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Hostages and You. A Brief Guide to Dealing with Hostage Situations.


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Since joining the server I've been in several hostage situations. Hostages are something I feel Aurora deals with poorly. I plan to change that.


With that in mind, this is a brief guide to three things: being a hostage, taking hostages, and how to deal with other people taking them.

 

Playing the Hostage.

 

 

Being a hostage is a traumatic experience, you essentially have a gun aimed at your head. As a hostage your only goal is to survive.


The first thing to remember, whilst a hostage, is the fact you are not a hero. Just because you're the security guard at the bar with your trust baton does not mean you can get it out and go hog-wild. This will get you killed. This will get others killed. Trying to be a hero is more times than not bad roleplay, and will likely get you bwoinked.


Being a hero leads to the following things, IRP.

  • You die
  • People nearby you are hurt/killed
  • Hostiles have killed someone, security reacts
  • Security charges
  • Hostiles fight back
  • Security either dies, or the hostiles die, taking as many hostages possible with them

In short. Don't do this.


The best way to play a hostage, as boring as it may be, is to have patience, submit to demands made by your aggressors as best you can, and pray for your life.

 

Taking Hostages.

Taking hostages is no easy feat, it requires speed, efficiency, and a weapon.

If you do not have demands thought out, do not take a hostage. It will get you killed.

There are several types of hostage taking you will practice:

  • One-on-One hostage situations. A difficult route, as you are totally alone, and you must understand the limitations, and perks of being alone. This type of hostage taking is mostly practised in autotraitor rounds. It is important to remember that, as the hostage taker in this situation, you have very slim chance of escape, and your demands need to be small.
  • Group hostage situations. This too is a risky route, as you must work together with your team to secure a location in an instant whilst minimising death. This method is mostly seen on mercenary or raider rounds, as this type requires a large group to pull off. This type of hostage taking puts you in a powerful position, but forces you to both manage security and multiple hostages at once.
  • Taking prisoners. The safest method. This is a simple tactic, you find a lone target, and escort them to a predefined location, where they are stored for safekeeping. The downside, whilst also acting as an upside, of this type of hostage taking is the minimal contact you can get with the crew. Remember to make small demands, such as ransom.

 

Remember that executing hostages can put a point across to crew and hostages alike, and remove problematic people from the situation. Also remember that releasing a hostage as a sign of good will can provide leeway. The trick is to find a good middle-ground between being an angel and the devil.

 

 

 

Dealing with Hijackings, Hostage Taking, and Kidnappings as Security.

 

Dealing with a hostage situation as security can be stressful, however, it can be done, but requires extreme amounts of teamwork, honesty, and guile. It can be hard to resist the "charge!" mentality, particularly when in a situation like this. As security, you must remember what you are hired to do. In no way does this ever mean dispatching the hostiles as swiftly as possible. If you are reading this guide, there are innocents that have been caught in the crossfire, innocents you are employed to protect. At all times, crew safety is your priority.


Responding to a hostage situation requires you to be adaptable, clever, and quick. Remember to do the following.

 

  • As HoS, rapidly deploy your team, arming them and getting them to the scene as rapidly as possible.
  • Create a border, fortify it.
  • As HoS, designate someone to negotiate (The detective is great for this),
  • Wait, pray.
  • Submit to small demands, and if applicable, demands that'll end the situation.
  • If all else fails, or if a hostage is killed, be ready to assault.

 

Quick response is key. If they kill a hostage, they will need a moment to reorganise. Use the confusion to your advantage, but do not risk more lives than necessary.

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General rules of thumb for taking hostages:

  • A minimum of two people per one hostage is required.
  • Absolutely be prepared to kill your hostages. Hostages are ultimately there to be killed if people start doing stupid shit. Kill them and run if security does anything you do not like.
  • Always have a way out. A thing a lot of people do with hostages is they take them in a bad place. Ideally you'd either take your hostage somewhere, where sec can never get to you (syndicate ship) or you'd keep mobile with your hostage to avoid being gunned down. Since those two are hard to attain at times, always have a quick exit route in mind if you're creating a barricade situation. Like a stick of C4 and a suit you can blast your way out with. Or something of the like. Having good situational awareness to spot sec doing goofy shit is also helpful.

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General rules of thumb for taking hostages:

  • Absolutely be prepared to kill your hostages. Hostages are ultimately there to be killed if people start doing stupid shit. Kill them and run if security does anything you do not like.

