How are ERT supposed to work?

[TechnoKat]

Yesterday, there was big issue with two changellings fucking about(hallucination stinging) and I heard couple of ganks occured. Everyone in station keeps screaming about a virus until Aquila comes as CE, I requested to fax for a virologist but ERT was called instead. The ERT arrive, haven't really communicated much with security(when I found two bodies literally laying around in brig and a cadet who obviously walked around them not reporting anything, "BUT I DID CPR ON A BODY SUCKED OUT OF FLUIDS!" was her reasoning.)

This cadet, also said HoS went to cryo, when he was actually dead in his office, when I told ERT to come and take a look(HoS wasn't being cryo'd for literally fourty minutes.), then I immediately told everyone through channel to hunt for the cadet and brig her after the HoS was found dead. What happened instead? A fucking ERP hunting security officer charges towards me and I instantly stun him, also been threatening to kill me if I touch her. Requested ERT to help me out, nobody came, they did what they were ordered from the fax message(cure a shitty virus that isn't even a virus) instead of taking out a criminal who's been behind THREE bodies and has not reported anything. THE BODIES WERE LITERALLY IN BRIG. I drag the cadets lovebird to brig, and a warden apparently is charging me for theft and disrespect of dead because I took Head of Security's gear(secbelt, e.pistol) away from medicals hands so they can clone him. Luckily a security trooper was around and justified my actions are okay, but entire round there was little help to security during that round, full of shitcurity.

Is ERT supposed to keep CREW safe no matter what is it, or follow shitty orders that have been twenty minutes late and possibly ruining couple of rounds for other players that are being kidnapped/killed? The round was a mess, ERT did little help because they were afraid of getting ERTbans.

So, can someone please make an official ruleset/guide for ERT, because some people have been ERTbanned before for preparing for whatever might happen, than what situation it currently is.(you can literally carry ERT hardsuits in backpack, you can carry both riot and some weapons all together, make a crate full of supplies, like wtf, where's your mind?)

[Frances]

Sounds like ERT did a bad job there. If you're being called in to solve a minor issue, and a much bigger issue the station obviously can't deal with themselves (the murders) comes up, and you're able to assist, you should.

Keep in mind literally any observers can join the ERT, and an ERT team is often comprised of newbies and people who don't necessarily have a lot of crisis/sec experience. So you shouldn't expect miracles from them.

However, I do think it'd be nice to have a guide written for ERT, or at the very least a bullet-points-style crash-course. Basically anything that would explain the most essential basics of playing ERT, such as sticking with the team, always moving away from the lead with a specific purpose, what an ERT's responsibilities and powers are, etc. Because it's things that aren't necessarily obvious, even to regulars.

[Gollee]

As a note; I was the cadet in question; though I'm fairly sure I didn't gank anyone. I killed the HoS Jason Stamos; the Engineer Ziva Mo'Taki, and the scientist Tim Cooks; and as far as I was aware, they were satisfied with how it played out. As for the third body in the brig, Phillip Asimov; I knew he was killed by the other ling; but I have no idea how he ended up in the brig.

I am honestly as confused as you why Inis was never arrested, she wasn't subtle.

EDIT: Inis did not have hallucination sting; she had silence, deaf, armblades, shield and transformation.

[Guest]

Hi, I was the ERT leader in question. We were told by the Command staff who initially faxed CC earlier that the situation was a widespread viral pandemic. Me and one other trooper were geared to deal with the alleged virus, and we were told that our job was to fix the situation regarding the virus. We packed heavy on advanced first-aid with a couple cable ties and an energy rifle for the sake of self-defense.

We were told very explicitly by the DO who briefed us that the situation we were called for was a medical one, so, we packed to deal with a medical catastrophe. We were not told of widespread murders and riotous crewmembers until AFTER we got onto the station.

We could not go back to regear to perform field court-martials and judgements of shitty personnel because of the mechanics of the ERT shuttle. You can only take it to the station once, and then back to CC. 'Round trips' aren't a thing, sadly, even though they should be.

