All of these submissions were on the old forums / pre-wipe. I still am in possession of the predator whitelist, but no longer of the captain one (due to the aformentioned wipe).
Synthetic Info:
Name of the Synth Character you wish to play:
Fontaine
What is your Syntheticâs Personality?
Friendly. Limited by his cold manner of speech.
How will they react to the different ranks of the USCM, what would they talk about in a one on one conversation? What are their interests? What is an advertisement logline that could be written for them?
They help everyone, regardless of rank. They are, however, also aware of the rank hierarchy, and that orders from higher up should be prioritized. They wish to make it obvious that they are a synthetic unit, and would remind of the fact frequently. Despite their emotionless nature, theyâd love making small talk, and are very eager to talk about the history of their make.
Why do you want to be a synthetic/why should we whitelist you?
I find that synthetics give the game that sprinkle of believability and immersion that makes it more than just a game. And itâd be very fun to take part in that.
What is your most memorable interaction with a synthetic?
A dance-off with a Working Joe. He won.
Synthetic Character Story:
Skills:
Engineering:
Very familiar.
Command:
Very familiar.
Medical:
Familiar-ish. Chemistry is easy, but I still require the wiki in the background for surgery stuff.
Requisitions:
Very familiar.
What are some scenarios that you can perform combat in? Give us a brief example.
Combat is to be generally avoided. Threats to Marine Law are to be pacified non-lethally, if part of the very same law. Protecting others and myself are an ingrained part of Synthetic Programming, and should be pursued within the bounds of Marine Law.
An example:
I was sent to help build the FOB and told by command to avoid combat. I see lone Pvt. Joker get pounced by a lurker outside the FOB and heavily injured. Personnell is low and nobody is around to help. Despite orders from command to avoid combat, Iâd attempt to rescue the private and shoo the lurker away with whatever melee weapon I would have at hand due to a state of emergency. I would patch Pvt. Joker up. Command would be notified that I had to momentarily ignore their order due to said emergency, and resume in my duties.
Final Info:
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?
No.
Let us know why you were discord banned.
N/A
Do you have anything else you would like to include about your application?
Synth Character & Story
I really donât know anything about how your synth will behave in game other than âfriendlyâ. As opposed to unfriendly? The corps would never buy an unfriendly synth that wouldnât work well with marines, all USCM synths are friendly to a good degree at a minimum. The cold manner of speech bit makes me think heâll act like a classic robot in terms of speech, which isnât a personality, itâs a speech quirk which can work but not on its own, and generally being a âbeep boop robotâ is frowned upon as a synth. You say theyâre helpful, they talk to people, and they talk about their model, but this can be attributed to most synths, the latter part less so but still when prompted. Again, it doesnât really make a personality. A common piece of advice given to people who are making synths is to base them around (not copy) characters from pieces of media that you enjoyed. Think about what their interests would be, what they might do in their free time, what they might collect in their storage, etc.
For story, there just isnât one. Itâs very pretty but it has zero dialogue of your synth, actually zero dialogue at all since itâs just emails. The primary core of the story part for synth applications is to showcase dialogue so people have an understanding of how your synth will engage with people in game, which isnât displayed in your story. It is very pretty though.
And finally, the idea of a synthetic cobbled together from scrap metal and such isnât going to work. It sounds interesting, but it doesnât work for a synth serving aboard a USCM ship. This will need to be changed, the lowest quality standard usually is refurbished or something like that, you might be able to get away with it being an amalgam of different synth model parts jury-rigged together, but you should ask the synth council first. Skills & Combat
All your answers are very brief and donât give a good picture of what you excel at, what you like, what you dislike. 3/4 of your answers are the same exact strings of text. This doesnât give anybody confidence that you know your stuff in these areas, and is below the bar required in terms of effort/quality of application. Your medical answer is not up to par for synths either. Every synthetic needs to be able to do every surgery based off memory, multiple limbs at once, chain surgeries, ghetto tools, etc. Medical is the most important part for synthetics, and âfamiliar-ishâ isnât going to cut it unfortunately.
