Difference between revisions of "Guide to Command"

Latest revision as of 04:38, 10 July 2024

Command is one of the most important roles on the ship, and also one of the hardest to fill. As someone in a command position, you are in charge of a certain department of the ship. You are the centerpiece of all the action within your department. Some situations will be simple and require nothing more than a passing word to deal with. Other matters, however, will require your full attention, communication, and powers of delegation to handle.

No pressure, right?

Command is not a role everyone can fill. Do not be discouraged if you get overwhelmed by stress, or can't keep up your first few times. There is a lot of baggage to carry, and a lot of things you can do wrong, when you will mostly be expected to be the best in your field.

The Whitelist

Command roles are locked behind an application, or whitelist, that requires certain conditions to be fulfilled on the player's part before they can be trusted to play a command character. You'll begin by writing an application, which will require being able to effectively summarize what the duties of a command character is, both OOC and IC. Then, you'll receive feedback on your application from other players on how effective you are at both department gameplay and being able to roleplay well.

Once you've collected sufficient feedback, an administrator will place you on trial to put theory into practice. This means that for a brief period of time, you get to try your hand at command roles! During this period, you'll gather more feedback from the playerbase by advertising your whitelist in OOC after the round, and by the end of your trial it'll be determined whether or not you're up to the task.

Do note that gaining your command whitelist does not guarantee its permanency. Breaking the rules or being banned means your whitelist can be stripped from you by administrators.

If you think you can play command well, click here to be taken to the applications subforum. Be sure to read the rules and follow the command whitelist format.

Species restrictions

Due to ability-related complications, laws, or corporate regulations, not all species can play all heads of staff. Vaurca and privately-owned IPCs cannot be heads of staff.

Captain: Can ONLY be Humans or Skrell.
Head of Security: Cannot be Diona, Vaurca, Offworlder Humans, Zhan-Khazan Tajara, Hephaestus G1, Hephaestus G2, or Xion Industrial IPCs.
Executive Officer, Chief Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, Research Director, Operations Manager: Cannot be Vaurca, M'sai Tajara, or Zhan-Khazan Tajara.
Corporate Liaison/Consular Officer: Species restrictions depend on the interest group that the character is representing. For more information, see the guide itself.

General Guidelines

While every command role you may fill will be vastly different in the actions you and your department will take, there are some general binding ideas that can be applied to each role that involves leadership. If you wish to be a good leader, following these basic ideas is a must.

1. Communicate

This guideline is the most important to follow, and it is the one most command staff fail at. As command, you are an administrator first. Your job is to delegate among your department, ensure tasks are completed, and make sure your subordinates are part of a well oiled machine for when it gets to be crunch time. Make sure you know where everyone is, have people check in, and if there is something the entire ship needs to know, remember that each head of staff has a communication console in their office; any announcement you make here will be very visible. General comms tend to be so filled with clutter, especially in an emergency, that you trying to convey information via the common channel will fall on deaf ears.

2. Be Known

This point goes a bit in hand with Communication. If you don't have a presence in your department, taking control of a situation or organizing a panicking department becomes that much harder. At the start of a shift or when you join, check in with your department and get a quick impression of the people around you. Give out tasks and orders, even if it's as simple as "you know what you're doing, so go do it". Making the initial connection with each member of your department can be key to keeping things structured.

3. Use the Command Channel

Nothing is worse than being uninformed, especially when situations can necessitate the involvement of more than one department. For example, an explosive was set off, someone was caught in the explosion, and someone was spotted with a gun at the site. Now there are three departments involved! If engineers and medics arrive, but security hasn't been informed, then the other two departments might be put in danger. Coordinate with your fellow command staff, make things happen, and relay important information to your department as needed. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.

