Leaderboard

Hello everyone. As you probably know, I was recently elected by our staff team to be a Head of Staff for Paradise. You may not know exactly what a Head of Staff (henceforth: "Headmin") does, or what my plans are in particular. This thread is going to explain those things. First, what does a headmin do? Headmins have a few responsibilities beyond those of a normal Game Admin: Co-ordination and management of all branches of the staff team Handling Admin Complaints Enforcing staff policy and admin guidelines Moderating interpersonal conflicts, as needed Managing certain back-end things, such as our Patreon Voting on the acceptance/rejection of PRs submitted to our Github (IE: changes to the game's code, features, sprites, etc) Representing Paradise to other SS13 servers Handling anything that doesn't get handled by other people, eventually, for whatever reason Like any Paradise headmin, I will be doing these things, as they are inherent to the position. That said, most staff (including me) who run for election as headmin also have a specific platform that they run for election on. My platform was: Transparency Accountability Better Communication I know those sound a bit vague. So, let me give you some concrete examples of what I intend to do. First, let's take PR voting. Yes, headmins vote on PR acceptance. But I plan to do more than simply vote. I consider every PR author that contributes to our codebase to be valuable - part of the team that makes our server awesome. I want to encourage PR authors and grow the number of people who contribute to our codebase. As such, I will be following a set of best practices, designed to ensure PR authors feel valued, and treated fairly. My hope is this will encourage quality contributions over time. I will not be voting against any PR, any author's work, without first explaining exactly why, clearly and directly, on the PR itself. If my issue with the PR is fixable, I will explain how it can be fixed, and give the PR author some time to fix it, or at least respond, before I consider voting against the PR. In essence I want to be sure PR authors know they are getting a fair shake, that they never feel like they're being left in the dark, and they never feel like they need to guess what they need to do in order to get their PRs merged. If I consider a PR idea totally unviable, to the point it cannot be fixed, I will aim to say so as early as possible, so that the author doesn't invest more time into it under the false impression it has good chances of being merged. More generally, when I comment on PRs, I will aim to be very clear about who I'm speaking for, and what I mean. I will also make myself available to any PR author who has questions. While I recognize that this will give PR authors direct feedback they're not used to getting, ultimately I think (and as a PR author myself, I believe I have good reason to think) they will quickly appreciate it and be encouraged by it. I have also be encouraging other headmins and maintainers to follow these best practices. More generally, I want a more constructive, informative atmosphere on our github and I am working with everyone involved, especially the maints and other headmins, to achieve this. As part of this effort, I have already appointed someone to be responsible for helping to moderate Github, and discourage toxic comments there. Second, let's take accountability. I have already promised to put myself up for re-election in 6 months by the staff team, so, if they don't think I'm doing a good job after that time, they can boot me out and get someone else in. Accountability is for everyone, though, not just me. This includes admins, players, and even visitors who don't play here. If someone has an issue with an admin's conduct, they need to explain the issue in our Admin Complaints forum. It is against the rules to discuss bans and other punishments in our discord server, and for the sake of eliminating toxicity, holding admins accountable under our guidelines, and holding players accountable under our Discord rules, I will be enforcing this rule, and pushing admins more generally to do the same. Consider this your forewarning that under my plan, complaining about being banned in our Discord will not be tolerated like it has before. This also applies to in-game LOOC, deadchat, OOC and similar. This is not a new rule - such talk has been against the rules for a long time. What is new is that I will be enforcing the already-written rule, and encouraging all other admins to do so as well. Third, let's talk about better communication. One of the long-standing issues we have as a server, with our elected leadership, multiple branches of staff, etc, has historically been a lack of unified vision for the future of the server. Obviously, this is an enormous topic to tackle, and progress on it is going to require lots of work, and not just by me. It is the sort of thing that will require lots of discussion over a period of time. Still, I am already taking steps to move us in this direction. The first change you may notice is the creation of a #changes-wanted channel on Github. This channel is the new central repository for lists, posted by headmins and maints, of all features/PRs/etc they want implemented for the server. There are many benefits to this, such as helping PR authors choose a PR topic that's more likely to get merged, triggering healthy debate on server direction, etc. Ultimately though, this is just a first step towards what I really want for the server: a more general development roadmap. I know we're a volunteer project, a 2D spaceman game, and we're never going to be as organized/detailed in our future development goals as a professional game company is. Still, I don't think its unrealistic for us to take basic steps, like agreeing a list of long-term goals, trying to make progress towards them, and tracking that progress. This discord channel is the first step in that direction. I hope I've given you a sense of what I'm about as a head of staff. Obviously, the changes I want to make will require that I work closely with the rest of the staff team. My hope, though, is that I can push the server in the right direction. That I can get people pushing together in the same direction more effectively. And, if not, well, the staff can always vote me out again in 6 months. Here's to the future! -Kyet