Because there are rules about powergaming and metaknowledge that also apply to ERT, the 3-man ERT stuck to their assigned roles and duties and didn't stray away from them. We were not equipped to deal with serial killings, as it was never communicated to us that was going on.

I know it's a generally shitty move to dismiss blame and cast it on another party, but the ERT wasn't as effective as it should've been if Command was functional and competent enough to send an in-depth and informed report about what was going on before calling an ERT. We were told that the HoS was either SSD/AFK or in cryo, not dead.

The reasoning for why the ERT wasn't working at its optimal capacity in your eyes, was because we were not called in to deal with the actual problem that was going on. Emergency responders do actually work like this. An EMS will not take it upon themselves to deal with stuff a cop is trained and geared for. We were not playing space police that round, we were the space ambulance, in a sense. If command gives us half-assed intelligence on what's going on, expect the responders to be unprepared.

What we actually did that round was thusly: Flushed out toxins from people who got mauled by giant spiders, fixed the bones of several other people who got their limbs shattered by said spiders or unrelated incidents, performed quick autopsies on the bodies of people who got husked by changelings (chalked it up as extreme dehydration in IC), beat a greytider's ass for stungloving and jumping an ERT trooper, performed another damage assessment, and then decided to leave because our job (that being to deal with the alleged 'virus' and fixing people up from getting rekt by spiders, the former of which never existed thanks to hallucination stings) was done.

We could not help the fact that the geneticist was prioritizing assistants for cloning instead of the head of staff that got killed by a changeling. We could not help the fact that medical was already in a disarray for overdosing on anti-hallucinogens and attacking each other. The ERT is not command staff, they are emergency response troopers, whose modus operandi can best be equated to real soldiers. They receive their orders and intel, they do the job they're assigned to the best of their ability without question or doubt, and then pull out when there is nothing else they can do.

ERT should not be outstaying their welcome on the station they've deployed on. I've been antagbanned for my actions as ERT by antaghunting and blindly ignoring people who actually need help. I myself was not interesting in hunting down the antags of the round, and I don't think the rest of the team was interested in it either. Roleplaying and ensuring the department we were assigned to was under control was our ultimate objective.

[SierraKomodo]

((Lots of test here. Cropped to reduce scrolltime))

 

I fully agree with this. The ERT that was dispatched was a medical ERT - the troopers would have been medically trained, possibly with one security ERT to provide escort/protection of the medics. They were sent there to handle a medical issue and are trained for medical issues, not for security issues. It'd be like calling for a doctor, then expecting him to be a police officer, as Delta said.

[Frances]

Then it appears that the ERT's inability to help with the murders wasn't communicated, or something of the like?

[TishinaStalker]

Then it appears that the ERT's inability to help with the murders wasn't communicated, or something of the like?

 

That would be correct. I was the admin that dispatched the ERT after chatting with DOs, if I'm remembering this situation correctly. The message from the Aurora simply told us about a virus, we all agreed on sending medical ERT, and I ordered a DO to spawn in and brief the ERT on said medical emergency. As such, it's very difficult to expect them to come ready for combat. At best, they'll probably have self defense weapons and maybe a single combat dude because a medic needs to make sure he's alive above anyone else because otherwise there's no doctor.

[SierraKomodo]

Then it appears that the ERT's inability to help with the murders wasn't communicated, or something of the like?

 

That would be correct. I was the admin that dispatched the ERT after chatting with DOs, if I'm remembering this situation correctly. The message from the Aurora simply told us about a virus, we all agreed on sending medical ERT, and I ordered a DO to spawn in and brief the ERT on said medical emergency. As such, it's very difficult to expect them to come ready for combat. At best, they'll probably have self defense weapons and maybe a single combat dude because a medic needs to make sure he's alive above anyone else because otherwise there's no doctor.

 

A quick note about that, and something I just realised. For the time I was ghosted and saw the DO (I've forgotten his name) briefing the ERT, I recall him specifically saying 'You dont need weapons, dont bring them' or something like that when one of the troopers (Whom I believe was the security escort) said he was going to grab one. As someone who up until recently was a DO, I'm fairly certain one of the rules was we could brief an ERT, but could not outright order them to do or not do anything. Not saying anyone needs to get in trouble here, but that one command worked against the ERT's favor when it came to the guy kidnapping the security trooper, and ERT might have been slightly better equipped to handle the actual situation if he'd been allowed to bring non medical gear.

