User:Crazyhair/Guide to command
Departmental Head
Captain
Captain • | Head of Personnel • | Head of Security • | Chief Engineer • | Research Director • | Chief Medical Officer • | Quartermaster |
Guide to Command • | Paperwork • | Faxes • | AI Modules • | Station Goals • | Purchasable Shuttles • | High-Risk Items • | Space Law • | Chain of Command • | Standard SOP • | Command SOP |
The Command staff, comprised of the heads of staff, dignitaries, and Captain, are vital to an efficient functioning station. The lack of command staff on a station, or in a department, can make or break a shift. Command Staff should be able to lead their department and make up for any staff shortcomings.
Command Expectations
As a head of staff or Captain, taking responsibility for your staff's actions is the expectation. Standard Operating Procedure is a guide to what is and what is not permitted and serves as a guideline for the station crew, each department has its own departmental SOP. Ensuring it is applied to your department is your duty as a head of staff. You are also expected to be competent in your duties as a head of staff, but this does not mean you are required to be all-knowing.
Command staff are held to higher standards both in-game and OOC. (See rule 5 on the rules page) This means while you can have character uniqueness do not act like grey Mctide. You are a trained professional operating on a state-of-the-art research station. Act like it.
Being the Boss
Maximum efficiency is the keyword of a great department. Ordering equipment from cargo, keeping your staff working, and utilizing resources all add to your department's efficiency. When morale gets low alongside resources then the blame falls upon you as per command expectations and responsibilities. A part of being in charge of a department is also knowing when to step in. If RnD is not being done then it is your job as the Research Director to either get a scientist to do it or to man rnd yourself. This applies to all command staff.
A major part of being in command is your ability to communicate with other command staff for inter-departmental relations or deciding on the station as a whole. Swiping for red alert, shuttle calls, and requesting ERTs are all something command must discuss and agree to before they can occur. The C in command stands for communication, and it is a word you will see a lot.
Disorderly Conduct
It's simply a fact that people don't like to work. This remains true on the station. Sometimes, people don't want to do their job. As a head of staff, it is your job to either make them get to work, or if they are too unruly, demote them. Every head of staff has a console in their office that allows them to demote employees. If an employee is causing trouble, despite numerous warnings, bring them to your office and demote them. A demoted employee is better than one who refuses to work. It is for the best of your department.
Sometimes, your workers will also be on the run and won't report to your office for demotion. If they don't respond or report for demotion in under 5 minutes, they become wanted under Space Law via Petty Theft. The problem is now out of your hands and is for security to deal with. Security can remotely set someone's ID to be demoted, so ask a security officer or the AI for help.
Head of Staffs
Your Department - Captain
As the Captain, you are in charge of the station, but importantly the Command Staff, to whom you delegate tasks. You should be coordinating Command to aid their departments and station as a whole efficiently. Delegation is your number one duty besides protecting the disk and you should not step on the toes of your department heads unless completely necessary. Announce Central Command directives to the station when the shift starts, communicate with the crew ongoing situations, and keep the station in one piece. Remember that while you do have the most authority on station the crew does not enjoy tyrants.
Command
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Head of Personnel |
Directing the service department and handling job transfers, access changes, and terminations. | 1 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Head of Security |
Directing the security department, informing you of station threats, and ensuring space law is enforced. | 1 |
|
Chief Engineer |
Directing the engineering and atmospheric department, maintaining the station's integrity and engine. | 1 |
|
Research Director |
Directing the science department, ensuring research is done on the station, and supervising scientists. | 1 |
|
Chief Medical Officer |
Directing the medical department, keeping the crew healthy and alive. | 1 |
|
Quartermaster |
Directing the supply department, approving or denying orders, making sure mail is delivered to the crew. | 1 |
|
Command Account
As the Captain, you control all station budgets and the command budget. The command staff typically does not need anything that you can specifically buy, but ordering pizza for the crew, or making orders on behalf of your staff is always appreciated by the crew. While the funds do not have much use as the Captain you can still spend them to help the crew.
