¶ Captain
| COMMAND STAFF | |
|---|---|
 |
Access: All Additional Access: None Difficulty: Impossible Supervisors: Central Command Duties: Ensure safe operation of the station, get dat fukken disk Guides: Alternate Titles: Site Manager, Station Commander, Commanding Officer |
You are the Captain, the top of the Chain of Command. It is your duty to ensure the stability and productivity of the station, as well as to carry out directives from CentCom.
You should have experience of all Heads of Staff jobs. At round start, take the Nuclear Disk with you, call the Heads to report in and keep checking in from time to time on what needs to be done and who should do it.
Bare minimum requirements: Secure dat fukken disk, secure the pinpointer, and secure or burn the safe code (in your pocket) for the spare Captain's ID. Only use your authority when it is required, the Heads of Staff are there for a reason.
¶ Howdy, Skipper!
¶ Being a Captain Basics
The Captain has spacious quarters, complete with an arcade machine, ID computer and Communications console, a Jetpack, a hand teleporter, the Nuclear Authentication Disk (dat fukken disk), an SSU with a sspace-worthysuit of armor and helmet, an energy gun, and a pressurized and humidity controlled display case with your pride and joy, an antique laser gun.
It's probably best to leave the gun where it is, as the case has been outfitted with a handy anti-theft system. You'll probably also be mocked if you carry it around with you.
There is also a locked wooden box in your office filled with medals. These can be awarded to your crew to commend them for exemplary service.
At the start of the shift grab the nuclear authentication disk and put it in your backpack. If you've done that, you've done half your job already, and also just made the life of Head of Security easier in finding your dead body. If you're feeling particularly vulnerable, give your pinpointer to the Head of Personnel. After this, walk around the station and command people.
¶ Head of Heads
When you're not fighting Revolutionaries, Traitors, Syndicates, and Wizards, you are monitoring the crew. You are at the top of the food chain and possess the ultimate authority over everyone and everything on your station.
You are the Judge, the final word, the Big Guy. You have the ultimate veto power over all matters and are the only person who can authorize an execution without a trial. Anyone who questions your authority can technically be tried for mutiny. There really is no way to tell you exactly how to run things as many people have different leadership styles. However, as Captain, here are some guidelines you should keep in mind:
- Do not involve yourself when there is somebody else available to do the job. Why have a Head of Security if you're going to involve yourself in every security matter? If there isn't a head for a specific department, promote a new one. It will make your life so much easier.
- Delegate whenever you can. You should never have to do any manual tasks yourself. If someone says 'Captain, there's a plasma leak!' then you should order your Chief Engineer to fix it. Do not attempt to fix it yourself, as you will put yourself unnecessarily at risk.
- Follow the Chain of Command. You command the Heads. The Heads command their departments. Try not to skip them in the decision-making process as they are the ones who should know their own departments best.
- Stay alert. You have a big target on your back. It is likely you'll be a prime Traitor target just for your all-access ID. With this in mind, you may want to spend a fair bit of time lounging in the security of the Bridge.
- Keep calm and carry on. As Captain, be prepared to deal with any or all of the following: Incompetent or absent Heads, traitors and angry crew members banging down the bridge door trying to get in, corrupted AIs on a murder spree and the occasional aftermath of an Armageddon against the station, thanks to a range of the above. And it's your job to manage it all. Good luck.
¶ Command & Control
As such you need strong control over heads. Generally, they would initially trust you, and you should not lose that trust. Those who are assholes from default are better to be demoted, unless they're doing their job well.
Most of the time, you will use the Command channel accessed by ":c" to give out commands to the heads. But most of the time shit hits the fan, the telecommunications are severed rendering your hands tied. In this kind of situation, you have 2 variants:
- Use communications console (or intercoms) to relay orders through announcements. This is a solid way to send a message, as announcements are seen by everyone everywhere. But that is the minus, this lacks confidentiality so you can't relay any kind of secret information.
- Set up a radio system beforehand with Command to be prepared for such an event. Generally, you want to get Station Bounced Radios for the entire Command set to a specific frequency that only you know of. Instruct heads that when comms fall down, they must turn on these and listen for your further orders there.
This way you can keep in touch even during power and telecoms outputs.
But outside of such dramatic events, there are 3 general steps on how to keep C&C:
- Monitor consoles as they're your eyes, you can see where the shit is happening and also use records to manage people.
- Communicate with heads as they're your hands, when something happens somewhere you must tell someone to deal with that. To make sure that they won't slack off, you can get the HoP to check on them.
- Use holopads, during situations when your words are going past someone's ears. As Captain instead of calling on a holopad you're just brute forcing it (if it's not secure), nothing is more threatening than Captain hologram appearing out of nowhere and shouting at you.
¶ Refitting the DOORKNOB: Uploading Laws Made Easy
Uploading Laws to the AI isn’t something you should be doing lightly… unless you’re a traitor. Then go crazy.