If you can't escape the confusion state (e.g. due to a white spider bite), you can make your way where you want to go by using a table. If RNGJesus sends you the wrong way just climb back the table to try again. Once you move in the right direction, rebuild the table under yourself.

Okay of course never is a strong word but this method will seriously increase your chances of not being deconverted by security. In fact, I'm writing this guide as a result of me being a cultist just 30 minutes ago and walking out of security with a clean record still as a cultist. This is also good for terror spiders with venom. 1.) Print a "chemical implant case" and "implanter" from the protolathe, or have a nice doctor or friend be ready for a dental implant. 2.) Put 35u of charcoal and 15u of calomel in a beaker and click on the chemical implant case with the beaker until its empty. If your doing dental implants just put the 35 15 into a 50u pill and get it implanted. (I'll get the real numbers for 100u pills later). 3.) Click on the case with the implanter and implant yourself along with all your cultist buddies. 4.) When security starts forcing holy water down your throat, pop the implant and sit tight until they think your deconverted A quick way to get fat charcoal is 20u welding fuel + 20u carbon hydrogen + 10u water sodium chlorine + cheap lighter spam on the beaker. A quick way to get calomel is 50u mercury + 50u chlorine + cheap lighter spam on the beaker.

IC complaints about 'hiring from the manifest'. As I said there, "If preventing manifest hires and keeping security pure is what the admins want, I'd like a standard/stock IC explanation that I can tell people who apply." I recently had a round as HoP and I hired an IAA from the manifest. HoS and the Captain both complained and demanded the individual be demoted because they were hired from the manifest. As I explained to the guy when he came back to the HoP line, "Well, you might be a Syndicate traitor and tell security to brig someone for 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes for breaking into a command area; we can't be too careful, you know?" to point out how absolutely ridiculous and flimsy the 'don't hire from manifest' crap is. Hell, I almost have sympathy for not hiring a Head of Security from the manifest, given how powerful the role is and how it could affect the round for others. But an IAA? The role long lamented to be absolutely powerless except for a fax to CC? Give a HoP a break!

Heads of Staff too chicken shit to actually fire and cull the incompetent, incapable of downright intolerable from their departments. If you get multiple reports of a security officer harm batoning non violent crew on green, a virologist that releases a harmful but non fatal disease without permission or a genecist abusing their job to hand out powers of defective SEs to force transform someone into another person, and your first instinct isn't to drag their ass in cuffs to the HoP for demotion, you need to stop playing head roles.

@ZN23X Listen you shaved bald sister of a Monkey! Do it right, call them a snaggle toothed flea bitten walking rug!

Couple of things I had stashed.

I think that given the level of interest that all the other players have shown in this, the more code-oriented ones (aka: not me) would certainly be willing to help you.

Huh. I had no idea that you could chemically counter holy water. Never even occured to me to look it up. Bravo.

