Command Policy
General Overview and Standards
Members of command staff aboard the station take on the primary role of the Captain, Head of Security, Research Director, Head of Personnel, Chief Medical Officer, Quartermaster, and Chief Engineer. As any of these roles, you are the designated leadership and delegate for your department. Even if you choose an alt title for your job, you fall under these standards.
Your role is that of a leader, not a boss. Remember that other real, human players are behind those pixel spacemen in-game, and they have their own thoughts and feelings. Be considerate of them from an ooc perspective, as well as an IC perspective. An asshole boss in real life doesn't usually last too long if they're severely toxic, so take that into account.
Unless otherwise specified, all of these guidelines are OOC.
General guidelines for all head/command positions are as follows:
- As a head, you have primary control over your department. You should be familiar with your department and its policy to be able to adequately perform the tasks needed for it and yourself to function. The captain cannot normally overrule you to issue orders to your department.
- Do not harass, berate, or otherwise displace your department members. Trust your subordinates to get the job done.
- Act in good faith when interacting with other command members.
- ERP comes second to your job; especially as the alert rises.
- Avoid involving yourself in security matters outside of your department.
- Do not trade equipment specific to your role with other command members.
- Be a role-model for all players, lead them, and treat them all with respect when it comes to ooc manners. This includes helping new players learn your department if they’re struggling to understand, or delegating another experienced player to show them the ropes.
- Use loud mode sparingly outside of higher alerts, do not use it as a tool to instigate or fuel bad faith behavior.
- Avoid forcefully entering departments without permission, even if you have access.
- Command access should only be given on the condition of remaking a lost or destroyed ID, or in the case of promoting someone to an acting head of staff. Do not give command access out to your friends because you want to, nor to create "bridge assistants".
- Do not use the identification console (nor its PDA counterpart) to change your job title outside of the titles provided.
- Do not leave the station's Z-level for an extended period of time without a good reason.
- Access changes are not to be used to promote players to veteran-only roles
- Certain command members cannot pursue station threats, please check 'Cannot Seek Roles' in Antagonist Policy for updates on that.
Command Code of Conduct
Being a member of command comes with a great deal of power and responsibility, what comes with this is a higher standard of roleplay expectations. You are expected to:
- (1.) Always hold some semblance of professionality in how you conduct and dress yourself (even when not in uniform). You’re not a normal crewmember, you represent Nanotrasen(or one of their respectable partner)'s image.
- (2.) Maintain a certain degree of level-headedness and fair temper. Keeping yourself calm on an OOC level is extremely important.
- (3.) Keep ERP away from public areas.
Acting Captain
Certain heads of staff are capable of holding the mantle of acting captain. There is no designated “next in line” for acting captainship, and command should decide who is the best fit upon the start of the shift.
In order to sustain station integrity, the following roles cannot assume the role of acting captain:
- Head of Security
- Blueshield
- Nanotrasen Representative
If any of these roles are assigned as acting Captain at shift start, they are not to assume the role of AC, and are to give the safe code to another member of command as soon as one is available.
As acting captain, you retain the responsibilities of your initial role while also carrying the responsibilities of captainship. This does not make you the actual captain, and bars you from certain authorities (namely pardons). Generally, your initial job comes first.
The acting captain is to obtain the Nuclear Authentication Disk, spare captain’s ID, captain’s headset and door remote. The pinpointer can be given to another command member. All other equipment should be left in the captain’s locker until an emergency presents them as needed.
When the official captain arrives, the acting captain is to return all captain’s equipment back to the captain’s locker
Acting Heads of Staff
Acting heads of staff are department members who have been promoted to lead their department in the absence of a regular head. The acting head of staff must be approved by either the captain or a relevant departing head. In the case of security or cargo, an acting head can only be approved by the department's respective head of staff.
Limitations:
- Acting captains cannot promote acting heads.
- Detective and Corrections Officers are barred from assuming the role of acting Head of Security.
- Acting heads are merely stand-ins and must return any related gear to incoming heads.
- Potential candidates must be in good standing with their records to be eligible for the role. (Nonexistent records do not count as good standing.)
Captain
As Captain, you represent the station itself, and the department of command, but do not have supreme authority over everything. Your responsibilities are:
- Communicate with command members.
- Delegate tasks between command members.
- Help solve disputes between command members.
- Provide reasonable orders to command members.
- Engage in diplomacy when needed.
- Raise alerts as needed.
