janspader - Commanding Officer Application

[Shay Silverlocke]

GhostGhost360 I'll answer your questions first.

1. What do feel are the differences between an XO and CO? I don't mean the rules (WL, ML, SOP), equipment (Mateba, etc.) or rank.

Answer : I feel like an XO is a leadership role where I am a leader of the people, by the people, for the people. There isn't a rank gap that makes you seem unapproachable to some people. Many marines, especially new ones find COs unapproachable particularly due to rank. An XO(Depending on how said character is played) will always seem more approachable due to lack of a WL requirement. I also found that an XO tends to be the voice that marines rely on. If the CO is the figurehead they see that inspires them, the XO is usually the voice of help that they turn to for their needs (Apart from the SOs). The CO is someone who I felt was more distant as a leader but equally respected. For example. Ideally the CO would be in command, the XO would take the concerns of the men and forward it to the CO for the CO to better be able to make decisions. It's very much like a family in my eyes. The CO would be a father. Firm but understanding. The XO would be like a mother, someone who the kids always go to who also has some leeway with the CO despite the CO being in command.

2. Why do you want to become a CO and why is this not something that could be done as an XO?

Answer: I first went XO despite the CO WL being closed because there was a lack of command during lowpop hours which meant a lack of coordination. I decided to go CO in an attempt to be able to better aid the marines as was the original reason why I became an XO main. Be it changing SoP for the MPs to better be able to do their jobs or help out when the marines occasionally get a new XO. In the case of a new XO, I've been there myself. A person can SO as much as they want but the first round as an XO is a whole new different ball game, to which I have COs like Imhotep, Braden and James Parker to thank for in showing me where the road starts so I could start figuring things out for myself when they were not playing.

3. In what instances would you role XO over CO if you had the WL?

I have always felt that the XO was more approachable than the CO. Particularly to new marines who see rank in a game where rank matters and try to stay in the sidelines to avoid attention. There have been instances where I have seen privates be grateful because they had someone who answered when they were unsure of what to do in a particular situation. I would probably still roll XO especially if I want to stay shipside and play a supporting role especially when COs are on. Personally I enjoy being a gap filler who just solves problems when they occur. Which is why the pre drop prep is arguably one of my favorite things to do as a supporting XO, setting the ship up properly such that if anything is needed partway through the operation, there is less delay time in getting whatever is needed to where it's needed.

[Shay Silverlocke]

MayorofKenya

What do you think are viable options for Hijack Holdouts? Do you think that there are great places to hold? Are there any that you would try that you haven’t seen people do yet? If so, Why?

Answer : Personally. I have always done life boats or life pods as I have always believed in giving my men the choice to leave. For example. Lifeboats. Stay to go down fighting if you want. But I want the men to ultimately know that they died fighting because it's THEIR choice. Not because someone is forcing them due to hubris.

Viable locations to hold. Req would be great if there was enough men to hold the hallways and budget to keep calling supplies. Medbay is another viable option as the medical facilities there would greatly offset attrition (Assuming that you are intending not to Evac). One of the greatest problems with a holdout is always attrition. The longer the hold goes, the more semi-permanent damage stacks up, and by this I mean organ damage and fractures. Things that won't go away with basic meds like Bica and Kelotine. Lord help the marine who gets a hugger tossed his way during a lifeboats hold. Like it or not, it's a matter of time before the marine dies as there is no way to remove the larva.

I have held Memorial as more of a roleplay thing. This occurs when there is few survivors, I have called Evac knowing there is more than ample time for whoever wants out to leave via pods. Those who wish to stay, memorial is small, easy to cade up and there is a significant roleplay meaning to having your last stand trying to prevent the defilation of the martyred dead.

Personally I have been tempted to try a South Engineering Workshop hold, particularly after letting MTs convert the place into a bar or something similar, to give the men a sense of brotherhood I guess. Lost causes are sometimes one of the few causes worth fighting for, but not if there is an alternative. A hold should have meaning, and not simply for the sake of it. For a marine, as a soldier against inhuman threats like Xenomorphs, we do not surrender or give in, but we do not foolishly throw away our lives either. Men are a resource, something many leaders often forget about. Men lets you have choices or options.

Would you be willing to BE a well known Marine if you knew that they committed an action that was BEable but would cause a fit amongst the Marines?

