| SUPPLY & COMMAND STAFF | |
|---|---|
| [ job_image ] Quartermaster |
Access: Cargo Bay, Quartermaster's Office, Delivery Office, Mining Station, Mining EVA, Maintenance, Mineral Storage Additional Access: N/A Difficulty: Medium Supervisors: Head of Personnel Duties: Paperwork, order stuff, paperwork, send your underlings to collect crates, paperwork, coordinate mining, paperwork... Guides: List of the supply crates, Forms, Guide to Head of Staff Equipment, Guide to Exploration Drones Alternate Titles: Union Requisitions Officer, Deck Chief, Warehouse Supervisor, Supply Foreman, Head of Supply, Logistics Coordinator |
Do not play this without some experience as a Cargo Technician first, you'll ruin the round.
As a Quartermaster, your primary job is to flood the station with paperwork and more paperwork order equipment to help keep the station running. Make sure credits aren't wasted, kick the clown out, and make sure your Cargo Techs aren't getting into trouble - and pull their arses out of the fire when they do. You have three helpers to run off with anything not bolted to the ground and ignore you help you redistribute things throughout the station. You also have authority over mining, and should try and coordinate the Shaft Miners to meet the needs of the station -- primarily, this means passing on requests from Robotics, Research, and Engineering.
You have sunglasses, a unique jumpsuit, mining access, and your own office. This is all that distinguishes you from a Cargo Technician. The Head of Personnel can waltz in at any time and order or take whatever they want.
Bare minimum requirements: Try to get some bounties completed and make sure your hard-earned credits aren't wasted.
"Who the hell blew all our credits on Wizard Costumes?"
The Cargo Bay and your office is filled with paper, paper and more paper. Most importantly, there is a console to order items. Everything that people will expect you to order that cannot be procured from the autolathe will show up on the Supply Shuttle once it arrives at CentCom.
Each order will produce a requisition form, which is usually best just shoved in the adjacent filing cabinet and forgotten until Security kicks down your door demanding to know who flooded the station with shotguns and clown outfits. Try and make sure that you know who ordered what. Your console and the one in the Cargo Office are ID-locked, requiring Cargo Bay access to function, meaning that only your subordinates (Cargo Technicians) and Superiors (Captain) can order stuff unless they somehow got access.
You have a cargo budget card in your bag. You can insert cash directly into the card and the money will go to the cargo budget, but you cannot take cash out of it or use it to buy privately. Every order on your console requires you to spend credits. The pool of credits is also used for other station purchases, such as custom shuttles, and to fund large station projects. As the QM, it is your job to make sure the station has enough credits to do so. To withdraw physical cash you must use the a machine in the vault.
Check out the Supply Crates page for details about how to make money.
The Vault contains a machine that accepts physical space cash and coins and adds it to the cargo budget's total credits. This machine can also be robbed by unsavory individuals, causing you to lose credits, but there will be a loud warning ("Unauthorized credit withdrawal") if this happens. The Quartermaster can enter the vault by using the supply door remote, found in the QM's locker.
"Robotics is bugging me for a Ripley Crate - Everyone point and laugh."
Crates are the lifeblood of your department. Ideally, you'll be ordering quite a few of them. These can be delivered via MULEbot, via the mail office, via people picking them up, or your loyal workforce delivering them themselves.
There are very few jobs who will require a crate early into the round, so until something special happens or their progress gates are met, you'll have the pool of cash to play with all to yourself. This includes the Autolathe. While you start with no materials, Auxiliary Tool Storage is just a ten-second walk away and will keep the lathe running for quite some time if you get all the metal and glass.
You start with quite a few credits, so here are some good first choices for the prepared Quartermaster:
Eventually, you'll get a feel for what different people want. The Roboticist will almost always want either metal and glass, while the Virologist will perhaps want a Virus crate. The Bartender might want to borrow a circular saw for his shotgun, and the Botanist might want seeds.
One of the marks of a good Quartermaster is the ability to anticipate someone's order and have it ready for them. This often means keeping a stock of insulated gloves and welding masks (if you're the type to hand those out to certain people) and checking out who walks in. If you just hand out everything to everyone, you are a security risk. Use your own judgement - an Assistant should not have an RCD, but an Engineer definitely should. Likewise, the clown should not have a combat shotgun, but Security can have one if they want it.
"Fun is Contraband. And we're all about contraband."
Many members of the station know that the QM can make things they aren't supposed to, and most security officers will overlook a little recreational hacking, especially with your new command status. Hack the Autolathe to make nifty toys like RCDs and Flamethrowers. You don't even need a multitool for this. Just snip and fix till you find the one that turns off the blue light - Remember your rubber gloves, because the green light makes it shock you. As long as you don't try to wall off Cargonia with an RCD, most people will forgive you for being prepared.
It's common for the Quartermaster to, at the very least, enable the MULEbots' nonstandard cargo and speed the motor up, though you can also upgrade the power cell if you have spares. The MULE is one of your best tools as a Quartermaster, and can make your life (and subsequently the lives of the rest of the crew) so much better.
Contraband posters contain inappropriate themes that Nanotrasen has deemed too vulgar and have subsequently banned them from their space stations.
How to obtain:
As a Quartermaster, your meta-job is to provide others around you with something to do. You should delegate as many tasks as you can instead of doing everything yourself. If done properly, it actually makes your life easier, and others' lives more interesting. While people are completing your quests, you should oversee the process and possibly reward them for being good at it.
Here are some tasks worth delegating:
Stay active in the Supplies radio channel. Make sure you always know what your people are doing.
If you follow these tips, other players will like you and remember that shift when they were working with you.