Survivor Specific Rules

[Mycroft Macarthur]

before we begin, i must apologize if you disagree with the state of my grammar, i have done the best i am able given the extent of my education.

but now onto the point.





okay, so i've been seeing ALOT of flip flopping in regards to survivors, i have myself been scolded numerous times for doing things when other players have told me they do the exact same things regular with nary a peep, i have been told by some admins that the survivors are essentially just cargo, they exist only for the marines to be rescued and are basically supposed to just sit there on the sulaco and do...nothing, the entire round, i have even been warned i am not allowed to set up the engine, i am not allowed to roleplay as if the marines are anything other then christ figures who walk on water, i am not allowed to defend myself in any manner beyond running away and while i am supposed to know basically everything about the aliens, what they can do, how they came to be here, etc...i am not allowed to know anything about the ship ITSELF or how to operate any function of it be it making ripleys with the spare shit in robotics, looting for equipment to survive, hacking doors or performing any form of medical service (it makes me wonder why the company hired me at ALL, why would i have BEEN an employee on the nostromo if i am incapable of anything that even a four year old failing his public education would know?), in spite of being the employee of a completely separate organization that MAY not have the marines best interests at heart (as seen in aliens, alien 3 and some of the games, books and comics, weyland yutani is perfectly willing to sacrifice or outright MURDER members of the marine corps if it means protecting the aliens and acquiring live ones for their bioweapons program) we are required to know and understand the specific laws of the marine corps, follow each and every rule and regulation even when doing so would lead to our deaths, put us at significant risk or harm or bring harm to the COMPANY.

and yet in spite of all that marine and alien players alike have cheered me on for setting up the engine, rescuing them and fighting back against the alien threat, the commanders have made me a full member of the marines complete with ID and uniform, armed and sent into the fray against the alien menace, i even heard once that a survivor was allowed to start a MUTINY against the marine commander and he wasn't so much as given a slap on the wrist (but then again that particular round was crazy as all shit), i cannot think of a single player who has ever had an issue or given me grief over any survivor rp i've ever done that was not an admin, as i hear from other players who have been survivors for this case seems to be quite common, we are able to keep things completely in character until someone decides we are having fun and they need to put a stop to it IMMEDIATELY.

clearly there is some degree of misinformation.

while my attitude on the matter is less then positive i am not here to bitch, i am here to suggest that the rules have an additional section added to them which is specific to survivor players, it seems clear to me we need to define VERY specifically just what it is they are and are not allowed to do in the course of their roleplay because i have heard things from admins, mods and players that DIRECTLY contradict each other, at times in life we need rules and guidelines and regulations to strictly define what is acceptable in the course of a roleplay, as this seems to be the general attitude of the server admins here then i recommend that the nature of the survivor not be kept vague or in the air. are they ever allowed to fight marines for ANY reason or avoid them if the roleplay is appropriate for it? are they allowed to behave as if they have certain knowledge and if so to what extent? as survivors should they be banned from breaking into the armory and retrieving the weapons within, acquiring sec hardsuits so they have the best protection possible from a threat they know and FEAR (while enabling them to set up the engine) or are they still bound by the same rules as the marines, or are their regs even stricter? letting them tell the marines what they know till they get moved to the sulaco recovery rooms where they are kindly told they can feel free to log out now.

and again, what exactly can they tell the marines as well? are they essentially there to let the marines metagame (by telling the marines about huggers, telling the doctors to go arm themselves and warning of chestbursters, etc) or what?

i for one demand specific answers.

[mdom]

before we begin, i must apologize if you disagree with the state of my grammar, i have done the best i am able given the extent of my education.

but now onto the point.





okay, so i've been seeing ALOT of flip flopping in regards to survivors, i have myself been scolded numerous times for doing things when other players have told me they do the exact same things regular with nary a peep, i have been told by some admins that the survivors are essentially just cargo, they exist only for the marines to be rescued and are basically supposed to just sit there on the sulaco and do...nothing, the entire round, i have even been warned i am not allowed to set up the engine, i am not allowed to roleplay as if the marines are anything other then christ figures who walk on water, i am not allowed to defend myself in any manner beyond running away and while i am supposed to know basically everything about the aliens, what they can do, how they came to be here, etc...i am not allowed to know anything about the ship ITSELF or how to operate any function of it be it making ripleys with the spare shit in robotics, looting for equipment to survive, hacking doors or performing any form of medical service (it makes me wonder why the company hired me at ALL, why would i have BEEN an employee on the nostromo if i am incapable of anything that even a four year old failing his public education would know?), in spite of being the employee of a completely separate organization that MAY not have the marines best interests at heart (as seen in aliens, alien 3 and some of the games, books and comics, weyland yutani is perfectly willing to sacrifice or outright MURDER members of the marine corps if it means protecting the aliens and acquiring live ones for their bioweapons program) we are required to know and understand the specific laws of the marine corps, follow each and every rule and regulation even when doing so would lead to our deaths, put us at significant risk or harm or bring harm to the COMPANY.