Answer : It depends on the action. I understand CM is a game. That is why unless those actions either go against Marine Law (In which as an officer I cannot let pass), or those actions interfere with other player's experiences, I have always tried to allow it. For example. MTs who often find themselves bored if a round stretches on and there is nothing to deconstruct or fix, if they follow proper procedure, get the paperwork done, I am more than willing to let them have things to do if resources permit it.

So back to BEing the marine. I care not if you are well known. I will give warnings, I will even give you a chance to amend your mistakes (Assuming it isn't sedition or murder. And even then, I will offer you perma brig unless you are in the process of a murder spree). But if you are unrepentant, I will BE if necessary, popularity will not affect my judgement.

What is one thing you could change about the Whitelist if you had the power to do so?

Answer : Not much actually. The WL has probably been refined over many generations and occasionally patched. Although maybe an update to the behavioral conduct guidelines I suppose. To be more neutral, as an officer, bias is heavily frowned upon even in real life militaries. A CO should probably not be congratulating a marine who stole someone else's mask for example. I have experienced that as an XO and the marine who was the 'victim' felt really helpless and powerless in that sense, even if he did continue on to cause me much trouble to vent his frustration. I won't list names but I felt that situation could have been better handled or prevented.

[moltoretardo]

Your job as a commander is to relegate the different tasks of the operation to the people below you. Yet, as I was playing a requisition round that already had enough people in to deal with everything (one RO and two CTs), I saw you enter requisition speedrunning style, not saying a single word and instead walk straight into the requisition officer office, taking both stamps and dropping them on the floor which is incredibly LRP while also stampeding on the RO's area. (Do you ever see people going without a word in the XO office?) You then proceeded to vend yourself stuff directly from the vendors (which is against SOP if you aren't the aCO), still not muttering a single word. After that, you dragged a crate to the launch pad, making sure to put the plasteel in which some RO or CTs would rather use to make extra crates. All of this can be accomplished by the req team, which would've all be done if it wasn't literally two minutes into the round. I mentioned this behavior already in your past attempt and to my surprise, this wasn't changed at all.
-1

As an addendum to my previous post, I took the time to look at a round to make sure it wasn't just a one time bad luck, I understand that having a poor day is possible while also knowing that what truly matter at the end is the ability for an applicant to be able to take previously stated problems and fixing them. It seems that sadly you do not give a single thought about what people are mentioning.

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In this series of picture, you can be seen doing exactly what was described in my last post. Someone even questioned you this time which you just scoffed off without a single explanation. The blatant LRP doesn't belong to a Commanding Officer, you had the opportunity of explaining the why of your behavior and chose not to. At the same time, it'd be kinda hard to explain why is the XO speedrunning tasks that aren't theirs. This also happened with a full requisition team, again. With that being said, it is now quite clear for me that you are unable to change even the most simple behavior, making my -1 even more certain. You aren't the protagonist, don't be full of yourself and work as a team to enhance everyone's experience. Delegate the tasks that aren't yours instead of playing a 2D among us task simulator.

[smov]

Celestine is probably one of the best XOs I've seen so far. The situational awareness and the speed in relaying relevant info about the OP is what distinguishes her from other XOs.

One other positive aspect is the fact that she usually plays on CIC and doesnt beg to be deployed as some XOs do. Both CIC and groundside playstyles are valid as long as the situation demands it.

My only problem with celestine was that she spoke a bit too much in LOOC before she applied, but ever since she applied I havent seen this happening which is a good sign.

Finally I want to leave a note, saying that being a CO means your main priority is to lead and coordenate marines to victory, not getting lost in some random ass RP, as I see many COs do sometimes.

With that being said, you have my +1

[AlbertBlackwell]

I don't usually comment on applications however, having played a multitude of rounds with Shay with many roles undertaken by myself, over a very prolonged amount of time. It's safe for me to say that they are a competent, professional command player - albeit with some flaws, while also showing growth and adaption to their circumstances.

I would like to see you attempt to try and delegate more to your subordinates, however that is not something that should hold you back from joining the whitelist.

You meet the requirements for being a Commanding Officer and I don't want you to be held back.

+1

P.S
You don't have to answer any of the questions on this application

[FGRSentinel]

Right, I missed this for a while. Not much I can say beyond Celestine being one of the most competent CIC players in recent memory. If anyone deserves a +1 it's definitely them.

