A Complete Reimagining of Robotics & IPCs (hear me out)

src/design-proposals/ipc-robotics-reimagined.md

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+# IPCs & Robotics Reimagined
+
+| Designers | Implemented | GitHub Links |
+|---|---|---|
+| Claire / chapien | :x: No | TBD |
+
+## Overview
+IPCs are a species of autonomous silicon lifeforms not bound by the usual Silicon rounds. They are a roundstart species on servers such as Delta-V, and in fact used to be a roundstart species on Funky station. They were however, removed for a variety of reasons. At the same time, the robotocist role is suffering from a lack of things to do. By reintroducing some sort of synthetic species to the game, I believe we can simultaneously bring back a well-liked species and give a role something to do besides welding borgs and building the occasional mech.
+
+## Background
+
+IPCs were removed for a variety of reasons. So many that if you ask anyone, they all will give you a different reason! Here, I will go over each of those reasons, and why they are in fact pretty good reasons to remove IPCs. Consider this a summary and review of the species as it once existed, and why simply going back to that is not tenable. These reasons are listed in ascending order of least important to most important, although each of these need to be addressed.
+
+### Game Balance
+IPCs were, bluntly, broken. They were immune to some antagonists (changelings), they did not need to visit medical at all and could self-weld themselves, they had weird resistances, didn't need to breathe (though they were still vulnerable to spacing without upgrades). While I believe trying to perfectly balance any game is a Sisyphean, pointless endeavour, there should still be SOME considerations for game balance, especially in egregious cases such as this. Were game balance the only reason for removal, I believe IPCs would have been fixed rather easily. Unfortuantely, there are other reasons IPCs were removed.
+
+### Non-interaction with Game Systems
+IPCs don't interact with the medical department. At all. To be honest, I don't really care that much about this -- I don't think every player should have to interact with every department. But some developers at Funky care a lot about this, and fair enough. I believe there is an alternative way to fix this, however, which I will discuss in my solutions section of the document.
+
+### Setting Incongruity
+IPCs as they existed were extremely dissonant with the setting that Funky Station (and honestly, most Space Station servers) tries to present. Essentially, there's a rather obvious question looming over every IPC created; why not just make a borg? Law-bound borgs are capable of doing most things IPCs can (granted, without hands and more specialized), but they are forced to obey, are the property of NanoTrasen, and most importantly don't need to be paid. So why would NanoTrasen build robots that cannot be controlled in the same manner and need to be paid? There are numerous workarounds, such as IPCs somehow being "cheaper" to make (I find this rather silly), but many are contrived. Rather than working around this issue, I intend to offer several complete rewrite solutions.
+
+### What about Robotics?
+Robotics is an interesting role. Part of the science department, they are in charge of maintaining borgs and building mechs. However, in practice this means they kind of don't really have much to do most of the time, and end up acting as a normal scientist once they have a few posibrains descrambling and some borgs built. There has been talk of merging robotics into general science, and if things remain this way, I think that is the ultimate fate of robotics. However, I believe the role has tons of potential, especially if something like IPCs as I envision them are added back to the game. 
+
+## Features to be added
+### IPC/Autonomous Silicon species
+- **Roundstart Species**: A completely reimagined IPCs introduced to the game with new balance
+- **New Medical System**: A new medical system for IPCs, who will now take new damage types that can be healed with topicals made by the robotocist. Welding will now only fix bleeding. To be clarified further in the robotics section.
+- **Interactions with Antagonists**: Due to having genetic material and souls, they can be consumed by changelings, sacrificed by heretics, converted by cults etc. The only thing that might be restricted is that Changelings won't be able to turn into them.
+- **Alternative Implants**: As part of the rebalance, we remove the ability for IPCs to use most implants, with the exception being Mindshields and Pacifism. We could also expand this to make IPC/silicon specific implants too.
+- **Reworked Lore**: A new lore for IPCs that isn't simply contrivences.
+- **New Weaknesses**: IPCs will be extra weak to Spacing, in order to compensate for their lack of need for air.
