Time_URSS - Synthetic Application

[Time_URSS]

Synthetic Whitelist Application

Personal Information

Byond ID?

Time_URSS

Discord ID?

Necrosium#3896

Marine Name

Noah Jones - MOL

Other Whitelist Applications

N/a

Character Information

Name of the Synth Character you wish to play

Pablo

What is your Synthetic's Personality?

Pablo is a synthetic unit, the result of a synthetic line that originated on Mars. He is known for having a special interest in gastronomy, thus appreciating meals cooked by the Mess Technicians, while slightly disapproving of premade or Ready-to-Eat meals, claiming that due to their concentrated chemicals in them, they can eventually become hurtful to humans. However, should there be an emergency, his disinterest in chemical food becomes irrelevant.

Pablo also has a mild Spanish accent, using Spanish expressions from time to time, such as 'señor/a', 'lector/a' (especially towards officers), and mainly onomatopoeias. However, he can easily adapt to English with no problem at all.

Why do you want to be a synthetic/why should we whitelist you?

I would like to be whitelisted because I believe I could apport a lot to the community by roleplaying a useful, and also cheerful, chef-interested synthetic. I would like to show the community that roleplay is also a good and important part of the server other than just TDM every round and, what better way to do so than giving the kitchen some more protagonism?

What is your most memorable interaction with a synthetic?

I rarely interact with synthetics, although I have mildly interacted with a few ones such as Day (both as a marine and as a xeno) or Desmond. However, I almost always observe their interactions from afar, when I am not able to do so. For example, survivor synthetics (Day or Ange, great examples) roleplaying with xenos or defending themselves, or the latter 2 and Desmond both while shipside and while deployed. They are the reason why I wanted to apply for synthetic, as well.

Synthetic Character Story

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

The resume is included in the document. It has approximatedly 2650 words.

Experience

How familiar are you with Engineering?

I am mildly skilled at Engineering due to my experience as Maintenance Tech, Mess Sergeant and, rarely, Chief Engineer.

- I am knowledgeable of hacking doors and manipulating them with signallers, for example. (Obtained from my time as Mess Sarge)
- I know how to build anything out of materials, and relocate and fix machinery.
- I am knowledgeable of barricading and protecting a chokepoint, although sometimes I may not be able to do so perfectly.
- I am less skilled but knowledgeable of Ordnance Engineering, given my recent but active times as OT.

How familiar are you with Command?

I am not very skillful at Command, however, I do know how Overwatching works, how to make announcements, shipside alerts and evacuations, call for distress beacons, supply drops, and OB coordinates, and piloting and CAS.

How familiar are you with Medical?

Medical is one of my strong points as of my experience as a Doctor, Nurse, and recently CMO. As a Squad Medic, I do have the experience but lack the speed to perform perfectly due to my daily lag from my laptop. However, regardless of this downside, I am more than capable of reviving someone without trouble.

- Able to perform any surgery.
- Able to make any chemical, especially the most requested ones.
- Able to fix and treat damage with ease, fix synthetics as well, knowledgeable of cybernetic limbs, and defibrillating bodies.

How familiar are you with Requisitions?

Requisitions is the other strong point of mine. I have been playing CT for a while, same with RO. And as SEA I sometimes assist new CTs to know their job.

- Control of req budget, how to send crates down, manning the line, and restocking ammo.

What are some scenarios that you can perform combat in? Give us a brief example.

As a synthetic, the only cases where you can perform combat are in situations where your self-preservation is at risk, or you witness a marine unable to defend themselves. In such case, I am allowed to melee attack the enemy until it flees away, not being able to chase them further. I am not allowed to actively engage in combat as a synthetic, as I hold a support role instead.

For example: I am carrying someone injured on a roller bed and all of a sudden a warrior lunges at me and tries to kill the other marine.
In that case, I would be able to pull out a melee weapon and engage the warrior until it flees or falls in critical. After that, I am to drag the wounded marine and flee to safety in order to heal the marine and repair myself.

Confirmations

Are you familiar with the Synthetic Programming and Guidelines?

Yes

Have you read the application process page?

Yes

Do you understand that any player - donor or otherwise - can have their whitelist status revoked should they break our rules or the Synthetic Programming Guideline?

Yes

Do you understand that you cannot advertise your application on any platform for votes. Do you also understand you may not edit this application 1 hour after it has been posted?

Yes

Have you been banned from CM in the last month for any reason? Do you have any active jobbans?

No

Are you currently banned from our Discord, and if so, why?

