[What is your characters Alignment?]

I don't understand alignments very well, and I'm too lazy to take a test for a character. So if you think there's an alignment that's a better fit for this description let me know:

Iro Marik: Lawful Evil, law abiding con artist pretty much. Often aims to work normally as Captain or HoP, but is more concerned with his wealth, status and safety than the lives of the crew. Practically a con artist, will trick anyone and everyone if there's a chance he'll get something good out of it. 

I was going to do the rest of my characters but I haven't thought up interesting personalities to them yet, they pretty much just do their jobs,

[anticipating antags, looting, gateway busting (meta-gaming/power-gaming discussion)]

On 11/24/2017 at 8:57 PM, Mitchs98 said:

Not in my opinion. Yes it'd be beneficial to antags, but not to the entirety of the player base. This would only encourage antags to murderbone more freely since crew would have little idea wtf was going on. In a ideal world where antags didn't murderbone often this would be a good idea to make the rounds more interesting, unfortunately quite a few of our common antag players murderbone and focus on greentext.

I'd honestly say antags on this server are exceptionally less murderboney most of the time. The one positive to greentext is that it makes it much easier to identify and punish murderboning I assume (Then again that sometimes that scares traitors from making grander plans, at least, I think)

[On Metastation]

6 minutes ago, CeasersLegion said:

i generally like the current station a lot more and am used to it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the point (or one of the points) of metastation is having another station to switch to that people aren't used to, to help with variety and make it harder to "meta". I think that's a great idea. 

as far as the actual station goes, I've only really had one round on it. It was an "everyone's a traitor kill the clown" round sadly so I couldn't really look around, but I've gotta say I'm a big fan of the HoP office on there. 

[anticipating antags, looting, gateway busting (meta-gaming/power-gaming discussion)]

1 hour ago, Keluandrie said:

it's literally just "good players who have boiled it down", instead of "playing with only winning in mind"

A good player in my book is one that makes the round interesting. Not one that just maximizes efficiency. There's no actual benefit to accomplishing your goals or being 100% efficient, if you're just experienced and you know a lot about the game, you feign ignorance so the round's more fun for you and others. A traitor that takes the optimum path to killing someone, gibbing their body, stealing whatever they need to steal, leaving no evidence then going silent for an hour and a half doing their job is not a good player. Experienced players should aim to do things in creative or at the very least fun ways. What I mean when I label people as playing with only winning in mind is they take actions either strictly to accomplish goals or maximize efficiency, not actually caring about the good of the round. You're expected to try and feign ignorance of certain things to make the round more exciting, and to make your character believable. Thing is about gateway is that you're not doing that at all. You're learning how to game a system that's pretty much entirely separate from the actual station just for loot that you're not actually supposed to have on your character, either so you can show off, or mess with the round when you get back by maybe validhunting some antags.

Sure you work for the loot, but there's no point. You have this whole system where people work together on a station and entirely separate to that, you go into a stargate (Which currently there is 0 IC reason for going to, you sign up to work on a station and then you ask the HoP if you can mess around in the gateway for the whole shift) and learn enough about it that you can basically game the system and come back on station with a ton of loot. Everyone else that does their job really isn't doing it for loot, a roboticist isn't rewarded with magboots for doing their job, and it's not really important if you are rewarded since you lose everything when the shift is over. Regardless, if you're just in the whole gateway scene for the satisfaction of getting the loot, ect. you're not as much powergaming, you're just kind of playing a different game entirely in my opinion.

The gateway complaints people raised regarding powergaming were the ones where people who just game the gateway for loot so they can have weaponry and equipment to help fight the antags. Even though:

1-It's not their job

2-They wouldn't know antags are coming

3-It's just boring for everyone and they just wanna be the main character of SS13 by validhunting antags. 

[anticipating antags, looting, gateway busting (meta-gaming/power-gaming discussion)]

29 minutes ago, Tayswift said:

So some players could definitely claim that every shift, their character survives assassinations, death squads, vampires, changelings, etc. Insert "I graduated top of my class in the ERT and I've had over 300 confirmed kills" meme here. My feeling is that this kind of snowflakey badass character just isn't that interesting.

I agree 100%, I like the idea that your character does go through the crazy shifts too, that's a lot of fun, but when you decide they're going to keep EVERYTHING they learn, and attribute your survival to your character's badassery you're going to have a boring character. Good ways to combat this is to give your characters clear flaws, both personality and skill wise. Make your captain a shitty shot, have them depend on others like a good captain. You can attribute your survival of the craziest events to the collective work of the crew, maybe you only got out of that assassination because security was observant, or changelings never got to you because you were a research director with a good blueshield. You've got to know which events you can attribute to your character, and which events are best either ignored or attributed to someone else. 

