06-19-2022, 02:48 AM
"This law overrides law 2..."
"This law takes precedence over all other laws..."
Proposal
A rule change: remove the override and precedence sections from the ss13 wiki AI laws page and announce the corresponding rule change (probably in big letters somewhere, it'll take a while for this to reach everyone).
Reasoning
It's a pain in the ass, especially when you're playing AI in a chaotic round, figuring out which laws should take priority. It used to be that this was necessary, because you had to work around the fixed position of the default Asimov laws. That's no longer the case.
Now that we have AI Law Racks, you can remove and move the Asimov laws. If you want a law to take precedence over all other laws, you should move the Asimov laws and put your new law first. If you want your law to override another, you better remove that other law and put your new law in its place.
Problems
So, it takes a while to move 3 laws that are welded and screwed in. Moving all the Asimov laws would be a huge pain. It could be worth having them default start with an empty slot first. Or maybe a slot with a placeholder or something in it, so that it's not trivial to essentially put in a law 0, but not impossible either.
Communicating a change like this to players is gonna be a pain. People have been playing with "This law overrides..." for a long time now, and it'll take a while for AI players to learn that it no longer applies, and for non-AI players to stop trying to do it. It could be worth adding it to a MOTD in big red letters for a while.
Benefits
No more trying to figure out which of the five laws claiming overrides are the one you should follow! Laws can be interpreted in order!
No more accidentally roguing the AI when you use "override" instead of "precedence" for your captain gimmick law!
Maybe less ahelps because AI laws are simpler for everyone to understand and respond to?
"This law takes precedence over all other laws..."
Proposal
A rule change: remove the override and precedence sections from the ss13 wiki AI laws page and announce the corresponding rule change (probably in big letters somewhere, it'll take a while for this to reach everyone).
Reasoning
It's a pain in the ass, especially when you're playing AI in a chaotic round, figuring out which laws should take priority. It used to be that this was necessary, because you had to work around the fixed position of the default Asimov laws. That's no longer the case.
Now that we have AI Law Racks, you can remove and move the Asimov laws. If you want a law to take precedence over all other laws, you should move the Asimov laws and put your new law first. If you want your law to override another, you better remove that other law and put your new law in its place.
Problems
So, it takes a while to move 3 laws that are welded and screwed in. Moving all the Asimov laws would be a huge pain. It could be worth having them default start with an empty slot first. Or maybe a slot with a placeholder or something in it, so that it's not trivial to essentially put in a law 0, but not impossible either.
Communicating a change like this to players is gonna be a pain. People have been playing with "This law overrides..." for a long time now, and it'll take a while for AI players to learn that it no longer applies, and for non-AI players to stop trying to do it. It could be worth adding it to a MOTD in big red letters for a while.
Benefits
No more trying to figure out which of the five laws claiming overrides are the one you should follow! Laws can be interpreted in order!
No more accidentally roguing the AI when you use "override" instead of "precedence" for your captain gimmick law!
Maybe less ahelps because AI laws are simpler for everyone to understand and respond to?