The Basics

Congratulations on your employment by Nanotransen. Make sure to check out the other Guides.

Space Station 13 is a multiplayer roleplaying game developed using the BYOND engine. In Space Station 13 (from here on to be referred to as SS13), players take the role of workers on a space station. There are many different jobs available, and each player chooses and plays a role in the space station.

The Rules
Yes, there are rules set in place to ensure an enjoyable experience for all players. Please take a moment and read them.

Joining the Server
To join the server you'll need to follow a couple of steps:


 * 1) Download the BYOND client from here. You'll need it to start playing
 * 2) Register for a BYOND account here.
 * 3) Add this server to your bookmarks, or just join manually using the BYOND client: byond://ss13.undo.it:7777

If all has gone well, congratulations! You're on the server! Before you can jump in and start playing, we strongly recommend you set up your character first.

Cosmetics
Cosmetics have no actual effect on gameplay, but we recommend that you take some time to change them to your taste.


 * Name: It is required that all characters have a first and last name that is within reasonable parameters(Billy Bob for example is reasonable, while dickbutt oneechan would not be), failure to abide by this makes you a valid target for grief. If you can't tell if the name is reasonable or not, ahelp and ask an admin. (®) will randomize your character's name, based on gender. We got rid of that rule LONG ago, go ahead and make the most inane name ever, although be controlled as sometimes it can be kind of annoying and occasionally admins will fuck with you for it. Just be smart about it, okay?
 * Gender: Self-explanatory; this is purely for erotic roleplay purposes.
 * Age: The only cosmetic setting that is basically useless. It will only appear on in-game security and medical records and won't change your character's appearance. The only other effect is has is the Skill System.

Look and Feel

 * UI Style: Your user interface theme. You have the choice of Orange or Midnight, newer, sleeker layouts which differ only in their color scheme, and Old, a familiar legacy theme that preserves the 'traditional' Space Station 13 feel. There is also a "white" UI, and a custom UI option.
 * Play admin midis: If enabled, you will be able to hear music played by admins. Usually best to leave it enabled, as you can turn it off in-game and admins will rarely play MIDIs. Admins on the /vg/ server love playing MIDIs, and you will hear them frequently.
 * Ghost ears/Ghost sight/Ghost radio: When you're dead or observing, these determine whether you hear speech and see actions, respectively, from anywhere in the world, or only from the area on-screen. (These can also be changed in-game.)

Occupations
This is an important option and will be covered in more detail below.

Skills
The skills settings here have no actual effect on gameplay — only roleplay — but give you a framework to define your character's knowledge, skills and experience. It's best to leave these alone until you're familiar with the various aspects of Space Station 13. These are covered in more detail on the Skill System page. Don't gives skills unrealistic values if you don't plan on using the system, just leave them alone. It makes the mod's/admin's jobs easier.

Appearance

 * Body: Pressing the (®) will give you a completely random appearance. Can produce some pretty strange results, so it's not recommended (unless you happen to like playing a bald woman with an enormous purple beard).
 * Species: This option will allow you to choose between playing as a human, Skellington, Grey, or Diona.
 * Secondary Language: Lets you select another language that your character can speak. Not used much on the /vg/ server.
 * Blood Type: Blood type isn't important until your character is injured; he or she can only give or accept blood transfusions from people with a compatible blood type.
 * Skin Tone: This will change your character's skin color; 1 is 'white' and 220 is 'very black'.
 * Underwear: Changes the color of your character's underwear, visible when naked. Even if set to none, nothing particularly explicit is shown.
 * Backpack: You can choose between a standard gray backpack, two different types of satchels (one brown leather, the other department-specific design and color), or none at all.
 * Hair/Facial/Eyes: These let you change the color and, if applicable, style of your character's hair, facial hair, and eyes. Hair and facial hair styles can be changed regardless of gender. Use common sense, though: red eyes and bearded women aren't really a good idea.

Disabilities
Allows you to set disabilities for you character to start with. Not recommended.

Flavor Text
This blurb is shown when people examine you (see Controls for more information).

This text should only describe your character's physical traits and mannerisms. It's not a good idea to mention anything someone wouldn't know by looking at you or something that is opinionated (e.g. "has long brown hair" or "has a gruff look" rather than "is extremely beautiful" or "has problems with authority").

This will pop-up a window that will allow you to set your character Medical and Security records, and have them be able to be read in-game by Medical Doctors or Security Officers respectively.

This is mostly a fun little RP tool that can be used to help flesh out your character more. However, since it appears in-game as an official record, it should be written as such. Try to write it as you would expect from a large company like NanoTrasen.

Do not put your records in your Flavor Text. Flavor Text is meant for your physical description

There is also the "Employment Records" which can show your character's past occupation history.

Not recommended for newer players.

Antagonist Options
These will put you in the running for the role of various antagonists. 'As a new player, it is strongly recommended that you set all of these options to no'' until you have had the opportunity to play the various game modes as a normal crewman. Should you be chosen to play an antagonist without wanting to, tell an admin via Adminhelp that you are new and do not wish to do so.'''