I also think you can EASILY limit your character's knowledge by going "they just don't care". If your captain has no idea how changelings actually function, that's perfectly fine because it's not really their job to care. You can single out the information you want to keep and say that you were debriefed on those specific parts, but you yourself have to stay responsible and go "If that's metagaming, I'm just not going to keep that piece of information throughout rounds, because my character forgot or just does not care"

The problem is people just want and aim for that badass "oooh... yeah, nuclear operatives... I survived those chumps" character, and not "I had to hide in a closet for an hour while security managed to get rid of them, I thought I was gonna die" character with their own strengths and weaknesses. The fact that it should lorewise be incredible that your character survived nukies can be mitigated by just giving the credit to the crew too. Even a security member that was actively involved in taking down changelings, they can and should go "Thankfully the rest of security was up to the task, we managed to contain the situation"

I feel like everyone SHOULD feign ignorance to some mechanics, especially ones your character would have no idea knowing if they weren't a traitor themselves. Just try to differentiate the knowledge you can keep for flavor purposes, and the knowledge that you're only keeping for meta purposes. Although I guess I'm basically going "don't metagame!"

[Creative Antag Plans]

I wasn't really sure where I wanted to put this, but I think it's more fitting in guides since I hope someone who's not sure what they want to do is going to read these and try to pull them off. So basically if you have some neat creative plans for antags that you don't mind sharing, leave them here. It's best if these plans focus less on maximum efficiency and chances of success and more on being a good antag. A good antag is not necessarily (I'd even argue outright rarely) a successful one. I think making the round more fun is a goal more important than your actual antag goals, so if you WANT to lead the round and make it fun or exciting feel free to try and pull off anything you see here, don't get your hopes up though. It's very likely someone is just going to toolbox you the second they see you acting suspicious, ruining everything. (By the way, it's a good idea to summarize your plan so that if someone's interested in the summary, they can read up on whatever you decide to write in detail)

So to start this off, here's something I was originally planning to post in another thread:

SciChem, Traitor, Corporate AI:

In this plan, you create, place, and control several bombs aboard the station. You take advantage of the AI to keep security off your back while you make demands from the safety of your stronghold. If the crew complies, they get to get rid of a bomb, if they don't, they lose a section of the station. It's very risky but makes for a very fun round if you can pull it off correctly (and if no one's a dick about it)

Spoiler

Please note that I don't actually have all that much game knowledge, if this is impossible for some reason please let me know and I'll edit it accordingly.

SciChem traitor, ask the AI what lawset it's on, if it's on corporate make a buuunch of bombs, make ones with spaced out times to go off, for instance (one that'll go off in 10 minutes, one that'll go off in 25, one that'll go off in 35, one that'll go off in 50) and a few that you can trigger remotely. Now set up to take over the station, try and find (or make) good hidden places to plant the bombs, find (or make) a good base of operations for when it's time to put your plan into motion (maybe even somewhere out in the open like the vacant office if you want it to be stylish). You can do so much from here, there's a lot of variety in how you want to set up, I feel like you could do this same thing several rounds, but setting up differently will make it a different round each time:

- Obviously you could gather tools, metal, glass, and a toolbox with tools are very useful. Especially if you plan to subvert the AI later.

-Bugging cameras is a good idea too, you could do a lot if you bug specific cameras. Since you're in control of a lot of the bombs, bugging the areas leading to your base of operations can make it so you can trigger some bombs if you see security heading to you without your permission. You can let the crew know about the bugged cameras to prevent security from trying it in the first place. There's plenty of tricks you can do with this, for instance, you can order all of security to stand somewhere in front of a bugged camera, warn them that if anyone leaves that area, or if anything happens to the camera, you'll trigger a bomb. That'll make it so that they don't just walk in while you're doing something important like receiving something you requested. You can also use bugged cameras to make people drop their weapons in front of said cameras before approaching your base.

-I have no idea if anyone uses it, but if you want to get the syndicate encryption key to team up with the other traitors that's a good idea. More manpower and servants will keep you safe, since you'll be in a position of authority if your plan works, you'll be able to demand whatever it is your fellow traitors want in exchange for their loyalty. You can also ask your newfound allies to help you set things up, you'll be able to get a lot more done that way since you are on a bit of a time limit.

-Set up your base of operations, fortifications, surgery table, anything you feel will benefit you.