Your Department - Head of Personnel
As a Head of personnel, you have the service department to watch out for. You're in charge of coordinating Service staff on the station. Usually, you can let the station's various Bartenders and Librarians run around and take care of themselves. They are technically under your direct command, but their jobs are usually simple and not particularly vital to the running of the station. Botanists are the most likely ones to need supervision, as they are easily capable of causing the crew massive headaches with their horrific experiments. It is worth checking up on the Chef once in a while, too.
As a Head of Personnel, you have your department to care for! You are in charge of coordinating the service staff onboard the station. While most of them don't need to be constantly monitored, having a communicative boss who checks up on you is always desired.
Service
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Janitor |
Keeping the station clean. | 1 |
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Chef |
Feeding the crew. | 1 |
|
Bartender |
Serving drinks. | 1 |
|
Botanist |
Supplying the chef, RnD, and other crewmembers with various plants. | 2-3 |
|
Clown |
Entertaining the crew. | 1 |
|
Mime |
Entertaining the crew. | 1 |
|
Chaplain |
Leading the crew spiritually, assisting security with paranormal threats. | 1 |
|
Librarian |
Supplying literature to the crew. Sometimes, writing a newspaper. | 1 |
|
Explorer |
Exploring off-station locations. | 4 |
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Service Account
As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. The most thoughtful way to spend them is simply funding what the service department needs to shine. For example, if a botanist wants to start a bee colony, you can fund their project and buy said bees. Or, let's say janitors have been robbed of their mops. You can order more for them.
Assistants
As Head of Personnel, you are also technically responsible for the station's many assistants, although the bond is lesser than with service. Assistants are also mostly impossible to manage, due to the sheer amount of them. They have no job slot limit, so a new one always can join. The best you can do is try convincing them to get hired into a more important job. From an OOC standpoint, it is worth keeping in mind that many people play assistant specifically to do nothing, and not much can change their minds.
Your Department - Head of Security
As a Head of Security, you have the security department to watch out for. You're in charge of coordinating Security staff on the station. Security often needs coordination through the Head of Security and Warden. Your job as the Head of Security is to coordinate your department, order equipment to deal with threats, hold them accountable for their actions and ensure the integrity of the station and crew through the principles of Space law. Active communication within your department is required, security will need someone to hand out orders. Most tasks can be delegated to your warden as they are also a superior in the security department.
Security
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Warden |
Process prisoners and maintain the brig. | 1 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Security Officer |
Enforce space law. | 8-9 |
|
Detective |
Process prisoners and maintain the brig. | 1 |
|
Security Account
As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. The security account is usually spent on buying equipment to aid security in their defense of the station. Funds can be spent on security webbing for more inventory space for your officers or mindshield implants against cultists.
Your Department - Chief Engineer
As the Chief Engineer you are in charge of the Engineering department and maintaining station integrity alongside the station engine. Coordinating your engineers and atmospheric technicians to one mutual goal is important as the CE, having the wrong info and lack of communication about the engine could lead to an engine delamination or singularity/tesla release. After setting up the station engine and preparing your department for the shift your next step is to prepare to build the station goal with the help of the research department.
Engineering
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Engineer |
Maintain station integrity and repair damages. | 5 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Atmospheric Technician |
Maintain station atmospherics and fix atmos loss from breaches. | 3 |
|
Engineering Account
As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. The engineering department is usually spent on buying things such as super matter shards, parts to Teslas, or equipment to start a singularity.
Your Department - Research Director
As the Research Director, you are in charge of the Research department and the AI. Supervising scientists to ensure RnD is being completed for the shift, toxins bombs are correctly made, robotics aiding synthetic crew and silicon, and monitoring genetic research are also the duties of the Research Director. The AI falls under the domain of the Research Director and Chief Engineer, but it is the RD's focus to maintain their lawset.
