Being a good SO: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Console

[Nantei]

This was my rough draft. Now that I have finalized it with another run-through, I put it in the proper guides section. Thanks for the feedback everyone.

[ThesoldierLLJK]

I already yelled at Nantei for some stuff she forgot but couple things to add:

1. When fighting planetside or ship defense use orders

2. Tactical shotgun for ship defense. Pulse rifle with high ammo count for planetside. Also don’t unga and charge forward, let the little privates go in the front and support them.

[NoahKirchner]

Apparently people have been bwoinked for getting a lifesaver kit or medical belt on green as an SO for powergaming.

[Nantei]

That's pretty absurd. People get hurt around CIC all the time, and let us not forget there's always the potential of the M word happening, let alone cloaked commandos. It makes perfect sense in-character for an SO to grab a few medical supplies in-case someone gets hurt. if you are taking mixed chems or anything though, you are doing it wrong. Not only should that go to medics first, but also it makes almost no sense. An SO will likely never need dermaline or dex+, so leave it to the people who need it most.

What especially annoys me about that the most is that there's the hidden implication that you aren't supposed to even get any medical supplies until there is an active threat. First of all, SO's have almost zero downtime once the round starts, so asking me to go to medbay to get a belt is already bad. But second, chances are when you are going to go get that belt, you already need it, and it could kill someone not having it, god forbid the path to medical is unsafe because of whatever the red alert is too.

[NoahKirchner]

That's pretty absurd. People get hurt around CIC all the time, and let us not forget there's always the potential of the M word happening, let alone cloaked commandos. It makes perfect sense in-character for an SO to grab a few medical supplies in-case someone gets hurt. if you are taking mixed chems or anything though, you are doing it wrong. Not only should that go to medics first, but also it makes almost no sense. An SO will likely never need dermaline or dex+, so leave it to the people who need it most.

What especially annoys me about that the most is that there's the hidden implication that you aren't supposed to even get any medical supplies until there is an active threat. First of all, SO's have almost zero downtime once the round starts, so asking me to go to medbay to get a belt is already bad. But second, chances are when you are going to go get that belt, you already need it, and it could kill someone not having it, god forbid the path to medical is unsafe because of whatever the red alert is too.

Just letting you know because I've seen people get in trouble for it, might be better to talk to an admin+ about it incase it was a fringe incident.

[Nantei]

If it happens it happens, and I'll deal with it when it does. I appreciate the warning, though. Staff tend to be kinda in congruent when it comes to things like that, so I could ask an admin, but unless it's public it won't really be a guarantee that it's going to help me in the future.

[CSolaris]

I agree that SOs should get a medic belt whenever possible. Often times I get ignored by medbay when I ask for belts, unless there’s someone I personally know in the medbay.

As for getting bwoinked for having one, that shouldn’t really happen. Just because you’re not started off with one doesn’t mean you can’t have it if you’re mechanically good to use it (same way PFCs -can- ask for a webbing vest). Perhaps it was just a fringe incident, because I don’t see how an SO with a lifesaver bag or medical rig is power gaming in the slightest.

[ThesoldierLLJK]

Make sure you confirm coordinates with your SL for the OB, and get a confirmation when it's ready to fire.
That way there's a record of it if it goes wrong. If people die and start spamming ahelp about it, you can have it on the record that the SL confirmed the cords and ready to fire.

Roll the shit downhill.

Also as silly as it may sound, but your decisions will probably lead to virtual deaths, or you will sit by and watch the radio chat of players getting dragged away, killed, begging for help, etc...

You'll feel bad if you're an SO that cares on a emotional RP level, but it's still a video game. Sometimes there's nothing you can do about it but just watch it happen.

[Omicega]

With regards the medic belt thing - past policy has always been to poke people for powergaming if they're drifting outside their assigned roles (e.g. TCs or squad engis setting up the engine outside of emergencies). Taking a medic belt if and when medbay starts getting overwhelmed and heading down to help out a little is fine - especially if it's after full evac - but taking medical supplies every round as a CIC role is shaky. Command staff have been spoken to in the past for doing this as a matter of course.

There is a standard of roleplay to uphold here, and for the majority of most rounds there should be no reason for a staff officer to have a wealth of medical gear on them. Medhuds are fine, though, since their interaction with the overwatch console has previously been ruled as OK.

[Nantei]

As I stated, there's a very good reason for an SO to have medical gear on them. People get hurt all the time. I would hardly consider the gray belt vast, though. The gray belt has just barely enough to deal with anything you might encounter, it's not sufficient for well... basically any serious medic role. You'l run through those supplies in half an hour tops if you are doing back to back triage. Hell, if you've seen my medic loadout and know that I run out of supplies even with that, you'l definitely know that the gray belt isn't even close to vast.
https://i.imgur.com/luebjQA.png
https://i.imgur.com/mi3DYEW.png
https://i.imgur.com/IXOf43b.png
https://i.imgur.com/upTkqXb.png
This is a vast amount of medical supplies.

I don't think an SO should generally take anything beyond the gray belt, unless they are going planetside, in which case they will need those supplies probably. The gray belt will help you deal with any owchies people get on the ship, and the occasional defib. (I have had to do this before)
Medbay is always swamped, it's a constant. And expecting the CMO to stop surgery to come and defib someone in CIC is uh... let's just say it won't happen.