No

Discord Ban Reason

-

Other Information

Do you have anything else you would like to include about your application?

I do have several lag spikes most of the time, so that could hinder a bit my synthetic performance. Despite that, I believe I am able to perform sufficiently well as one.

[Stan_albatross]

hello and thank you for applying to the synthetic whitelist

let's first go over what's good about this application

Quirk - a solid, strong quirk. I'm sure you will be able to use it in many scenarios (talking about food, comparing certain things to cooking). My only criticism is that the Spanish part is a bit skin-deep - it would be interesting if your synth also talked about Spanish culture, or specialised in Spanish dishes, for instance.

Story - very impressive! I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I think it shows your character quite well, although there could be a bit more dialogue from Pablo himself. I got a good idea of how he'll act as well as some waiter-like mannerisms coming through as well. The graphic design also gave a nice finishing touch.

Now, onto the combat question.

I think you answered this alright, but you seem to have missed one crucial part - synths cannot perform combat anywhere on the front line. In the scenario you gave, had you been alone with no other marines to protect you this would have been acceptable for combat. However, as it's a warrior that's lunging you, I'd assume it's on the front line - and while on the front line, you rely on other marines for protection. I think you should give the guidelines another bit of a read over, but also don't be afraid to ask questions about them if you have any doubts.

Thirdly the competencies.

Medical and req seem quite good, I remember your name from a few recent rounds (and older ones) I played and no issues there. However I haven't really seen you play engineer and you admit you're only mildly skilled at it.

As such I will ask some engineering questions for you to answer.

1. Look at this fob. What's wrong with it and where are the weak points? give a short explanation for the ones you spot, why they're bad and how xenos would exploit them, and ideally how you'd avoid them

Fob_-_How_KuShitvo_was_won.jpg (https://imgur.com/a/nVCHFPk)

2. Describe to me your routine for setting up a FOB at lz1 on LV-642 as a bravo engineer.

3. what are the three most common mistakes you see engineers making, and why are they bad?

4. what, in your opinion, is the most vulnerable place to breaching on Shiva's snowball LZ1, and why?

5. surprise req question! say the round is getting to about midway through, and it's 12:50. Map is big red, marines are in the caves but the situation seems bad - they are having trouble pushing. Assume no critical marines have permaed, and they are at relatively full strength manpower wise. What kind of supplies would help them the most, and where would you send them?

[Time_URSS]

Hello there,

Thanks for your feedback and mentioning the Spanish culture, which I will take in mind. I want my synthetic to be noticeably immersed into the Spanish traditions and gastronomy, and as such try to influence its duties through it.

About the combat question, I was actually describing an event where a warrior would be backlining (rare, but possible, I've witnessed it sometimes with a gang of lurkers). At the frontline, I'm knowledgeable that synthetics aren't allowed to retaliate should there be marines to deal with it; however, if there are no marines/they are incapacitated and nobody else is around, I should be able to retaliate.

Regarding the questions, I'll be answering them when I reach home, for more detail on them.

[Time_URSS]

1. Look at this fob. What's wrong with it and where are the weak points? give a short explanation for the ones you spot, why they're bad and how xenos would exploit them, and ideally how you'd avoid them

https://prnt.sc/61F-camx21mb

I have decided to segment the FOB in 7 areas here:
- The Area 1, completely empty and very wide, is a great place to stall the FOB should all marines gather there. If the cades by the river get breached, the xenos could easily push the marines against their own cadeline and finish them off. That can be fixed by segmenting it more. The cadeline by the south dam will easily fall off and give all that juicy land to the xenos. It also has a peculiar thing: Area 1 has a similar thing to a hallway that leads directly to Area 4
- The Area 2, marked in yellow. That place is well barricaded, with walls, handrails and cades, and a sentry to protect. Not bad for a choke, but rendered useless should they attack by the north, which I will explain later. But overall, pretty fine for a chokeline defense.
- The Area 3, the area I would personally attack if I was a xeno. There is only 1 cadeline there that, if broken down, gives me access to the whole LZ. That makes south completely defenseless, and thus, Area 2 defenses also pointless. Whether marines are there to defend or not, isn't pretty relevant, as again, Area 1 is wide as hell, and one breach would force them to Area 3 or further north, which leads again to south being weak.
- The Area 4, the main bulk of the FOB. Window frames, a random door, many cadelines and handrails. It isn't bad for a holdout zone, although I'm not supportive of the use of window frames as cadelines. Despite them being fine for a shooting point, they are the same (if not slightly worse) than an unwired cade (and unupgradeable as well), thus inviting runners and lurkers (and any brave xeno that can lunge/pounce/dash) to get inside. Plus ravagers and vanguard praetorians can rip off these in a few hits, so they are weaker than paper. Regardless of that, it could be solid enough for a fine defense, unless Area 1 is taken, in that case the whole FOB is decorative.
- The Area 5, the other hotspot for breach. A queen rushing that point will have the hijack secured. More explained in the next area.
- The Area 6, the other mistake of this FOB. Another wide area, if the cades north are breached by the xenos, they got a clean and very beautiful path to the console, only protected by sandbags and windows.
- And finally, the Area 7, the actually decorative side of this FOB. It shouldn't be very worked on, since xenos rarely siege from the river, but this one also has its own sniper sentry. If Area 6 is breached, that sentry is gone. Any marine there will be gone as well. It's another deathtrap.

