Help! There's an angry union outside my office! A comprehensive guide to the Nanotrasen Representative or NTR

[MarkyBoy]

 

G'day prospective reppys, and experienced reppys alike, this guide aims to outline the NTRs job, their equipment, faxes, and how to roleplay as an NTR in order to find more work and be a respected member of command.
NTR has the potential to be a very difficult role, and shouldn't be taken lightly. Requires a huge amount of proactiveness in your approach, and solid experience as command, and as an IAA.
NTR is locked behind a whopping THIRTY karma, making it the most expensive job unlock, alongside blueshield on paradise station, and should not be taken lightly.
Because of the karma requirement, your ability to roleplay as reppy is important and you will be held to a higher standard than others on the station.
Before playing NTR, an EXTENSIVE knowledge of SOP, and a decent knowledge of space law is REQUIRED. I STRONGLY recommend that before unlocking NTR, you have a good few rounds logged as an IAA before beginning your journey.
NTR has the potential to be EXTREMELY busy, or not busy at all, depending on the current situation of the station, and has a high potential for getting dragged into all sorts of strange shit that you get to form an opinion on.

Your Home:

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Your office is a bastion against the greytide and bald command alike. Rest here a moment, and take stock of the situation.

Your office contains a bookcase crammed full of SOP books for every department. A great tool for roleplaying, but I've found more often than not, brings about the air that you don't know what you're talking about, if you want that, go ahead. Alternatively, open the SOP on the wiki and read from there.

You'll also have a photocopier, this is incredibly useful when you go to deliver faxes to people, copy the unstamped virus release form, or the unsigned borgification contract. I like to hand deliver IMPORTANT letters to command as then I can be certain that they got them, there's no excuse otherwise.

On your desk is your paper bin, clicking on it lets you choose between letterhead and blank. letterhead is just a simply formatter bit of paper, great for notes, but for faxes, you'll want your own template.

Also on your desk are a folder, engraved pen, and your reppy stamp. Although you're more than welcome to write with your PDA pen, you're not doing in style without your engraved pen.

Your stamp is INSANELY important to your job, lose it, and you cannot send a verifiable fax to CC, you NEED this. The folder is a great tool for storing away the paperwork you accumulate over the course of the shift, as well as storing fresh paper with which to take notes with.

Last thing on your desk, is your fax machine. This ones special. it can contact CC, lose it, and you lose your entire purpose on the station. DON'T lose it, if you do, SCREAM at security until they find it.

Finally, on the wall, are two buttons, one will open your door, and the other will close the privacy shutters. The privacy shutters are pretty useful for taking people to your office for a sit-down, getting people to go away when you're writing a fax, and ensuring that you won't be disturbed on your smoke break.

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Your """Equipment""":

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• The NTR stamp. Without this, admins will almost always reject your fax, probably not even responding to it. Without this you are nothing. Keep it in your locker, or on your person, but personally, I keep it on myself.
• Your Engraved Pen. a complete fluff and style item, without it, your a clumsy sod who loses things. Not very confidence inducing, I know. In a pinch, your PDA pen will work just fine.
• Your Golden Zippo. Undeniably the best lighter in the game. It's no different from a regular zippo, asides from being unique, and GOLD. If your character smokes, use it. Won't be cool otherwise.
• Your Fancy cane. this is YOUR weapon. It might not be the greatest weapon, but it's yours. wave aside tiders, antagonists, and the captain you threatened to fax with ease. Losing this is perfectly acceptable, just that you cant beat people over the head for breaking SOP any more. Sad.
• Your Headset. You only get one of these, no spare in your locker. It's not a bowmans, so don't expect those benefits, but it does have EVERY comms channel available, save for AI private and robo speak. You MUST turn these channels on, by default, only command, and procedure are turned on.
• Your ID. Your ID has a MASSIVE amount access across the station to the point where it's almost All-access. You won't have access to command offices, the AI sat and upload, teleporter, atmospherics, and xenobio. The last two exceptions are the only ones I'd consider asking the CE and RD to give you, as they need checking up on, too, but it's not needed at all.
• Your mindshield. Big surprise, you're mindshielded at round start, you aren't eligible for antagonist roles, save for blob, and admin hijinks. Although it makes sure to command that you can be trusted, it is important to remember that testimony from mindshielded personnel is evidence. Use it wisely.

