Medi

I've brought this up before elsewhere as a means of balancing out raised requirements to play security (like more time - No I am not letting that go). The best way to approach giving them more access is if it's general access to departments / and only works on Red. That way, if it's an extended round or all the antags are handled, security isn't able to waltz about getting in the way of everything and everyone. Additionally, it also means that security has to consider the pros and cons of having a higher degree of access at higher threat levels.

In theory: The IAA or HR is suppose to be an impartial watch-dog for the station that has the ability to investigate and report on matters of SOP, Space Law, and other affairs as they go on the station that wouldn't otherwise fall under Security. This office is suppose to be the one-stop area where you take all your complaints, claims, and considerations for it to be compiled into a detailed report and given to the applicable head or CC itself. In practice: The IAA or HR is free access for any would-be antag who wants to get into security without much of a fuss. More often then not, it's easy to find an IAA or HR because if you manage to catch them before the SSD from boredom, they're usually anywhere other then the brig area doing their best impression of greytide. If you actually have a complaint you're more then likely to take it to your relevant head and if they're not listening you go and bug the Captain or NT-Rep maybe. IAA are usually cannon fodder for all intents and purposes and serve little to no purpose when the vast majority of issues can be handled on a local level that otherwise excludes them entirely. Most of these players who jump into this role are absolutely new and wanted to be a "lawyer" or a psudo-sec member at least (since I have already proven that new people love to flock to Security regardless of if it's a good idea). How do we address the issue? First and foremost, this is something that the community is going to have to chip in with as well. Currently, if someone threatens to speak with IA/HR it's a statement that will likely get you laughed. IA/HR derive all of their power from two sources: Heads and CC. The issue with the heads is that they are not obligated to listen to IA in anyway. This is both a good and bad thing, but it does ultimately mean that IA/HR doesn't have a lot of "teeth" to it. On top of that, most people will likely just complain about something or someone to their respective head or to the captain rather then bringing it to IA in the first place. This is because it's usually a lot faster and easier then actually going to IA which, more then likely, won't get anything done anyway. The issue with CC is that if the heads aren't listening then you have to pray that the almighty fax manages to not only reach CC but that someone has the time and want to read your report. In my experience, very few of either IA/HR/or even NTRep reports actually get enacted upon, despite the severity of their content. This can be for a variety of reasons but it's literally the highest degree that IA can report something to and if that doesn't work- then you're literally just out of luck. One way to assist this matter might be to simply change the direction that IA/HR is pointed. Rather then be a departmental faction that has no teeth and no one cares about, give them more of a role as attorneys. This change would prompt IA to take a better interest in focusing on appeals, proper prosecutions, and ensuring that players are being dealt with in a timely manner. This would also allow the rarely used and rarely tested trial system to be a bit more useful as players can more willfully sue or appeal before the magistrate on their cases provided their time in jail is sufficient (over 30 minutes would be worthy of an appeal and investigation in some cases).

Pray that my PDA is with me and start popping throat lozenges like their candy.

If and when, I'm positive a ton of us will support that however we can

So when are you doing a full comic?

As a server, we can't exactly advocate "Yeah, go play on a different server to learn how to play on this one." I am aware of the fact that we may do this for punishment reasons (although that is more over done for player 'character' specific reasons) but to do so just for a job seems to be a bit of an obtuse standard that would more often then not drive people away from the job. Really, the spirit of my complaint and suggestion is not against those players who have experience with SS13 or take the time to even read Space Law and SOP. You can be a relatively new player and at least do the latter and be moderately successful, however you're going to struggle quite a bit until you get the rest of the game mechanics and foundations down. In fact, if you take an experienced SS13 player, even from our server, who has never done Sec before and suddenly throw them into the role without doing some prior study- they're going to struggle a lot if not get in trouble. The reasoning for this is that Sec had 3 different guidelines that govern their actions and they're the most watched group because they actively take people's freedoms away. It's my opinion that truly new players, those who have little to no experience with SS13 at all, get Security positions FAR too soon. I'm not saying to give it some kinda impossible standard to obtain but having players play roles other then civilian prior to starting Sec can only help. Civilians are not held to any greater standard that Sec would be, so making them at least be cargo tech for a few rounds and have to learn WHAT an SOP is or WHAT space law is prior to enforcing it is probably a good idea in my opinion.

Im not opposed to this, I just also know that it's quite obvious when the miners are either dead or are goofing off trying to get loot. The reason why is that any job, like scientist, that has access to the ORM and regularly visits it for work will notice that "hey, there's nothing new in here / absolutely nothing at all." At which point they complain to the HOP who may or may not do anything until enough snarky comments are made over common to get them in trouble.

I can sympathize as someone who has been around a while and has only 3-4 things unlocked. Unfortunately, more memey characters or oddly social characters get karma. Either way, it's a struggle but there really isnt much in the way of correcting that can be done.

Appending to this that there be some additional restrictions on things such as Golems and other "new sentience" creatures preforming security duties as there is no way to ensure that they are in anyway knowledgeable or have the level of prior knowledge to be effective. Still saying that letting newer players have access to security is dragging the entire department down. I know we're not trying to "scare them away" but at current, allowing new players who don't even know how to ctrl drag, how to recharge a baton, how to use a flashbang, how to properly and safely restrain people, or even how to assess a situation based on game knowledge. It's not that a new player is "bad" but they lack the knowledge required to actually do this job and that's something you learn with time, experience, and study. Jumping straight from assistant into sec officer is how we get so many ahelps, the stigma of of shitcurity, and such.

