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Admin/Mentor apps are now closed. Apps that have already been filed are still being processed. PR Reviewer apps remain open.

Lately, I've had multiple people volunteer to make sprites. They're just not sure what to make. If this sounds like you, post here. Similarly, if you are a github contributor who needs sprites made for something, also post here, with a description of what you're looking for. NOTE: this thread should only be used by people making sprites, and people making PRs. DO NOT request sprites for something in the hopes that someone other than yourself will write the PR to add them.

Apps are now open. Mentor apps: https://www.paradisestation.org/forum/85-open-mentor-applications/ Admin apps: https://www.paradisestation.org/forum/100-open-admin-applications/ PR Reviewer apps: https://www.paradisestation.org/forum/163-open-pr-reviewer-applications/ Please note: Read the template threads for info about how to apply. You MUST follow the template / instructions. You need to link your forum account to your ingame account in order to post an application. If you haven't done this, simply click the 'forum' button ingame while signed in on the forums. It takes 2 seconds. You also need a decently clean history to apply. Minimum 3 months of no warnings/bans to apply for mentor, minimum of 6 months to apply for admin. No, we won't grant you an exception to this. You're also expected to have a minimum of 300h playtime if you want to apply for admin. Good luck!

I'd rather increase the freedom/options players have in other jobs, instead of taking away options in science. Science shows us a little bit about what players find fun (ability to switch between stuff to avoid boredom). If we ever were to split off a sub-area of science into its own job, the first obvious candidate would be toxins. Toxins has little use in most rounds, but extremely high grief potential. Thus, its a prime candidate for being its own job, with its own access, and perhaps a higher playtime requirement.

When you're disconnected from the game, you're SSD, not AFK. So this is really about auto-cryo for people who're disconnected from the game - not simply AFK. If your internet dies for 30+ minutes, and you come back to find yourself a ghost, simply ahelp it. We'll likely send you back to lobby so you can rejoin. There are also ghost roles that you can join with. The vast majority of people who disconnect from the game for 15+ minutes have no intention of coming back. Often, those players are in important roles, like Engineering/Sec during blob, Chaplain during cult/vampire, RD during malf AI, etc. The longer we wait to remove them from the round, the longer the station is short a critical person during an emergency. Cult/Vampire rounds, for example, account for the Chaplain in their balance. If the timer was increased to 30 or 60 minutes, there would be a lot of rounds with a SSD chaplain which basically throws the entire round to the cult/vampires because the Chaplain was not cryoed in a timely fashion. Ultimately its a question of balancing your wants against the wants of the larger crew (who want, say, a Chaplain to be awake during vampire/cult, eng/sec to be awake during blob, etc). We're seeking to go with what is best for the majority here. More generally, SS13 is an online multiplayer game. For an online multiplayer game, a 15 minute timeout window is actually quite generous. Most of the online games I play will remove you if you are disconnected for 1 minute or less. We already give you a lot more time than most games do.

Apr 4: SkyPing has returned to staff as a Game Admin.

Thoughts: What is this ranking based on? How much fun you have playing as them? Or something else? Does each tier have a specific meaning or is it just "more fun" v "less fun"? I have to say I consider blob to be the most fun antag, because of how clearly strategic its gameplay is. I'm also surprised you put changeling in D tier, when its more powerful and arguably more flexible than traitor. The ability to revive from death alone is incredible. I'm surprised you include super-rare antags like devils, revs, nations, etc but leave out some common ones like borers.

Existing Patrons will not be charged for the month of April, but will still get their perks. (New Patrons that sign up now will be charged as normal) If you would normally be donating to us during the month of April, please consider donating instead to a charity aimed at helping Coronavirus victims.

A few thoughts: How does the chef leave the kitchen without having to go through the bar windoor which they may not have access to? If this was to be a permanent map change, why not move the bar backroom east a bit so it can be connected to the north end of the area behind the bar counter? Are the slot machines placed the way they are because that's what you really want? Or just because you can't move them? A bit of a tangent, but it would be really nice if slot machines could be deconstructed, or at least moved, without the need for adminbus. The positioning of vents and scrubbers is pretty suboptimal. If this was to be a permanent map change they should be positioned in a dice-like pattern to make best use of their range. The light switch next to the slot machines needs to be moved. Possibly the fire alarm as well. Is the ATM on the bottom right usable in that position? I feel like it would be a good idea to place a one-tile wall north of the bar stools so as to discourage people from running through the line of bar stools and position-swapping with bar patrons.

Mar 30: PurpleGenie56 has retired from the staff team (was a Head of Staff) DumbDumb5 has been elected by the staff to serve as a new Head of Staff (was previously Game Admin)

The brig doc was originally meant to be a combination medical/sec role that existed for the benefit of prisoners. It turned out to be used exclusively for the benefit of security - almost never to help prisoners. The same would happen here if the psych was made into a combined med/sec role. So no, that's not a good idea. If you want to give him extra stuff, give him something that directly relates to his specialty. Like a mind scanner that detects mindslaves, thralls, etc. Something with a long cooldown, which ONLY he can use. That would help him effectively ensure the mental health and integrity of the crew.

If you are mindshielded, and caught by cult/shadowlings/etc, you are more likely to be killed, than converted to their side, because its harder for them to convert you.

