Pckables

I encourage everyone with their own working strategies to post them in here, so that others looking for help can choose a method that clicks well with them. Those looking for practice: You can always take four numbers from a random number generator (making sure you don't get repeat numbers) and work with that as the hidden code. You'll have to do a bit of pretending, acting like you don't know the real code, but the goal is figuring out the process rather than getting to the end.

So you're sitting around Cargo doing your usual thing, when suddenly a miner walks in with this weird locked crate that they don't know how to open. With it's 4-digit lock, how could anyone hope to find out what goodies are inside?! There are two ways to open these Deca-lock abandoned crates. One way is to blow it open; either with a gun or explosion. This destroys some of the crate's contents, which could be REALLY valuable (or not). The other method, is actually solving the lock. What You Need to Know: Abandoned Crates have a randomized 4 digit code, digits 0-9, and you have 10 tries to guess the correct one before it (harmlessly) explodes, leaving nothing behind. Hitting the crate with an ID, PDA, or melee weapon will also cause it to destruct instantly, so don't do that by accident. There are no repeat digits. Every digit in the code is unique; you will never have two of the same number in a crate's code. Use this knowledge to your advantage. You can back out of a code input attempt by submitting an empty guess. If you accidentally click on the crate, prompting a code entry, just leave it blank and submit, and you will instead leave the crate alone. Every attempt is precious. You need a multitool. When you hit an abandoned crate with a multitool, it tells you two things: How many attempts left before the crate is destroyed, and how close your last code input was to the real code. You are only shown the MOST RECENT attempt though, so do not forget to use the multitool after every input, or else you learn nothing. Write things down. Use your IC notes, your PDA (make sure you don't smack the crate after taking notes), or even just a paper and pencil, but write down the results of every input (shortened preferably) or else you'll forget. What To Do: Let's get crackin'. First order of business is to throw away that first crate the miners gave you because they probably used up 4 of the 10 guesses on random things. Once you get your hands on a crate with at least 9 attempts intact, as well as a multitool and some sort of note-taker, find a nice spot to sit down in for the next 5 minutes or so. What you want to be taking note of is the code you inputted, how many correct numbers were in the incorrect place, and how many correct numbers were in the correct place of every attempt. For simplicity's sake, you should write it down as this: [input] [#]c [#]i - Input being your guess, c being the number of correct digits in the correct place, and i being the number of correct digits in the incorrect place. Remember that c and i will add up to the total amount of correct digits you have in that attempt. 1c and 1i means 2 correct digits, just that one is in the correct spot and one isn't. The method detailed in this guide is what I call the "Snake" method, because you slide up one number at a time and use the head and tail to find out which digits are part of the code. Start with the code 0123. The crate will tell you it's wrong unless you're the luckiest person in the world. Then use the multitool to found out how many digits were in the correct and incorrect places, write it down, and move on to the code 1234. Repeat to 2345, 3456, all the way to 5678 (You can usually skip 6789, as you can deduce when theres a 9 in the code when you've only found 3 digits.) Once you have everything written down, it's time for the Deduction phase. See where the amount of digits increases or decreases, and that will tell you what numbers are in the code. Then you can go back and see when these numbers are in the correct position, and narrow it down to 1 or 2 possible answers. Here is an easy example:

I actually really like this from an RP point of view. It doesn't make impersonation easier without a voice changer, since you won't want to talk when in the department of who's ID you stole, but it at least makes it easier to stay in cover in the halls. Might make antags spend less time hiding in maintenance all round. It's a bit of a letdown when i'm trying to stay undercover as an antag and want to RP a bit with a victim, but know that talking at all will instantly blow my cover (especially true as a vampire). I'm on the fence about the Janitors knowing all the voices of the crew. I've seen enough Janitors go validhunting with beartraps already, I'd rather not give them anymore fuel. The issue I see with this is coding. How is familiarity determined? Say we have 3 engineers at round start, obviously they are familiar with each other and recognize their voices. What about Engineer #4 that comes on the shuttle later? What if then we get Engineer #5 who job transferred from Cargo? Is familiarity coded into the players when they enter the game? What's the deciding factor?

