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Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Printable Version

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Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Vextrom - 07-01-2019

Usual character name: Vivian Weaver
BYOND username: Vextrom1
Recommended by (if applicable): Tewf, czarbomba, Flourish
Goon servers you play: Goon #2 / Goonstation

Reason for application:
 
The primary reasons I’m applying for HoS is to be in a position where it’s easier to run gimmicks, to lead good security teams, and to teach new players. While none of this necessitates the role of HoS, I think that seeing a HoS tends to garner attention and respect. It’s a player that the community has deemed worthy of being fun and good to the crew. I think it’s that quality that aids in the reasons I am seeking out this role.

In terms of other reasons as to why I’m applying for HoS, I’ve lately been seeing abusive security officers with the recent influx of new players. Being able to directly interfere and defuse abusive security via the identification console will help to keep Goonstation an enjoyable experience.

The armory is another point of attraction for me. I rarely see the armory being used by the security team. When I do see it in use, it’s typically because the antagonists of the round have broken in and procured its contents for themselves. I really want to see the armory being used by security to change it up from the usual taser, stun baton, and cuff, if the situation calls for it. I want to see the N2 canister used if revs are breaking into security. I want to arm security with the heavy armor, shotguns, and riot launchers if it’ll help subdue some large threat to the crew. I especially want to play a round where the bomb disposal suit gets used. It sounds like it’d be a lot of fun to organize a bomb squad and try to defuse a bomb in the public place. I really feel like the equipment is underutilized by security, and I think some good stories could come from it being in the hands of security

Lastly, I have a few miscellaneous points that are part of why I’m applying. For one, having firsthand experience with the job will allow for the wiki page to be updated. The last time its text was updated was July 2018, and I think the tips and tricks section could be fleshed out. Furthermore, there’s the NT-SO Security Operative role. I think it’s an interesting job, that doesn’t seem to have a defined role in the station hierarchy quite yet. I’d love to be able to play it and figure out a niche for it to fill. Plus, someone still needs to setup a page the NT-SO Security Operative on the wiki and I’d like to give that a go.

Security experience (300 word minimum):
 
I began playing Goonstation roughly 2 years ago. It took me until this past year to even begin delving into security roles. For a while I would mostly just play detective. It seemed detached from the rest of the security team and not quite as burdened with responsibilities. It was around the time that I figured out how the forensics system worked and its uses that I started to really enjoy it. I had a great time just relaying information to the rest of the security team and trying my best to assist with arrests when I could.

Eventually, after reading the wiki page over and over I felt comfortable enough to play Security Officer. For much of my early security career I don’t think I threw anyone in the brig. I would always hand it off to other officers and take note of how the handled it. I spent a lot of time being apprehensive about arresting people. I didn’t want to step out of line and ruin the fun of other players. I really started to understand the fun of the role once I started playing it consistently more recently. Interacting with a good communicative sec team is such a blast. Plus Security Officer is one of those roles that forces player interaction, and that’s just another source of fun. You get a glimpse of the shenanigans everyone’s getting up to in the rounds. Even better, as a byproduct of being in direct opposition with the antagonists, you get to be privy to the antagonists’ shenanigans.

From playing a good amount of security I’ve found my philosophy as to how it should be played and I’ll outline it.

First and foremost, you need to be empathetic to the other players of the round. There’s a person on the other side of the screen, and this might be their one round of the night after a long day. Let people have their fun, until it becomes disruptive to other people’s fun. Always try to apprehend suspects non-lethally if the situation allows it. Even if you end up having to kill the antagonist, try to clone or borg them. Cloning can especially lead to more fun situations, since you can take them to trial for their crimes and find a fun and unique punishment for them. It’s a lot better than just removing the player from the round.

Secondly, security is heavily impactful on the flow of the round. Being too hard on antagonists usually leads to a boring round, where people pretend to do their jobs for the shift and then get on the shuttle after an hour or so. Being too lenient, on the other hand, typically leads to a lot of the crew dying, thereby ruining their fun. You should strive to develop a sort of push and pull between the security team and the antagonists. If you see someone who’s obviously an antagonist and isn’t murderboning, disrupt their plans but not in a catastrophic way. Take some of their gear and lock it in the contraband locker, now they have a new obstacle to overcome. Lightly humiliating, that is giving them swirlies or a slap with your gloves, is another good tactic. Not only does it create a feud, but it directs their attention towards the security team, who has a better chance of having a fair conflict, than the rest of the crew.

Lastly, it’s important to communicate, in general. If you’re arresting someone, talk to them about why and ask for their take on the situation, once it’s safe to do so. There’s nothing more infuriating than being stunned, cuffed, and then dragged around by a mute in an armored vest. Talk to your fellow officers about the activity on the station, and if there’s a situation it’s best to try and approach it with a couple of your fellow officers by your side. Even if there are no other security members on at the time, even just communicating with the crew and asking them to report crimes can lead to some good results. Plus, you might end up with some deputies which can be a lot of fun, plus it can lead to a great story of betrayal.