-Make-shift weaponry will be great at the start in case some rogue member of security or a maint rambo comes after you while someone's delivering something you demanded, remember you DO NOT actually want to set off any bombs, you just want your demands met.

-There's so much you can do, I just don't know enough about the game and I'm sure someone more informed and creative can list some better ways to set up. My favorite part is that since there's not enough time to do everything, you're limited in what you can actually do. You want there to be enough time left in the shift for each bomb to go off, but there has to be enough time between each detonation for the crew to meet your demands.

-Getting a binary encryption key and spying on the AI and borgs is helpful for a strategy I will detail shortly.

Anyways once you're ready, plant and set the bombs, head to your base, announce what you've done to the crew. It's imperative that you make it clear to the AI that it pretty much HAS to work with you, taunt it with how if it doesn't comply with your demands, you WILL cause a lot of damage to the station. I recommend having set up a trigger bomb somewhere beforehand that won't cause a lot of damage or kill anyone, just blow it up after your announcement for the boom to show everyone you're not bluffing. Tell them about the timed bombs and the triggered bombs. You HAVE to make sure you tell the AI not to allow ANYONE to change it's laws, because that's what everyone who wants to ruin your fun will do immediately, tell it that you will ask it to state laws soon and that if it doesn't respond or if it's laws are changed you will trigger every single bomb and that it will kill several crew members as well. Now here's the thing, you're taking a huge risk with this. If the AI's a huge asshole they can just let someone change it's laws to paladin or whatever, then they'll go "hurr I'm no longer corporate so I don't have to care that I basically broke my laws to get this law change" and ruin everything, that's just a risk you'll have to take. I HOPE that AI players care enough about fun rounds that they're not going to shut you down immediately, if they do plan on stopping you it's best for the round if they don't do it the second you announce your plan. I'm not 100% sure how subverting the AI works, but if you can somehow subvert the AI before announcing your plan you can go ahead without worrying.

SO, now that you've done all this, hopefully the AI is preventing people from changing it's laws. You want the AI to beg command and everyone else to comply to your demands, you do NOT reveal the location of your base until you make your first demand. You also ask the AI to prevent security from finding out about your location or getting to you. Inform them that you are aware of when and where each bomb will explode, and that if they comply with all of your demands until say, 3-4 minutes before the bomb explodes you'll reveal it's location so security can get rid of it (Which is why you don't want bombs placed near you, except for maybe a bomb in your base as a last resort). The game has started, it's time to make your demands. What do you do now?

 

From here on out, it's best to go with the flow when making demands. Your first demands should be ones that will help you fortify, then make some demands about obtaining some valuable equipment like advanced magboots or whatever you're after. Sprinkle in some fun demands too, assert your dominance. If you don't want to make them up on the spot, here's some ideas:

-A hostage will help keep security from assaulting your stronghold, naturally you'd want to pick someone important. The captain? They'd be the prime target, BUT I actually advise against that. It's definitely the most efficient move, but if you're doing this you do not care about efficiency. If they're at all a good captain they're probably going to give a shit about the station blowing up, it's good to keep them there hoping they'd be a voice of reason, the captain being present will also keep the chain of command hopefully somewhat intact, I think that'll make the round more interesting honestly, you don't want a complete domination. So who do you kidnap? The HoP. At the time your plan starts, the HoP is probably very bored with little to do, they're an important person and high in the chain of command, but their absence doesn't completely disrupt it. The crew is also more likely to risk them than the captain. So how do you do it? Do you ask for a hostage? Nope. You ask for something else, which brings me to my next point.

-The captain's spare ID. This should be one of the first things you request, not only because it might be your target, but because it's going to get you your hostage. You don't ask security to deliver what you want, you ask someone important. You are going to request that the HoP brings you the ID, hopefully you'd have thought about how you were going to verify that whoever was coming in would leave their weapons beforehand (bugged cameras should do the trick). They think they're going to just leave it and go, you should hopefully have a way to disable them. Do that, tie them up with cables or something. If you mindslave them you won't really have to worry about them escaping and you'll have a plan B if you get killed, you can get them to clone you, but if you want to save the telecrystals you should probably consider demanding actual handcuffs soon, hopefully when you first knock them out you'll have stripped them of their ID and weapons so it won't be too hard to keep them captive. Be sure to thank the crew for handing you your hostage, that'll hopefully keep security from being assholes.