+
+### Robotics Reimagined
+- **Doctors for Silicons**: IPCs will need medical treatment now, as welding serves as bandaging only. Robotocists will be expected to heal any IPCs that come to their office.
+- **Topicals**: Robotocists will be able to make Silicon-specific topicals that heal damage types. They will be made with steel, plastic, and LV cables. While intended only for IPCs at the moment, this could be expanded for all borgs
+- **Collaberation with Medical**: Paramedics will be required to carry some topicals for IPCs, and will have to bring IPCs to robotics. If we end up making silicon-specific chemicals, Chemistry will have to coordinate with robotics as well.
+- **Surgery for Silicons**: To heal severe damage, IPCs (and possibly borgs) will need deeper maintenance. This will functionally be surgery, but conducted by the robotocist and with different body parts/anatomy. Think of it like opening up a machine and fixing the innards. 
+- **Cybernetic Upgrades**: Standard Operating Procedure would be modified to forbid medical doctors from doing cybernetic surgery unless it is lifesaving/replacing an already missing limb. Upgrading someone with cybernetics will be done solely by the on-duty robotocist and any assistant medical borgs.
+
+### Lore
+IPCs will likely need to be renamed, but I have no proposal for that just yet. Specifically, IPCs will no longer have positronic brains at all; instead, their brains have a small organic component. This component requires synthblood, which IPCs will now produce and bleed (just like those with the synthetic trait). Because of this, they have souls, and even genetic residue -- they will leave some equivilent to fingerprints as evidence.
+
+Like synthetics, IPCs are built by NanoTrasen. Because they are not borgs at all, the conflict of "why not just build borgs" is somewhat settled; borgs and IPCs simply have different purposes. After all, NT seems to build Synthetic crewmembers that aren't borgs anyway; this would just be a more outwardly visible construct. NanoTrasen would essentially bind IPCs (and we should extend this to those with the synthetic trait) under contracts drafted before the synthetic was even born. 
+
+Essentially, NanoTrasen would be acting as an abusive parent; "I made you, so you have to do what I say now in gratitude". The lack of laws isn't a downside by any means, as just like other synthetics, autonomous reasoning has its advantages in terms of command roles, reasoning, etc. You don't need laws to control someone if you have a contract that essentially reduces someone to your indentured servant -- as I imagine NT has for most of their employees, to be blunt.
+
+## Game Design Rationale
+### General Considerations
+- **Robotics Needs Things to Do**: As it stands, Robotics is barely a role at all. It's a scientist that has to make sure a posibrain is descrambling, and essentially nothing else. There has already been talk of removing Robotics, and I believe that this addresses that problem.
+- **Interesting Mechanics and Interactions**: One of the most fascinating things about Space Station 14 is how all of the different mechanics can interact, and how those interactions change with minor deviations. By giving IPCs alternate ways to interact with mechanics, rather than them just not being interactive, we add a new dimension to gameplay, as well as to the setting and immersion.
+- **Robots are just cool**: Synthetics are meant to be a sort of replacement for IPCs, but people also enjoy the cosmetic/aesthetic of robots. Synthetics are a half-measure that has few interesting mechnical interactions. Speaking of...
+- **Synthetics**: This opens the door to potential changes for the Synthetic trait, if some of the IPC changes carry over to Synthetics at large.
+- **Borgs!**: All of this lays a groundwork for borg reworks too, making repairing borgs more complicated than jsut welding them.
+
+### Core Principals
+- **Seriously Silly**: A new species that interacts with game mechanics in a different way always adds the potential for more fun interactions. It gives the robotocist far more to do, and forces them to interact with otehr players rather than sit in their office and just make sure posibrains are on. It makes IPCs vulnerable in ways that other crew are. And it serves the setting by making NanoTrasen more comically evil; giving life to creations just to trap them in employment contracts forever.
+- **There Is no Winning or Losing**: This new iteration of IPCs will, ideally, no longer be a powergamer's fantasy. The weaknesses balance out the strengths, and IPCs are now forced to interact with game mechanics that they previously were able to simply avoid.
