User:Chatauscours/Security Tips

Prelude

This is intended to be something of a part guide, part list of all of the tips, tricks, advice and protocols I can offer to any new and not so new security players, captains and HoSii. I ask you not to edit this page without my permission, but feel free to ping me or DM me on Discord if you have any suggestions or comments: chatauscours

This is also in no way an official guide endorsed by admins, this is just a list of what me, a somewhat tipsy and tired HOS main for the past couple of years has to share with people. Anyone citing this guide as official or using it as justification to do or not do something rulebreaking will not be taken seriously. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Keep in mind that I am an RP player, so some of what I will write here will apply only to RP servers.

I hope this page helps you in your security adventures, and good reading!

-Chatauscours

Generalities

The less fun

• DO NOT METAGAME Don't use slang terms like "ling" on RP. On RP, make sure to give antags a chance and don't arrest people at the slightest doubt or with info based on meta knowledge. Goes particularly for changelings.
• On RP, always try to talk to the suspect first. The exception to this is if they have already started shooting or if they are on a wordless rampage or have otherwise made it clear that they are not inclined to talk. If you talk to the guy, it will be more fun for them, and for you, trust me.
• Try to bring in the person alive to the best of your ability (unless it's a game ending antag, like nukies).
• Only search people in secure areas (checkpoint, mainsec) unless there's a VERY good reason not to (like they have a bomb that will explode before you get to the checkpoint).
• Avoid patrolling maints unless necessary. If you stop all crime before it's even happening, there will be no crime to stop, and that will be a very boring round for you, and everyone else!
• Avoid unholstering your baton/gun unless you're sure you're going to use it. It's very easy to knock it out of your hands (chairslams, banana peels) and beat you with it.
• Never remove someone's headset, unless they spam profanities on comms (and then you should probably ahelp too), or if that headset has access to a channel that the person shouldn't have access too. In the latter case, provide them with a new headset ASAP.
• If someone is being an ass to you in OOC/LOOC, or if they are threatening to ahelp you, ahelp them.

The more fun

• Using the flash in hand (C while holding it) is a very good option for slowing down people without eye protection (sunglasses, sechuds) to hit them properly with the baton or a directed flash.
• Most of the security guns have a secondary mode that you activate by using the gun in hand.
• You can ticket anything for any reason, including objects. Have fun with it!
• If you use the forensic scanner in hand, you can tie blood DNA and fingerprints to a name on the spot!
• You have 2 VERY good scanners in your PDA. The forensic scanner that can work as a normal forensic scanner, and the secmate scanner, that will allow you to pull up anyone's full record on the spot by scanning them.
• If someone is executed, remember to check cloning for a potential scan.
• In the security podbay there are gravbeam modules that can be installed a pod. If someone is fleeing without a jetpack through space, the gravbeam can be activated on the person stopping them dead in their tracks and slowly pulling them towards the pod. If you move with the pod while tracking someone, they will move simultaneously.
• The baton can release sparks that stun people on a distance if you click far away while on disarm or harm intent.
• The barrier can create a bullet reflecting wall if you click far away while on disarm or harm intent.

By threat

Crewmembers

• Crew will sometimes fight, harass or otherwise mess with eachother. Usually the best course of action against not too harmful and unwelcome crew conduct is:

1. A verbal warning or a ticket. If there are two people arguing, telling one person to go west and the other to go east and to avoid meeting up again usually works as well if they are in different departments.
2. 30 seconds of brig
3. From there usually following normal escalation is best, but usually by the time a third warning might be needed, the round ends.

• Any openly syndicate attires (satchel, space suit) should be confiscated if any crew is spotted with them. If the person is refusing to hand over the clothing peacefully, you can always remind them that they are wearing attire that could land them an arrest for treason with life in NT prisons. If they still refuse: arrest, confiscate, 30 seconds of brig or ticket/fine, release. The exception to this might be gimmicky items like boom boots or evil syndicate hats.

• Actually harmful stuff should be punished accordingly, but if whatever happened was an accident (ex: artlab exploding) i would heavily recommend not giving any punishment at all, because well, happy accidents are just part of the game.