Answer two or more of the following:
  • What advice would you give to other sec players?
  • Be aware of how your actions are affecting other players and the round in its entirety. An example I want to bring up is, imagine you have a traitor in custody and they haven’t been particularly harmful to the station. They have some syndicate items, and you throw them in the contraband locker. Then, you notice they left their PDA unlocked. You absolutely should not spend the rest of their TC. It narrows their options and is probably going to be upsetting for them.
  • Pay attention to how long it takes to strip down a prisoner when you’re throwing someone in the brig. It usually takes a decent amount of time, and often I’ll just let the person go or give them a very short time if it does take a while. Sitting around waiting in the brig really isn’t much fun.
  • Communicate! I already mentioned this, but everyone can be a source of information. While you know your fellow security officers are reliable, it never hurts to ask the crew. Also, some AI players really enjoy helping security track down criminals. It doesn’t hurt to ask, and it can lead to a fun and exciting partnership.
  • If there are sufficient amounts of security officers at the time, it doesn’t hurt to man the video cameras. You can be a big help in making sure criminals don’t make a clever getaway.
  • Learn to use the forensics tools at your disposal. Your PDA can scan objects to return fingerprints and blood to return DNA. You can then look at these fingerprints via secmate on the security terminals. Even better, if you have a forensics scanner, you can click on it in-hand to look it up on the spot. There’s even more functionality on the detective page on the wiki that’s worth looking at.
  • Additionally, learning how to use secmate and the terminals is a big help. Setting a criminal to be arrested on sight by the guardbuddies and beepsky can make your job a lot easier.
  • In general, just give the wiki a read occasionally. There’s a good chance you’ll learn something new. For instance, right now while writing this application I learned that the forensic scanner is capable of ballistic fingerprints, which is cool as hell.
  • If you find yourself executing a criminal, one of the best things you can do is introduce some points of failure to give them a fighting chance. It creates a much more interesting scenario and it can lead to a good story.
  • Ticket people! It gives you a chance to flex your comedic muscles, and it's a good way to show that you're not ignoring minor crimes. Plus, they’re logged on goonhub, usually leading to hilarity with them being taken out of context.
  • Carrying a crowbar, a fire extinguisher, and a medkit will save your ass in so many situations.
  • Lock the damn lockers when you’re done gearing up!
  • What was one of your favorite security moments? (Either playing as a sec officer or interacting with one)
It’s hard for me to decide on just one, but I’ll tell focus on a story that was influential when I was just starting to delve into the security department. It was a round on cogmap2, with Old Man Jenkins as the Head of Security. I was playing detective and early on the radio was filled with people screaming about werewolves. The security team was very well coordinated and was constantly communicating. Me and another office eventually ended up hearing about a werewolf that was bolted into the janitor’s room next to the spa. We looked through the windows and the room looked empty. We realized the wolf had to be hiding in one of the lockers. There was this tense moment, standing outside of the room, waiting for the AI to open the door. We had to guess as to which locker the wolf was in, or even the disposals chute. I loaded my revolver with lethals, and the sec officer was going to open the lockers and I’d open fire. We run inside and open the first locker, and the wolf pounces out. I started to unload my gun into him and he immediately tried to run off into the disposals chute. I barely managed to eject him from the chute, where he proceeded to bleed out. We then took the body to Medbay for borging, plus I got some sweet werewolf arms.

I look back on this round a lot because it was a lot of fun working with players that were constantly chatting and showing up in groups to hunt down these werewolves. Not only that, but there was just a lot of great moments where there was a lot of tension and player interaction. Most of the werewolves ended up hiding in maintenance, and a lot of that tension came from moments of separation in the dark tunnels, knowing there’s a wolf running around somewhere.  
  • What game improvements or changes do you think would benefit security players?
I think introducing some new tools for security officers could be massively beneficial. One consideration is a pair of sec glasses that spawns and adds an active ability to the hotbar. The ability enables the targeting cursor and allows you to mark someone on your screen with an icon that can be seen by other players wearing SecHuds, or possibly just setting them to arrest. This essentially allows for a squad leader role to be filled. Furthermore, if an officer shows up to an ongoing arrest, it allows them to easily identify the suspect. If anything, this is a quality of life improvement, but I understand that there might be some balance concerns.