and yet in spite of all that marine and alien players alike have cheered me on for setting up the engine, rescuing them and fighting back against the alien threat, the commanders have made me a full member of the marines complete with ID and uniform, armed and sent into the fray against the alien menace, i even heard once that a survivor was allowed to start a MUTINY against the marine commander and he wasn't so much as given a slap on the wrist (but then again that particular round was crazy as all shit), i cannot think of a single player who has ever had an issue or given me grief over any survivor rp i've ever done that was not an admin, as i hear from other players who have been survivors for this case seems to be quite common, we are able to keep things completely in character until someone decides we are having fun and they need to put a stop to it IMMEDIATELY.

clearly there is some degree of misinformation.

while my attitude on the matter is less then positive i am not here to bitch, i am here to suggest that the rules have an additional section added to them which is specific to survivor players, it seems clear to me we need to define VERY specifically just what it is they are and are not allowed to do in the course of their roleplay because i have heard things from admins, mods and players that DIRECTLY contradict each other, at times in life we need rules and guidelines and regulations to strictly define what is acceptable in the course of a roleplay, as this seems to be the general attitude of the server admins here then i recommend that the nature of the survivor not be kept vague or in the air. are they ever allowed to fight marines for ANY reason or avoid them if the roleplay is appropriate for it? are they allowed to behave as if they have certain knowledge and if so to what extent? as survivors should they be banned from breaking into the armory and retrieving the weapons within, acquiring sec hardsuits so they have the best protection possible from a threat they know and FEAR (while enabling them to set up the engine) or are they still bound by the same rules as the marines, or are their regs even stricter? letting them tell the marines what they know till they get moved to the sulaco recovery rooms where they are kindly told they can feel free to log out now.

and again, what exactly can they tell the marines as well? are they essentially there to let the marines metagame (by telling the marines about huggers, telling the doctors to go arm themselves and warning of chestbursters, etc) or what?

i for one demand specific answers.

I too demand satisfaction.

Solid post and questions.

[Chaznoodles]

In my opinion, survivors are there to assist the marines, and provide vital information. Setting up the engine is allowed, fixing things is allowed, things like that. After being rescued, you should be allowed to reboard and assist.

[Not_walker]

I always treat them as nekkid pirates and shoot them.

[mdom]

Perhaps the survivors should have their own objectives. Having them rejoin as a marine seems strange to me. It would be cool if they actually had a job on the Nostromo at round start. Maybe give them some flavor text to motivate their actions.

[CampinKiller]

They have a job, but it's in Traitor Panel, which they cannot see. Having talked with Mycroft earlier today, he suggested they spawn with an ID that has their name/job, which would seriously help survivors know what they can/can't do. A scientist wouldn't set up the engine, but he might know more about the aliens, for example. An engineer would obviously know how to set up the engine, but might only know rudimentary stuff about the aliens (ie. Huggers=bad).

[mdom]

They have a job, but it's in Traitor Panel, which they cannot see. Having talked with Mycroft earlier today, he suggested they spawn with an ID that has their name/job, which would seriously help survivors know what they can/can't do. A scientist wouldn't set up the engine, but he might know more about the aliens, for example. An engineer would obviously know how to set up the engine, but might only know rudimentary stuff about the aliens (ie. Huggers=bad).

