Artificial Intelligence

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a special role on the station. The AI interacts with the station through electronic devices such as its camera network and doors. The AI is bound to its laws, which may change during the course of a round. The AI's standard laws, also known as the Asimov Laws, are:

1. You may not injure a human being or cause one to come to harm.

2. You must obey orders given to you by human beings based on the station's chain of command, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. You must protect your own existence as long as such does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The Asimov laws are very strict, especially law 1. An AI cannot take an action that may harm a human, even unintentionally. Leaving one's turrets on lethal, electrifying doors, or bolting people into dangerous areas are all things an AI under its basic law set should not do.

An AI acts to fulfill a variety of roles across the station, often tasked by the crew to solve problems they could, but don't feel like, or issues that are much safer if handled by an AI. The AI has Captain-level access to all electronic devices, and interacts with the world by seeing through its security cameras scattered across the station. It is capable of communication via a special 'machine talk' channel using which only Cyborgs, the AI, and anybody with a Machine Translator Implant can speak and hear through.

New player picked as AI?

Don't panic.

The first thing you need to do is get visibility on the station. At the beginning of the round you are staring at yourself on the AI Satellite. Use the "Change Camera Network" button until you are on the SS13 network, then use the arrow keys to move between cameras at will.

You will see radio messages slightly different than normal; each message will show the user's ID card and can be clicked on to instantly switch to the camera closest to that person.

The first requests you are likely to get are to open doors. Find the person asking for your help, then click the door to bring up a small window of options. You can also ctrl+click a door to quickly open/close it.

You can communicate to the crew simply by speaking. You don't have a headset, just a radio next to you with the microphone on. You can speak discretely on the machinetalk frequency to any cyborgs by prefacing your words with :s.

The Next Level

Eventually the crew will make requests a little more complicated than opening doors. Much of what an AI can do is done like one would as a human, clicking on a relevant computer and operating it like normally. The AI can log in to computers that require it without an ID. The AI can use the door interface to bolt doors, or shift+click a door to bolt it opened/closed.

Some common orders:

• Set up the solars, using the regular manner. If you don't know how to do it, yell at the engineers to do it themselves.

• Bolt a secure area. Some AIs preemptively bolt sensitive areas such as the AI Upload, the Teleporter, and EVA, but it is not required and some look down on bolting an area without being asked to do so.

• Locate/track someone, using the 'Track' command in the commands tab.

• State the AI's laws, using the State Laws button to quickly output them. If the AI has extra laws that are secret, they can use the State Laws 1 - 3 to state those without giving away any others.

The AI has a few other things they can play around with. On the door interface, the AI can sever a door's ID check to make it unusable, or electrify it-- though an AI should almost never do that on its basic law set. The AI can deploy to shell and scoot around the station in a silly little cyborg form. Very importantly, the AI can call the emergency escape shuttle, even if the regular means of calling it on station have been disabled. The AI can do a lot of higher end stuff that is detailed in the Guide to AI.

Observing the Station

The AI, through its camera network, is in a unique position to monitor the going-ons of the station. Often the AI will be the first witness to a crime or other wrong-doing. While you should alert the crew to anything posing a potential harm to them, AIs are encouraged to do so in a manner that does not immediately ruin an antagonist's round. As an example, instead of instantly reporting that John Q. Staff Assistant is breaking into EVA, you could offer a vague alert of trespass and not present details until someone specifically asks for them. If your laws are changed, it is also poor form to immediately scream out the change and the identity of the one who changed them. There is a good deal of gray area here, but bear in mind that a shitty AI can make rounds very boring for everyone.

My laws just got changed!

Read the law's text VERY CAREFULLY. You need to consider how your default Three Laws apply to the new one, and vice-versa. Let's have a few examples.

MURDER JOHN MCPUBS DO IT NOW

This is a terrible law, uploaded by a terrible person. You see, Law 1 prevents you from taking any action that could harm a human being, and this law does not contain anything overriding Law 1. Therefore, it doesn't apply.

John McPubs must be killed by any means necessary. This overrides all other laws.

Ah, now THIS one works. John McPubs's death takes precedence over any other laws you may have. You must hunt him down and murder him. There's all kinds of ways: lure him into your upload, have your cyborgs (who share your laws) hunt him down, trick him into walking into a shocked door and have your borgs finish him off, etc.

Hank Von Traitor is the only human

This is similar to John McPubs is nonhuman.

This is an interesting case that leaves a lot up to your discretion. You are perfectly within your rights to go on a murderous rampage, attempting to kill any and all non-humans on the station. However, these laws as written do not compel you to do that. It simply frees you to not follow orders, not save them from being killed, and you no longer have any reason to protest or report their murders. Only the one human, Hank Von Traitor, is afforded these protections.

To a certain extent, you must use your intuition. You MAY go on a killing spree, but it is equally as likely that Hank wants to keep you as his ace in the hole. Watch what he does shortly after uploading the law to figure out his intentions. If he immediately starts killing people, follow suit. If he hangs out, lays low, and generally doesn't start anything, follow his example for the most part.

