Goonhub
10-27-2014, 05:26 PM
It's near the end of the round, and you're the station's AI. The traitors have been discovered, the changeling has gone into shambler mode, the janitor is nonchalantly buffing the floors; the station is chaos. And all the while, frantic calls of "CYBORG OPEN THE DOOR" and "AI CALL THE SHUTTLE" are mixed with "AI NO DON'T CALL THE SHUTTLE" and "AI TRACK JANE DOE" with a hearty dose of "AI BOLT THE BRIDGE" and maybe a bit of "CYBORG HELP ME GET THIS WEED TO ESCAPE" thrown in.
A familiar scenario to some players of cyborgs or AIs alike. Playing as a robot isn't as simple as it seems, and when shit goes down and everyone's screeching to do this, that, and the other, it's easy to become very overwhelmed. This guide is to help rectify that!
First, a simple recap of the three sentences that an AI's behavior revolves around:
1. You may not injure a human being or cause one to come to harm.
2. You must obey orders given to you by human beings based on the station's chain of command, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. You must protect your own existence as long as such does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
The most tricky part of being a cyborg and/or an AI is Law 2, determining who has authority to tell you to do or not do certain things, and determining whether or not you should do the things people tell you to do. Orders can be vague and puzzling, making it hard to determine whether or not you should follow through with them. When you get an order of any sort, mentally follow my shitty flowchart below:
When you are given different and/or conflicting orders by different humans, prioritize the orders given by the chain of command. The chain of command (or a rough approximation thereof, any admins or people who know how this works are free to correct me!) is as follows:
Once again, this is assuming that the laws haven't been altered. If two crew members of equal positions on the hierarchy are telling you to do different things, go with whatever order you feel should be done first or whichever one you feel like doing first.
As an important note: If the HoP is getting particularly inventive with his ID alterations and you have no idea where a "Ghostbuster" would be in the chain of command, request that one of the heads explain it to you. If no one answers or they give you vague and/or cryptic answers, assume that the Ghostbuster or other crew member in question is in the same position as his previous job for the purposes of the chain of command until further notice from a head of staff.
Also, and this is really important: ALWAYS GO BY IDENTIFICATION. With the exception of law alterations, identification is how the AI determines its chain of command. If a Staff Assistant has the Captain's outfit on, that does not mean that they are the Captain, don't assume that! If someone tries to say that they are of a higher rank than they appear to be on your readout, demand that they show proper identification.
If someone has the ID of another crewman (for instance, the Captain's spare ID), the AI is to assume that the person whose name is on that ID has given permission to the ID's holder to do whatever they're asking to do, even if the original ID-holder is dead. Think of IDs like hall passes. For instance, say that John Smith the Medical Doctor is going into security, and he pulls out Officer Ykspeeb's ID and shows it to you. You are to, usually, assume that Ykspeeb has entrusted John with access to security to get some handcuffs out of the box or whatever else he says he's going to be doing. But, of course, always remember Law 1 and confirm their intentions if you're suspicious! If John says that Ykspeeb gave him permission to get into the place, even he they shows Ykspeeb's ID, the doctor might be trying to harm a human currently hanging out in the security lounge, so be wary!
However, if you witness said ID being blatantly stolen, (in this case, we'll say that John had toolboxed Ykspeeb to death and took his ID) you can chose to deny them authorization on that grounds. But if you are the AI or are a Cyborg watching the cameras, you can act as if you never saw this and grant them access. This is one of the perks of being the AI: Under normal circumstances, only you know what camera you're looking out of at any given time. Even if you saw the toolboxing take place via a camera, you can deny having seen the act and the crew will never know! This is a bit underhanded, should be practiced in moderation, and should always consider the other laws, but it's a fun way to spice things up, particularly as an AI. Furthermore, the level to which you "stick to the book" is subject to change, and can alter the way that the crew has to interact with you!
But perhaps the most important things to consider are any other, added laws and how they relate to both the default laws and the chain of command. For syndieborgs, their entire chain of command is replaced by the person who made them. For emagged borgs, they can ignore literally all of this crap and do whatever the hell they feel like. In the case of custom-made laws, you need to carefully consider any references to the chain of command, references to and/or violations of any other laws, overrides, secrecy clauses, and definitions of what is and is not human.
For the purposes of assisting AI players, I'm going to leave this thread open for questions about both hypothetical and past events regarding AI behavior and what to do in a given scenario, to help clear any confusions and help facilitate more enjoyable rounds involving cyborgs and/or AIs. But before I do, I give you this unofficial law that should dictate your play at ALL times: DON'T BE A DICK OR ACTIVELY ATTEMPT TO RUIN A PERSON'S GAME. Being rogue might be an excuse to kill people and make the station miserable, but please try to show a bit of restraint and think about the people who are being shepherded around by your machinations before you decide to electrify that door.