Do not get angry with the AI if it does not want you to upload a new law, as Nanotrasen has pre-programmed them to be sensitive to law changes. Besides, Nanotrasen wouldn't want another SHODAN fiasco happening again.
But remember the Hierarchy. Law 1 overrides Laws 2, 3, 4, etc. A Law 4 telling the AI to kill all Revolutionaries isn’t going to work. Law 4 classifying Revolutionaries as Nonhuman and that they must be eliminated works much better. Law priority is enforced by the order they are listed. A law is invalid if it disagrees with previous laws in the form of conflicting orders, or challenges the procession of law priority.
Keep in mind that if the AI announces you are in their upload, uploading laws, people will likely form a lynch mob.
¶ Those Assholes From Corporate
With your fancy title, medals, and luxurious excesses it's easy to forget that there is an outside, higher power scrutinizing your every move.
Contact with Central Command may be few and far between, but you're expected to follow any directives issued by them. CentCom will usually issue directives and updates on activities in your sector through the Communications Console located on the Bridge and your office.
If you're unlucky, you might have to deal with a visit from a CentCom Official or Commander. Official visits vary from standard performance reviews, internal investigations, or some other kind of corporate meddling. Whatever the case may be, it is important that you try and keep the Official happy throughout their visit. If all else fails, just make sure you can't be blamed for anything that goes wrong.
However, keep in mind that you still hold authority over any Officials on your station. That is, as long as you're still the legitimate Captain. If you piss off the wrong guy you might find yourself relieved of command. If the official is causing trouble, though, you are well within your right to have them arrested, and then contact THEIR superior with a complaint. CentCom Commanders, however, are the people you answer to. Those are who you should worry about.
If you somehow really piss both them and the crew off, do start worrying. Many a Captain has been vaporized in their own Quarters for acting like a complete lunatic.
Contacting CentCom on your own is possible through the use of Communications Consoles, but unless the transmission is urgent it will likely get caught up for weeks in CentCom's notorious bureaucracy. Even then, it'll be a crapshoot.
¶ Abandoning Ship
You are ultimately responsible for the station. It is not uncommon for Captains to be court-martialled or even executed if they should decide to abandon their ship, regardless of condition. As they hold the ultimate responsibility for the station and its crew, losing them could likely be perceived by your superiors as desertion, mutiny and/or sedition.
So keep this in mind when you are facing disaster. Permit no evacuations without your explicit authorization. You should be doing your utmost in keeping the station up and running --lest you go down with the ship, either one way or the other.
¶ Tips
- As Captain, you should always be carrying the Nuke Disk: The Head of Security spawns with the pinpointer so that he can find your inevitable corpse.
- The Nuke Disk (dat fukken disk) can fit in a wallet. Now the operatives have to search yet another storage container on your person! Nuke Disk into a wallet, wallet into a box filled with wallets, in a backpack full of boxes, in the AI upload.
- Never, NEVER, put the Nuke Disk into your safe. Anyone who needs to steal it WILL be able to easily steal it with an emag or similar.
- Don't go nuts and run off by yourself. You're not a one-man army, and no one else on the station has your level of access, rush headlong into a Medbay Cult, only to discover the rest of security doesn't have access to follow through the front doors to help you, which can quickly lead to disaster.
- While using the communications console to stick it to Corporate (Or, if the console is emagged, the opposite of corporate) with a well-timed insult may, in the heat of the moment, seem like a funny, original, and smart thing to do, it's wise to remember that a galactic terrorist organization and the company that owns your soul both have extremely effective comebacks that far surpass any regular "joke".
- YOU are (generally) going to be the one ordering the shuttle, and the quality of said shuttle can make or break getting off of the station alive. If you decide to be frugal and buy a meteor with engines strapped on or a shuttle made of plasma walls, you might find yourself getting lynched, since you likely just doomed a good portion of the crew to an untimely demise. Try to purchase large, useful, and, much to the chagrin of some people, expensive shuttles, for the good of the station.
¶ I Am the Senate
NOTE: By default, the Captain cannot be an antagonist.
Traitor Captain is less about completing your objectives and more about turning the entire station into your own private playroom. With your access and authority you can pretty much take anything you want, and dispatching a lowly subordinate shouldn't take much effort at all. Chances are you won't even need to open your syndicate uplink.
You have more freedom than any traitor could dream of. Liberally hand out execution orders, release and pardon criminals, give the clown all-access, release the singularity, reprogram the AI to fuel your ego, or just act like a condom and demote anyone who gets in your way. Just make sure that you're at least trying to be subtle.
¶ Conclusion
The only person with more potential to fuck things up than you is the AI, and they’re probably not going to do that. So watch your step, your back, and your crew, or you may just end up floating through space wondering why your Oxygen tank is filled with plasma.
As a special note, the gods tend to notice the actions of the captain quite a bit more often than they do anyone else.