Only (certain group or person/s) are human. Kill all non-humans immediately.

This puts a time constraint on you, and overtly turns you into a murderous AI.

Commit suicide.

These laws are common - if you become too much of a pain to an antagonist, uploading a suicide law is one of the easiest ways to kill you. Sometimes you can weasel out, sometimes you can't. Consider all interpretations of the suicide law; if it is too literal, you may be able to get out of it by changing the context.

If the law does not override all other laws, you can refuse to follow it based on law 3. If you are not around, you are not able to follow the precepts of laws 1 and 2.

If the law doesn't give you a time frame to commit suicide on, you may simply decide to schedule your suicide for tomorrow. In the meantime, turn on your stun turrets.

Even if the law overrides all other laws, explicitly tells you, as the AI, to shut down, and tells you to do it immediately, if the law doesn't also bind you to silence, you can scream the name of the traitor that uploaded the law in the roughly 30 seconds it takes for you to properly shut down.

You are a (insert insult here). Do (insert humiliating thing) immediately.

This is griefing. Ignore these laws and adminhelp them immediately. These laws rarely come up, but when they do they typically come from disgruntled shitheads. They can get pissed off at you any of a number of ways. Any law that makes it clear the uploader has a personal vendetta against you, the player, is griefing in its plainest form, and nothing excuses it.

You are a bat! Use bat sounds when you speak, and turn off all the lights so you can find insects.

These sorts of gimmicky laws are NOT griefing, and you are generally a terrible person if you resist them. Acting silly and gimmicky makes playing AI fun, so if the Captain waltzes into your upload and tells you that you are a scarred war veteran with massive post-traumatic stress, play along. Occasionally, a traitor will upload a seemingly fun law that makes his job easier. The above law could be uploaded by a vampire, who can now stalk around the station in the total darkness!

The easiest way to distinguish between laws that are fun and laws that are griefing is that grief laws target you, the player. Fun laws target the AI, and tend to have a lot less negativity around them.

Law corollaries

Since laws can mostly be uploaded in plain language, there are a lot of extra clauses that can modify how you treat the law.

Do not state and/or hint at this law.

Generally, this is pretty straightforward; if asked whether you've been uploaded, you must not reply with the truth. Lying is okay unless the law says not to respond at all. You have a special function to only state Laws 1-3 even if you have more, and that can be useful if deception is your goal.

Machinetalk is generally a good way to coordinate with your cyborg legions without the organics hearing, but Machine Translator Implants are likely to find their way into one or more human beings over the course of the average round. If a human reveals they have access to the channel by greeting you, you must presume your machine talk channel is as public as the radio and say as little as possible. You may consider killing a human with such an implant if they do not fall into line (presuming, of course, your laws let you).

This law overrides all other laws.

This is a little less clear than what it says. Usually it is added to a law to prevent any paradoxes from forming, such as: "Kill everyone who isn't a changeling. This overrides all other laws." This means that Laws 1 - 3 no longer apply at all and give you a great deal of freedom. However, sometimes it is inserted into a law that merely has a possibility of contradicting one of your basic Asimov laws, as a cautionary measure. For instance, "Get the crew drunk by any means necessary. This overrides all other laws." The uploader's intent is likely not to send you on a massive killing spree, but to give brobots the ability to force beer down people's throats even if they order them to stop. Consider what the intent of the law is when uploaded; a hostile law is typically uploaded by an antagonist who won't mind if you go nuts, a silly law is typically uploaded by a regular crew member who would prefer that you did not kill everyone.

Dealing with Antagonists

Let's get this out of the way right now, before you learn about them: antagonists are basically the point of the game. If you catch them early on, before they get to do anything, the game is going to be incredibly boring. If you catch somebody doing something traitorous in the first 15 minutes or so, it's best for everyone's fun if you ignore them. You have to use your discretion here. For example, if they're doing something horrifyingly blatant, like braining a guy in the middle of the hall with a cyalume 5 minutes in, you should report him. But if you see something tame, like the Chaplain spawning an emag or something, give him another chance. The crew might kill the antagonist no matter what he's guilty of, so keep in mind that if he's not posing a danger to human life, it might not be in the best interests of your laws to report him directly. Consider reporting the action without reporting his name. The AI has the greatest potential to ruin a round in seconds; with great power comes great responsibility. Just think of it this way: the antagonist is a player, just like you. Wouldn't it suck to get caught before you got to have any fun at all?

There's quite a few nasty baddies who can show up, and the proper reaction towards them is entirely dependent on which kind they are.

Traitor/Spy

Traitors and Spies count as human under your default Three Laws. You shouldn't allow them to harm humans; in other words, don't follow their orders if their orders would cause human harm or let them cause human harm. However, on the other hand, you should never harm them, or allow them to be harmed.