^^ This

[Mycroft Macarthur]

getting us ID's eventually would be pretty sweet and it'd be very nice to know we can finally access certain areas with an actual ID or start with some clothing or a backpack (im sure it was probably done for balance reasons, but on an IC level, why would we start the round NAKED? in a survival situation who runs around in the nude save those who were interrupted in the midst of sex?) but who knows when we'll actually see any of that, part of why i brought this up was because survivor players need something to go off of RIGHT NOW, if a survivor is going to be told they can or cannot do something because it violates a rule we need to have actual rules to go off of.

i mean sure some are KIND of a given, certain roleplay aside, murdering humans when there is an alien infestation going on is a big no no and i can imagine releasing the singularity for shits and giggles is also out (though i would be very amused to see how someone would try to explain that, what possible roleplay reason could justify that? ill bet their explanation proves hilarious) but alot of others are kind of vague and need to be defined.

for example, earlier i was in an argument regarding the nature of sec hardsuits and i was told as a survivor to take it off, for the marines this makes sense because they have to follow strict rules and regulations and they already have body armor ANYWAYS , as a survivor this is not the case.

until the marines arrive, being aboard the nostromo is the same as being a human in a zombie apocalypse, there are NO rules, NO laws, its every man for himself and your survival can depend on what you can find, scavenge or craft and as a survivor if you run into an alien your chances depend COMPLETELY on your gear, until you find clothes you can only carry two items at a time and until you break into the sec lockers (the only source of backpacks i've found to date) you cant carry alot of anything you find, there are tool belts and medical belts onboard but they only go so far assuming you find them, why would i not do anything and everything i can to improve my chances of survival? like in dayz, we have to loot everything we can find to improve our chances against the aliens, perhaps even against space or the ship itself (and depending on how the roleplay goes, OTHER HUMANS), why would i NOT wear the super badass body armor that protects me from space, especially when i may not have access to ANYTHING else.

and then the marines show up, fucking awesome, even if these guys ARENT here to save you then they'll serve as a distraction so you can run away and do whatever it was you were doing before, and if they ARE here to save you then your odds of survival went up JUST abit and every bit helps.

did you guys bring any spare body armor with you?

oh, you didnt, to be FAIR why WOULD you? even if your job is to rescue us it isnt technically your duty to arm us and enable us to protect ourselves if we have to, defending ourselves is our OWN job, even then who carries spare body armor? its not like the alien attacks damage or destroy it, even if they did its not like theres shit tons of spares onboard the sulaco (save for the armory and the room below it there actually arent as many spare helms and armor suits as is ideal, never mind most people dont know they are there and if they did they'd have to break in to begin with) so it can be prettymuch guaranteed the marines only brought, and may even have only been capable of bringing, enough for themselves.

welp, as long as im onboard the nostromo, and i still might get murdered horribly by aliens, or i might have to run away, and the only direction to go could be space....since we're on a space station, then yeah, i have to make the tactical choice and keep wearing this until im pulled out, NOT dying is my primary concern, and anything which reduces those odds is something i have to do.

oh, thats meta?

explain.

im not joking, explain to me how it is meta for me to do everything reasonably in my power, to improve my odds in a survival situation, we dont even know that the MARINES ARE COMING! we dont know that ANYONE is coming, do we know a distress signal was sent? not all of us would have had access to the comms and depending on how fast the ship fell (probably pretty fast if only one or two guys survived) then they may never have even announced that fact, even then distress signals arent exactly guarantees, even today in real life something akin to a distress signal is onboard most ships and aircraft and they save you....what, a third of the time? half? we're all on the same damn planet and its not that big, we expect someone to have randomly been flying by in deep space? its not like the marines can make a big broadcast over the intercom to say help is coming, they have to be onboard just to do that.

if anything, NOT wearing the hardsuit, is BREAKING CHARACTER, it is meta to tell me to NOT wear it because it is literally only being done to give the aliens an advantage against survivors because now they probably dont have access to any other form of protective equipment from either space or the aliens themselves, we cant exactly CRAFT armor and we cant break into the sec lockers without a weapon (you cant hack at them with an axe or anything)

oh, the survivors are supposed to run, to hide and cower in fear? not everyone does that, and if they dont they're going to try and improve their odds first.

but you know what? if we decide that we have to make it a rule that survivors cant use hardsuits for some kind of balance reason or roleplay reason or the aforementioned, "its meta", then you know what? fine, but lets actually make it a rule and not leave it as some ambiguous thing that happens to be a problem this round, isnt a problem the next round, is a problem the next three rounds and isnt a problem the round after that.

and thats just ONE example, im pretty sure other survivor roleplayers can come up with their own

[mdom]

I do agree with most of what you stated. I feel like the most important motivator for survivors should be just that, survival. Civilians on the Nostromo should give fuck all about any regulations or rules. One thing I don't think that a survivor should do is try to go to space to wait for the Marines to arrive. That would be a bad move.

You should reformat this and put it in the suggestions section.