Hi there! As someone who has done a lot of background work on or around sec, I get it. In this specific case you're actually correct to not perma someone for this sorta possession alone. A great example of this is energy verses powered crossbows, one is considered contraband the other is at best a weapon possession charge. The wiki is written rather specifically for a reason and a lot of players fail to realize the importance in detail. Now, don't forget that the way in which you use an item can land you in perma as well. Class C contraband used for a major crime is insta perma worthy. Take the context of the situation into account and make a judgment call from there. My advice is that if you know you're right, show them in space law where you're right. IAA, the Magistrate, and to a lesser extent the NT Rep are all resources for that as well. Unfortunately, it's fun and easy to blame one guy in security even when it's not right to do so. Just keep at it and become knowledgeable in Space Law and SOP so you can make them look dumb later.

Why not at least remove the ability for a syringe gun, rapid or otherwise, to be loaded with an SM containing needle? Makes it harder to troll without removing its purpose.

We already have a few items and vehicles on the station but they're either job restricted or only gotten by the trader. I'm with McRamon, too memey in the long term.

Why not meet in the middle here and have a private means of transparency via a request system here on the forums? The idea is that if a player wants information regarding their notes over a specific incident or such, they can make a private request that can only be viewed via admins here on the forums and be given to them confidentially and selectively. To this degree, the administration can retain a degree of control as to what information and how much of it is released to the public (or just outright deny the request if its sensitive enough) while giving players at least the platform to make potential requests. I foresee this having more benefits then not and takes out any sense of urgency in the matter.

The goal was simple; get in, do some tele-science, have some fun, get out. NONE of that happened. Instead, Lich arrived on the shift about half-way through it. Realizing that wasn't going to be any tools waiting for him in science he ran over to the arrivals tool area to see what he could scavenge. The machine in the corner had a few wires and tools on top of it, maybe it did have something left inside? It was worth a look at least, right? Rather then finding out, Lich immediately got zapped to the degree of severe burns. It took him a few seconds to recover and briefly abandon his quest to slowly walk to medical leaving his pride behind on the floor where it died. Most of the doctors on the shift seemed like they were elsewhere when he showed up The only few doctor that were there didn't seem to even acknowledge him for the longest time, dealing with a few other members of the crew with varying degrees of injury. By the time it was Lich's turn he got quickly treated for his severe burns and sent out the door. One near death experience wasn't quite enough to call in the towel, not for Lich at least who decided to make the best of the situation and see what tools were actually in Science before attempting brave arrivals once more. Making his way over to Science he approached the door and was immediately floored again as the moment he made contact with the door he was shocked into crit from the sheer burn damage. Once again, Lich was now making his way towards medbay, a lot closer this time which made the slow walk just a tad better. During his painful walk, Lich took the time to PDA the AI, asking them to politely unshock the doors so he could get on with his day. So wrapped up in his PDA, Lich failed to notice the janitor who decided that ONE DROP OF BLOOD was far too large of a task for a mere mop- oh no. He had to bust out a cleaning grenade in the middle of the hallway just for that ONE SPOT. Needless to say, Lich was now on the floor, in a ton of pain, and questioning if he should just stay there for now. Either by willpower or stupidity, he got up and continued to hobble his way to medbay which was thankfully a much faster visit. So fast in fact that one burn patch later was close enough to tide him over, a little lingering burn damage wouldn't be too bad right? It was like, 5% or something, couldn't be an issue... Right? Lich returned to work, found some tools in Science and was getting started on making a tele-science lab in the experimenter area, something impromptu and lacking in anything more then the bare basics. However, as he was setting up the console he realized that the location was just not going to work for him and he needed probably take apart the computer and build it closer to RnD where he was next to his stock. He didn't have any eye protection when welding down the computer console but how bad could it be? Well, bad enough to make him near blind in one go, alright then. Screw tele-science! Screw Science in general! Lich threw down the metal and marched his unhappy ass back to Medical with the intention of grabbing occuline and staying put at the bar. Apparently in the brief time he was gone, everyone scraped their knees or had them ripped off entirely since medbay was packed with patients and the rest of the medical staff decided that was the best time to go take that space fishing trip they'd been meaning to go on. Lich realized that unless he helped himself, no one would. He had a screwdriver and a wirecutter, you can hack a vending machine with those right?... Right? He went around medical to the back vending machine near virology, trying to keep his hacking attempt on the down lo- First wire Lich cut was the power line and he immediately dropped dead on the floor with his tools beside him... Yeah that took about 15 minutes total...

