Security: Barebones Edition

[VoltageHero]

A/N: This guide was created at 3:40 AM. If there are any mistakes I have made, please let me know.

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Introduction

This guide is going to be a very skeleton-like introduction to security. This guide is in no way shape or form intended to make you an advanced, fighting-machine. What it is intended to do, is let you know of the very bare basics of the security team, and what you shouldn't and shouldn't be doing. For me, security was a huge pile of trial and error back when I started and it shouldn't be.

Security can be argued to be one of the most important roles on the station, and therefore should be manned by people who at least know what they're doing. A lot of people are upset with how security preforms from time to time, and I hope to at least attempt to fix that, if only a little.

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Square One

Before you even join in as a security officer, you gotta know who your officer is, right? Something of note, is the age of your cadet or officer. Make sure when you join, that you have your skills set to something reasonable. Do not have an officer, who is somebody an expert on every field of science, as well as hand to combat, ranged weaponry, and can also set up the engine with their eyes closed. Also, keep in mind a character's age. The younger somebody is, the less skilled they should be in a certain field. The opposite is also true. The older somebody is, the more skilled they should be.

Keep in mind if you want to play a Warden, Detective, or a CSI agent, there is an age minimum to these, which are is twenty-five. This information can be found here, under the Tier 6s jobs.

While an officer does not hold a certain age minimum (confirmation needed), the age for them should be believable still. Keep in mind that the officer must complete a year long cadet ship, so a seventeen year old officer is just not something that would happen. For a good point of reference, an officer may want to be twenty one and above, although this is not required and people may have different opinions on this.

With your age, and skills out of the way, it's down to personality. A security officer and security cadet are still human (or humanoid at the very least), and you should keep this in mind while playing them. You are obviously free to make your officer or cadet behave in whatever way you see fit to the situation. That said, please do not have an officer who runs around basically being (for the lack of a better word) an idiot. A character who is an officer that ruins crime scenes, releases prisoners, sets prisoners too high, and basically doesn't do their job is not a good officer. A cadet should also be shadowing their officer, and not trying to do their job. Remember, you are being trained by them, you are not another full-fledged officer.

Well, you've got your character done, now what?

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Learning The Ropes

You're all ready. Now you can go in and bust some criminals, right?

Ha. Ha. No champ. Jumping in as a security officer on your first ever (or first few) rounds as security may not be the best idea. Why not jump in as a security cadet instead?

A security cadet is, for a better word, a security trainee. The security cadet will often be paired with an on-duty officer, and will follow them for the shift. A good security officer will show a cadet how security basically runs, and what to do as an officer. If you are a cadet and get paired with a good officer, they might give you more knowledge than I could even give you.

Lets' say you aren't given a good officer to pair up with? For whatever reason, they are just bad. The best thing you can do would be to report this to your Head of Security, and request to be paired with another officer.

Make note, that sometimes you won't be paired with an officer. Maybe there is no on duty officer who isn't already paired up. Maybe the Head of Security wants you to watch the cameras. Whatever the case may be, you will find times in which you're on your own sometimes.

When you find yourself without an officer, what should you do? You can always ask for help from the rest of the security team, but lets' assume you can't. The best thing for you to do, if you are completely new to security, is to let people who are more experienced handle it. This may seem harsh to some people, but keep in mind that if you are less experienced, you may unintentionally mess something up, when you thought you were fixing it. A cadet shouldn't be making arrests in the first place, but if you are an officer, or a cadet who is forced to make arrests, ask for help. If you don't know how to set somebody's cell timer, let somebody know and have them set it for you, don't set it to whatever you want. If you don't know what to do with a prisoner you have, let somebody know. Do not assume something is right, and get proven wrong. Make sure something you're doing is correct before doing it. Even if you get an order, double-checking may be a good thing to get in the habit of doing, as somebody may have slipped up and said something they didn't mean to.

