Tying AI functionalities to external devices [feedback wanted]

[aft2001]

This is an idea I've been mulling on for a while and I'd like feedback before I really try and work on this (as always, no promises). TL;DR at the bottom.

Certain functionalities for AIs, such as seeing through cloaks or a limited usage ability to recall the shuttle, could be tied to external networked devices. These would do a few things:

1. Add the ability for humans to provide an AI with helpful (and possibly dangerous) upgrades or buffs; upgrades would not be able to be installed by silicons, of course.
   
2. Tie some basic functions to these external devices, such as not having a cooldown for jumping between mobs/cameras, or having the normal 5 viewports instead of a limited 1 or 2, or the ability to see through cloaking devices.
   
3. Let people see currently active upgrades via computer terminals (the TermOS ones)
   
4. Not be shareable between multiple AI's; a module may only provide its benefits (or possible detriments) to one AI at a time
   

The aforementioned external devices would be in the form of tape column drives a la 1960, and upgrades would be on ThinkTapes which may be inserted into these tape drives. Distinct from regular tape drives, you could not do any read/write operations on these ThinkTapes, and these ThinkTapes would not be compatible with regular tape drives whatsoever (they'd technically be a separate item probably). An AI *must* maintain a networked connection with these tape drives in order to benefit from their upgrades, and yes, there would be methods to ensure that you can't spoof a connection or disconnection, or transmitting the PNET communications across Z-Levels with WiFi components.

With these limitations set, an AI must remain on-station and connected to a data terminal (as in, anchored to the ground) in order to not only benefit from any upgrades it might possess, but also just not be hindered by disconnecting from the drives that'd host data essential for efficient operation. If you choose to move your core off-station as you're murdering everyone, then you'll be at a moderate to significant disadvantage, depending on what specific functions or restrictions would be tied to these modules. Additionally, AIs would have to share between tape drives, but it should be possible to acquire the basics and there should be plenty of free tape drive space to install them; perhaps able to be made through Robotics or ordered via Cargo, or found in a box in the computer core.

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Balancing:

This importantly spreads the functionality of AIs out away from its core and opens up potential counterplay to a rogue AI that's more than just RCD'ing into its core and killing it. The drives would likely be scattered around, with most of them in the Computer Core and some in the AI Core, with maybe one in the RD's office, one in the Bridge, one in Robotics (as Robotics should be able to print some simpler/fun upgrades), etc. They would all have some level of ID locks, potentially depending on where they are, but it should be possible to bypass them maybe.

A nukie with a cloaker could hastily find the tape drive containing the tape allowing the AI to see through cloaks, a traitor could install a malicious tape which renders them invisible or untrackable or unidentifiable to the AI, etc. A rogue AI will have to defend potentially several more areas where some of their tape drives are in, meaning it'll be easier to hinder a rogue AI's attempts to murder everyone without outright resetting or killing it.

If this is a sufficient enough overall nerf to the effectiveness of AIs, then I'd like for the more cheesy/uninteresting weaknesses it currently has to be improved upon to encourage more creative/strategic counterplay (making turrets operate more quickly to make it much harder to just run in and grab a module, unless the respective tape is dealt with, for example). 

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Examples of modules

Roundstart installed modules (Not a comprehensive or definitive list, just stuff I thought might be interesting)

• Thermal vision
  
• Max limit of 5 viewports instead of 1
  
• No cooldown on jumping between mobs/cameras
  
• No camera movement speed debuff
  
• Ability to temporarily bypass cut AI wires (on cooldown and possibly limited uses)
  
• One-time shuttle recall
  
• Overloading lights
  
• No announcement cooldown
  
• No shuttle call cooldown
  
• PDA text shortcut on examine
  
• GPS tracker
  

Upgrades that could be found, purchased, or made

• ProDoc and/or SecHud
  
• ProDoc remote health scan
  
• Shortcut to view records on examine
  
• AI Eye speed boost
  
• Voice Synthesizer (similar to traitor/ling ones)
  