This is a comprehensive guide for the new player who wants to start playing security without becoming too overwhelmed when starting. There are a lot of things to know in regards to positions, best practices, equipment, etc. So, for the sake of brevity, this guide will only address the core basics of most things as to stay relevant for the longest time possible. Table of Contents: 1. Security Roles and Duties 2. Security Equipment 3. Basics of Law and SOP 4. How to Arrest / Brig 5. FAQ / Understanding Advanced Concepts SECURITY ROLES AND DUTIES Security Officers The basic security officer is primarily responsible for actually patrolling, arresting, and responding to threats appropriately. They are given their authority via Space Law, Security SOP, and Legal SOP. It should be mentioned that they are far from all powerful and are held to the standards outlined in those same guidelines. As a new member of security, you should start out here and become proficient in this job prior to branching off and joining other jobs (except for Detective). Detective This is a rather interesting role within security as they are responsible for using their Forensic Analyzer (see gear section for more details) to help security figure out who committed crimes. Additionally, they are charged with launching investigations that are a breach of Space Law and may require someone to be jailed. By default the detective actually does NOT have the authority to make arrests per SOP unless it is a matter of life or death. Don't get confused, just because you work for security does not make you a security officer, as such, you should not be attempting to do their jobs. You are there to assist them and in times of dire need, only then can you expect to potentially get in on the action. NOTE: You are the only one who spawns with a .38 with rubber rounds as well as a shoulder holster. The shoulder holster accepts the .38 as well as tazers. You can holster and unholster such weapons from and to your hand with the hotkey "H". Security Pod Pilot The Security Pod Pilot is given an armed space pod that is plated to give resistance against damage. The pod is armed with disabler and can be re-equipped with lethal lasers should the situation require it. Outside of piloting duties, the security pod pilot acts much like a regular security officer in that they are permitted to make arrests and patrol as they deem fit. The cost to play this role is currently 30 Karma points. Brig Physician The Brig Physician is a great role for those who enjoy medical but want a different flavor of it. The Brig Physician is in no way permitted to operate as a security officer yet they are given access to security areas as a way to help treat wounded officers and prisoners. Understand that unlike a regular doctor you have two additional requirements: 1. To be cautious with prisoners as they will want to kill you for your ID and subsequent access. 2. You have to pretty much build up Brig bay yourself to have scanners and gain the means of preforming surgery. It's unlocked for 5 Karma points. Warden The warden is labeled as a "Very Difficult" role to play and for a good reason. They are the ones primarily responsible for actually brigging, overseeing the armory and weapons distribution to security, and maintaining the integrity of security's brigs / cell systems. This job REQUIRES a strong knowledge of Space Law, Security SOP, and Legal SOP as it is the basis for how you will go about determining who gets brigged for how long and where. This includes working with short term and long term prisoners as well as knowing when people cannot be safely briged at all. Additionally, you are considered the "second in command" of Security thus you are required to have a strong understanding of not only your job but everyone's job as to effectively lead them. It is advised that you play several shifts in the fields of Security Officer and Detective prior to becoming the Warden. Head of Security The Head of Security is, as the namesake implies, the leader of security and thus the person with the highest amount of responsibilities and the highest amount of authority. You report to the Captain and Central Command but are under the magistrate's purview like everyone else when it comes to Space Law. You are also the third in line for the captain's chair if the Head of Personnel (HOP) goes missing. It is highly advised that you have no less then 20 hours minimum prior to even looking at attempting this job. Additionally, you should have spent a few shifts as both Security Officer and Warden at least prior to attempting this job. SECURITY EQUIPMENT The title of this section is also a hyperlink to the actual Security Items wiki. Rather then go line for line about what each object does, I am going to more over go over the proper use and function of items that you will typically interact with as a member of security. Bare in mind that I won't cover armor or worn equipment aside from the Security HUD as I feel they don't really warrant a lot of explanation. IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE DISABLERS, TASERS, OR STUN BATONS ON NON-HUMANOIDS ESPECIALLY AS THEY ARE IMMUNE. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STUN, TASER, OR FLASH SPIDERS, XENOS, OR OTHER CREATURES LIKE THAT AS THEY WILL SIMPLY LAUGH AT YOU WHILE RIPPING YOUR FACE OFF. YOU ARE TO KILL THESE CREATURES ON SIGHT INSTEAD, DON'T TRY TO STUN AND ARREST THEM. Stun Baton The ultimate symbol of space justice, this device is capable of emitting a very strong shock when applied to organic humanoids that will stun them on the ground long enough for you to apply handcuffs or zip restraints. To activate the device, hold it in hand and hit Z or Y (use / activate hotkeys) to enable it, you should hear it buzz to life. Be aware of your Intent. You SHOULD be on HELP intent when using this device to bring someone into custody. If activated, it will both stun and harm someone if you are on other intents which WILL get you into trouble if you're doing it in the wrong situation. However, for situations in which you are dealing with subjects who you need to dispatch, it's a very good if not powerful tool to use against someone's head to cave it in. Times you will use it to attempt to kill persons include: Syndicate Nuclear Operatives, Wizards, Non-Organic/Non-Humanoid Antagonists such as spiders and blobs, Pirates, Ashwalkers, Syndicate Traitors with Holoparasites, Changelings, Empowered Vampires, etc. The common theme here is that you cannot arrest / contain these creatures or lack an obligation to do so. Hybrid Taser The "Hybrid" aspect of the Hybrid Taser refers to its unique function of being able to switch between Taser and Disabler mode by using the activation key (z/y). In Taser mode, the device will appear yellow along the top as shown in the picture and will fire a single, powerful stun that will instantly down most humanoids for more then enough time to advance and arrest them. The downside to this mode is that it has a very slow firing rate and takes a few seconds to charge again before the next taser round is able to be fired, thus making it a mode very reliant on your ability to aim and anticipate your targets movements. The second mode is disabler mode which will make the device appear to be blue on top instead of yellow. In this mode, the device will fire blue beams that drain the target's stamina when they make contact. Unlike the taser, it takes multiple disabler shots to take down a standard person however each successful shot will actually make the target progressively slower as their stamina is sapped. Additionally, unlike the taser you can fire the disabler rather rapidly making it a better choice for those who are unsure how well they will hit their target or if their target is very fast/mobile. Note that people will automatically start recovering from stamina damage over time if not given more damage to their stamina. Rechargers Perhaps one of the most important pieces of equipment that are actually on the station. Rechargers come in two varieties, wall mounted ones like those next to the armory entrance door, and those that are small semi-portable ones like in the picture. Rechargers accept energy based weapons such as stun batons, tasers, energy guns, laser guns, and more and apply power to them to refill the internal batteries. You will know that the charger is done charging when it starts flashing yellow. Additionally, you