4. Know How to Play Your Department

Nothing is worse than a Chief Engineer not knowing how the Supermatter Engine is set up. When a leader has to be told by their subordinates how to complete a basic task, it inspires negative amounts of confidence, and means things can get that much more chaotic if an emergency happens and your department isn't going to listen to you. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be the ultimate super-doctor/engineer/security officer/etc., you just have to have a good idea of how to make everything run smoothly. If a specialist knows more than you in an area, that's fine.

Who Does What

When asking on the command channel for assistance from another department, it is helpful to know exactly who to talk to. As such, here are brief descriptions of each head of staff's role.

Captain

As the highest authority on-ship, the Captain is the final word on any issue, the coordinator of all heads of staff, and the endpoint of information on the ship. They know when something should happen and if something should happen, and they've got a general idea on what needs to be done.

Executive Officer

The service department's manager, the Executive Officer also helps manage the Bridge, crew contracts, IDs, and personnel transfer to other departments. If you need someone suspended for the shift, or you're looking to transfer to another department, the Executive Officer is your guy.

Head of Security

The Head of Security is the highest authority when it comes to the safety of the crew and enforcing the law on the ship. If a dangerous situation is unfolding, it's best to keep in contact with the Head of Security.

Chief Engineer

The Chief Engineer manages the engineering department, and thus is the best person to liaise with on ship breaches, compromised atmospheres, or a heavily-damaged area.

Chief Medical Officer

The Chief Medical Officer is the ship's top medical expert, and as such should be communicated with in regards to injuries, search-and-rescues, and certain biohazardous situations.

Research Director

The Research Director's area of expertise tends to lie in anomalous happenings, away missions to archaeology sites, and malfunctioning synthetics, particularly the AI.

Operations Manager

The Operations Manager is the head of logistics on-ship, and has authority over mining operations, crew orders, secure storage, and the procurement of ammunition for the ship's weapons. They can also be coordinated with to ensure that ship-bound synthetics and mechanical crewmembers are being repaired as needed.

Corporate Liaison/Consular Officer

If there are concerns about breaches in corporate regulation, ship directive, or legal issues, the Consular and Corporate Liaisons are more inclined to lend an ear if it so happens you belong to their interest group. Before making an incident report to the CCIA, it might be best to speak to them.

Guides of the Horizon
General	Getting Started - Guide to Combat - Guide to EVA - Guide to Piloting - Guide to Gunnery - Guide to Communication - Corporate Regulations - Stellar Corporate Conglomerate Occupation Qualifications
Command	Guide to Command - Guide to Paperwork - Guide to Standard Procedure - Guide to Faxes - Chain of Command
Security	Guide to Security - Guide to Contraband - Corporate Regulations - Guide to Cadavers
Engineering	Guide to Construction - Guide to Advanced Construction - Hacking - Guide to Atmospherics - Supermatter Engine - INDRA Engine - Setting up the Solar Array - Telecommunications - Shields
Medical	Guide to Medicine - Guide to Surgery - Guide to Chemistry
Research	Guide to Research and Development - Guide to Xenobiology - Guide to Xenobotany - Guide to Xenoarchaeology - Guide to Robotics - Guide to Telescience
Operations	Guide to Mining - Guide to Robotics
Civilian	Guide to Food - Guide to Drinks - Guide to Hydroponics - Guide to Piloting
Non-human	cyborg - AI - Guide to Psionics
Special	Mercenary - Ninja - Changeling - Vampire - Raider - Revolutionary - Cultist - Technomancer - Guide to Improvised Weapons - Uplink