In your locker, you will find changes of clothes, a flash, a tape recorder, a tape box, and some other fluff. Your tape recorder is incredibly useful to carry around. It's essential to record, and print transcripts so that you can use them in any reports that you may make, without it, everything is just hearsay.

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The Actual Job:

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This needs to be said first; You are an advisor. You have NO power on the station. You only have influence. Bitching and moaning to the captain about problems is your go-to.

Your job aboard the station is to ensure that the interests of Nanotrasen are met and adhered to, this chiefly means that you are to ensure that Standard Operating Procedure (you know what it all is, right? .... RIGHT?) is being followed and applied correctly by all COMMAND staff.

Though, it's commands job to make sure that their employees do their jobs, so you pretty much have to make sure that all SOP is being followed across the station.

Although space law is not your wheelhouse, you're expected to have at least a solid grasp of space law so that you can help determine if someone should be brigged, or merely demoted for their no-nos.

You will be dealing with quiet command, not doing anything, naughty command staff, who are actively breaking their own SOP, and antagonist command, who are (hopefully) desperately trying to cover up their no-nos.

Saying all that, SOP is a guideline, and much like how a magistrate, or an officer will interpret the law, it's your job to ensure that a breach in SOP is warranted given the context.

It's extremely important to state that not all SOP breaches are bad, as long as they follow the interests of Nanotrasen, ask questions, and investigate before taking any action.

However, when you can't find any SOP breaches, you will be serving as an ADVISOR to command staff on the station, weighing in on decisions that command are considering, such as AI law changes, alert level shifts, hirings and firings, and ERT requests.

Your own SOP, a simple breakdown:

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If the SOP man can't follow his own SOP, then how can anyone expect him to advise on anyone else's SOP?

1. The NanoTrasen Representative is to ensure that every Department is following Standard Operating Procedure, up to and including the respective Head of Staff.
If a Head of Staff is not available for a Department, the NanoTrasen Representative must ensure that the Captain appoints an Acting Head of Staff for said Department
    This line of SOP is essentially your job description. I've already outlined it, but it's nice to have it in your own SOP. The second line is the same as the captains second SOP clause, more on that later.

2. The NanoTrasen Representative must attempt to resolve any breach of Standard Operating Procedure locally before contacting Central Command.
This is an imperative: Standard Operating Procedure should always be followed unless there is a very good reason not to;
    This line is just telling you not to bug admins with shitty faxes. Always escalate through the chain of command until you can't any more. If you can't find ANY support in command for your concerns, you MIGHT not find admin support.

3. The NanoTrasen Representative must, together with the Magistrate and Head of Security, ensure that Space Law is being followed and correctly applied;
    Just like I mentioned before, space law knowledge is somewhat needed, but not to the extent that a magistrate is required to understand it. Hopefully your captain knows it, but you should know enough to know if the captain or magistrate is wrong.

4. The NanoTrasen Representative may not threaten the use of a fax in order to gain leverage over any personnel, up to and including Command.
In addition they may not threaten to fire, or have Central Command, fire anyone, unless they actually possess a demotion note;
    This may come as a shock, but this line is for YOUR protection. Remember, you have no authority, just a dump-truck of clout.
    People won't take it kindly if you threaten to fire them. You may recommend to the relevant head of staff that their employee be fired, but ultimately, it's their decision. Not yours.

5. The NanoTrasen Representative is permitted to carry their flash and a Stun-Cane, or a Telescopic Baton if the Stun-Cane is lost.
    This is just a standard command-level SOP clause that allows you to break weapons possession laws. Your fancy cane is your main defence weapon and your drip. It completes you. Don't lose it, or you'll bring shame to Nanotrasen.

The cats you herd:

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The Captain:

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• As you should know, the captain runs the station, he's meant to delegate tasks to the relevant head of staff, and make sure that the station is running smoothly.
• In the absence of a magistrate, he will also hand down sentencing for capital crimes that occur. Attempt to work together to apply the correct sentence
• The captain is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad captain will overstep his bounds by jumping the chain of command too often, and not inform command of what's happening.
• A good captain will delegate much of the tasks to a head of staff so that they may sort it out, as well as being talkative with his subordinates.