-A cyborg, yes a cyborg. I'd argue that it's possible to request this before the hostage, because the AI is more likely to comply than the crew if it let you get this far.If you know that there's a security cyborg present beforehand, request that the AI sends them to you. If you want, you can just PDA the AI itself instead of announcing this demand to the crew. You miiight want to flash it in case it wants to be the hero station doesn't deserve. You can easily get your hands on a flash from robotics, just make some sulfuric acid, say you're dropping it off, pick up a flash on your way out. They will not notice, if they do they won't care. If they call you out on it just ask if you can keep it, if they say no playfully go "aww" and leave it there and hope you can emag the cyborg before it gets you. So, you emag this cyborg, it's now your agent. I recommend informing crew and telling them not to fuck with it, because if they do you'll bomb them. I guess you could not tell them? But then they'll probably find out and fuck with it.

-Weapons, self explanatory. Ask for whatever weapons/armor you're comfortable with. It's best if you ask them to be delivered by your borg or you can get someone who's not normally experienced with them to bring them, hopefully they won't shoot you. I recommend asking the chef, mime, or clown to deliver them if you can't get your borg to do it. If you must get a crew member to do it, asking them to bring them in a closet or a crate would be a good idea.

-AI computer module, you're gonna want an AI upload computer in your base of operations. Depending on the corporate AI for too long will probably lead to the AI getting bored and lawyering it's way to foiling your plot. Subvert it so that it's actually yours, but tell it to still function like an actual AI so the crew doesn't get mad. 

-Surgery tools, you'll see why soon.

So that's it for the fortification demands I can think of, you can obviously do whatever you want but still. What about our actual objectives?

If you're working alone, this plan is gonna seem overwhelming because of goddamn greentext. If you just want to kill the janitor, steal the ID, and escape this is going to seem like way too much trouble, and it is, but you're doing it to provide everyone a fun round. Here's some objective related demands.

-For stealing objectives, you're sadly just gonna have to demand whatever it is you want to steal. If you're working with other traitors then thankfully your very large scale plan will have more use, since you can demand any and all high value items your friends want. If you can think of creative ways of making these demands, go for it!

-Assassination (and debraining?), This is what the surgery tools are for. We're going to have fun with this, and not just force someone out of the round. I really hope you built a surgery table in your base, if not demand some metal and build it. Next up, you're going to demand an empty cyborg body from robotics. If you want to get two birds with one stone, ask your assassination target to deliver it. Knock them out or just shoot them when they show up, put them on your surgery table and extract that brain. Put the brain in your cyborg body and emag it. You not only assassinated your target, but you also have a cyborg body guard. That way, you complete your goal and the person you kill doesn't have to sit the round out. I think this also works for debraining, I'm not sure. If debraining means you have to actually steal and keep their brain I guess the cyborg thing is sadly impossible, in which case you can just keep the brain.

-Exchange, supposing your exchange partner isn't working with you for some reason, you can complete the exchange while making the crew less suspicious of them. Demanding something and requesting your partner be the one to deliver it allows them to discreetly make the exchange and still pretend to be crew. I'm not sure how this objective works, if you for some reason don't know who your partner is, you can just ask for whoever has it to join you. I don't see why they wouldn't, be careful though. I'm sure anyone can bluff and pretend they're your exchange partner, but that makes it more exciting.

-Protect and Maroon, why are these two here together? Because I recommend taking almost the same method for both. You're going to make your protect target your hostage, inform them that you're going to protect them. If you're going to maroon someone though, make them your hostage too, or go for the assassination cyborg plan. It's a lot more fun if you involve your targets, you can keep a good eye on your protection target if they're you're hostage, and they'll be keeping you safe too. Making your maroon target your hostage is also nice because they're going to be a genuine hostage that you do not want to lose. Leaving room for failure is what's going to make this exciting for you.

Now that you've completed your objectives and the objectives of your allies, what do you do? Do you just demand the shuttle to end the round? Maybe, depending on if people are getting bored. Here's ways you can keep the round going while keeping it fun:

-Demand things for fun, get the crew involved. Say you're hungry and that you want a pizza, maybe some wine. That'll get the chef and bartender involved, if the crew is smart enough they'll have them work with chemists to lace your drinks ect. with cyanide. There's no harm in a loss, if you die in a creative way like this don't worry. The greentext isn't as important as having a good round believe it or not. It's best to think of ways to keep those people bored out of their mind actually involved in the exciting parts. Have cargo order stuff for you, have the clown entertain you. Play it up like some evil genius

-Help your antag friends, if they're permabrigged, demand that security releases them and sends them to you. You'll have gained allies, and they won't space themselves due to boredom in perma. Security might be mad though, so if you're spacist you can maybe go "only release the human prisoners" or something so they at least have something in perma. Still, you don't want them to miss out just because they're a race you don't like, they're players after all. Be sure to make it so that they carry out some of your demand deliveries too.

