A Head of Security, and how they can never do their job

[Frank_Stein]

Eh, I had a round recently where me and another traitor came right out the gate rampaging. Now, I'm not great at rampages and don't really care for trying to kill everyone because it makes for a boring round. However I had already played a few rounds and was ready to quit so I was just like "I'll just c-saber some dudes in the bar and see what happens."

I was able to take out the HoS because he was distracted by another traitor, and would have stole his hat and tossed it to the clown, but then got killed by my own incompetence when I slipped and dropped my sword and got murdered by vigilantes. After that, I watched some other traitors do their rampage thing. Eventually, the HoS was cloned, downed the traitor, then deliberately spaced him, saying it was his right.

Later, I was cloned and kind of just went around to get my old clothes and junk that was still by Sec. I saw the HoS through the glass, and waved to him. He then came out, stunned me, beat me unconscious, stripped me, then took me to the airlock above bridge and threw me into space.


Now, I'm not really upset or anything about it. I wouldn't have gone out and done a rampage if I had planned to stick around very long during that round because I know I'm terrible at combat and I was a traitor. However, I do think that was kind of shitty behavior for a HoS, even if I had killed him earlier. When he came out and stunned me, I was being non-aggressive at that point and had nothing on me that could be considered a weapon, and we were right near Sec. They easily could have brigged me or had a trial or came up with a silly punishment like making me the clown's butler, they just seemed more determined to "win" the game and permanently take out all the traitors.

I just feel there is a fine line between a HoS who takes the game seriously, and those that ruin the game with an attitude of winning the game that's just as bad as the people who murder the entire crew and escape on the shuttle alive.

[UrsulaMejor]

There's a healthy middleground between ultrashit supercop turbotraitorkiller (that's the HoP's job) and faffing about being a complete bafoon as an assistant with all access (that's the captain's job), but ultimately, you're a HoS because the players trusted you to find that middle ground out for yourself and set an example for other players

[Ed Venture]

There's a healthy middleground between ultrashit supercop turbotraitorkiller (that's the HoP's job) and faffing about being a complete bafoon as an assistant with all access (that's the captain's job), but ultimately, you're a HoS because the players trusted you to find that middle ground out for yourself and set an example for other players

I agree a balance between the two is the best way to go about it.

[Dauntasa]

HoSes need to keep security focused and in line and do their best to make sure things run smoothly, without being the Fun Police.

This is usually easier said than done considering that the entire purpose of the various bad guys is to do the exact opposite of this, so the fact that there are many different opinions on how to go about it does not surprise me.

[BaneOfGiygas]

Something else worth mentioning is that the level of communication security officers tend to have with each other is...disheartening, to say the least. Every now and then, when I decide to pick up Detective (the only Security role I tend to play as due to being an unrobust loser), I match occasional pitches into the security frequency to ask the officers what's up. In a good portion of instances, I hear absolutely nothing from a good portion of the officers in the security frequency, or even from the NORMAL radio frequencies. This has been rather troubling, and it's a bit hard to be able to trust Security Officers when they're being dead silent.

I think that something that contributes to this is the fact that the maximum capacity for Security Officers is rather high. As a result of this, unless there's a surge of people playing Security for some reason or another, the vast majority of latejoiners have Security Officer as an option, and as compared to stuff like Botanist or Quartermaster, a lot of people are going to leap at the chance to be an Officer if only because it's the most immediately appealing of all of the presented options. This is veering into my own opinion, and it's an opinion backed up by little actual security experience and thus can be taken with as much table salt as desired, but I think that the security force of SS13 should be smaller but more focused as opposed to the widespread, scattered ragtag group of dudes in red jumpsuits that I've observed.

[Sundance]

Happy Annual Security Thread

First of all i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I play HoS alot. Probably grossly so.

I agree with the idea of balance. See the thing is about being a HoS is that you have a lot of control. What you do with that isn't entirely up to your discretion, within the rules of course. The point i'm trying to make is that you have what most people dont.
Such as:
A) Guns and Access.
You have the ability to get tons of different guns. The armory has two different kinds, and pod weaponry too. You also have qm access which allows you to get those sec crates. What many don't expect with guns is that while, yeah different ways to kill/stun a guy, it's also a significant gift you can give to another. Giving a gun to another player, whether it be security/civilian that has helped your ass/the tormented clown, is that it places an amount of trust in the player. It's a guy that has your back and more often than not that guy will nab a traitor for you but still respect your orders and not kill them if requested.

B) Robustness.
Now while robustness may vary, its a true fact that the shit you have access to will factor in it. Some may have mastered the art of chair flipping. Others may know how to actually effectively use a flash. You might have damn good aim (I don't). All Hos's I find have different load-outs and tactics of kicking butt which is great but it's not the level of robustness that will earn the respect of the crew. Sometimes mercy is key. It's not that big a deal to clone a traitor. Show that you are the law and that you'll see that this man has his day in court.

The link between A and B is that you're the godamn Head of Security but you still gotta earn your respect. Playing a gimmick is fun and sometimes being a turbocop is necessary but if you're laying in an open hallway and people are walking over your corpse then you've done something wrong, bar the fact that your dead of course.
With respect, a hos can do alot of things, have a tight control of certain aspects such as keeping security secure or having a reliable doc/genetist/etc. The clown can be a useful ally if you know how to communicate with the beast as is the dangerously stupid staff assistant.

I find respect comes from how much fun you can put into a game. Fun can be measured by death. More dead people = less fun. Sometimes that includes antagonists. A pretense really, but antagonists are the whole point of your very existence on the station then it would probably better to keep the alive. Use your head.

[Grayshift]

Fun seems the operative word here. The HoS is a whitelisted job; choosing to be the HoS implies a degree of responsibility toward encouraging fun not just for yourself, but for everyone in the round. This means putting some intelligent pressure on antags, and keeping shitsec in line.

I've been playing a lot of sec lately, considering applying for a Head of Suffering beret myself. My attitude is that I should meet like with like. If someone is out to openly rampage, that's the game they've chosen and that's the game I'll play with them - who can robust who first. If someone is stealthily murdering I'll put on my detective hat, whip out the forensic scanner and have a go at tracking them. But when people start talking over the radio, hamming it up and playing gimmicks, my leeway suddenly shoots sky high. Let's get the mad bomber some psychological counseling. They're being fun, I want to be fun in return. For the silent murdering types, if I catch them it's time to play my game, provided I'm not being called for a dozen different emergencies all at once. A courtroom drama, a trial by escape pod, feeding ??? pills, taking a limb or three, or just plain swirlies.