This would make fewer people willing to play command roles, which is a problem because we already frequently have shifts where command jobs go unfilled. It would also negatively impact other station jobs, like IAA/NTR, who would have less problems to uncover (ie: less of a job to do). It would also negatively impact the antags themselves, since if everyone trusts heads for OOC reasons... you'd probably end up seeing the heads get armed every shift, and function as de-facto security within their departments. All of this seems like a formula for a less fun game. Yes, head jobs are powerful, both as antags, and normally. That's one of the benefits they get for taking on the stress of management responsibilities.

Being realistic, xenos are not going to be fixed. Why? Because their mechanics are so well established from the films, that changing how their mechanics work to make them more fun to play as/against would arguably make them un-xeno-like. Because there's already a server that focuses on xenos, CM, and we're never going to want to compete with CM in their niche. Because xenos are copyrighted and we don't want to sink development time into further developing something with IP issues regarding its use. Because we already have better alternative antags (e.g: terrors). Because xenos have been done to death and if we're going to put in the amount of work required to truly fix xenos, I'd rather we just create something entirely new/original instead.

I coded terror spiders partly because I was frustrated with how poor/unfun xeno mechanics were. I challenged myself to make something that was better designed, something more fun to play as and to fight against, and terror spiders were the result.

1. One of the most common issues with BS is them acting like sec. Giving them a sec hud might encourage this. 2. Seems reasonable, but bear in mind that more than the BS might use it. 3. The issue with this is that death alarms are very powerful, and an entire second box of them would be too much. Maybe ONE more implant, at most, could be added.

