (what did I try to say? what could I possibly say?), and pull the trigger. A spray of blueish blood, another bulky figure sent spinning, as I rack the slide and fire again. Have to ensure the kill, after all. Plopbop's stereotypes and dreams of omega-weed vanish in a spray of buckshot piercing their chest.

Security Officer Jones was always a bit of a shit, and I can't say I ever really got along with him. He was that classic American: too loud, too opinionated, too sure of himself and the world. He loved these sorts of breaches, loved taking lead with the riot shield and stunbaton. He was held up by a hacked airlock, and the cultists got too close ("I just haveta get close, and it's all over" he'd bragged in the briefing). His telemetry is...his telemetry is...his telemetry is...

I shake my head to clear it, refocusing on the task at hand. Jones and Dasinovich are both down, probably for good. I yank at my combat webbing for a little metal cylinder, reflexively pulling the pin as I stretch out my arm. One flashbang, two 'bangers, and a little tear-gas surprise arc inside the cultists' breached base, one getting blown backwards into the dusk by an errant gust of escaping atmosphere.

THOOM

The explosions rattle me even in the vacuum, the shockwaves propagating over the distance. My fri- co-worke- the cultists have homicidal fanaticism, but it's still tied to human senses, and without protection the powerful explosions of light and sound horribly disorient them. The remaining cultists inside the base drift apart, mewling in pain, and I move in for the kill.

The first threat inside is a stranger; some new arrival I haven't yet learned to know, thank Christ. The buckshot makes quick work of him, two racks of the slide ensuring the kill, as I draw my laser sidearm and sight on the next target. She was the Chef; I can still see the glint of knife-metal at her waist as I cave in her skull. The Security 'borg makes short work of the last, blood painting its metal chassis as its stunbaton slams relentlessly through spacesuit and cultist armour.

They were living beings, full of hopes and dreams and aspirations. They had fears, hatreds, good and bad sides both. They were friends, and there's no worse enemy than a friend. I put those living, breathing hopes and dreams to rest with gas and gun, bullets and jetpack and better preparation for fighting out in the Black.

Officers Jones and Dasinovich get priority, so my former friends' bodies continue to cool as I handle my fellow redshirts. I do my best to make the sight less obscene, closing eyes and mouths and covering what I can of the drifting gore. It's hours longer to track down all the bodies, my spacepod's scanners tracking the faint infrared returns as my former co-workers' bodies return to absolute zero.

Some days I hate my job.

 

-Security Pod Pilot David MacTavish

[Syndicate X Nar'Sie: Cultist-Traitor Hybrid Event]

Interesting. Unfortunately, code-wise there's a bit of an issue: cult only really works with the cult gamemode activated, which then creates four roundstart cultists and the usual Nar'Sie objectives. It'll take some testing to see if basic cult features (runes/talismans, conversions, etc.) would still function outside of that.

[An open letter to Security & an apology.]

I should preface this by saying the issue of confinement and suicide watch is a pretty relevant one for me personally, as I handle a lot of it in my line of work. From the information you've presented, I would assume the following:

1) The officer's behavior sounds normal for a real-life job, but somewhat problematic for a vidya gaem with after-death options available. I don't know if they were simply playing up the "overly professional redshirt" role a bit much or were just trying to fuck with you, but if I was in that position I'd have gotten your+Command's permission for an execution and offed ya. You're a Syndie who's locked up, all your toys taken away, and your antagging is effectively over and done. For the sake of good sportsmanship, it'd be nice to carry out a formal execution and send you off to dchat if you're asking for it.

2) In the future, if you're effectively stuck like that, you can always pray or ahelp asking to get smited. We usually aren't too restrained when someone literally asks to get blown up, so it's another way out of a jam like that.

3) I don't think you should hold yourself at fault for playing a game while in a bad state of mind. Yes, you were more of a shit than you would've been otherwise, but at the end of the day this is just a game, and it's meant to be played to relax. Yes, you were a shitbird to Sec, but speaking as a longtime redshirt myself, that's situation normal for anyone taking up the stunbaton. I /am/ quite impressed, however, with your willingness to admit fault and move forward, and I hope you cultivate that self-introspection for the future. The ability to take an honest, critical look at yourself without descending into self-flagellation is a very important skill.

I'm impressed you were willing to give a public apology, and I think it'd be best in situations like these to forgive and forget. The Officer could've been more understanding of your position, and you of his, but mistakes happen anywhere and it's important to not get held up too much on them. It sounds like you learned something useful about yourself as a result of this round, so I'd chalk that up in the "win" column and move forward thinking of it as a constructive experience rather than a personal failure.

[A Time To...]

"There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance..."

-Ecclesiastes 3:1-4

 

I knew things had gotten bad when the nuke started talking to me.

"Hey, MacTavish," the Nuclear Fission Explosive grunted cheerfully, waggling its tail fins in greeting. "Feelin' a little under the weather there, are ya?"