Some new ones since I've been playing a lot of Supply. As Quartermaster: -Having 3+ Cargo Techs. I know it's a good entry job for new players, but it gets messy and even boring when there's too many people in the department with nothing to do. In addition, if one of them is REALLY new, that's a good 20+ minutes of supply being slowed down to a crawl so I can teach them. Maybe I should start finding fun roleplay things to have an overflow of Techies do. -Techs that obsessively ask for paperwork for everything. I'm guilty of it too as a new Cargo Tech, but please stop asking the brig physician for paperwork on their console screens for a body scanner, or a welder an injured IPC is asking for. -Techs that call and send out the shuttle when i'm there without talking to me first. There's usually a good reason the shuttle is where it is. Don't call the shuttle without any orders, and don't return the shuttle if it wont give us the points to buy what we need! Until tech disks come, the shuttle should always be in a flux of having and not having any points. -Crew that don't check their mail before asking where their crate is. This is annoyingly common, and there's been too many times someone like the brig physician has come down asking "Where's my crate?" for me to tell them I mailed it 5 minutes ago. "Oh." is always the response. Check your mail. -Crew that think they have to break in to cargo to use the autolathe, rather than just ask. Unless you know the person at the front is being a stickler, ask first. If it's odd or possibly illegal, well.... I accept bribes. -Miners who don't respond on comms (and dont take a GPS to boot). Let me know you're ALIVE so I don't have to pester the HoP for a replacement. Miners are important to the station, don't go silent. -Me being an antag and having to leave the Cargo Techs to fend for themselves. I want to be an antag, but it always feels bad abandoning my post for most of the round. I'm a monster! As Miner: -Slow Scientists -Finding a bunch of Hivelords on my first mining run, while i'm full health. Such a waste. -Miners who spend the first 15 minutes hunting and killing xenos instead of mining. Save some for the rest of us! Also do your job! -Surprise Gibonite. Oh hey, there was more gibonite ore behind that first one- there goes my arm. -The fact that Gibonite can destroy your ore crate, leaving nothing behind. Goliath + Narrow Corridor + Tentacle activated Gibonite = Bye Bye 8000 points of ore.

Considering you almost crashed the server from good mining, i'd say this would be a pretty welcome addition.

Petition to make clowns slip on any and all items lying on the floor. Walking does not prevent this.

I'll add in my 2 cents and say that even if one has 100 hours on the server and read the wiki extensively (which is currently outdated anyways), you're still going to flounder the first time you play an antag. There is no substitute for direct experience, there are a lot of different aspects to take in depending on your role, the current state of the round, and who are your allies. It's always a lot to take in. Not to mention the biggest aspect: Getting caught. I can't speak for everyone, but I don't want to get caught and have my first experience as a specific antag stopped early before I can get a good grasp of it, which leads to more passive play. It's difficult, but you gotta find out which of your allies are new, teach them, know you'll probably need to rescue them at some point, and give em' a kick in the butt if they're hesitant. Experience is the best teacher.

Seconds later:

I have opened a TEG crate that was completely missing its core. It was pretty devastating considering prior circumstances, but even if i knew refunds were a possibility, it wouldn't happen because it's a TEG and can't be put back in the crate. I don't know how codeable this is, but it would be a nice thing to add.

Ah, I was the changeling you're referring to. I wanted to take over security, but there were a lot of people running into maints and my cover got blown pretty quickly. Because of the backup you called for, I panicked and ended up leaving my atmos ID behind; dooming me for starting my first assault unprepared. I was honestly just trying to scare you off with the stuns, trying to avoid being too murderboney, but you wouldn't STOP COMING BACK! In the end I got robusted by a random janitor in maint before the Sec officer I kindly let go unhusked came back to finish the job. You REALLY did me in that round.

The AI was punished for slaying tens of ponies in the vault -- by having several ponies throw a party in its satellite. Those ponies then partied too hard and spawned a dark matter blob.

I was a changeling for that round pictured in #2. I remember seeing a big group of 5 civvies huddled around tool storage, and two or three of them started punching each other. I left to leave them to their own devices, only to see three of them admin frozen 5-10 minutes later. Judging from the bloody hatchet, i guess it escalated. Still had to laugh. You don't see that every day.

You're missing the part where CE won the fight, all while people were screaming that shes dead in maintenance.

