Captain

Command
Captain
Captain	Roleplay Difficulty: High Gameplay Difficulty: Extensive Playtime Requirements: Command: 25h, Security: 20h, Medical: 20h, Engineering: 20h, Cargo: 20h Access: All Access Supervisors: Central Command, Nanotrasen Representative's Subordinates: All members of the station (not including visitors) Responsibilities: Delegating tasks to heads of staff, managing station stability, protecting the nuclear authentication disk at all times. insuring that the crew is not revolting or causing to much mayhem Guides: Command Guide, Command SOP

The Captain. The big boss of the station.

You are the top of the command chain on the station, answering only to Central Command and in some cases, the Nanotrasen Representative. Your duties are very vague and dependant on how the rest of the station is doing. If everything goes well, you're pretty much free do whatever it is you wish, have a responsible drink or two at the bar, visit the chef to try out their gruel, check in on departments, engage with your crew. Your access to everywhere on the station opens a lot of opportunity for roleplay, teambuilding and troubles.

Be the shining beacon of expectation on the station.

Your Superiors

You listen to Central Command. Any faxes or personnel coming from them are your orders. If admins are planning on running an event of sorts, your actions will affect them the most severely. Similarly, as a member of command, you fall under Rule 13 of the Server rules (Starlight).

While the Nanotrasen Representative does rank higher than you, they do not hold any immediate power over you nor do they hold a seat in the line of succession unless special needs are met (such as Central Command intervention). Their advice could save you some troubles, they're the SoP freaks after all.

Before diving into this role, make sure you go over the Command Guide and Command SOP to ensure what you generally should and shouldn't do.

Getting Started

Just as your title, your office carries a lot of swagger and prestige. Within your locker, you will find a great number of items and gear.

• Sheath and Sabre. A fancy sword with an even fancier red sheath for extra style points. Carry it around for decent self defence or for just a fashion statement.
• Captain's Rubber Stamp. Use this stamp to verify any documents you wish to send to Central Command or elsewhere.
• Custom Door Remote. Unlike other Door Remotes that other command members get, yours doesn't open anything by itself, rather, it opens every door and airlock that the ID you currently wear has access to. In most cases, since you're carrying your Captain's ID, it will too, have All Access.
• Nuclear Authentication Disk. The most important item in your possession. Used to activate the self destruct Nuclear Bomb present on every station. Losing this disk will not only end the station but every life present on it along with your career.
• Spare ID. A backup for when you lose yours. Will most likely be stolen by the time you need it.
• Captain's Headset. A headset for true omnipresence, with access to every single station channel except binary.
• Captain's Golden Jetpack. A very effective jetpack that is compact enough to fit in your backpack with just a 2x2 size.
• Captain's Armored Hardsuit. If the station is not doing well with keeping it's atmosphere, don this moderately armored suit to prevent your internal organs from becoming external.
• Antique Laser Gun. A self recharging laser gun capable of dishing out powerful shots. Locked in a glass display case.

Your Duties

Your duties can be compacted into one sentence. Keep the station running.

Now, this does not mean you have to micromanage and do everything yourself, that's why so many heads of staff were hired. Check in on your command personnel. If your lights are flickering, see with the Chief Engineer on what's taking so long for the power. Heard a loud boom and crew is blaming the Science Department? Ask your Research Director what's going on. Medical is getting swamped with injured? Coordinate the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Personnel on whether or not they need extra hands.

Managing Command

Hiring and firing of the Command Staff, i.e. Chief Engineer, Research Director, Head of Personnel, falls onto you. If someone comes to you with a report of your subordinates not following their SoP or disregarding their duties, you may see to their demotion. Likewise, if a department does not have a command member, you may seek out and appoint a new, temporary one. As the Captain, it is your decision on who will get promoted. While the promotions are Head of Personnel's duties, only your ID can grant accesses needed to command offices. Speak to the Head of Security or Warden to get your hands on a mindshield implant for the new department boss.

However, firing a Head of Security and hiring a new one is not as straightforward. In this case, contacting Central Command via faxing is advised.

Line of Succession

Even though you're the top of the food chain, it's called a food chain for a reason. Your actions may invoke a vote-of-no-confidence and lose you your position. Whether it be a vote that casts you out, death or simply cryoing, there is a line of succession. It is not a guideline on how it should be done, but rather how it could.

1. Captain (that's you)
2. Head of Personnel
3. Command Members
4. Regular Crew

In most cases, it is the Head of Personnel that gets appointed as the new captain. Should they refuse, another Command Member will take their place. While the Head of Security is a Command Member too, they typically have other duties to attend to and rarely step up to the new position.

If all else fails, very rarely, a random crewmate will be appointed as the new captain.

