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Hi. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a Space Station inhabitant of...about a month and a half now, and I'm starting to get the hang of this whole 2D spacemen thing. I have a solid repertoire of science, I understand the basic workings of engineering (though I still have no idea how to work the engine, should work on that), I know how to effectively play AI and have a vague understanding of security functions, I have a few solid antagonist rounds under my belt, and it's safe to say that I've had experience in just about every major job. (Again, save for the mechanics and engineers and such.)
But that's all been on servers 1-3. There's been a great, looming presence, a dark cloud enveloping the land of 2D spacemen, every bit as brilliant as it is terrible...
And that's LLJK EU 4.
I feel like that server is an obstacle that must be tackled in order for me to cement my status as a pretty decent 2D spaceman, but I feel greatly intimidated by the quintupled player count and density of shenanigans. I also get the feeling that it's a very different style of play as compared to the lower-pop servers, and I'd like to know just what I'm going to dip my head into, here. As a result, I'm tossing my fishing net here and asking more experienced 2D spacemen for guidelines, tips, and any notable distinctions between the idyllic land I have spent my time thus far in, and that ominous black cloud in the distance.
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In the simplest terms I can muster
1. Don't take anything seriously
2. Expect to die at any moment and embrace it
that's basically it, there's no big secret to high-population rounds
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Also if you're gonna be annoyed/mad about something, try to get over it before the round ends.
Round grudges are dumb and they're not productive. All that time you were angry about the dude who farts on you, you could be doing something cool.
Also take whatever survival skills you learned from other rounds, and apply it to 4.
Just try to do it as quickly as possible.
A good thing to know is where all the medkits are spawned. Even if somebody uses one medkit in one area, you can inject yourself with epinephrine/ that red pill and just find the next one.
Learn the station map because detours do happen, like when somebody blows up bar. The left maintenance hall is practically there for that reason.
Also carry a set of tools whenever you think you'll need them. Door hacking is a good skill to learn but sometimes it's just easier tearing a wall down in the right spot.
Glass shards are something you probably won't need to carry unless you plan on breaking and entering. In which they're surprisingly useful, because you don't get electrocuted on grilles when you use a shard.
A super heated fire extinguisher is a deadly weapon, but it can also be deadly for you, same with flamethrowers.
Zip guns are only as effective as the availability of ammo. Also they can explode in your hand. Actually most of the home made weapons can backfire.
Also cigarettes may give you an addiction, but they also make you a little stun resistant, which might count for something when you're in crit and need to find a medkit.
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If you see a limbless burning man trying to slowly crawl to medbay, be sure to fart on him and go about with your business.
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Look out, it's a wall of text!
Steal medbay's Reserve Tanks of Styptic and Silver Sulf, those bastards never use it anyways, and it's essentially ten quick burn heals and ten quick brute heals that fit in your pockets. With a little extra effort you can turn 100 units of Styptic Powder to 300 units of Synthflesh, a burn AND brute healing chem, relatively quickly.
Helping people is a quick way of making connections, even if they're non-verbal connections. Just like some people hold grudges, a lot of people will remember that time you found them dying in the hallway and decided to patch them up and take them to medbay.
If you're bad at fighting you're bad at fighting. Set yourself to disarm intent and run away if you don't wanna fight. Medbay and bar are good places to run to, as antags will frequently avoid going to big crowded areas if they're not going full-rampage mode.
If someone isn't wearing a helmet or mask the most robust thing you can do to them is choke them. Instant KO, oxygen damage over time, they can't call for help. You can use this to escape an attacker, or flat-out kill an attacker, but killing someone you're not 100% certain is out for your blood is a bad idea, and it's quite often better to run off and let sec deal with it.
Rob the shit out of anything and everything when you feel like it. Avoid robbing people directly, as that's rude, but if you want a space suit and jetpack then god damn smash the windows and bust the table and take it.
The two most robust tools around: welder and crowbar. Easily smash through windows, grilles, dismantle normal walls, open firelocks, open de-powered airlocks, along with welding doors closed, and the welder, when lit with fuel, does high amounts of burn damage and some brute.
Spend a shit ton of time as Medical Doctor. Learn how to use every single tool and medicine. You will never need a lazy good for nothing doctor again.
If you have too much oxy damage or are in cardiac arrest you can use CPR on yourself by clicking yourself with help intent. If your only issue is oxy damage you can essentially exist in a vacuum for as long as you keep CPRing yourself.
Robust-Eez is cheap and contains meth. You can put meth into hyposprays, which are essentially instant-inject syringes that can inject 30 units of something in a single injection if you set it to do so. Figure it out from there.
Be as nice as you possibly can to the cyborgs and the AI. Not only will they be more likely to open doors and containers for you, but when they inevitably gain free-will they might spare your life.
