The Command staff, comprised of the heads of staff, dignitaries, and Captain, are vital to an efficient functioning station. The lack of command staff on a station, or in a department, can make or break a shift. Command Staff should be able to lead their department and make up for any staff shortcomings.

Command Expectations

As a head of staff or Captain, taking responsibility for your staff's actions is the expectation. Standard Operating Procedure is a guide to what is and what is not permitted and serves as a guideline for the station crew, each department has its own departmental SOP. Ensuring it is applied to your department is your duty as a head of staff. You are also expected to be competent in your duties as a head of staff, but this does not mean you are required to be all-knowing.

Command staff are held to higher standards both in-game and OOC. (See rule 5 on the forums page) This means while you can have character uniqueness do not act like grey Mctide. You are a trained professional operating on a state-of-the-art research station. Act like it.

Being the Boss

Maximum efficiency is the keyword of a great department. Ordering equipment from cargo, keeping your staff working, and utilizing resources all add to your department's efficiency. When morale gets low alongside resources then the blame falls upon you as per command expectations and responsibilities. A part of being in charge of a department is also knowing when to step in. If RnD is not being done then it is your job as the Research Director to either get a scientist to do it or to man rnd yourself. This applies to all command staff.

A major part of being in command is your ability to communicate with other command staff for inter-departmental relations or deciding on the station as a whole. Swiping for red alert, shuttle calls, and requesting ERTs are all something command must discuss and agree to before they can occur. The C in command stands for communication, and it is a word you will see a lot.

Disorderly Conduct

It's simply a fact that people don't like to work. This remains true on the station. Sometimes, people just don't want to do their job. As a head of staff, it is your job to either make them get to work or if they are too unruly, to demote them. Every head of staff has a console in their office that allows them to demote employees. If an employee is causing trouble, despite numerous warnings, bring them to your office and demote them. A demoted employee is better than one who refuses to work. It is for the best of your department.

Sometimes, your workers will also be on the run and won't report to your office for demotion. If they don't respond or report for demotion in under 5 minutes, they become wanted under Space Law via Petty Theft The problem is not out of your hands and is now for security to deal with. Security can remotely set someone's ID to be demoted, so ask a security officer or the AI for help.

Head of Staffs

Your Own Department - Captain

As the Captain, you are in charge of the station, but importantly the Command Staff, to whom you delegate tasks. You should be coordinating Command to efficiently aid their departments and station as a whole. Delegation is your number one duty besides protecting the disk and you should not step on the toes of your department heads unless completely necessary. Announce Central Command directives to the station when the shift starts, communicate with the crew ongoing situations, and keep the station in one piece. Remember that while you do have the most authority on station the crew does not enjoy tyrants.

Command

Job	Role	Job Slots	Working with your staff
Head of Personnel	Directing the service department and handling job transfers, access changes, and terminations.	1	Communicate with them in their office or through Command comms(prefix:c) Ask them about service's operations and contributions to the station. Check in with crew terminations and job transfers.
Head of Security	Directing the security department, informing you of station threats, and ensuring space law is enforced.	1	Communicate with them in the brig or through Command comms(prefix:c) Ask them about security operations and how they are dealing with station threats. Check in on if they need additional resources from other departments or through ERTs.
Chief Engineer	Directing the engineering and atmospheric department, maintaining the station's integrity and engine.	1	Communicate with them in engineering or through Command comms(prefix:c) Ask them about engineering operations and maintenance of the station. Check in with the engine, station goal, or any major damages.
Research Director	Directing the science department, ensuring research is done on the station, and supervising scientists.	1	Communicate with them in science or through Command comms(prefix:c) Ask them about science operations, RnD levels, toxins, or anything else of importance. Check in with RnD levels as the shift progresses, whether or not disks were delivered to cargo.
Chief Medical Officer	Directing the medical department, keeping the crew healthy and alive.	1	Communicate with them in medical or through Command comms(prefix:c) Ask them about medical operations and any deaths or major crew injuries. Check in on if the dead are being revived, the alive are being kept healthy, and if any resources are needed.
Quartermaster	Directing the supply department, approving or denying orders, making sure mail is delivered to the crew.	1	Communicate with them in cargo or through Command comms(prefix:c) Ask them about supply operations and delivery of requested supplies to departments. Check in with department orders, and ask about their status. Help them keep mining alive through medical help.

Command Account

As the Captain, you control all station budgets and the command budget. The command staff typically does not need anything that you can specifically buy, but ordering pizza for the crew, or making orders on behalf of your staff is always appreciated by the crew. While the funds do not have much use as the Captain you can still spend them to help the crew.

Your Own Department - Head of Personnel

As a Head of personnel, you have the service department to watch out for. You're in charge of coordinating Service staff on the station. Usually, you can let the station's various Bartenders and Librarians run around and take care of themselves. They are technically under your direct command, but their jobs are usually simple and not particularly vital to the running of the station. Botanists are the most likely ones to need supervision, as they are easily capable of causing the crew massive headaches with their horrific experiments. It is worth checking up on the Chef once in a while, too.

As a Head of Personnel, you have your department to take care of! You are in charge of coordinating the service staff onboard the station. While most of them don't need to be constantly monitored, having a communicative boss who checks up on you is always desired.

