Introduction

[ZiksZiks]

Hello,
My name is Milos (with 's' sounding like sh), nickname's either Mike or Zix.
I have been playing SS13 for quite some time now, my friend showed it to me and I was hooked ever since but we never joined forums for some reason. Until now.
I'm really happy about Paradise Station and community and I'd like to join you guys. I feel like I know how to play and do good role play by now.
I enjoy playing almost any role on the station but I'd like to be the best HoS ever since I only recently played as HoS and it was really fun.
Also, I am interested in finding out how to get Karma stuff works and so on.
What else should I write here?

[TheClosetMailman]

Karma is, on paper, ez pz to get. 

Do a good job, other people might give you karma.

Have a fun gimmick, you might get karma. 

Make it interesting for your victim as an antag, well, believe it or not, your victim might give you karma. 

 

Any other questions? 

[ZiksZiks]

Sweet. That's basically how I thought Karma worked. I try to make it interesting as a victim and for the victim. :P
Some year ago I was awarded Karma by a player who saw me give religious advice as chaplain to some other player. Though I can't remember whether I did something with it or not.
Anyway, I'm in no rush to get it.
Also what is the policy of admins and community for using other languages than English in game? I have a friend who's not so good at typing stuff in English, he has a hard time expressing himself even though he's very smart otherwise and that's the only thing that stands in his way of being a good role player.

[BryanR]

We are an English only server. That doesn't mean that you have to be the best of the best in English since we do have non-native speakers playing however it does mean that you need to be able to communicate in English.

If your friend has difficulty typing stuff in English this may not be the best server for him to play on since it is a requirement that you be able to communicate using it.

[ZiksZiks]

Well he has difficulty not sounding dumb or stupid
That's okay though, I encourage him to practice more and he's actually getting better at typing fast.
I guess he'll have to avoid some heavy typing roles for the time being. 

[TheClosetMailman]

Playing as a character that cannot speak english easily is all right on this server. 

Hell, they could be mute. 

 

Either way, nothing wrong with being bad at english, its a horrible language anyway-

[ZiksZiks]

Well, the only issue is his own basically, cause he'd love to role play a more complex character but oh well...
I think he'll get really good with practice.
That reminds me actually. Is it possible to sort of create certain characters that know each other more extensively? I had an idea of making HoS and sort of being consistent in training and working with the entire Sec. team up until a point where the entire Security team becomes a small elite force that role plays as well coordinated team. Is this even possible in the game according to rules?

[ZiksZiks]

Few yeas ago, I remember a HoS named Logan Ghost. That guy really rocked as a HoS, stern and authoritative, and he did all according to SOP. Security was so tight that almost everything was processed with paperwork. XD I couldn't believe how effective they all were. I really felt safe from threats as civilian and bartender.

[Splgrk]

OH yeah, I remember Ghost. He was the boss. Quite literally, most shifts. 

As for consistent characters: absolutely. You just... have to be a bit liberal about it. You are allowed to remember whta happened in past shifts, up to a point. The problem comes when someone was an antagonist, but isn't this shift, or they exploded into tiny gibs, but now are fine again, with no explanation... it's best to just keep things vague. 

Edited January 17, 2019 by Splgrk

[ZiksZiks]

No worries. If bunch of us die I usually pretend that we all got cloned at the CentComm and have no recollection of the previous shift. Also, I wanna be baller like Logan Ghost as HoS  I'd need to practice my robustness a bit but I think I can manage. I would love to have certain number of Sec. Officers that sort of know me as HoS and  know them as good Sec. Officers so we basically at one moment become an elite corps of Nanotrasen Security. That'd be fun.

[ZN23X]

4 hours ago, TheClosetMailman said:

Playing as a character that cannot speak english easily is all right on this server. 

Echoing this, I have an Unathi who intentionally speaks common poorly but speaks his native language fluently.

[Splgrk]

41 minutes ago, ZiksZiks said:

No worries. If bunch of us die I usually pretend that we all got cloned at the CentComm and have no recollection of the previous shift. Also, I wanna be baller like Logan Ghost as HoS  I'd need to practice my robustness a bit but I think I can manage. I would love to have certain number of Sec. Officers that sort of know me as HoS and  know them as good Sec. Officers so we basically at one moment become an elite corps of Nanotrasen Security. That'd be fun.

I'd say robustness is far further down the list of a good HOS than most people think. The biggest two differences in my experience between a good sec force and a bad one is not how quick they are with a baton or a tableslam. It's organisation and communication. No worse officers than those who don't use the radio. (And yes, there are those who basiaclly don't use the radio at all. Roll call? No reply. Help, I'm being attacked outside the vault? No reply or reaction. Who booked this prisoner? No reply. The worst.) You can usually tell if a shift will be good for sec or not after a few minutes, just by the amount of radio banter, and what is being said. 