Common SOP breaches include: Illegal AI law changes, leaving the stations Z-level for ANY reason (this teleports the NAD to a random place on the station)(Though exiting out of an airlock is a no-no, it can be done with VERY good reason)
Not appointing an acting head of department (this is your own SOP, too), not having the NAD safely on their person, and not getting mindshielded if they are an acting captain.

The Head of Personnel:

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• The HOP manages all job transfers, hirings, firings, and accounts of the entire crew. They're also in charge of the supply and service departments. They're second in command, and are a valuable part of the station.
• The head of personnel is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad HOP will give themselves, and potentially others all-access, "extended access" without informing any relevant head of staff, hire people into a department without asking the head of staff, shut down cargo, and ignore the clown.
• A good HOP will inform command of all hirings, firings, and transfers that they make. They'll make inspections of their departments to make sure that they're running smoothly, and fix issues as they arise. They won't touch bank accounts and will terminate IDs as the HOS or warden gives them to them.

Common SOP breaches include: Giving self or others AA (this is grand theft), failure to inform a head of staff of hirings, firings and transfers, and ordering a hat crate for Ian from cargo when they barely have any points, giving Ian a bridge access ID.

The Chief Engineer:

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• The CE manages the stations engines, atmospherics, and delegates all repair work on the station. The CE is in charge of engineering, the upkeep and construction of the station goals and AI satellite damage and telecoms.
• The chief engineer is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad CE will not understand how the SM works, not delegate repair work, ignore the station goal, and forget that telecoms is broken.
• A good CE will teach his newer staff how to set up the stations engines, as well as delegate repair work, talk to the RD about the requirements of the station goal, fix the AI when it gets hit by a meteor, and help security when the AI is malf.

Common SOP breaches include: Allowing an engine to fail, giving poly a command headset, ignoring the stations cries for help when its literally on fire, and carrying around the atmos fireaxe.

The Chief Medical Officer:

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• The CMO manages the physical and mental health of the stations crew. The CMO is in charge of medical, and alongside the RD, genetics. They are the person to call when a level 7 (virus) happens.
• The chief medical officer is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad CMO will leave the cloner unstocked, leave corpses unattended to, ignore his staff doing malpractice, forget that medchem is unstaffed and pretend that genetics is the RDs job only.
• A good CMO will keep tabs on all of his staff, make sure that medbay is clean, talk to the HOP about hiring a chemist, monitor ongoing surgeries, and make sure the coroner is doing their job.

Common SOP breaches include: not enough medicine in the fridge after 30 minutes, no biomass in the cloner, genetics handing out hulk, not approving the virologists healing virus.

The Research Director:

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• The RD manages the pace of research, xenobiology, robotics, and the AIs lawset. The RD is in charge of science, and alongside the CMO, genetics. They are the person to call when the AI is malf.
• The research director is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad RD will ignore his department, allow robotics to build mechs on green, borg without paperwork(one of the few times paperwork REALLY matters), and blow up the borgs at the earliest sign of a stinky AI.
• A good RD will talk to the captain about AI law changes, closely monitor robotics, delegate RND, and make sure scichem isn't making warcrimes.

Common SOP breaches include: Printing weapons when they shouldn't be. Building combat mechs for the fun of it. Ignoring genetics. changing the AIs laws without permission, and letting their department go crazy with power.

The Head of Security:

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• The HOS manages his officers, prisoners, as well as appropriate response to any threat on the station. The HOS is in charge of Security, and the application of space law.
• The head of security is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad HOS will encourage killing antagonists, incorrectly sentence prisoners, escalate security when it isn't needed, and completely ignore space law and legal SOP.
• A good HOS will communicate with his team, and keep a watchful eye over his officers, respond appropriately to a threat, admit defeat and call for evac/shuttle/nuke when the situation is too much.

Common SOP breaches include: Allowing officers and warden to break the law. Executing prisoners without magistrate or captain consent. Failure to make sure that arrest warrants are correct, and failure to correct officer "mistakes".

The Magistrate:

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• The Magi manages the IAAs, hands down sentencing, and upholds legal SOP and space law. The magi is in charge of sentencing and holds the final say over any legal matter.
• The magistrate is your best friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. If you have a magistrate, then you probably don't need to look at security at all that shift.
• A bad magi will incorrectly sentence prisoners, sit on the bridge all day, and ignore his IAAs, process prisoners, and go out on patrol.
• A good magi will observe security proceedings, let officers process prisoners, allow prisoners to explain their side of the story, and help keep security in check.