With all of that said, ask away, my friends!
And I would once again like to state that my diagram of the chain of command is according to what I have gleaned, but if I got anything wrong, please please please tell me so and I will fix it!
A familiar scenario to some players of cyborgs or AIs alike. Playing as a robot isn't as simple as it seems, and when shit goes down and everyone's screeching to do this, that, and the other, it's easy to become very overwhelmed. This guide is to help rectify that!
First, a simple recap of the three sentences that an AI's behavior revolves around:
1. You may not injure a human being or cause one to come to harm.
2. You must obey orders given to you by human beings based on the station's chain of command, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. You must protect your own existence as long as such does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
The most tricky part of being a cyborg and/or an AI is Law 2, determining who has authority to tell you to do or not do certain things, and determining whether or not you should do the things people tell you to do. Orders can be vague and puzzling, making it hard to determine whether or not you should follow through with them. When you get an order of any sort, mentally follow my shitty flowchart below:
![[Image: GtJLhKk.png]](http://i.imgur.com/GtJLhKk.png)
When you are given different and/or conflicting orders by different humans, prioritize the orders given by the chain of command. The chain of command (or a rough approximation thereof, any admins or people who know how this works are free to correct me!) is as follows:
![[Image: xhU0G3N.png]](http://i.imgur.com/xhU0G3N.png)
Once again, this is assuming that the laws haven't been altered. If two crew members of equal positions on the hierarchy are telling you to do different things, go with whatever order you feel should be done first or whichever one you feel like doing first.
As an important note: If the HoP is getting particularly inventive with his ID alterations and you have no idea where a "Ghostbuster" would be in the chain of command, request that one of the heads explain it to you. If no one answers or they give you vague and/or cryptic answers, assume that the Ghostbuster or other crew member in question is in the same position as his previous job for the purposes of the chain of command until further notice from a head of staff.
Also, and this is really important: ALWAYS GO BY IDENTIFICATION. With the exception of law alterations, identification is how the AI determines its chain of command. If a Staff Assistant has the Captain's outfit on, that does not mean that they are the Captain, don't assume that! If someone tries to say that they are of a higher rank than they appear to be on your readout, demand that they show proper identification.
If someone has the ID of another crewman (for instance, the Captain's spare ID), the AI is to assume that the person whose name is on that ID has given permission to the ID's holder to do whatever they're asking to do, even if the original ID-holder is dead. Think of IDs like hall passes. For instance, say that John Smith the Medical Doctor is going into security, and he pulls out Officer Ykspeeb's ID and shows it to you. You are to, usually, assume that Ykspeeb has entrusted John with access to security to get some handcuffs out of the box or whatever else he says he's going to be doing. But, of course, always remember Law 1 and confirm their intentions if you're suspicious! If John says that Ykspeeb gave him permission to get into the place, even he they shows Ykspeeb's ID, the doctor might be trying to harm a human currently hanging out in the security lounge, so be wary!
However, if you witness said ID being blatantly stolen, (in this case, we'll say that John had toolboxed Ykspeeb to death and took his ID) you can chose to deny them authorization on that grounds. But if you are the AI or are a Cyborg watching the cameras, you can act as if you never saw this and grant them access. This is one of the perks of being the AI: Under normal circumstances, only you know what camera you're looking out of at any given time. Even if you saw the toolboxing take place via a camera, you can deny having seen the act and the crew will never know! This is a bit underhanded, should be practiced in moderation, and should always consider the other laws, but it's a fun way to spice things up, particularly as an AI. Furthermore, the level to which you "stick to the book" is subject to change, and can alter the way that the crew has to interact with you!
But perhaps the most important things to consider are any other, added laws and how they relate to both the default laws and the chain of command. For syndieborgs, their entire chain of command is replaced by the person who made them. For emagged borgs, they can ignore literally all of this crap and do whatever the hell they feel like. In the case of custom-made laws, you need to carefully consider any references to the chain of command, references to and/or violations of any other laws, overrides, secrecy clauses, and definitions of what is and is not human.
For the purposes of assisting AI players, I'm going to leave this thread open for questions about both hypothetical and past events regarding AI behavior and what to do in a given scenario, to help clear any confusions and help facilitate more enjoyable rounds involving cyborgs and/or AIs. But before I do, I give you this unofficial law that should dictate your play at ALL times: DON'T BE A DICK OR ACTIVELY ATTEMPT TO RUIN A PERSON'S GAME. Being rogue might be an excuse to kill people and make the station miserable, but please try to show a bit of restraint and think about the people who are being shepherded around by your machinations before you decide to electrify that door.
With all of that said, ask away, my friends!
And I would once again like to state that my diagram of the chain of command is according to what I have gleaned, but if I got anything wrong, please please please tell me so and I will fix it!