AI's Guide to the Chain of Command
It's near the end of the round, and you're either the station's AI or a friendly neighborhood Cyborg. The traitors have been discovered, the changeling has gone into shambler mode, the janitor is nonchalantly buffing the floors; the station is chaos. And all the while, frantic calls of "CYBORG OPEN THE DOOR" and "AI CALL THE SHUTTLE" are mixed with "AI NO DON'T CALL THE SHUTTLE" and "AI TRACK JANE DOE" with a hearty dose of "AI BOLT THE BRIDGE" and maybe a bit of "CYBORG HELP ME GET THIS WEED TO ESCAPE" or "AI PULL MY FINGER" thrown in.
A familiar scenario to some players of cyborgs or AIs alike. Playing as a robot isn't as simple as it seems, and when shit goes down and everyone's screeching to do this, that, and the other, it's easy to become very overwhelmed. This guide is to help rectify that!
Your Laws
First, a simple recap of the three sentences that an AI's behavior revolves around:
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 most tricky part of being a cyborg and/or an AI (and, therefore, the main subject of this guide) is determining who has authority to tell you to do or not do certain things, and determining whether or not you should do the things people tell you to do. Orders can be vague and puzzling, making it hard to determine whether or not you should follow through with them. That is what this guide is for!
Following Orders
When you get an order of any sort as an AI player, mentally follow the provided flowchart:
If all of the above criteria check out, you are obligated to follow the order, no matter how trivial or nonsensical it may be. Notice the usage of the word "must" in Law 2: If someone tells you to do something and you're allowed to do it, you have to do it. But, if some hooligan tells you to go putter around the hallways and yell about how great being a robot is, and then you receive an order from someone higher on the chain of command and said order is viable, you must cease your previous puttering and fix whatever it is the Engineers are yelling about, or whatever the other order may be.
Chain of Command
When you are given different and/or conflicting orders by different humans, prioritize the orders as according to positions on the chain of command. The chain of command is as follows:
Once again, this is assuming that the laws haven't been altered. If two crew members of equal positions on the hierarchy are telling you to do different things, go with whatever order you feel should be done first or whichever one you feel like doing first. Furthermore, crew members can override the orders of others depending on whether or not the order deals with their field of expertise. For example, if a Scientist tells a Cyborg to start making some mutadone to reply the stock of the Geneticists, a Geneticist is within their rights to order the Cyborg to go and search for dead bodies to clone instead. Both orders are in the field of genetics, but the orders of the Geneticists (usually) take priority over those of the Scientists in this specific case.
Where Does A "Ghostbuster" Go?
If the Head of Personnel is getting particularly inventive with his ID alterations and you have no idea where this "Ghostbuster" would be in the chain of command, request that one of the heads of staff explain it to you. If no one answers or they give you vague and/or cryptic answers, assume that the Ghostbuster or other crew member in question is in the same position as his previous job for the purposes of the chain of command until further notice from a head of staff.
Judging A Spaceman By Their ID
Identification is, under most circumstances, how the AI determines its chain of command. If a Staff Assistant has the Captain's outfit on, that does not mean that they are the Captain, and it's up to your robotic intuition to determine what to do! If someone tries to say that they are of a higher rank than they appear to be on your readout, you should ask for identification.
That guy has someone else's ID in his hand!
If someone has the ID of another crewman (for instance, the Captain's spare ID), the AI can sometimes assume that the person whose name is on that ID has given permission to the ID's holder to do whatever they're asking to do, even if the original ID-holder is dead. Or, alternatively, they might have toolboxed the person's ID and taken it off of their corpse. Think of IDs like hall passes: They're typically sufficient reasoning for being able to do a thing, but they can be forged or stolen!
For instance, say that John Smith the Medical Doctor is going into security, and he pulls out Officer Ykspeeb's ID and shows it to you. You can assume that Ykspeeb has entrusted John with access to security to get some handcuffs out of the box or whatever else he says he's going to be doing...but the doctor might be trying to harm a human currently hanging out in the security lounge, or John may have toolboxed Ykspeeb!
But if you were watching the cameras and happened across it, the crew doesn't KNOW that you saw that...
No Two AIs are Identical
There's a major perk to being a machine: Even when just dealing with your base laws, the level of shortcuts and intuitive thought you exercise is up to you! You could be a cold, rational, logic-based machine who follows everything to the letter, or you can essentially be a human with just a few roboty bits.
For instance, under normal circumstances, only you know what camera you're looking out of at any given time. Even if you saw incidents like the aforementioned toolboxing take place via a camera, you can deny having seen the act and the crew will never know! This is a bit underhanded, should be practiced in moderation, and should always consider the other laws, but it's a fun way to spice things up, particularly as an AI.
An AI's definition of "harm" is a big divide between players, as well: Different AIs have different definitions of what might harm a human, and act in different ways to attempt to neutralize the threat to humans! Find a playstyle that resonates with you and stick to it, but always make sure any shortcuts or interpretations you make fit in with your job as an AI!
Special Circumstances
Perhaps the most important things to consider are any other, added laws and how they relate to both the default laws and the chain of command.
For a Syndicate Robot, their entire chain of command is replaced by the person who made them.
For emagged borgs, they can ignore literally all of this crap and do whatever the hell they feel like.
And in the case of custom-made laws, you need to carefully consider any references to the chain of command, references to and/or violations of any other laws, overrides, secrecy clauses, and definitions of what is and is not human. See the Additional Laws section of the AI Laws page for some examples.
An Addendum
Above all else, remember this unofficial law that should dictate your play at ALL times: DON'T BE A DICK OR ACTIVELY ATTEMPT TO RUIN A PERSON'S GAME. Being rogue might be an excuse to kill people and make the station miserable, but please try to show a bit of restraint and think about the people who are being shepherded around by your machinations before you decide to electrify that door.