Common SOP breaches include: Incorrectly setting someone to execute, ignoring evidence, and showing bias in his sentences.

The Blueshield Officer:

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• The bluey is your only employee. This doesn't really mean much though, as he is independant, and your jobs have very little overlap. The bluey is in charge of defending command staff, and any high value items with his life.
• The blueshield officer is your friend. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• A bad blueshield will forget to hand out death alarms, overstep his authority as a bodyguard, fail to apprehend command area trespassers, go on patrol and validhunt and let people steal the captains gun because they're not hurting the captain.
• A good blueshield will hand out death alarms in order of command importance, serve as an advisor to command, (much like yourself) and catch a bullet to make sure that command doesn't.

Common SOP breaches include: unwillingness to throw out trespassers, letting command die, using lethals on the clown, and validhunting (chasing people after clearing the immediate threat)

The Internal Affairs Agents:

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• IAAs are the magistrates employees, they find SOP breaches across the station and report them to either yourself, or the relevant head of staff.
• Internal affairs agents are your friends. You should have a clear and open line of communication that goes BOTH WAYS. Listen to what they say, and ask questions.
• Bad IAAs will not come forward to you or the magistrate regarding any SOP breach they find, they will attempt to fix the breach themselves, they will wait in the bar for someone to complain to them about a SOP breach, they will invent SOP to get their way, and ignore it to the same effect.
• Good IAAs will communicate with other IAAs, yourself, and the magistrate about breaches they find, they will bring up the breach to the relevant head of staff, they will defer matters to you that they think require a CC fax, and will send you departmental reports via fax.

Common SOP breaches include: Trying to fix the no-no themselves, faxing CC about matters that can be fixed locally (the admins will usually handle this by cluwning them), inventing and ignoring SOP to get their way.

 

Regarding acting heads:

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While not your sole responsibility, the captain will greatly appreciate any efforts you make to scam crew into taking an unpaid promotion. Normally, this will be one of the first actions you take at roundstart and will do a lot to shape the tone of the shift.
I'll explain how I go about minimising the chances of hiring an antagonist into your staff.

There are multiple routes you can take when picking a potential victim. You can PDA known, experienced names. You can ask in the relevant comms channel. Or you can ask in person.
I like to ask in person, and pick people I can see actively fulfilling roundstart SOP, such as the poor schmuck manning RND, the doctor who's breaking into genetics to get biomass, and the engineer setting up the SM on his own.
Failing to recruit these poor souls brings you shame. I like to then see who's being talkative in their departmental comms, if not a skilled worker, at least one who can communicate and look at the bottom right.
Lastly, begging in channel, hoping that someone will bite is your last resort. I hate doing this, as this is where you get the antag putting his hand up so he can get free and legal command comms and gamer gear.

Not all acting heads are equal, some that you recruit just don't cut the mustard and either need a helping hand or a demotion. Ultimately it's up to you what approach you take, but I recommend that you take some action.
Normally this decision will be driven by the type of character you play, if you wanna be firm, then fire them, and if you want to take the advisor part to the next level, teach them how to do their jobs, though only if you know how to do their job.

Actually ADVISING command, because you know.... you're an advisor:

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First things first, remember how I said that you have no authority, and you just have a ton of clout? If you don't, re-read the guide until you do.

• If you have an open channel of communication with command, then you may occasionally be asked to weigh in on a matter they're mulling over. Most of the time you'll be inserting yourself into the situation and become the hero no one asked for.
• Don't explicitly tell command what to do, recommend courses of action, suggest options that command might take, don't tell them what to do.
• If you do just tell them, they'll tell you to fuck off, you're just a pencil pusher after all, you don't know how to do their job, when in fact, you probably do. Command is fully in their rights to ask you to LEAVE their department.
• Worst case scenario is that command member won't talk to you the rest of the shift, as they don't want someone shitting in their garden. It's THIER garden, after all.
• Remain polite, offer courses of action, plural. It's up to them to decide what route they want to take, ask for clarification, ask questions, understand the situation so that you may correctly advise your command.
• If you don't get all the cards on the table, then command will turn on you when your incorrect course of action backfires, that's if they take it, otherwise they'll tell you you're stupid and won't elaborate, losing confidence in your abilities.
• Offering the correct course of action for any given situation takes time and experience, typically from within the department that's having the issue.