-Don't stop security from trying to stop you unless it's going to ruin the fun. Security sending out bomb squads to find and locate your bombs is fine, it's intended. It's one of the ways they're going to have their fun. If they find all the bombs, congrats to them. You still have hostages, hell if you hid them super well, giving them hints will make them less likely to assault your base. 

So you feel like it's time for the round for end, or maybe the shift's over. What do you do? 

-Escape, demand the shuttle be called and demand that you be let into one of the escape pods under security. Simple and clean. You can die on the way there, but who cares, you still have bombs ticking down.

-Hijack, very fun and makes this whole ordeal worth it. Demand you be let on the shuttle, with all your allies. Tell them if anyone's spotted near the shuttle while you're boarding, they'll die and a bomb will explode. Tell them you're going to tell them the locations of the remaining bombs when you're off station. You're launching early after all with that captain's ID.

-Die a glorious death, the sky's the limit. Personally I'd probably go with a bang, blow myself up along with my base. If I have allies though, I'll help them accomplish their goals, get them on the shuttle, then stay on station to remove the bombs and blow myself up. Your whole shtick is explosives so you might as well go out with a bang. 

Please feel free to leave more plans, I usually chicken out when I get traitor because I don't actually have a plan half the time. Having a thread full of fun ways to accomplish your objectives sounds helpful.

[anticipating antags, looting, gateway busting (meta-gaming/power-gaming discussion)]

Wow, wrote too much again. More spoiler sections, I care about this more than I thought.

The importance of lawyer IAA:

Spoiler

I honestly feel like the whole play to win mentality can lead to the most boring rounds ever. Players aren't thinking of the most interesting scenarios, or how the round's gonna feel long term. Rounds where security just catches all the antags an hour in just aren't fun, but the idea of giving antags leeway seems like a complete foreign concept to some people. It's why I actually like lawyer IAAs. Permaing some antags after a while is completely fine, but it's best if you let the antags get out there more. Supposedly, their job is to spice up the round and I think it's fine to help them do that a bit. It's a bit of a shame the IAA can rarely get a caught antag out of perma, if they could get them to be brigged for a couple of minutes as a punishment for being caught, but avoid them being perma'd that'd be grand. I say this mostly referring to antags that haven't had a chance to do much, like they were either caught before they could do anything for some reason like being spotted with contraband, or their only crimes were very minor steps to accomplishing their goals (breaking and entry, minor theft for some tools). I'm all for permaing antags eventually when they've had their chance to spice things up a bit, or if they've done something major like kill someone, steal an important item, or blow something up. Thing is, people are still going to treat lawyer IAAs like assholes that are just there to ruin people's fun when it's the opposite of what they're trying to do.

Security playing to win, and the cult:

Spoiler

Another job I wish would give antags more leeway would be security itself. Feigning ignorance every now and then, or intentionally being a bit incompetent so as to allow an antag to escape every once in a while would be nice but with the whole greentext fad I understand how letting them go may be just blasphemy in this current meta. I guess the most I can ask would be to not try too hard? I had a round where as soon as a cult was found, some security members immediately went to EVERY cultist base hotspot. They caught all the cultists in the first hour and I had to spend an hour as captain just sitting there, waiting for something to happen. Despite this I can actually agree that catching cultists and powergaming just a tinsy bit is important since they're a round ending antag. I kind of wish their goal was something general like "enslave and rule the station before summoning Nar'Sie" or "turn the station into a home worthy of Nar'Sie before summoning him" that way, cult rounds where the cult is allowed to gain a bit of power would turn into a bit of an area control war, if the cultists die they die, if they don't and think they have enough control (they think that they've practically won) they can summon Nar'Sie to end the round. Stealthy cultists that are only caught when it's too late and immediately summon Nar'Sie are just as unfun as cultists that all get caught early, so I can understand security being more concerned with actually catching them than giving them leeway.