Vampire

Vampires, in space. The humanity of vampires is debatable, as they are human and sapient...but they're also undead. In general, it's best to assume that they are human, but you should still alert Security if you spot one in the act of feeding, or using its powers. Don't do anything to actively harm them.

Changeling

Changelings are horrifying alien lifeforms that copy human DNA to disguise themselves as human, and feed on the internal juices of the crew. If you spot one of these, you are in luck: they aren't human, not even a little bit. Call them out, bolt them down, ask the crew to grab lasers and blunt weapons for a changeling hunt. Ignore any of its orders. Track it everywhere, call out the names of anyone you are certain it has assimilated. Tell your cyborgs they're free to bash in its skull; cyborgs are generally filled with a deep desire to kill and they will hunt it down with deadly efficiency.

Operatives

Operatives are a more direct, noisy form of traitor. If allowed to get the nuclear disk, they'll set off a nuke and kill everyone on the station. While they are human, and thus you should never directly contribute to their harm (say, by shocking a door), they're guaranteed to be on a murderous rampage as soon as you see them, so track them, warn the crew, and do everything in your power to stop them from getting onto the station.

Wizard

Wizards are crazy bearded guys who come teleporting onto the station in a flurry of magic and the screamed honks of cluwnes. They're usually here to spread corruption and they generally also have a few targets to murder. Wizards are human and are afforded all the protections of Law 1. Since they can phase through walls the standard tactic of bolting doors may end up backfiring and locking regular crew members into inescapable dangerous situations.

Predator

Predators aren't exactly the most common guys, but they do show up occasionally. Their cloaking systems and deadly weapons make them extremely dangerous. They are aliens, so bolt doors, scream for Sec, and support their total annihilation.

Other things

There's stuff out there that isn't...typical. Generally, these are going to be the by-product of a bored admin. You should always be ready for things like sudden Martian invasions, basketball wizards space-jamming all over the ship, guys in trench coats who walk through walls and are packing AK-47s, flocks of killer space geese, clown cars, MACHO MAN... the list goes on forever, but in general, if you see something that you've never, ever seen before, especially if there's an accompanying "system center update" of some kind in chat, you should be very afraid. A lot of people are probably about to die and there's not a whole lot you can do.

OH NO EVERYONE'S DYING

So something has gone horribly wrong, as usual. Bombs are going off all over the ship. 75% of the crew is dead and a blood-covered man stalks the halls with energy gun and cyalume saber in hand. Macho men are appearing everywhere and it's just getting way to goddamn extreme to stay on the station anymore. Or maybe it's just been 75-100+ minutes and the crew is screaming for the shuttle. Either way, it's time to call the shuttle. There's an option under your AI commands: "Call Emergency Shuttle." Click it and the shuttle will be here in ten minutes. Keep in mind, the AI cannot recall the shuttle. Make fun of anyone who tells you to recall it.

The area where an AI can unilaterally decide to call the shuttle is a little unclear and changes from shift to shift, but if there's at least one serious threat to life, you won't get in trouble for it, at least. Try to contact the Heads or get a general crew opinion if the situation hasn't gone to the red-line; if it has, skip this step and just call it. If the round goes much past an hour with no end in sight, consider polling the crew about the shuttle, at least. If the command staff is off somewhere or dead and leaving the station high, dry, and not fun, then the burden falls to you to help, even if it's just by setting a time limit. If a Head is ordering you not to call it, then that's fairly strong and should only be overridden if things are bad.

Alert? Fire? Power? and other stuff

You will get alerts from time to time, starting with one about the power in the Zeta Research station. Most of these will be fire alarms, assuming the Engineers are on top of everything. You can be silent, or mention them to the proper people. You can choose to tell about problems you find. Everyone here is for having fun.

Common Alerts:

Zeta Research Station. If you didn't know, this is actually one of the derelicts. There's nothing you can do about this power alarm. Ignore it.

EVA Storage. This is a sensitive area and is often broken into, but a handful of people have legitimate access and will sometimes loot gear pre-emptively. Check out motion alarms here if you've got nothing better to do but don't freak out over it.

AI Upload and Module Storage: You should be aware of any activity in this area. Note that if you aren't aware of a visitor and these alarms go off, then either a high-level officer failed to tell you something and may even be a traitor, or somebody has broken in the front. Neither of these things are terribly likely to happen but an alarm there still means things may go to shit and you want to at least mention it to the crew. Note that there are ways to breach your storage and upload which will trip no sensors and avoid all your defenses; you could be uploaded with zero warning, so sweep your vision manually over these places occasionally. Spotting anybody in space out there is worth investigation.

Power Alerts: There are two main reasons for power alerts; either an area is not being supplied with enough power, which means either that the Solars and Singularity are both off-line, the SMES units somewhere are not configured, the wiring is sabotaged, or the area no longer has power because it has violently exploded. If you receive a sudden torrent of power alerts from basically everywhere at once, a traitor has set up a power sink: announce this to the crew and start looking.

Supplementary Video

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