Captain
| Captain | |
|---|---|
 Someone has to lead us to victory, and that someone is me. | |
| Information | |
| Access | Everywhere |
| Additional Access | N/A |
| Difficulty | Very hard |
| Supervisors | Space Law and Central Command |
| Rank | Commander (CDR) |
| Duties | Ensure the ship completes its patrol, manage your Heads of Staff, minimize casualties, be prepared for the unexpected and use your common sense to solve problems |
| Guides | Chain of Command, Space Law, Trials, Head of Staff Equipment, Using FTL travel |
You are the Captain of your assigned vessel, the head of the ship, and the most crucial individual when it comes to having a chance of returning to Outpost 45 intact.
Be sure you’re up for the task and are well aware of regular captain duties and all of NSV13’s unique jobs to better understand how to coordinate the ship.
You’ve got a lot ahead of you.
Bare minimum requirements: Move the ship along its course, complete objective systems, attempt to maintain an efficient workspace aboard the ship,
try not to die - a ship without its captain is lost at sea.
Sailing the high seas (of space)
Before you play Captain
The Captain is the most critical role in NSV13 and presents a variety of difficult tasks and decisions not present when playing Captain on a regular space station. For this reason, it is recommended you also have experience playing Captain on other servers or read the following guide: Beestation Captain
Furthermore, while the XO will should be handling the busywork around squads and department management, in the event you are not assigned an executive officer or one unfit to fulfill their duties, read their respective guide here
Your workspace
As Captain, while you do have your own offices you will visit at shift start to secure your gear, you primarily live in one place: CIC. CIC is the command bridge, the head of the ship, and second in importance only to the brain, otherwise known as the AI. CIC contains one of every possible console you could need, but most important is the FTL navigational computer, the tactical systems control console, and the flight control console. If the CIC on your assigned vessel has windows, a shutter control button will be present nearby to draw down the reinforced shutters to protect you from explosions, space carps, and any suspicious individuals that may be lurking about on the hull plating outside.
Plotting a course
(For the dedicated guide, click here.)
Your primary purpose as Captain is to ensure that your assigned vessel completes its patrol as smoothly as possible, and the first way to do that is to plot a course. While you may permit the AI or a bridge staff to chart a course for you, ultimately you are the Captain and your orders are final. Using the FTL navigation console, you will be able to see two things: Your ship information detailing your current star and the status of the FTL’s spool up and the star map where you can see the stars close enough for you to warp to. Blue stars are allied with Nanotrasen and are safe, they cannot be claimed by the Syndicate. Yellow is neutral no-man's-land that can be claimed by the Syndicate if one of their patrol vessels reaches it. Red indicates that it is under Syndicate control and will have hostile forces within it. Transparent sectors with a coloured rectangle indicate that pirates have occupied the system. Alert the ship through use of comms or a communications console before jumping into any system you gauge may have enemies in it.
Your main objective of the patrol is to visit stars marked with the tag “occupied” on the galactic map to hunt down enemy invasion fleets until you are qualified for a shore leave, at which point your primary directive is to return to the newly unlocked star “Outpost 45” to complete the round. Optionally, if you wish, you can continue your patrol for additional prestige. You qualify for a crew transfer at 3 occupied sectors cleared, but receive a message of congratulation and additional round end torps (OOC currency in the Torp shop) every 5 objectives (5, 10, 15, and finally 20).
Guns and ships
So, you’ve entered combat and your bridge staff are either dead or non-existent, what do you do? It’s time to take the helm yourself! To use the flight control console, first activate the DRADIS console next to it to bring up the radar then interact with the flight control console itself to be able to steer the ship. Pressing Q and E will boost turning power left and right for the ship respectively, whereas pressing Shift will boost the ship forwards. Be advised that boosting or doing a significant enough turn will cause players to be thrown into walls and knocked down, so be sure to buckle into a chair before operating any console in CIC. On the DRADIS, there are two modes: passive sonar, and active sonar. Passive sonar only shows you friendly signatures, other signatures within the circle around the ship, or hostiles that are actively pinging you. Active sonar sends out pulses that, while revealing the entire sector to you, reveal your ship to all hostile forces as well. Unless you are hunting down that last, elusive ship, it is a good idea to stay on passive sonar mode.