In brief, as a new player you should know a few things before trying to jump in with the sharks. Make sure you have a decent grasp of Space Law, which can be found here. and you know how to set the timers. Space Law will give a decent idea on that, as it lists the times for each charge. You will find most security officers and Heads refer to charges found in Space Law, which correlate with a specific time. Going too far out of these times is generally frowned upon, and may get you in trouble, ICly.

As a new player, you should also learn the difference between alert Codes. In an attempt to avoid creating too much text, the alert levels can be found in depth, here.

Finally, a new player should be able to use the tools of the trade decently. A cadet will only have a flash (confirmation needed), but a security officer will much more, such as a taser and baton. To use both of these primary weapons decently, it is much better to get practice in, during a legitimate situation, than through reading text. That said, a taser should never be used in a crowded area, unless there is some dire emergency which calls for it's use. The reason a taser should not be used, is due to the fact that it can often hit an unintended target in a crowded area. Instead, a flash may more acceptable in a crowded area.

As a final note on the weaponry, you can click the button that says "Auto", and shows a revolver on your HUD. This will take you into "Targeting Mode", which allows you to take 'hostages' of sorts. For security, this allows you and a suspect to have RP. Instead of rushing in and shooting without speaking, Targeting Mode allows you to force a suspect to stop, and emote or speak. This can end with both parties happier, as both sides got more RP, than if somebody just ran in and began shooting. This can be negated in certain situations, depending on the situation, but in a general situation that calls for a taser, targeting a target is better than just out right shooting them.

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The Lone Ranger's Screwed When He's In Danger

Now we get to the shorter sections of this, although they have the same importance.

As a new player, you may think that you're unstoppable now that you have a baton and some body armor.

Wrong. You're not. You're still a pretty easy target for most people, and your 'easy target' self is more of a target when you're by yourself. In the chance that you find yourself in an antag-round, or event where chaos is happening, moving by yourself is very dangerous, and can easily get you killed. This is why cadets and officers are normally paired up together, even in extended rounds. Moving by yourself is extremely dangerous, unless you're confident in either your robustness, or your ability to call for help.

Basically, moving in pairs makes the likely hood of you staying alive that much greater, which is always good, because a dead officer isn't any help.

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You're Not John Rambo

One of the biggest complaints about Security, is that players often rambo. To 'rambo' is to basically rush into an situation, outmatched, outgunned, or just outskilled, in an attempt to take down the enemies without any RP, or realistic motivation. Ramboing is highly frowned upon, and sadly security is one of the most likely jobs to do this.

There are a few good ways to avoid becoming Johhny Rambo. Ask yourself a few questions. Are there more people than me? Are they better equipped than me? Are they more skilled than me? Do they have a hostage? Do they have guns aimed at me? Do they have some sort of conversation or bargain going on? Have they already killed people who ran in?

If you answer yes to any or all of those questions, either leave the area and get help, or stay put and do what they say. Running in to try and take people down by yourself can be considered playing-to-win, and can take people out of their roleplay, which is turn will lead to some very angry people.

"What counts as ramboing, Mr. Voltage?" you may be asking. The answer to that also varies from player to player. Generally, using anything that would put you or others (who are not the enemies in question, of course) in direct danger can be considered ramboing. If people have lethal lasers pointed at you, do not run up to them with a baton, and swat at them. If people have grenades, don't try to push them over, or flash them.

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Conclusion

To reiterate, a new player to security would benefit most from joining in as a cadet, and learning the ropes from an on-duty officer, but I understand some players may not enjoy doing this. Therefore, any new players in security should at least know the basics of how to act and behave as a security operative before joining. A new should keep in mind that a security officer is not a role in which you get to just run around and break into departments.

In the end, security should be fun, but you shouldn't run into a vented area by yourself, or try to take on a group of people with a baton.

You shouldn't set somebody's timer for twenty minutes for petty theft, or try to attack the Head of Security for telling you your job. In the end, if you listen to people who are more experienced and willing to train you, security should be both fun for you, and the other players.

Thank you, and have fun!

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Helpful Links

Ages for Warden, Detective.

Alert Levels.

Space Law.