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Secure topside locations

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@ReeferMadness wrote,

Until retinal scanners and hand print scanners can be bypassed by use of severed or gouged parts - the only viable way to commit espionage/subterfuge is to be a faction member. Due to the overwhelming meta of heavy handed consequences (Which may or may not be factual) - this continues to be fairly non-existent.

I think we should take a good look at what slows down conflict topside and try to rectify it. The overall feeling I get is not just a theme of desperation and untouchable ness of topside/mix dynamics but an actual reality - this makes for a pretty dull gamedynamic.

Reefer summed things up nicely.

The inability to bypass locks in a major impediment to topside conflict.

If anything can be done to rectify this, doing so would engender more conflict and make the game better.

Some of the usual concerns that come up in any discussion about bypassing locked doors are:

Apartments are sacred.

Fear not. This is not a slippery slope down the path of breaking into apartments. This suggestion is about corporate (and other) topside (Gold, Green(?)) locations.

People will just wait until the dead of night / nobody is online and go on a wholesale rampage.

Maybe. Maybe not. There are so many systems in the game to mitigate this risk outright, or by leaving enough clues behind to make follow up (read additional RP) viable.

If this suggestion gets consideration, I recommend that it does NOT apply to the Mix. The Mix is already dangerous enough.

I am recommending this to increase conflict topside in an organic, character driven way.

From a systems point of view I think it would be as "simple" as a new piece of gear for bypassing locks, combined with the system currently used for vehicle hotwiring and vehicle security systems.

By Hek at Dec 10, 2022 11:34 AM
All acts inside secured areas which could be bypassed by acquiring hands and eyes would fall under crime/secured building areas you'd need to xhelp about anyways.

Couldn't you coordinate with staff to work out a plot where your character acquires severed hands/gouged eyes to run this story/plot since you're going to have to xhelp staff anyways?

By crashdown at Dec 10, 2022 1:55 PM
The need for a body part is already a huge hurdle given how infrequently corporate characters place themselves in a situation where they are vulnerable to being detained long enough to have body parts removed.

When the need for a body part is combined with the scheduling challenges inherent in getting n+1 "attackers" together at the same time a staffer is available to respond to an xhelp or handle a puppet request, it puts a severe damper on topside crime.

Removing the need for a body part / allowing the bypassing of locks with technical tools would make crime "easier" or more frequent.

(Incoming tangent about topside crime)

The larger thematic question is, should Gold be a slightly less secure version of Green, or a slightly less dangerous version of Red?

I would like to see it be more like Red. I would like to see Judge tokens be like Walker tokens on steroids. By that I mean, powerful enough that we don't see high level combat characters pulling an entire street's worth of them for the lolz.

I would like corporate characters to feel the same fear when they see a shroud that Red sector residents feel. They should be worried that they're about to be mugged or worse. I would like to see a dynamic where corporate security is perceived as necessary for non-combat corporate PCs who want to walk down the street.

I want the WJF to leave the Hall expecting to have to pull their Enforcer and send someone to the vats.

I would like to see that danger balanced by systems that make it highly likely that the attackers will either get caught in the act, shortly thereafter, or leave enough hints behind that there will likely be consequences.

By Hek at Dec 10, 2022 4:26 PM
Apartments are sacred.

They are? Like legitimately as a new player, are they? I log in half the time expecting to just see my character's relatives and his dog moving on and a warm glow of the vats welcoming her to figuring out who killed my character in their sleep.

Like, I thought that breaking into someone's apartment while they are offline and murdering them in their sleep is just a thing that happens, and could definitely be counted on as possibility if you piss of the wrong people in SD. Better upgrade that front door.

If this is an OOC rule, it is not written down anywhere.

By Risikio at Dec 11, 2022 8:48 AM
A separate discussion but no, apartments are not sacred, players leave them open and get them emptied all the time. Breaking and Entering apartments has been a mechanic that Johnny was keen to implement, but it is strongly opposed by many players and some staff including Slither.

I believe that thinking what players are left in Sindome now would remain playing, if they could lose years of progress overnight while asleep offline, is a fantasy.

However sleepers are sacred in a sense. Recently disconnected characters are protected mechanically from virtually everything, and once those protections have lapsed it is still strictly forbidden to kill them. Likewise they are subject to kidnapping rules even when asleep, so moving them is as well controlled and likely to be subject to GM watchfulness. Their possessions can be stolen once protections have lapsed.

By 0x1mm at Dec 11, 2022 10:41 AM
'I would like corporate characters to feel the same fear when they see a shroud that Red sector residents feel. They should be worried that they're about to be mugged or worse. I would like to see a dynamic where corporate security is perceived as necessary for non-combat corporate PCs who want to walk down the street.

I want the WJF to leave the Hall expecting to have to pull their Enforcer and send someone to the vats.'

Neither of these are realistic longterm or fun for the playerbase if necessary on a consistent and frequent basis. And make no mistake, people already do get uneasy with shrouds on Gold. But making it into a mirror of Red sector isn't healthy.

Crime on topside sectors has been considerably relaxed in its communication requirements and encouraged with the changes to help crime and limiting when xhelps are needed over the last two years.

You'll need to xhelp already to try to break into a secured building based on the help crime stipulations. I don't mind at all using severed parts to break into areas, but by implementing it as an automatic coded aspect, I have significant concerns it'll lead to people attacking NPCs, severing NPCs, and using NPC parts rather than PC parts.

Corporate PCs do put themselves in position of danger or to get targeted. Not all, but a lot do. Whether others take advantage of that or succeed is something else entirely.

By crashdown at Dec 11, 2022 12:47 PM
You'll need to xhelp already to try to break into a secured building based on the help crime stipulations. I don't mind at all using severed parts to break into areas, but by implementing it as an automatic coded aspect, I have significant concerns it'll lead to people attacking NPCs, severing NPCs, and using NPC parts rather than PC parts.

This is a good callout. I would insist it be limited to PC parts so we're fostering the right kind of PvP conflict.

Ideally, I view this as a primate use-case for the Janitor role as mentioned by Slither in another thread. Espionage sprinkled with extreme violence.

By ReeferMadness at Dec 11, 2022 1:49 PM
My issue would be that general security was never balanced around the fact that anyone could open scanner doors. Whether a door was a scanner and what type, rather than some other locking system was mostly arbitrary, and what was behind them was perhaps never assumed to be so easily accessible.

I think if there's going to be changes to door security to make locations generally more vulnerable, the whole concept of room security needs a pass as far as locking containers being more available, being able to lock things like terminals and electronics, being able to install or swap different door locking systems.

If it was widely understood IC that biometric locks could be bypassed simply with a body part, there would be multiple layers of locking security on everything.

By 0x1mm at Dec 11, 2022 1:57 PM
Even if the locations generally more vulnerable are restricted to megacorporations on Gold Sector?
By ReeferMadness at Dec 11, 2022 2:00 PM
My experience is a lot of "secure" locations are empty, or have systems in them that are not really intended for casual access. But having HQ or facility vaults or areas which are configured to be routinely heist accessible through whatever combination of means would be pretty cool.
By 0x1mm at Dec 11, 2022 2:30 PM
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