Improving Jobs: Captain

[Keroman]

 

The only suggestion I got for which job to improve on after Engineering was Captain (thanks alexpkeaton).

 

Before we begin I want to stress that posting an idea in this thread in no way guarantees that it will be added to the game. I don't want that to discourage you, however! If you've got an idea that you think would be fun, please, please post and we'll discuss it!

 

Captain

 

Consider the following questions when posting your ideas:

- What are the responsibilities of the job?

- What capabilities do they already have? (i.e. access, equipment available, etc.)

- Potential for Antagonists (remember, Captain can't be a roundstart antagonist!)

- How much does this job affect the round? (i.e. is the station crippled without it or do people barely notice when it's unmanned?)

 

Note: In 1 week (or when the thread has died out) we'll move on to the next job. Don't be afraid to suggest what job the next thread should focus on!

 

[Romana T. Colgate]

 

While I haven't played Captain a ton on this station specifically, I have played it quite a bit on other servers, so I feel semi-qualified to speak on this. I've played all the other heads of staff on this station in excess, at least, and this is the head of heads. So:

 

1) The Captain is commonly seen as a figurehead of the station, someone with little effective power who doesn't actually really have any control of anything. In some cases this is true, if the Captain isn't doing his job properly, he doesn't have any power. What the Captain has to do to be effective, first and foremost, is delegate, and second they must facilitate communication between departments. They have a few tools for this which I will talk about in a moment. As a secondary role, they need to get personally involved in critical situations sparingly as to have them resolved cleanly and effectively, though not so much as to ignore their best tools. Beyond those, their responsibilities are involving knowing the ins and outs of about everything, they need to know what threats and situations are the most important, and what needs the most focus and attention at any given time, they also are the ultimate authority on any dispute or problem in the station, from petty to major. If IA isn't doing their job, for example, it usually falls to the Captain to resolve those types of issues, since the HoS and HoP are rarely asked to and/or fail to.

 

2) Tools. The two major ones of any note are the Captain's Headset, which has access to every communication channel that the normal crew has, and their heads of staff. The proverbial cabinet. The command channel is powerful, and when used and applied properly will by itself lead to fixing any problem on the station. This of course requires at least a semi-competent collection of heads under you, but if you can get them to listen to you when it's needed, you can make miracles happen, sometimes even when they don't listen.

 

Say a department blows up, the Captain will hear about it before anyone else and can tell the CE to handle the situation. Say the Captain hears suspicious activity being talked about on medical comms, they can relay this to the head of security, or to sec directly. These are seemingly benign examples, but on the surface the Captain's core role is benign. Having a dedicated person to give orders, make decisions, and relay information is vastly important to the station's functioning. Sec and Medical can't communicate except over general or in person, science and cargo just yell at each other over general comms and fail to hear each other, engineering is so isolated that they need someone to tell them where structural damage happens or they'll just get drunk in the lobby and ignore everything. The heads of staff can only communicate with each other so well, especially when they're focused on doing their own jobs and talking to their own team, the Captain is the unifying voice of all these departments, that when done skilfully will make them actually work together, which is an immense feat.

 

The Captain, beyond that, has all access. They have absolute authority on anything barring CC intervention or the Magistrate overruling them on Spess Law. They can authorize executions, they can fire anyone on a whim, they can override their own head's of staffs decisions (Ill advised to do, especially in excess, you generally want to work with these people). They have a nice gun, though they should avoid combat, and can take initiative and get personally involved in anything they need to with their access, authority, and ability to get powerful tools. They need to do that sparingly, though, they are but one man.

 

3) If Captain could antag, they would succeed. Easily. Easier than HoP antags can. He really should be one of the few men that you can trust absolutely, adding Poe's law to the Captain's actions (Can't tell if comdom or tator) would just be abysmal for everyone involved.

 

4) The station doesn't function half the time if the Captain doesn't. This depends, if the rest of command staff are competent and can communicate themselves, then the Captain is somewhat redundant, and can be shit. That's a big if though, and an explicitly bad captain can drag a station down unless CC gets involved, or all the heads of staff actively oppose his rulings. (Important to note that a unanimous vote from heads of staff can get a Captain deposed, though not everyone in a head role knows/uses this.)

