How to make the Syndicate MMI competitive with the emag

[Anonmare]

So as you may or may not know, when you buy the syndicate surgery duffelbag, you'll find it coming with a full set of surgical tools, a straitjacket and muzzle - and the syndicate MMI. It's rather cheap for 3 TCs but the duffelbag is a bulky item and incredibly obvious which makes it tricky to hide (though it has the advantage of being a no-slowdown duffelbag when used as a backpack).

The MMI is what we will be focusing on and I want to begin by stating that, in its current form, it's worthless when compared to the emag and I will explain why.

• What the Syndicate MMI does:-
• Start with its radio turned off, preventing any brain put into it from screaming for help the minute it's put in.
• Uploads the Syndi OS lawset, but lacks the Law 0 stating that "Only [Your name here] and anyone they designate are Syndicate Agents".
• Automatically reject any AI connections
• No lawsync
• Can be used to make an AI

And that's it. You only get one MMI so you can't mass produce them.
Let's compare them to the emag

• What the emag does:-
• Has many uses outside of subverting borgs.
• Can be used an infinite number of times
• Makes borgs loyal to you and you alone, unlike the MMI who makes them loyal to every Agent
• Gives cyborgs hacked modules, while the MMI doesn't
• Is much more concealable
• Can't hack AIs

Overall, the emag is much more cost effective, despite being more expensive, and also takes less effort considering you have to build the cyborg yourself. So, my suggestion is to make any silicon built with the MMI have abilities that a plain emagged/subverted one does not. For example, a borg with a syndicate MMI could have the following traits:-

• A built-in syndicate radio
• Knowledge of the codetalk language
• Knowledge of the current traitor codephrases in use
• Scrambled security codes (making it invisible to the robo console)
• Emag immunity, gives the same message as trying to emag a borg under a malf AI's control
• On death, will explode, destroying the MMI, after several seconds. There will be a warning message and the sound of beeping coming from it but if you're quick enough, you can deconstruct it before it goes off and interrogate the MMI

This still leaves it loyal to all traitors but capable of identifying them and gives it an edge over emagged borgs without making it outright superior (Not loyal only to you and no hacked modules without significant R&D/mineral cost)

An AI built with a Syndicate MMI gains the following traits:-

• Syndicate radio
• Codetalk language
• Knowledge of agent codephrases
• Unable to receive new/remove existing laws from an upload console, in addition to ion storm immunity. May still be re-lawed by whacking its core directly with a law module.
• Eavesdropping software (as the malf power)
• May still have cyborgs synced with it, synced borgs gain no other benefit other than the AI's laws.

This creates an AI loyal to every traitor on station and ensures that it's not something easily corrected by printing off an upload board and a reset, but also not something that's impossible to deal with - and it does require you to make the AI yourself.

[leibniz]

This proposal is fine but I dont see why you have to compare it to the emag.
99% of items are inferior to the emag, it's how the game is.

[Anonmare]

The emag was getting split up into two items last I heard (the C-mag for lockpicking and the E-mag for everything else), and even split up it would still be better than the MMI. The MMi is in direct competition with the emag for relevancy hence why I reference it

[DemonFiren]

>splitting up the emag
bottom kek

[John_Oxford]

You could make it a separate item from the dufflebag.

15 TC and you get a syndicate assault borg MMI
20 TC and you get a medical assault borg MMI

then make the dufflebag 2 TC

[Cobby]

The emag is in dire need of division or preferably more ways to get these functions without said item

[ShadowDimentio]

Most of the emag's functions are accomplishable with hacking though

[factoryman942]

and most of a revolver's functions are accomplishable by throwing screwdrivers at someone
but people use revolvers anyway

[Cobby]

The only ones I know of are opening doors with tools and being the ai for things like holodeck, hacking borgs, and malfing borgs.

Crew have very few ways to mimic emag functions unless people have been throwing them under emp.