Command power structure overhaul

src/design-proposals/Command-structure-overhaul.md

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+# Command hierarchy restructuring
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+
+|Designers|Implemented|GitHub Links|
+|-|-|-|
+|Taydeo, Rainbeon, Dimesequals9, Higwaz, Delta_, doc edited by kouhadyne|:x:|TBD|
+
+`Designers`
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+
+## Overview
+
+Restructuring Command members into a new order of succession, and changing their responsibilities.
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+![graph format](https://i.imgur.com/JzFswAW.png)
+
+## Background
+
+As it stands, the authority of command over security is somewhat ambiguous, particularly when it comes to the Captain. Additionally, the Captain can feel like their authority is meaningless due to how the power structure currently plays out. The intention with this document is to outline changes to Command and crew, redefining both into what suits Funky's principles moving forward. 
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+1. To reinforce and clearly establish a structure to the station's Command positions, with Captain now firmly at the top.
+2. To create further distinctions between Security, Legal operations, and NanoTrasen protocol.
+3. Change roles and role dynamics within the existing Command structure to create a clearer story within the hierarchy of the station.
+
+## Features to be added
+
+The Head of Security and as a result, security as a whole is removed from the order of succession and Command structure. Instead they work directly and only under the captain or whoever is highest in the order of succession, if Captain is indisposed. Security's job is to exercise the Captain's will on-board the station and enforce space law.
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+Magistrate as a role will be removed from the CCVIP structure, and placed into the legal structure, now renamed the "Judicial Officer." Their job will exclusively be formulating and passing sentences, hearing out civil cases, and managing Security's paperwork. The Executive Officer may sentence in the absence of a Judicial Officer, but never when one is present. Judicial Officers can request executions with reasoning. The Captain and XO vote on it; If both vote yes, the execution is approved. If one votes no, the execution is denied. The Judicial Officer would be mind-shielded.
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+The Head of Personnel is being renamed as the "Executive Officer." They are the next step of legal escalation after the Judicial Officer and second only to the Captain. They are responsible for approving warrants, and giving security access to departments when needed, along with authorizing job changes on board as they did before. They assist in managing Command as a department, and exists as the superior of Command, second to the Captain. As the HoS is removed from the chain-of-command, the XO is NOT responsible for Security-- that is exclusively the Captain's jurisdiction.
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+The Captain would now hold ultimate punitive authority and is the final step of all escalation on the station, including all legal matters. Nobody within or outside the Command structure outranks the Captain of the station. Captain is also the exclusive superior of the Security department, with the HoS, therefore the Security department, acting according to the Captain's will. The only people who can overule the captain is central command
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+Chefs, Botanists, Bartenders and Janitors now answer to the Quartermaster. Cargo will now be renamed to Logistics. Additionally, two new roles will be added. One named the "Hospitality manager", who will work under the QM, but above the hospitality roles. Second is a waiter role, which will coordinate with other hospitality roles to assist in delivering the services of the aformentioned roles.
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+Clowns, Mines, Musicians, Reporters\* and Assistants answer to all of Command. As the HoS is NOT within the Command structure, they do not answer to the HoS.
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+\*if they are not removed by time of changes.
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+The new order of succession: CAP -> XO -> RD -> QM -> CMO -> CE. Refer to the chart above for chains of command.
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+The NT Rep will still enforce SoP, but will retain 0 legal authority. Instead the NT Rep will also have the job of ensuring the Captain, by proxy the rest of Command, are serving Central Command's interests. If the Captain ever got to a point where they deviated too far from Central Command's interests, they can call a "vote of no confidence." If this occurs, all of the command members in the order of succession, would vote on whether or not the Captain is fit to continue their duties. A majority vote would be required to deem the Captain unfit for work. If so, the Captain is to be permanently jailed, pending investigation at Central Command.
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+Similarly, the CMO can declare the Captain medically unfit for work. In this instance, the same process above would be applied, however the NT Rep would be allowed to vote in this instance. If the 'Medically Unfit' vote passes, they are to be demoted and stripped of all Command accesses and privileges.
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+A new communication radio channel would need to be added. Which would include: Judicial Officer, Executive Officer, Lawyers, Captain, NT Rep, Internal Affairs Agent, named the "Legal" channel.
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+SoP to define the roles of the Judiciary Officer, XO, and Captain, along with updating SoP to remove HoS from the chain of succession and placing Captain as their sole authority. Along with placing XO as head of command, below Captain.
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+## Game Design Rationale
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+- The chain of command as of current is pretty ambiguous. There are too many vague approximations of authority, and too many instances of authority being redundant, i.e.; cap being able to sentence, or the Magistrate having full punitive authority without a real-use case for it, outside of super rare trials, along with the HoP's technical second in command, etc. These are all defined in unclear writing, but is not supported by gameplay or the structure of Command. Additionally, the Captain is in a position where their authority can feel stripped by proxy. It's important there is a clear distinction of who is in charge, and who isn't. This reformatting will allow for a more clear definition of hierarchy, and allow clearer escalations regarding issues that may arise on the station. It also gives lawyers a more clearly defined role, and pushes the HoP into a more authoritative position, which is befitting of second-in-command on board. 
