Captain

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COMMAND

Captain

Superiors: Corporate Regulations and Nanotrasen Officials
Difficulty: Very hard
Guides: Corporate Regulations, Security Policy
Access: Everywhere
Duties: Be responsible for the station, manage your Heads of Staff, Keep the crew alive, be prepared to do anything and everything or die horribly trying.
Minimum requirements: Secure dat fukken disk, secure the pinpointer, secure the spare Captain's ID. Only use your authority when it is required, the Heads of Staff are there for a reason.
Minimum Chronological Age: Not defined

COMMAND
Department head:
Captain
Command roles
Guides

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 carrying 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.

Howdy, Skipper!

Command Policy

As a member of command, you are held to a higher roleplay standard. As such, instances of LRP and violations of the character guidelines will be treated more severely.

General guidelines for all command positions are as follows:

  • You should be competent with your department and aware of its relevant policy.
  • Command equipment and clothing is to only be given as necessitated.
  • Access should not be given out for frivolous reasons.
  • Do not change your job title outside of the titles provided.
  • Access changes are not to be used to promote players to veteran-only roles.

Grounds for Demotion

The following are grounds for demotion:

  • Repeat breaches of relevant departmental policy.
  • Recklessly endangering the crew through an active decision.
  • Multiple minor or major misdemeanors. Minor Felonies and Higher.
  • Long term abandonment of your job, without clocking out. (Dereliction)
  • Refusal of reasonable orders.
  • Usage of equipment or expertise related to their job to commit a crime.

Who Can Demote?

  • All heads can demote subordinates within their own department. In the absence of a Head of Staff, the Captain may demote a member of the department.
  • The captain has the power to demote a head.

Acting Captain

  • For information regarding the acting Captain position, check the Captain job page.

Being a Captain – Basics

The Captain has spacious quarters, complete with arcade machine, ID computer and Communications console, a hand teleporter, the Nuclear Authentication Disk, an NAD pinpointer, an SSU with a special modsuit, an energy gun, and a pressurized and humidity controlled display case with your pride and joy, an antique laser gun.

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, take your spare ID and nuclear authentication disk and put them in your backpack. If you've done that, you've done half your job already. If you're feeling particularly vulnerable, give your pinpointer to the Head of Security. 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, though that comes with caveats. You are not the final authority on the station, and can be overridden by heads of staff when it comes to their respective departments.

You are a leader, someone who people look up to in times of need. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. Delegate whenever you can. You should never have to do any manual task 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.
  3. Follow the Chain of Command when possible. You command the Heads. The Heads command their departments. Try not to skip them in the decision-making process in most circumstances as they are the ones who should know their own departments best.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.

Refitting the DOORKNOB – Uploading Laws Made Easy

Uploading Laws to the AI isn’t something you should be doing lightly…

Do not get angry with the AI if it does not want you uploading a new law, as Nanotrasen has pre-programmed them to be sensitive to law changes. In most cases, you shouldn't be changing the AI's laws unless they're particularly bad.

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. A 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.

Central Command

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.

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 he or she 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.

AI Laws

Only the Captain and Research Director have permission to relaw the AI. The acting captain can relaw the AI in the case of rogue or Ion law situations. This does not extend to elective law changes.

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. You also have a pinpointer that is included in your locker that is able to be distributed to whoever you choose, or keep it if you want.
  • The Nuke 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, rushing head along into a Medbay Cult, only to discover the rest of security doesn't have access to follow through the front doors to help you, can quickly lead to disaster.

Conclusion

The only person with more potential for disaster than you is the AI, and they’re probably not going to do that. So watch your step, your back, and your crew.

Jobs on Nova Sector Station