Your combat answer doesnât really give confidence that youâd be able to adhere to synth guidelines. Your answer is basically âI wouldnât do it unless the guidelines say its okâ, and your example isnât great. In that situation, itâd be more beneficial to simply take the PVT back into the cadeline since it seems youâre right next to it rather than trying to battle the lurker over the PVT, though it is acceptable technically. You should include more examples, and comment on how being on the frontline changes synth combat rules
Also, Iâm not really sure what the bit about marine law meant. Does this mean you will act like MP against people who break marine law? And you donât need to pacify all threats nonlethally, youâre perfectly permitted to engage lethally or kill non USCM if the situation calls for it, which is a good example of a situation you can include in your combat answers.
Hi there. Not a WL holder, so I donât know how they get things done in their Ivory Tower, but I still wanna ask some basic questions regarding your game knowledge (as was already mentioned - answers âfamiliarâ wonât cut it, most likely)
Engineering
You arrive at the front and want to build a cade, but the game doesnât allow you since âThereâs already some bullshit in this directionâ. What will you do to fix your cadeline?
Is there a way to deconstruct portable barricades quicker than click-dragging?
Medical
The sequence for fixing bones and organs without the surgical tray and itâs contents (aka ghetto surgery). Surgical line and graft arenât allowed as well.
Best unga recipe, your opinion (this oneâs subjective, but eh, I still want to know).
Requisitions
Man comes to req line and asks for mk1 and 3 ap mags. Will you give em to him?
Name the locations of some flare/mre crates in maint tunnels (or elsewhere). The white ones, you know. Iâm not asking you to name all of em, 3-4 will do.
Hey, thanks for the input. I realize that I might have left a few things open-ended and Iâll try my best to answer all of the questions to an acceptable degree.
s5nt
Originally, I was going to base the character on a old noir film style protagonist with cheesy dialogue, lengthy unprompted monologues, a knack for murders and a lack for everything else, all of which bottled in a cold synthetic shell. They might say something youâd hear narrated in said movies, âThe rain was washing over the window sill, the wind clashed against the rafters⊠but nothing could have prepared me for the ring on the phoneâŠâ, but ruin it with the type of objective observations ârobotsâ are known for. âThe rain was washing over the window sill. The wind clashed against the rafters. I was not prepared for the ring on the phone.â This would then be quite fitting to the whole âmade from defunct synthetic partsâ, considering both the quirk and the parts are from a bygone era. As far as I am aware, The Company chooses these synthetic quirks deliberately. Perhaps they thought that invoking a sense of deja-vu would help establish a good working relationship with others, considering that the parts the synthetic was made with could remind someone of a time in the past.
As a side tangent; Iâm not sure if current in-universe movies are still black and white, or if old noir flicks are being made, but my headcannon is that itâd be really fitting with the mix of outdated and modern tech one keeps seeing in Aliens media.
In hindsight, having the synthetic write an e-mail about something completely taken out of a normal life scenario more-of counts as a monologue, at best, and I should have known better. I got a bit sidetracked with the formatting and trying to make this meta-commentary about âsynthetics are out to get youâ that I jumped the gun and missed to consider that it doesnât really tell much about how theyâd act in normal 1-on-1 conversation. Choosing e-mails for this was me shooting myself in the foot.
The latter was my original idea. Depending on what goes, Iâm open to it being even as much as âout of recycled partsâ if jury-rigging isnât up to Company standard. Melted and material reused.
Surgery was always a bit of a weakness of mine. I am knowledgeable about the ghetto tools, the way pain works, the way surfaces work and the such, but Iâm the type of doctor to occasionally stumble through the tools once âincision, hemostat, clamps, drill, clampsâ doesnât work at any step inbetween to pull out a larva, or âsetter, bone gelâ to fix a broken bone. So when I say âfamiliar-ishâ, I mean that I donât know every step of every single surgery from the top of my head. Though Iâm confident that I would be able to perform any surgery regardless, if prompted, even if Iâd occasionally try the wrong tool.
Example 2:
Injured are piling up and Command sends the synth to the frontlines to alleviate a lack of corpsmen. I would accept the order, move to the front, and focus on supporting the marines. I would not participate in the fight itself. I would drag wounded, heal wounded, and occasionally deconstruct and collect materials if the situation allowed it. If Command would order me to âfight the lizardsâ, I would politely decline, and make them aware of self-preservation programming.