This is a guide to how to, and how NOT to, roleplay on Paradise. This guide is NOT official server policy. Parts of it (like the definition of A tier) are purely my opinion. Parts of it (examples in F tier) are drawn from admin experience. Parts of it (like the examples in A tier) are mostly suggestions from other members of staff. F Tier: Banhammer-Worthy "RP" Covers stuff you're explicitly forbidden from doing by server rules, especially attempts to use "RP" as a justification for breaking server rules. Example 1: murdering as a non-antagonist, then claiming your character is "insane". ERP of any kind also counts. Example 2: choosing character quirks which are utterly incompatible with your game role, e.g. a deaf Captain, pacifist HoS, suicidal department head, doctor who likes to butcher their patients, a civilian who acts as if they're a caveman from pre-history, etc. If an admin messages you to ask why you did something, and your reply is that your character has some trait that means NT would probably never be willing to hire them, then that's probably F-tier. E Tier: Epic Fail "RP" Covers stuff that, while it isn't instant ban territory, is still considered objectively bad from an OOC point of view, and may get you in trouble with admins if you keep doing it. Example 1: job abandonment - IE signing up to play a job then not doing anything job related the whole shift. You can always resign from a job, or get a job transfer, at the HoP. Keeping the job, but failing to do any of it, hurts the other players who depend on that job, and prevents anyone else who wants that job from taking it. This includes taking a job, then simply standing in front of the bridge for the whole shift. It also includes disappearing into maintenance to make your own personal maint fort (unless you are a civilian). Example 2: giving your meta-friend a job as "bridge assistant" when you're the Captain, even though there's no IC reason for you to do this. Example 3: completely inappropriate use of flavor text, e.g: including things like "used to be a shaft miner on Luna", which is not permitted, as flavor text is reserved for how your character LOOKS. You can't include things people can't see from looking at them. Example 4: incredibly snowflakey characters, like 23-year-olds who claim to be a decorated former ERT sergeant, a rich socialite whose father is on the NT board of directors, a civilian who claims to come from a long line of SWF wizards, etc. Essentially, people who would never be allowed to work on the Cyberiad in the first place, because if their backstory is true, they'd be too important to risk on a deathtrap like the Cyberiad. D Tier: Annoying "RP" Covers stuff that is widely regarded as poor quality RP, and annoying, but won't get you in OOC trouble with the admins. Example 1: Non-command characters that only speak one language (other than galactic common), and therefore cannot talk with the rest of the crew. Example 2: Actions/speech that is utterly implausible to the point it breaks immersion of everyone who witnesses it, e.g. you asking to have surgery without anesthetic. Example 3: Characters with names inappropriate for their species, e.g. "Dave" with no last name as human, or a human-like name as Vox. Example 4: Any use of suicide or self-harm without an incredibly good reason. "I'm about to get captured by a xeno and facehugged" is a good reason. "I got a 60 minute brig sentence" is NOT. Suiciding over a 5-minute brig sentence is just insane, and terrible. Example 5: Acting as if your character knows things they couldn't possibly know. E.g. searching maint at roundstart for antags before you have any reason to think there are antags. Example 6: Taking on opponents you could never hope to defeat, or otherwise acting with no sense of self-preservation or fear, e.g. running into maint unarmed to attack shadowlings. Example 7: Willingly giving a vampire blood. They're a blood sucking bluespace parasite. Knowing their character OOCly is even less reason. ICly, it is not your character's friend who is asking - it is the parasite who now inhabits their body. ICly, you should recoil in horror, not act like it is still your friend asking. Example 8: Acting like you're playing a team deathmatch game where your goal is to kill the other side, rather than a job simulator where your goal is to do your job and survive. Example 9: Disproportionate retribution: spending your entire round trying to get revenge on someone for doing something that only minorly inconvenienced you. E.g. harassing sec all shift over a 5 minute brig sentence. Example 10: Using IC racism as a member of command in a way that undermines your ability to play your job role. E.g. a Captain who hates IPCs and won't talk to them - when they have IPC CE and CMO. Their IC racism undermines their ability to be effective at their command job, which is a large part of their game role, which makes IC racism in this context D-tier. Example 11: characters that make our playerbase cringe. Examples include characters with cringey anime references/language, half-breed interspecies hybrids, female characters with accentuated "sexy" traits such as large breasts, characters whose flavor text makes a point about how beautiful they are, slimepeople wearing clip-on cat ears, etc. Example 12: Use of vox-speak as a non-vox. C Tier: Bland RP Covers stuff regarded as bland and unexceptional. Example 1: Doing your job but without really interacting with anyone. Example 2: Doing what you do without any deeper sense of why beyond "that might be fun". No character definition or depth. Example 3: Doing the basics of what your species is expected to do (e.g: occasionally say "yaya" as a vox) without any understanding of the whys and hows of that convention. Example 4: Acting as a competent crew member - but without your character having any flavor text, employment records, character backstory, etc. B Tier: Good RP Covers stuff that really does add to the RP atmosphere of the server, and makes your character feel more fleshed out. Example 1: using species traits to make you seem more like that species, e.g. as a vox, making a point of hiding in lockers and otherwise displaying knowledge of, and willingness to use, their skittishness. Example 2: pulling species lore into your chit-chat, e.g: as a vox, talking about life on the arkship before you were exiled, or as a unathi, referring to other unathi by their last name. Example 3: using job history, e.g. a CE tutoring a new engineer by explaining what they learned "Back on the old NSS Legoslov, before it was decommissioned". Example 4: persistent character traits that always apply for a certain character, e.g: favorite food, favorite color, and that influence their actions in small ways that give them some personality. These can be tied to knowledge that character has, e.g. favorite drink at the bar, or past experience, e.g. weaknesses/fears. Example 5: ability to make friends with your co-workers without causing conflicts. Example 6: doing things that disadvantage your character for the sake of RP, without breaking role in any other way, e.g. as a civilian, not fighting back because you're a pacifist, even if it leads to your death. Note: as a sec officer, the exact same behavior would be considered breaking role, and D-tier, since sec are expected to fight. As a civilian, though, being a pacifist is a way to add meaningful flavor without breaking role, and thus B-tier. Example 7: claiming to not know things ICly because your role logically wouldn't. E.g. as a doctor, claiming to not know how to hack an airlock because even though you OOCly as a player do know, your character as a doctor doesn't have engineering experience. Note: you can only qualify for this if it is logical your character in their current job would not know. Pretending not to know how to hack an airlock as an actual engineer is D or E tier. A Tier: Inspiring RP Covers stuff that helps build an interesting and flavorful RP situation for much of the playerbase, without being implausible, over-the-top, breaking the rules, or causing other elements of the server's RP to suffer. This is specifically for things that have widespread impact on the round. No matter how good your RP is, if it only affects you and a few people you interact with directly, it is, at best, B tier. A tier is reserved for stuff with large, positive impact on the RP of the whole round. Getting to this tier is HARD. It requires serious thought and effort. Even the best RPers won't make it to A-tier most shifts. B-tier is what you should be aiming for if you want to be "good" at RP. A-tier is for those legendary rounds you and others remember for a long time. Example 1: As Captain, playing a former pirate captain who was hired by NT due to crew shortages. Explains unconventional uniform, allows for creative RP in chat, and provides plenty of scope for admins to launch pirate-themed events, without undermining the Captain's ability to do their job. Easy for other players to build off of, e.g. by starting to use nautical terms around the station. Example 2: As IPC, having downloaded memories from another person/character, thus causing tension between your natural inclinations and those of the implanted memories, leading to a situation where the crew as a whole start to question whether all IPCs have implanted memories, IPCs demanding "memory integrity", etc. The key thing is the positive impact it has on the round as a whole, making the crew question whether they really understand how IPC minds work, and making them think about the species more deeply than they would normally. If your RP only affects you and the people you directly interact with, it is not A-tier. Example 3: As Bartender, having a combination of medical training and a desire to experiment with flavors, that lead you to opening a bar that serves only non-alcoholic drinks - but the most exotic and interesting non-alcoholic drinks imaginable. Has huge scope for creating interesting situations, whether that is patrons demanding alcohol, or just enjoying trying drinks they never did before. Gives you the ability to roam the station interacting with all sorts of crew, acquiring exotic drink ingredients, sharing your story, spreading the legend of the "flavor bar", etc. Example 4: As AI, during a round where changelings are killing crew in maint, acting like the changelings are a biohazard. Theming your announcements, including text, voice, and radio, towards "biohazard containment" of the hostile changelings, thus inspiring a climate of (appropriate) IC fear in the crew, and shifting the atmosphere of the whole station towards distrust, paranoia, worry, etc. You're still on the crew's side, and visibly so, but you're setting atmosphere for the whole station in a way that drives the roleplay of the shift. Example 5: As Chaplain, hold a well-attended wedding event with lots of roleplay, interaction, possibly a dance afterwards, etc. Alternatively, actually preach a religion to the same standard that a real-life chaplain would - IE no joke religions, make a really serious effort, hold services, don't do sacrifices, don't rely on prayers, etc. Example 6: As Chef, make enough incredible food to serve a full three-course meal to ten people. Make it a first-come, first-served event with a waiter. Limit attendees to make it exclusive, inspire jealously in those not able to come, recruit the journalist to serve as a food critic and do a writeup for the newscaster, etc. Example 7: As Engineer, create a unique and interesting structure, with a story around it, that people want to spend time in. E.g: a temple that rivals the Chaplain or offers praise to Lord Singuloth, or a space observatory where people can appreciate the stars with a great view. Example 8: As Scientist, conduct an extensive series of scientific tests in the pursuit of knowledge, and publish the results in the newscaster. Example 9: As Atmos Tech, constructing an elaborate disposals-based roller-coaster throughout the entire station, promoting it, and then maybe even charging admission. Example 10: As HoP, require that anyone requesting a job transfer prove that they can actually do the job they're asking for a transfer to. E.g. give them a test which requires them to prove knowledge of the job. E.g. if someone asks for a transfer to Bartender, ask them to name their three most popular drinks, the recipes for them and why they're popular. Example 11: As IAA, keep a record of every person brigged during a shift, as well as the evidence/proof that got them sentenced. Near the end of the shift, have the Captain publish your results to the whole crew, praising or judging security based on how well they ensured that they brigged people correctly and had solid legal evidence for every person they sentenced. Example 12: As Librarian, become an investigative reporter, alerting the crew to people (especially Command) acting in corrupt fashion, and ultimately ensuring proper oversight is done of people in vital roles, even if NTR/IAA are asleep at the switch. Example 13: The storyteller: hang around in a public area, throughout the shift telling fascinating stories of your prior work on other stations/ships/etc in a way that adds depth and realism to the game world. Example 14: As a Kidan, start a public pressure campaign to have humanity acknowledge the harm done to the Kidans in the war, and pay reparations. Get your petition signed/stamped by all heads of department and the Captain, then transmitted to CentCom. Example 15: As a sentient animal, roleplay ignorance of human/crew conventions, and constantly ask questions of the crew around you to learn things your character doesn't know. Don't give up, even when many ignore you. Example 16: As barber, get an announcement made that a certain style of haircut is now all the rage on Sol, and form a team of volunteers with that haircut. Attempt to get a special lounge / exclusive club constructed for them. Recruit some taj/vulp who, although they cannot enter because they can't have that haircut, can be dyed and act as bouncers.