The only exception is pAI candidate, which will give you the chance to play as a Personal AI. You can safely leave this enabled, since you can still reject it in-game.

Data Management
You can save your character and preferences for future rounds by clicking the save button at the bottom on the window. Doing so will allow you to play that character over different rounds.

You can also add more character slots by click the 'Create New Character' link. You have quite a few, so try experimenting with different characters and personalities!

Occupations, Revisited


Your occupation is, by far, one of the most important settings in the game. It affects your station access, rank, authority, equipment, and purpose in life. These range from civilian jobs such as Chefs or Janitors, all the way up to the Head of Personnel or the Captain.

Job Assignment
With the exception of Assistant, all job preferences have four levels: Never, Low, Medium, and High. These change how likely the server is to assign you that job when it compares your preferences with those of the other players.

Because of the diversity and range of jobs available, there are many ways to roleplay. A lot of these jobs, however, require a good knowledge of the game mechanics, the layout of the station, and how to use in-game tools and machinery. Because of this, the following jobs are recommended for new players:


 * Assistant: The most basic of all occupations, the assistant has no authority and, generally speaking, no responsibilities. It's an excellent opportunity to learn the game mechanics &mdash; but your access is limited, so feel free to ask other people if you can help, and they'll usually be happy to show you around their department and help you learn the ropes. It also lets you practice roleplaying, if you're still unsure about it.


 * Janitor: A simple, if menial, job that involves replacing lightbulbs, cleaning up messes, putting out wet floor signs, and then pointing them out to people who've slipped on the floor you just finished mopping. Your only responsibilities are to keep the station clean and well-lit, and it'll help you learn your way around the station and its various departments.


 * Chef: A fairly simple job that gives you a good introduction to mixing ingredients, and there's even the possibility of cake into the bargain. Recipes are available here, to help kickstart a budding Chef's career.


 * Bartender: Like the Chef, but with more alcohol. The Barman's job is primarily mixing and serving drinks to a thirsty crew. The recipes are also available here. You'd be surprised at some of the stuff you can make, so try it out!

If you're interested in other jobs, feel free to browse the Job Guides. Try to avoid any Security, Engineering, or Command positions until you get a hang of the game. (Jumping into a position you're not prepared to do is a guaranteed way of making people angry at you.)

Playing the Game
If all has gone well, you should be just about ready to play your first round, and you'll be entering one of two ways:

Starting the Round


Each round starts with a 5-minute delay while players chat and set up their characters. If you're lucky enough to join at this point, the first thing to do is set up your character's appearance and job preferences, then click Ready.

More than likely, however, you'll arrive halfway through a game in progress. Clicking View Crew Manifest will give you a list of who's on the station, and what position they have filled. When you join the game, you'll have the opportunity to choose from a list of available positions.

When joining a game in progress, you'll spawn on the Arrivals Shuttle and will be introduced to the crew by the Arrivals Announcement Computer. From there, you can either try to find your workplace and get started, or just explore the station a bit.

The User Interface
This is a general guide to the game interface; note that it won't be accurate to all UI styles, nor are all the elements shown in the image at right.


 * 1. Clothing: Anything your character is wearing. Clicking the backpack icon on the bottom left will hide this menu.
 * 2. Hands: The items you're holding in your hands. The hand you're currently using will be highlighted, and you can switch hands by clicking the appropriate hand or clicking 'Swap'. (Keyboard shortcut: Page-Up)
 * 3. Pockets: Your jumpsuit has pockets, and anything in them is displayed here. You won't be able to use them if you're naked.
 * 4. Actions:
 * Throw: Toggle throwing; you can then throw the item in your active hand by clicking something to throw it at. (Keyboard shortcut: End)
 * Drop: Immediately let go of the item you're holding. (Keyboard shortcut: Home)
 * Let Go: You can pull people and some items by shift-clicking on them; if you're pulling something, click this button to release it.
 * Movement Speed: This will toggle whether you run or walk. Walking is slower but safer, and you won't slip as easily.
 * 5. Intent: This selects how you will interact with an object or a person when you make an action. Blue is Disarm, green is Help, yellow is Grab, and red is Harm.
 * 6. Body Target: Shows which part of the body you will interact with, whether helping or harming. To change this, click on the different parts of the body.
 * 7. Weapon Mode: When you use a ranged weapon, this determines whether you shoot where you click, or take targets captive and fire automatically if they make a move.
 * 8. Status Icons: In the new, lighter UI styles, most of these are only visible if something's out-of-the-ordinary.
 * [[File:HUD-Heat.png]] Heat Warning: Appears if the air you're breathing is superheated. Usually shows up near fires.
 * [[File:HUD-Oxygen.png]] Oxygen Warning: Appears if the air you're breathing has too little oxygen. If you linger too long, you'll eventually pass out and slowly asphyxiate.
 * [[File:HUD-Pressure.png]] Pressure Warning: Appears if air pressure is too high or too low.


