Command 101 - general tips

Hey, so uh, this is like guide for totally new players. It containts things that may be obvious and is rather aimed towards helping define command style or acquire proper mindset when playing as Command. Here it comes:

1. Foreword
Have you finally unlocked Command position? Eager to hop in and have fun with the gamer gear?

Don’t.

Being part of the Chain of Command provides you not only with better gear, but also with… GaspExpectations and responsibilities. You can be either a blessing or nightmare to your department and vice versa - your department can either fill you with joy or bring you insufferable pain. Good command players are rare, noticed and valued by the community.

2. General Tips
First of all, bear in mind that Command Roles in general are held to higher expectations. We try to not punish honest mistakes, we have beginners in mind after all as a beginner server, but it is important that one familiarises themself with Server Rules | Fulpstation Wiki - Command/Security/Silicon, Job Expecations | Fulpstation Wiki - Non-Antag Command Roleplay Standards and Job Expecations | Fulpstation Wiki - Command Staff.

Another important thing to bear in mind - you will get bwoinked (Admin PMed) at one point - it is inevitable, it will happen sooner or later. Don’t panic. Inhale, count to 10, exhale and answer moderator in honest, calm and polite manner.

As a Command player, your key to success are the abilities to adapt, react and lead your department. You are a leader, expect to manage first, act second unless you have to fill in for a critical role in your department during emergency, for example: HoS - absent wardens, CMO in pharmacy during virus outbreak when no chemists are working on cure etc.

You carry a big crosshair on your back for Antagonists. Either due to your high-risk items or bridge access on your ID. Be wary of your surroundings, take notice of people who approach you.

Promote communication in your department. Issue orders to your staff, take notice of their reports, try to catch on when they suddenly go silent on comms - force them to report, otherwise force security to search for a missing person. By doing that, chances are that people will also notice when you will go silent, actually worry and try to find you. On the other hand, simplemob, silent heads are an agonizing pain for players who try to actually play and roleplay their jobs properly (like non-antagonist virologist asking for approval for virus release). Request assistance from other departments as needed, but make sure that this assistance is actually provided. Inform other Heads of discovered threats or hazards, like telling CMO about irradiated engineers as CE. It is really invaluable.

As a Head, you are responsible for your department. Use your tools and big speech to protect your staff, alert the security and demote the troublemakers. Geneticist throwing hulk left and right? Demote them as RD. Chemist making meth and grenades when ordered to make mutadone after radstorm? Demote them. Don’t be afraid of one griefer being upset and calling you “fun police”, when there are others who try their best in the department. Kick the tiders out, be in touch with command and security, yell for their help when situation arises. Your department will appreciate that.

3. General Command Items
Not listing all possibilities, just hinting at their existence. If you want to read more, you have a list on wiki: Guide to Head of Staff Equipment - /tg/station 13 Wiki

3.1. Door Remote
IT LOOKS LIKE DIS:
obraz
AND IT IS ROBUST.
Has 3 modes: open door, toggle emergency access, toggle bolts.
When to use it? Examples:

  • To open doors for people with no access.
  • To set up Brig/Medical to emergency access during nuclear ops.
  • To lockdown medical when Viro comes out with space aids to contain it to medical only or keep people out until cure is done.
  • To trap that tator in storage room by bolting doors, slowing down his escape.

*3.2. Laser Gun (HoP, Cap, HoS only)
obraz
Set to red mode when you see hulk or get into lethal fight. Set to blue mode to disable and cuff shitters. Please, don’t try to use disabler mode on hulks. It is painful to watch.

3.3. Ara Ara Telebaton (HoS gets stun baton)
obraz
One click win stick. Extend, apply to the victim, switch hands (shortcut X), click them on disarm intent until you shove them into wall and stunlock them, reapplying winstick meanwhile to keep them down.