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+- In addition, Funky already has a movement towards a story about classism, the corruption of those in power, and worker solidarity. Actually making a pyramid structure in which who has power has a name and face only strengthens those ideas, and helps guide themes towards those issues. It's putting the unwritten into practice, essentially.
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+- For the Legal changes, it creates a more hands-on and interactive legal system, which gives players more freedom to roleplay within the restructured legal world. Allotting more time for conflict within the power dynamics now present, in-depth exploration of Space Law and the inherent unbalance with said laws. It gives every role involved in the Legal restructure more time to actually put these themes into practice, to let people engage with these ideas, as well as giving more freedom to all players involved to actually focus on an interaction with the law systems, without any one role being overburdened within their responsibilities to their departments.
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+- For the Security changes; the HoS being in the Command structure made little sense, both lore-wise and mechanically. The Security department at large consistently engages with the whole of station personnel, and their role within the Command structure was questionable, considering their place as enforcers of Space Law is outside of the Command hierarchy. Having them exist as a separate entity within the station repositions them as a police brutality machine <- CHANGE, and thus further places Captain at the top of the pyramid, while also establishing that the Security team does not serve the whole of the station, only a select few. The establishment of the Legal department also shifts the law requirements of sentencing and adherence to the law off of Security-- which opens up more time in-round to roleplay, to focus on their priorities within Security. As well as easing up the responsibility that Security currently has to overall legal proceedings.
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+- For the HoP, now XO; the HoP existing as now 'true' second-of-command, moving them away from the least centralized department and pushing them into a more structured department. Previously, the HoP as the head of Service-- which was a very unstructured and loosely defined department as a whole-- undermined the fact that the HoP was second-in-command to the station, and thus the inheritor of the Captain position. Reorienting the HoP/XO towards this new department now reaffirms their authority as secondary to the Captain, and will create further disparity with the importance and power that Command wields. It also reinforces the Captain's importance, and the established dynamics of Command being 'more important' than common crew. It layers the power imbalances, and pushes authority and structure away from general crew and more heavily weighted towards those that NanoTrasen has selected to run their station. 
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+- For Service; Botany, Chefs, and Bartenders didn't have any true centralization, as the HoP was already divided in terms of responsibility. This reformat now restructures the Service department by organizing them and creating a more sensible hierarchy within Cargo/Logistics, with the Hospitality manager now as their organizer, with the Quartermaster as their overall supervisor. They already worked with Cargo/Logistics for restocking and bounties, and their job is still within the purview of 'providing goods for the station'. The Hospitality manager exists to manage the on-station, janitor under qm is a byproduct, but one that thematically fits. This enforces the themes stated above, as it now places all crew within a hierarchy, which was not clear prior to this. 
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+- For Clowns, Mines, Musicians, (Reporters)\* and Assistants; Their jobs are present and exist within all facets of the station, thus their placement as adhering to all levels of the hierarchy. Considering their jobs are 'entertainment' to the station, it fits that they are at the lowest rung of the corporate ladder. As NanoTrasen is unlikely to place the well-being and happiness of general crew above their functionality and role as laborers. (It's also funny as fuck that the one person who the Clown doesn't have to obey is the HoS.)
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+- For the Judicial Officer and Magistrate Reassigning; The Magistrate as a role was already a limited-use position. Trials, which were rarely pursued because of Security's bloated responsibilities, as well as judicial rulings. With the new Legal department (read above), this actually places the dynamic of a Magistrate as one with realized legal authority within their own hierarchy, as well as giving them an actual defined role and when to practice it, outside of the Central Command structure. 
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+- For CCVIPs; Them previously holding legal authority undermined the Captain's authority, and pushed them too far into the position of Command. This is a misalignment with their intentioned roles, which was to be an overseer and not a practicing Command member. There is a distinction to be made between Corporate oversight versus actually employed Command members. Allowing them to solely focus on SoP now presents the opportunity for CCVIPs to work with Command as equals, versus a third sinister hierarchy. 
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+## Roundflow \& Player interaction
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+This feature is a complete overhaul to the structure of rounds in terms of Command dynamics and crew interactions. It changes the pace to a slower, less rushed round in terms of interactions and job happenings within the new Legal department and Service/Logistics department. Everything becomes a more methodical process from the top down. This pushes more responsibility onto Command members, so their roles and interactions with other characters are more appropriate for the dynamics at play. 
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+## Administrative \& Server Rule Impact (if applicable)
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+* Captain and XO will be held to a higher standard of 'Play your character', and out-of-character incompetency. 
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+# Technical Considerations
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+* Rewritten SoP for all new/redefined roles in the guidebook.
+* New or altered job spawns for Judicial Officer and Waiter.
+* UI Changes for late-joining and crew manifests to include Legal as a department which includes the XO/Lawyer/Judicial Officer, and moving Service to Cargo/Logistics.
+* Certain areas may need to be mapped for prisoner processing with the judiciary officer (optional but wise)
+* Creating a new comms channel for the legal comm channel