Mistakes that I haven't listed here: The APC has only one way out of that FOB, and that is in the middle of the river. If the APC were forced to head south or north should the xenos block that way, it would have no other choice but ram the cades down. There should be at least another alternative exit in Kutjevo, as it has many choices (unlike LV, for example), in this case north, and south. Other things:
- The flipped barricades in Area 2. 2 of them are facing north, while one and the plasteel cade are facing south. That is literally useless as hell. The ones facing north will just block bullets for the xenos, while the plasteel one is placed one tile in front, which lets the Xenos go by the side and enter in.
- Some cades in Area 2 are placed infront of the tile, which doesn't take advantage of the chokes (as the wiki states). The cades beside the APC entrance can be easily broken with the help of a boiler, and once broken, xenos have access to the LZ. Not good. The alternative would be shaping the cades there so that they can use the chokepoint to their advantage.

In resume: Area 1 is too wide, Area 6 is also undefended, which leaves the LZ weak with Area 3 and 5 easily accessible by xenos. Area 7 will be a deathtrap for any unlucky marine that stays there if Area 6 is taken down, and Area 1 will be the same if xenos breach down the cades from the river, as there's no easy access to Area 3.

2. Describe to me your routine for setting up a FOB at lz1 on LV-642 as a bravo engineer.

I would suggest with COMMS first (an OP without comms is almost always a guaranteed failed OP) in a secure zone (not in edges of cadelines but neither in a forgotten corner of the FOB, placing it next to the dropship is usually fine, as long as marines have eyes on it and it's inside secure zone). Now, it depends whether we land LZ1 or LZ2:
- If LZ1: First of all COMMS built near dropship, then secure the path to Nexus and the south - east flanks. Walls in LV flanks are quite great, if accompanied with cades and sentries. Cargo should be the next priority, but as lurkers usually try to go for the jungle flanks, I would leave that as a second priority. Once Nexus path is done (with APC entrance, didn't forget!), and the flanks are secured (south flank, east flank, cargo flank, kitchen flank [quite easy]), I would focus on segmenting the FOB into areas as I did above. Try to segment first the dropship entrance with sandbags. Then, I would move on to expanding towards Nexus. Weld doors, flip tables on window marks, but I wouldn't use metal barricades on window frames since I prefer prioritizing metal cades for empty spaces, then sandbags for reinforcing possible blocking points (such as window frames) or as an emergency blockade until I get my hands on more metal. A good LZ1 FOB is the one that secures the retreat to Nexus should it be needed, while keeping Cargo and the jungle flanks safe.
- If LZ2: Oh shit. LZ2 has the same openings than LZ1, except that south research is also a hotspot. COMMS first, we know that. After that, I would secure the path to robotics first, then reinforce the flanks the same way as in LZ1 (walls, cades behind and a sentry to welcome the bugs). Should they breach a wall, the sentry will keep them at line enough time until we notice it. After that, I would go for segmenting and securing the front FOB. If robotics is fully secured and caded, the FOB is half secure. Research is quite of a pain to defend, as it is similar to xenos spamming walls around, so I limit myself to cading it as a chokepoint for us. LZ2 is a real pain to defend, that's why it's rare to be picked.

3. what are the three most common mistakes you see engineers making, and why are they bad?

I believe the first mistake an engineer does is placing the cades to the tile infront and not behind it. The example, stated in the wiki, is the following:



This would allow a xeno to hit it from the corner, and exposes the marine to an easy pounce/lunge should the cade be broken.