Communications Console

Since you will be spending most of your time within the bridge, you will have easy access to the Communications Console. This console is your true control over the station. The utility of this console is vast, not just for you but for your entire command team.

Announcements

Communicate with your crew in a very ear-catching manner. A loud 'Public Announcement' sound will play catching everyone's attention to what you have to say. Greet your crew at the start of the shift, lay out a gameplan. Promote the Chef's cooking, invite people to DnD or the Bartender's bar. Warn about a dangerous criminal or approaching shuttles/meteors. Call a vote or make a joke. While you can announce whatever you please, as the captain, you're expected to adhere to certain standards.

Alert Levels

Some situations call for an alert level change. Ensure you have plenty of information to avoid over escalating or embarrassing yourself. Speak to the respective command member on whether the alert is necessary or not. While anyone can change the alert level, this should be run past you in most cases.

When and why should you change the alert level? Changing the alert level will not only let the crew know that the flow of their shift is changing, but what they should focus towards and how they will act. Most notably, it will affect security as higher alerts give them more freedom in performing their duties.

Upon changing the alert level, it's customary to follow up with additional information with an announcement. You may choose whether or not to. Except when changing to Red Alert, in which case you must provide a reason. While the reasons for each alert may wary from shift to shift, the general rule of thumb and what you're expected to do as the captain are as follows:

Green

Starting alert level indicating the station is running with no issues. If any threats that warranted elevation of the alert level are dealt with, returning to this after some time has passed is important. During green, your antique laser, hardsuit, jetpack and similar combat oriented gear should remain in your office. A jumpy, non confident captain paints a bad picture.

Blue

Elevating to Blue Alert helps security perform their duties more efficiently. Typically called when Syndicate Contraband was confirmed, changeling fluids next to a hollowed corpse were found, multiple crew were killed. Anything that would disrupt station productivity or introduce danger to multiple crew members. A single body found, while worrysome, could be an accident and no foul play should be assumed unless evidence is found. This is also the alert level at which you start getting some freedom in what you may carry on your person for self defence.

Red

Moving up to Red Alert allows security members to freely arm themselves with longarms and armors they may deem necessary (this extends to you too, but you should probably stick to your issued gear and stay clear of danger). This alert is reserved for confirmed station and shift ending threats. A team of Nuclear Operatives was dispatched to arm the nuke? Better keep that Disk safe on you make your greatest attempt at surviving and keeping it away from their pesky arms. The proletariat masses are reciting their manifesto in the Cargo Department? Coordinate with your HoS to ensure security verifies it's a revolution in a lawful order, mindshields the converted crew instead of killing them and follows all appropriate procedures. Spatial rifts are being opened by a strange man-eating-fish? Perhaps the Wizard Federation has sent another student to prove their mettle and they intend on or are causing severe mayhem?

With so many issues that warrant Red, notifying the crew with a follow up announcement is not only helpful, but required. Let the crew know what they're dealing with so each department may gear towards and prepare to deal with the threat in their own ways. Speak to the CMO and perhaps medical will shift their attention to aiding security and manufacturing combat stims and bullet-patching medicine. Get the RD to work so the science department prioritizes researching stronger weapons through the Arsenal tree. While Cargo may attempt to buy as many guns as they can to arm themselves and the crew, ensure that you're in control.

Yellow

Communicate with the Chief Engineer on whether or not the situation is dire enough for this alert.

Meteors causing breaches, pipes letting frezon and tritium into the atmosphere or engineering simply forgot to setup power? This alert will let the crew know what areas to avoid. Engineering will have easier time getting into places during yellow alert since most crew will let them into areas if it's apparent they're there to fix something.

While not always the case, Yellow alert may see that the Chief Engineer and their team get more say in what goes concerning efforts in repairs and quarantining the affected areas.

You may don your hardsuit for easier navigation, while you might want to check the damages in person, always exercise caution.

Orange

The situation is bad enough that the crew is unlikely to rectify it. It often comes after Yellow and is followed by a shuttle call. Tesla and Singularity containment breaches, delamination of the Super Matter Crystal are common and nearly only cause for this alert.

Violet

Called when a confirmed zombie outbreak is happening. Crew will know that the cries over comms are real and to not hug every person they bypass in the hallways. Ensure the Chief Medical Officer is aware of the situation and that they know about Romerol and Ambuzol. Staying within the Bridge is highly recommended, ensure no trespassers enter and keep an eye on your bunkmates. One bite can spell disaster since medical is one of the most vulnerable places in such crisis.

Delta

The security team has failed to prevent the nuke from arming. This alert is triggered on it's own when the Nuclear Authentication Disk is used to activate the nuke. You don't have to worry about this once since if the Nukies got the Disk, you're probably dead someplace.

