A Note About Roleplay:
Colonial Marines is a medium roleplay server with higher/more roleplay being greatly encouraged. "Medium" is loosely defined as being strict but not too strict. In other words, you should consider your character to be a separate entity from you as a player. Your character's actions and feelings in-game should be based solely on your character's experiences and not your own as the player. However, specifics such as Flavor Text, while also very encouraged, are not required. It is also encouraged (but not required as it is on other servers) to use roleplay dialogue before making split decisions such as using lethal force against another character. Finally, you are expected to follow the Roleplay Guidelines, as well as all the rules specific to your chosen job.
General Rules: (all players)
Rule 0 Admins (not Mentors or Mods) retain the authority to ignore the enforcement of specific rules at their discretion when they feel it is in the best interest of the current round, the server, or the player base at large. However, they are fully accountable for their actions when they exercise this privilege. Additionally, if an Admin says something is a rule or to do something a specific way and you disagree, FOLLOW WHAT THEY SAY AND MAKE A COMPLAINT ON THE FORUMS. If you don't want to make a complaint about it, make a discussion topic in general. Do not argue and disrupt the round. If you do argue excessively, you will receive a ban, or extension on your ban.
Rule 0.1 Rules function AS INTENDED. Just because you bend the wording of a rule into a pretzel and don't break the specific RAW (Rule As Written) does not mean you didn't break the RAI (Rule As Intended). Rules can be subject to interpretation and if a staff member that is a Mod or above believes you broke a rule as it is INTENDED to function, you can expect the same consequences. The decision of the staff at the time is LAW. If you have an issue with it, appeal the ban or create a discussion topic in general.
Rule 0.2 Follow the Roleplay Guidelines. Violations may result in administrative action.
Rule 0.3 VPN and Proxies are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN. If discovered, they will be blocked (along with the associated IP range). This may result in your home IP being blocked from the server if it's linked to a VPN or proxy during the investigation.
- Don't be a dick - "Dickish" and "harassing" behavior is not allowed. This includes all OOC forms of racism, homophobic slurs, and all other demeaning language to harass another player. Don't be a bully, don't be an asshole. This applies when interacting with staff as well. We are a volunteer server, and if you're a raging cockgoblin when talking to staff, expect a ban.
If you have a problem with the decision a staff member makes, respect their rank and do what they say, then submit a staff complaint. Arguing with a staff member will increase your punishment and any report you make AFTER arguing is much less likely to be taken seriously. At the same time, in-game characters have some "wiggle room". Occasionally being racist or being a dick to another player in-game is fine so long as it's not excessive and it doesn't result in character death (such as, refusing medical treatment leading to a death because you didn't like someone). However, yelling things like "YOU’RE A KIKE NIGGER FAG-O-TRON" will result in a ban.- Do not give SPOILERS - If it's a movie, TV show, or game that is LESS THAN A YEAR OLD and you give away spoilers, expect a ban. This is one of the most dickish things you can do.
- We are an ENGLISH ONLY server - Speaking other languages in OOC, LOOC, Deadchat, Admin Messages, Prays or any other method of out-of-game communication WILL result in being muted and ignored. Our staff only speaks english, so you are required to speak it when interacting with us. Within IC, there is a little bit of leeway. If you throw an occasional phrase or word from another language in, you are fine. However, conversations in other languages is a no-go. We follow the trope of "Everyone in the future speaks English", with a few exceptions for things like UPP.
- No advertising/recruiting - Do not post Byond:// links to other servers or games with the intention of luring players to said server or game. People are more than welcome to play on other servers, but we cannot allow advertising. Linking to another server to show a forum topic or anything harmless is fine, so long as you aren't advertising it. This also applies to Streaming, Twitch, Youtube, and other video services. Don't advertise them. If you REALLY want to advertise them because you are doing something Colonial-Marines related, message Apophis over the forums or Discord. If you attempt to poach/recruit staff members, we reserve the right to laugh nervously while we tighten the leashes and silence your heresy.
- No Erotic Role Play (ERP), no erotic content, and no 18+ sexual content - ZERO TOLERANCE POLICY! ERP, or Erotic Roleplay, is defined as roleplay that has a strong erotic element intended to elicit a sexual response from the receiver(s). It may involve two or more people or be done in front of spectators. This includes reading stories about ERP but not participating directly (WGW), or posting links to adult websites and images. Both consensual and non-consensual ERP will be met with a PERMABAN. This is not to be confused with distasteful but acceptable marine bravado such as "/me scratches his crotch" or "/me pinches [player]'s nipple." However, these actions can be handled IC as Neglect of Duty or Sexual Assault per Marine Law. Bottom line: If you're not sure if it's ERP or not, or you don't want to be permabanned, just don't do it.