• Attempted bombing of a public area, attempting to steal from the armoury, or trying to upload a harmful law, should be met with a 5 minute brig sentence or execution, depending on the circumstances and past record of the person. Those three things are probably the most harmful stuff you can do in this game, so act accordingly.

Traitors, Spiefs and Sleepers

• Avoid taking or searching their PDAs, both antags REALLY rely on the PDAs, and losing access to them is really a bummer.
• If the person is openly treasonous, like they talk on general comms with a syndicate headset, chat with them a little bit, it's fun!
• If you see someone jittering a lot during a fight, there's a chance they are either on stims. Fighting someone who is on stims is pointless, they have absurd amounts of regeneration for multiple minutes. The only way to counter stims is haloperidol. The MD has a rifle with 4 rounds, and there's 2 rifles with spare mags in the armoury. If you do not have access to haloperidol, try to somehow wait out the effect on the stims: have the person bolted in, or just run circles around them.
• Be careful when fighting someone armed with a c saber: they can deflect any projectiles right back at you.
• If you notice that your radio communications are not coming through, it's possible that there's a radio jammer nearby. Death implants and PDA alerts get jammed as well.
• Saxitoxin is a certain death if you're not wearing a full biosuit, so don't even try going through without one.
• Those three antags gameplay will often vary by job, so keep in mind which job has what tools and has access to what. It's way more probable than a roboticist is roguing borgs than a janitor.
• If you think someone cloaked in your vicinity, using your flash in hand will disrupt cloakers around you.
• If your PDA explodes randomly after getting a message from a bogus name, someone is sending out mailbombs using their PDA. Warn your fellow security and crew ASAP about it, and turn off messaging to avoid getting your PDA blown up. Once the threat has passed, remember to turn messaging back on, or you won't recieve death alerts of other officers.

Rogue AI/Borgs

Your absolute priority here is to find out what exactly caused the AI/Borgs to go rogue, and which sillicons are afflicted

• The most likely scenario is that all of the silicons are afflicted. It is usually an AI lawrack issue.
• The second most likely scenario is that only some borgs are affected, and the affected borgs are sparkling. It means they are emmaged and have no laws at all. They can be friendly, or not.
• If only some borgs are afflicted, but none of the borgs are sparkling, then it is usually a traitor roboticist creating rogue borgs. Those borgs are permanently linked to a syndicate lawrack and will obey commands of traitors.

The second step is to fix the mess

• In general :
  • Deputised heads of staff prove particularly useful in dealing with rogue sillicons due to their access to the robotics console, AI lawrack and AI core.
  • A head of staff (or anyone with their ID) can also use the robotic controls console located in the core to remotely shutdown any cyborg or AI. This should be a last resort, used only if the borg/AI is otherwise unnataineable as people heavily dislike when remote shutdowns are used.
  • You can use flashes to stun a borg a while. The area flash is especially good against crowds of borgs, works better than on humans, can actually stun them for a while in this mode.
  • If you cough a couple times in a row in a location, the borgs may have flooded it with CO2. Turn up your internals ASAP or you will die helplessly. With your PDA, you can check the atmosphere AFTER you turned on your internals.
  • If you see white gas, it's N2O. Internals on ASAP, or you will get permastunned.
  • If you see purple gas, it's plasma. Avoid any sparks or die burning. The quick emergency solution here is to break a window into space. The plasmafire will die out quickly. Do not do this with CO2 or N2O, they are way less of a threat and can be dealt by engineering with gas scrubbers after the threat has passed.