And a lot of that is on the HOS. You have to get your officers to work together, and to do their different jobs efficiently and correctly. Reports if they see anything on patrols, notes on prisoners, cooperation with the warden on proper brigging (no abandoned prisoners in processing, no toolbelts in cells, no dying voxes with no headsets), properly coordinated patrols that cover the entire station regularly, and proper mobilization in case of a crisis (by that I mean: everyone's there and armed if there's a maniac with a double sword, but you don't get six officers watching the clown slip people in the bar, either.)

Radios > Paperwork > Tasers. 

Edited January 17, 2019 by Splgrk

[ZN23X]

As HOS I try to sit in my office or on the bridge listening to comms and giving orders. I will only go into the field in the case of some sort immediate emergency that requires additional manpower (officers under attack somewhere and my intervention could be the difference between them surviving or at very least being recovered or not) or to help officers get into a specific location with my additional access (engineering, science, whatever).

The worst type of HOS is the one who just takes the role and uses thier gear and access to be officer+. Your access, your gear, and your ability to keep security coordinated is too valuable of a resource to risk losing by patrolling. As awful as it sounds, thats what officers are for. They should be the ones patrolling and being put at risk because they are simply less valuable.

Its also fun to jack up chucklefuck officers and show em whos the boss.

Edited January 17, 2019 by ZN23X

[ZiksZiks]

Sweet. The office sitting is one of my favorite stuff to do. I am very good at communicating and giving out orders (I think), I practiced order giving while being a Chief Engineer.
I planned on starting every HoS shift with three things: Roll call and give out patrol orders (also find out if possible the skill level of security team, it would be best if I manage to line them up in front of the office); Coordinate with Chief personnel and captain for a short meet-up at the Bridge office for a briefing on the shift priorities; Get back to office and write down some operative procedures for my Security Team, in case of crisis so I can print them up and give them to less experienced personnel. (The operative procedure will come at first in less amount but i think the more I play and SURVIVE shifts, the more my HoS char will know how to deal with various shit. At one point I think I'd be able to issue strategies on how to deal with blob, xenos, spiders, lings etc etc)
All the while I keep an eye on comms and that's basically it.

I'll also insist on doing autopsies for killed bodies, coordinating detective and coronary for that and I'll also insist on calling RD and xenobiologists if we're dealing with an unknown xeno threat so that scientists can asses the threat levels.

How does that sound?

[Splgrk]

 Pretty much no one ever does autopsies, sadly. There's just not that much point, because if you have a body, you can usually bring them back.

[ZiksZiks]

Well, yeah but you can always do autopsies on the remaining dead body, question the cloned personnel etc. If the victim was murdered in secret by unknown weapon, like 9mm pistol, we can then keep an eye on that and I can also warn my security team to be prepared to engage someone carrying illegal weapons. Though yeah, very often, the stations falls in so much shit that we don't have time for autopsies. Sad, cause I really enjoyed being a coroner and filing reports on dead people.

[Splgrk]

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I'd also love if detective work was more involved. But at some point, you have to accept that this game is geared a lot more towards zany high-octane lasers-blazing action than noir policework. 

[Regular Joe]

18 hours ago, Splgrk said:

I'd say robustness is far further down the list of a good HOS than most people think. The biggest two differences in my experience between a good sec force and a bad one is not how quick they are with a baton or a tableslam. It's organisation and communication. No worse officers than those who don't use the radio. (And yes, there are those who basiaclly don't use the radio at all. Roll call? No reply. Help, I'm being attacked outside the vault? No reply or reaction. Who booked this prisoner? No reply. The worst.) You can usually tell if a shift will be good for sec or not after a few minutes, just by the amount of radio banter, and what is being said. 

And a lot of that is on the HOS. You have to get your officers to work together, and to do their different jobs efficiently and correctly. Reports if they see anything on patrols, notes on prisoners, cooperation with the warden on proper brigging (no abandoned prisoners in processing, no toolbelts in cells, no dying voxes with no headsets), properly coordinated patrols that cover the entire station regularly, and proper mobilization in case of a crisis (by that I mean: everyone's there and armed if there's a maniac with a double sword, but you don't get six officers watching the clown slip people in the bar, either.)

Radios > Paperwork > Tasers. 

That is exactly so. It feels like bit of roulette whether you manage to get your officers to actually efficiently communicate, pushing them to it but not being a complete ComDom. Well making them talk is not comdomry as that should be the number first duty of the force, and the number first thing to do as the HOS, but still... sometimes that is so difficult that I feel like non-stop nagging the entire shift. Luckily, though, sometimes you even have not to ask for it.

In the most of the shifts, yeah no time for the noir police work, too bad. I love interrogating though, rare and fun when you happen to have time for it.

Edited January 18, 2019 by Regular Joe

[Splgrk]

Sometimes, I wish there was a version of this game with most of the random events taken out, longer shifts, a much bigger station and fewer traitors, so we could do more investigating.

THen I remember how boring extended shifts often are.