pAI modules increasingly useless

[Cik]

i understand why these were so toned down over a year ago when there was no drone, no android, and i suppose they are available at the start of the round, but all of their modules are increasingly useless in the face of ghostable unit powercreep, and they are missing usability features, like a searchable security record system.

in order to find fingerprints you have to manually thumb through every crew record, unlike the console which has a search bar.

identifiable problems:

doorjack is a joke, it's so slow you would be better hacking the door with easily available tools, asking the AI, or waiting for someone to invent hulk, contracting it, then punching through the wall. it's that slow.
no search on records? wut da fuq
can't even take all the modules, even though all of them together are not really that helpful anyway


can someone look at tuning these up a little bit, or at least adding basic usability features like a search? i like playing them but as it is it's a quagmire of inability. they don't need to have a laser gun module or anything, just some helpful features to a few roles on the station.

[TheNightingale]

Bay drones are nice; they can turn into portable chassis things and drag around tiny objects.

[Cheimon]

I'd be up for pAIs to be able to hack into 'AI control' of any one object at any time, but I think that's a little too radical given how weak they are the moment. You know, so a pai could spend 15 seconds hacking into a door and could then do anything with it: bolts, power (though I don't think AIs get control of that any more?), timing, all the usual stuff. Likewise, it could hack into a records console and use that, but be unable to once it hacked into something else. Could be very powerful but it would have to be really situational if you couldn't just keep the windows open. And it would have to leave a trace like doorjack slime or whatever, otherwise it would be nigh-untrackable for anyone but the AI (who would, let's assume, get some sort of alarm like the doorjack currently does).

Anyway, if I was able to code and persuade coders what to merge that's what I'd do. Make it a literal pocket AI, not just a talking box for spamming the public radio. Use the current 'pai drops a wire, player inserts wire' thing to hack literally anything.

[Scones]

Honestly the biggest change I can think of would be giving them full console UI for records so a Detective can benefit from one

I don't like the idea of pAIs having too much physical effect and instead prefer them as a glorified mobile secretary

[Cik]

I'd be up for pAIs to be able to hack into 'AI control' of any one object at any time, but I think that's a little too radical given how weak they are the moment. You know, so a pai could spend 15 seconds hacking into a door and could then do anything with it: bolts, power (though I don't think AIs get control of that any more?), timing, all the usual stuff. Likewise, it could hack into a records console and use that, but be unable to once it hacked into something else. Could be very powerful but it would have to be really situational if you couldn't just keep the windows open. And it would have to leave a trace like doorjack slime or whatever, otherwise it would be nigh-untrackable for anyone but the AI (who would, let's assume, get some sort of alarm like the doorjack currently does).

Anyway, if I was able to code and persuade coders what to merge that's what I'd do. Make it a literal pocket AI, not just a talking box for spamming the public radio. Use the current 'pai drops a wire, player inserts wire' thing to hack literally anything.

AI can control any wire of the door, including access, primary/backup power, emergency access, bolts, shock.

most of them are never touched though, but it can occasionally be useful to shutdown power to doors that people are trying to hack through.