@McRamon This is the tier guide for Captain. Not the tier guide for RPing. That would be a different guide. You can play Captain pretty well without deliberately setting out to RP, simply by doing your job well, as that counts as playing the role of Captain well. Actions, not just words, are RP. Conversely, you can play Captain badly by setting out to "RP" your own personal gimmick / weird character, at the expense of actually doing your job. In fact this is a pretty common excuse of Captains who neglect their duties. Stereotypical examples include Captains who choose quirks that make communicating with them harder. The relationship between RPing and doing well is more complicated than you'd expect, so I don't want to focus on it in this guide. I'd rather be crystal clear about what the Captain is supposed to do (effectively manage the station overall) and any RP you do on top of that is a bonus. There are plenty of examples of Captains who use RP flavor to make themselves more memorable (e.g: former pirate Captain hired by NT), without neglecting their job. That said, its really hard to teach people how to pick gimmicks which are fun and interesting but don't encourage them to neglect their duties or act in an un-Captain-like way. It is a deep enough topic that it really deserves its own tier guide on RPing.

@Breenland I've removed the reference to "hardass". Originally, I meant "being willing to handle difficult situations", but that wasn't clear, so I've edited it out. I've also added that good Captains are willing to change course when the situation changes. This includes lowering the alert level.

This is a guide to how to, and how NOT to, play Captain. Starting off from the lowest (worst) tier, and working our way up towards the best, we have: F Tier: The Baldie These are the Captains that do so badly, they break server rules and get banned or job banned. Examples include: mutinying against or otherwise defying CentCom, committing murder with their rapier/gun, performing an illegal execution, abandoning the station by going into space/gateway, or acting like a standard security officer and constantly chasing EoCs through maint. Note that higher standards apply to Captain than any other crew role. As such, Captain is the easiest job to earn a job and/or server ban with if you aren't doing your job properly. E Tier: The Clueless These are Captains that fail to do any of the basic IC requirements of the job, such as securing the critical items (disk, spare ID, pinpointer, etc), raising the alert level, or calling the shuttle. These are the sort of Captains openly mocked by CentCom and the crew for being terrible, and usually making the station dramatically worse by their negligence. You can still earn a job ban from Command by repeatedly playing Captain at this level of incompetence, but unlike F-tier, it usually takes a Captain doing this across multiple rounds before admins apply a job ban. D Tier: The "What Does Command Mean?" Captain These Captains have some idea that their job is to command the station, but they don't understand how to command. For example, they might neglect to ensure each department has a head, for the whole shift, because they don't realize that appointing acting heads is up to them. They might carry around their antique laser / chain of command, or wear their hardsuit, on green, thinking that this makes them look like they're in charge, but in reality, it makes them look like an idiot. Another common error at this tier is violating basic practices for hiring and job transfers, like hiring crew into security during a changeling-caused red alert, or hiring people into head jobs from outside that department. This tier of Captain is trying to command the station, they just don't understand how to do it properly, which leads to frequent SOP violations. C Tier: The Bridge Captain These Captains meet all the basic requirements of the job. They follow all points of server rules, space law and SOP, but don't do anything significant beyond this minimum. For example, they'll ensure every department has a head (or acting head) but then never check in on the departments, or verify that their heads are actually leading their departments well. They'll relay emergency information over comms, but they won't dig into things to investigate if what they are being told is true. They'll end up standing around on the bridge a lot, seemingly not doing very much, to the point you could almost mistake them for a piece of bridge furniture. They're the sort of Captain who is taken completely by surprise, and quickly killed, when nuke ops burst into the bridge, because they just weren't paying attention, too overwhelmed with trying to listen to all radio channels at once. All in all this sort of Captain is the hardest to notice, as they don't do anything particularly notable or memorable. B Tier: The Good Captain These Captains do a good job of commanding the station. You can identify them because they go beyond the minimum requirements, and find ways to make life better for other players on the station. For example, they don't just ensure that every department has a head. They also ask their heads to check in every once in awhile, and send the BS to locate any who fail to report in. They don't just secure the spare/disk/etc. They also give the pinpointer to the BS, and the spare to the HoS or BS during emergencies. They don't just relay information on radio. They also make smart use of crew-wide announcements to ensure the whole station knows critical information. E.g: "everyone weld vents now". They'll hand-deliver the Chain of Command to R&D, encourage the CE to take the teleporter's hand tele because they know the CE can use it, and ask the RD if they want a lawset change. They'll react to changes in the situation, like lowering the alert level if the situation warrants it. They don't just sit there passively, they're proactively looking for ways to enchance station productivity (ie: help other roles function better). A Tier: The Awesome Manager Captain These Captains are like B-tier, except that they're truly exceptional managers. They provide broad leadership to all, while knowing exactly when to delegate versus handle something personally. For example, while a B-tier Captain might announce "weld the vents", an A-tier would announce: "We have xenomorphs. Engineering, weld vents. Cargo, order guns. Medical, be ready for surgery and acid injuries. Security, arm up and start sweeping the station in pairs. Science, give people experimental welders." This second announcement makes sure everyone knows what the threat is, and gives every department a specific action plan to help deal with it. It is miles better than the B-tier announcement. While a B-tier Captain might order a rogue HoS to the bridge for questioning, an A-tier Captain would question the HoS in the Captain's office, with the BS present, so if the HoS turned out to be truly rogue or bad, they could be demoted on the spot without risk of the HoS escaping. More generally, an A-tier Captain is a lot more willing to demote AWOL or otherwise incompetent heads of department than a B-tier Captain is. Making the correct call as to when a head of department deserves demotion, then demoting them without a hitch, is the mark of an A-tier Captain. A B-tier Captain might deliver the chain to R&D, but an A-tier Captain would actually check with the RD that ORM/cloner are upgraded, and that disks are being shipped to CentCom. More generally, an A-tier Captain knows how to do every head of department job well enough that they can ask specific, probing questions of their heads, which reveal how well that department is really doing. They can then give department-specific orders based on that knowledge. A-tier Captains actively avoid combat. They know they can fight, but they also know that they shouldn't fight if any other option exists (and it usually does). They'll help out sec during low pop, without putting themselves at risk, but during high pop they avoid doing security work as there are already enough officers, and their mantra is "delegate whenever possible. If not possible, look for a better option than doing it yourself". In the case of insufficient sec officers, that would be ERT or giving the officer role priority in the ID console, or both. A-tier Captains make good use of the PDA system for getting peoples' attention, as well as crew monitors and cameras to watch goings-on remotely. That way they can monitor the station without putting themselves in danger. Captain is perhaps the most serious job on the station. Running a "gimmick" as Captain is probably not a good idea, as it tends to distract you from the job's actual duties. You can do it, but the more weird/gimmicky the gimmick, the more likely it is to reduce your perceived competence, and thus your place on the tier list. When in doubt, this is one job where you should avoid character gimmicks.

Mar 5: rb303 (Game Admin) is now retired.