Understanding a departments capabilities, their restraints, and what they need from other departments, or even sub-departments, in order to solve any given issue will help you immensely in giving GOOD advice

Inspecting a department:

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From your IAA experience (read the preface, if you haven't), inspecting departments should be fairly par for the course for you at this stage, but you're not an IAA anymore, you're the representative, and the IAAs, now that they're lacking yourself, are a dubious bunch of layabouts who don't do any work.

• When you decide to make an inspection is important, don't run straight out of your office and get inspecting, you need to first wait for employees to at least START work, otherwise EVERYTHING is a breach of SOP, and command won't appreciate any input that you might have.
• My advise is to wait at least ten minutes before heading out of the bridge, make small talk with the captain, send off an intro letter to all of command (even CC, some admins appreciate knowing that you're faxing them at roundstart), roleplay a little, this is a roleplaying game, after all.
• Once those ten minutes are up, go inspect a department. Don't bring up any issues with non-command, bring them up to the relevant head of staff once you've completed your sweep, it's early on in the round, don't expect too much right now.
• Ask the head of staff things like "are you aware that.." "Don't forget to..." and "please remember to...", or alternatively, fax them and the captain a report, but don't forget to tell them that you've sent them the fax.
• After your first sweep, give things some time, let employees fix no-nos, security to find crimers, and the SM to finally get set up.
• On subsequent sweeps ( I like 30 minutes in, as it's the medchem deadline), it's important to note down any new breaches, and especially any breaches that never got addressed.
• I recommend talking to employees (even prisoners, for security), asking them how their shift has been, how they've found their boss, are they talkative? are they a commanding asshole? are they doing all the work themselves?
• Once you've gotten a better idea of how the department is operating, bring up any concerns you had with it with the relevant head of staff. If any issues persist from your first inspection, emphasise them when you talk to them.

If concerns are being ignored, hand waved away, or generally leaving you unhappy, bring them up with the captain.

I found a no-no, what now? a step-by-step guide:

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It's important to remember that it's not your job to fix SOP breaches. Only to make sure that they are fixed by ugly-crying at the people who can until they get fixed.

• Say you find a breach in SOP, the first thing you should do is determine if it's a crime or not. Most things like this are petty theft, or trespassing.
• If it is a crime, inform security, and THEN the relevant head of staff. If the captain is criming, inform the Head of Security, and fax CC, more on that later.
• If your breach is NOT a crime, then follow it up with the relevant head of staff. If they know about it and can give good reasoning, then you let it go. Command staff are allowed to decide if a breach of SOP is good for the operation of their department.
• If the relevant head of staff doesn't know about the breach, explain, or better yet, show them the breach. If they're a good egg, they'll immediately attempt to fix it. Problem solved. Alternatively, you can decide together if it's acceptable.
• If the relevant head of staff doesn't CARE that there is a breach of SOP, and they don't provide a convincing reason as to why there's a breach, bring it up with the captain.
• If the captain is the one breaching SOP, then you should inform the Head of Personnel, and the Head of Security of the breach, as well as any other relevant command staff. If all of you together cannot convince the captain he's been naughty, then, and only then, should you fax CC.

It's important to remember to NEVER threaten, or even allude to sending a fax to CC. Certain characters will actively try and stop you from sending it, and you'll have a very bad time if they do.

Your pride and joy; The humble fax machine:

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People tend to forget that your fax machine can send faxes to the other fax machines on the station. It's not just central command.

• Be sure to check for fax machine in your office often. People might send you all sorts of things for whatever reason. They'll usually tell you that they have, but they might not have, or you may have just missed it.
• The captain may forward a CC fax to you, IAAs a departmental report, the CMO a copy of the virus release form, and the clown, a photocopy of his butt. Cherish all of these and thank them for taking the time to involve you in their pain.
• For sending faxes, I like to write up a quick letter explaining who I am and what I'm doing on the station, and blast it out to every fax machine on the station, regardless if there's anyone on station to read it.
• Otherwise, you may forward or send your own departmental reports to command, forward CC letters to relevant heads of staff, or even use it as an antiquated form of communication, it's up to you.

