So here I am

[Lerxst]

Should I treat this like an AA meeting? Hi I'm <insert name here> and I've been a SS13 player since....

Oh... me?

I grew in the age of the movie that the "Would You Like To Play A Game?" quote originated from. My first RPGs were AD&D and Shadowrun. My first Computer RPG was... Kings Quest? And my first MMO was spending 4 years playing various MUDs in the mid-90's... followed by UO.

So... yeah... I've been at this for a while now and no stranger to low rez, text base games. Probably the reason SS13 seems up my alley.

Actually, I'm a total newb to SS13. Saw a few vids years ago, watched the play throughs and thought the game was awesome sounding. Tried loading up a few times and blew myself out of an airlock twice, got slaughtered like that poor guy whose pod opens up in the middle of that mutant chase scene in Pandorum, finally spawned in as an assistant, had a seizure, passed out, woke up in med bay just before a plasma bomb blew it into a yellow goo.

That was my first attempt at SS13 a couple years back. But I was just proud of myself for figuring out how to light a cigar at that point.

Been watching Tex and BlackPantsLegion for a while now and thought I'd get back into the game.

Started up my private servers for a while to get the controls down. Figured out how to so some basics of the basic jobs (janitor, barkeep, some botany and cooking). And experimented with doing stupid shit on my own private station so as not to piss anyone off... like feeding the little pyro in me by playing the "How many items are flammable?" game. Also getting used to some of the Admin commands/features thanks to that, as a side effect.

Been getting my hands dirty in real time for the past week, when I have time. And, thanks to the above-mentioned person/channel, figured I'd stop in here and give y'all a try.

I want to learn the game better and hear that you guys are the group to look to. Anyone mind telling me where to start?

[Technature]

Welcome to the station, happy to have more people.

My recommendation is just get in and play.  It's difficult to gauge how to act if you don't know too much as to how people act.  We're always happy to teach people how to get into the game.  Start with unimportant jobs, the ones where it's not a big deal if you don't know what you're doing (like the Janitor, Chef, Bartender, Chaplain, Hydroponics, Assistant) and try something new every so often.  The Wiki for the server is always there if you have questions and it's pretty good at explaining things most of the time.

We also have Mentorhelp (which can be accessed with F3) if you want to ask any questions.  If people are being shit like killing you, feel free to admin help it (F1).  I recommend doing it til you can figure out when people are being legitimate bad guys and when they're just being shit (Bad Guys won't get in trouble for killing or otherwise ruining the game for people cause it's part of what they're supposed to do, so feel free to be liberal with it til you know).

And like with any server, take a look at the rules so you know what's okay and what's shitlery.  They're always shown on the server starting proper, but here you go anyway.  All that being said, I find the rules pretty lenient, but look into em anyway.

Welcome to the game and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

[Vitatroll]

I spend most of my time running around naked, looking for a way to die.

Goon is pretty lax. Not 'burn everything asunder as a non-antag' lax, but certainly 'whacky assholes pre-approved' lax. Little pressure to do your job, but appreciation for a job done well. The only job people oft get (overly) miffy over is sec, which is why I recommend avoiding those jobs for a month or so. Silicons can also generate miff, but that's usually due to not following set laws.

So, my suggestions are to:
- Avoid playing Sec for a while unless you want to grab someone (HoS would be safe) to show you the ropes.
- Avoid playing Silicons (especially AI) if you have trouble interpreting laws.
- Don't be afraid to ask questions. Of coworkers. Of mentorhelp. Most of our players love to answer questions for some reason.
- Don't be overly concerned with doing a great job. Aside from the jobs I've mentioned, you won't get much flack for just getting drunk in the bar all round. Even as Captain. If you enjoy doing a great job, then by all means, but it's not like we flog the failures. Hell, oftentimes we award spectacular failure with more applause than great work.

Also, yesss. Another person for the internet old people club. Hope you find your niche here.

[babayetu83]

DOING EVERYTHING I CAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lX3YG9p-_A

[PH77SER]

to be honest just jump in lljk us 2, theres very few ways to piss people off by being bad at your job (minus medical) and a lot of people are happy to help in general

i'd advise going scientist and fucking around a bit with what you want, telescience if you wanna be robust or toxins for boomy potential and engineer training

also "hard" jobs like captain aren't really that hard, because in the end yiu are an assistant with all access free to do whatever you want, just that everyone wants you dead

welcome back

[Frank_Stein]

DOING EVERYTHING I CAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lX3YG9p-_A

Exactly what I was thinking

[Wraithcraft]

my best advice for you is to take breaks. if you dont youll get burned out really quickly and left in this strange in-between of wanting to play this game that makes you bored all the time.

also asswiches

[The Grim Sleeper]

Beyond all the good advice given above (especially Mentor-help, thank you gentle Mentors), for a good start on how to just move and interact:

Hotkeys covers the basics. But for the advanced controls, the best source is the forum thread Tips N' Tricks & Little things you learned that are game changing. It has many functions like 'how to load a crate', how to 'not get swarmed by angry monkeys test-subjects' and this gem:

Click dragging to open containers was probably the most fundamentally game changing that I learned when I started playing this game again. That, and the auto-equip button. They're still two things I try to tell new players about whenever I encounter them, though they're hard to describe by text.

Other fundamental new-player control tips like that:

-You can move objects that you're pulling by clicking on a ground tile, this can allow to get out of situations where you accidentally trap yourself. Similarly, you can move over crates by click-dragging yourself over them.

-If you're in a scrolling list (Such as the ghost observe list, the AI track list, or a the wizard teleport list), pressing a key will take you to the first entry with the same first letter as that key. Pressing again takes you to the second entry, and so on.

It is also very much appreciated that when you fail to find something on the wiki, that you add it to the wiki, even if it's just as a steaming pile of blattering.

[Superlagg]

Speaking of pulling, you can pull *yourself* to a tile, just like any other object. While it's kinda slow, moving you at the same speed as you'd pull-click anything else, it allows you to ignore certain movement restrictions, such as missing limbs, confusion, or even space. Next time all of your limbs fall off or you find yourself stuck in space, try pulling yourself to an adjacent tile. Fun!

Also, you can click-drag things into lockers and crates. It'll even open and close it for you! Great if your trash cart gets too full to close without pixel hunting. It even works on people, including yourself! It also doesn't seem to check if the thing you're dragging into the locker can actually reach it; as long as you, the dragger, are next to the locker (diagonals count), whatever you drag into it will go in. Try this out with the RD's locker! Just go into Telesci, smash the bottom window to their office, then drag yourself into their locker. Fun!

[Vitatroll]

DOING EVERYTHING I CAN

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lX3YG9p-_A

Exactly what I was thinking

Funny. First thing I thought of was this.

Sleep deprivation, ho!