 

If you do this, understand the following:

- Security will not care at all if you take further hostages

- The above means Security will literally fuck you up regardless of how many people you have hostage, because you are liable to kill them already risking their death to get you is generally seen as collateral

- Everyone will operate under the belief you are a hostage-killer, and EVERYONE you try to take hostage will fight back violently, because they risk death just by being caught by you

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It's always a good idea to say you have more than one hostage. Especially if you only have one. Once you lose that first hostage, if they know that's all you had, they will fuck you up.


EDIT: And don't threaten to hurt your hostages unless you actually plan on doing it. Weakness will lead to Security acting a lot faster. Just like killing your hostages. Keep them in a limbo.

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Guest Marlon Phoenix

The biggest threat to hostages are not the hostage takers, but the crew. Hostages have been gunned down in order to knock them to the floor in order to hit the hostage taker.


Taking prisoners is the only feasible way to handle hostages.

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Turn their suit sensors to everything EXCEPT tracking. 100% will help if you are on-station, as it provides: Guaranteed proof of them being hurt/killed, applies reasonable pressure to Sec, and just in case they want to KNOW you have them hostage, you can shoot them in the foot for more evidence.


Gonna also quote what Azande said, because it was smart.

General rules of thumb for taking hostages:

  • Absolutely be prepared to kill your hostages. Hostages are ultimately there to be killed if people start doing stupid shit. Kill them and run if security does anything you do not like.

 

If you do this, understand the following:

- Security will not care at all if you take further hostages

- The above means Security will literally fuck you up regardless of how many people you have hostage, because you are liable to kill them already risking their death to get you is generally seen as collateral

- Everyone will operate under the belief you are a hostage-killer, and EVERYONE you try to take hostage will fight back violently, because they risk death just by being caught by you

 

If you provide evidence to a hostage being alive, and you haven't killed hostages before (otherwise they will undoubtedly consider your hostages as collateral and move to prevent further death) and Security still dismisses it and moves to kill you, you might want to inquire about that. (For maximum effect, implant your hostage with a bomb. Leave the hostage if Security is coming and track them- when they start moving from their buckled position, blow them up with the hostage.)

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General rules of thumb for taking hostages:

  • Absolutely be prepared to kill your hostages. Hostages are ultimately there to be killed if people start doing stupid shit. Kill them and run if security does anything you do not like.

 

If you do this, understand the following:

- Security will not care at all if you take further hostages

- The above means Security will literally fuck you up regardless of how many people you have hostage, because you are liable to kill them already risking their death to get you is generally seen as collateral

- Everyone will operate under the belief you are a hostage-killer, and EVERYONE you try to take hostage will fight back violently, because they risk death just by being caught by you

 

On the flip, if you never kill you're hostages, you're neglecting the reasons why you took them in the first place. Hostages are literally an insurance policy. If you just keep saying, "Don't come any closer, we're gonna kill'em!" but never actually carry out your threats, then they're pretty worthless.


Generally, you'd want to clearly outline some reasonable circumstances under which you'll start killing hostages and make them publicly known. And once someone violates those circumstances, start picking them off until the violation is resolved. This makes it clear that your threats are valid and that you're willing to carry them out. And in general, Security should then avoid violating those circumstances until such a time when they have a full plan for dealing with you. Instead of just swarming in after, "Welp, they started killing'em."

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Killing them willy nilly = Security will kill you.

Not killing them at all = Security will kill you.

Laying down ground rules and going, "welp, shit outta luck" and killing them when a ground rule is violated = Perfectly reasonable.


If you lay down the ground rules prior and Security violates that, you should bump them off. Just make sure they aren't your only hostage.

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Also do note that the hostage only really matters if they're critical to the station's operation. And if you're capable of making them permanently dead.


Security will take silly risks if you decided it was a good idea to kidnap a janitor. They won't if it's for the captain, they'll have to play much smarter than you are in order to do that.


Hostages don't make you invulnerable. The act of deterrence just makes you harder to touch without consequences, though.

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Also if you want to use your hostage as a meat-shield in getting from point A to point B, remember to pre-plan your course.

Going through that 1 tile wide hallway may not be the best idea while you're holding a second person, I've had multiple merc rounds end with mercenaries getting too tied up with hostages in maint and getting caught with their panties down.

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