 

5) In closing, the Captain is an administrative role above all else, despite the fact that no one plays them as such. They can do their entire job from their office if they were a good enough coordinator and were so inclined, such is the result of their combined authority, knowledge, and access to information. While they can't do much if their command staff is trash, they can still always make a substantially positive impact by coordinating various departments by themselves, taking over for missing authority figures as needed and delegating jobs and situations as appropriate. Played right it is the most powerful role on station, next to the AI and HoS. Here's hoping this rambling mess of Captain mechanics was somewhat coherent.

 

[Holyass]

 

I agree with many point that the other guy posted, most of the time when I do play captain and that very rare, I'm just acting like a bridge for Info on the communication channels and while handing mainly administrative role stuff, he no more then a just a figurehead of the station, but I do say that that the communication keys that he haves in his headset is worth alot more then you think.

 

but there are times when he more then figurehead and that when he the only head left standing alive.

 

[NethIafin]

 

In my opinion, for khaptain to be actually interesting role, you need interesting interactions with central command (less required than with NT rep, but still)

 

I never understood why Tully said that fax goes to "an equivalent of president of USA" if you fax CC, even thou there is a NCS Trurl. All CC answers are from there per backstory and not from NT HQ.

 

So maybe allow more interactions with Adminteam if admins and captain are both willing. As an alternative (if admins are really busy and want "old" fax system) we can add a toggle on admin panel to not notify about any faxes unless they have word "URGENT" in bold somewhere.

 

Maybe add (as was partially suggested in post about engineers) a console for captain to control either NSS Cyberiad or ships around it. Move the cargo station closer to reduce time on cargo but add time on other stuff. Just let captain actually control the station and not just be a local CO.

 

Also: Kero, in my suggestion about engineering, you cannot order new PA's

 

[dadols]

Being able to buy shuttles like on /tg/

[davidchan]

 

In my opinion, for khaptain to be actually interesting role, you need interesting interactions with central command (less required than with NT rep, but still)

 

I never understood why Tully said that fax goes to "an equivalent of president of USA" if you fax CC, even thou there is a NCS Trurl. All CC answers are from there per backstory and not from NT HQ.

 

 

Tully has always had... unusual ideas on how SS13 is supposed to work.Can't say I agree with most of them.

 

As for Captain, I'd strongly advise against giving them too much to do. Captain is an overseer role, at least in my book. If Captain is actually needed to do something it is likely a result of somebody not doing their own job (properly). With a Competent Crew and Heads of Staff, Captain really shouldn't have to do anything but regular check ups. During rounds where people aren't doing their job (like revolutions, cults or shadowlings) the job can be hell even if your heads are still loyal and carry out their orders.

 

Captain is in a good spot, currently. At least in my own opinion. He/She has the most authority on the station and is in charge of 60+ people's productivity, safety and general well being. Better interaction between active admins and Command staff would improve things but that's not something that can uniformly done.

 

If the Captain needs anything, it's generally just a bit more literature/wikilink books in their office better spelling out the limits of their authority, examples of appropriate behavior and interactions between themselves, their heads of staff, the NT Rep and Blueshield, their crew and CC. Player run event suggestions for slow rounds (parties in the bar, parades, events, scavenger hunts or things the Captain can do to speed up rounds) and general procedure books on what a Captain should do in the event of 'uncommon' phenomenon such as Nuke Ops, Vampire/Changlings, Cults or even things more mundane like general crew unrest, mutiny or even how a Captain SHOULD go about correcting power tripping staff, bad security or other rogue departments.

 

None of these would be mechanical changes, but rather flavor improvements, guidelines and inspiration for how a good Captain should behave WITHOUT hampering or restricting Captains to a few specific playstyles that might not be fun at all for people to play, either as the Captain or General Crew.

 

[Kyet]

 

Suggestions:

1) Rethink the difference between "stuff the Captain can do on their own" and "stuff that requires two swipes for". Currently, going from blue to red requires the swiper, but red to blue is just a button press. The Captain can send a totally freeform message to Centcom at any time. Via radio, and via fax. But sending the short ERT request message in particular requires swiping. The Captain can order the AI to bolt open/closed/etc maint at any time, but making maint all-access temporarily requires a swipe. I'm not saying we necessarily need to change these things, but it would be nice if we at least acknowledged there is very little consistency here.