can move non-wall mounted ones via a wrench, note that they must be wrenched in place prior to being used. Flash Flashes are extremely effective weapons against those who lack eye protection or against machine enemies such as Cyborgs as it overloads their sensors and stuns them. Note that there are some races such as the Vulpkanin and Kidians who have very sensitive eye-sight and it is considered cruel and sometimes punishable to use them against them due to this as you will always cause eye damage when you use this device, it just hurts them more then others. To use this device, stand right next to your target with it in hand and left click on them. Pepper Spray Like flashes, stuns targets who are not wearing appropriate eye protection. Unlike flashes that can go through most eyewear, any eye/headwear tends to block this effect and as such its very situational. The advantage of using this device is that it can be used more then a flash, it can be refilled unlike a flash, and can be be devastating to groups of people. Use of this device is the same as a flash yet can be deployed while aiming at a floor rather then a specific individual. Flashbangs Small grenades that emit bright flashes of light and sound and will down targets for a short time. Note that the down time on flashbangs is actually relatively short thus it is advised that if you manage to use this against an uncooperative target you rush them immediately with a followup stun from a device like a stun-baton. Note that using flashbangs inappropriately can and will get you reprimanded or fired. To use the device, hold in hand and activate. You will automatically have thrown turned on when this happens, thus you can simply left click in the direction you wish to toss it. Handcuffs Handcuffs are an EXTREMELY important tool to understand how to use properly. Handcuffs are the reusable version of Zipcuffs, this comes with advantages and disadvantages. Handcuffs will last you the entire shift and so long as you keep up with them and don't leave them on someone or laying somewhere, they're your trusty restraint system. The downside is that they lack the ability to distinguish between good and bad guys, thus the badguy can steal handcuffs from you if you leave them on them and use them on you or other targets later. To use handcuffs, stand next to your target with handcuffs in hand and left click on them, this will start a small countdown timer and will give a rather loud sound and chat notice. Once in restraints, the subject will drop whatever they were holding in their hands and will be unable to activate things around them but can run into doors to escape. It is advised that you drag them around IMMEDIATELY by control + left clicking them. You can also restrain people to chairs, beds, and pipes by dragging a restrained persons sprite over the target, left clicking the subject-holding-dragging-and releasing the left click over the item you're wanting to restrain them to. This adds another layer of security as it is something else they have to break out of prior to breaking out of handcuffs. Subjects can Resist to break out of handcuffs and will succeed after about a minute of not moving (hotkey B) thus you can stop them by simply moving them for a brief moment or interrupting them with a stun. To remove handcuffs from someone, left click and drag their sprite to your sprite while standing close to them. This will open their inventory interface. At the bottom you will see "Handcuffed" left click that and you will start to remove them. NOTE: If you choose to restrain someone to a bed while setting up their brig cell charges via the computer outside the cell please make sure that you recover your cuffs. You can do this by having your baton activated and in hand, removing their cuffs, stunning them quickly, and recovering your cuffs prior to leaving. DO NOT LEAVE HANDCUFFS ON PEOPLE OR THEY WILL BREAK OUT OF THEM EVENTUALLY AND USE THEM ON YOU LATER. NOTE: KEEP A PAIR OF HANDCUFFS IN YOUR POCKET! The longer it takes for you to reach and grab your handcuffs the higher the chance someone gets up and beats you to death. Do NOT keep your handcuffs in your bag, belt, and especially not in a box within your bag as this takes WAY too long to reach. Zipties Function the exact same as a pair of handcuffs but are not reusable. Once they are removed from the suspect they will be "cut" and unusable again. You cannot make them re-usable so do not waste the time and effort in trying. Security HUDs These stylish glasses will act as not only protection against flashes and pepperspray (provided that you get one that have BOTH lenses) but also allows you to see people's jobs as listed on their IDs as well as their wanted status. Rather then going through what all the icons will look like for jobs, just go around the station and learn by shift + left clicking on people to examine them and their jobs. Note that if they are not wearing an ID it will show up as a black box with a question mark in the middle of it. Note that if they are not wearing an ID and disguising themselves with a mask, you will not get a notice of their wanted status. If someone is wanted there will be a giant red "W" below their job indicator, meaning this person has a warrant for their arrest. If they have a grey X they're set for execution and if the situation calls, use lethal force against them. If they have an orange "P" they're a prisoner, and if they're outside of the brig you should probably arrest them. If they have a blue "R" they were released from jail after serving time. How do I see if someone's wanted? Can I see why someone is wanted? The answer to both is YES! Shift left click on someone to examine them, you'll see something come up that looks like this, the name of the person was removed for their protection. Notice at the bottom we see "Criminal Status, Security Records, Physical Status, and Medical records*. Criminal Status refers to their warrant status, in this case this person is set to arrest. If they were not wanted previously it would show "NONE" instead. We can edit their criminal status by left clicking that option which will bring up a screen that allows us to set their wanted status to whatever we see the need to do. Note that after setting their status you'll be prompted to type a reason, this is important to do as we'll see in the next couple of steps. Below "Criminal Status" is "Security Records". If we want to see WHY she is set to arrest, we're going to need to check there to see what's up. When we click on the "View" next to the "Security Records" option we'll get a chat notice that looks like this: Above we see details of their major and minor crimes. Under the Minor and Major Crimes and their details, officers who are sitting at a Security Records Computer can edit that information to reflect Why a subject was previously arrested. Whoever set this noted that they had an EMP kit but didn't elaborate in the details. Under that you see "NOTES" this is flavor text that can be added by the actual player of that character. As you notice we STILL don't see WHY they are set to "Arrest' so to find that let's keep digging, only option is "View Comment Log". When we hit that we get this little box: Ah ha, we can see the officer who set it, when they set it, and why they set it per the comment box they filled out at that time. In this case, they were a suspected Enemy of the Corporation, thus someone who is highly dangerous and will likely end up in perma brig. Basics of Law and SOP As previously mentioned, Sec have not one, not two, but three guidelines that govern their actions and authority. That is Space Law, Security SOP, and Legal SOP. Space law, describes the laws and conditions for various laws to have been broken on the station as well as the time and consideration aspects that come with said charge. Each part of Space Law is assigned a 3 part number such as 103 which is the code for Drug Possession. This is an extremely important number for a lot of reasons as it tells you a lot about the charge itself. The first number is a one, denoting the severity of the crime where 1 is the lowest and 5 is the absolute highest. The next two numbers denotes the Classification of that crime, as such all 03 related offenses are drug offenses where the only difference is severity. Space Law comes with a very good Quick Reference that shows this concept very well. Top of the table shows the level of the crime while the