- No ban evading - Defined as attempting to log into the server with a different account after one account was banned. This results in your current punishment being upgraded to a PERMABAN. DO NOT use a different account to avoid previous bans, job-bans and note history. ALERT Staff to transfer over your previous accounts history to your new account. NO EXCEPTIONS!
- No multikeying - Defined as: Logging in with different accounts at different times, logging in with another account because you died (or for any other reason), or logging into two separate accounts at the same time, usually to play with one account and observe with the other in order to get information your character wouldn't normally have. If you are caught multikeying, you will be PERMABANNED. If you have a friend or family member playing with you, ALERT STAFF. We'll make a note on both accounts. Bottom line: You may use 1 single account for CM PER PERSON. Using additional accounts will result in a Permaban.
- No griefing - We define griefing as the perceived intent of one player wanting to cause grief or annoyance to other players or to the server without any roleplay reason. The emphasis is on "intent". If an Admin or Mod believes that the players intent is to grief then action will be taken. Any damage to the station or players caused by griefing can be repaired at an Admin's discretion. Also, know that just because you don't "intend" to grief, doesn't mean an action is not griefing. If you are being griefed, Adminhelp it. Don't grief in revenge. We'll ban you both.
Examples of grief:- Grabbing a gun and shooting other marines for no discernible reason.
- Fighting after the round ends and generating combat logs. The exception is Marines and aliens fighting, or fighting against spawned Antags (Russian attack teams, W-Y Assassins, etc). End of Round Grief (EORG) is an IMMEDIATE 3 hour ban with no warnings.
- Two marines fistfight over something and it escalates into a large fight. (This is an In-Character Military Police issue)
- Two consenting marines roleplay a situation that ends with them attacking each other and possibly one of them ending up dead. It's best to Admin Help this first as you'll probably be slept and Admin Messaged when the combat logs start.
- A distraught/angry survivor shoots at the approaching marines and runs away (IC Issue)
- No Powergaming - Powergaming is a style of interacting with games or game-like systems, particularly video games, board games, and role-playing games, with the aim of maximizing progress towards a specific goal to the exclusion of other considerations such as storytelling, atmosphere and camaraderie. Powergaming includes, but is not limited to, performing actions outside your assigned job. Your skills or background DO NOT matter prior to the round - a standard marine with "a brother in Engineering" does not know how to hack an airlock.
Examples:- A standard marine knowing surgery.
- A doctor knowing how to hack an airlock.
- The Acting Commander/Executive Officer setting up the ship's engines if there are no Maintenance Techs and no Chief Engineer to do it. The CO/XO would realistically have at least some knowledge of the engine that runs their ship. Also, it is crucial to the success of the marine team, so gameplay trumps rule breakage here.
- No Metagaming or Metacommunication - Acting upon knowledge your character does not have or communicating information about the current round, including but not limited to private discussions, chat rooms, and/or voice chats during the game. If you want to talk to other CM players about CM or just in general, we have an official Discord, but keep the discussion about past rounds and never about the current one.
Examples:- Welding vents before seeing the Xenos use them or before they've boarded the ship.
- Building defenses on the ship before a hostile force is en route or before the non-human alarm.
- "Ramboing" - Chasing down Xenos immediately after first contact directly to their hive.
- Suicide without an EXTREMELY good reason. "I'm logging out", or "Just Because" are subject to an immediate ban. Just leave.
- Non-Specialists wearing the B18 armor.
- Xenos slashing APCs or cameras.
- No IC in OOC or vise-versa - No IC in OOC or Vice Versa - Keep IC (in character) in IC and OOC (Out-Of-Character) in OOC. Don't use (( or )) to communicate OOCly in-chat or over the radio. Use LOOC to talk locally OOC or OOC to talk globally OOC. Never use OOC or LOOC to inform a player of something they wouldn't know or find out ICly. You MAY use LOOC to talk someone through something if they ask for help.
- Suicide, rage-quitting, and logging off - If you need to leave or logout after the round starts for any reason, go to Cryo. If you are unable to get to cryo, Alert Staff. If you just Ghost or log-out, you risk a job-ban. If you instead suicide or immediately ghost without first getting into a cryo tube near round-start (meaning you simply didn't want to play the role and took the job slot from someone who did), you may receive a job-ban. Set up your job preferences carefully in Setup Character > Occupation Choices. Also note, your best chance at being a Xeno is to set all job preferences to "NEVER", and at the bottom, click the link until it says "Return to lobby if preference unavailable".