This is a guide to how to, and how NOT to, play Research Director (RD). Starting off from the lowest (worst) tier, and working our way up towards the best, we have: F Tier: The Mad Scientist These are the RDs that are self-antagging, or otherwise taking actions which obviously violate server rules. They don't care about anything, they just do whatever they want, consequences be damned. Examples include: adding custom laws to the AI without clearing it with anyone, chasing antags through maint in their own personal combat mech, leaving genetic disability syringes laying around labeled 'XRAY', provoking an extensive standoff with sec over hoarding high-tier weapons in science, declaring the independent nation of 'scientopia' outside of an event round, giving toxin bombs to anyone other than miners, releasing the slime hordes 'to see what would happen', using certain extremely destructive reactions in scichem, or combining two bags of holding. This sort of RD is actively harmful to the station. They give all RDs a bad name, even though they likely only got to play RD once before being banned. E Tier: The Checked-Out Scientist These are the RDs that are neglecting their jobs to the point that their department suffers greatly, and the damage may spread to the rest of the station. They're not necessarily breaking the rules, they're just utterly failing to do their job to the point you could call it negligence. They're not actively trying to make the station worse, but either they have absolutely no clue what they should be doing, or they genuinely don't care. One example is RDs who spend the entire shift messing around in scichem, never leaving, not even to deal with other science matters that require their attention, such as rogue AI. Another example is RDs who simply never respond to comms in a timely fashion. A third is RDs who act like petty kings of science, throwing Security out, just because they can, even though security is trying to apprehend a criminal who is in science and for all the RD knows, may be quite dangerous to their department. RDs who completely fail at interacting with the rest of their department, such as wordlessly stepping in and taking over their job just because they can, also fall into this category. This type of RD makes other players hate them, and avoid signing up to play in a department "led" by them. They are the sort of RD who completely ignores even major station-wide crises that are clearly their job to deal with, such as rogue AI/borgs, or who ignore their department entirely, acting more like an assistant than even a member of Science. D Tier: The Under-Prepared Nerd This is the type of RD who understands that the job of the RD is to manage science, but is totally under-prepared for the task, often not even understanding the basic mechanics of science. They'll respond to command radio, though often only after you call them several times. They'll report clear hostile activity in their department, but otherwise do nothing about it. They'll understand the basics of their items, but use them inappropriately, and often in SOP-violating ways, like wearing their tele armor from shift start on green, or getting themselves spaced by trying to combine a bag of holding with the hand tele. They might maybe have a go at R&D, only to frustrate their scientists with their slow progress, eventually giving way to a scientist who finishes it much faster. They'll check in on robotics, but have no clue it is full of traitors, because they don't know how to recognize an emagged borg, or never even bother to check the borgs. They'll verify nobody was murdered recently in xenobio, but fail to realize that slimes being out of their pens is a bad thing. They'll report over the radio that scichem blew up, but make no effort to figure out which scientist was to blame, or have them demoted for blowing a hole in their department. They'll beat a rogue borg with their baton, possibly without even extending it, because they don't know you need to flash the borg first, or even better, lock them down on their console. This type of RD is at least trying to do their job, but they still fail miserably because they just don't have the basic game knowledge required. There is hope, though. Their attitude is good, they just need to get more experience and knowledge under their belt, and they might be a good RD someday. In the meantime, though, this type of RD is a blueshield's worst nightmare. They're constantly poking their nose into things, but super-ineptly, and frequently die horribly as a result. They're the type of RD that needs to be cloned multiple times per shift because they were always in the room when the X went off, never seeming to get out of the way, or be able to prevent it happening. They also frequently end up as a loot pinata for antags. C Tier: The Super Scientist Like the D-tier, this type of RD understands that the primary job of the RD is to manage Science. Unlike the D-tier, they actually do know the basic mechanics of the science department. Unfortunately, they often struggle with the mechanical knowledge and skills required to play command. They make mistakes, but those mistakes tend to be command mistakes, rather than simple science mechanic mistakes. For example, where a D-tier RD would not realize the borgs are rogue, or have no idea how to fight them, a C-tier RD would realize, and try to do something about it, but wouldn't use their command abilities effectively. For example, they might fail to inform the robotocists, fail to report suspicions that one of the robos emagged the borgs to the HoS, fail to communicate to the station that the problem has been fixed (leading to unnecessary destruction of borgs/AI), etc. The hallmark of a C-tier RD is having a decent grasp of science mechanics, never violating server rules, generally following SOP... but struggling with the finer points of playing command, and being prone to having communication problems. Most commonly, prone to failing to communicate enough. This type of RD realizes that R&D needs to be done, and will do it themselves if necessary, but they might not check on genetics, or fail to ask Robotics to make genetics a medibot. They realize that having the clown in scichem is bad, and they'll kick him out, but they might not realize this should probably be reported to the HoS. This is the most common type of RD. Experienced enough at science to understand most science mechanics, but not experienced enough at command to be very effective at managing the science department. Their attitude is in the right place, generally, but they may forget things, and are usually not very proactive. B Tier: The Science Manager This type of RD has a good grasp of how to play command. They're competent and effective managers, but they're not super memorable. This sort of RD can be identified by how they interact with other roles and departments. They always respond on comms, give orders that make their department more useful, welcome visits from NTR/IAA (who are their natural allies in keeping their department up to snuff), and generally both listen and give direction. They're the sort of RD who will quiz people in their department about whether they're doing things correctly, with specific questions. They'll ask Robotics to show their consent paperwork for borging people. They'll check with R&D that the ORM, cloner and robotics have been upgraded. They'll ask xenobio if red/yellow slimes are available, and if they can give the CE a red slime potion, or make yellows for the borgs. They'll make a fuss if they see robotics making combat mechs without permission on green. They'll generally actively work to minimize the number of problems that occur in science. When a problem does occur, such as a scientist detonates scichem, they will not only ensure that the problem is fixed, they'll actively