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==At a Glance==
+Command is one of the most important roles on the ship, and also one of the hardest to fill. As someone in a command position, you are in charge of a certain department of the ship. You are the centerpiece of all the action within your department. Some situations will be simple and require nothing more than a passing word to deal with. Other matters, however, will require your full attention, communication, and powers of delegation to handle.
-Command can be one of the most important, and hardest roles to fill. As someone in a command position, you are in charge of some aspect of the station. You are the centerpiece of all that does, and does not get done in your area. Some situations will be simple, and require nothing more than a passing word to deal with. Some other situations, however, will be a living nightmare, that will require your direct, and full attention, communication, and delegation to handle.
 No pressure, right?
@@ Line 6: / Line 5: @@
 Command is not a role everyone can fill. Do not be discouraged if you get overwhelmed by stress, or can't keep up your first few times. There is a lot of baggage to carry, and a lot of things you can do wrong, when you will mostly be expected to be the best in your field.
-==Whitelist==
+==The Whitelist==
-Not everyone is fit for the role of command, If you think you're the best around and nothing is ever going to bring you down, Take a stroll down down to the forums.
+Command roles are locked behind an application, or whitelist, that requires certain conditions to be fulfilled on the player's part before they can be trusted to play a command character. You'll begin by writing an application, which will require being able to effectively summarize what the duties of a command character is, both OOC and IC. Then, you'll receive feedback on your application from other players on how effective you are at both department gameplay and being able to roleplay well.
-We have a whitelist system implemented currently, You can apply here. http://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28
+Once you've collected sufficient feedback, an administrator will place you on trial to put theory into practice. This means that for a brief period of time, you get to try your hand at command roles! During this period, you'll gather more feedback from the playerbase by advertising your whitelist in OOC after the round, and by the end of your trial it'll be determined whether or not you're up to the task.
-Be sure to get some experience on our server in to get your grounding before applying.
-==Species restrictions==
+Do note that gaining your command whitelist does not guarantee its permanency. Breaking the rules or being banned means your whitelist can be stripped from you by administrators.
-Due to either being racial complications or general rules, Some species are unable to fit certain command roles.
-These are the certain roles that have restrictions to them for the time being.
-===Captain===
+If you think you can play command well, [http://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 click here] to be taken to the applications subforum. Be sure to read the rules and follow the command whitelist format.
-Only Human and Skrell can be Captains.
-===Head of security===
+==Species restrictions==
-Locked from Diona, Vaurca, and non-company owned IPCs.
+Due to ability-related complications, laws, or corporate regulations, not all species can play all heads of staff. '''Vaurca and privately-owned IPCs cannot be heads of staff.'''
-===Head of Personnel===
-Locked from Diona, Vaurca, and non-company owned IPCs.
-===Internal Affairs Agent===
+*'''Captain:''' Can ONLY be Humans or Skrell.
-Locked from Diona, Vaurca, and IPCs.
+*'''Head of Security:''' Cannot be Diona, Vaurca, Offworlder Humans, Zhan-Khazan Tajara, Hephaestus G1, Hephaestus G2, or Xion Industrial IPCs.
+*'''Executive Officer, Chief Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, Research Director, Operations Manager:''' Cannot be Vaurca, M'sai Tajara, or Zhan-Khazan Tajara.
-===Chief Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, and Research Director===
+*'''Corporate Liaison/Consular Officer:''' Species restrictions depend on the interest group that the character is representing. For more information, [[Corporate_Liaison#Interest_Groups|see the guide itself]].
-Any race besides Vaurca can play them, so long as the character meets the requirements.
-===Note on Vaurca===
-Vaurca cannot be heads of staff.
 ==General Guidelines==
-While every command role you may fill will be vastly different in the actions you and your department will take, there are some general binding ideas that can be applied to each and every role that has some sort of commanding role to it. If you wish to be a good leader, following these basic ideas is a must.
+While every command role you may fill will be vastly different in the actions you and your department will take, there are some general binding ideas that can be applied to each role that involves leadership. If you wish to be a good leader, following these basic ideas is a must.