[Omicega]

You can take what I say at face value or leave it; trying to draw some kind of parallel with "but I could be carrying so much more" isn't really going to do you any good. I know what a robust and comprehensive medic loadout looks like, but I'm also telling you that routinely getting involved in medical treatment is well outside the role of an SO.

Gearing up from medical near or at the start of every round will more than likely get you spoken to eventually - we have had to do it to some XOs and such who made a habit of doing the same thing. Unless a shipside larva gets loose or the xenos are boarding, you have zero reason to assume that any medical emergencies will break out shipside that can't be entirely handled by medbay and its staff. Consider it a friendly heads up.

[DriedMilk]

dO nOt fIrE bAd ObS

Seriouusly, don't fire bad OBs or the nect thing you'll be seeing is the barrel of the Mateba staring down your face.

[Bancrose]

With regards the medic belt thing - past policy has always been to poke people for powergaming if they're drifting outside their assigned roles (e.g. TCs or squad engis setting up the engine outside of emergencies). Taking a medic belt if and when medbay starts getting overwhelmed and heading down to help out a little is fine - especially if it's after full evac - but taking medical supplies every round as a CIC role is shaky. Command staff have been spoken to in the past for doing this as a matter of course.

There is a standard of roleplay to uphold here, and for the majority of most rounds there should be no reason for a staff officer to have a wealth of medical gear on them. Medhuds are fine, though, since their interaction with the overwatch console has previously been ruled as OK.

Is there anything about a CO taking the medbelt with him planetside?

Chubs is a good example as he is sort of a medical specialist and favors a more medic oriented kit when he goes planetside and I have taken it a few rounds now and it works perfectly. It might be viewed as powergame but if you didn't want us to utilize those skills we shouldn't have em. But I can see the point of taking it every single round as being viewed as powergame.

[Sulaboy]

Is there anything about a CO taking the medbelt with him planetside?

If the CO was deploying I don't see any reason taking a medbelt would be considered power gaming. The above point was for emergency medicine in CIC.

[Bancrose]

If the CO was deploying I don't see any reason taking a medbelt would be considered power gaming. The above point was for emergency medicine in CIC.

We got like 4 advanced first aid kits in the CIC armoury.

[Sulaboy]

We got like 4 advanced first aid kits in the CIC armoury.

They don't hold important medicines like medbelts. No pills only the advanced trauma burn and tricord injectors. The reason the medbelt for CIC is kinda powergamy is because it holds these medicines. I still don't see a problem deploying on the planet with one of these.

[Nantei]

Advanced first aid kits are uh... not very sufficient for most serious injuries. I don't super see why it would be seen as powergaming. IC it makes sense, and power wise... what does it really do? I grabbed some supplies that cost medbay literally nothing and my character is trained to use. Best case I could see is it saves me a trip to medbay when I go planetside, but even that isn't true because I have to go to medbay to get stasis and rollerbeds. So honestly I don't see the argument here. I would understand if I was wearing armor without a threat on-board or carrying around a tactical shotgun, but I'm literally just carrying around some emergency supplies, it's about as powergamey as having a crowbar in-hand in-case power comes out. Yeah, we don't expect power to go out or for us to get boarded, but very mild preparations just in-case shouldn't really be out of the question here. It's as casual as just asking for a belt when they grab my HUD.

[CaptainYankee]

You can take what I say at face value or leave it; trying to draw some kind of parallel with "but I could be carrying so much more" isn't really going to do you any good. I know what a robust and comprehensive medic loadout looks like, but I'm also telling you that routinely getting involved in medical treatment is well outside the role of an SO.

Gearing up from medical near or at the start of every round will more than likely get you spoken to eventually - we have had to do it to some XOs and such who made a habit of doing the same thing. Unless a shipside larva gets loose or the xenos are boarding, you have zero reason to assume that any medical emergencies will break out shipside that can't be entirely handled by medbay and its staff. Consider it a friendly heads up.

If I am SO and getting sent ground-side, is it still reasonable to take some medical supplies? Thinking advanced FA kit, a defib, a roller, and a stasis bag? Maybe some pill bottles if they're available. It seems foolish to squander SOs medical training. If I'm going to the planet I want to be prepped for anything.

Edit: you already know my thoughts on MedHUDs : )

[Omicega]

Is there anything about a CO taking the medbelt with him planetside?

If I am SO and getting sent ground-side, is it still reasonable to take some medical supplies?

If you're going planetside you have good reason to gear up comprehensively, and it's your choice whether to take an ammo belt or a spare belt from medbay or pretty much whatever you want. Everything I said only applies to routine roundstart gearing up.

[Bancrose]

If you're going planetside you have good reason to gear up comprehensively, and it's your choice whether to take an ammo belt or a spare belt from medbay or pretty much whatever you want. Everything I said only applies to routine roundstart gearing up.

Understandable, because sometimes I don't send SO's down. Because I'm a cruel man.

[FearTheBlackout]

Yeah, I'd be watchful about trying to play Medic as an SO -- still, good guide! Especially coming from someone I trust as SO/SL.