Gamma

Gamma Alert comes with it's own Gamma Alert Armory. Reserved for when the station simply does not have enough firepower to deal with the onslaught of pain and misery thrown it's way. Think of Gamma Alert as martial law. Most of the time you will see crew get armed, which is under your and HoS' discretion. Corporate Law is suspended during this time. Security should still deal with bad actors but in a more serious manner. Typically, lesser crimes will be ignored while the more severe crimes will be met with a hail of bullets. Although effective, that's one less pair of hands holding the station together. Calling the Gamma Alert is only possible with Cent Comm intervention either rarely on their own accord or by requesting one via faxing.

Calling the Emergency Shuttle

While the shuttle call can be sent, a follow up fax to Central Command may be a very important step in the process, lest they cancel your pleas. See below.

If a situation is dire enough, an emergency call may be the only solution to get the hell out of dodge. As it naturally ends the shift, this should be a last ditch option, but an option nonetheless. It is mostly your call, as long as it doesn't breach any rules and is within reason.

You could announce you will call the shuttle prior to doing so, asking for a vote to gauge the crew's opinion or the opinion of the crew that matters: command. Depending on the ongoing situation, speaking to one of your heads is highly advised to ensure if the shuttle should be called at all. If the Chief Engineer believes power cannot be restored, the last standing Security Cadet does not radiate protag energy, Medical reports mounting casualties and nothing to treat them with...

Similarly, you may choose to recall the shift end shuttle. This should probably be run by the crew as a lengthened boring shift may displease most crew.

Bridge

The Bridge holds most, if not all, station's consoles for information and action.

Manage the station's finances and shift what percentage each department's budget will get, check in on the station's power and atmos grids then yell at the CE on why their engineers are sleeping on the job. Whenever a problem arises, your best course of action would be to check in on a console or two, delegate your work and only intervene if absolutely necessary and safe.

As the second most secure department on the station, rivalled only by Security, access to this department lies only within the heads of staff. Being such a secured area, only you can authorize and grant access to it. While you could appoint a Bridge Chef/Bartender, do ensure their are appropriately checked, mindshielded and are not a threat to your safety. After all, you are one poisoned drink away from a nuclear end to your reign.

Pen is mightier than the sword

Faxing and paperwork are true bureaucratic hell. But it can be as powerful, if not more than any arsenal your station may hold.

Being the Captain puts plenty of responsibility on you, since most CentComm communication will pass through the bridge, which is you or the Nanotrasen Representative. Any faxes between the crew and Central Command is an in-character method of communicating with the admins. You may receive some information about an event that's going on, warrants for arrests of criminal crew, situation updates as well as requests.

Even though the fax machine can be a very important tool, approval of such is not guaranteed and depends on many things.

Utility of the Fax machine is vast, you could be facing a serious threat that may require ERT (Emergency Response Team) intervention, bluespacing supplies to ATS, experimental equipment, spare lawboards, Gamma Alert and so on. To ensure your request gets approved, consider if your request would be fair, reasonable, format it as nicely as possible and try to keep out any vulgar words. Central Command has no eyes on the station, at least not the ones that let them know everything that's going on, explain your situation in detail to paint them a picture.

Captain's Expectations

• While you get some powerful equipment, you are expected to abide by your Command SOP and Server rules (Starlight).
• Keep your Antique Laser Gun in your office unless on Red. Blue Alert critters may also warrant some stronger self defence. Similarly, keeping your Hardsuit stashed away until it's needed due to breaches and loss of atmosphere and pressure.
• While the Captain is explicitly not allowed to chase criminals and perform security duties, you may choose to defend yourself if such need should arise as well as intervene when you witness a crime being committed.
• As the Captain of the station, you should probably stay on the station. Leaving the station for a trip to the ATS is rarely needed as you have a Quartermaster and their team.
• You should not put yourself into any danger and risk the powerful ID, Door Remote, Antique and jetpack to fall into enemy's hands.

Tips

• The Custom Door remote is very useful. Bolt down bridge doors in case you're in danger. Use it to open up doors as you run towards them to not get slowed down from bumping into them. You can also try bolting the doors behind you to buy valuable seconds.
• Hide your Spare ID someplace. Even though you may be tempted to put it in your locker, whatever went through the troubles to get into your office will not mind getting into your locker as well.
• Be communicative and helpful to your crew. Approve their fun shenanigans and, chances are, when troubles arrive, the crew will be more willing to put themselves in danger to help you out and save your life.
• Hiding in the bridge all shift, while it may seem safe, will possibly lock security and helpful crew away from aiding you. Patrol around and spend some time outside the bridge.
• Check in on the manifest at round start to see how well the station is staffed. Speak to HoP to hire more people in shortstaffed departments.
• Visit engineering early on and make sure the CE doesn't kill themselves in the Tesla room by forgetting internals.