 ===1. Communicate===
-This guideline is the most important to follow, and it is the one most command staff fail at, hence why this is the first topic to be covered. As command staff, you are first an administrator. Your job is to delegate among your department, ensure tasks are completed, and make sure you subordinates are part of a well oiled machine for when it gets to be crunch time. Make sure you know where everyone is, have people check in, and if there is something the entire station needs to know, remember that each head of staff has a communication console in their office, that you can send an announcement that will be very visible. Not enough people tend to utilize this, and general comms tends to be so filled with clutter, especially in the start of an emergency, that you trying to convey information that way will fall half the time on deaf ears.
+This guideline is the '''most important''' to follow, and it is the one most command staff fail at. As command, you are an administrator first. Your job is to delegate among your department, ensure tasks are completed, and make sure your subordinates are part of a well oiled machine for when it gets to be crunch time. Make sure you know where everyone is, have people check in, and if there is something the entire ship needs to know, remember that each head of staff has a communication console in their office; any announcement you make here will be very visible. General comms tend to be so filled with clutter, especially in an emergency, that you trying to convey information via the common channel will fall on deaf ears.
-===2. Be known===
+===2. Be Known===
-This point goes a bit in hand with Communication. If you do not have a presence in your department, when you try to take control of a situation, or some kind of panic in the department, your voice will be new, and some may not be trusting of this. At the start of a shift, or when you join, try communicating with your department, get a quick idea of who you have under you, and how to best use each of them. Give out orders, even if it is as little as "You know what you are doing, go do it." Making the initial connection with each member of your department can be key to making sure things have structure when you need it.
+This point goes a bit in hand with Communication. If you don't have a presence in your department, taking control of a situation or organizing a panicking department becomes that much harder. At the start of a shift or when you join, check in with your department and get a quick impression of the people around you. Give out tasks and orders, even if it's as simple as "you know what you're doing, so go do it". Making the initial connection with each member of your department can be key to keeping things structured.
 ===3. Use the Command Channel===
-Nothing is worse than being uninformed. Many times situations have more than one department involved. For one example, say there is someone who set off a bomb, someone was caught in there, and there was someone sighted with a gun at the site. You have 3 departments involved in this issue now. If the engineers and medics head in, and security has no information about that issue, then the other two departments have been metaphorically thrown in a fire. Coordinate with your fellow command staff, make things happen, and relay important information to your department as needed. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.
+Nothing is worse than being uninformed, especially when situations can necessitate the involvement of more than one department. For example, an explosive was set off, someone was caught in the explosion, and someone was spotted with a gun at the site. Now there are three departments involved! If engineers and medics arrive, but security hasn't been informed, then the other two departments might be put in danger. Coordinate with your fellow command staff, make things happen, and relay important information to your department as needed. As the saying goes, knowledge is power.
-===4. Know the Jobs of the Department===
+===4. Know How to Play Your Department===
-Nothing is worse than someone like a Chief Engineer not knowing how the Supermatter Engine is setup, to name an example. This kind of thing can be outright infuriating when those under your command tell you how to do the basic parts of your job. Not only does it not help with any time efforts of yourself are required in your department's dealings, but it will make those under you much less likely to listen, because they will more than likely lose their trust in your guidance if you don't even know what you are talking about. You do not need to know everything, but you should be able to perform tasks that your department does on a regular basis.