"Feck off," I wheezed back, suppressing a scream as the styptic powder covered my wounds. "I'll live."

"Yeah, yeah, for now," the nuclear weapon replied, rocking on its chassis in response. "But y'do seem to be outta options here, Tavish. You're a Head'a Security without any Security to call on, an acting-Captain without a station to command, and you've got a nuke without any codes to make it work. Kinda missing some important parts there, eh?"

"Ain't dead y-" I tried to say with false bravado, interrupted by a sudden gasp of pain as the acidic xenos blood reached something important. Fumbling for my makeshift medkit, I popped the top from a blank pill bottle and swallowed a handful of pills, choking them down a dry throat rubbed raw from exertion. "Still. Feckin'. 'Ere."

"You're choking down random pills in the hopes that one of 'em will make ya right again, buddy ol' buddy ol' pal," the nuke chirped, seemingly oblivious to my tears of pain. "And it's only a matter'a time before those aliens come back an' finish ya off, Mac..."

As if to underscore my hallucination's imagined words, my eyes twitched towards the eastern end of the Bridge and a sudden shift inside the darkness there. I'd triggered the Bridge lockdown, so heavy blast doors kept the xenos from simply overrunning me, but the craftier alien bastards had taken to tunnelling through the walls. One xenos had nearly gotten me that way, and I was still flushing its "parting regards" out of a gaping wound in my left shoulder. I snarled to myself, hefting my riot shield and slapping myself upside the head, cursing my fading vision. "It's nothin'. Clear."

I turned back to my imaginary friend, smacking it with the butt of my shotgun. Three tons of carefully-machined explosive lenses sat on its own custom-made trolley, surrounding a hyperdense core of refined plutonium-239. "Stop lyin' tae me," I told the nuclear weapon.

"I'm only animated by a figment of your imagination, buddy," the bomb responded merrily. "If I'm lying to you, it's only because your fragmented consciousness can't suss out up from down at this point. But seriously, MacTavish, pull up a chair and have a seat, because we really need to have a talk about your future."

The laugh spilled out, surprising us both, but a few more chuckles followed it, until I'd almost collapsed to the deck howling. I laughed louder than the hooting evacuation alarms, cackling until the tears streamed down my dirt-streaked face. This was it: a nuclear bomb was lecturing me about "future planning." I'd well and truly snapped.

"Hey, bud. Am I a joke to you?" I've no idea how a stationary, station-ending bomb could appear affronted, yet from from my angle the weapon's rear fins almost seemed like arms perched on hips. "I'm tellin' you, ya gotta get with the future here."

"Sure. Right." I slowly picked myself up off the floor, tucking my combat shotgun under one arm and cranking my riot shield to full extension. A moment of mental effort activated my anti-drop implant, and my hands clenched around my weapons with a literal deathgrip. "Future. Sure. Talk."

The bomb let out a long, winding sigh as I slowly hobbled to the center of the Bridge, supporting myself on the towering riot shield. "I've gotta give ya some credit, you've lasted longer than damn near anyone on this station. Might be the last one left, even. Still, between the sickness and the face-eatin' aliens, your odds of livin' through this are..."

"Non-existant. Already bloody aware," I hiss, glancing through security camera feeds. They only showed me more of the same depressing images as before: mutilated bodies, showers of gore, broken machines, and too few dead xenos piled among the carnage. "Either I get eaten by xenos face-fuckers, or I explode from CentComm's little live-fire testing. 'Tis bloody nothin' tae live for, either way - what's the feckin' point?"

"Nah, bud, that's the point!" the nuke chirps. "Most folks, they don't get to choose when and how they're gonna die - a shuttle accident out'a the blue, sudden solar flare, the works. And really, a shuttle accident's kinda a shitty way to go, ainnit?"

I shrug, both literally and figuratively numb as the painkillers kicked in.

"But not you, MacTavish. You sent your survivors away, and then you held here. Coulda run - shoulda run, really - but you decided to hold out here. And I gotta give you some credit, you've made these bugs bleed for me. This is enough blood an' guts spilled to make me feel downright appreciated, I'll say that much." Its invisible eyes flicked around the dimly-lit room, and the corpses piled across it.

I'd locked down the station's bridge, with the nuclear weapon and authentication disk still inside. The room served as a long shooting gallery, and the nuke (and my own warm body) served as both lure and threat to the lethal xenos. They'd come from every angle, fore and aft, and I'd made them pay for each and every inch. I'd killed five of the bastards myself, and a few more had fallen to the "experimental bioweapon" which Central Command had deployed to wipe out the creatures. All good, except that the geniuses over there had deemed the station's nuke "too dirty" and had decided to use us as live-fire testing for their bioweapon instead. Turns out, their little toy crossed species.

"Aye," I coughed wetly, feeling blood pooling at the back of my throat. "Made a stupid choice-"

"A brave choice!" the bomb declares.