The other mistake I have witnessed is, what I call, "cade stacking". That is building cades one after the other, akin to this (image extracted from the wiki as well):



This lets a trapper boiler fuck the entirety of the cades with one hit, which means 3x more metal gone. The alternative to this would be giving a 3 tile gap between cades, so that at least one line will be damaged, while also giving more freedom of walking to the marines.

The last mistake I witnessed is the overuse of plasteel cades for multiple entrances into a single area. I would advise using maximum 2 plasteel cades for an area, as long as they are far apart. 2 tile plasteel doors aren't very great, while they allow more traffic, they will restrict the path to that point if plasteel lacks. Another mistake I want to add to this part is the placing of doors in the middle of the cadeline, which will deter a retreat heavily with marines pushing around. A plasteel cade placed at the edge will allow marines entering and exiting with ease. And finally one of the mistakes I have seen the most: Sandbags facing barricades. I won't detail much on that, the simple solution is to remove them. There are more mistakes I have witnessed (and admitting that I had made some of these before), such as claymores at the edge of cades, fancy diagonal chokes, or choke cades facing outwards.

4. what, in your opinion, is the most vulnerable place to breaching on Shiva's snowball LZ1, and why?

I haven't played Shiva LZ1 much, since I usually tend to play when it's LZ2, but I can hint that, since Shiva LZ1 has 4 entrances (2 north, the main road and a southern flank) + 2 alternative entrance (the 'hangar' and breaching the walls southwest), I have find it relatively easy to breach south as a praetorian/ravager. LZ1 is a place very hard to defend due to the amount of entrances a xeno can get from there. But if I had to pick the most vulnerable one, I would say far northeast, as it tends to be rarely guarded and defended. Either that, or southwestern walls.

5. surprise req question! say the round is getting to about midway through, and it's 12:50. Map is big red, marines are in the caves but the situation seems bad - they are having trouble pushing. Assume no critical marines have permaed, and they are at relatively full strength manpower wise. What kind of supplies would help them the most, and where would you send them?

Requisitions is quite of a mystery box when I am manning it. I would send materials to the front (mainly foldable cades or sandbags) so that they can have a small protection inside the caves should they have to organise somewhere (let's say they got control of northern cave locks but they cannot push further down, if they manage to cade them and they would happen to retreat, assuming the xenos are explicitedly in caves, they could take control of that point to push out). Another thing I would send would be flares for easy maneuvering, ammo (including smartgunner) so that they do not get attrition and fall back to FOB, and if possible I would send a box of grenades and some M56D or M2C to help them push harder and increase their DPS. Caves can be really bitchy for marines, and if a flank isn't secured, it's another way for xenos to stall their push. The most important thing a marine needs to do when pushing caves is to never push in a straight line, but rather in an expanding shape. Being circled by xenos is very easy if the flanks aren't secured either by sentried or by small blockades.

---

[Stan_albatross]

snip

Question 1 : very good and in-depth answer, excellent identification of the weak points. It's clear that playing some xeno has also given you an idea of how they attack fobs, and this is definitely an asset. The massive air pocket of area 1 would easily compromise nearly the entire fob if it was breached, and it's clear none of it is being guarded.

Funnily enough, marines won that round.

2 : Good routine, the only thing I would change is making sure I had a guard on me before the entire marine force leaves to hydro. It's incredibly frustrating and also embarassing to die to a lurker while walling up the flanks from the jungle. Also, I usually find that lurkers prefer to go in from kitchen rather than cargo, as if they're that far north they usually attack hydro road instead. Nevertheless it's still a reliable and solid routine.

3 : yeah, these mistakes are incredibly annoying when I see them. Furthermore, it shows your close knowledge of cade design and how poor placement can easily lose rounds for marines. I also despise ][ cades.

4 : yep, lz1 flanks are a nightmare to defend. Xenos can really easily rotate all over the north side and if you're not careful they will take advantage of unsurveyed areas. Clear good understanding.

5 : Sandbags are probably not the right things for the front due to how much time it takes to fill them up. m2cs are also good for the front. Overall this shows you have competent knowledge of req. At the end of the day, I also think one of the most important parts of deciding what to send is asking what they need - but mats and guns are always needed.

Overall I think saying you only have a mild knowledge of engineering is putting yourself down, as it's clear you're competent and experienced. Big +1 from me and I'll encourage other synths to look out for you in game.

[Jakkkk]

This application is accepted. The story itself knocked me off of my ass, the formatting and character showcase is incredible. I have no complaints with this app, and would love to see how you can bring your skills and RP to the whitelist.