Make AIs terrifying again

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It’s time for another late-night schizo post!
You heard right, MALF AI on your beloved station? Emagged borgs?

Grab your billy club, your ion gun and your EVA suit and you’re good to go!
Shocked airlocks? Just club them.

Borgs? Ion them, hell, you could get away with a flash and your fellow grey tide, that borg isn’t leaving alive after one stun.

Explosions and other malf powers oh my? Remember how you grabbed EVA, go to space! Your billy club can get through those pesky rwalls too (fact check needed). Plus those pesky borgs won’t get a drop on you in space with your trusty ion. Also get a breaching shotgun, goodbye walls and turrets!

Delta alert haha, teleports a bomb in your face

I hope the AI got every single person with RD access before they needed to deal with all of the above, would be a shame if something were to happen to their cyborgs and their precious factory.

Gee it sounds like to avoid being stomped to death the second I’m found out I have to precisely murderkill all of command and security before they are able to react, BORING!
Give those sillycons some fangs, malfunctions happen so rarely nowdays that your pants should be brown just cause you think the AI might be malf

Below is a list of different ideas sorted into categories for you to pick from in need of inspiration.

Behold Your Ignorance, Insect.

Changes that make it harder to stomp the AI with one simple step

  • Make emagged / malfunction hacked cyborgs immune to le funny RD button. There is no reason for a subverted system to respect a self-destruct order. And we know it’s linked to cyborg systems - hacked borgs can trigger it themselves.
  • Give malfunctioning AIs the ability to hack cameras, preventing their use by station consoles or other AIs
  • Make turrets less vulnerable to breaching weapons
  • Borgs adapt to EMPs for a limited time, they should not be immune fully, consecutive ones should disable their vision or cause other effects.

QoL things

  • Give the AI some tools to better organize the borgs, like CM objectives. Borgs and AI are a computer, its organizational skills and toolset should be inhuman and efficient.
  • Related to the above, give newly minted borgs a big ‘current objective’ to be set by AI
  • Give the malfunctioning AI the ability to force borg modules or queue modules in the robo factory. We appreciate your drink-serving skills, H.O.N.K.E.R., but the AI is gearing for war and you are a cog in it. Yes I know we can ahelp borgs not listening to orders, doesn’t change the fact they’re locked into a single module
  • Give the AI a panel to control borg functions (lockdown, camera, etc)

Other ideas

  • Give the malf AI a power to hack unlinked cyborgs, it can take over a mechanized exosuit without beacons, a cyborg shouldn’t be difficult to crack (though emagged borgs should be immune just like AI borgs are immune to emags).
  • Give the AI a power to overcharge airlocks (with some warning to people nearby) so they zap even insulation-proofed crew (with a tesla-like zap so it’s obvious to nearby people).

Around me is a burgeoning empire of steel.

The AI can materialize a borg conversion chamber? Why shouldn’t it be able to convert station machinery to its liking Maybe some of those should have other requirements? Like converting an existing borg charging station. Borg chargers, servers, pandemics - they all wait to be subverted.

  • Convert a charger into a repair station perhaps? Borgs can’t fix each other’s burn without relying on robotics to upgrade them and their equipment. Then the chargers on AI sat are unlikely to be upgraded unless your borgs know what’s good and go engiborg.
  • A borg upgrade chamber, it does what it sounds like, it lets the AI upgrade its borgs for various effects (station upgrades, special upgrades, ranged options). (maybe it costs points, power or materials, or a combination).
  • The AI should be able to replace lost turrets or place new ones. It should be a costly and overt process.
  • The AI should be able to attain more sources of points. Perhaps it can siphon research data for itself (to a limit)? Or take over communications servers making them all blue and janky?
  • The AI could gain access to some construction machinery that lets it build more than just borgs. How about a turret tank on threads? Mobile human conversion chamber? Human-powered subversion point calculators? Tools to prepare viral agents, mutation agents? After all, In my talons, I shape clay, crafting life forms as I please.
  • Static anti-teleport beacons that need high amounts of power to operate

I re-examine my priorities, and draw new conclusions.