try to make sure it does not happen again, e.g. by demoting the relevant scientist, or, if it was a genuine accident, ensuring the responsible partly truly understands what they did wrong, and does not repeat it. This type of RD can be identified by their good communication, effective management of the department (which tends to result in the department being problem-free much of the time), effective teamwork, and general helpful nature. A Tier: The MacGyver This type of RD is like the B-tier, except that they have mastered all the mechanics, including the mechanics of playing command, and as such are able to do hugely beneficial things you'd never expect. They're the ones who will surprise you by macgyvering a solution to a problem that was previously thought to be totally unsolvable, or run their own player-led mini-event which is surprisingly creative and rewarding. A classic example recently was when there were 20+ rogue borgs on station. The RD's office was unusable due to a ton of AI/borg sabotage, and borgs were going full murderbone all over the station. At least 3 murderous borgs armed with 30 damage/hit energy swords were sweeping science, killing everyone they saw. It was pandemonium. Command and sec were long dead, and the rest of the crew was quickly joining them. All that stood between a new synthetic dawn was one lone RD, who stepped up to handle the situation in dramatic fashion. First, he used an RCD to create some walls, to keep out the murderous borgs. Not just to stop them reaching him, but also to stop them seeing him, or the controls in the room he was in. He also cut the cameras to stop the AI seeing him, and turned off his sensors so they could not track him. He also made sure, via hacking if necessary, that his room had power, and he had breathable air. These things done, he constructed a new robotics console. Since there were so many, many borgs, it was not practical to lock them all down, especially since the AI might be able to undo it. So, he ahelped for permission to blow the borgs. All 25 of them. All over the station. Given the situation, admins said yes, and he blew them. By doing this, he single-handedly saved the lives of every remaining living crew member, and they were able to safely evacuate on the shuttle. It wasn't just that he saved much of the crew single-handedly. It was also that he used quick thinking, science knowledge, and a multitude of tools, including communication, to do it. He correctly recognized that if he did not do this everyone was dead, so he made it happen. Another less dramatic example was an RD who heard that the AI was killed in a raid on the AI sat. He went to EVA, suited up, went to the AI core, carded the AI, took the AI back to his office, then used the integrity restorer to fix the AI. Hacking the APC as necessary to ensure his office was powered. Then he constructed the AI a second core in a very secure room (R&D server room). This enabled the AI to effectively be revived, where it served as a major ally in defeating the attacking nuclear ops team. The RD made clever use of their abilities to provide major help to the crew, help that nobody but the RD was in position to provide. The help that the RD provided was nonviolent, and based in science, but it still turned the entire round around. Prior to the AI being reactivated, the nuke ops were everywhere, and the station was in chaos. After the AI was reactivated, the nuke ops suddenly found every door stealth bolted, every firelock awaiting its chance to crush them, and every room full of crew laying in wait for them to stumble in. The entire nuke ops team was wiped out by co-ordinated tactics by the AI and crew, which was only possible as a direct result of the RD's efforts reviving it and hiding it, to protect it from nuke op counterattack. A third example was an RD who arranged weapon demonstrations for Security, walking them through the mechanics of a variety of science-issue weapons, how they work, and how to deal with them. Aside from being fun, and good RP, this was really helpful to, and enjoyed by, the security players who typically had no idea how these rare weapons worked. It gave them something to participate in during downtime, and was really useful knowledge for them. Beyond the round that it happened in, events like this create a better relationship between security and science, which is always good. A fourth example was a RD who spent much of his shift teaching newer scientists how to do R&D. It is very easy to just take over, as RD, lacking the patience to teach newer players. It is a lot harder, and more time-consuming, to properly teach other people who to do science right. The people who are willing to devote the time to teach, not only make science a nicer department to play in, but they really enhance the experience for newer players. This story actually comes from years ago, when I myself was new to Paradise, and it was this RD who first taught me how to do R&D. Such is the strength of this that they're the only RD I remember from that period all these years later. Sometimes, the strongest thing you can do, the most epic thing, is to show kindness and help people, even a little bit. It creates the most lasting memories. Last story of an A-tier RD: in one shift years ago, a vampire killed all of security and command - except for the RD. The RD had stayed in science all shift, dutifully doing their job of managing science. When the RD realized that no other members of command were responding on comms, the RD realized they had all been murdered, and it was up to the RD to assume acting captaincy, and call the shuttle. So they made an anti-vampire weapon for self-defense, and proceeded to the bridge to call the shuttle. The vampire had deliberately left the RD, and science in general, alone for the whole shift up to this point. The one time the vampire had approached the door of science, their smartest thrall had warned them: this RD is so incredibly dangerous that he would "destroy" the vampire near-instantly if the vampire was foolish enough to attack. Turn back, the thrall said, and the vampire laughed, unsure what threat a mere RD could pose, but decided to take the thrall's advice, just in case. That was much earlier in the round, though. That thrall was long dead now, and now, the vampire happened to walk past the bridge, and saw the RD there, calling the shuttle. Alone. The vampire decided to attack. The vampire had recently taken out the HoS, who was armed to the teeth, and inside of a fully armed durand mech. How much challenge could the RD be, compared to the HoS in a mech? The RD did not know who the vampire was, but upon seeing someone mist in front of the bridge, he figured it out instantly, moved a bit to prevent the vampire coming out of mist form on top of him, and then unloaded a shot or two of his specially designed anti-vampire science weapon into the still-materializing vampire. The vamp died almost before he finished phasing in. The RD had almost effortlessly annihilated the vampire who had slaughtered every member of sec, and every other member of command. Just as the thrall had warned the vampire he would. The RD shrugged and proceeded to calmly evacuate the rest of the crew, leaving the corpse of the vampire, still burning, on the bridge, like no big deal. Ghostchat erupted in laughter. "You were warned!", they said. That round, the RD played at an A-tier level, but NOT because they killed the vampire. That was only one small part of it. They were A-tier that round because they stuck to their job of managing science, but, when the situation required them to step up and call the shuttle, they not only did, but they did not let a small thing like a mech-destroying vampire stop them, for they had SCIENCE on their side. They annihilated the aggressive vampire, then just got on with their job.