- No messing with atmosphere - Our Atmos system is horrible. We are working to improve it, but for now do not intentionally breach to space, release phoron (or other gasses), or fuck with atmos at all. Doing so will probably result in a heavy ban or permaban. There are some exceptions for accidents (such as the Dropship landing partly in space or the Preds Gauntlet exploding), but intentional Atmos fuckery will result in a hefty Ban or permaban.
- Military Police are bound to follow Marine Law as RULES - Exceptions must be approved by staff via Adminhelp.
Marine-Specific Rules:
Note: These also apply to Survivors and anyone else who is rescued or joins the crew.
- Lethal Force Do not physically attack any other human without a legitimate, explainable, roleplay reason that could be applied in a similar, real-life scenario. Even if you are justified, you are still susceptible to Marine Law. If staff don’t believe your reason is good enough, it will be classified as grief and you will receive a ban. Additionally shooting someone because they accidentally friendly-fired you will probably get a ban.
- Unless you are part of the Military Police, you should not be enforcing Marine Law - You may receive a job-ban if you do. If there are no MPs you should Admin Help the situation to see what to do.
- The Powerload Mech is for loading and unloading crates only - Not for Combat, joy-rides, or anything else you can imagine. If you are in IMMINENT Danger and inside the mech, you may fight with it to save yourself, but should retreat as soon as you can.
- Follow the instructions of your superiors - This is an IC issue, but may result in a Job-ban if repeated or becomes excessive.
- Mutinies are allowed... However, there are specific conditions and you MUST Admin Message. Violating any of the rules for a mutiny and still starting one will result in a ban. Mutinies should be for extreme situations only, not "UNGA DUNGA ME NO GET ATTACHMENT".
- Non-lethals must be used as much as possible. For marines, this may mean literally beating people unconscious (but not to death)
- You MUST have the support of at least 5 other marines (not MP’s)
- You MUST have complained to the Chief MP or MPs which resulted in them doing nothing to improve the situation (or if they made it worse)
- The commander MUST be given a chance to stand-down peacefully
- If you are initiating a mutiny, you can NOT use lethals until those defending from the mutiny have used them first. Exception: If you get Admin (not mod or mentor) permission.
- If lethal force is used, keep uninvolved marines out of the fighting and try to minimize losses. Remember, you'll need those marines once it's over
- Everyone, on both sides, receives medical treatment once it's over. If you are replacing/removing command staff, they can be sent to the brig and held for future trial.
- Mutinies MUST be Adminhelped and approved by Mods/Admins.
- ID Rules
- Do not take another player's ID card. Because of how IDs work on our server (everything from stopping a turret from killing you, to tracking your squad and armor) ID "theft" is considered an OOC problem and may be handled by staff instead of MPs. If you need to open a door, throw the dead body into it (this triggers the door to open).
- Do NOT hand out all-access ID cards.
- Reassignments should be kept to an absolute Minimum, including Squad changes. It can result in unusual squad assignments from the auto-assigner on spawn.
- All promotions have ACTING before them, even if they are replacing someone dead. You do not receive the rank of the person you replace, just their Job.
- Job changes should make sense and be within a department. You can promote a doctor to replace the CMO, but not a Squad Marine or Colonist/Survivor
- Survivors all receive "SURVIVOR" IDs. If they were part of medical they can receive Medical access. No survivor receives security or weapon access.
- Combat Marines should ONLY be demoted to "Squad Marine". A Squad Leader should not get demoted to Specialist just so he can have cool toys.
- Commander rules - Being whitelisted with some special freedoms, you have some additional rules:
- You must adhere strictly to these server rules and to the Roleplay Guidelines, unless in the event you are given special orders from Central Command.
- Use the Chain of Command. You are expected to delegate and not interfere. You may never perform surgery, and only when absolutely necessary due to missing/unavailable subordinates can you fill in for the RO, set up the engine, and perform other jobs that are needed by the crew.
- Either the Commander or Executive Officer must be on the ship AT ALL TIMES. If one goes to the surface, the other must remain on the ship. If there is no XO, then the CO must remain on the Almayer.
- Your account name is whitelisted, not your player name. You are able to create a new name and thus a new persona, but this is not recommended as it hinders building a good reputation.