 * [[File:HUD-Internals-Off.png]] Internals: Shows whether you are running on internals (an oxygen tank and breath mask). If you have them equipped, clicking this will switch them on or off.
 * [[File:HUD-Health.png]] Health: Fades to red as you take more damage. If it flashes with the word CRIT, it means you are close to death and require immediate medical attention.
 * [[File:HUD-Temperature.png]] Temperature Warning: Appears if your surroundings are too hot or too cold.
 * [[File:HUD-Hunger.png]] Hunger: Appears and gradually fades to red as you get hungrier. (It'll take a while to disappear after you eat something, though.)

Interacting With the World
Interacting with your surroundings in Space Station 13 is mostly done by the mouse. You can click with an empty hand active to pick up items or open containers, click on something with an item in your active hand to use the item on it, click on a computer or device to view its display, and so on. Once you get the hang of managing your character's hands, things will make more sense: you can't, for example, open a toolbox in your left hand if your right hand is full.

A good way of interpreting the interaction system in Space Station 13 is to think of each click as 'using' the object (or hand) on whatever you're clicking on. For instance, to use a computer in real life, you'd essentially 'use' an empty hand on it to start typing. Using an empty hand on an object will pick it up, if you can hold it. Holding an item in your hand and clicking on something can result in three things:


 * If the object in hand is meant to be used with the object you're clicking on, the desired effect should occur. In the case of containers, such as drink bottles or beakers, you'll transfer a certain amount of units (usually 10) of the liquid from the container in your hand, to the container you're clicking on. For things like crowbarring the floor, you'll pry off a floor tile.
 * If the object in hand is not meant to be used with the object you're clicking on, more often than not (and very annoyingly, sometimes) you'll attack the target with the object. This can result in rather funny cases of hitting people with first aid kits, hitting your drinks machine with a bottle of vodka, etc. Or more dangerously, hitting someone with a crowbar, scalpel, toolbox, etc. This happens to be the essence of Robusting, as well (which we do not recommend you to try on unsuspecting crewmembers for no reason), which is basically clicking on someone, but with a weapon or very damaging object in hand.
 * If what you're clicking on is something that stores objects, the object will be taken out of your hand and placed in or on the target. This can be something like a table, opened locker or crate, which will place the object on top of the target, such that drinks will be placed on tables and jumpsuits will be placed in (technically, on) lockers. Objects like boxes and backpacks/satchels, which can be opened to reveal more slots for storing objects, will remove the item from your hand when clicked on, placing it in a slot inside.

It's okay to memorize those, but playing jobs that involve more object handling, such as Chef, Barman or Cargo Tech, will really help you understand how the system interprets clicks, and what to expect when trying to use something.

Interacting with Other People
/vg/station13 is a roleplay-light server, and so your interactions with those around you are going to vary, some people may be doing the bare minimum of roleplaying, and some may be roleplaying throughout every moment of the round. You won't get very far with pointing-and-clicking alone, so there are several basic commands to remember when dealing with other characters on the station:


 * Say:, Speak to those in sight. You can prefix your message a semicolon (;) to talk on the general radio channel, if you have a headset, or a colon and a letter (i.e. :h or :s) to talk on your department radio channel. (You can examine headsets to see which channels they can access.)
 * Whisper: Speak quietly, only audible to those right next to you. Anyone farther away will be told that you're whispering something.
 * Me: Lets you narrate your character's actions in an emote. This will have your character's make in front of the text.
 * OOC: Speak to everyone currently playing, in an Out-Of-Character way. This can be used to ask about game mechanics and other things not concerning the game. Try not to mention events happening in the game in OOC, as everyone can see it.

Don't be afraid to be creative! Writing speech with an accent, or being descriptive with your emotes, will make you a lot more memorable.

For example:

"Say ':n Dr. Glass, could you come to Xenobiology, please? I think you should see this...

Whisper 'Don' bloody move, yeah, or you're a dead man.</tt>

Me 'grumbles irritably and kicks his feet up on his desk, glowering at his boss.</tt>"

And don't forget to type properly! Consistently making typos or forgetting punctuation looks about the same to other players as showing up to a job interview drunk and slurring.

Here's a quick list of the different radio keys: (NOTE: YOUR HEADSET MUST HAVE THE CHANNELS TO USE THEM. EXAMINE THE HEADSET TO DETERMINE IF THEY DO
 * :h Will send your message to your department radio directly.
 * :c Will send the message to the Command Channel
 * :s Will send the message to the Security Channel
 * :m Will send the message to the Medical Channel
 * :e Will send the message to the Engineering Channel
 * :n Will send the message to the Research Channel
 * :u Will send the message to the Supply Channel

= So you've avoided getting banned =

Got the hang of basic shit yet? Here is some more advanced topics so you can get a real job and those mean people in red stop arresting you.


 * Read up on some other Guides: Otherwise your a clueless shit. And everyone starts yelling and your starting to spill your spaghetti.


 * Be an antagonist: So, game not fun enough for you? Need some shitty green text to validate you? Try being a traitor, or some other evil space horrer. This is a very nice place to go and learn about the diffrent antags.


 * Help out the game: If you know BYOND, and have little to no time on your hands, go make some shit instead of mouth breathing and asking for things.

Welcome to /vg/station, and good luck.

You're going to need it.