• If the issue lies in the lawrack:
  • Deputise a command member and an engineer (or bring tools, but it's better to have an engineer or CE) and head to the lawrack.
  • It can happen that the silicons are guarding the law rack, feel free to flash them, or destroy them if they are particularly harmful.
  • It can happen that silicons barricade the law rack or wall it off. Ideally, RCDs should be used to cut through the walls. The CE has an RCD and there is one in EVA. If both are unattainable, the breaching charges in the armoury can be used to quickly destroy the reinforcements.
  • Doors will usually be electrified. An engineer or a pair of insuls are a saviour in this situation. If all else fails, the airlock breaching hammer from the armoury can quickly dispose of any airlock that has been bolted and/or electrified.
  • If turrets are set to lethal, either spamclick the turret controls to off if you have access to them, or use your barrier's reflecting wall to send lasers back at the turrets killing them.
  • If it's an ion law (one of the modules is corrupted), pull it out and poke it with a multitool to fix it. If it is a deliberately uploaded law, pull the law out and do forensics.
  • If the law rack is gone, the CE has in their locker a manudrive (disk) that if inserted into a fabricator allows you to print a new lawrack. You will also need a new set of azimov laws from a robotic fabricator.
  • If the manudrive is gone, attempt to negotiate a truce with the silicons on the terms that the silicons will not be killed as long as they do not harm anyone. Negotiations should mostly be conducted with the AI, if one is available. Make sure the crew and silicons are informed of the developments using public announcements.
  • If truce is unachievable, or if a part of the silicons refuse it, use a mix of flashes, harmbatons and pulse rifles set to EMP from the armoury to eliminate all non compliant silicons. To the best of your ability, avoid killing silicons who support a truce and abide by it, and make sure the crew and silicons are aware of it.

• If the issue lies in an EMAG:
  • Find the source of the EMAG.
  • A confirmed friendly silicon can point out whether another silicon is connected to the same lawrack as them or not.
  • The cyborgs that do not harm the crew even when EMAGed may be left alone.
  • The cyborgs that do harm the crew can be subdued with flashes and deconstructed in robotics, or killed on the spot and their brain transported to robotics. Make sure that the EMAGed shell is destroyed or otherwise safely disposed of, so nobody uses it to create a new borg on accident.
  • If crew begins complaining about silicon deaths, try to appease the crew by publicly announcing that you are only targeting silicons that harm the crew.

• If the issue lies in syndicate shells:
  • A confirmed friendly silicon can point out whether another silicon is connected to the same lawrack as them or not.
  • Destroy any syndicate cyborgs and their shells. The brains of the silicon should ideally be transported to a trusted roboticist for a revival.
  • The person who caused the syndicate shells to appear should be punished accordingly.

Changelings

• It's easier and more fun to make someone admit to being a monster thank to conduct blood tests. However, if you absolutely need to check whether someone is or is not a changeling, you can extract their blood with a syringe, put it in some container and heat that container up by hitting it a few times with a few times with a lit welder or lighter. If the blood boils, that person is a changeling.
• To kill a changeling for sure, you must beat it a lot. It can enter a state of regeneration when it will show up as dead, but will revive itself in about a minute. Another way is to throw it in the crematorium or the grinder.
• Changelings are fully immune to space and atmospheric gases in general. Do not attempt to chase them in space without a space suit and jetpack or pod or you will die.
• Use pods with phasers and gravbeams against changelings that flee to space. Phasers will allow you to force the baddie into a regeneration state, and the grav beam will prevent them from escaping.
• Use the portabrig when transporting an aggressive changeling, as they can break handcuffs like paper.
• If someone got poisoned with capulettium, smelling salt ampoules are available at every public minimed and will completely neutralise the poison in seconds.
• If a changeling dies while it has more than 10 DNA points in storage, their head will pop off and become a headspider. This little bugger can click on anyone to essentially take full control of them and begin living as a changeling again. In theory, you have a little bit less than minute to rush yourself to medbay and get it cut out via surgery. In practice, if you are afflicted with this, suicide on the spot. If you see anyone get afflicted by this, baton them and either get a doctor to cut it out right there and then on the nearest table, or kill them on the spot, because you will NOT make it to surgery in time.
• NEVER EVER EVER EVER try to stun an abomination (aka a changeling in horror mode). You CANNOT stun them. Do not even try. Do not shoot them. Do not use your baton. The only thing you can do is drag people away from the abomination when it tries to swallow them. If you are absolutely determined to fight, use a flamethrower, flare launcher, or the welder's and zippo ligher's ranged attacks, as abominations cannot heal from fire. They can and will heal from any of the other attacks until they are out of abom mode, so do not try to use anything else on them. Either save other people, or burn the abom with fire, the only third option is death.