My personal interpretation on why frontlining is strict on âno combatâ is that⊠A) Synthetic units are expensive, and being on the frontline greatly increases risk of loss. B) It has the risk of negatively impacting the round by giving marines an unfair advantage not accounted for in terms of balance.
Example 3:
A warrior pounces at me from the flank, and attempts to drag me off. They fling me further away from the main path, and engage in combat. I do not reciprocate and leave at the first given chance. If I am surrounded and escape is impossible, I attempt to deter. If determent and escape is impossible, and combat is unavoidable, I notify command to retrieve me in the event Iâd fail to survive the fight. During any given moment, Iâd try to leave.
The same would apply if âflankâ was âfrontlineâ, instead. Although more unlikely, since naturally I would try my utmost best to not in a situation to get dragged off in the first place.
Oh, no. By â[t]hreats to Marine Law are to be pacified non-lethally, if part of the very same law.â I meant to underscore that I can only deal with USCM personnell non-lethally, and everyone else is fine given the situation. I am aware that Military Policing isnât the scope of the whitelist, and generally should be left to MPs instead. I donât think that a synthetic, or at least my synthetic, should ignore lawbreaking though.
Example 4:
I witness a marine in the process of breaking the windoor in briefing. I notify them that this goes against Marine Law and that they should stop. They ignore and continue. I notify Military Police, and attempt to disarm the situation without direct confrontation, in lieu with self-preservation, considering that they could decide to fire at me with their ranged weapon during an altercation.
Example 5:
Multiple hostile CLF forces have boarded the Almayer and begun a murder spree of military personnel and civilians alike. I would not actively seek out the CLF and focus on helping the victims instead. Should the situation arise that Iâd have to fight a CLF in order to protect someone, I would not bat an eye killing them in order to avoid future bloodshed.
Danil154322
Build a cade a few tiles away, where the game doesnât have some bullshit in the way. Screwdriver and wrench, pull it to where I want it to be, and secure it again with the same tools in reverse. Or deconstruct some bullshit, if it can be deconstructed.
Using a crowbar with an engineering skill of at least 1 (pamphlet, or otherwise) is faster than the click-drag.
Starts with finding a suitable surgery surface and having painkillers on hand (preferably Oxycodone). 1. Knife (or shard) for the incision, 2. Wirecutters for the bleeders, 3. Crowbar for the clamps, 4. Screwdriver(?) instead of bone gel, 5. Wrench to reset the tool, 6. Welder to seal.
I like my unga juice nurishing. 240u TriBica, 240u KeloDerm, 240u IronSugar, 120u Oxycodone, 120u Meralyne. Top it off with 40u of Blue Raspberry Souto (arguably the best Souto flavor).
Why would I refuse a man his MK1 and <2> AP mags? Iâm not a monster.
From the top of my head, thereâs 1. MRE crate in requisitions, 2. FOB crate in northern dorms. 3. another crate, north of northern dorms. 4. + 5. Southern dorms, two crates in maintenance.
Once again, cheers for taking the time to consider the application.
We donât clamp bleeders in the medcord, thatâs lame
With 2 metal rods in the other hand
Lighter is faster, actually, but harder to come by. Wires might be faster, but Iâm not sure⊠And Iâm too lazy to look in the code right now
You forgot to mention the organ repair, but eh, you know your way around ghetto tools. And the only thing I wanted to hear is that you can fix organ damage with gauze
Gah⊠Well, like I said, unga recipes are subjective. You havenât named dylo, inap and peri, thatâs all I care about
There is also crate west of charlie/delta dorms, crate south of Normandy pad and a crate east of laundry. But you already named 5 crates when I asked for 4, soâŠ
The guy havenât been born yesterday and knows his stuff. Their medical knowledge might be questionable, but theyâre good at engineering. And with how our synths tend to build abominable mazes they dare calling âcadelinesâ - the synthcord can use some decent engineers
Please refrain from material other than character references for the player themselves on WL posts. The only thing community members need to be posting is if the individual is an issue or not in RP and OOC behavior. Content-related questions like this can confuse people as to the goals and expectations for whatâs being looked at and often give people an inaccurate impression of what kinds of performance and knowledge base theyâre supposed to have.
After reviewing your application I thought itâd be best to drop my opinions here.
First off, personality. Itâs non-existent. No effort to make your Synthetic stand out from a robot. Basically all our whitelisted Synthetics act friendly but itâs not a defining point of their character.
Generic response when answering the first half of âdifferent ranks of the USCMâŠâ question.
I havenât read your story and will not after seeing other people comment how your story doesnât bother including dialogue of âFontaineâ. Dialogue within Synthetic stories helps us see how youâll be interacting within the game to other marines, people, etc. It helps display your personality as well but it doesnât exist anyways.
Under the âMedicalâ, I completely understand you needing the wiki for surgery but thatâs for the learning process on how they work. It shouldnât be used during your application process.
Combat - Why does command need to tell you, you canât combat? That is knowledge for you and only yourself need to know. âCommandâ does not dictate you can or canât combat. You decide when combat is necessary and it should be necessary for self defense or the defense of others. Overall your combat answer is stupid, Command doesnât care if you whack a lurker to save Private Joker.
I really think you should just Withdraw your application and take the necessary steps to obtain the Synthetic whitelist next time. Talk with me or the other councilors so we can be guides to your success, app process, story, whatever.
Thanks for the response. Some of what you have pointed out has been addressed in the first reply made by me, but I understand if the general lackluster look of the application was a dealbreaker which turned down any further consideration. I am, however, not going to withdraw my application just yet - simply to the merit of already having put the effort in defending it in the first place.
Please refer to the reply Iâve made to s5nt. Iâve gone into further detail what I imagined my synthetic could theoretically have as a personality after they have voiced a similar complaint.
Iâm glad that is the worst you had to say about it. If there was something that could have been worded better, would you give me an example of what that response would look like?
Partially answered in the reply Iâve made to s5nt. Iâm a bit bummed out that you didnât read the story, but I understand that the lack of a proper back-and-forth dialogue gives little reason to.
EDIT: Iâve misunderstood the last part of that message and had to alter my response a little, my bad.
Seeing that it was an issue, I am happy to announce that Iâve actually surpassed that stage in the past few days, and am rather confident in everything that entails medical now. Itâs⊠actually quite fun. Perhaps youâll see me in medbay from time to time.
I am fully aware that they donât. That was part of the example scenario, which I thought was to evaluate whether or not I could discern problematic rule conflictions and act accordingly. In this case, command specifically gives an order not to engage in combat, which I have to follow as is detailed in Programming and Guidelines - whether theyâd need to give this order or not is irrelevant in this case, they already did, and I have to work with what I was given.
By technicality, I would have to follow this order despite conflicting with several scenarios where combat would be unavoidable. At which point, given the emergency of the situation, Iâd have the right to ignore said order.
I have written a few more scenarios out in the reply I gave to s5nt, who asked me to provide some other examples of how Iâd act in a given conflict.
Thanks for opening up the option to me. Iâll definetly use the #application-help resources available should the application be declined.
So votes are tallied and this application is denied, and may re-apply in 30 days. A few important notes to consider:
Consistency is key and itâs very important that your initial presentation of personality matches the displayed examples of interaction that occur in a story. Itâs highly advised to run concepts for this by councilors prior to an application, and itâs fair game to ask for councilors to proofread a story in terms of its display of your chosen personality prior to submission
Weâre not just looking for familiarity with medical, but expertise and confidence along with it. Sometimes surgical interventions need to be paused, deferred, mixed into triage, or otherwise correct where someone else has had an issue they couldnât figure out. Weâre looking for both the confidence to juggle surgical tasks in mass casualty incidents as well as expertise to rapidly make decisions on how much depth is necessary and to fix issues when someone inevitably comes to you and says âthis personâs surgery is screwed up can you fix itâ
Generic reactions to ranks are ok, but itâs also an area where you can inject some of your personality into it. For example, if you wanted a detective noir vibe maybe officers are just that, âofficerâ or âchiefâ as in a police officer or chief of police, and lower ranked people âpartnerâ. Perhaps in an âoldâ vibe he uses âdameâ and âgalâ when referring to women, as examples of how to incorporate a personality into this section.
It may be worth having a more detailed conversation regarding intent and reasoning behind ruleset and why it differs from the traditional Asimov laws, either in DMs or whitelist application help in discord.