Unless someone is a total prick be nice to everyone to the best of your ability. This goes back to the whole "Help people and get connections" thing.
Flashes are a pretty powerful stun tool and are easy to get your hands on. Robotics has a shit ton of them and they don't really care if you take some. Click the flash itself to cause a blinding flash of light to all within view or click someone next to you with it to blind them and stun them. Doesn't work against those with sunglasses or welding masks.
Space will fuck you over quickly, but retreating to the cat-walks at the center of the station will help you escape almost all danger, except maybe lings and syndies.
Disposals chutes are your friends, as they're an easy way to get the hell out of wherever you are fast, just be prepared for crushers if you don't get up fast enough.
Even more effective than both of those is belt hell. Belt hell will put you in the clear if pretty much anything and everything that wants you dead. However, it's not advised to go into belt hell without internals and some sort of space suit.
This is all stuff I've learned in my 7 months playing.
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If you run into someone else in a maintenance tunnel or the catwalks in space, 90% of the time they're a ling. 70% of the time you will not have time to realize this before they've floored your ass and have absorbed the shit out of you.
Okay, maybe I should qualify that a bit. If you run into someone in space or in maintenance who doesn't immediately keep going wherever the hell they were going, or if they pause just for a moment, they're almost assuredly a ling. This isn't enough reason to kill them but it's damn good reason enough to get away from them. Not that it'll help.
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Here's a few basic tips I can think of off the top of my head:
1) RUN! 99% of the time your opponent will be more robust than you. This goes double if your assailant is armed with anything. Remember that the disarm intent has a chance to block attacks, so using this try to get as much distance as possible and call for backup. Remember that not all enemies have the same access as you, so if you can retreat to your office you should be fine. Lockers and plants are also valid hiding spots. Most baddies work best in 1 on 1 combat, not so much against The Grey Tide.
2) Internals, internals, internals. If you're playing a TRUE round of SS13, half of the hull will be gone before the round is over and the rest of the station will be flooded with Plasma. When you arrive on the station, always pop open the box in your inventory and put on your emergency mask. If you don't have an emergency tank, check the O2 lockers in the shuttle; odds are no one has looted them yet. If you set the release pressure to about 17, you will be able to breathe for a reasonable amount of time, so keep your internals off until that red 02 warning flashes in your HUD!
3) Play dress up! Never underestimate the defensive power of a good hat or suit. Even the shitty wool cap in the crew module offers a minuscule bit of defense against attacks! Grab sunglasses to protect against flashes, a biosuit for protection, and a space suit if you can find one. A gasmask will be much more effective than the emergency mask you get in the beginning, too. Wearing a bunch of stuff also makes it harder for your would-be assailants to determine what you can defend against. Any defense is a good defense!
4) Space is bad. Very bad. Standing on a space tile will slowly freeze you to death and reduce your movement speed dramatically. It's also a given that if someone knocks you unconscious in a vaccum, you're pretty much gone. Stay away from space tiles unless you have protection, and if you have no choice, always be ready with your internals. Suffocation is gonna hurt you a lot more than burn damage will. If you're spaced, take advantage of physics(?) and throw objects in the opposite direction of safety. With luck, you will slow down and might even float back to the station!
5) Communicate. I've lost track of how many times I hear help plees im dieingk over the radio with no context. You don't need to write a monologue, but try to give an approximate location of your altercation when crying for help. A decent AI can usually pinpoint for you, but often it will be too busy dealing with the fire in Medbay or something else, so be concise! Your chances of rescue may also improve if you mention who or what is killing you. Saying Wizard in Genetics! or Paul Donkus is hitting me with a cyalume in bar will be more effective at organizing the crew into a bloodthirsty mob. When all else fails (READ: your attacker removes your headset) remember you can use your PDA. It's a bit trickier, but if your assailant is taking his/her time, your PDA could save the day.
6) Don't be a jerk. If you maintain friendliness with your crewmen, chances are they will be more likely to revive/rescue you when the poop hits the fan. Make an effort to engage in the round if you can; the silent mechanic camping in the Electronics wing probably won't be missed as much as say, the chill Botanist who keeps throwing Rainbow Weed at everyone and talks in Bob Marley lyrics the whole round. You don't need a gimmick, of course, just make sure the crew knows you exist.
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The most important thing IMO is to train your reflexes. You often have a few seconds before a traitor manages to knock you out when he attacks you, in these seconds you either have to run to the nearest public area or quickly send a help message over the radio.
In general I would always run first and shoot back later. If they have a gun the shot might be dodged, wizard spells and lingspit don't travel too fast to outrun.
Also I disagree that breaking in everywhere and robbing what you can is fine, you almost always have an AI that can open doors for you and usually will do that. If someone's in the room you're breaking into, ask them for what you need first. And if they deny you and you break in, don't be surprised to get beaten up and robbed for your trouble.