To use the tactical systems control console, it’s a similar practice - activate the DRADIS console nearby for a radar, then the tactical console itself, and you’ll be in business. Press Control (CTRL) to swap between weapons, but be sure to watch the tactical console window as it will show the current loading state of all weapons. It is recommended to swap to another weapon when your current one runs out of ammo to minimize time spent not firing.
Torpedos
Click in a direction to fire a torpedo. Torpedoes deal a significant amount of damage, and will automatically track and lock onto targets. Additionally, nuclear warheads can be loaded to deal a massive amount of damage but are difficult and expensive to acquire. Torpedo tubes also do not possess much ammo capacity, being limited to only a few torpedo tubes with a long loading time.
.50 Cals
A crew served weapon, meaning you have no control over it in the CIC. It fires many smaller bullets in quick succession, useful for harassing interceptors and intercepting inbound torpedoes. Not much you can do except shout at the crew to aim man them.
Gauss guns
Just like the .50 Cals, this weapon is manned and controlled by the crew. The gauss shoot medium sized tungsten slugs at high velocities, and are excellent at shredding armor. It's often a good idea to have at least one person manning these to keep up the damage output when the naval artillery is being loaded.
A heavy-duty piercing shot that deals incredible damage. Click and hold to aim the laser sight and release to fire a shot. The NAC only has one shot before it must undergo a very lengthy reload process, and the speed of the shell varies on how much powder the munition techs have packed into it, so use it sparingly and coordinate with munitions.
Don’t touch that dial!
Although in an ideal world the crew would direct all of their questions, comments, and concerns to their respective heads of staff or the XO, this will almost never be the case. So, to prepare for the onslaught of people addressing you directly, take off your headset at round start and interact with it. By default, only a select few radio channels are enabled on your headset, you’ll want to enable all of them. Once that’s done, you’ll be able to speak to and hear the engineering and science department once again, along with NSV13’s two unique departments - Munitions and ATC (Air traffic control). With these enabled, another one of your duties is ready - listening to the radio for heads of staff, random crewmen, munitions techs and pilots, and even the AI asking you to do things. This is where you will make most of your decisions, and in combat or boarder situations, you may need to answer fast. Use your instincts and try to make the best decision to keep the ship moving.
In the downtime from the rest of your duties, remember to address the crew every so often to build rapport, or in other terms, remind the crew that you are still in CIC commanding the ship.
Having fun amidst the chaos.
With all of these additional responsibilities atop of the regular captain model, the constant criticism you may receive, just or not, and the stress that the fate of the ship and everyone it houses in your hands, you may be curious as to how you can relieve some of this stress and enjoy your job as Captain. The answer is simple - roleplay. As you’re likely aware, aside from Centcom itself, you are the most influential figure on the ship. What you say goes. Your prestigious title and position allows you to majorly influence how the tone of the round goes along with the general mood and mindset of the crew. Furthermore, the gods will be watching you intently when they get the chance. While this may be intimidating, keep in mind the gods may be less fickle towards you and aid you if you have a fun command gimmick in mind. Do note, however, that while command gimmicks add flavor and a great deal of fun for the crew, remember that it must be fun for the crew, not just you. Additionally round-invasive command gimmicks (gimmicks that disrupt the traditional gameplay cycle) won’t be tolerated if done in a row. Space out your larger gimmicks, communicate with Central command about them, and most of all try to enjoy yourself in your unique position.
Conclusion
You’ve got a big job ahead of you, and it won’t be easy! But keep your wits about you, do your best to keep the ship afloat, and listen to what your crew says and maybe, just maybe, you’ll live to see yourself dock with Outpost 45 as a hero.