Honestly, the chaos of trying to figure out how to ACCESS this server was more messy than some of my first rounds. The only link I found that actually worked was from this weird out of the way wiki site (not the actual wiki). I already knew a fair deal about SS13 and the server before-hand. I started out in Goon, but got tired quickly when I realized none of the jobs felt like they had any real purpose. By the time I figured out how to enter Paradise, I had already read most of the information on the Wiki out of curiosity. So I started out playing as an assistant until I understood the layout of the station (which was WAY more intuitive than Goon's) and felt confident enough to jump into a job. A lot of rounds felt slow as I watched the descent of the station into death and chaos, me somehow never being around for it. Some strange aspects I DO remember: - I walked down to the southern half of arrivals in the middle of one round, only to find out the danger of breaches the hard way. I had no way to escape the decompression and swiftly died. Thinking cloning would be like Goon's (AKA not happening), I accepted my death, only to be surprise cloned maybe 10 minutes later. I play off CMD while the doctor gets my clothes, only to be stopped by the "Head of Mimes". For whatever reason, this mime REALLY wanted the doctors attention, while I stood confused and naked for another 5 minutes. I guess the mime got annoyed at me wanting my clothes, because he handcuffed me, stuffed me in a locker, and threw me out into the hall. I knew I could have gotten out of the handcuffs and the locker, but I had no clothes, no knowledge of where to get them, and the round was 20 minutes from ending. I just decided to stay in handcuffs and let the locker be my new home. Plus it was fun to see people open a random locker in the hallway, see a handcuffed naked man, then swiftly close it again. -The only other round I remember was the first time I was targeted by an antagonist. A grey and his friend tried to kidnap me by arrivals, but since they lacked restraints I barely managed to run away. Not knowing how to properly inform security, I hung out in front of the bridge for safety. About 30 minutes later, the same two are blasting their way out of the dorms, and I flee in panic again. It took me 10 minutes to realize I was uninjured and that they were only shooting laser tag guns. The escape shuttle eventually arrives, and I sit down; the two enter and take their seats right next to me. After everything, I think maybe I was overreacting and they aren't actually dangerous. We're in a shuttle surrounded by people and they never TECHNICALLY injured me yet. As soon as the shuttle takes off, they butcher me.

Guess i'll add in one from a few months ago: I started out as an engineer trying my best to learn the job. I was in the assembly line room to figure out how to fix it, then out of maintenance comes some spectral man in purple robes. Unaware of who, or what he was, I assumed danger and tried to run, but he was faster. I got stunned, dragged screaming for help at my location over comms, sent into a cult teleport rune under a table, and converted into a cultist. Security didn't respond, or really even notice anything. I was back walking around the station like nothing happened. Now it was probably a bit more than an hour into the round, and things were starting to get hectic. Cultists had several teleports, and were summoning ghosts and building constructs en-masse. The final objective: Find, capture, and sacrifice security officer Reylaigh Young. After learning how to function as a cultist, I teleport down to see most of Security is mounting a full-on assault on a cult teleport rune hidden in a secret room just above the HoP office; sec is in full riot gear and durands, against cult spectres and constructs, it was messy, probably a bit excessive. I end up finding our target, informing the cult of her general position, and tail her until she gets distracted by two constructs in the engineering hallway. I do the typical stun and drag, the target is screaming my name and her position over comms. The target gets successfully teleported to the cultist base, but before I could teleport myself, a single sec officer finally responds to the call. I try to run, but fumble for my emergency teleport paper. I get tazed, and in a frantic dance of button mashing and confused clicking, end up teleporting somewhere completely randomly. I teleport to the cult room the sec was assaulting not 5 minutes ago. All the runes are still intact, the room is just covered in blood and corpses. Despite at least 3 officers patrolling outside, I meander out the room I very obviously teleported into, and even walk past the guy that was JUST trying to arrest me 20 seconds ago and saw me teleport away. I didn't hide my name or face, it was just as if I was invisible that round. Nobody bats an eye, I just go back to the assembly room and teleport to base. Everything ends up going smoothly and our lord is summoned without hitch. I'd like to blame everything that happened on the chaos happening around the bridge, but I should have been nabbed by security at least 3 times that round.

As engineer: CE who won't get the station goal ordered despite cargo having 300+ points and on green alert. Having a CE that doesn't talk/interact with the other engineers. Security that won't let me in to fix a breach. Security who say i'm trespassing when someone else let me in to fix a breach. Security that won't let me out after fixing a breach. People who steal my hardsuit when i'm in medbay/surgery. Surgeons that forget to give me my hardsuit back. Dead/Inactive miners. Scientists+Roboticists completely drain the ORM of metal and glass all shift. Atmos techs that never fix broken piping. BYOND freezing when i'm trying to fix a breach or setup the engine. As Atmospherics: Engineers who never go to fix breaches. Having 10 mimes on the station hunting Vichi and breaking into atmos every 5 minutes to search for him. Me being an Atmos Tech instead of an Engineer.

Hey there. I've been playing for around 2 weeks now, and enjoying the station thoroughly. Some people might recognize me as Pikel. I mainly play Engineer for now. I have a habit of messing up horribly trying to figure things out. The Wiki can't prepare me for everything. Nice to meet you all!