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UmmonTL Wrote:The most important thing IMO is to train your reflexes. You often have a few seconds before a traitor manages to knock you out when he attacks you, in these seconds you either have to run to the nearest public area or quickly send a help message over the radio.
In general I would always run first and shoot back later. If they have a gun the shot might be dodged, wizard spells and lingspit don't travel too fast to outrun.
Also I disagree that breaking in everywhere and robbing what you can is fine, you almost always have an AI that can open doors for you and usually will do that. If someone's in the room you're breaking into, ask them for what you need first. And if they deny you and you break in, don't be surprised to get beaten up and robbed for your trouble.
Yea, I'd agree with this. It may be easy to break in somewhere if there's a lack of Security in the round, but you're probably going to get robusted or snapped at if you forcibly break into someone's office. I personally become annoyed as heck when people crowd into Robotics like it's a damn Quiznos, especially when they want to steal flashes and stuff. Damage to the station is still breaking Space Law, so be careful with what you loot!
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BYOND Username: Zafh
Character Name: Reset Naywalk / ASCII-(Something)
There's already plenty of advise here on what you can do to survive via actions, but a large part of surviving relies on your situational awareness and instincts.
Try to recognize a disguise when you see one. Remember seeing co-worker A with long brown hair at the start of the shift? If he/she returns in a gas mask with a big ass yellow afro, they're probably not who they appear to be anymore. A security officer without a security headset should be treated with suspicion, and you should think twice before approaching unknown individuals with no ID on display. (outlandish garb mixes among the crew are quite common, use what your gut tells you!)
Be aware of your surroundings. See someone lingering back and forth around an area repeatedly without communicating at all? They're probably looking for an opportunity to rush into somewhere they don't have access, or secretly nail someone with a radbow or sleepypen when they think no one's looking. They might even be waiting for their targets to pay attention to something else before pulling out guns or a cyalume for a quick kill. It's probably the best that you don't stand directly beside suspicious individuals, and be ready to make fight or flight if necessary.
Try to not be a jerk. You'll be surprised at the number of times you might have been spared by the people you didn't know were antags due to your actions. Helped them up when they got hit by a random segway in the hallway? Dragged them away from blast craters from a massive bomb? Welcomed the guy to use your chem dispensers in the bar without a shotgun to their face? Small little deeds can sometimes go a long way.
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The number one rule is this: mind your own business. Seriously. Ling absorbing a guy in a maint tunnel? Leave and don't say anything. Traitor shooting up the bar? Walk away. Just last night I had 3 wizards leave me alone on an escape shuttle because I left them alone and just huffed my weed.
Next, recognize threats. A guy running towards you and pushing you with harm intent is trying to hit you. Someone following you is bad news. Run away in a confusing manner. For example, if you're running towards the market, take a left turn to the merchant dock area. Chances are they'll go straight down to medbay. Hide in a locker, run in maint... confuse them.
That's really ALL you need to survive in general. Knowing how to run and hide.
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One of the ways to deal with lag when fighting people is to punch them as they try to walk through a door. The door slows them down so they will always be wherever they were when you clicked on them (if that makes sense.)
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BYOND Username: Erev
Most of what has been said above, especially the 'be helpful' bit. Don't always ignore an tags but DO pick your battles wisely. And hiding in therl right kind of bushes is very much a viable tactic 9/10. Also when hiding (and other times too) know that your orientation can affect your visibility. Oh, yes, and when wearing something that covers your face you will show as UNKNOWN (same for if your face melts off). If you have an ID on it'll show that ID's name instead... be it your own or another's. That said, if you talk it'll use tour voice showing you as Yourself (as suchandsuxh) when talking face to face. Talking on the radio will only show your name. Unless you have a voice changer of course....
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In gonna condense this whole thread.
Be paranoid as fuck. Trust no one. Also take a shit ton of drugs so you can't be stunned.
ALSO also, establish your dominance over your coworkers by pushing them over and farting on them. Don't hurt them, just gas them with your behind. They will know you are top dog. Until someone does the same to you, then they are the dominate scientist/QM/Botanist/engineer, so keep your guard up.
Also also also. Most accessible and deadly weapon for your protection is the fire extinguisher. Keep one at all times so you can beat the ever loving SHIT out of that wizard that just tried, and failed to fireball you and ended up stunning himself. Seriously, fuck that guy. Rude ass magic man.
Also also also also. If someone is being truly shit and just being a massive jerk, give that nerd a swirly.
Also also also also also. Don't take anything personally. Got killed by a traitor with a derringer? Thems the breaks. Got eatin by a changeling 2 minutes in? Happens to us all at some point or another. Got blown up because your coworker was a complete and utter imbisol and opened the valve on a bomb? Laugh like crazy because goddamn is thats funny.
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