side of the table relates to the TYPE of crime, this is important to understand for a concept known as Crime Stacking which is a no-go. A person cannot be charged for something that shares the same CATEGORY of charge, regardless of the changes in SEVERITY. For example, you cannot charge someone with Petty Theft, Robbery, Theft, and Grand Theft (as they are all the same category since they share the last two numbers) at the same time, but you can charge someone for Indecent exposure, Abuse of Confiscated Equipment, and Theft (as they don't share the last two numbers). To understand more about Space Law, you NEED to read it at some point prior to playing Security as it's both impossible and impractical for me to outline all the details within it. Security SOP, like all departmental SOPs, describes the standards by which a person in a specific job is expected to respond to a change in the Alert Level of the station. These are also reflected to a degree in the "General SOP" area. It's important for you to read and understand these concepts as they are essentially the protocol you're expected to uphold based on the current alert level. This means that on code RED you are authorized to randomly search people but on code GREEN you can't even arrest someone without first speaking to them. You NEED to understand the difference in what you can and cannot do. Legal SOP is a bit special in that it described the methods and procedures for appropriately tossing someone in jail for short term, permanently, or executing them in a lawful manner. Security can, has been, and will be held responsible for illegal executions. Just because you have the power to do so doesn't mean you can kill people whenever and wherever you like. Even if someone is slotted for execution, they're due a proper execution via proper means such as the electric chair, lethal injection, or some other means. Read and understand Legal SOP as it pertains to your situation. Unlike most SOP, this one is the most strictly followed due to the gravity of what it deals with. Deviation from Legal SOP is generally seen as a one-way ticket to demotion, jail, or your own execution. How to Arrest / Brig As mentioned above, your methodology for arresting someone will largely depend on the current alert level and the nature of why they're being arrested. In this section we're going to break this down into a simplified checklist that will hopefully give you a guideline as to how to address a situation in the best manner possible. 1. Identify the wanted person. 2. If time permits, check why they are wanted. See above for how to do that via the Sec HUD. 3. Radio for backup/call out the location of the arrest. It's more important to do this then to rush into the arrest due to the fact that if you fail and they get the upper hand, you've got no backup coming. It's worth taking a moment to do this for your own safety. Even something as simple as "BACKUP MEDBAY" in sec comms is effective. 4. If time and situation permits, make initial contact with the person via speaking. If the person is running away, resisting, fighting back, or has killed people already you may wish to take a more aggressive approach to them. 5. If they are compliant, every attempt possible should be made to take them to security without handcuffs on unless the alert level or situation requires it. If you had to stun the person, you should be applying your handcuffs as soon as they are stunned. Proceed to then left control + left click drag them towards processing. 6. Buckle them to a chair and open their inventory. Based on the current threat and their charges, you should conduct a reasonably through search of their person to include: headset (traitors especially), PDAs (Traitors especially), pockets, bags, jackets, boxes within bags, eyewear, masks, etc. 7. Take note of any contraband items OR items that were used in a crime. Despite items such as tools being legal, if they were used in a crime such as Breaking and Entering, they are to be confiscated in the same manner as contraband. 8. Take them to their appropriate cell. We will not discuss Perma brig protocol as it is well discussed in Legal SOP. Proceed to then take the cuffed subject and buckle them to the bed and exit the room. 9. On the walls outside of the cell you will find a black screen, left click on it to open the cell computer. The first thing you enter is the TIME you plan to brig them for based on Space Law and modifiers or Magistrate direction. 10. Proceed to Activate the cell, this will prompt you for the subject's Name and what they are wanted for. If you did it correctly, they're status should automatically be shifted to "Prisoner". 11. Re-enter the cell and recover your handcuffs. If the subject is violent, consider stunning them, removing the cuffs, stunning them again, recover the cuffs, and quickly exit while they are still stunned. 12. Update the records by hand via a Security Records Terminal IF they're missing a record. FAQ / Advanced Concepts I and other mentors / Sec-Mains will try to provide answers to FAQs as we get them. Some of the biggest I will go ahead and address if I can: Q: How do I silence my boots? A: Use tape on your jackboots, you don't even have to take them off. This will immediately silence them and make it so that badguys stop knowing where you are before you even see them. Q: Can other members of the crew help Security? A: Only on specific occasions such as massive threats to the station such as Blobs, Nukies, Wizards, etc. Things such as Vampires, Traitors, and Changelings should be left to Security to Hunt. If you see someone being attacked or You are being attacked, you are always in the right for defending yourself/others you are witnessing being attacked with the amount of force necessary to FLEE. You should NOT attempt to kill the antagonist if it can be helped as that is NOT your job. Q: Can Security use confiscated items? A: The only item they are allowed to use per Space Law is the Syndicate Encryption Key to help listen for and identify other traitors. All other traitor items/gear is contraband, even to Sec. Q: Can the IAA / Magistrate Order Sec around? A: No, not really. The IAA especially have no control over security and are there as advisory roles at best. They're there to make sure they remain neutral to the entire case and approach it from the direction of fairness to SOP and Space Law, not whatever would be in the best interest of Sec, NT, or the subject involved. The Magistrate has the power and ability to overrule even the captain in matters of Space Law but ONLY space law. The magistrate CANNOT order security officers to do anything other then arrest and brig people, they cannot order the warden to open the armory nor could they order the HOS to break the law. Q: When does the armory open up? A: The armory is open, per SOP, during times when Security requires lethal solutions to their problems. Such times include: Wizards, Blobs, Xenomorphs, Empowered Vampires, Syndicate Nukies, Aggressive Traitors, etc. Q: What's the Ion Rifle for? A: The Ion rifle does component damage rather then burn/toxin/brute/suffocation damage, thus it is only good against borgs and synthetic targets. When it hits, it bursts and will disable electronics around that zone approximately 1 tile. This means that it will disable headsets, internal synthetic organs, robotic limbs, cameras, etc - So please be careful! Q: What weapons are good for what? A: Understanding your threat is important for this question. Due to their composition, blobs are inherently weak to burn damage however they have a special thing called Reflective blobs which can Bounce laser / energy based weaponry back at the source, thus using something like shotguns that are Projectile based damage are a lot SAFER option despite being a bit weaker against them. Additionally, flashbangs are extremely effective against blobs and will destroy multiple tiles of blobs if they're weakened, just an additional tip. Projectile based weaponry are also preferred against E-Sword users, such as nukies and traitors. The reasoning is that an e-sword has a 100% chance to reflect energy based weapons back to the source in the direction that they are facing but only have about a 70% chance to deflect projectiles. Thus, it's a safer alternative when you can't sneak up on your target. Against all other station threats laser weapons have a lot more advantages on top of their ability to be recharged.

