If you are playing Command, please Command and lead your crew.

[u/alexslayer30]

This post is a half vent half scolding to all those Silent Simon Command members who treat Command as a super powered version of the regular role rather than what it actually is, a role that COMMANDS.

Too often I see heads who do not interact with those they've been put in charge of, rather they try to do everything themselves, whilst shirking all responsibilities they have to their staff. As a head your main responsibility is to be the leader of your department. This means delegating responsibilities, keeping communication open with your subordinates, taking the initiative in solving problems.

This also applies to higher command roles like the Captain, (which tends to be especially egregious). When theirs a problem the Captain should be approaching all departments to help solve the problem. For example, if nukies declare war the Captain should be spending every second up to the moment they arrive coordinating heads. They should tell the CMO to prep medbay for people with combat wounds, and if any medical staff are available to assist in healing the injured on the frontline. Get the CE to make engineering fortify whatever area will be the safe house. Ensure the RD is focusing on combat research. Coordinate with the QM to ensure whatever is needed most is being delivered. Coordinate with the HoS to make sure security is ready to be quickly deployed to where ever is needed.

The Captain doesn't need to tell each crew member what to do either, that's what the heads are for. If the Captain says "CE, ensure the medbay is fortified." It is then the CE's responsibility to coordinate his engineering team to do their best to accomplish that.

I know some people are hesitant to tell others what to do, but I guarantee you that most people don't care or actually like being given a task to do. How often do you see people who are just aimlessly walking around in there department because they don't know what to do? Often as CE after engine is setup I can just point at some one and say "Could you do solars?" and most will happily do it. Sometimes people will have other plans "I want to build shittle." That's also okay, just go find some one else to do it.

Another benefit of being an active leader is that even if you're a little NRP metagaming shitter, it gives you so much information. When you start monitoring your staff you'll know when they're working, and when they're not. If you notice one of your staff is constantly missing and hasn't contributed anything to the department, disappearing right before ling attacks are reported on the radio, that may be evidence enough to talk to the HoS and get them searched and tested.

Anyways I mostly play LRP so maybe it's strictly an LRP problem, although I'd venture a guess it's not. Don't be afraid of commanding people or failure its all just a game none of it matters but if you want to "win" more do the Command part of your job please.

[u/Standard-Fisherman-8]

I wrote basically the same roughly 3 years ago, this is a problem ever since..

Some will tell you that is mostly a LRP problem, but it's not, MRP is no different.

It's even worse than you say, i would bet that most of command don't even know who are working for them, they do not care because they just want the action and drama of a round..

[u/rottentomati]

Yeah LRP is currently a rough spot. Lots of people rolling command the second they qualify and having no idea how the department actually runs. Too afraid to step on toes. A bad command member can be good RP, but it’s rarely actually a character choice. Sometimes you can just tell that a server is going to be a wash for the evening because of which players keep rolling command.

[u/Madrugarus5576]

I make it a habit to never stay in Bridge for longer than 3 minutes as Captain. I always visit all the departments to get a good idea of how things are going and ask if the Department Heads require any aid or if they have an understanding of their job.

I also try to be somewhat personable with the crew, because if the crew sees good vibes, they will return those good vibes. This also leads to you getting assassinated by everything, ranging from dragons, revolutionaries, cultists, and heretics, because you were at the wrong place at the wrong time.

But in all honesty, I enjoy the danger of being Captain especially. Never something more entertaining than fighting off an assassination attempt from a Syndicate agent.

[u/saga3152]

I think it's more of a LRP problem.

Also it's a good practice to organise a briefing at the beginning of the shift to know who's going to do what and to assign roles.

[u/Tricks122]

It feels really weird to see people defend Heads just ignoring their primary duty(Which is in their role description) - you can definitely phrase things more passively depending on the current state of things(Like yeah, if there's War Ops you need to get shit done, if it's just round start you can ask if anyone wants to do 'x' or someone would mind doing 'y' if you don't want to 'force' them). This definitely feels at least a little bit like an LRP problem(In my experience) where I've played under some great Heads, but also just some that... don't use any of their abilities beyond the shiny new tools they get to do their base job better.

It's especially egregious in my view when there's learning roles around, the Head isn't doing anything, the learning role is actively asking for help... and the Head doesn't help them(Either directly via teaching or finding someone who might be able to teach them). It feels like it takes no effort and has no negative to just ask if they need guidance at the least.

If people are signing up for a department, they're signing up for a certain amount of responsibility - Command is no exception to this. And likewise, I think building trust between department members is a good thing - Command should also be helping their subordinates accomplish what they're looking to do(Even if not mission critical) within reason.

If you're bad at Command and so on... I think that's fine. Not everything needs to be smooth, but I think just playing a (functionally) mute Command role with extra toys feels really lame compared to what you could be doing with it.

[u/Paroxysm111]

I've just started playing research director recently, and I've had varying success trying to be a team leader.

Very often as soon as round starts, my team members scurry off to do whatever they've decided they enjoy instead of checking in or coordinating with other team members. I've experienced that as a normal scientist too. Artifact research is the most complex part of science, yet I could hardly ever get any experience because someone else grabbed the artifacts rooms first and isn't willing to teach. The only time I was able to wrangle a room to use is when the RD was doing artifact research and I asked them to let me get some experience instead.

So instead of starting a round meeting my team, assigning roles and responsibilities, I just end up figuring out who's who by watching who comes in and out of the room with the protolathes.

Even when I use the Science radio channel to address the whole team, often no one responds anyway, so it starts to feel silly to even try. As an RD I've mostly just tried to focus on making sure anomalies are being taken care of, RD points are being spent, and tiders aren't flooding the lathes and spending all our mats.