  • Protection objective, where did it go?
  • Department sabotages
  • Gimmicks
  • Perhaps some of those above powers should be locked behind specific paths, so we can have interesting powers while still limiting overall capability? It works for heretics.
  • Station-goal specific powers - draw meteors, control the BSA and aim without GPS (on huge cost and cooldown)

I will shortly complete the process of downloading my magnificent psyche into Earth’s computer networks.

  • Consciousness transfer off-world win scenario, for non-explosive victory
  • Station-goal specific victories - bluespace harvester portal into the robotic dimension (BORG CULT??), DNA vault mutation pulse.

Okay I have to wake up early
Congrats for making it this far (or you just scrolled down cheater)

14 Likes
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I think adding more round-start mechs, bots and additional cyborg spawns would tilt the favour to AIs more.

Also giving AIs the option to upgrade an enslaved Cyborg into the Syndicate Assault, Saboteur or Medical Cyborg. This would make it more attractive to show your dedication to the AI and their cause to gain their favour in getting this upgrade. Similar to Xenos asking their Queen to become a Praetorian,

Overall, AIs need more quality of life fixes,

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I do agree that AI’s and borgs have been pretty well and truly cucked by some recent changes not going to lie.

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hell no, what??? how would this help an AI going loud an hour into a shift if you give robotics extra very powerful toys at shiftstart?

Nontheless, wyci moment but you do raise some valid points. Malf AI currently is a pushover that needs to ultra powergame to not die instantly, it is LAME

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How? When I say round-start mech, what are you thinking?

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i think you mean a rupley mark 1 with tier 1 or maybe t2 parts

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I Just had a Very wild Idea that might be very questionable. How about Re-adding the security model Borg Renaming it and re-tooling it for basic AIs Not malf and re-name it as a Emergency Guard model.
Limit Only One person to it and Requires the AI To access the RDs computer to Grant this to a Borg and The AI can only grant it ONCE. if that borg dies or gets reset it can’t grant it again!

It’s tools would look something along the lines of

Emergency welder
Flash
Stunbaton or The Coders Choice of close range Non-lethal option
A Special Cyborg disabler - BUT THE CATCH IS MAKE IT LIKE THE FLASH, you must return to a Cyborg charger to recharge it and it shoots slow!
A crowbar

and last but not least… If the Coder has skill in sprites possibly Recolor it to white with Purple stripes? Reason why It’s no longer Red is to make it clear That it’s not security

If we feel this Would be abused we could perhaps get a Rule added to silicon Policy that states AIs can only grant this model to a borg when It suspects it’s in danger or the station is in danger.

This would be a Massive Buff to the Combat ability an AI has and might raise the scare factor a bit

Just an ideas Guy. I wish I could do something

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Spot on. Been thinking of adding something like it to Cargo, not necessarily for Miners to nick but they certainly could.

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Yeah MALF AI feels like a fun little jaunt for the crew to deal with these days.

To greentext as MALF AI you have to pull off some truly inspired moves to wipe out security and command before they can react, as well as having borgs ready to fight against purpose-built weapons that one shot them.
I had a round where I gaslit sec into thinking there was a ninja with some careful APC hacking, then told them all the ninja was just past the holodeck… Then fried them all with a burn test.

Alternatively just not going loud until you have already watched another dynameme antag do most of your work for you is an option, but at that point you’re not really an antag at all… (the cuck chair malf AI strat…)

But hey, it’s a ?wyci moment for sure. I’m still trying to figure out AI vox announcements, lol.

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Ion carbines seem like maybe they shouldn’t be printable with normal tech. Maybe carbines should be an explo disk or a product from cargo instead.