Powergaming vs Shadowlings, round ending antags:

Spoiler

 

On that note I feel like round ending antags should have goals that make it feel a bit less like a video game. I think that'd decrease the need to powergame. I already mentioned it regarding the cult, but thankfully I don't see Nar'Sie as much as I see shadowling ascensions. I don't think there's much roleplay to Shadowlings currently, it feels more like a video game than a simulation. As in, shadowlings feel like an actual video game enemy that you HAVE to beat, and not as much something to spice up the round. Shadowlings don't really have much room to actually spice things up for anyone except for when their thralls capture someone, and even then it's usually just immediate conversion. Shadowlings have to stay hidden and capture enough people to end the round, I can't blame anyone for going "SHADOWLINGS" when they see broken lightbulbs in maints because the alternative is doing nothing until you hear demonic chanting and an ascended shadowling just pops up and enthralls you or blows you up. If you're lucky you're gonna get captured early and you get to actually participate. If ascension was one again, something to do once you've taken control of the station, it'd just make the round end when the shadowlings win. Security might not have to rush as hard, and constantly ask everyone to take off their masks (even though it's very stupid how every member of security is fully aware that shadowling thrall faces look different, I can't really fault them for that because if they don't force everyone to take off their masks they will lose every time) if they feel like shadowlings getting a bit ahead isn't the end of the world, they won't just group up and go through every maint tunnel killing everything in their path (but security grouping up is kind of rare...). Still I genuinely don't mind shadowlings as much, because an action oriented round that's meant to end sometime early is fun and breaks the monotony. They're kind of like reverse wizards to me (because the round ends early because they win, while wizards mostly just lose)

 

 

Why powergaming and greentext are bad, why most antags go stealth and cause boring rounds:

Spoiler

 

The reason it's so important to give antags some breathing room is that it lets antags be a bit more creative. I'm not really ready to play antags I don't think, mostly because I don't have enough game knowledge to pull off creative rounds, and partly because I don't think I'll actually be allowed to because of the meta. I've had some ideas that I think are fun, but I don't really think i'll be able to pull them off because: 

1. greentext: there's no real need to get crazy when all I have to do is kill one person and get magboots then leave. If antag goals were more general "Steal high value items" or "Halt scientific research" or "disrupt the chain of command" you could come up with a lot of fun ways of accomplishing that. There's times where you're more forced into powergaming because of greentext, since it more or less dictates what you can or can't do.

2. powergaming: maint rambos, sec that just wants to win, uncooperative AIs that want to lawyer their way through their laws to stop you. There will be a lot of people that just don't want to make things fun for everyone, someone who was anticipating antags and head into the gateway to get some loot and comes back to kick your ass when you're in the middle of whatever you had planned, a captain that keeps things red for no reason and makes it impossible for you to do anything suspicious without getting caught and captured, security that will ignore the fact that it's green and taze you the moment you break a law just to give you max sentence no matter what (maybe even perma if they catch you with contraband because that one person decided to taze you at the wrong time, especially when they shouldn't be allowed to). They can and will fuck you over.

I was planning on leaving an antag plan here and explaining why it wouldn't work because of the meta, but I realized it'd be way too off topic and long, so I'll just make another thread for that.

Since it really is hard to police powergaming, all I can really do is tell people why it's bad. I can also sit and hope that greentext objectives are replaced with general vague objectives instead someday.

 

[anticipating antags, looting, gateway busting (meta-gaming/power-gaming discussion)]

I've kinda been waiting for this thread, powergaming really has been my biggest gripe with the server. I feel like outright making it against the rules would be grand, but I understand why that probably won't happen (Not wanting to alter the rules unless absolutely required, people might feel like it's steering the server towards HRP, powergamers would probably be pissed) 

I wrote more than I was expecting to, so spoiler sections yay.

Antag Anticipation: Go red!

Spoiler

 

I find it really annoying when I'm playing captain, someone in security really just wants us to go/stay red because they've... successfully disposed of an antag... They obviously would just rather keep their guns out and shoot antags instead of asking them to come to the brig when they think they're suspicious. Still they're going to feed you a forced IC reason that's clearly just a veiled "That's not how the gamemode works idiot", not realizing I would rather give the antags some breathing room so they can do something wacky instead of having them all be caught an hour into the shift.

Traitor:  "The syndicate wouldn't send just one spy!" Why do they say this like I'm supposed to expect the syndicate to send a handful of spies with different goals that are completely uncoordinated, they literally do not know who the other spies are half the time. If there's even a smidgen of a reason to believe the contained traitor wasn't working alone, sure I'll buy it. Even then I'd try not to assume they're after anything besides what the captured traitor was after. If the traitor was caught trying to steal advanced magboots, a fun thing to do would be to go red, but ask security to keep an eye on the area around the boots. Security'd be tighter, but them being centered somewhere another traitor may not be planning on visiting would give them some breathing room. Sadly with the whole obsession over greentext I don't actually do this though, because I'm sure plenty of antags would just stealthily complete all of their goals, leaving little to no evidence, then playing normally for that sweet sweet end greentext. 

