Voice Changer
An item that gives you a different voice. Anyone who scans you learns that voice, not yours — and the voice they learned is only worth half as much.
Item name: voice_changer.
Using it
Use the item to switch it on. Use it again to switch it off. A small line confirms the state ("Voice changer switched on. Battery 80%."); nobody else is notified.
| Battery | 10 minutes of use per full charge |
|---|---|
| Draining | While it is switched on |
| Low battery | A warning at 20 % and at 5 % |
| Recharging | Use a recognition_battery item |
| What others hear | On pma-voice servers, people within 30 m hear the effect |
What it does to a scan
Somebody scanning you while the device is on:
- sees the voice bar fill completely normally — there is no tell on screen;
- stores a fake voice that belongs to the device, not to you;
- gets only 20 of the 40 voice points out of it.
A fake voice is worth 20 points instead of 40. Voice, clothing and face all full still reaches 100 % — the halving only bites when the other cues are not full, and a scan that leans on your voice alone can no longer reach the act line on its own.
One device, one voice, forever
Each device has its own fake voice, and it never changes. That is deliberate:
- Two crimes committed with the same device can be linked to each other by anyone who heard both, even though nobody knows who you are.
- Somebody who met you masked before can place you with a 2–3 second quick look instead of a full scan when they hear that device's voice again — see Disguises.
- Hand the device to a friend, and their scans now carry your device's voice.
- Camera reports print the device's voiceprint code (
VP-XXXX-XXXX), so police can file two reports under the same unknown voice.
Switching it on or off mid-conversation
Anyone currently scanning you sees their voice badge flash orange and drop to zero. They have to start listening again from scratch — with the other voice. The same happens when the battery dies.
It is a visible event. Flicking the changer on halfway through a conversation tells the person in front of you that something changed, even if they do not know what.
Its weaknesses
| The battery | Ten minutes is not long. Carry spares. |
|---|---|
| The magnetic scanner | By default it looks for cameras, not changers — but servers can switch changer detection on. See Magnetic Scanner. |
| It hides your voice only | Your face, your clothes and your tattoos are untouched. With your face showing, a scanner still reaches the act line without your voice at all — clothing 40 + face 40 = 80. |
| Radio and phone | Your voice is never learned over a radio or a phone call anyway, changer or not. |
Presets
Three voices ship by default — Robot, Radio and Muffled. A new
device picks one at random unless the server pins a preset. Servers can tune the
filter values or add their own in config.lua.
Settings
| Key | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Config.VoiceChanger.BatterySeconds | 600 (10 min) | Use per full battery |
Config.VoiceChanger.DrainWhile | 'on' | 'on' = drains whenever switched on · 'talking' = only while the wearer talks |
Config.VoiceChanger.AudibleEffect | 'auto' | 'auto' = people nearby hear the effect on pma-voice · 'off' = never |
Config.VoiceChanger.EffectRange | 30.0 | Metres within which players hear the effect |
Config.VoiceChanger.DefaultPreset | 'random' | Sound of a new device: 'random' or a preset name |
Config.Scoring.FakeVoiceFactor | 0.50 | Share of the voice points a fake voice is worth (0.5 = 20 of 40) |
Full details: Voice & Voice Changer.