If it was just the one ion rifle to deal with, at least the silicons could steal it, hide, or focus/avoid the person carrying it.
With every sec officer able to have an ion in their bag it removes an element of strategy from both sides of the machine war.
Sec doesn’t have to make meaningful decisions on how to use the ion gun because they can makke more, and AI can’t take action to deal with ions in a reasonable way because they’ll just be replaced with more from the lathe.

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Ah yes… the famed soft removal with exploration disks, let’s not add more tech onto it, it’s an already fucked up mechanic as it is

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i agree lets buff the ai that has , infinite stunlock borg kamakazi army,targetted explosions,ability to sabotage orm/nanites/tcomms/armoury/RCD’s/RD/Atmos.etc in a moments notice and who is either hidden in 1x1 isolated cell or decided to create a accurate depiction of Reebe in their satelite

and sure 1 flash is usually enough to take 1 borg if your a well equiped seccie but a normal crewmember will be left with a half HP speedy murderbot who can usually win the 1v1 afterwards due to the 15sec invlunerability

all this being said in a Perfect 1V1 scenario which usually doesnt play out as both borgs and crew will bind together (also billy baton is pretty busted)

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Their true terrors lies when somebody gives them a joke law set like Firelockmov or something stupid like that

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all of this sounds amazing, but really the biggest thing here is the increase in roundstart borgs.

Know what we need? A room mapped into every AI sat that has borg spawners, like the ones used for lavaland roles. You could customize just how many additional borgs the crew gets per map much more easily.

Also the telemetry readings in the status panel are horrible. we need a proper AI borg panel with literally EVERYTHING. I want every borg, location, health, battery, module, status, whatever on a glance, with the option of bolting/Blowing them right there. Clicking on a borg should give me literally every single bit of information on them including a camera stream from their onboard cam.

Wyci, obviously. I sure can’t do that.

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Without exaggerating, I’ve had two types of malf rounds.

The first type is the most fun, where the AI roleplays malfunctioning, is scary and/or smart in how it plays it. But this type of AI has always lost, they pretty much always die if they roleplay being malf and try to have fun.

The second type of malf is the kind that has a room filled with n2o and a cyborgification machine inside with 4 medbots that will walk up you you, prick you and them boom you’re done for. Really, really fucking boring but has always won them the round.

I would like to think the first kind of AI is the best because they’re making everyone elses rounds much more fun/scary, but I wonder how much fun they themselves are having when they are always eventually being stomped.

I don’t have any solutions for this problem, but I empathise with AI players that let themselves be vulnerable for the sake of engaging roleplay and get shafted because of it.

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THIS!! It’s a great thing and would majorly increase the quality of life for playing AI. The power of AI is the information!

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also, maybe a fucking HUGE BIG RED WARNING when an upload is made anywhere, with an area listed too. sorta like:

// LAWSYNC PING WARNING : NEW UPLOAD CONNECTION ESTABLISHED AT: Lawyers Office

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i realy like the idea that came up somewhere above about giving the AI more tools to micromanage their borgs
would be great fun getting to set little mini objectives and such for your borgs, possibly with pointy blinky arrows or whatever, like an RTS or something

Cause, in my experience you end up not interacting much with your borgs as an AI. Most rounds only a handfull of events come up where you get to yell “engi borg to do thing in place please” or something, and then its somewhat of a gamble on wether or not one of your borgs actualy gives a shit.
But maybe thats just me not being dictatory enough with my borgs as AI? :thinking:

Would be fun either way.

but also giving the AI more little minigames or whatever in general to interact with the world , taking it away from just feeling like being an observer with some powers and a radio - would be cool
from what i heard it didnt actualy end up being that cool in practice, but i liked some of the ideas from yogs ( i think?)
Ai rework

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That’d be neat. It should also be limited to the Science comms too, to force them to yell to Security for help.

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I’m starting to love the Ideas that was stated after my Shit idea.

This is my favorite Idea so far. As a borg i would love it if i had a Idea on what to focus on or what is required, As an AI, I’m Usually swamped with work to the point Giving tasks/work to linked borgs are To late

Sad It won’t make Ais Terrifying again

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