Syndicate Radios should start on a different frequency

[Weavel]

Syndicate Operative #4 says, "whats the code for the nuke guys"
Shit Captain says, "AI BOLT ALL AIRLOCKS OPEN THE ARMOURY CALL THE SHUTTLE NOW"

Pretty much everyone has seen this happen at least once, and it sucks for everyone involved.
How about have the syndies only able to hear and speak over their own special frequency?

Instead of having them always type :h, just have it default to "Engaged" and set their frequency lower than any normal headset can tune to, so they never accidentally speak over the radio? Means they have to earn their ability to hear the normal station chatter, too.

[Cogwerks]

How about I make syndicate headsets function on a dedicated channel with the normal say; method, have a standard headset name so idiots can't out them by seeing the radio name, and put a handheld radio or two on the shuttle so they can hear the station? Although I kinda like the idea of them having to steal a radio to hear station chatter.

[Weavel]

That's dead-on what I'd like the syndies to have, Cogs. I do like them having to jack a radio, but there's one in pretty much every Emergency Closet with the Emergency Radios in the red toolbox. Maybe wallspeakers will get some use, too.

Plus, it might mean they have to work just that bit harder to avoid detection; not hearing something someone says over the normal channel might get your stealth syndie ass caught.

[I-Sett]

This is a great idea, AND it would mostly solve that other most annoying of problems:
Anytime anyone is a tile away from an undercover agent, all it takes is one guy saying anything at all on the syndie radio channel and BAM, Purple friggin text announces that: There are Syndies and This is One of Them.
At least this way, presumably, the only way to tell would be an alteration of the radio channel the neighboring pubbie can see in the same boring green text. Still noticeable, and possibly damning, depending on the content of the message, but much more subtle.

[airconswitch]

I like the idea of having a wall-mounted radio on the syndie shuttle, maybe encouraging them to leave a radioman behind.

[TheRedScare]

I like this idea as even though I always triple-check I am not about to say a message over the general radio I always have this deep dark fear that when I hit enter I will see my name pop up for the whole crew to scream at. Perhaps you could spawn a radio for telecrystals, this means you could hear the general station without stealing a radio but for a price.

[Conor12]

I'll miss the days of ";h Let's do this" and the screams that follow.

But it is for the best that syndicates get their own frequency. Choosing between hearing your team-mates or hearing the crew certainly sounds interesting.

[Cogwerks]

actually nevermind, I decided not to bother changing anything. There isn't really any problem and it's always funny when someone ruins radio silence.

[Weavel]

This happened seconds ago

It is utterly infuriating and happens constantly, it's impossible to ever do anything stealthy as a syndicate because of this shit.
Because of this, the captain immediately sprinted to the Armoury and got the laser for his pod then shot me to death mid-stealth infiltration.

I don't see why something that allows for accidental dumb play is a feature, man, can the headsets at least start on a different frequency? Rather than being on 145.9 can't they just be auto-on the Syndie freq and have :h reserved for station chat?

[Cogwerks]

It's not a feature, it's just such a common fuckup that a bunch of coders find it to be Classic SS13 and don't want it changed.

They can't start on the syndicate frequency and have the station frequency be the secure band without rewriting a whole bunch of how radios work in general. You could yell at your teammates to change their headset frequency at the start, I guess. See how that goes.

Honestly having the captain go all rambo and come flying out in his pod makes him incredibly vulnerable, any team that was cooperating would have been able to use that as a huge chance to waste the dude outside of the station.

I also probably wouldn't be too upset if syndicate commanders started shooting teammates once in the knee for breaking radio silence. Might cause some laughs.

[Darth Various]

As I implied in IRC, it might take the crew a few seconds longer to scream about nuke ops if the ops didn't start the round named "Donk-Tech Obvious Syndicate Operative #1". Wasn't there an idea to let them pick their start-of-round name like cyborgs/AI/wizards?

[Armchair]

Why not set things up so that both the syndies and the station have their headsets preconfigured to a random new frequency each round? Not a super-special faction only frequency, but just an ordinary frequency that anyone could tune in and listen to?

If the syndies want to tap into station communications, then they'd need to track down the station's frequency for that round.

To an extent, it also works both ways. Some paranoid station dweller with his tinfoil hat and every station bounced radio on the station might accidentally uncover the syndie chatter.

Also, the idiots who break radio silence and alert the entire crew to their presence 10 seconds into the round are probably the same idiots who don't even realize that their earpiece has an adjustable frequency knob. By simply having their radio defaulted to some other channel, they'd probably be incapable of talking to anyone on the station if their life depended on it.

[Dauntasa]

so I was a syndie the other day and when I was talking over the :h frequency I noticed that apparently it's on 145.9 now, which is also the main station frequency.

I also noticed that despite this and the fact that we were talking on it a whole bunch the people on the station didn't know we were coming so we took them by surprise and won in like 9 minutes. So I guess it's not going out over the main frequency, but says that it is? What's going on with this?