Research
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Scientist |
Perform research, make toxin bombs, and experiment in the chemistry test lab. | 6 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Roboticist |
Repair synthetic crew, build exosuits, upgrade and construct cyborgs. | 2 |
|
Geneticist |
Perform genetic research | 2 |
|
Research Account
As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. Research funds can be spent on MOD suit cores, mech cores, plasma tanks for toxins, and much more. Usually, the funds are spent acquiring the machine prototype to further RnD levels.
Your Department - Chief Medical Officer
As the Chief Medical Officer you are in charge of Medical and keeping the station crew alive. Keeping the medical bay stocked, the chemistry fridge full, and the dead crew out of the morgue are all duties of the CMO, which should be delegated to your staff. Your job is one of management and delegation as there is nothing your staff can not do that you can. While full medical knowledge is not required of the CMO you should understand that you are expected to step up if your staff is overwhelmed or does not know a certain procedure.
Medical
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Medical Doctor |
Keep the crew alive and healthy. | 5 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Paramedic |
Rescue dead or injured crew around the station, out in space, or Lavaland. | 1 |
|
Chemist |
Make chemicals for the medical department. | 2 |
|
Geneticist |
Perform genetic research | 2 |
|
Virologist |
Cure diseases and viruses that harm the crew, and make your healing beneficial virus. | 1 |
|
Psychologist |
Help the crew with psychological and emotional health. | 1 |
|
Coroner |
Manage the morgue and perform autopsies on the dead crew to determine the cause of death. | 1 |
|
Medical Account
As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. Medical funds can be spent on buying blood crates, medkits, and Omnizine bottles for cloning. If virology is experimental virus crates can also be ordered, but make sure they do not leave the room.
Your Department - Quartermaster
As the Quartermaster you are in charge of Supply and the station budget. As the head of cargo, you and your staff will be handling other department's supply orders and are expected to aid them in their department's supply restocking. Coordinating mining to get materials for research is also important as disk increases the station budget. With the medical department's help keep your miners alive as they are crucial to research and materials on station.
Supply
Job | Role | Job Slots | Working with your staff |
Cargo Technician |
Deliver mail, distribute crates to departments, and manage cargo orders. | 3 |
|
---|---|---|---|
Shaft Miner |
Mine ore for the station. | 6 |
|
Supply Account
As a head of staff, you have access to your department's financial account. Funds inside can be spent in a couple of different ways, but remember, they are meant to be spent. The supply account can be spent on generally anything as long as the QM approves of it. This is especially important during high-action rounds such as nukies, blobs, or Xenomorphs. Coordinate with the other heads of staff and Captain on how it can be spent if needed.
Tips for Being Command
There are few things people dislike more than a bad command team. It puts the whole station at risk and can ruin the game in some scenarios. Here are some tips to prevent you from being one of those command members.
- Know what you're doing. You should spend a lot of time in your department and only become a head once you believe you are ready. A bald head of staff is a disliked head of staff.
- Act confident. You should act confident, even if you aren't, but be careful not to be TOO confident. Be confident in what you know, but listen to what your coworkers have to say.
- Communicate. Communication is key. If your department doesn't know your voice, you aren't doing your job. Make sure people know what needs doing, when, and how. A silent command member is usually an ineffective command member.
- Speak directly to people. While comms is very useful, if something needs doing, point to someone, walk up to them, and ask them DIRECTLY to do what needs doing. This usually ends with them doing what you ask instead of hearing it over comms and simply saying, "Someone else will get it."
- Be approachable. If people don't want to talk to you, they usually won't. Don't be intimidating and be ready to answer newer employees' questions.
- Be polite. It might seem small, but saying please and thank you goes a very long way toward becoming a memorable and respected command member. And if your employees did something good, TELL them they did something good. Whether that's delivering the science disks to cargo in record time, or setting up the solars without being asked, let them know they did well.
- Let your employees know who's in charge. It is important to be kind and polite with your employees, but sometimes, they need to be reminded that YOU are in charge and what you say goes.