User:Warriorstar/Communicating In-Game

There are many ways to alter how you communicate in game. Most of the time your character will be speaking out loud. This allows anyone within earshot to hear you. However, you will often want to use common or department comms, shout through a megaphone, use a wall-mounted intercom, or speak a different language. This page shows examples of how to do all of these things. These examples assume that you are in hotkey mode. If the chat bar at the bottom of your screen is red, you are not in hotkey mode. To toggle hotkey mode, press TAB.

When in hotkey mode, pressing T opens your speech input.

To speak out loud, simply enter your message.

You type	You get
Oh boy! My first day!	Gary Cassidy shouts, "Oh boy! My first day!"

To whisper, prefix your message with :w. Whispers can only be heard clearly when standing directly next to the speaker.

You type	You get
:w I'm a super secret Syndicate traitor.	Gary Cassidy whispers quietly, "I'm a super secret Syndicate traitor."

Using your headset

The Headset is one of the most important pieces of equipment you will acquire onboard SS13.

Department Prefixes

Common	;
Security	:s
Command	:c
Engineering	:e
Supply	:u
Medical	:m
Science	:n
Service	:z
Procedure	:x

It takes the shape of a length of wire and is used to converse with other crew members who are not in your immediate vicinity. the other piece of Equipment useful for this is the Station Intercom System, which requires you being in range, and turning said intercom on. There are also Station Bounced Radios which you need to hold into your hand.

All radio equipment is set to a frequency and will only communicate with other equipment set to that frequency. The Screwdriver can be used on a headset to withdraw that headset's encryption keys, which are what allows them to speak on certain frequencies, and can be then deposited into other headsets.

Using the :h prefix will automatically choose the most important channel available to your headset. Also, note that # and . can be used in place of the colon. If you forget which letter corresponds to which department, you can always examine your headset to figure it out.

You can also make headsets and radios broadcast everything you say, by taking it into your hand and enabling the speaker. Don't do this if you're having normal hallway conversations, as it can be a bit spammy.

To emote over your headset, prefix the message with an exclamation point, like so:

say ";!laughs."

This works in departmental channels as well.

The headset has its inventory slot, and there is no reason to ever remove your Headset, as nothing else fits in its slot (except earmuffs).

To speak over common comms, prefix your message with ;.

You type	You get
; Glory to Nanotrasen!	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy exclaims, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"

To speak to a department, prefix your message with the department prefix.

You type	You get
:z Hello to the rest of the service department.	[Service] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy says, "Hello to the rest of the service department."

To perform an action on comms, prefix your message with the comms prefix followed by an exclamation point.

You type	You get
;!laughs maniacally.	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy laughs maniacally.

To speak in a different language, prefix your message with the language prefix.

You type	You get
:0 Glory to Nanotrasen!	If the listener knows the language: Gary Cassidy wubs, "Glory to Nanotrasen!" If the listener does not know the language: Gary Cassidy wubs, "Narf honknorf zub honk!"

You can switch back and forth between languages in a single message, by using a language prefix anywhere in the message.

You type	You get
; Today we will :0 steal the rapier :9 from the :0 Captain's Office.	If the listener knows the language: [Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy says, "Today we will steal the rapier from the Captain's office." If the listener does not know the language: [Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy says, "Today we will Squeakbonkwee bonk from the Wee norf wee toot wub. Toot."

Keep in mind that the AI has the ability to automatically translate all languages spoken over comms!

To use a megaphone within earshot, use it in your hand (Z in hotkey mode). This gives you a similar dialog box to the speech input dialog.

You type	You get
Glory to Nanotrasen!	Gary Cassidy broadcasts, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"

To use a megaphone on comms:

1. Enable the hotmic on a station-bounced radio.
2. Place the radio on the ground nearby.
3. Use the megaphone.

You type	You get
Glory to Nanotrasen!	[Common] [Librarian] Gary Cassidy exclaims, "Glory to Nanotrasen!"