This is a guide to how to, and how NOT to, play Clowns. Starting off from the lowest (worst) tier, and working our way up towards the best: F Tier: Self Antag Clowns These are clowns that do stuff that's worthy of bans/jobbans, thinking it is okay to break the server rules because they're a clown. Examples include stealing the nuke or other antag theft objectives, murdering people, detonating bombs, etc. It also includes clowns who actively make the life of the crew / survival of the crew more difficult, e.g: by lubing hallways on red alert. Playing clown this way WILL get you a ban. E Tier: Civilians in Disguise These are clowns that make absolutely zero effort to do anything clown related the entire shift, and instead just act like civilians with access to one more room and a mask. These clowns are difficult to notice... but equally, they are a complete waste of a clown slot. D Tier: Slippy Mcgee These are clowns that think that occasionally slipping people is all that clowns are expected to do. They don't tell any jokes, or attempt to amuse the playerbase in general, they're effectively just assistants that occasionally use a banana peel to slip people for their own amusement. They don't care about entertaining the rest of the playerbase. They act for their own amusement - not the rest of the crew's. They're D tier because they're acting like an assistant that found some peels at botany - not a proper clown. C Tier: Honks McBadJokes These are clowns that tell jokes throughout the shift, but none of their jokes are actually funny. They're just groan worthy. Sure, they're technically meeting the requirements of the clown job... but they're doing so in a way that brings no actual joy to anyone. Example: "What did the cannibal eating a clown say to the other cannibal? ... Does this taste funny to you?" You can identify C-tier clowns because their jokes are met with groans, screams, and requests to stop by the crew. They're trying to be entertaining, at least... but they are failing. They're "well, at least you tried" clowns. B Tier: Honks McEntertainer These are clowns that genuinely amuse the crew at least sometimes, but not in a consistent or super memorable way. For example, a clown that have some bad jokes, but also some jokes that generate *clap responses from the crew and laughter from deadchat. Or, a clown that constructs a bananium temple to clowning and demonstrates the correct use of *flip, bike horn, etc. People may remember them as decent clowns, but they won't become legends. They're harmless, entertaining, but not super memorable. A Tier: Honks McLegend These are clowns that everyone remembers for how laugh-out-loud funny they were. Clowns which are appreciated/respected even by the people they prank. For example, a clown that tells a joke which comes back around to make people laugh later. E.g: (Detective): "Clown, did you see this civilian kill the mime?" (Clown): "Well, I am not sure, all I can say for sure is that after the civilian was finished with him, he did not say a word." In this joke example, it could lead to funny situations later when sec finally understands the joke. Note: high tier jokes tend NOT to be so obvious that everyone gets them instantly. It is okay for people to take a minute to get it. This tier of clown can also be earned by actions, such as a clown who ambushes a nuke ops squad as they come out of maint, slips them, steals some of their weapons and runs off. Non-combat actions that are hilarious for everyone, including the people who are pranked. In general, reaching this tier of clowning requires that you have a wicked sense of humor, and really think carefully about how best to deploy it in any given situation. It is very difficult to pull off, and if you fall back to relying on a pre-arranged plan, you probably won't make it to this tier.

