Personal AI

Personal AIs, or pAI for short, are potentially the one individual you can truly count on in SS13. They are similar to a carded AI, in that they fit in your pocket and don't really possess much of a body of their own outside of an immobile device you carry around. They cannot wirelessly control doors and machines around them like a carded AI can. Instead, they possess a unique suite of abilities with which they might serve their master. Whom they serve is determined at the DNA level, allowing whoever holds an unbound pAI device to imprint their own unique enzymes to the device. Typically, the only way to unbind a pAI from its master is to wipe the personality completely, which resets the DNA imprint and makes the device a blank slate once more. pAIs are players, like you! They're player-controlled, and are pulled from all active observers in the round.

How to get one
Three pAI devices are placed on the map at the beginning of every round. One can be found in the Crew Quarters, another in the Research Director's Office, and a third will require a space walk to the Derelict Shuttle. If all of those are already taken, R&D can create more by going down the programming research path. They are inexpensive to produce, requiring only Programming 3 and 500 glass and metal.

How to use one
Pick up the device with an empty hand. Click it again while it's in your active hand. Search for personalities in the window that appears. This will send out a request to all active ghosts/observers in-game. After some time, usually 30 seconds to 2 minutes, they will submit their pAI personality details. You will receive an update from your pAI device every time a new personality becomes available. To download a new personality, simply go through the steps to search for a personality and select the one you like the best. You now have a pAI!

Dealing with an unsatisfactory pAI
Sometimes things just don't work out. Maybe the personality you chose doesn't fit your playstyle. Maybe the player playing the pAI has unexpectedly disconnected. Maybe the pAI is being intentionally antagonistic, ignoring directives, or interpreting them in a way you don't appreciate. The solution is simple: wipe the personality. This can be done in much the same way you downloaded it to begin with. Simply choose "Wipe Personality" in the device settings window. Now the device is free of the old personality and a new one can be requested as normal. This forcibly ghosts the player playing the wiped pAI, and allows them to observe the round as normal (they are capable of re-applying to be a pAI as well.)

How to be one
Only ghosts with active, logged-in clients receive the request to be a pAI. When someone wants a pAI, you will receive a yes/no dialog box asking if you want to be one. Answer yes, and in the following window that appears fill out any information you feel necessary (name is all that's really required here, the rest is optional). Hit "Submit Personality" when you're done. Your personality has now been added to the list of available pAI personalities users may choose from. If someone likes what you wrote, they'll download you and you'll be placed inside the device as a new personality.