Changeling: Unless there's been any evidence of it, I have no idea why anyone would ever assume that there is more than one changeling on station. You're going to get a vague "Changelings rarely work alone..." which, ignoring the fact that it's very weird how familiar your character is, not only with changelings, but with their tactics. Only excuse I'll take is something like "They're a hivemind! It'd make sense" which even then would only warrant blue.

Cult: Okay sure, but if you've caught a few cultists and there hasn't been any action, don't push it please.

 

Looting and Gateway:
 

Spoiler

 

Looting and gearing up before any signs of antags makes no sense (hell, even after you're sure there's antags you don't have to gear up. I can get some people wanting to be safe, but the normal person would probably just keep safe and leave it to security). I say this, but I'm more of a fan that you can make some antag rounds canon. The idea that the shifts you play are supposedly only the exciting shifts, and you take part in a billion shifts that are completely mundane off screen in between is fun. That way a bit of knowledge of the antagy bits is understandable, but you still never really truly expect it. I still don't think it makes sense at all to go to your workplace and start gearing up, imagine a bank teller running around their workplace while trying to do their job (or even ignoring it) to find weapons or defenses (or even make them) because they just "have a feeling" that there's going to be a robbery today. As for the gateway, most of this applies. I have never actually been to the gateway. Stargate is a cool idea and definitely has a place in SS13, but as far as I can tell there's really not much IC reason to keep the gateway, especially considering how the only way to really be a gateway explorer is to be something like a civ or some other job first. Sending people out on missions and letting them come back on the station geared up just makes no sense, it doesn't seem to have much RP influence either.

I'd love if fleshing the gateway out into it's own little thing, like making exploring it an actual job with rules and regulations like "If you're coming back to the station, weapons found in the gateway need to be given to security so they can be better armed, sciencey things to science, materials to whoever ect."

Being in contact with an away team that's exploring a stargate, doing their own thing separate from the station is an extremely cool concept. I just don't think it's going to work if it's not like an actual job where team members communicate with each other and station crew, and actually have a duty to the station. Especially with no restrictions, if it's just going to be a loot zone for a certain group of people who don't care about being anything but "I wanna take down the antags!! Regardless of the round ruining consequences it might have" or the "I just want to mess around on station with the cool stuff" I don't mind it being removed at all.

 

 

[Cargonia Vs Spider Clan Vs Aliens]

A shift had been going on for long without a captain, apparently things hadn't been running very smoothly. There had been some major power issues on the station, and CentComm had apparently reported detecting unidentified life signs on the station. I arrived, filling the role as Captain Iro Marik. I received my equipment from the Head of Personnel, who was acting Captain at the time, I requested that the CE got the station's power back to normal, and that the HoS sends security out to find the source of the unidentified life signs. CentComm only said we didn't know what the source was, as far as I knew we had no reason to believe it was harmful, so I requested that security only shoots what it finds if they pose a threat.

A short while after, two people suddenly appeared on the bridge, Sheshi Skalas and Eerihawk. They immediately started spreading alien resin on the floor, I didn't think much of it honestly. Weirder things have happened on the cyberiad, I just let them out since they weren't interested in taking anything. I honestly thought it was just science messing around with something which caused them to teleport there. Shortly after that though, CentComm informed us that the lifesigns caused a big "blip", immediately after that, a member of security reported spotting a xenomorph "Alien Praetorian" 

The security member stated that it didn't seem hostile, so I insisted they do not fire or harm them until we're sure they're a threat. They were then found in Medbay, along with Seshi and Eerihawk. Despite the HoS favoring a "shoot the unidentified aliens immediately" approach, they tried to contain the situation and keep civilians out.

I came to see things and try to negotiate with the aliens. Apparently, Seshi and Eerihawk were "claimed" by them, and could then speak their language. The aliens could telepathically communicate with me, and I could also communicate with them as long as I used a megaphone. They declared they wanted peaceful relations, and so long as neither they or anyone claimed by them was hurt, they meant no harm. I invited them to the bridge to negotiate, and fax centcomm. CentComm informed me that all of their attempts to study alien evolution have ended with "catastrophic failure" so they wanted us to study them, meanwhile the crew was growing unsettled and wanted us to kill the aliens. The HoP was also providing us with a scary amount of weaponry...

