Jake's working guide to antagging.

[Jakers457]

The School of Jaker's way of Antaging. Fuckery class for short.

So this is more of a way to how I personally play my antagonists, some advice from me to anyone who wishes such information. I'll be covering things as the days go by, I kind of.. wing it when it comes to these things.

Hostages

Might be throwing you in the deep end on your first day kiddo, but the weak die quick in the life of espionage and homicide. So a lot of the time, I've noticed a fair few people who are... not really that great at taking hostages or know when to take hostages, which is fair enough because keeping those awful crew members alive is a challenge in of itself. So let's cover some basics when it comes to hostages, I'll briefly cover when you should take hostages.

Prime location Chauncey!

This is a big issue when it comes to hostage situations, a lot of the locations people go for are awful and with that in mind, you're kind of asking to get swat-crashed by the fuzz. So I cannot stress you enough, if you are to take a hostage then move them to an easily dependable position with a potential escape route. So this excludes open areas like the bar and easily cornered places like the kitchen, seeing as one has little in the way of cover while the other has little in the ways of getting away.

Personally I'd recommend taking the hostage off station because that is where you're going to have the most control over the hostage. You cut their escape routes and you remove the advantage Security has with their synthetic assets and cameras. The most ideal place to hold hostage negotiations is aboard your shuttle, if you are fortunate to have one. By remaining mobile aboard your shuttle, your enemies have no control over the situation and they have but two options at that point, let the hostage die or give into your demands.

The appropriate time

Though location is a good thing to keep in mind, it's worth to keep in mind that hostage taking is a dead man's tactic. The only reason you've taken a hostage is either because A) You've been cornered and have ran out of options or B) You're being chased and are outgunned. So really, if taking hostages is all you got planned... then well I'm afraid your career as an edgy antag is on thin ice.

Hostages should ideally be taken if they witness you committing a crime or being somewhere you shouldn't be. You may keep them alive and stash them somewhere so you can carry on with what you were doing. Though it may take awhile for them to be found, allowing you to finish your job and get out of the room, there is always the potential that they will spill the beans on your antics. So it is advised to not leave any loose ends if you want a clean get away, now this might some cruel and barbaric but a dead man tells no tales, so in this line of work a dead man is your best friend.

Mobility!

If you want to hang onto the whining liability, then you want to keep moving. You don't want Security getting into position to take you out and safely retrieve the hostage, as I said before, holding up is a dead man's game so don't do it. If Security is on your ass, keep the hostage restrained and pull him so he can't break free, also remember to keep the hostage between you and the bullets, that way it's Security killing the hostages and trust me, that will play to your favor.

Training your trusty hostages

Now it isn't a secret that those hostages aren't very obedient. Those ungrateful curs will basically throw your kindness back in your face after you decided to keep them alive. But don't you worry, with the right discipline, those hostages will behave themselves I assure you.

Like any unruly animal, you must establish who is boss or pack leader. The best way I have found is breaking the hostages limb if they speak out of turn or try to act like a big man, this usually shuts them up if they're smart. In the case of having multiple hostages, you may allow them to watch you punish the problem child to set a mood. It's even known that killing one of the hostages in the most painful fashion will work wonders in establishing who the 'alpha' is.

Once you have set the hierarchy, you want to get onto conditioning the hostages. This can be done by giving the behaved ones treats or medical treatment. Showing them that if they cooperate, it will work to their favor and they won't end up like Reggy McEdgy who's face is all over the floor. But it is good to note that you shouldn't allow them to get too comfortable with you, Stockholm syndrome is handy but you want to remain a threat to their lives so they don't attempt to screw you over.

So you've trained those Hostages into being obedient little martyrs, excellent. With this you may hand them the radio time to time, so that they may plead for their lives and offer your terms of their release. But don't forget that you must always punish them if they even get an inch out of line.