- You have the power of Battlefield Executions
- XO rules - If there is not a commander, you are the ACTING commander. You do NOT get a Commander ID and do not have the special authorities a whitelisted Commander has (as in, no Battlefield Execution). If the Commander leaves the Ship, you must remain. If there is no Commander, you may not leave the ship.
- Corporate Liaison rules
- The Corporate Liaison may leave the ship for any reason, even if told he can't by the Marines. However, he will still be subject to Marine Law.
- You are NOT part of the command staff. You work for Weyland and your priority is serving them. You want to minimize damage to the colony and limit liability of Weyland. You may *attempt* to bribe marines to work for you, however you don't outrank them (you're a civilian) and they don't have to listen to you (unless you find an IC reason, such as blackmail or a contract and even then, it might not be totally binding).
- You can have a pistol at all times. However, this does NOT supersede Marine Law. So don't have it in the open if you value not being arrested.
- You are NOT an antagonist unless given special objectives from staff. If you are doing a good job with RP and reporting to Weyland over the fax, you *MIGHT* be given special goals which give you *SPECIAL LIMITED PERMISSION* to break/bypass some server rules depending on the situation. If you are unsure, Admin Message first. Self-Antagging will result in a Job-ban, Server-ban, and jokes made at your expense.
- Pilot Officers are expected to remain close to their dropship as much as possible - Quick visits to the FOB or to grab supplies on the Almayer are allowed, but your primary job is transport. You also have command over all Enlisted marines when they are on your dropship. Abuse of this privilege may be handled In-Character by Marine Law, or possibly with a Job-ban if it becomes excessive.
- Only Doctors, the CMO, and the Medical Researcher can perform surgeries and use chemistry - Medics “promoted” to doctor cannot perform surgery.
- Non-Combat members of the Almayer Crew may leave the ship, - IF they have clearance from their department head or the acting commander. They are restricted to the FOB only. Not getting clearance or leaving when told not to WILL result in a Job Ban. Exception: The Liaison. He can leave even if specifically told not too (resolved as an IC issue).
Xenomorph Specific Rules:
- Act like a Xenomorph - You are not a pet or best friends with the marines. Talk like one. It is fine to use words like "medbay" and "shuttle". You can also replace "shuttle" with "metal bird" if you wish. Hivemind is the English translation of a Xeno's thoughts. However, keep it formal and realistic, but spouting memes constantly or disrupting others with them is not allowed and you will be banned.
- You have no free will - Your will is that of the Queen. OBEY HER ORDERS. If the queen Admin Messages about you disobeying her, you may be punished. However, the Queen may not abuse this power and is equally responsible for the orders she gives.
- Do not harm nested hosts that are infected unless you are the Queen, within reason - Killing a nested+infected host at ANY TIME is a bannable offense, and don't un-nest just to kill. It's counterproductive to your cause of growing the hive. If a marine escapes the nest and uses a weapon to resist, THEN you may kill them, but you should try to tackle and renest them. Remember: The more hosts you get and keep alive, the bigger your team. EXCEPTION: The queen MAY kill any marine she wants at any time, provided she has an RP justification (if asked by the admins). This power does NOT extend to aliens following the Queen's orders.
- Alien Mutiny - If you believe the queen is incompetent, you can Adminhelp to see about getting her replaced. Staff will make the final decision based on the discussion with her.
Predator Specific Rules
Predators are held to a VERY HIGH STANDARD. It is VERY easy to get removed from the whitelist, so you will need to pay CLOSE attention to the honor code AND the rules below.
- Follow the Predator Code of Honor.
- You are a Predator - Act like one. Would a Predator put on a clown suit and throw bananas? No. Would they take marine gear in order to engage marines in more even hand-to-hand combat? Possibly. It's best to ASK before you do something that may be "silly" or "strange" for a Predator to do.
- You are NOT a murder-spree antagonist - You have MUCH more leeway than a standard marine or alien, but you are held accountable for every life you take. Try to limit yourself to killing prey only, and using your other things tools to chase people away who are interfering.
- Your position on the Whitelist is not stable - If you receive a player complaint, you may be removed from the Whitelist during the investigation, depending on the severity and validity of the complaint. If you are removed from the whitelist due to disciplinary reasons, you will be STRUCK OFF THE ROSTER. Minimum time to re-apply will be 3 months. If you are removed a second time, you will NEVER be allowed to re-apply.
- Hunt the more honorable prey - Try to focus on hunting whichever side appears to be winning. It's much more honorable to fight against whichever side has the advantage, than it is to sneak aboard the Marine ship during a retreat and just put a cap into the commander.
