[PR] AI Eyebot rework

[Waffleloffle]

Re: Differentiating AI controlled drones-- I don't think DIFFERENTIATION is the issue, nececcarily-- if it were, sure, I can see the benifit locking the drone appearance appropriately, but I don't think it's an issue-- the AI being differentiable by the name prefix SHELL/ has worked fine for AI-controlled cyborgs, I don't see why it couldn't work fine for this too.

I'm inclined to disagree on this point. you're gonna be seeing another player's sprite long before you get to see your name, and being able to recognize what role someone is is extremely important when it comes to high-power roles like heads or the AI. if you see an eyebot zipping around taking out external windows, your first thought's probably gonna be, "hey what the fuck, the AI's rogue" which can easily snowball into a massive miscommunication that leaves everyone involved just kinda peeved about it all afterwards

maybe this is a lot of fuss to make about a cosmetic option, but there's precedence for this design concern expressed for things like a proposed set of blue-and-black HoS gear, so I feel like it's important to bring up. I think the other concerns about brain-eyebots being used as borging with an extra fuck-you element are also pretty valid. maybe restricting (visually distinct non-AI) eyebots to accepting SICC brains only could ensure it's a choice instead of a punishment, though at that point one has to wonder if they start encroaching on the niche of the humble ghostdrone instead

[Paai]

Hmm... well, I think the distinction is pretty clear with AI borg shells-- It's actually super ingrained from my experience. I put SHELL/ as a prefix to my name once as a regular cyborg, for a gimmick, and I ended up having to change it ten minutes in because everyone instantly assumed i was the AI, even though I was totally silent on comms and the actual AI was pretty active dshjdsk.. the SHELL/ prefix works a lot better than you'd expect.

In a good most cases if the AI is rogue, so are the borgs-- and vice versa. In situations involving an emag, I think that already suffers from the same exact issue- A borg taking out windows will still elicit 'aw fuck, the AI's rogue' whether or not it's a cyborg or a drone that's doing it. And, asides, the concequences for mistaking it are also pretty minimal?
Like honestly, emagged cyborgs and rogued silicons are the only semiserious things at risk of being misconstrued for each other because of it, and they already DO get misconstrued for each other. Which isn't inherently a bad thing, either. A bit of ambiguity in a game of deception? I mean. yeah

So I don't think the main way to tell being a name prefix is. that bad? i feel like it's a situation that works fine with AI controlled cyborgs, so I don't see why it couldn't with AI controlled drones, too

With the restricting to SICCs... That removes the ability for a cyborg to be transferred into one, which eradicates it as a swapout situation for borgs to use like other borg parts at current, which would be a pretty big shame.. It's a compromise but I think it's like. the worst sort of compromise you know. it loses the main benifits for both sides and would pretty much just be jankier, better ghostdrone like you said

I'll reiterate that i personally think refusing to transfer someone back out from a drone to a cyborg if they ask is a pretty not great thing to do if you're the one who borged them- I'd say it's the monkey clause. you cant just shove someone into a genescanner and turn them into a monkey if they dont want to be one- that's not cool. it's similar to that- you can borg a crimer, sure, if they've been requisitely evil, but locking them to that specific borg type Just Because You Dont Like Them would be under monkey clause.

[sunkiisu]

Personally I'm a big fan of this sort of thing - Both the upgrades (with some points that have already been iterated on, like the module contents) and (though this may be unpopular opinion) I really enjoy the idea of the drone shells taking brains or SICCs.

While I completely understand the concern with taking drones from AI exclusivity, and I'm trying to think of it outside the bias of "This is sick and I want to have it because I'd use it." I think properly nerfed it could be used as more of a good introductory to borg for people who want to take it on training wheels (I'm pretty sure someone said that somewhere here as well?) Or just as a very optional hardmode for seasoned borg players. And, should it be merged to also be playable as a non-AI, it would be adding more variety to borgs as a whole without needing to uproot the system and add completely new categories of borgs - Drones already exist!

+ I think when it comes to confusing AI shells with borg shells, I already do this constantly with the bigger AI shells, and I find that the confusion usually lasts me as long as it takes to read the chat log or alt+mouseover. I cannot recall a single instance where this confusion has ever caused me any genuine problems aside from a 4-5 second, "Whoopsies, that's the AI!"

This asides, I both play on lowpop/RP mostly and I can't attest to the experiences people might have on higherpop or classic about this sort of thing. I also enjoy having exclusivity to the AI for purposes of readability, but I feel it's equally sad to throw away a good idea because it conflicts too much. Maybe making a cosmetic variant of drone that's non-AI exclusive, and keeping the old drones as AI exclusive? This raises some concerns about possible future cosmetic variants of drones as a whole, but it would cut down on possible confusion while maintaining some exclusivity. You could even cut drone modules from the AI variant as a whole to really cut back and differentiate the two.. (Though mostly at this point I'm just trying to rattle off solutions to possible concerns, and I don't know anything about code, so I'm probably doubling back on my entire point of "Creating more variation without creating a new category of borg.")

As for modules themselves, I think that they could have good use, just much more watered down. I had a whole thought process on this in conversation somewhere but to simplify it, I think if I'd give drones modules I'd approach it with a "This will save you in a pinch, but it's not going to fix anything anytime soon." attitude. I'm a medical main at heart, so I'd say epi (possibly ephedrine, because I'd love to see it used more often and it falls in line with the downgraded variant idea), saline drip, atropine, and maybe mannitol or salbutamol. But not mannitol and salbutamol, either or, or neither... Remove mainstay burn/brute chems entirely - Saline heals some, and atropine is another chem I don't see used often, but it can be fairly useful so I also hesitate to list it. Most of that could be condensed to a single hypo and then a saline glucose bag, then your usual drone omnitool, analyzer, etc.

All in all, there's a lot of possible concerns that I'm seeing against, and while I don't entirely disagree with them all, I think it's worth considering implementing this, both the drone refresh itself and the possibility of non-AI drone. Most issues could be remedied with reworking, I think... plus I would adore getting to play a drone casually without the added role of AI, and I hope it's put to more deliberation.

[Paai]

Oh, hmm- swapping out the menders for a downgraded borg hypo might be good. I'll see about that.