3.4. Flash
obraz
Invaluable for shitters without eye protection or rogue cyborgs. Remember that you are susceptible too without proper eye protection!
On nuclear ops rounds, reveals also camouflaged syndicate cyborgs when you stun them. Click on the target with the flash instead of using it in hand for the best results.

4. Head specific tips
4.1. Captain
As a Captain, people have low expectancies regarding one. You are there simply to respond to security’s requests for execution approvals. If you plan on being cringe overused meme jokes Captain, ask for job ban. Otherwise, good captain can heavily influence rounds in positive way.

The best you can do is babysit heads - communicate with them, keep them on the leash if necessary (so you can catch on when RD plans to hijack the shuttle in his secret evil cave), try to notice when they go missing.

First and foremost, grab this:
obraz
Nuclear authentication disk. Failure to secure one will result in Nuclear Emergency for the station. This is why Head of Security also gets pinpointer - to babysit cap with disk.

Otherwise, interact with the crew, avoid maintenance, provide Security with your AA when necessary (that means - open doors for them when needing specific access or order AI to handle it), especially when ordering apprehension and demotion of Head.

Don’t spend 30 minutes in AI upload room to create funi laws. It is annoying. Change lawsets in response to situations. If AI is malfunctioning, get security with their Ion carbines and raid AI sat, having AI Intellicard in bag to card the AI. Bring RD alongside you, AI is their responsibility after all.

Threat specific tips:

4.2. Head of Personnel
As a Head of Personnel, your responsibilities are Cargo and Service departments, alongside altering ID cards. First and foremost, granting access to other departments requires relevant Heads’ approval, bar alone granting AA, which requires Captain’s approval. Failure to oblige might result in bwoink.
If Captain orders mass issuing of AA, you can change job roles on ID to Captain and rename it to original job to keep the appropriate HUD Icon for that person.
Use your tablet, just download the software through the programme on it. It is actually more handy then console, which usually gets misused due to HoP’s leaving it logged in when leaving their office.
Don’t grant yourself AA “just in case”. Mods can see your access. Entering armoury on your own is also not welcome.

Always ask for Heads approval before doing job changes. If denied, oblige. Otherwise you will get criticised and most likely demoted if competent Captain is on-deck.

4.3. Head of Security
Probably the most exhausting role, depending on the crew and sec department. Try to keep your focus on the bigger issues, redirecting people with minor issues to wardens instead, they are your right hand men after all. Keep pinpointer active in your pocket, so you can notice when disk stops moving and go retrieve it. Babysit captain on nuclear ops rounds.

You may sometimes be required to take over brig due to incompetence or lack of wardens. If you encounter self-antagonists that get themselves brigged repeatedly, don’t hesitate to permaprison them and AHELP THEM. If they keep being stinky, execute. You should be hunting bigger fishes, not deal with trash.

If riot happens or cargonia, ahelp it, meanwhile ordering a raid and opening of armoury for security.

Sometimes people will PDA you with clues/trails, issues or simple pleas of help when unable to get attention from security. Taking notice of that and acting on it can reward you with seeing your IC name in compliments channel on discord.

Don’t hesitate to reprimand or demote shitsec, they will only make your job harder and make crew antagonize sec overall.

If officers request executions, be aware to have proper evidence to back it up and request authorisation from captain. You MAY get bwoinked over executions you perform, so be ready to explain why have you opted for such resolution. Providing solid evidence and/or context to moderator will result in “Thanks for explaining” and “Ticket resolved” popups ;)

Remember that your Multiphase gun is not only a curse on traitor rounds, but also a blessing whenever you have to deal with Mechs or Cyborgs due to “Ion” mode. Use it wisely.

4.4. Research Director
Can’t say much here due to lack of experience. AI and borgs are your responsibility, especially when AI goes malfunctioning or gets subverted.

If you keep xenobiology on the leash and prevent golemtides, you will be my hero. Same goes for preventing genetics from handing out hulk like candies. Fuck hulks.