2) Encourage the crew to actually use the Captain as a sounding board for their grievances. So many times IAAs will go straight to faxing Centcom just because they can, cutting the Captain out completely. Similarly, I rarely get complaints from crew about their heads of staff, even when it is justified. People don't seem to like contacting the Captain with a complaint. Many people seem to have the attitude of 'why complain about sec, nothing will be done'. So they don't complain. So, of course, nothing gets done. Not sure exactly how to do it, but some system that encourages people to take their issues to the Captain would be a good idea.

3) Give the Captain some form of smart HUD glasses, rather than normal sunglasses. Seeing peoples' jobs at a glance, for example, is quite helpful for a Captain. It doesn't need all the functionality of a sechud, it just needs to show job hud icons.

4) Create a sort of... overview computer for the bridge. Something the Captain can use to get a quick status overview of each department. For Cargo, it could display current orders and points total. For Engineering, the # of alarms. For medical, the # of items in the fridge, whether the cloner is stocked, etc. For Science, it could display R&D levels, the # of borgs, etc. For security, the # of people in cells. Yes, in theory the Captain can go around asking for this information, but IMHO the more information the Captain can call up automatically, the better they can be as a manager.

5) Increase the requirements for playing Captain, and/or be quicker to job ban people for doing stupid things as Captain. Every time I see a Captain rolling in a pile of weed, crusading around maintenance hunting for slings on their own, or saying things like "NT sucks!" I feel like we're missing something, RP-wise. Captains don't all have to be super-serious, but we do need to increase the standards we expect from them. "Captain is comdom!" should not be a commonly heard phrase.

6) Give the Captain flavor choices that they can apply to the station as a whole. For example, the Captain could have a remote that grants them one special request from NT, out of a list, once per shift. Each option corresponds to a department. For example, the Cargo option would ship a selection of emergency gear, or just give cargo bonus points. The security option would loosen space law with regards to the treatment of greytiding assistants. The medical option would ship a selection of braindead bodies, of multiple species, to medbay so that medical could injure them and then practice healing them properly. The science option would contain a small shipment of minerals - useful when there are no miners. The Command option would allow the Captain to REQUEST (not necessarily get!) one custom-written change to space law or SOP for the shift (admins would have to manually approve it). By using this flavoring device, the Captain could bias the station slightly towards one department during their shift - or address a critical need within a department by giving them a small resource boost.

7) Give the Captain job objectives. Rather like Science has "ship disks to centcom", Captain could have "ensure the station has heads of staff for each department for most of the shift. Heads don't count while dead or incapacitated." as an objective. Or perhaps "Ensure at least 50% of the starting crew make it off the station alive". Or "Spend less than 50% of the shift in code red". Something to encourage Captains to do their job and take responsibility for the integrity of their station.

8) Update the wall safe in the Captain's office so that it isn't trivial to break into.

9) Give the Captain their own, really tiny, escape pod between their bedroom and gravity generator. The space is unused, anyway. Put a bottle of whiskey and a book titled "The Hero" in it.

10) Get rid of the Captain's crown. It encourages people to act like kings in the role. That often results in comdom-like behavior.

 

[dadols]

 

Suggestions:

Lot o` Smart Stuff.

 

Yep.

+1 To Everything.

 

[SomeGuy9283]

Especially #10; get rid of that damn crown.

[alexpkeaton]

 

7) Give the Captain job objectives. Rather like Science has "ship disks to centcom", Captain could have "ensure the station has heads of staff for each department for most of the shift. Heads don't count while dead or incapacitated." as an objective. Or perhaps "Ensure at least 50% of the starting crew make it off the station alive". Or "Spend less than 50% of the shift in code red". Something to encourage Captains to do their job and take responsibility for the integrity of their station.

 

I agree, the Captain should have objectives. They can very well be department-specific too. It's the Captain's job to make sure CC is happy. There should be rewards, too, for meeting the objectives. From supply points to medical beam-guns to prototype weaponry at higher alert levels (from the admin-spawn possibilities), there should be a noticeable effect to the crew to positive leadership so that crew will come to notice when they haven't received their "goodies" in a given shift.

