Do we really need the Corporate Liaison anymore?

[Vispainius]

Make CL Great Again.

1. Add more CL stuff he can utilize in his briefcase.
1b. Add CL stuff that isn't uber illegal or deadly to use.

2. Admins, give the CL more love when he faxes you. If he gives you a nice, well-formatted paper that seems to expect a response (be it by the info he gives you or a direct question) you're killing his role everytime you give no response. Just a status update? Perhaps give him some more IC info. A request for help or new objectives after having given info? Perhaps give more IC info and a objective with even small help (1-4 PMCs).
2b. Give CL more leeway with what he knows IC

3. Give the CL greater immunity. WAIT, BE CAREFUL. By this I mean, give him greater IC immunity INDIRECTLY or DIRECTLY via Announcement Messages, Faxes, Ship Hails, Etcetra that legitimize his actions with the Company's supervision. SPECIFICALLY, if you give the CL PMCs, give him a fax or announcement from WY to help give Command more reason to not just... you know... target the CL cause:

"We can, and he now has guards and this is sketchy so we should clearly go after him cause uh... totally not meta target the CL, just we find him sketchy cause he's actually doing something."(You get the point).

4. Let whitelisted or preferably Moderators/Mentorssend the CL faxes in response should the fax be good.

For example, my idea is a sort of SECRETARY or CLERK like role that Moderators take up when responding to the CL. It's nothing concrete or ingame, just when you send the fax back you have the "sender" (read: you, the moderator or mentor) being some low level WY grunt like the CL.

To signify this, the end of the fax FROM WY by a MODERATOR/MENTOR should probably read something like:

blah blah blah, Company Message Stuff, blah blah blah

USCSS Royce Clerk: [sign]


Specifically, this fact that it is only a low level WY grunt (which makes sense as a mod/whitelisted won't have any/much power in the round) signifies WY SEES the fax, but isn't going to or able to do something until they get more info/objectives/etcetra done.


Should enough be done or the admins wish it, a admin could send a fax back instead of a mod/mentor with more important objectives or goals as well as associated Company support.

Example of fax from admin:

blah blah blah, Company Message Stuff, blah blah blah

Research Director: [sign]

[Chemical]

The solution here is simple. There doesn't need to be vast changes to the way the game works. All that needs to be done at the beginning of the round is to randomly give the CL one or two secret objectives just like traitors are given in regular SS13 servers. Some objectives could be benign, others could be far more sinister. This gives so much to the role for so little. This means that admins don't have to be on all the time waiting for faxes from the CL, and the CL can operate more independently of the corporation!

Also, the poll given here is misleading because it doesn't add in the third option of wanting to change the CL role rather than remove it as clearly most people want to do. Yes, it does mention the "replacing" of it but that should be a separate option. If the CL role was enjoyable for most, then there would be a lot more competition for the role, but seeing as people can easily get in with low or medium prio shows that no one actually wants to play it. I feel like the people who voted to keep the CL as it is were either mislead by the poll's wording or are some of the few that are content or for some reason don't see or understand how much better the role could be for those who find the CL role utterly underwhelming most of the time.

I suggest those people at least give changes a chance. If for some bizarre reason people who play the CL don't like suddenly having an actual reason to play the CL, then there can be another poll to remove any features that might have been added.

[davidofmk771]

If the CL was given more hard antag stuff to do the marines would have even more reason to ass blast them, given people are being decapped in pre-briefing brawls because one squad calls another squad a mean word.

1. I have never seen anything like this happen.

2. Since when do meta-gameplay mechanics justify griefing? Just take care of griefers and metagamers. It's standard procedure. It's not like marines are murdering the CL for nothing now.