Check nanites sometimes to see if sci is trying to get some hostile programmes running.

Xenobio is supposed to be a secret research. Try to keep tide out of xenobiology.

4.5. Chief Medical Officer
Trespassing IS a crime according to space law. Don’t hesitate to call sec to get out tiders and/or kick them outside yourself. You are also provided with gear that has much potential.

Hypospray - can be drained with syringe and restocked with other chems. Can be used for combat (chloral hydrate) or to provide quick delivery of chems during emergency (Example: Potassium Iodide 25u + 5u of mutadone after radstorm).

Compact defibrilator - great for in-the-field revivals. In case of emergency, can be weaponized by emping it - mix 1u of uranium (grind it in a grinder) with 1u of iron in a beaker placed on the same tile as defib. Only do that when actual emergency and need for self-defense happens, as doing this will net you disgust of community and doing this constantly might net you with a bwoink for powergaming. Doing it “just in case” is not a valid reason. Disarm intent stuns the target, harm intent kills the target when defib is emped.

This the role that also benefits from the door remote the most in my opinion. Captain is dead? Patch him with formaldehyde to prevent organ decay, take to surgery room, bolt the doors while you work on the body to bring Captain back. That way you prevent random thief from stealing Captain’s gear.

Remember to issue orders to chemists for chems needed to keep medical from collapsing under the pile of bodies - atropine for people in crit, formaldehyde patches to prevent corpses from decaying etc. Check pharmacy/plumbing from time to time to see what chems chemists actually make. Also remember to visit your virologist frequently to check up on their work to prevent possible rogue viro from releasing space aids. As mentioned earlier, if viro does that anyway, relay it to security, lock down medical (remote works on medical maintenance doors too!), work ASAP on the cure. After delivering the cure, make vaccines from acquired blood samples in virology, open up medical again.

4.6 Chief Engineer
Oversee SM setup. Respond to other heads requests for emergency engineering response or upgrades, dispatch engineers as needed. Remember that your hardsuit offers GREAT protection, including radiation, wear one alongside with activated magboots from your hardsuit storage to avoid getting pushed or sucked into SM in case delamination happens.

Remember that your tablet is also a great tool. Download alarm and SM monitor, keep those 2 programs open. If you use tablet in hand and hide it in a pocket, you may keep tablet window still active to keep track of the alarms and dispatching engineers to them.
Your tablet is also able to alter ID access.
Sidenote: Air/Fire alarms on nuclear operatives rounds are also a great way to pinpoint possible incursion points of operatives.

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Feel free to add your expectancies here regarding heads for others to see :)

Speaking from experience, RD is by far the most tedious command member. Your main job is researching (making sure scientists don’t research too) and keeping the station’s machines up to date with the latest stock parts. You will have to balance this with the hulks, xenos, mechs, simplemobs and powergaming coming from your department.

Also worth mentioning, only take captain’s antique laser gun when there is a confirmed threat.

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be smart when making AI laws, and be specific. A smart AI can find loopholes to dick you around, so don’t make stupid vague laws

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One Note for Modern HoP is to either get the rabble in your Queue to do Paperwork or at bare Minimum Scratch a quick note on who you have given what and at east ASK them to make up a reason for you to give them the Access they want. Even a shitty reason is a reason, A curator asking for a spacesuit and external airlock access? Make them Justify why a Librarian needs to go explore space. The Easy Answer “I’m Writing a book and want to do research/get inspiration from space”

This helps because:

  1. Having a Paper trail or a “Mental Note” of who got what can help with finding culprits later in the round when corpses start turning up
  2. Roleplay is fun! As a HoP your most likely to be dealing with the new players who barely know how to feed themselves then other Departments and Easing them in to thinking like a character rather than a person playing a videogame helps reduce the amount of self-antags and powergaming.
  3. Weeds out the Antags, If a Engineer cant give you a valid reason for mining base access then deny the request.
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