THIS IS ESSENTIALLY NOW A GUIDE OF HOW THE INTERNET WORKS

So, this was a long time ago, so my memories are a bit hazy. However, I CAN remember some key points. So, here we go. Get ready, people, for the strapping adventure of... TAIGO JOHNSON, THE MASS PRODUCER OF SENTIENT ALIEMS (AKA Taigo Johnson as: That one Xenobio who really overdoes it with the sentience potions) So. This starts off at the beginning of the round, setting up shit. Naturally, since it was my third time being Xenobio, I kept going for gold, light pink and adamantine slimes for creatures, sentience potions, and golems, respectively. I do all this and start making sentient beings, such as xenos and golems, mainly. We go on a joyride around the station, me, the queen, two sentinels, a drone and two golems. I had also made a Creature and a Faithless. Long drag line, let me say. Anyways, after a few minutes we get into the bar. Here's when everything just went to shit. We enter, the barkeep takes a good look at our gang, and I can't exactly remember what happened, but all I remember is that all of the sentient creatures just started going apeshit Here's when things get... weird. So, we escape with one less Faithless, one less golem and a couple less aliens. Not good. We hightail it back to Xenobio, where I begin building more sentient creatures, and plotting. Suddenly, over the comms, I hear 'XENOBIO! GET YOUR ASS TO THE BRIG NOW!' So, naturally, as a decent human being, I finish up what I was doing, let my aliens out, and began to walk to the brig peacefully. I arrive above the bridge, then to the Brig, where I am passing one of my (now) two (maybe three?) remaining creations- the queen. They scream that they want me unarrested, but the sec officer just ignores them. And here's where things kind of happened. So, I get stuck in processing, until I hear *WHAM WHAM WHAM* Nearby. Naturally, it was the queen breaking in with a golem and the Creature. This is when the siege itself begins. Oh my. What bravery. I'm fairly surprised when she manages to rip through the doors, rip through processing, uncuff me, and start fighting, taking down a few security officers. Now, note, at this point, I never asked for help, it just kind of came, so I wasn't breaking any rules. I sort of stay back, half-enthusiastically telling her to stop, but also so fascinated with the sheer destruction she has caused. Robust one, was she. Till the mech came in. It fucking kills her, hits me a few times, and basically leaves. While i'm getting my ass dragged to the brig medical area, I see the golem working furiously to stun whoever they could. However, it was not enough. I was brigged, put on the shuttle, then promptly executed via laser guns at the end of the round. Afterwards, an admin messaged me to ask what happened. I mentioned that I never really ASKED or helped with the escape, never mind touch someone with harm intent. It was let go (hopefully) and I was happy. And that, my dear friends, believe it or not, was the story of... TAIGO JOHNSON, ROBUSTER OF SECURITY AND HIS TRUSTY SIDEKICK, THE QUEEN yeet

Basically anyone running around not on help intent. I got so sick of it yesterday as HoP running errands for my dept I just started batonning people. Yes, I'm hauling a bee crate, no if you fucking try and open it I'm going to beat you. Anyone who works medchem and blows the dispenser. In nearly 5 years of playing this game, I've never done. Why is it so common? If you don't know how to chem. Ask. There is a literal wiki that tells you everything you need to know. If you want to make bombs, Science has their own deluxe chem lab to be an antag workshop. Metacliques. For a while it seemed they were dying out and people were starting to play as a community. Then just the other day I have the vulp mafia trying to break into my office because I wouldn't give McFluffy access to engineering when it was pretty damn clear she wasn't going to help the CE fix the breaches and power net. Basically any engineer and CE who doesn't at least attempt the station goal or make repairs. Yes, your autism fort looks pretty with the floor tiles. Don't mind the screams over the radio, that's just everyone else yelling that the main hallway has been breached and unbreathable for the last hour while you stole all the metal. Gateway missions. Specifically Wild West but in general. Loot pinatas designed around exploits in the code, it'd be one thing if these were VR missions and thus players could make multiple attempts without getting game breaking gear, but it's another when 30 minutes into the round some greyshit can have an L6 and more C20s than they know what to do with. Medical personnel who don't do Body Scan printouts. These things can be a life saver, as well some level of proof that malpractice bay isn't in full effect when they can show mr corpse didn't have those injuries before walking out of medical. More IAAs need to look into how many people medical is actually saving and how many bodies are piling up. When you try to play Warden and been goodsec, but all your sec officers are just buckle cuffing crew to chairs without even saying a word or putting a blip in their crew records, then freaking out 20 minutes later after you release them because so and so was totally an antag or assaulted someone. HoS's who assume anything they have access to is theirs by right, from the Warden's gloves, the medkits in storage, gloves in engineering and all the ammo cargo's lathe can print. Somewhat less so but equally infuriating when Blueshit walks into medical and empties all the synthflesh from the fridge to use on light bulb burns. Sec mains who try to use SoP and Space law to get you brigged, demoted or executed for not doing what they want, but suddenly become blind and deaf when they are the ones breaking SoP/Space Law. Bonus points for McRedshit last week who was using an emag he confiscated to access RnD.