[Dreskar]

Personally I have enjoyed every time I have played CL so far, I think I have only ever fired or rather used a gun in anger once in every time I have played the role and that was smacking a carrier that was trying to facehug me, a melee hit and not actually shooting the weapon. I just rather enjoy the aspects of filing out reports, poking the staff in different departments asking for feedback on how they like the ship, even making up stories about why some of the dumb things like the S-52 generators break down all the time "Well the USCM didn't want to pay top, top dollar so instead of the updated S-54's we compromised and gave the robust if tempermental S-52s which were half the pricetag"

I will say that I do get even more enjoyment from the role when receiving a fax back, even if the fax is literally just saying "nice, keep up the good work" it is a small touch, so I would say an improvement to the role would be add a standard automated response system that does something like "The Company has received your fax and updated information, we will continue to monitor the situation and request you keep us well informed" for when admins aren't on. It would be a minor touch but would make it feel like you are getting something done even if it is automated with maybe a 30 minute cooldown between those auto faxes.

Hell you get a ton of roleplay as CL if you simply ask how each department is running and how they find their accommodations/working conditions.

I personally would be 100% opposed to the idea of giving them Antag objectives, that is just completely fucking stupid in my mind. The role should stay as it is with some minor tweaks, or at most maybe allow one player to spawn as a PMC that the CL can work with to keep some of the more unga bunga hostile people off them as like an assigned bodyguard. That would also allow the CL to plan and execute more interesting things without giving them too much power.

I would also be 100% in favor of CL becoming a whitelist role...

OH and for the love of god can we have some admin punishment against people that "hurr durr I will make up a charge and hold the CL hostage to force the Company's hand" it is meta as shit and always poorly executed and roleplayed by the CO. Like seriously there have been too many CO's that just say "we were told this, you are in jail for an hour" that is some epic tier bullshit that needs more then just being taken as an IC issue when that is straight up destroying an entire round of playtime because the CO is a retard.

[xPity]

CL is by far my favourite role, whoever says it lacks purpose is simply an awful roleplayer.

[Sulaboy]

As a moderator I do try to answer faxes. The thing is that most of the faces are shooting down ideas. I can't send you a squad of PMCs to beat marines up for their lunch money. I can answer you when you ask for something to do, but usually you'll just get a little bit of RP, and the task of getting a NDA signed by the Captain or Commander. I also can't reward you with anything besides a "good job". People do need to remember that the liaison is an office worker not a special agent.

[dauntasa]

RIP CL, removed with no changelog

[Dreven]

It's a shame because when you have a creative player on CL they can really make the round fun and interesting, especially for other shipside roles. While I don't think their should be a CL whitelist I definently think job bans should be dished out to the combat CL's you often see these days. Their should be a decent reason for the CL to even go planetside, and if he does then he defanently shoulden't be putting on armour and running about with a pulse rifle.

I think if maybe the CL was given more RP toys to play with, maybe headsets with a private radio channel or if mods put in a bit more effort with answering faxes.

What I think would be the most interesting thing to do would be to add another shipside RP role that is directly set up against the CL. Something like an independent war journalist/correspondent who is trying to investigate the mission and WY's involvement, it's not like we have a shortage of RP focused players to support a few extra flavor roles either.

[davidofmk771]

I mean if you really wanna run around planetside as CL the intel strewn all over makes a good excuse. If you're lucky the CO will even dedicate a squad to intel and you can hang out with them. Had a nice time with some charlies on LV-624 doing that recently.

[Chemical]

CL is by far my favourite role, whoever says it lacks purpose is simply an awful roleplayer.

Or someone who doesn't like being ignored by command and Weyland-Yutani alike, thus being left only to walk pointlessly around wasting the doctors' and mps' and engineers' time asking banal questions every single round over and over again ad nauseum. Seriously, if you're going to call people who don't like CL an awful roleplayer, at least give a compelling reason as to why the CL as it is offers anything to anyone but the most hard core of role players.

The fact is that most people don't like to play CL as it is because it lacks any purpose. If you're not being ignored by command you're being bullied by the other marines or being killed by xenos that sneak on board while waiting for your pointless fax that won't get responded to.