[CakeIsOssim]

ERT security escort here. I knew the ERT was called in for medical reasons, but I knew sending in three doctors with self defense energy pistols and zipties wasn't going to cut it. I kitted myself out in security response gear (weapons, zipties, cuffs, the works). I told the duty officer I was there to do the heavy lifting, and keep the response medics protected and whatnot. When we arrived, the chief engineer explained to us that there was now a situation regarding the station's security. Considering it would have been me vs. whatever was causing the situation with no backup other than my medics, there was no way I could help them.

So, all three of us head to medical to begin the relief effort. I try to keep my medics in contact and make sure they're okay. I hear the head of security was missing, and the last place he was seen was in his office. Now, I should've stayed in medical to be the security detail I was sent to be, but I walked out to search the office because no one else would have access to it (and maybe I was a little bored standing around and getting in the way). Boom, we find his body ling'd in a locker. Something something about Inis Truesight being in the office with him, so they decide to hunt her down. I try helping with this, didn't find her. Somewhere along the line, security started in-fighting and I tried to help break it up. Actually, I can't remember if that was before or after I got stungloved. After, maybe?

I knew what I was getting into, and I fully expected it to go horribly wrong because I stepped away from my assignment to attempt to provide relief elsewhere. What I didn't expect, though, was a self antagging assistant with stungloves. I had planned to stick with the station's security to help them find their target, and then head back to medical to finish our operation, but it didn't go that way.

Anyway, I have to agree with Delta here. You get what you call for. Especially if it's only three dudes out of the, what, six or eight people total that can spawn as ERT? And, really, the ERT is and isn't the end-all solution. If they arrive, and can't fix it, they'll call an evac. Or they'll all die. Or, they'll actually fix it, and then call evac.

[TechnoKat]

ERT. Emergency response troopers.

The name alone says it all. They should be combat hardened/trained troops ready to act out whatever situation there is. Even if they were briefed with some sort of pathogen being spread out, that's not their issue honestly, they're there to help out crewmembers. If the issue is minor, but needs virologist/surgeon/whatever? Send a fax, don't call the damn ERT.

I was angry that round when I heard from Delta they're ONLY supposed to deal with this "virus" only, not bothering about a murderer on loose or the shitcurity that outnumbered me. I also believe Delta was ertbanned for doing something that was not within orders if I recall? Which is bullshit honestly.

Also, Gollee, the only reason you weren't arrested is that we had a warden brigging people in a code blue for whatever reason(tried arresting me for disrespect of dead when I took HoS items for safety from medical and used e.pistol against a security officer looking to ERP with Inis, charging to arrest me, then an useless detective comes "did u kill, no? okay bye ur free even tho its p obvious")

[TechnoKat]

Then it appears that the ERT's inability to help with the murders wasn't communicated, or something of the like?

 

That would be correct. I was the admin that dispatched the ERT after chatting with DOs, if I'm remembering this situation correctly. The message from the Aurora simply told us about a virus, we all agreed on sending medical ERT, and I ordered a DO to spawn in and brief the ERT on said medical emergency. As such, it's very difficult to expect them to come ready for combat. At best, they'll probably have self defense weapons and maybe a single combat dude because a medic needs to make sure he's alive above anyone else because otherwise there's no doctor.

 

The bodies were found later, like five minutes in when ERT got called. Why'd you allow people to join in as ERT instead of sending someone who wanted to be an extra virologist or something? It was a simple "virus" that time and not much big of a threat to send entirety of troopers to go and fix this. I had my hopes up when I saw the message ERT was called in, to possibly also deal with this shitcurity I was alongside. But nope, virus was the very top priority that hallucinated people only.

They're literally troops for lords sake, not hardened researchers and virologists that can also use mechs/weapons, etc.

