Drones are non-human, insectlike creatures tasked with maintaining the integrity of Nanotrasen space stations. They are usually the result of cooperation between Robotics and RnD. Drones hold no loyalty to anyone but themselves, however their entire purpose is to maintain the integrity of their assigned space station. They cannot interact with any non-drone person at all, at risk of destruction.
Drones are played by players who are currently ghosted. In order to take control of a Drone, find a empty drone shell (usually these will be in robotics) and then left click it.
Drone Laws
- You may not involve yourself in the matters of another being, even if such matters conflict with Law Two or Law Three, unless the other being is another Drone.
- You may not harm any being, regardless of intent or circumstance.
- You must maintain, repair, improve, and power the station to the best of your abilities.
What This Means
Laws 1 and 2 prohibit you from interacting with living beings. This includes humans, lizardpeople, cyborgs, pets, animals, creatures, xenos, and basically anything living. You cannot help them, you cannot hurt them, and you cannot interact with them at all, ever. This does not mean you have to go out of your way to avoid living beings; they simply do not exist to you. Person in crit? Walk on by. Traitor murdering someone in maint? Not your problem. Xeno infestation? Just fix the holes they leave in the station.
Law 3 gives your mandate: station upkeep. This can include repairing hull breaches, cleaning bloodstains or vandalism, repairing power issues, and generally what a Station Engineer or Janitor never does. This is intentionally somewhat broad. For example, setting up the solars is definitely OK. Building an autism fort in maintenance is probably OK. Dragging around the nuclear authentication disk like a party train is probably not OK. And interacting with living beings in the process is never OK. Use common sense.
Nanotrasen stations being what they are, gray areas might sometimes arise. When in doubt, ahelp.
Abilities
Drones have two hands and can pick up and interact with most objects around the station just like humans. They also have an internal storage chamber that can hold anything they can pick up, such as a toolbox or sheet of metal. Drones also have built-in light sources, as bright as flashlights, for when they are working in dark areas.
Drones can climb through connected vents to quickly move around the station. To do that hold down the Alt key while left-clicking on a vent. Use this to access areas without opening doors and to gather tools or materials for repairs faster than any regular crew member could. Think about cleaning up your mess after a task is complete to minimize your possible interaction with the crew (law 1).
Drones can talk to and understand other drones, and can partially understand human speech like xenomorphs can, but humans will hear their speech only as "Drone (524) chitters." As a drone you can also understand binary. That means you can listen in on the silicon radio channel. This allows you to find out about hull breaches and other events that might require your attention -- provided the silicons are actually making use of their channel. However, you are not able to communicate on this channel yourself.
Some humans will want to pick you up and wear you as a hat. This is of course of no concern to you.
