Goonhub
08-08-2013, 09:57 AM
okay I promise to stop posting threads after this one, quality not quantity I know etc. etc. but I'm bored & need a distraction & don't have byond/CK2 to waste my time on so instead I waste it posting on forums
Anyway. I think it would be pretty rad if Security had a way to track ID cards without having to rely on the AI. When Security gets evidence on someone who they haven't caught red-handed and want to bring in, they currently say, "AI! Track <blah!>" 9 times out of 10 the AI never responds, either because they don't want to or they're too busy with the all important task of opening doors. The 10th time the AI will meticulously track and report Blah's every whereabouts, letting security know that Blah has ducked into this specific corridor and is carrying XYZ item, and oh yeah now Blah is in that locker, just look 2 tiles north of you officer there is Blah. Blah's options are kinda limited here, either they have to escape into space, cut a bunch of cameras before security catches up to them, or hope that another baddie does something awful enough to divert the AI's attention.
So here's my middleground solution that lets Security pursue suspects without having to make the AI an accomplice and while giving the pursued some latitude. A console or control panel in security where you simple enter in the name on the ID card and it returns the Area the card is in-- not the XYZ coordinates (you can use tracking implants if you're really that obsessive) but just the name of the Area.
here's the benefits to baddies:
-If you're moving around, it takes more effort to track you. At least two officers would have to work together, one staying in the sec office to keep checking your ID card's location and announcing updates on the sec radio, the other to actually go forth and find you. If you yourself have a sec headset then it'd be really easy for you to stay a step ahead of the officers.
-It'd be nigh useless if you're in a major hallway because the areas they cover are so broadly defined and you're probably moving around anyway. Of course if you stay in the hallway you have to contend with actual patrolling officers with brains (less likely) or Officer Beepsky (hm)
-If they're tracking an ID that you have in your pocket/backpack and not wearing, you can easily lay low in a crowded area (bar/medbay) and Sec won't be able to tell who they're looking for. Or maybe they'll go nuts and stripsearch everyone and provoke an uprising that lets you take advantage of the chaos.
-Even if Sec knows the general area where you are that isn't always helpful. They might think you're in the Chapel when you're actually laying low in the confessional booth. Or if you're in maintenance where it's dark and there's lots of corridors you'd have a chance to get the drop on someone blindly looking around for you.
-You can still evade it through the trick of hiding in a locker, or having an Agent ID, or tossing a suspicious/"hot" ID card away, or heck maybe even radio jammers & EMP should block it too. would suggest the computer gives the some generic "ID not found" response to untrackable IDs & IDs that don't exist so sec doesn't immediately say "hm, he's gotta have an agent ID, break out the laser guns"
-You can use IDs to bait people into traps (this is important)
-Also if you are a traitor and you break into sec and get access to the computer you can use it to your own devious needs of finding your assassination target!
Advantage to Sec:
-don't have to bother the AI to do your job all the time, and lets you work when the AI is dead/rogue/an owl
-encourages coordination
-lets you get the drop on suspects instead of blaring out over the public comms, "HEY WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOU"
-lets you track missing people/stolen IDs. suppose you notice your fellow officers have been very quiet on the comms lately, track their ID and find an abandoned power station stuffed with decaying husks.....
the other major benefit:
the mechanical stuff is super easy to code the only part requiring some effort would be creating the interface for the computer.
:mason: :page3: :pranke: 
:japan: 
:lron: :shepface: 
:w2byob: :douche: 
Anyway. I think it would be pretty rad if Security had a way to track ID cards without having to rely on the AI. When Security gets evidence on someone who they haven't caught red-handed and want to bring in, they currently say, "AI! Track <blah!>" 9 times out of 10 the AI never responds, either because they don't want to or they're too busy with the all important task of opening doors. The 10th time the AI will meticulously track and report Blah's every whereabouts, letting security know that Blah has ducked into this specific corridor and is carrying XYZ item, and oh yeah now Blah is in that locker, just look 2 tiles north of you officer there is Blah. Blah's options are kinda limited here, either they have to escape into space, cut a bunch of cameras before security catches up to them, or hope that another baddie does something awful enough to divert the AI's attention.
So here's my middleground solution that lets Security pursue suspects without having to make the AI an accomplice and while giving the pursued some latitude. A console or control panel in security where you simple enter in the name on the ID card and it returns the Area the card is in-- not the XYZ coordinates (you can use tracking implants if you're really that obsessive) but just the name of the Area.
here's the benefits to baddies:
-If you're moving around, it takes more effort to track you. At least two officers would have to work together, one staying in the sec office to keep checking your ID card's location and announcing updates on the sec radio, the other to actually go forth and find you. If you yourself have a sec headset then it'd be really easy for you to stay a step ahead of the officers.
-It'd be nigh useless if you're in a major hallway because the areas they cover are so broadly defined and you're probably moving around anyway. Of course if you stay in the hallway you have to contend with actual patrolling officers with brains (less likely) or Officer Beepsky (hm)
-If they're tracking an ID that you have in your pocket/backpack and not wearing, you can easily lay low in a crowded area (bar/medbay) and Sec won't be able to tell who they're looking for. Or maybe they'll go nuts and stripsearch everyone and provoke an uprising that lets you take advantage of the chaos.
-Even if Sec knows the general area where you are that isn't always helpful. They might think you're in the Chapel when you're actually laying low in the confessional booth. Or if you're in maintenance where it's dark and there's lots of corridors you'd have a chance to get the drop on someone blindly looking around for you.
-You can still evade it through the trick of hiding in a locker, or having an Agent ID, or tossing a suspicious/"hot" ID card away, or heck maybe even radio jammers & EMP should block it too. would suggest the computer gives the some generic "ID not found" response to untrackable IDs & IDs that don't exist so sec doesn't immediately say "hm, he's gotta have an agent ID, break out the laser guns"
-You can use IDs to bait people into traps (this is important)
-Also if you are a traitor and you break into sec and get access to the computer you can use it to your own devious needs of finding your assassination target!
Advantage to Sec:
-don't have to bother the AI to do your job all the time, and lets you work when the AI is dead/rogue/an owl
-encourages coordination
-lets you get the drop on suspects instead of blaring out over the public comms, "HEY WE'RE LOOKING FOR YOU"
-lets you track missing people/stolen IDs. suppose you notice your fellow officers have been very quiet on the comms lately, track their ID and find an abandoned power station stuffed with decaying husks.....
the other major benefit:
the mechanical stuff is super easy to code the only part requiring some effort would be creating the interface for the computer.
:mason: :page3: :pranke: :japan: :lron: :shepface: :w2byob: :douche:
