Goonhub
01-04-2014, 06:01 AM
Currently the mainframe is only really useful for the research sector. Yet it is placed in a prominent and one of the most secure areas of the entire station. That is why I believe more things should depend on the mainframe, making it invaluable to the station.
All robots are currently able to operate on their own, only the guardbuddies require programming through the mainframe before they are deployed. I suggest, that robots become just stupid hardware and are operated by the stations mainframe, so when the mainframe goes offline all robots will stop and do nothing. This would also open more possibilities to traitors. Currently robots must be emagged one at a time, this is nothing I want to change.
However, perhaps traitors should be able to purchase a program/virus that can be loaded into the mainframe with root-permissions which would make all active robots behave as if emagged.
A radio jammer placed close by the mainframes radio-uplink could make all robots go offline, as the mainframe would loose connection to them.
There are also several databases across the station, security records, medical records and the financial records (bank balances / budgets). They can be accessed at any time, given that a computer is still operational. They are synchronized through magic, it seems. These databases could also be accessed through the mainframe and perhaps be stored on a tape. So if someone wants their criminal record cleared they won't have to bother the AI or steal an ID with access. They could steal the tape or just blow the mainframe to pieces.
This can be done for almost any computer system on the station, the security camera-computers for example could also be just something that connects to the mainframe, just without the users CLI.
PDAs are another point, currently they communicate directly with each other, making them something that can not be easily jammed. The mainframe could be added as a gateway between PDAs, so all incoming messages would be processed by the mainframe, and then bounced to the recipient. PDAs would then send and receive on different frequencies.
This could also open more possibilities for the nerds across the station to do something they should not do, maybe built a make-shift security-camera-wiretap or listening in to PDA transmission, intercept or even modify them.
A PDA logging feature could also be added, when a captain gets paranoid he could make the mainframe log all sent PDA messages / files and make security sniff around a bit in the crews private data.
All robots are currently able to operate on their own, only the guardbuddies require programming through the mainframe before they are deployed. I suggest, that robots become just stupid hardware and are operated by the stations mainframe, so when the mainframe goes offline all robots will stop and do nothing. This would also open more possibilities to traitors. Currently robots must be emagged one at a time, this is nothing I want to change.
However, perhaps traitors should be able to purchase a program/virus that can be loaded into the mainframe with root-permissions which would make all active robots behave as if emagged.
A radio jammer placed close by the mainframes radio-uplink could make all robots go offline, as the mainframe would loose connection to them.
There are also several databases across the station, security records, medical records and the financial records (bank balances / budgets). They can be accessed at any time, given that a computer is still operational. They are synchronized through magic, it seems. These databases could also be accessed through the mainframe and perhaps be stored on a tape. So if someone wants their criminal record cleared they won't have to bother the AI or steal an ID with access. They could steal the tape or just blow the mainframe to pieces.
This can be done for almost any computer system on the station, the security camera-computers for example could also be just something that connects to the mainframe, just without the users CLI.
PDAs are another point, currently they communicate directly with each other, making them something that can not be easily jammed. The mainframe could be added as a gateway between PDAs, so all incoming messages would be processed by the mainframe, and then bounced to the recipient. PDAs would then send and receive on different frequencies.
This could also open more possibilities for the nerds across the station to do something they should not do, maybe built a make-shift security-camera-wiretap or listening in to PDA transmission, intercept or even modify them.
A PDA logging feature could also be added, when a captain gets paranoid he could make the mainframe log all sent PDA messages / files and make security sniff around a bit in the crews private data.