@Kyet Can we make any headway on this? Can we at Least increase the time requirements for positions like warden and head positions? Stronger leadership would at least be a plus, especially since we've had an influx of new heads who don't know how to do the basics of their jobs.

Zeke has amazing eyes that just sell every look they do.

Foreword: This is by no means a success story. This is bittersweet at best and full of my usual bad luck. When you see what character I was playing in the story, some of the veteran players who know the character may understand why this might have been so unlucky. THIS IS A LONG STORY BUCKLE UP! Round start and I, Lich, am a Psychiatrist, alright but not great. This immediately became a lot more dynamic when I heard that strange conversion music, I was a changeling! My objectives weren't fantastic but they were potentially doable.. Or so I thought. Eight genomes, hand tele, kill the CMO, wear his ID and disguise as I get on the shuttle, alright let's do this. First step is first, Lich has a rather distinctive name and a few people know who he is, therefore it's best to spend as little time is him as possible I rush off to chapel maints and take my abilities: chamelon, arm blade, tentacle, mute sting, flesh mend. I came ready to fight knowing how my luck usually is so might as well go down swinging! I make my way there and chamelon in the old bar, waiting for my first prey. I didn't have to wait long before a random assistant found their way within my clutches. One tentacle lash and an a notice from the ESRB about our rating going up, I got them and ALMOST have them in a chokehol- "HELP BAR MAINT". Okay, I attacked a fucking stenographer apparently but that was a random maint call who would possible show up? I drag them to the left most wall in the abandoned NE bar and wait. On the otherside of the broken door I hear it slide open as I am nearly done choking this defiant assistant, mid proboscis production, standing there is a vox security officer starting me dead in the face with this assistant being choked out at my feet. Well shit, I let go and book it! I can chameleon so i use that to my advantage and it worked, the sec doesn't even come looking for me and they both escape. Minutes later I hear the alarms go off and the other changelings are yelling at me until they hear the announcement for... Vampires?... Okay, let's go with that. I decided then it would be best to press my already thin luck and lay in wait, chameleon in the middle of the old bar. Enter the mime. He was looking about, not really seeming to care that there was a call out earlier from this area so I try and make this quick. I grab them, managed to get them down, husk, assume the identity, ditch my stuff and steal theirs. I ended up locking them in their own mime cabinet, realizing that no one really messes with that or would search it. My stuff? Lich is reported as dead. Good enough and usually accurate anyway. So I am sitting with 3 genomes now and feeling a bit bad. I decided to play the role of a mime for a bit, randomly messing with people with some good roleplay to include giving Slith the ULTIMATE BOOP. All the while, I am silently stealing everyone's genomes around me until I am stuffed fool at 7. Thankfully, the last person I stuck was a very light colored slime so I passed as being human, no one noticed the difference as the human mime switched to a slime mime for a bit. One more sting and I was done. This is going well! I decided to check in on my target, the CMO. While I had been going about RPing earlier I noticed that he had been pretty damn insistent having 1-2 friends around at all time and was rarely out of medbay. Oh well, I will try again later I thought. So I go trolling around maint for a bit as I contemplate my next move when I get wind that they might be unto me via changeling chat. Someone apparently was calling the mime out for suspicious behavior! Personally I thought it came with the territory of dressing up like a mute bank-robber but not everyone shares my vision. Regardless, I needed a fall back disguise. I bumble about chapel maint and find the chef working on a few glass walls! I approached, got out my tentacle... And I will leave it at that. At the end she was husked, let your mind fill in the blanks. Now, like my first target they managed to get out a "Help maint!" but weren't specific. I thought I would be okay until someone pointed out that it's the chef so likely the area of bar / chapel maint... Fuck. I dragged them off into old bar (I am really familiar with that place now), and deposited them there while I worked out a means of hiding the body. I didn't have time to switch out and I knew that the ID would be hot anyway. So, like a punk, I fled after killing a random chef (sorry!). I hear that security has responded to the area and like so many noire movies, the criminal returned to the scene of the crime. There was the chaplain and two sec, looking for vampires. They quickly arrested me for showing up and after shoving holy water down my gullet, realized I wasn't a vampire (to their credit they're correct at least about that.) Then entered Ash, the Vulp(?), who seemed to know what was up a bit more then everyone else. She pointed out that indeed, vampires don't husk people. The chaplain, however, retorted that "Alright, smart ass. You tell me what it is then?" Before promptly defending that this was indeed proof of a vampire and that efforts to find them needed to be doubled... Alright then. To my dismay, I find out a bit later that not ONLY did medical revive them, another changeling who was IN medical working there HELPED THEM. So now they know that the mime is the vampire(?) and they're hot on my trail. I needed to ditch this disguise and FAST! Unfortunately, I was stuck once again in chapel maint due to how many people were milling in the dorms and hallways. Thus, I sat and waited in the darkness as an invisible shadow ready to pounce. I waited and