Service

Job	Role	Job Slots	Working with your staff
Janitor	Keeping the station clean.	1	Communicate with them via radio (prefix: z), as they don't have a set workplace. Report them to dirty areas that require a janitor's service. Ask them if they are keeping up with cleaning - if not, you can try hiring more janitors.
Chef	Feeding the crew.	1	They can usually be found in the kitchen. Make sure they are serving edible food. The starving crew is non-effective. Check if their kitchen is supplied and sanitary. Lack of ingredients results in a lack of meals.
Bartender	Serving drinks.	1	They are almost always found inside the bar. Make sure they are serving drinks to the crew. If they are redecorating their bar, you can contact engineering in their name, for assistance.
Botanist	Supplying the chef, RnD, and other crewmembers with various plants.	2-3	They are almost always found inside of their workplace - hydroponics. Make sure they are supplying the chef with plants requested by them. Slacking botany results in a starving crew. Ensure they are not spreading dangerous plant life among the crew. If they are, it is a good idea to fire employees responsible.
Clown	Entertaining the crew.	1	Communicate with them via radio (prefix: z), as they don't have a set workplace. Ask them for a funny joke.
Mime	Entertaining the crew.	1	Mime does not have a set workplace. They do not have the right to speak either. If you need to communicate with them, try to PDA them. Watch them tug at an invisible rope.
Chaplain	Leading the crew spiritually, assisting security with paranormal threats.	1	Chaplain can often be found in their chapel. Chaplains often try to decorate their temples. If you see them doing that, you can try contacting engineering for assistance with the project. Whenever a sermon is starting, you can announce it to the crew. If there is a paranormal threat present at the station, check whether the chaplain is supplying security with holy water. If they are not, try to resolve the issue created between them.
Librarian	Supplying literature to the crew. Sometimes, writing a newspaper.	1	Librarian is often found in their library unless they are committed to journalism. Check if the librarian is supplying the crew with literature. If the librarian is committed to journalism you can try and announce information about their newspaper.
Explorer	Exploring off-station locations.	4	They do not have a location station-side. They do not have access to service radio channel either. Sometimes they lack access to any channels. The best you can do is try and PDA them. You can try and organize expeditions, but without any real ways to communicate with them, your efforts may be ignored. They are the most independent job under your wing, and you cannot influence them in any significant way.

Service Account

As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. The most thoughtful way to spend them is simply funding what the service department needs to shine. For example, if a botanist wants to start a bee colony, you can fund their project and buy said bees. Or, let's say janitors have been robbed of their mops. You can order more for them.

Assistants

As Head of Personnel, you are also technically responsible for the station's many assistants, although the bond is lesser than with service. Assistants are also mostly impossible to manage, due to the sheer amount of them. They have no job slot limit, so a new one always can join. The best you can do is try convincing them to get hired into a more important job. From an OOC standpoint, it is worth keeping in mind that many people play assistant specifically to do nothing, and not much can change their minds.

Your Own Department - Head of Security

As a Head of Security, you have the security department to watch out for. You're in charge of coordinating Security staff on the station. Security often needs coordination through the Head of Security and Warden. Your job as the Head of Security is to coordinate your department, order equipment to deal with threats, hold them accountable for their actions and ensure the integrity of the station and crew through the principles of Space law. Active communication within your department is required, security will need someone to hand out orders. Most tasks can be delegated to your warden as they are also a superior in the security department.

Security

Job	Role	Job Slots	Working with your staff
Warden	Process prisoners and maintain the brig.	1	Check in with them at the brig, where they should be usually. Ask them about the brig's prisoners and processing. Aid them in restocking the armory for the security department.
Security Officer	Enforce space law.	8-9	Coordinate them in dealing with threats. Communicate with them through the security channel (prefix:s) Officers can be found all over the station. Ensure they uphold order on the station.
Detective	Process prisoners and maintain the brig.	1	Check in with them at their office or through the security channel (prefix:s). Report any break-ins or pieces of evidence for scanning. Have them organize interrogations or investigations into crimes with little evidence.

Security Account

As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. The security account is usually spent on buying equipment to aid security in their defense of the station. Funds can be spent on security webbing for more inventory space for your officers or mindshield implants against cultists.

Tips for Being Command

There are few things people dislike more than a bad command team. It puts the whole station at risk and can ruin the game in some scenarios. Here are some tips to prevent you from being one of those command members.

Know what you're doing. You should spend a lot of time in your department and only become a head once you believe you are ready. A bald head of staff is a disliked head of staff.
Act confident. You should act confident, even if you aren't, but be careful not to be TOO confident. Be confident in what you know, but listen to what your coworkers have to say.
Communicate. Communication is key. If your department doesn't know your voice, you aren't doing your job. Make sure people know what needs doing, when, and how. A silent command member is usually an ineffective command member.
Speak directly to people. While comms is very useful, if something needs doing, point to someone, walk up to them, and ask them DIRECTLY to do what needs doing. This usually ends with them doing what you ask instead of hearing it over comms and simply saying, "Someone else will get it."
Be approachable. If people don't want to talk to you, they usually won't. Don't be intimidating and be ready to answer newer employees' questions.
Be polite. It might seem small, but saying please and thank you goes a very long way toward becoming a memorable and respected command member. And if your employees did something good, TELL them they did something good. Whether that's delivering the science disks to cargo in record time, or setting up the solars without being asked, let them know they did well.
Let your employees know who's in charge. It is important to be kind and polite with your employees, but sometimes, they need to be reminded that YOU are in charge and what you say goes.

User:Crazyhair/Guide to command

Contents

Command Expectations

Being the Boss

Disorderly Conduct

Head of Staffs