"-a feckin' boneheaded one," I shoot back, "an' now I'll bleed out an' die on this pisser of a station." I wince as something important in my belly heaves and burns, doing my best to suppress the tears. "How's that fer a feckin' future?"

"Well yes, you'll die here," the nuclear weapon replies airily, waggling its tailfins in response. "The question is how you want to die, and how ya want to be remembered. This is the stuff of holovids, MacTavish; 'a lone Security holdout dies snarling in the face of certain death!' You've got the makings of a legendary last stand here, pal."

I chuckle, wincing as the pain worsens. "An' I should give two figs about it...why?"

"Well, there's royalties-"

"I hate most of me family, an' NT will probably take the rights anyway." I sigh, drumming my fingers across my shotgun's trigger guard. "I only had meself tae live for, so who the feckin' hell would I die for?"

The attack, when it came, took mere seconds. One moment I was resting my weight forward on my towering riot shield, my combat shotgun pointed forward at the shadowed Captain's quarters, and the next I was facing down a half-ton of teeth, claws, and murderous attitude. A bulbous face scrabbled at my helmet, the 'tongue' inside it spitting acidic saliva against the hardened visor. Massive claws raked at my midsection, my shield and armoured trenchcoat only offering limited protection. I toppled backwards, my shield and gun still held in a vice grip...

Auto-senses dampened my hearing as the shotgun boomed, the alien raking at me arching backwards as the buckshot connected. Acidic blood sprayed down like rain, and I could feel my teeth gritting behind my visor as the sulfurous stuff dripped into every chink and weakpoint in my low-profile armour. I refocused my eyes, re-sighted my waving gun barrel on the chitinous mass above me, and pulled the trigger again. More light, more sound, more sprays of lethal acid. I pulled the trigger again and again, lost in a haze of pain and rage, until reason intruded to remind me about the meaning of the repetitive *click* *click* *click*

Mentally deactivating my anti-drop implant, I slowly rolled myself out from under the dead alien. "Oof." I let the dry shotgun drop with a clatter and slammed my riot shield on the deck, grasping it with both hands and weakly levering myself upright. "'Nother one down."

Metallic clapping noises interrupted my reverie. "Very good, HoS MacTavish! You might not have been able to keep your station secure, but you've at least kept me safe and sound," the nuclear bomb chirped happily. I grimaced at the ever-present reminder of my madness, wishing I'd been more careful earlier about labeling the pills I'd snuck from the Medbay. "Now, about your future..."

"Ain't got one," I interrupt brusquely, slowly hobbling over to the Captain's chair on the bridge and dropping into it with a sigh. I bring up the console screen, cursing under my breath as the message queue shows an empty list again. "I just wanted those bloody nuke codes-"

"Sooooo, you don't care about how you go, but you were willing to sacrifice yourself to destroy this entire station in nuclear fire?" the bomb queries. "Methinks thou dost protest too much, Officer."

"I..." For the first time in years, I'm at a loss for words. I busy myself cleaning a pitted wound around my neck, my hallucinations leaving me in blissful peace for a minute or two. I'm the one to break the silence: "Aye. Mayhaps there's nae any point to the 'verse; per'aps it's all just a sick feckin' joke."

"So why care?" the bomb presses, its jovial tone gone. "If there's no point to anything...why do something?"

I shrug, adjusting the makeshift armour plates across my back. "Gotta make 'em true. Even if there's nae any truth or justice out there, the only way there'll ever be any is if we choose t'make some."

"Live for something," the nuke whispers reverently. "And die for..."

"The crew," I respond, hefting my backup laser and feeling it thrum to life. "I'll save who I can, an' get justice fer the ones I couldn't." I shuffle across the deck, my steps lighter than they'd ever been before. "I'll show 'em that someone cares, that some other poor bastard on life's journey was willin' to give 'is all for strangers." I gently lean against the nuclear bomb, imagining that I could feel the annihilation contained inside. "Fer the colonies in distance from 'ere, fer the other poor bastards in spittin' distance from the bugs. I'll hold 'em here, contain the infection, let 'em live out their lives in peace."

"Now that," the nuke intones, "is a future worth bleeding and dying for." A light on the end of the bomb pulses, and my eyes follow it to see chitinous shapes massing again behind the burned-out door.

I nod, for once in agreement with my hallucination. "Aye." I square my shoulders, planting my shield and aiming my laser. "COME ON, YE BASTARDS!" I snarl. "COME AN' HAVE A GO IF YE THINK YE'RE HARD ENOUGH!"

-------------

After-action transcript, MSgt Kearney, Trans-Solar Federation Marine Corps:

"...our pinpointers led us to the station's nuke on the Bridge. We'd seen some carnage in the hallways, but this was somethin' else, man. One nuclear bomb, one dead human, and a fuckin' sea of dead xenos..."