 

A thought about Code Red: it's so easy to advance to Red early and never look back. There should be reminders of how long the station is at red and/or severe drawbacks for being at Code Red.

 

For example:

 

• Supply points accrue more slowly at higher alert levels, and/or cargo shuttles take longer in transit and/or crates cost more supply points to purchase. Central Command doesn't want to invest too much in a station that can't handle its own problems quickly and efficiently.

The escape shuttle is automatically called after Code Red is in effect for 45 minutes (30 seems too short and 60 too long, but feel free to discuss). It cannot be recalled and/or requires three heads to swipe to override and recall.

Or: a special "Code White" ERT is automatically called after Code Red is in effect for 45 minutes. This amber-equipped ERT is not just there to handle the threat, but has the authority to field-demote the Captain, and other heads if necessary, if there is no good reason for the lengthy stint at Red. If the stint at Red is necessary, the Code White team also has the authority to advance to Gamma alert. Recommended only with admin supervision and/or leadership/whitelisting. Perhaps can substitute for an auto-shuttle when an admin is up to putting a Code White team together.

Every 10 minutes at Code Red, the comms announce how long the station has been at Red. Guaranteed to result in at least 3 crew members calling for a downgrade each time regardless of the circumstances. Ignore the crew at your own peril, Captain, if there's no need for Red.

There is a greater chance of "bad" random events occurring while at Red. The IC explanation: the additional processing power being utilized causes more corruption of data blocks and greater chance of malfunction of the power grid, atmos system, brig locks, pest controls, etc., and notifies nefarious elements (abductors) that they might have an opportunity amid the chaos (I know, it's a tenuous explanation and will lead to metagaming, but it could be a significant drawback).

 

 

[fludd12]

 

When I play Captain, I do what someone in a high-up bureaucratic position should do.

Absolutely nothing, looking pretty for the public while designating tasks for lesser peons.

If I have to do something important as the captain, I generally consider it a failure on my part.

 

...That's just my playstyle, though, not saying this is or should be the norm.

 

[Keroman]

 

Here's the list of suggestions compiled from the thread. I didn't post any suggestions myself because I've never actually played Captain. I figured people with more experience in the role would be better able to suggest improvements.

 

- More interactions with Central Command

- Add console that allows Captain to "move" station which can have differing effects (i.e. shortens/lengthens time for cargo shuttle to arrive)

- Add TG's shuttle buying mechanic

- Add more guides to Captain's office detailing the limits on their authority and appropriate interactions between them and other Command jobs

- Rebalance swiping/Comms Console mechanics to make more sense - i.e. changing alert levels, calling for ERT, messaging CentCom

- Encourage crew to include Captain in the "complaint process" rather than just having IAAs immediately fax Central Command

- Give Captain a HUD that at least allows them to see a person's job at a glance

- Add a status console to the bridge or Captain's office that allows them to see general info about each department at a glance

- Increase requirements for playing Captain, apply job-bans for Captains who regularly break Space Law, breach SOP, or talk shit about NanoTrasen for no reason

- Allow the Captain to request, once per round, something specific for any given department

- Add job completion objectives for Captain, potentially along the lines of: "Ensure the station has heads of staff for each department for most of the shift. A head of staff who is dead or incapacitated does not count" or "Spend less than 50% of the shift in code red", etc.

- Fix the Captain's wall safe so it can't be easily opened with a multitool

- Add small escape pod for the Captain between his office and the gravity generator

- Remove Captain's crown item

- Make Supply Points accrue more slowly at higher alert levels

- Evac shuttle is automatically called after 45 minutes in Code Red, cannot be recalled (OR requires 3 or more heads of staff to swipe to recall)

- Add new "Code White" ERT which is automatically dispatched after enough time is spent in Code Red. Team is meant to deal with the threat and also has the authority to demote Captain, possibly can call for Gamma ERT if they believe it's necessary.

- Add automated announcements every 10 minutes during Code Red which state how long the Code Red has been active.

- Add "bad" random events that have an increased chance of happening during Code Red (i.e. light/airlock/power grid malfunctions)