• Nukeman override Harmless non-descript upgrade
  
• Single-use killswitch abort
  
• Killswitch timer extender
  
• Accent selector
  
• Disabled AI Control Bypass (cooldown and/or limited uses)
  
• Lipreading (likely triggering it to be able to lipread for a short while with a long cooldown)
  
• Door safety switch bypass (haha door go HZZRNCCHHHH)
  
• Self-destruct (maybe a maxcap TTV sized explosion you could trigger at any time that would be guaranteed to destroy your core)
  
• Remote bot emag (limited use & cooldown & probably traitor-only or rare find)
  
• Temporarily buff a non-emagged and non-syndicate borg (similarly limited use & cooldown)
  
• APC control panel (toggle any breaker on any APC on the same PNET as you, with cooldown on disabling circuits)
  

As a potential additional mechanic, the tapes themselves would be wholly unlabeled, but come in boxes with actual labels on them; this means that an AI could convince someone to load in a dangerous tape that one of the borgs found. I am a big fan of antags convincing people to do things for them while keeping the person clueless as to their real intentions.

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TL;DR
Add tape drives around the station which would host tapes which buff the AI and whose removal could hinder the AI, with the possibility of acquiring more dangerous/exotic upgrades, all to make both AI gameplay, rogueing the AI, and AI counterplay more dynamic/interesting.

I am very interested in this personally but that excitement might be making it hard to recognize some glaring oversight or fundamental issue I've yet to see. That and more ideas are Good, and I'd love to hear what y'all think!

[Danger Noodle]

I like the idea very much, especially the thinktape part of it. One concern I have is with tape that lets you boost borgs, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to tell apart a normal borg from a syndicate one short of trying to kill them and this addition would change that. The tape racks should be ID locked with a hacking functionality that lets people without access use them any maybe a secondary effect if you pulse/cut the wrong wire where the AI is alerted in big text about what you're doing.

I think playing AI in it's current state is not fun or rewarding enough, you don't get that many special things to do even when you're evil (including counter play against people trying to kill you) and it's common to get no requests for a good while and the ones you do get are very simple in nature and not rewarding, letting the AI do more and giving crew incentive to help the AI by it helping them in more ways sounds like a good first step in making the AI more fun to play.

[Nidabutt]

Yeh I really like this idea, borgs have modules so it makes sense the AI should too. The upgrades should definitely be side objectives though, not something you try to rush at the start of every round, situational things. I'm also not entirely sure on only humans being able to install them, it might honestly be quite nice for cyborgs to have the optional objective of bolstering their AI with these tapes, or something for the AI to do when they're bored with a shell and there's no orders coming through. Perhaps there could be specific tapes that are more powerful which only humans can install, as a safety measure, ones that can cause serious damage in the hands of a malf AI? Hell maybe even give traitor roboticists a buyable syndie tape with a selection from a group of unique effects when used with likely very antaggy effects.

[cyberTripping]

My thoughts on the idea:

While I can't think of any immediate problems with it conceptually, I feel like there would be a lot of balance considerations when it comes to what tapes are available, what tapes come preinstalled, how many tape racks exist by default, how easy it is to build more, etc etc etc. These considerations could weigh down the project significantly, I'd imagine.

That being said, I love the idea from an aesthetic point of view. I've always felt that the AI is a bit too centralised, since it just consists of a single block and is fairly self sufficient even when uprooted and moved around. It's nigh omnipresent, and there's not much that can be done to antagonize it short of snipping cameras or going into the core itself and smashing it up.

The idea of making the AI more of a system, a network of computers all operating in conjunction where individual parts could be modified or damaged, is very appealing to me. I feel like it could lead to a lot of interesting organic outcomes, like an unrelated act of sabotage knocking out some critical wires or shredding a terminal, and the AI losing functionality because of it, or for a targeted attack being leveraged against a terminal to try to combat an overbearing AI, or for command to authorize the installation of a particularly potent upgrade in a time of duress, knowing that it could be turned against them if the AI was later subverted.