- Call for ERTs if needed.
- Provide alerts to the crew to improve safety.
- Handle Demotions of command members.
As captain, you have authority over heads, not their departments. You should help command members who are struggling, but this does not give you authority to usurp their department, nor their position.
The only time you have acting authority over a department is when there is no current head available; be it they are dead, captured, or incapacitated. You are to follow the policy pertaining to the member of command you are standing in for.
You are also able to issue orders to departments on code red, but should still rely on delegation when possible.
Research Director
You are the head of the science department, and as such hold the expectation of competency in your position, your responsibilities are as follows:
- You are expected to know toxins and robotics to an extent, in the event that you are the only person available to run them.
- Ensure that members of your department are conducting their work safely (or at the very least in a way that won’t harm others besides themselves).
- Ensure upgrades are delivered to various departments when asked, and that equipment stays up to date.
- Keep tabs on cyborgs and the AI, they can be your best friends or your worst enemies
As RD, you have final say on the distribution of gene mods, augmentations, and the construction of combat mechs.
Head of Personnel
As the Head of Personnel, your department is the entirety of service.
Your main responsibilities are:
- Providing access changes to crew (with discretion).
- Communicate with heads about access changes.
- Selling weapon permits
Other responsibilities include:
- Delegate lawyers to lawsuits and other legal matters (if no lawyers are present, you may handle the legal matters yourself.)
- Help with disputes between crewmembers and service members.
You are able to set further criteria for your services, such as requiring paperwork for access changes, lawsuits, and weapon permits.
Adding more slots:
- In an instance where you wish to add more slots for a role, you must get permission from the role's relevant head.
- This does not apply to security; if you wish to open more security slots, you must ahelp first.
- Equally, you should avoid opening more roles than needed, as this can severely impact the round, and the relevant roles!
Chief Engineer
As Chief Engineer, you oversee the department of engineering. Your responsibilities are:
- Have a strong understanding of both engineering and atmospherics.
- Delegate tasks, repairs, and projects between all of your staff.
- Ensure your staff aren’t constructing, dismantling, or removing something vital to station integrity.
- Oversee operations that present a possibility of serious risk.
- Help new or inexperienced engineering staff during projects or when attempting to experiment.
Experimental SM Setups should be:
Run by you firstly,
If dangerous, or elsewise risky, should be prefaced with an ahelp, or elsewise reject it.
Chief Medical Officer
The CMO is the head doctor who oversees the operations of all of medical. You have a few responsibilities, many of which you are likely familiar with from medical itself.
- Delegate tasks and communicate events to your various subdepartmental teams, including projects and emergency responses.
- Ensure your doctors are following medical policy and maintaining ethical practices.
- Use the crew monitor to alert paramedics of dead crew, but also as an excuse to yell about suit sensors.
- Assist your subordinates when medical gets overrun.
On top of this, as CMO you have the ability to authorize the distribution of:
- Chemicals and chemical manufacturing.
- Beneficial viruses, and who they are given to.
As always, take other jobs and the various races of the station into consideration when deciding on these.
Head of Security
The head of Lopland Security, you oversee one of the most extensive departments on the station. Your position is of high importance and high influence, and as such you should:
- Be extremely familiar with security policy, SOP, and Corporate Regulations.
- Ensure your officers are following SOP, Corporate Regulations, and Security Policy.
- Delegate tasks between officers and brig personnel to ensure maximum efficiency
As HoS, many of your decisions can have a serious impact on the gameplay of antags and regular players. You should not be involving yourself in minor security incidents. However, major incidents may require your assistance. You should be the front-liner for diplomacy if your officers cannot do so, such as with hostage situations and bomb threats.
Quartermaster
As Quartermaster, you represent the department of cargo, which has been outsourced from the Free Trade Union. You are considered to be head of staff.
- Oversee the approval and denial of orders. You have ultimate authority over their approval or denial.
- Check in on miners, call for medical if they need to be retrieved.
- Ensure both cargo and mining are running efficiently, and are ready to respond to emergencies.
- Ensure that orders are delivered in a timely manner to their proper destination.
Cargo is arguably one of the most important departments during an emergency, make sure to pay attention to comms and be ready to order supplies to assist those tackling it.
Central Command
Blueshield
While Blueshield isn't a member of command, you still protect them. As such, Blueshield will be covered here because its fitting.
- Do not extend your access or ask to extend your access; you aren't meant to have it, or elsewise, you'd start with it.
