Security - The Thread

[atamusvaleo]

This thread is dedicated to changes and improvements to Security. 

Before you start slapping those keys, take a moment to read through the entire thread and get acquainted with what's being discussed and where we are in the process.

1. Discuss what needs changing
2. Prioritize those changes
3. Organize and take action

PHASE 1
Feel free to post ideas from other threads you have. This is just a brainstorming phase. We already have a lot of ideas out there, this thread is to organize all of it.

[Noah Buttes]

To quote one of my own ideas from a while ago:



Make police segways distinct from civilian segways by making them somewhat faster and by giving them some kind of implant based ignition interlock. I say implant based rather than ID based because IDs are too easily stolen or given out to really restrict access.


Additionally, give them a high-stability mode that, in exchange for slowing the segway down to just slightly above its current speed, would make the segway stable enough for the rider to be able to fire his weapon and to avoid crashing into things.

In my vision, the "hot pursuit" speed would be either equal to or somewhat above normal sprinting speed, while the high stability speed should be slightly above normal running speed.

If you want to take it even further, you can have the ramming capability be a separate toggle from the speed setting.

If we want to make full-blown patrol cars segways, add built-in dashcams, rechargers, ticket machines, gps units, police radios/tickers, and loudspeakers. The ticker might accept both sec radio traffic and sec department PDA messages.

As we enter the realm of absurdity, we can consider something like a shitty fold-out plastic seat for perps to be buckled into for transport back to HQ. We might also consider an automated combination handcuff fabricator and donut dispenser.

For full on keystone cops level shenanigans, let segways traverse the chutes between the various security checkpoints and let the riders joust with each other using spears and stun batons. :cop:

Ideally, police segways would provide an interesting vehicular dynamic that no other department currently has while also addressing several key issues with security, namely lack of mobility and lack of FUN.

I can totally see a full squad of segway cops engaged in a high-speed pursuit with a methed up staff assistant running for his life from the untiring wheels of the :siren: LAW :siren:

[Ed Venture]

I think the brig needs to be remade so it's hard to escape from. I also think a Prison station would be awesome to have. It would be used to exile Traitor and shit players. It would be a nice alternative to just killing them.

[Technature]

It should be harder to get to securities weaponry than it is right now.  Nothing particularly extreme, just harder than breaking through a window and moving a locker.

Also wanted posters when?

[Frank_Stein]

Also wanted posters when?

Already ingame, though it would be helpful if you could stack them. A little hard to plaster them up around the place right now

[Technature]

Really? I can't find them on Cog 1.

I also like the idea of a prison station, if only so it gives traitors another chance to create more fun while still being a pretty solid solution for taking care of them.

[atomic1fire]

I think the brig needs to be remade so it's hard to escape from. I also think a Prison station would be awesome to have. It would be used to exile Traitor and shit players. It would be a nice alternative to just killing them.

What about a prison yard map accessible via a radio teleporter. Players could be sent there with the understanding that anything that happens in exile stays in exile and they won't be able to cry for help from security (with the exception of existing goon server rules). Tiny prison stations suck because there's really no point in using them because people will break out anyway, but if there's a prison yard you at least have room to run around or do whatever within it's confines.

HOS could enable teleportation to it whenever they need to exile somebody. As it stands, the only radio teleporter location is that area with the soul steel, and once you get sent there you're pretty much exiled unless you have a way back.

A prison yard could just be an area with some weight lifting stuff and basketball hoops and if people kill each other there security doesn't need to bother because only people who are absolutely awful or antags should be there in the first place.

It could be a place to send somebody who's so criminal that you're not going to kill them but you're not going to release them either.

[Frank_Stein]

I'm interested in the idea of a brig-less security that got mentioned in another thread. It really isn't fun to sit in a cell nor to babysit someone there.

I think it's worth brainstorming ideas related to keeping people out and about but under Sec scrutiny

[CaptainBravo]

Who the heck 3s a discussion thread?

I'm gonna give me thoughts about playing security being back from the grave of not wanting to play this game for forever. I'll give some related stuff first and then some tangential crap that really just takes the wind out of playing security.

First i have to say, there is not a damn bit of help from literally anyone in any situation, security or not. It just happens that it's way more consequential when you're security and through lovely click magic(I refuse to click 80 times, fix the damn click lag) someone manages to snag a taser or a baton. I don't remember any point while playing other than donut 2, for sure, when people would just be bystanders to this degree. It's ridiculous. Pretty sure someone else lamented this somewhere, but I'm not gonna search for it.

People need to use their damn radios, too. I shouldn't find someone with a wrestling belt for the first time while patrolling the halls and discover he's already smashed two or three people to bits in view of others. I actually assumed some mindslaving happened for this one, but end of round dispelled that for me. Fuckin' bystander syndrome.

There's also definitely a problem with people just not wanting to play security. I don't blame them, but a station population of 60 warrants more than 0 officers at round start. I'd like to see a forced minimal manning or something. Maybe 1 when over a certain population and 2 over another, idk. You think the Captain can corral 60 people by himself or something?

