Restore public trust for nanites

[MrNihil]

Hello, I was thinking about why people don't want to use nanites, and I believe that the most important reason is - you cant trust the nanites. It takes one wrong man with proper access, and everyone is in trouble. Virology is similar to nanites in form of cooking buffs (or making malevolent ones), but we usually have one virologist on the station, and his workplace is well secured, hence this is a hard thing to perform, and in event of bad virus it may be curable with competent medical team onboard, as well this event points to an obvious lynch target.

I would like to propose authorization for nanites and means to get rid of nanites should something would happen. Please welcome ID authorization! Whenever you create a new cloud, its permission for editing is by default only accessible to the creator, RD and Captain, and optionally AI. If you want to edit the cloud or delete it - you need to provide proper ID with sufficient access. Of course antags could use AA, or simply steal proper ID and still perform the sabotage.

With research you can get Nanite Authorization Protocols, which would add the following:
1) Editing a cloud now requires 4 digit PIN number, or two authorization ID's, but also can be hacked with emag, similar to shuttle hijack, giving R&D radio channel a feed that there is hacking attempt, and at last stage, a common channel message that certain cloud is compromised.
2) A new nanite program called Delay Cloud Updates, which allows to skip up to two sync cycles without risking ill side effects, giving more time to get rid of nanites or fix the sabotage before catastrophe.
3) A new nanite program called Authorize Update, which would need a trigger code to be used on it, to allow one next sync with cloud, if you wont sync however, you will still suffer corruptions. Details of this program in Cloud should only be readable by person with proper access.

And with late game research (maybe hidden behind illegal/alien tech or bepis) - Nanite CRC Protocols
1) Nanite Swarms in hosts no longer suffer corruptions due to lack of cloud sync. Installed by an implant? Activated globally? Anyway - Get this and authorize update, and never worry again!

Of course this is like 75% of the problem, the rest is in getting rid of the nanites - introducing Nanite Posion, a chemical made in chemistry which would kill nanites in host while dealing tox damage and some temporary ill effects like hallucinations or vomits. This would purge the nanites and with some tox healing and rest/time the host should be perfectly fine.
And through R&D means - one of nanite research should give Nanite Sterilizer - a special tool, that if used on the host would temporary deactivate nanites, or if used on still host for a time (timer like cuffs or force feed) would sterilize them completely to 0 volume, effectively getting rid of nanites.

With those countermeasures people would be more likely to trust public nanites without fear of being an easy picking, and having a fair chance to fight them off if event of a sabotage.

EDIT:
Practical example for sabotaging the Nanite Cloud:
Get ID of Cloud creator (stated publicly in nanite cloud computer), or get Research Director ID or AA.
If it has PIN enabled - get pin number (interrogation, or just ask) OR emag the cloud computer OR get two ID's like Creator and RD, or RD and AA
If it has Authorize Update program - get program trigger code (torture, emag) and send the trigger code to speed up process or wait a bit longer.

Practical example for "oh no, those clouds sucks!"
Take Nanite Posion or nag R&D for Nanite Sterilizer. Also - you can use them on others to impede their abilities! Useful in combat!

[Nabski]

Not being able to trust nanites is an intentional part of the design.

[remanseptim]

damn n*nite powergamers trying to get me to take their shit

[RaveRadbury]

I take nanites on-sight because I figure that if I get completely owned by them it will be pretty funny. It usually is.

[XDTM]

Nanite coder here, the unreliability is very much intentional and is the reason they can be as powerful as they currently are. If you can extend some trust and embrace rule 10, you get to reap the benefits of high regeneration, armor, medical scans; hell, even self revival if the operator is skilled enough to set it up.

But you have to accept that you might end up stunned, poisoned, mind-controlled, or blown up if things go sideways. You can mitigate the risk by placing the cloud console in a secure space, but to make it so easily preventable would make nanites way too overpowered in favour of the crew.

One nice idea i saw in the post, though, is a reagent that breaks down nanites. I'll consider adding something like that when the feature freeze is over, since mechanisms to get rid of nanites are still kind of limited.

[pugie]

Even if nanite controls are made to be locked in a safe, in the vault, and requiring two keycard swipes and AA to access they would still sometimes get sabotaged and make people who hate random death not want to use them.

[wesoda25]

I take nanites on-sight because I figure that if I get completely owned by them it will be pretty funny. It usually is.

This. I either become a God amongst men, or die completely unexpectedly in a way I didn't know I could.

[Ayy Lemoh]

I only trust nanites as a simplemob or character that I don't value living for. The day I trust nanites when actually playing the game is the day I die (because n*nites will kill me once i do )

[Critawakets]

you literally have no reason not to take the nanites because if someone wants to sabotage them they can just put in viral replica and nanite sting/infective exo-loco and give the grey death to the whole station

[XDTM]

FYI viral replica only works if the target already has nanites, it overwrites existing programs and/or cloud ID. The others make a copy the infector's programming by default.

EDIT: They were meant to copy cloud ID over, but they currently don't, and only copy the programs onto a cloud 0 swarm on the new host. I'll fix this asap.

[chocolate_bickie]

Nanites are hella strong being a consistent source of brute/burn healing without time consuming medbay surgery or toxin/organ damage.

This is on top of their other uses such as self-scanning and buffs like adrenaline burst.

If the cost of that is the occasional messy death so be it. Nanites are great.

[Super Aggro Crag]

You've got ten seconds to beat it before I add you to the list of NSF casualties.

[Tlaltecuhtli]

just keep an uranium and iron pill so you can emp out the badnites

[MrNihil]

Thank you all for replies

I was not aware it was intentional that nanites are dangerous, and if I look at it that way it makes perfect sense! I still think that making it would be beneficial to make it little more difficult to edit the cloud by random people, as currently anyone with science access or good with hacking can change it. This would narrow dawn lynch targets, the same way virology is quite limited in amount of people involved. Logging changes perhaps?

[XDTM]

Incidentally i was already working on expanding logging for nanites, although that's only for after-round purposes.

As for extra security, a simple suggestion would be to rebuild the cloud console in a different location! If someone's grand plan to sabotage nanites involves waltzing into the same spot as always and uploading their programs, they'll be thwarted until they find the actual location of the console, or unless they actually get creative and use stuff like Viral Replica to make a separate hijacker nanite cloud.