Getting Started

Welcome to Space Station 14! You and your crewmates have just started your shift aboard a Nanotrasen space station. Each of you has a job to do, hopefully having fun in the process.

Please make sure you understand the Server Rules, which you can see at any time by pressing F1.

If you have any questions:
 * 1) Consult this guide
 * 2) Consult your colleagues on shift in person, over radio, or via Discord
 * 3) Ask Administrators for in-game help (or ahelp) by hitting Escape, selecting Admin Help. This lets you send a message to all online administrators.

You are all a crew of people who work together (even the Clown). You should not be harming each other unless you have an extremely good reason. Before resorting to violence, call Security over the Radio, attempt to stun and detain the assistant your assailants. Do not commit murder unless it's your job to.

Gameplay
SS14 is a role playing game at its core — you play as a member of the station crew, which you can customize from the lobby prior to joining the game. From there, you can select the jobs your character preforms, what they look like, how people are expected to refer to them, etc. If you're new, try out the Passenger, Botanist or Janitor.

Note about the priority system: The game goes through the jobs one by one, starting with command roles, and checks if anyone has the role set to high, picking randomly between anyone that does. If no one has it set to high, it repeats for medium, then low. Only after command is picked does the game fill other roles. Even if you set a command role to low, there is a fair possibility you will have that responsibility.

As soon as you spawn, you’re expected to act as your character, or "in character" (IC). When you’re in character you forget any knowledge of previous rounds or the world outside; and play as if you're actually a member of the station's crew. This means you treat other players as you would for your respected in real life work colleagues and the station as your workplace. i.e. no rampant killing, harming, stealing, hacking without good reason.

"Out of Character" (OOC) is the opposite of IC. This includes any conversations you have outside of the game world e.g. in the designated OOC chat, in a private message, or a chat with your friends. You shouldn’t discuss the current round or anything that’s IC in OOC channels. Likewise anything you see or read in OOC must not be used by your character in game. If one of your friends identifies a traitor, or tells you they’re dying in a certain location, you must ignore it and go about your business as if you don't know. Going to help them is known as metagaming, and will get you banned.

If you suspect a player in game is metagaming (for example, if you're a Traitor and someone kills you before you've done anything to them), you should report them via Ahelp or the project's Discord.

When playing, you use talk to other crewmembers, interact with your surroundings and walk around in areas that you have access. If you get lost, there are Maps online that you can reference.

To summarize, when you’re in game:

Antagonists
To give the game a bit of excitement, some players are selected to work against the crew by acting as Antagonist, or antag. There are various types of antags, like traitors and cultists. You can volunteer to play as an antag through the character editor at the start of a game.

Even if you volunteered to be an antag, it is not guaranteed that you will be picked. When a round starts, players will be automatically and randomly selected to fill the antagonist roles. The game will notify them of their assignment in chat. If you're not sure if you've been selected, press C. If you're an antag, you'll have a list of objectives. If not, you're a normal employee.

Being an antagonist is not an excuse to go on a murder spree. Your job is to complete your objectives. On occasion, that will include the assassination of a target. Sometimes it will include escaping alive or dying a glorious death. How you complete your objectives is up to you, but keep in mind that there are other Syndicate agents on the station that have their own objectives. While your objectives take priority and might not always align with theirs, you generally shouldn't recklessly endanger their missions by destroying the station or going on a blind murder spree. If you can manage to identify them, working with them can actually be mutually beneficial!

As always, try to have fun with it! (Ideally not at everyone's expense... but that’s up to you.)

Responding to Antagonists
If you suspect someone is an antagonist, report them to security as fast as possible and do what you can to protect yourself. Remember, antagonists are legally people too, so they must be arrested and prosecuted if at all possible.

Self-Antag
Self-Antagonizing (self-antag) is when you are NOT an antagonist, yet you go out of your way to break the law, damage the station, or commit murder. Breaking the law is not inherently self-antagonizing, but attacking your crewmates, attempting to break into high security areas, and hoarding items your job doesn't need are. Self-antagonizing can and will get you banned.

Unless the game tells you that you are an antagonist, you are a normal member of the crew, and your only objective is to complete the shift in your designated role.

RDM
Random Death Match (RDM) is the act of attempting to kill someone for no reason. If you are being attacked, the other person is likely an Antagonist. If you're unsure, ask the admins.