- Your job and mission as Blueshield is protecting the command team and Captain from danger, performing recovery on them if they're incapacitated or killed as well if need be, and pacifying aggressors. You are not security and not authorized to chase down random criminals. Keep your reach to your jurisdiction exclusively in protecting the captain and command team. If someone attacks the heads of staff directly, you're authorized to restrain or incapacitate them until security is able to get them, or alternatively mow the assailant down with automatic gunfire if need be.
- If the HOS runs into combat like a normal officer, it’s their problem. If the Captain runs off to hit an antag with their sword against all sense of self preservation, stop them from doing so.
- Lethal force is authorized if you can tell that someone has intent to kill a head of staff.
- Remember: you should focus on protecting the heads of staff as people, not assets. If they lose their items, that’s on them. Just keep them alive and safe.
Nanotrasen Representative
You represent the image of Nanotrasen itself, and are a guiding hand for the command team. As the Nanotrasen Representative your job is to advise the entirety of command. However; don’t forget your actual authority on station doesn’t reach very far. Your main responsibilities include:
- Communicate with central command about station incidents and ongoings.
- Loom nearby command while they discuss matters; and pretend the invited you.
- Advise command, whether or not they asked you.
Being the Nanotrasen consultant requires you to be familiar with corporate regulations, command policy, and security policy, as you are expected to be able to reference them for guidance on decisions.
Misc Rulings
The following are various rulings that pertain to multiple or all members of command, or are needed for quick reference.
Demotion Guidelines
Demotion can have a detrimental effect upon anyone it targets, and steps should be taken to mitigate the issue before resorting to demotion. Be considerate of context and the round at hand when deciding to demote someone. Don't demote a player for simply doing their job differently, or a new player for not completely understanding a mechanic. On top of this, don't make up rules on the spot to demote people over, give clear warnings about your standards as a head. As always, you are expected to act in good faith when following this policy, and keep demotions within their grounds.
Grounds for Demotion
The following are grounds for demotion:
- Repeat breaches of policy or corporate regulations.
- Recklessly endangering the crew through an active decision
- Minor felonies or higher crimes.
- Long term abandonment of your job, without clocking out. (Dereliction)
Who Can Demote?
All heads can demote subordinates within their own department provided the subordinate is within grounds for demotion.
Subsequently the captain has the power to demote a head, provided the head of staff is within grounds for demotion.
A head cannot demote another head of staff, nor can they demote someone outside of their department, with exception to a Vote of No Confidence.
Non-command members cannot demote a head of staff, nor can they demote other non-command members.
Vote of No Confidence:
In the event command finds themselves with a captain who is within grounds for demotion, the members of command can hold a vote of no confidence. If passed on a majority vote, the captain is to be considered demoted and expelled from their position of power. The captain themselves can only vote in favor of their own demotion.
Permits
Weapons Permits are at the privilege of the Captain to dispense. They are given-out via ID modification at the appropriate consoles. They are often, but do not have to be, subject to a reasonable cost. It is solely the directive of the captain in how this is handled, this means:
- It is the captain's ultimate authority to determine how to dispense permits, and to whom, and any additional fee attached within reason.
- The captain can decide to work on consensus with other heads as in example to require HOS approval for each permit.
- The captain, however, does not have to receive the approval of any other head, and no other head can countermand their decision
Who can relaw the AI?
Only the Captain and Research Director have permission to relaw the AI, the exact semantics can be found in Silicon Policy. The acting captain cannot normally relaw the AI. In the case of an ION or game-impacting rogue situations when an RD And Captain are not present, an acting Captain should gather consensus from the available heads for approval to make a law change. This does not extend to elective law changes.
Pardons for Crimes
Pardons for crimes are something the Captain and the HOS must agree on together. If there is no HOS or Captain (acting cap doesn’t count), then pardons cannot be made at all. They may only pardon minor crimes, specifically level 1-2 crimes in the corporate regulations.
Executions
If both the requirements and proper authorization is acquired, security may opt in to execute the person via lethal injection, electric chair or firing squad in the execution room. With the exception of terminating Unknown Biological Entities (ex: changelings), outside of extraordinary circumstances when it is not possible to do so, all executions are to be done through the above mentioned methods otherwise the ones who authorized and carried out the execution will face IC consequences or, in very extreme cases OOC consequences as well. For more details, consult Corporate Regulations.
see: Security Policy#Executions - OOC
Return to policies page