[Firecharge123]

I'm gonna just start this off by saying that Janspader IS a good XO, albeit very repetitive in they way they command, but competent when it comes to most rounds. I do have a few concerns;

1. When presented by MULTIPLE roleplay situations ICly, you have either entirely ignored them or did not want to participate in them whether ICly influenced or event influenced. Ignoring people talking to you while commanding, instantly when anybody talks to you go back to commanding not really expanding beyond the very moment of dialogue. I don't feel that you can balance roleplay and commanding very well, you can only ever do one or the other. To me this is a issue because CO whitelist is just roleplay version of XO that can command.

2. You did specifically state to me in a VC that you if you got the CO whitelist would instead of playing the role continue to play XO/Captain role instead of the whitelist role, which to me is honestly a red flag as you would be taking a whitelist seat and not use it. I know that you would obviously play the role, but it is just a concern to me that you would purposefully ignore the whitelist presented to you if accepted. I'm not saying you should replace the XO role with CO at all, but someone applying for the whitelist shouldn't say something about them not going to play the role.

3. I feel that you emphasize that outside of the application, your 1000 hours of XO is the main reason you are applying for CO and not really for the role itself. You play XO too much and when I speak to you, it almost seems like you hurting yourself farming XO hours which is incredibly unhealthy (take a break). I see no issue with maining the role, but they way you play the role, you over work yourself and clearly get very tired and make some pretty big mistakes which can effect the round for marines seriously.

With these concerns in mind, I do feel that you would be a very competent commanding CO, but not a very good roleplaying one. Your hours really show that you could be a good CO, but in my opinion this application is getting a -1 from me. You take the commanding role too seriously and do not fit in time to roleplay very much during the round. Not saying to ignore commanding for 15 minutes to talk to the MT in brig about why he shot 50 windows and roleplay an interrogation... But I am saying that when presented roleplay situations, you seem to fall off halfway through anything and do NOT want any roleplay to interrupt the meatgrinder groundside.

[ChengChan]

A map of the Trijent Dam showed 15 wounded marines earlier. The FOB is still holding, however a group of marines were waiting to cycle the DS because some people had organ damage, no legs or limbs, or were infected. Although we all politely requested it, the PO informed (while they are talking in phone because no comms) us that she would not permit us to cycle the Alamo. The PO then followed her order.

It took her some time to comprehend that there are numerous wounded within the dropship, and we must leave. If you are the captain/major someday, I don't believe you are prepared since you are a narrow-minded individual who only considers herself and your objectives as an XO without considering the wellbeing of your marines.

This is a -1 for me.

[ZAB1019]

I played a round a few days ago with you as my SL. I checked crew manifest and saw you on delta so I rolled deltoid PVT. My character is a little stupid but I roleplay plenty with Nordica. I joined at about 12:08 I think. I was talking quite a bit and asked your opinion on things from roleplay (I think it was about vaccines or the demoCRAP party, idk). Some republican idiot stuff, as my character usually does. Every single person in command that mattered, including the CO, (I think it was Clap), the XO, which I cannot remember sadly, and our squad's SO gave their opinions on the demoCRAP party. As well as many squad members.

I was trying to foster RP by letting character's give their opinions, and saying how great the republican party that my character supports is. I think it was fun and Nordica acts like a dumbass idiot who is a fanatic. When we dropped on LV and went to hydro we were talking some more. I went a little serious and actually played the game when we started attacking containers and killing the xeno defences. As well as lazing an OB. We got our orders from SO about where to attack. I even saw the deployed CO, Clap once and he got killed, I reported it on my comm and saved him. We did some flanks in the caves and stuff, all talking. Except for you.

The only two sentences I ever heard you say, in local or on radio. Were our orders when we dropped, which was go to hydro. And another order at 12:45 which was about being careful about backliners.
The fact that I multiple times talked to your character in game, being very close, as well on radio about the mission, their opinions on things and also the entire command staff and a large portion of the squad, and you just don't say anything. You weren't AFK, you were just not talking at all. I saw you moving around ship.

You said 2 sentences in a span of almost an hour as SL. The role which probably should be talking the most groundside. Besides CO. Which is why i have to move my slight -1 to a definite -1

I think you're just trying to grind hours as command and it shows, and the multiple people saying you just don't RP I thought was a bit over blown. But Molto saying you made the same error of not roleplaying to the requisition staff in the slightest three times and as well as my experience as you being my SL has confirmed it for me that you're not suitable.

[ChiChii]

This was thrown at me because someone remembered my post on this application; I will post what was thrown at me here now too.

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