Security are supposed to be responsible for the safety of the station and crew yet are powerless to anything just outside the main halls.
From a logical 'lore' standpoint, there's no reason security shouldn't be able to access any department they need to in order to respond to the security needs of the station. From a gameplay perspective, you can't just have all officers have all-access because of the workplace annoyances and distractions from having security dancing all over, and a single officer getting taken out by an antagonist turning into a loot pinata for accessibility.
So I think a remedy and good balance for that is converting an emergency response into semi-limited item form:
Security Override Key
How it would work:
The mechanics of the key would be to have it in hand, and click on an airlock to use it, similar to an e-mag. However, the swipe would have a slight lull in opening where it would create a few 'loud' versions of airlock sparks (the 'shocked' noise and animation) as the access is being overwritten before temporarily locking the airlock open. This uses up a charge. The key would be rechargeable and probably at a decently slow rate.
Gameplay considerations:
- Limited charges before recharging means officers can't treat it as a pseudo all-access. The charges would have to be used in a precise and intelligent manner.
- Would lighten the annoying load of 'being a doorknob' for the AI
- Having access and a quick AI is still rewarded with a quicker opening and saved charges
- The slight lull and obvious sparking creates prep-time for people on the receiving end of the breach, giving time for fight-or-flight, potentially making more interactive firefights.
- For antagonists, while it won't be an easy replacement for just buying an E-mag for airlocks (the dangers of taking out an officer, the risks of getting spotted with it on person/trying to charge it, less effective mechanics for traitoring, etc.), it's still a worthwhile reward if you manage to get your hands on it
The aesthetics of the card should be deliberate. It should be black and red to the color theme of security, so it's instantly recognizable as a security item, and scream that it's a big no-no to those not authorized to use it when you spot this on a person. Stylistically, my sample images' shape and design are a tribute to the classic Doom keycard, because that's awesome. On-character sprite can be as simple as recycling and turning the in-hand ID card model red.
I am not a coder or spriter. The images are just inspiration I whipped up in MS Paint for an idea thread.