Goonhub
Securitrons as they exist now, are an unwelcome interruption to most roleplay moments. They mindlessly rush in and assault their target with no nuance - are they a target? attack!. They destroy narrative tension, cause unnatural escalation, and force their victim to make an unpleasant choice. Opening fire on a mere NPC nevertheless provokes panicked, unmeasured return fire from other players. And, many RP players actually rush to turn off alerted securitrons, so the players can finish their chat! That is not a good sign.
Those are just some of the problems they present to roleplay. Let's talk about their balance.
Securitrons, flat out, are too strong on RP. Many other PvP/social games have tried out AI bots, with the goal of augmenting PvP interactions. For the most part, they decided that the bots ought to be weak and non-threatening. Here, securitrons are round-removing threats. They can even clip through standing humans and rush down their target, often with the element of surprise. On RP, antags don't spend as much time gearing up, gaining power, laying plans - they're busy roleplaying! There's fewer antags, with the same quantity of SecOffs and bots. And weaker antags, because they have extra rules to follow - rules that securitrons don't.
So what can be done to them? If, say, the baton and cuffs were removed, they'd improve the game, but become useless. Here's some less threatening things they could do instead:
- Have a paint marker with melee range. They alert, they chase you, paint you. They leave already-paint targets alone. The paint works the same as 40mm paint marker rounds. Unfamiliar with those? They give a status effect that makes you leave orange footprints. It also paints your skin prisoner-orange indefinitely, until you shower.
- No weapon, but alert Security with a PDA message once it reaches its target.
- A whistle. Just a whistle. It chases you ceaselessly, whistling and wee-wooing.
These ain't the only replacement ideas, or even the best ones. However, I'm firmly convinced that securitrons having batons and cuffs needs to be removed.
Those are just some of the problems they present to roleplay. Let's talk about their balance.
Securitrons, flat out, are too strong on RP. Many other PvP/social games have tried out AI bots, with the goal of augmenting PvP interactions. For the most part, they decided that the bots ought to be weak and non-threatening. Here, securitrons are round-removing threats. They can even clip through standing humans and rush down their target, often with the element of surprise. On RP, antags don't spend as much time gearing up, gaining power, laying plans - they're busy roleplaying! There's fewer antags, with the same quantity of SecOffs and bots. And weaker antags, because they have extra rules to follow - rules that securitrons don't.
So what can be done to them? If, say, the baton and cuffs were removed, they'd improve the game, but become useless. Here's some less threatening things they could do instead:
- Have a paint marker with melee range. They alert, they chase you, paint you. They leave already-paint targets alone. The paint works the same as 40mm paint marker rounds. Unfamiliar with those? They give a status effect that makes you leave orange footprints. It also paints your skin prisoner-orange indefinitely, until you shower.
- No weapon, but alert Security with a PDA message once it reaches its target.
- A whistle. Just a whistle. It chases you ceaselessly, whistling and wee-wooing.
These ain't the only replacement ideas, or even the best ones. However, I'm firmly convinced that securitrons having batons and cuffs needs to be removed.