My thoughts on how it will be implemented:

I suppose an important consideration will be the preinstalled upgrades. Whether they are currently existing features being ported out into tapes or new features that make the AI stronger but that are easy to revoke, anything that comes installed at the start of the round will be understood by players to be the essential core kit of the AI. Be careful not to think of any new features as "ancillary", or as an extra layer on top, because I can guarantee that people will not feel that way.

I feel like this is important to note because it then becomes fairly possible to, from most players' point of view, reduce the AI below its base functionality, like cutting a human character's limb off, or poking their eye out.  In contrast to a human character, however, the AI has little ways of fighting back other than bolting doors, which is a mild suggestion at best. By default it cannot harm an attacker and cause them to retreat, and the terminals certainly aren't running away any time soon. For this reason, the specific features and their exact placement both need to be carefully considered, as well as the means of modifying or damaging them. It shouldn't be impossible, of course, but these things would be like the AI's limbs and organs, and should be protected as such.

[aft2001]

That is an incredibly detailed and helpful response holy fuck. As a quick aside, I had little to no intentions to make terminals (in the context of this system) a method of viewing what tapes are installed in a tape drive, and what AI it's currently servicing (by net ID, of course)

I've been considering ways to alleviate the issue of how helpless an AI might be if someone were to remove their tapes, and one solution is as follows:
Allow the AI to make copies of some tapes, with a limited capacity for this. Some would naturally be blacklisted, of course, and when I say 'copy', I more so mean rendering the original tape inert and converting some rare blank tapes to contain the upgrades from the original tape. This could be a noisy and/or flashy procedure which takes some time and can be interrupted, with the column loudly whirring and winding and rewinding the tape, before ejecting the ruined tape.

Another solution, or in addition to the above, would be to allow SOME degree of silicons installing upgrades, but again, this should be similarly limited. The idea of a rogue AI acquiring a new ability is a fun idea, provided methods to acquire more potent/dangerous tapes are harder for a silicon to accomplish and may provide a random tape (e.g QM merchants or science loot crates). I'd personally LOVE for a rogue AI to quietly acquire and install a lipreading or even voice synthesizing upgrade tape to use as a secret weapon, or possibly that self-destruct tape as a contingency plan to deter would-be assassins (and remember, you wouldn't be able to use a tape if you've ripped up your core, unless you've set it back down over a data terminal).

One thing I have yet to figure out, however, is where these should actually go. It needs to be a balance of being secure, being in a sensible place, and not being so close to the AI/Upload that you might as well just murder/relaw it. Of course, the AI Core would absolutely have some tapes, but at least to me these ones should have plenty of free space to really install upgrades. The computer core and Armory could be good weak spots, as could the bridge and the RD's office, and MAYBE tech storage. The less secure, the less important the upgrades should be.

In regards to the base functionality comment... yeah that's something I hadn't considered. Perhaps then some upgrades should instead be stored in the Computer Core, and someone has to install em for the AI? I do REALLY dislike the idea of people just bullying the AI by ripping out tapes, or a craptain going and unloading all the tapes because they disliked the AI's behavior, so, to tie back into my earlier ideas, perhaps the AI could choose to store some upgrades on an internal disk drive or something? Additionally, the tapes responsible for functions that aren't mostly used by rogue AIs could also be stored in hardened drive columns that really are not intended to be opened. These would be in the AI core itself, and would ALWAYS alert a connected AI when they're being tampered with.

In fact (yes I know this entire reply is my train of thoughts and isn't cohesive), that might actually be a fun idea. The drive columns in the AI Core would actually be silicon-compatible, except they start closed and can't actually be opened without hands, an ID, and a lot of brute force, except for maybe one column with room for maybe about 2 tapes. Again, I like the idea of the AI being able to install some upgrades into itself, but it'd have to choose wisely, since it probably shouldn't be able to *eject* tapes on its own.

[Danger Noodle]

Ideas for where tapes could go

Pre-installed tapes: The Computer core ofc

Basic tapes: Robotics, tech storage.

Advanced tapes available to crew: The bridge, RD's office, the computer core(?)