Lastly, you can be as formal, or informal as you'd like to be when sending a fax within the station. It's only when faxing CC you should sit up straight and be formal.

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Oh god! CC needs to hear about this:

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Faxing Central Command is a stressful, uncertain, and often panic-stricken experience, but it really doesn't have to be.

• Before sending a fax to CC, please please PLEASE read the guide to faxes on the paradise wiki, you can find a link to it in the helpful resources section of this guide. I don't want to copy paste that entire article on here, but I'll outline the more important aspects.
• To crush your hopes, I'm not going to tell you how exactly to format and write your fax, that's for you to decide, but to help you out, I'll link my own general fax template as a starting point, and provide some examples. I heavily recommend reading the guide to paperwork, as that explains how to properly format paperwork.
• Creating your own fax template goes a long way to setting yourself apart from the masses. Admins love seeing people come up with unique formats, as long as they're clearly legible.
• It's extremely important to note that your fax has to be formally written, clear, concise, and more importantly, gives all relevant information without being too verbose. You're sending this to an admin, after all. Treat them with respect.
• In order for the fax that you send to be verifiable, you need to both sign and stamp your fax, without both of these, admins may completely reject your letter. Although your fax machine has a three minute cooldown for CC faxes, DO NOT spam admins on cooldown with your fax. Also, do not send admins their own fax back to them.
• Sending CC an intro fax at roundstart is a good way of letting the admins know that you're on the station, and that you're here to receive orders and all that. It's also a good way of making sure that the admins check for faxes every now and then, so they don't leave you hanging.
• Otherwise, sending faxes regarding SEVERE antagonists, such as terrors, nukies (though it's roleplayed as if comms are jammed, you WON'T get an ERT), and blobs is a good idea, let 'em know the situation on the station, what measures command has taken, or refuses to take, if the situation is getting better or worse, and if command has confidence in security and the crew to deal with the situation at hand. This goes a long way towards getting any future ERT requests approved.
• Faxing CC about an ERT request typically won't get you one. The keycard authentication devices have an ERT request option for a reason. You should use it as a LAST RESORT. Faxing regarding GAMMA armoury and bioscans is a good idea, just don't expect to get them.
• Your main bread and butter will be sending faxes regarding SEVERE SOP breaches (don't bother with small, inconsequential stuff) that the CAPTAIN either refuses to fix, or simply doesn't care about.

Remember, if you haven't gone through the chain of command regarding a breach, then you don't have a good reason to fax CC.

• If you haven't gotten a response to a fax that you REALLY think merits a response (like the example below) you're allowed to AHelp it, though please reserve this as a last resort for MASSIVELY dire issues. Just ask the admin to confirm that they've received and read your fax, it's up to them to send a reply after all.

For example, say a doctor is transplanting unwilling vox brains into tajarans made in genetics.
-You tell the CMO about this, they laugh, saying they got what they deserve.
-You tell the HOS about this, because it smells a lot like murder, HOS says it isn't murder, stop wasting his time.
-You then tell the captain, the captain is a tajaran and is delighted to see more tajarans on the station.
-Then, and only then would you consider faxing CC about the matter, as command has failed completely in stopping this crime against nature.

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I've gotten a fax, message, or an announcement from CC, what now?

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There are a few ways that admins can respond to your fax. They can fax you straight back, send you a "priority message" (not an AHelp), or send a station-wide announcement. You will almost never get bwoinked for sending a LEGITIMATE fax, as faxes are in character, and will typically be resolved in character, too.

 