+Nothing is worse than a Chief Engineer not knowing how the Supermatter Engine is set up. When a leader has to be told by their subordinates how to complete a basic task, it inspires negative amounts of confidence, and means things can get that much more chaotic if an emergency happens and your department isn't going to listen to you. Contrary to popular belief, you don't have to be the ultimate super-doctor/engineer/security officer/etc., you just have to have a good idea of how to make everything run smoothly. If a specialist knows more than you in an area, that's fine.
 ==Who Does What==
-When asking on the command channel for assistance from another department, it is helpful to know exactly who to talk to. As such, here are some general ideas of what each Head of Staff is for.
+When asking on the command channel for assistance from another department, it is helpful to know exactly who to talk to. As such, here are brief descriptions of each head of staff's role.
 ===[[Captain]]===
-[[Image:Generic_captain.png|Captain]]
+[[Image:Captain-nbt.png|64px|Captain]]
-As the person with the highest control of the station, the Captain would be the go to person for what needs to be coordinated, when something should happen, if something should happen, and general ideas of what needs to get done.
+As the highest authority on-ship, the Captain is the final word on any issue, the coordinator of all heads of staff, and the endpoint of information on the ship. They know when something should happen and if something should happen, and they've got a general idea on what needs to be done.
+===[[Executive Officer]]===
+[[Image:Executiveofficer-nbt.png|64px|Executive Officer]]
-===[[Head of Personnel]]===
+The service department's manager, the Executive Officer also helps manage the Bridge, crew contracts, IDs, and personnel transfer to other departments. If you need someone suspended for the shift, or you're looking to transfer to another department, the Executive Officer is your guy.
-[[Image:HeadOfPersonnel.png|Head of Personnel]]
-If you need more personnel in your department, or need someone's contract suspended or terminated, the Head of Personnel is your go to person.
 ===[[Head of Security]]===
-[[Image:Generic_hos.png|Head of Security]]
+[[Image:Headofsecurity-nbt.png|64px|Head of Security]]
-For anything that might involve the security of the station the Head of Security should be your best contact.
+The Head of Security is the highest authority when it comes to the safety of the crew and enforcing the law on the ship. If a dangerous situation is unfolding, it's best to keep in contact with the Head of Security.
 ===[[Chief Engineer]]===
-[[Image:Generic_ce.png|Chief Engineer]]
+[[Image:Chiefengineer-nbt.png|64px|Chief Engineer]]
-For anything that might be related to hull integrity, or restoration of atmosphere to an area, the Chief Engineer would be the best person to talk to.
+The Chief Engineer manages the engineering department, and thus is the best person to liaise with on ship breaches, compromised atmospheres, or a heavily-damaged area.
 ===[[Chief Medical Officer]]===
-[[Image:ChiefMedicalOfficer.png|Chief Medical Officer]]
+[[Image:Chiefmedicalofficer-nbt.png|64px|Chief Medical Officer]]
-If coordination for medical recovery and treatment is needed, the Chief Medical Officer is key to getting that done.
+The Chief Medical Officer is the ship's top medical expert, and as such should be communicated with in regards to injuries, search-and-rescues, and certain biohazardous situations.
 ===[[Research Director]]===
-[[Image:ResearchDirector.png|Research Director]]
+[[Image:Researchdirector-nbt.png|64px|Research Director]]
-For any strange happenings, or synthetic software issues, the Research Director would be your best resource.
+The Research Director's area of expertise tends to lie in anomalous happenings, away missions to archaeology sites, and malfunctioning synthetics, particularly the AI.
+===[[Operations Manager]]===
+[[Image:Operationsmanager-nbt.png|64px|Operations Manager]]
+The Operations Manager is the head of logistics on-ship, and has authority over mining operations, crew orders, secure storage, and the procurement of ammunition for the [[Guide to Gunnery|ship's weapons]]. They can also be coordinated with to ensure that ship-bound synthetics and mechanical crewmembers are being repaired as needed.
+===[[NanoTrasen Liaison|Corporate Liaison/Consular Officer]]===
+[[Image:ia_consultant.png]]
-===Internal Affairs Agent===
+If there are concerns about breaches in [[Corporate Regulations|corporate regulation]], ship directive, or [[Guide to Law|legal issues]], the Consular and Corporate Liaisons are more inclined to lend an ear if it so happens you belong to their [[Corporate_Liaison#Interest_Group|interest group]]. Before making an incident report to the CCIA, it might be best to speak to them.
-[[Image:IAA]]
-For all station directive, corporate regulation, and legal issues please go to the IAA if one is on board. You should try to contact the IAA before going to CCIAA.
+{{Guides}}
+[[Category:Command]]
 [[Category:Guides]]
 [[Category:Pages]]
-{{Gameplay Guides}}

Difference between revisions of "Guide to Command"

Latest revision as of 04:38, 10 July 2024

Contents

The Whitelist

Species restrictions