+- **Maintaining Authenticity**: As a science fiction setting, more robots generally adds to the atmosphere. As it stands, borgs are dead simple to maintain, and robotocists are a nothing-role that requires little thought. This will turn robotics into a role that requires roleplay and game mechanics, while also bringing back a species in a new way that better fits in with the setting.
+- **Take Things Slow**: Making borgs take longer than a simple weld to repair slows things down, and means borgs need to be more careful of how they approach things. Requiring a robotocist for cybernetic upgrades instead of allowing medical to do it adds a level of complexity, where someone has to stop and think, realize where to go, then go to the robotocist. It makes the robotocist busier, so they don't just make a posibrain and then do whatever their heart desires. It means science has to devote more resources to robotics, to maintain topicals. All of this contributes to our general longer round times.
+- **Maximizing Roleplay Potential**: This is not being added just to appease players that miss IPCs. This adds a new level of complexity to the game. It introduces a species with real strengths and weaknesses. Far from QOL, it actually makes robotics a harder, more complicated role, while simultaneously creating new roleplay opportunities.
+- **Dynamic Environment**: At risk of further repeating what has been stated, creating new ways for mechanics to be interacted with based on the player's species adds a dynamism to the game world. It furthermore makes robotics a real part of the station, not just a sidebar to science.
+
+## Roundflow & Player Interaction
+A major criticism of IPCs as they previously existed was that they did not need to interact with the station at large. By giving them their own anatomy that requires a robotocist to fix, it forces new player engagements. It also has the added advantage of forcing Robotics to interact with the station at large. If we port over these proposed changes to borgs, it also forces Borgs to be more careful and take things slower, as repairing them will no longer be as trivial as a simple re-welding.
+
+It also makes science's gameplay flow more dynamic by making robotics a genuine consideration. They now have to consider researching cybernetic technology to make healing IPCs (and potentially borgs) easier, as well as divert resources to robotics to keep crewmembers alive. Do they focus on their anomaly infrastructure, or do they focus on maintaining silicon lifeforms more easily? It creates more dynamic choices for science to consider, and changes the flow (for the better) of research, which as it stands is rather monotonous with few real decisions outside of the T3 choice.
+
+## Administrative & Server Rule Impacts
+We would have to update the Standard Operating Procedure of Robotocists entirely, Doctors (forbid surgery for cybernetics), Paramedics (bring IPCs to robotics, not medical) and potentially Chemists (make chemicals for synthetic life forms). Previously, IPCs were a magnet for powergaming. While I do feel that my proposals largely make the species more balanced, there's no way to know for sure until we actually start testing it.
+
+Robotics will be expected to follow their new SOP, with IAAs enforcing it as they do for all departments. I don't forsee needing any special enforcement here, just an adjustment period to the new role of robotics.
+
+## Technical Considerations
+I believe the IPC code as it stands is completely unsalvagable. We would need to write new game systems from the bottom up, and scrap what exists -- only the art assets will remain, most likely. This will obviously take time.
+
+The new robotics system will require us to change the medical code a bit as well, which is notoriously a bit finnicky and difficult to work with. We may need to tweak the surgical UI when operating on silicons, and an entire new suite of operations and "organs" will be required for performing surgery on silicons. 
+
+As a minor point of overhead, the alternative implants for IPCs will need to be implemented (IPC-compatible mindshields and pacifism implants mainly, probably trackers too). These should have unique art assets to differentiate them from normal implants, but otherwise can use the same code. We will need checks to verify if an implant is compatible with a character, but I do not forsee that being too difficult.
+
+## Pros & Cons
+### Pros
+- Returns removed content to the game
+- Gives robotics something to do
+- Lots of people like IPCs (yes this is a positive)
+
+### Cons
+- Technical debt 
+- Rewrite is almost certainly needed
+- Taydeo doesn't like IPCs :frowning:
+
+## Addendum
+This is very much a draft proposal. I am open to making changes, but I want initial thoughts and feedback.