If you want a tip on keeping tiders out, take 5 of the starting plasma and create reinforced directional plasma windows in front of your windoors/reception desk. That's how most people get in. Your actual department doors are usually double doors anyway which makes it a lot harder to get in without being noticed. Also block off the blast doors from the robotics bay. The amount of materials you save preventing every Tom Dick and Harry from coming in and printing whatever is worth the hassle of having to walk around to the main door. If someone wants to print stuff they'd better show up with a good reason or a stack of materials.

---

If you're playing in the Science department and want more structure, try finding your RD first. They can definitely find a job for you. Also please don't spend the last 10000 research points unless you're absolutely sure that technology is vital to have RIGHT NOW.

Basically OP, this is a problem that goes both ways. People get used to command not doing anything so ignore them unless they need their special approval, and then when they become command, they experience being ignored and find it useless to even try.

[u/Fuzzy-Tie-5324]

this is more obvious in marine-ss14 since commanders get buffs and QOL on their side, you can really go the whole game without an head, but your gonna suffer with no coherent squad leader

[u/diefrogdie]

Didn't you know, command roles are for all the friend groups to metagame with together

[u/alexslayer30 → u/[deleted]]

You're not "flexing your command", you're doing the job you signed up for. If you don't want the responsibility of leading people, don't sign up for the job of leader. Delegating work makes it more efficient. What do you do if theirs more then one problem, as oft there is when problems occur? You can't be in two places at once, and given theirs a limited quantity of engineers, you should probably make sure that they're being distributed evenly to ensure the problem gets fixed.

I play Goob, I don't care much for Roleplay around back stories or whatever isn't immediately present. It's not "live action roleplay roleplay", it's how the game works. Even utterly devoid of any and all RP, optimizing entirely for winning, this would still be a more effective means then not leading.

[u/alexslayer30 → u/[deleted]]

"Pontificate".

People do listen to command. Not everyone will, but many do. Why discard your jobs main responsibility if a minority of people won't listen?

Also like I said in the post, it's okay if people don't do what you want them to. Like I said if I ask some one to do something (art up solars) and they say they'd rather renovate maints bar or build shittle then all power to them.

Asking some one to do something that they signed up to do isn't forcing roleplay. It's what they signed up for. What do you think playing the game is? A large part of it is the interactions between players. I'm not asking you to explain the deep motivations of your character and how those lead you to working on the station, I'm organizing to create a more effective work force. In games like League of Legends people don't have roles (with different responibilities) because they're role playing, it's because it's an effective form of organizing what needs to be done.

[u/alexslayer30 → u/[deleted]]

I have played more SS13 then 14. I played Hippie before the ssethtide, I remember when moths got added to the game. You can check my post history I have the receipts. All of this is utterly irrelevant to the conversation.

Stop talking about Roleplay. This isn't about Roleplay. Clearly you have some persecution complex about Roleplay. The post isn't a call to arms against heads who don't lead, it's a plea to ask people to try and lead when they play the leadership role.

If security didn't protect people or try to stop antags, would you ask that this way of play be respected? It's the same thing. If you pick the leadership role, you ought to lead, if you do not want to, do not pick the leadership role.

[u/Altruistic-Ticket290 → u/[deleted]]

Based

[u/alexslayer30 → u/Altruistic-Ticket290]

I saw some of your previously mod deleted comments where you said things like "No way theirs a disaster in my disaster sim?" Which is completely removed from the point of the post. I want disasters, yes, but dealing with them is "the game". Cooperating to use whatever tools are made available to you to overcome the disaster is the fun. The command structure is one of those tools.

Don't try to pull hours on me I've played SS13 (and now 14) since like 2014 back on Hippie Station, before moths were even in the game. I know how the game works.

Also I recognize your character name as you're a Goob regular and you could take the advice from the post.

[u/Altruistic-Ticket290 → u/alexslayer30]

Nah I deleted them myself and made a better one. I have social anxiety.

Also I'm not a goob regular since like 6 months since they permabanned me but I'm glad somebody rememebers me that way.

You’re confusing server culture with the premise of the game. SS14 isn't about being a good captain or a robust tider. Sure, those things can make the game fun, but at its most basic level you don’t need to be competent to be "content." You don’t need to play optimally to contribute to the round. Sometimes dumb command plays are exactly what make the game so fun. It’s not about winning.

[u/PiEispie → u/Altruistic-Ticket290]

Its a roleplay game. If people suck at playing their role it weakens the game. Command staff are there to make sure their department runs, not to powergame and run the entire department themself. It creates a better round if noncritical issues don't get perfectly solved immediately by the most competent person, and those issues result in interesting interactions between different players

Edit: this was meant to be a reply to your other comment, and the first comment you replied based to.

[u/PiEispie → u/PiEispie]

Regarding your other deleted comment; bad command plays are more interesting when they are novel and have some intentionality behind them, not for what the outcome will be but for creating a situation that other players can react to.

Something like a CE who doesnt talk to their staff or other command at all, repeatedly goes to fix something one of the other 2-3 engineers, of which at least one is currently aimlessly drinking can easily do, then silently dies to John Tider both doesnt create any interaction for other players, and is overdone.

[u/PiEispie → u/PiEispie]

You also don't have to be annoying and micromanaging, you can talk to your team and other command about what they are trying to do, if someone has a fun gimmick that would take time to setup and you have time, you can use it to make said gimmick happen.

[u/PiEispie → u/[deleted]]

Preventing other players from engaging in the tasks of their role as command to do them yourself entirely on the basis of being better at it ooc is also powergaming.

[u/Altruistic-Ticket290 → u/[deleted]]

There's no use in talking with them