Security levels and their effects

[Nalzul]

Blue alert is pretty much the standard because it's when you have no threats. At this level, the cargo shuttle will be the fastest (current setting, 2 minutes). Security will only have access to general equipment (disablers, lockers, glasses, ect).

Green alert is where it gets spicy, as there are possible hostilities onboard, but nothing confirmed-- station goes as usual on blue.

Yellow Alert: Active hostilities onboard, triggered by using the AI or any heads: security gets access to riot gear (armor, shields, riot shotguns) but no lethal weaponry (lethal buckshot, laser guns, ect). At this point the cargo shuttle gets increased in timer (why would centcom prioritize a station with active enemies? that's how your shuttle gets robbed), research points also decrease by half, shuttle arrives earlier like usual, and payouts take 1.5x longer to receive.

Red alert is the one we still know of, it's when things are FUCKED: Cargo shuttle does not come at all, sec gets tier 3 lethal weaponry (lasers, lethal shotgun shells, c4, [this is just an idea, but basically a grenade launcher that launches flashbangs/teargas grenades]), all science point generation halts, and the head's budget locks up (no payments or using the funds).

Ignoring all space law fluff with security level, the whole point of this is that there's no actual reason to /not/ be on red alert. Red alert should really be something where things are about to turn tits-up instead of being used to make the shuttle come faster. Warden is also usually supposed to keep the armory stocked and hand out equipment during times, but it's usually just used to arm the entire crew, as sec officers usually have what they need (stuns).

[zxaber]

So what you're saying is we toggle red alert at the start of the game to give sec their gear, then lower it to blue immediately after and never touch it until the shuttle is called?

[Nalzul]

So what you're saying is we toggle red alert at the start of the game to give sec their gear, then lower it to blue immediately after and never touch it until the shuttle is called?

Security doesn't even do this currently, especially with the current test merge with the disarm PR and riot armor. That being said I should have mentioned there would have to be a massive cooldown between switching alerts, both up in rank and below in rank. That and making round start red alerting fnr considered metagaming, just like reinforcing the armory and tamper-proofing atmos is.

[zxaber]

I should really ask why you want the alert levels to be tied to in-game mechanics. As is, it's mostly a RP thing (I've seen captains get livid when the HoS executes a tator on green alert, for example), with the sole exception that the shuttle timer is controlled by the red alert.

Do we really want to be impeding a bunch of otherwise unrelated players' rounds? Cargo can't order shit because someone viva'd and the cap got spooked? All research is stopped because someone drew a rune with crayon and now the HoS is on a warpath? It seems like we'd be inflicting detriments on the players least responsible for the alert levels for no reason except to maybe cause conflict that no one wanted in the first place.