a female slime surgeon came in, looking around for a bit. I threw my tentacle and started to take them down, once again they managed to get off a word or two before I could actually mute sting them and choke them to silence. Once again, someone came to their rescue. I am standing invisible over this downed person who is still SOMEHOW speaking and calling for help. The chaplain shows up, weapon in hand and ready to help! The Slime person called out that I was invisible and over them, prompting the chaplain to attack, trying to disarm me! I returned with my arm blade (forgot I grabbed that, didn't you?) and aimed for the chest. Thanks to many budget cuts in IPC design, my armblade cut through the tissue paper chassis of the chaplain and dropped him but not before the slime managed to escape with their corpse. Dammit, oh well. I hid out a bit longer at that spot, knowing that I was going to be swarmed and thus far I was doing a GREAT job at hiding. Enter the Pod pilot. This time I was successful, grab, sting, choke, absorb, replace, done. With that, I went from the old bar to security, seeing what more I could glean while listening to their comms. I heard that they REALLY wanted to find that Mime, thankfully I wasn't them anymore yet they were huddled down into sec for a bit while they mobilized to hunt the vampire mime with impunity! Once they were gone I rushed in and stole the pod, going into space while laying low. To my dismay, the AI called me out for not having a mindshield despite the brief time I was visible! "Do pod pilots have mindshields?" Asked the AI. "Yeah." The HOS responded. "Well the Pod Pilot is missing theirs, might be the changeling." The AI reported. "Clever clever.." I said. Then, I mustered every bit of linguistic skill I could to silver tongue my way out of this situation. That's right.. I called them a nerd. "However, incorrect nerd!" I retorted triumphantly! "I have a mindshield." I lied. To my disbelief the AI believed me! Even apologized! I might have shit luck but I can talk my way in and out of most situations at least! However, let's see how far I could get for now. So for a bit, I enjoyed playing as the pod pilot, buzzing around space and harassing the Mechanic like a traffic cop. My joyride ended after a bit, letting sec search for a mime that didn't exist. I parked the pod, locked the doors, stole the keys and went back to Sec maint. While there I found a unsuspecting janitor. Thankfully, they were to bewildered by the giant tentacle that sprouted from the pod pilot to question much else. Unfortunately for me, however, someone walked in. A grey who looked like they were on vacation with a Hawaiian shirt and straw hat on. I channeled my inner rent-a-cop and randomly stunbatoned the janitor and began arresting them, ordering the grey to move along and so they did. I dragged them off, did my thing, now I am an elderly male human janitor! By this point, I switch out the sec key in the headset on the new service one I picked up, leaving the sec one behind with a service key in it so no one suspected that I really had what I wanted from it. During this time while I was spying on the still very much surrounded CMO I was listening to how Sec apparently hunted down, tazed, force fed holy water, executed, and failed to revive Ash from earlier. I wasn't sure how all that went down but the HOS was being fired over it, one less thing to worry about I guess? Go vampire hunts! I eventually said fuck it, the CMO was camping so hard in medbay with their friends that they might as well have been cooking smoores. I didn't feel like sticking around for them to start singing Kumbaya. I went off to do that other objective I had, stealing a hand-tele. I realized that whipping out my armblade in the middle of the hallway with my luck was probably the worse idea possible, so i got creative. I changed up my abilities a bit and grabbed monkey form, went into the janitor's closet, went monkey, grabbed the tele, and went wherever it took me. I ended up in atmos, no one around and no one saw me so who cares? I hid it in the atmos clothing locker next to the pipe dispenser and went back through the vents to my stuff. After becoming human once more and grabbing my stuff, I was off to collect my well-earned Hand-tele. Get to atmos, start to break the doors open from maint with armblade. ALMOST get in when the SAME SECURITY VOX FROM EARLIER SHOWS UP! I rush into atmos, grab my hand tele and chameleon. Of course, he comes in, looks around and opens my locker waiting to find me. I could hear my heart beating in my ears as I watched him but thankfully he didn't decide to taze that spot anyway. He then did the unthinkable, he walked into me and THANKFULLY I WAS ON HELP INTENT! We both switched places without anything seeming to happen and I remained invisible. They left while being absolutely confused, not even setting me to wanted despite seeing my name. Off I went. Back to the CMO. He moved a whopping two feet which was an accomplishment for them but still surrounded in medbay where they had a medical hardsuit, a teleshield, and several of their friends on standby. This wasn't going to be easy. I collaborated with the other changelings still remaining and we came up with a plan, the coroner (remember him? the changeling that outed the mime?) would draw the CMO into the morgue and we'd jump him. Easy right? Nope. Instead, this guy decided to just sting the CMO with neigh everything. We're watching this CMO go up in flames, blind, everything. This, of course, hinders us even more because now they're being medically tended to. I decided to pass the time with my sec hud while I waited, setting random people to arrest for random things to keep sec busy while we figured this out. Sadly, the shift time ran out. We were unable to get the CMO who got escorted by several people to the shuttle within a large group while they held their shield and had their suit on... Lame. Oh well, made for an okay story.