• When an admin replies with a fax, you'll typically get a message saying that "your headset pings, notifying you that a new fax has arrived". This ONLY happens with CC faxes, not faxes sent from within the station, and is a great first step to figuring out of the fax is ACTUALLY from an admin.
• The priority message will just be a line of chat in your chatlog in large grey letters, this is usually reserved for fax replies that are too short to even warrant a fax, and if you missed the little ping in your headset telling you that you have a fax.
• You'll typically never get a station-wide announcement as your first form of reply from a fax, as it is typically reserved for extremely severe issues that the admin wants to name and shame the entire station over, or that they're going to come to the station in character (typically a Special Operations Officer or similar) to resolve the issue.
• Sometimes you'll get someone trying to impersonate CC. It's ultimately up to you if want to follow the fax, to make the round more interesting. But to spot the fake, see if it's signed and stamped, and check if you got an alert that you received a fax. Don't be afraid to confirm a fax by faxing CC. Admins have a hard time signing faxes if they're actively participating in the round.
• Now, when you get your reply, or even an unprompted fax, read it TWICE. Not once. TWICE. Make sure that you understand exactly what is being asked of you, and the crew around you. It's typically a good idea to send the fax to the captain, as they will probably want to be let into the loop.
• Once you know what is being asked of you, you essentially have been given the one thing you never had. Authority. You wave this bit of paper around (you made copies, right?) and people will do whatever you ask, as long as it is relevant to the fax. Do not abuse this, unless you'd like a job ban.

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Roleplay tips

Spoiler

In this section, I'll give advice from the standpoint on how I personally play the reppy, and how to make command respect you, and the crew to come to you.

You're absolutely free to play reppy as you want, there's no real need to read this, but it's important to note that you've been sent to the station by CC, you're going to be held to a higher standard, and you absolutely are expected to do your job.

• With that out of the way, it's important to remain approachable, to both command staff, and the crew in general. If you're approachable, then people will come to you with their problems, ask for advice, or just for a chat. If you're not, you'll have to fight tooth and nail to find things to do.
• Making command trust your judgement and advice is tantamount to your ability to perform your job well. If command doesn't want to hear what you have to say, then what are you here for?
• If you act like a a jerk, demanding SOP gets fixed, telling command what to do, going straight to captain, or worse, the fax machine for any breach you find, command will HATE you, and won't come to you with any issue they have for fear of having the same thing happen to them.
• It's important to remain open and friendly, if someone wants to talk to you, talk to them, strike up conversations, and maintain an informal air when you're not actively working, building rapport with crew will get you work.
• Make use of your ability to send out station-wide announcements through the in-wall consoles. Offer to make announcements about alert shifts, so that the HOS and captain doesn't have to, announce the completion of the station goal, praising engineering for work well done. If you announce, it's YOUR name that comes up in big red letters, reminding everyone on the station that you exist, it's free advertising.
• Finish an inspection and find no breaches in SOP? Praise the department for a job well done, recommend medal recipients.
• In a crisis, remain calm and evaluate your options, command will be grateful that you're providing input during such a chaotic time.
• Talk to employees, ask them how they like their boss, among other things, make them open up to you, ask if they have any plans for the shift and if they need any help with them. This goes doubly for command.
• If you don't involve yourself in a matter, you very likely won't be involved until it goes wrong. If you insert yourself before it goes bad, then you can make sure things don't go wrong.
• Conversely, don't weigh in too much if the subject is in a field that you're inexperienced in, let the people who do know figure it out, you run the risk of making things worse. If the SM is delamming and you don't know how it works? just ask the CE and engineering to get on it.
• Admit it if you make a mistake. Don't die on a hill trying to defend your actions. If you mess up, admit it and accept the consequences, people will respect you more if you do.
• Sometimes you'll need to conduct a more thorough investigation. Ask people to come to your office for an interview, tell their boss that you're whisking them away. Make use of your tape recorder, tell your subject that they're going to recorded and try to ask yes or no questions. This is a lengthy process and you only need the facts, not their opinions. 
• It's absolutely ok to just sit in bridge and concentrate on comms, often times, you'll see people approach the captain and inform him of goings on, which is invaluable as you can insert yourself immediately into the matter as command knows about it.
• If an admin is doing some sort of event, don't be a spoilsport and try your best to make sure that the event continues. Spooky skeleton man selling contraband in maints? look the other way, advise the HOS that someone so brazen is probably geared to the teeth and sec can't handle him. Saying that, you're free to AHelp it if you really think that the skeleton should be stopped. But please do so if you think you should have crew intervene in an admin event.

Helpful resources to use:
I recommend that all of these be read and understood, especially SOP and the guide to faxes.

Guide to faxes: Here (required reading)
Guide to paperwork: Here
Nanotrasen Representative: Here
Standard Operating Procedure: Here
Space Law: Here
General fax template: Here
Example paperwork: Here
Paperwork Simulator: Here

 

Edited November 1, 2021 by MarkyBoy

[Crazyhair]

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