Other advanced tapes: Debris field (bradbury II satellite? (This tape cannot be too powerful because debris is the same each round)), random locked crates, a cargo trader, prefabs, azones (you won't be adding these but it's important to note).

[DioChasek]

Agreed on debris field, has to be pretty mild if anything gets placed out there maybe the Prodoc upgrade?
Crates could add sechud to military drops, most of the non crazy ones could go in research lock crates. Traders could sell the most exotic ones.
You could also add the self destruct one as a traitor item. Great for when you have subverted the AI and then ordered it to die for the syndicate as needed. I would say probably in the 8-12 tc range for roboticist possibly RD{hard sell though their traitor kit options are pretty wide already}, killing the eye in the sky and a bomb to boot is a pretty nasty effect. Not to mention all the other shenanigans you cause in the chaos leading up to the explosion.

[Recusor]

AFT

This importantly spreads the functionality of AIs out away from its core and opens up potential counterplay to a rogue AI that's more than just RCD'ing into its core and killing it. The drives would likely be scattered around, with most of them in the Computer Core and some in the AI Core, with maybe one in the RD's office, one in the Bridge, one in Robotics (as Robotics should be able to print some simpler/fun upgrades), etc. They would all have some level of ID locks, potentially depending on where they are, but it should be possible to bypass them maybe.

As a potential additional mechanic, the tapes themselves would be wholly unlabeled, but come in boxes with actual labels on them; this means that an AI could convince someone to load in a dangerous tape that one of the borgs found. I am a big fan of antags convincing people to do things for them while keeping the person clueless as to their real intentions.

Love this idea. Super super cool. Here are my ideas for initial rack locations for the basic function tapes:

Bridge Comms Room-
No announcement cooldown
No shuttle call cooldown
PDA text shortcut on examine
One-time shuttle recall

RD Office OR Telesci
GPS tracker

Security - HOS office?
Thermal vision
Max limit of 5 viewports instead of 1 (Is this technically feasible? I feel like no at the moment?)

Engineering (SMES or CE office)
Overloading lights
Ability to temporarily bypass cut AI wires (on cooldown and possibly limited uses)

Computer Core
No cooldown on jumping between mobs/cameras
No camera movement speed debuff

I am at the moment a big fan of making a secret room, wiring it to the network and makign a data terminal and DWAINE console for sekrit conversations with the AI right now. I think that it would be pretty sweet to be able to make your own rack hidden on the station somewhere. Some balance considerations around that idea:

For the less secure method, maybe you can make one with metal sheets, rods and wires similar to a console creation. For more secure method, maybe you need to use a device analyzer on a rack to make it. This means that you would need to physically get close to one of the many racks spread around the station. For an even more secure method maybe the device analyzer needs to be emagged/traitor version. Wherever its made would need a data terminal and wired connection to network.

DAnger Noodle

The tape racks should be ID locked with a hacking functionality that lets people without access use them any maybe a secondary effect if you pulse/cut the wrong wire where the AI is alerted in big text about what you're doing.

I love this idea. Even after making the rack you then need to hack it effectively. Maybe if an unauthorized connection comes through to the AI they can permanently or temporarily block connections from that address for a period of time.

Allow the AI to make copies of some tapes, with a limited capacity for this. Some would naturally be blacklisted, of course, and when I say 'copy', I more so mean rendering the original tape inert and converting some rare blank tapes to contain the upgrades from the original tape. This could be a noisy and/or flashy procedure which takes some time and can be interrupted, with the column loudly whirring and winding and rewinding the tape, before ejecting the ruined tape.

What if you could save one tape at a time to a networked DWAINE Computer? This would definitely take time, and would only serve to be able to then copy the saved data to a blank tapedrive that could be installed later. Smart AI backs up a tape -> someone removes said tape - AI cant access functionality -> intrepid HoP puts blank disk back in -> AI can copy command to the blank disk -> works again.  Too roundabout?

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Just to add one about backing up to a networked DWAINE computer - You would need to find a console, remember which console has which backup and type the commands in yourself as AI to do this effectively.