As a note, I have seen a LOT of new players in both security officer and warden positions. These players are new to the point that they were not aware of the following: - What is an EOC? (Warden asked me this) - How do I Perma? (Warden again) - How to use handcuffs. - How to uncuff. - How to have someone get off a chair/bed. - Where is science? - Where is engineering? - What is SOP? (Reflected in them arresting random people for not crimes) - How to not harmbaton. - What is a wizard/what is an antag? - Why cant I tase/stun a spider/xeno/blo /etc? - Why should the warden hand out guns for the above antags? - Why are crew members armed when there is a wizard/other major antag? Some of these aren't even so much security related as they are core game concepts. Now that's not to say every officer/warden is this behind but it's been with surprising frequency that I have seen / heard this sorta stuff. Thus, I still believe that the time for the average person to play security roles needs to be increased. I believe that as more veteran players feel assured that they will have the support of other experienced or veteran players they will feel comfortable going into it.

The frequency by which a person harasses a department is disproportionately leaning towards security. Yes, people will shit talk between departments but rarely if ever does this effect employment. We dont have a shortage of miners, scientists, qm, or bartenders. We do, however, have an increasing number of shifts where 1 security officer will be the only person at round start. It's been so bad that the shortage makes the round painful as there is no one to check the antags or tiders, thus they have free reign which ends the shift early. When other departments are THAT bad because of the culture, we can address that. Till then, the only real department hurting right now to really need this sort of SOP help is security. Now, I am not against expanding it to other departments but the severity and priority of focus is with security for a good reason.

I'm still advocating that we use the assets we have on hand to deal with the problem on the short hand while we wait for more code based solutions, as Kyet suggested, to become an actual thing. 1. Allow IAA / NT Rep (in cases of Command) / and the Magistrate to investigate and recommend action against Harassment of Security as a SOP violation with the possible penalties of: Increased time on a separate sentence, garnished wages, demotion, etc. These are to be treated on a case by case basis and supported with facts. If Harassment of Security is a pressing issue and cannot be resolved locally, it can and should be sent to CC for further action as they deem necessary. 2. Increase the expectations of the Pod Pilot to include being considered the "Senior Patrol officer" of the shift. They can serve as a mentor to the rest of the department without flexing authority. Their role would then be to help those fledgling officers who are a greater risk to themselves then others. They are in no way obligated to baby sit but are encouraged to help quell problems regarding training. 3. Implement everything Kyet went over except the Cadet idea. They're not going to be practical in our style of gameplay being so short and chaotic. If we're worried about people not being ready to be in security, then they shouldn't be in the role at all and the time requirements need to be higher then they currently are. As for the rest of the ideas, they're mostly going to take some coding and adjustment to the server as a whole so it will take some time to actually pull that one off.

I still say give cases of "shitcurity" calling and unwarranted abuse and toxicity towards Security treated as "Harassment" under SOP. IAA / NT Rep / Magistrate can easily sit there and help moderate that portion and make the recommendation for demotion / levy a punishment against them. It can be something as simple as freezing their financial account so that they are reliant on the chef to cook food rather then being able to use vending machines. Additionally, Security Cadets would have merit on a system what was more prolonged then ours. As Kyet said, they're just loot pinatas. You are either security or you aren't on this kind of fast paced server and the cadets would get lost in the mix quickly.

@Kyet Any input so we can make a change?

I know what you're talking about with this suggestion, my only issue with it is that runners are, in of themselves, extremely dangerous due to their speed despite their lack of a large health pool. Couple with this with their ability to vent crawl and do loads of stun and slashing damage makes them an extremely good fighter within our meta due to the fact that most weapons we have on the station that aren't melee generally have very small ammunition capacities unlike the CM weapons that generally are 20-30+. Additionally, stealing monkeys IS easy, thus the meta would be to rush getting runners then using the runners to claim more human crew due to their overwhelming advantages that I honestly would say are better then current xenos on the station. The only way this could theoretically work is if you made them extremely low health and made their stuns very short. This would change their role into a very hit and run kind of tactic that wouldn't support them rushing the station, especially if the crew was coordinated.