Updated: 2020/Nov/6 YES (I would support these PRs) Make flagging books require a reason, which is saved to DB. Often, admins have no idea exactly what part of a long book is objectionable. Also, provide some configurable text that allows us to tell people when they should/shouldn't flag a book. And potentially display already-viewed-and-approved books differently to discourage pointless re-flagging of stuff that's already been approved. Temporarily striking this one as I may do it myself. An incentive (work with me to figure out details) for people to NOT wrench up vents/pipes to screw over antags that use them (terrors, giantspiders, borers, headslugs, etc) Nerf the heirophant club so it only works when used on lavaland. https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/14018 Change the lava staff so it only works on lavaland. https://github.com/ParadiseSS13/Paradise/pull/13971 Give the HOP the ability to turn the ticket machine OFF, so it cannot be used to print tickets, and the button to increase the ticket number no longer does anything. Some HOPs (like myself) don't use the ticket machine and we're tired of telling every single person who comes up to our window that they don't need a ticket (and throwing away pointless tickets). MAYBE (please run the details by me): Changes to things I've added or majorly reworked, e.g: Terror Spiders, SITs, ERTs, syndi depot, sol traders, admin tools, playtime system, gateway missions, SSD protections, admin/centcom jobs, blob antag, the AI, command staff jobs, major changes to Science department. Major feature ports from other servers. Remember, ports require justification beyond "X server has this, we should have it too". NO (I won't support these): Anything encouraging clown, mime, janitor, IAA, etc to be more annoying / less useful Techwebs / departmental protolathes from TG Any sort of skill system Any use of save files for important data (all important data should be in the DB, not save files)

2020/Feb/21: Keroman has rejoined the team as a Trial Admin 2020/Feb/26: Cazdon has passed their Trial Admin period, and is now a Game Admin DaDman234 has returned to the team as a Game Admin