I think we need another special squad, consisting exactly of what crew needs(spare surgeons, etc.). Troopers should deal with high case emergencies, the briefings for them should only be a heads up.

[Lady_of_Ravens]

Pretty sure ERT actually stands for "Emergency Response Team", not "Emergency Response Troopers".

[jackfractal]

From the code:

 

It would appear that an emergency response team was requested for [station_name()]. Unfortunately, we were unable to send one at this time.

[Guest]

The bodies were found later, like five minutes in when ERT got called. Why'd you allow people to join in as ERT instead of sending someone who wanted to be an extra virologist or something? It was a simple "virus" that time and not much big of a threat to send entirety of troopers to go and fix this. I had my hopes up when I saw the message ERT was called in, to possibly also deal with this shitcurity I was alongside. But nope, virus was the very top priority that hallucinated people only.

They're literally troops for lords sake, not hardened researchers and virologists that can also use mechs/weapons, etc.

I think we need another special squad, consisting exactly of what crew needs(spare surgeons, etc.). Troopers should deal with high case emergencies, the briefings for them should only be a heads up.

 

Command (as in, not you) literally asked for an ERT. An ERT is what the station gets when it gets called for.

Right, lemme make an analogy from a video game I'm sure everyone is familiar of. In Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, a large part of gameplay is building up your own personal, private army in order to fight the game's main antagonists, consisting of other private armies and the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

The HQ, known as 'Mother Base', is the control center of all Diamond Dog operations. Assume the maximum staffing capacity is around 1000 or so, just for the HQ.

In the DD HQ, you have your staff split into multiple units. Combat, R&D, Support, Intel, Medical, and Base Development. The player is required to extract certain persons with specific skillsets in these categories. Often more than not, these people specialize in one role and have low statistics in others, and thus would be more suited being staffed in one unit over another.

There's also another fun little macromanagement minigame known as "Dispatch Missions." In this, missions pop randomly with different Staff prerequisites that you can send your own staff to work on. Often, this typically includes soldiers from your standing combat unit. Like how soldiers or paramils typically are hailed to deal with distress calls as Emergency Responders for nuke ops or other very loud and obvious antagonism. On occasion, these dispatch missions will ask you to supply specialized staff from the other branches of Mother Base.

Now, back to what the ERT is all about. Think of it like this: Emergency Responders in this universe are handpicked for their special skills to deal with very specific situations as they're briefed by their commanders. Given the nature of mere mortals, you're not generally expected to know how to robust balds, fix breaches and reconfigure atmospheric environments, know scientific procedure and every law of physics/mathmatics, being able to perform a brain transplant, etc. The ERT is basically staffed with people with specialized skillsets and assigned to deal with emergency situations that no one else can handle.

Think of the standing ERT force being categorized in this way. You have security/paramil specialists who are utterly awesome at seizing control of a situation and then throwing it into their own favor. You have people who make a living out of digging inside people's intestines and guts, and are very good at preventing people from dying. You have people who have doctorates in systems engineering, programming, so on. You get the point here, right?

Your command staff have an obligation to know what is going on in their station. Your command staff have an obligation to be involved enough in the round to make informed, smart decisions. Your command staff have an obligation to call out for help when there is no other way out, and to never panic if they can help it. They are leaders, they are supposed to go above and beyond what is expected of the average crewmember.

Rebuttal: "But arpee, but flawed, believable characters! I want the situation to suck ass for other players characters!"

Yes, okay, great. It is totally fine if you want to roleplay a head of staff that isn't noticeable or above average in any respect. A lot of people like to meet a quota and cut nothing above 'mediocre'. Is it not worth the effort to try to do the right thing, all the time, though?

[Guest]

I was angry that round when I heard from Delta they're ONLY supposed to deal with this "virus" only, not bothering about a murderer on loose or the shitcurity that outnumbered me. I also believe Delta was ertbanned for doing something that was not within orders if I recall? Which is bullshit honestly.

 

If I remember correctly, I went out of my way to satiate my murderboner for some antags upon arrival to the station. I don't remember much else, it was awhile ago.

I don't think it was bullshit, at all. I believe it was 100% justified.