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.
Rules
First, please make sure you understand the Server Rules, which you can see at any time by pressing F1.
If you have any questions:
- Consult this guide.
- Consult your colleagues on shift in person or over radio.
- Ask in the help channel on Discord (Careful not to show screenshots or talk in detail about the current round).
- 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, and attempt to stun and detain the assistant your assailants. Do not commit murder unless it's your job to.
The Space Station 14 community has developed a good amount of Slang over the years, which can even be found within this guide. Review the relevant page and don't be afraid to ask for clarification.
Jobs
Before the round starts, you can customize your character's appearance and configure your job preferences. Note that you're not always guaranteed to get the job that you want most, but you can prioritize which ones you want most or disable them altogether.
By now you may have noticed that there are many jobs to choose from in Space Station 14, so which ones should you choose for your first rounds?
Your First Round
For your first round, try Passenger by setting the Passenger priority to "High" and leaving the other roles set to "Never". Passengers have no dedicated responsibilities on the station, allowing you to learn the game's unique controls and explore at your own pace. Walk around the station, get in character, talk to people, and try not to get shot or blown up. Get shot and blown up anyway. Search your backpack for a survival kit and discover what's contained inside.
If you're joining late, you won't start on the main station. Wait to get on the shuttle that periodically docks nearby, then leave the shuttle when it arrives at the destination. You'll now find yourself at the Arrivals section of the station. Look for a station map nearby or roam the halls for fun.
Make sure to open the in-game guide and read the controls page thoroughly!
Beyond First Rounds
Once you've got the hang of the controls, interacting with the world, and maybe have even died a few times, you may want to take on some basic responsibilities.
If you enjoy role playing and helping other players, why not give Service Jobs a try? Become a Service Worker and talk to your fellow crew to find out what they need help with. Take the opportunity to learn how to cook and make drinks for others and then give Chef and Bartender a try. Try Botanist and grow food and medicine for the station.
If you don't like being stuck behind a desk and want to explore the maps, try Cargo Technician and deliver mail across the station, or try Janitor and patrol the halls for trash and spills.
Are you feeling brave and want to learn more complex systems? Try out Medical Intern, Research Assistant, and Technical Assistant. Talk to Medical Doctors, Scientists, and Station Engineers respectively for advice - the community is quite friendly. Beware that these roles are more demanding and you may find yourself in danger from hostile environments and antagonists.
Roleplaying
As soon as you spawn, you’re expected to act as your character, or "in character" (IC) using the Standard Operating Procedure and follow Alert Procedure. 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). Remember that other players are involved, so try to make it fun for everybody and refrain from bad language, harassment, and other poor-roleplay acts.
"Out of Character" (OOC) is the opposite of IC. This includes any conversations you have outside 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 the 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:
| DO | DON'T |
|---|---|
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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 is. 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. The other person is likely an Antagonist if you are being attacked. If you're unsure, ask the admins.