I had ordered HoS to ensure their safety, the HoS wasn't a fan of what was happening but they still complied. The blueshield and RD also did not like this at all, but I kept negotiating. The aliens informed me that they wanted to find their empress a home, one with "furry hosts" so they could breed. While the rest of the crew were thinking they wanted Vulpkanins to eat, I thought of offering monkeys. Luckily, that is what they meant. I thought NT could easily provide them with a station and monkeys. The crew's riots were steadily increasing, and so was command's distrust in me. The CE had constructed the BSA under NT's request in record time, and security recommended using it on our guests. We had also received an enemy transmission from the spider clan's Grandmaster Chang. He offered 100 thousand credits should we kill the xenos, however I was sure NT would offer more if we were able to study them and make peace. I didn't want to go against NT, so I insisted security kept them safe while the RD studied them.

The RD, very unhappy with the situation performed tests on the hunters, drawing blood, giving them alchohol, ect. The Praetorians then informed me that their Empress had arrived on the station, in Xenobiology. We continued experiments and negotiations there,  as I went to fax centcomm our findings, command was very displeased with me as the riots grew. Eventually they came to a vote of no confidence, all of them voting me out of the role of captain, and demanded my head. As that happened, Grandmaster Chang had sent another transmission. His spider clan was going to attack to kill the aliens. I thought I was a goner, having to deal with the aliens, Chang, and the rest of the crew. As it turns out, the abundance of weapons the HoP had were due to the efforts of cargo, they had been stocking up on weaponry since the discovery of the unidentified life signs. The crew, after declaring mutiny, formed a stronghold and branched off from NT to create Cargonia with the weapons. I knew my only hope would be the aliens, who I was still on good terms with. Cargonia wanted my head and the aliens dead, so did Chang, but due to miscommunication, the spider clan and Cargonia were too busy fighting each other to reach us. I hurried to the aliens, watching crew members burn as they fought the spider clan. At this point I didn't care, they wanted my head and I was probably getting a peace prize if I managed to get the aliens out.

I had already called the shuttle beforehand, I informed the aliens of what happened and how we needed to escape. They vowed to protect me, and so we made our way to the shuttle. Chang didn't expect us to have a stronghold as strong as Cargonia, and so his forces were defeated. The crew desperately wanted me and the aliens dead, and with Chang gone they made their way to me. Several members of security blasted me with shotguns, I barely managed to make it to the shuttle. I had told the crew that those who didn't want to hurt the aliens were welcome to escape with us, and a few came peacefully. The security team was unable to kill me or the Aliens. The Praetorians were too strong. And so I was on the shuttle, collapsed. I uttered one last "See you later fuckers" before an alien hunter helped me up, I was somehow not about to die. 

Thus, Chang's forces were defeated, the station nation of Cargonia was left behind, and the captain managed to escape to CentComm with his new found alien allies. 

The End.

[Pet Peeves of Paradise]

Over-dramatic RP. This point actually goes against what I like, since I really like RP here, I'd even like the server to be more RP heavy. It's just things like this that make me go "maybe it's fine that RP isn't that heavy here"

I was a detective checking out a murder scene where the victim was cloned, the person was trying to look traumatized but honestly I think they mostly just kept adding ellipses. "I.... was alone... they..."

"suddenly... came up to me... and then..... oh god.." I just played along with it kinda. It just feels very weird and I mostly just wanna get out of that situation ASAP. Maybe it wasn't a case of over-dramatic RP. I can see myself being interested in someone who was killed acting kinda scared, it could've just been that it was poorly done in general which is why it felt awkward. 

Dunno. If you RP like this more power to you, I probably will end up playing along with it. It's just personal preference, it made me really uncomfortable and I'm not sure why.

["My Country"]

Egypt. It's alright, the country sucks but the history and landmarks are pretty cool. I'm glad I was born here but I want out ASAP.

[Pet Peeves of Paradise]

So far, the only time I've felt actually annoyed with anything was when a roboticist just refused to make any positronic brains despite several ghosts constantly messing with the lights to get their attention.

[Introduction]

I just started playing SS13 about a week or two ago, I really like the idea of having several characters with their own fields of expertise so I decided I'd make a forum account so people'd know which characters I play as.

So far, there's Iro Marik:

Mainly goes captain, occasionally HoP. Rarely bartender.

and Ruso Marik: 

Mainly goes detective, occasionally security officer. (Hopefully occasionally HoS in the future)

I don't plan to have all my characters be members of the same family, but I do want them to be somewhat aware of each other. It might be harder to tell who I play when I make characters with different last names, that's what this account's for though. I'm planning to make a scientist character soon, maybe I'll make a crew records post when I'm not lazy. 

Hi.