Another consideration is deployable barriers for security. It would essentially function similarly to a one-direction window. Deployment would probably just involve clicking on it while it’s in your hand, followed by right clicking on it after deployment to set the rotation. Then from there, it can be locked into place by clicking on it with an ID that has security access. It can be unlocked similarly, which allows it to be picked up. I think this should also be paired with the introduction of a portable security scanner. It essentially allows for the security team to set up checkpoints if bombs are going off across the station. I wouldn’t say this item has a lot of function use, but it adds some flavor and creates more interaction with security. Plus, it creates situations where antagonists must figure out alternate routes to get past these checkpoints.
  • Describe any differences in your playstyle when part of a full security team and when being the only security officer.
I don’t think my playstyle vastly differs as a solo security officer. I think the first notable difference is that I spend a lot less time at the security department than I would otherwise. Furthermore, I find myself spending less time ticketing and engaging with minor crimes. When you’re on your own, there’s only so much time you can spend on the minutiae when there could be antagonists murdering people. I think I tend to be a bit quicker with defanging antagonists, as well, mostly out of self-preservation.  
Answer one or more of the following fun questions (because it's important for the HoS to be fun):
  • Write a poem to convey your thoughts on security/NanoTrasen/space/bees/anything related to SS13.
The red beret is so passé.
Now the black jackets are here to stay.
Wait! Those turds are corrupt and do so much harm!
They are kicked off the station and sent to a farm.
The red beret returns triumphant, hooray!
  • What's a security gimmick that you've ran or wanted to run?
A gimmick I’ve run a couple of times is just holding a trial. It’s always fun and gets a lot of players all in the same place. Most recently, the jury slowly turned into birds which was fantastic. The wizard on trial was also defended by a living Zoldorf machine, which was fantastic.

Otherwise in regards to gimmicks I haven’t had a chance to try yet, I’d like to try sending an antagonist to the debris field or an adventure zone to retrieve an item from a dangerous place, in return for their life. Really just any extravagant punishment can be a lot of fun, especially if it allows the rest of the crew to get involved. Previous bans (while this will not affect your application lying about it will):
At the time of posting none. No banned medal.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Flourish - 07-02-2019

I've observed Vivian a bunch and they're a good and fun security player. This is also an excellent and thoughtful application. Absolutely give them HoS  spider

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Flaborized - 07-02-2019

I observed them being very fun and conscientious security. Knows mechanically how all the security gear should be used and always seems to have other player's fun in mind in my experience, would make rounds better with the HoS role. Solid application as well.

Also they hold trials and all the best sec hold trials!

EDIT: I would like to add that I have since seen them spending a round teaching a new player how to play. Behavior like that is exactly the sort of thing a good HoS would show!

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - moistgrandmas42 - 07-02-2019

Vivian is one of the best sec officers I've had the pleasure to play with. They know the role thoroughly and are always helpful to new sec officers. They absolutely deserve the beret.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - UrsulaMejor - 07-02-2019

Vivian Weaver is high quality. I can't remember a bad experience with them as sec

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Zamujasa - 07-02-2019

My main experience with Vivian Weaver was where we went to Meat Station and, after a clusterfuck of problems, made it to the end, at which they promptly shot me point blank with a radbow and said "thanks for helping me recover this" (cheget) and left me for dead. Turns out they were a traitor the whole time. Welp.

The other experiences have been generally pleasant and observing their work in Sec roles shows they have good judgement, so a big ol thumbs up from my irradiated corpse.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - OMJ - 07-02-2019

yes absolutely

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - WhatATerribleUserName - 07-02-2019

I've had a lot of good experiences with Vivian. She's an incredibly good officer and absolutely deserves the beret.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Tewf - 07-02-2019

Absolutely 100% yes, one of the best sec players I see on consistently , and i can recall numerous fun times with them, as well as times being robusted and arrested. Not a single bad memory comes to mind, and I've never seen them do anything that wouldn't make we want to beret them right away. +1

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Firebarrage - 07-03-2019

Ive done sec with Vivian a lot. Good officer. Have a hat. +1

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Lady Birb - 07-06-2019

Having played some rounds after returning from my break, I can confirm Vivian is a good noodle and should be given beret privileges.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - pumacatrun2 - 07-06-2019

Believe I've played with them a good handful of times but just last night had a fluke ops session where they were very helpful both to me as somebody who's only played it a few times and sucks at it and as a team player as a whole. Recommended.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Rodney Dick - 07-07-2019

Vivian is robust, communicative and knows how to make a round fun, would recommend.

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - Maven - 07-08-2019

Vivian is definitely worthy of being HoS. Robust, competent, yet also pleasant to speak with. I've never had a negative interaction with them that left a lasting impression on me, but I've had numerous positive ones. I was the Zoldorf wizard she put on trial!

RE: Vivian Weaver's HOS Application - TDHooligan - 07-08-2019

I can only really reiterate what everyone else has said. Yes.