Now that click lag thing I said up there. I know tobba just tried some wizardry to fix it. I was playing the round right after it happened. I know what it used to feel like to walk a tile and click a guy, and right now there is nothing resembling it. Shit, I can't even be right next to someone spamming clicks on their sprite and guarantee I'll smack them with whatever I'm holding. it's kind of bad. It makes trying to actually do the job a chore. It kind of feels like they're being eaten during heavy load times or something, where before if I assumed that I would be close to someone when the tick went through and clicked on them, I'd smack them. Clicking people is extra smooth when the server isn't under load, though. Way more than before, but that's not enough to warrant the headache when it is. EDIT: my mouse just died mid-round so to be fair that could have been the culprit all along

One last thing. I probably harp on feature creep too much in IRC on occasion already, but I feel it genuinely factors into problem #2 so I'm going to bring it up here. Having so much actual and potential shit to keep track of is really tedious. Taking what I already know about and just concentrating on whether I should ignore this or that from the things I've never heard of, it's manageable(though i can still barely click on anything). But think about someone that just started playing this game a month or two ago. How quickly are they going to acclimate to what's going on when they're actually in a role that's supposed to do something about it? I figure this probably factors a little into people not wanting to step up and try security out. This is extra opinionated, though.

[Frank_Stein]

Yeah, it's really hard for me to figure out what Sec needs, which is weird because I play it often.

Staffing is the biggest thing, and I think forcing a Sec pick for every 10 people or so would be a good idea.

I don't really see more items being all that needed, but mobility and communication are the biggest things that come into play for me. The Sec HUD goggles come to mind as a good example of that. Being able to tag people to show up as persons of interest on those on the fly would be helpful

I like the idea of cruisers as sort of mobile bases.

Maybe being able place areas under a kind of high alert/lockdown thing might be handy, where Sec has unfettered access to doors while suspending everyone else's

[Ed Venture]

Maybe we should get more players playing security and work up from there.

[amaranthineApocalypse]

Maybe we should get more players playing security and work up from there.

Well we can't do that without making some changes that make security less of a pain to play

[Sundance]

Things I like from this thread + my own ideas in order from "mite b easy 2 code" to "HOLD TIGHT CODE STORM AHEAD"
 
- Change the damn Alarm sound
The alarm sound in the armory (also add one to the genpop) to a SHRILL noise that is unmistakably noticable. Seriously. Fuck that useless "beboop". This would be a very simple change.

- Dispensable Smoke Grenades
These are cool and have varied use when used in conjuction with a gas mask. Put them in the sec vendor.

- Autopop Security
This has already been outlined in the previous thread: Less than 10 = non antag captain. 10-19 = 1 officer 19+ = 2 officers. This has a double benefit of not having a lame murderfuck captain on low pop. It's also balanced, it's not forcing a full team, only supplying the bare minimum. Consider adding in space law for all these new recruits.

- Stackable Wanted Posters
Wanted posters are extremely under utilized because a single piece of paper takes up as much space in your bag as a gun. Go the extra mile and instead of making them stackable, have a container (could even just be a paper bin) where you can drag+click ANY paper item to the bin would autostack it. Basically the paper bin can now work in reverse. This would benefit not only wanted posters, but all other documents. No more paper bloat.

- Improve Grenade Launcher
The grenade launcher takes up a significant space in your bag, and the grenades are single use and cant fit in a belt. Serious buff: Allow the grenade launcher to take up x1 space like any other item, has space for 3 grenades and the ammo can fit a belt slot. The smoke is not "smoke" but tear gas, which when exposed while not wearing a mask will cause them to "cough" and drop items like smoke, but will also create escelating blindness. Now THAT's a proper area denial weapon.

- Upgrade Brig
 Cog1 brig is laughable and has ALWAYS been terrible. Take a note from the Cog2 genpop which has tables at the windows. That would fix a large proportion of the problem. Add in a monkey called Furious George who's armed with a knife. Use him to table flip, after you defeat him. It's a funny but useful addition. Also make him extremely agressive. Give the genpop more things in it to play around with. Stuff like drugs + beakers. This + the shrill escape noise would be serious improvement. Also increase the timer.

- Improved Surveillance + Anti-crime
As mentioned in the previous thread, more anti-crime things would be nice. Stockades, Shock Collers, etc. An improved camera system that allows sec to shift around instead of that big ol awful list would be nice. Body-cams on security. But this is at the bottom of the list, a lot can be improved before these additions can be looked at.

Things I question whether they are good additions or not:

- Prison Station
There already is an actual prison station. That said I'm not sure of the ethics of this. You could reserve for the worst of the worst, but Ed you're a HoS with some reservation. Not all players have that, and i'm afraid it would be abused and simple crimes would result in being put in space alcatraz. THAT SAID, I don't see an issue with putting a pod beacon at the station. More options of punishments is fun, so this can be explored.

- Whacky Flailing Inflatable Arm Waving Space Segways
While I appreciate that space segways could use some improvement, I don't know if they need that many additions. Would be cool to have some hotrod space segways that you could order from QM

- Brigless Station
Really don't like this idea. The brig is bread and butter security and if removed would essentially kill security. More options of punishment, yes. This, no.

[ferriswheel1]

Improve the range and projectile speed of tasers, or give sec weapons that are useful in a chase (Glue grenades?). I feel like currently, any chase is a guaranteed loosing prospect for the pursuer.

EDIT: Also, on the concept of a "prison station?" Just load someone into the port-a-brig, strip them of any internals, then fly to a remote debris field location and maroon them there. Headset optional depending on how annoying they are. For extra pirate-points, leave them the russian revolver.

[Noah Buttes]

I agree with captainbravo on the clicklag.

That shit makes it nearly impossible to use a stun baton on anyone who's actually moving around.