Commander Whitelist Application
Byond ID? araclain
Player Name You Use Most? Brooke Wells
Make a list of links to all of your applications and (job)ban appeals, including whitelist and staff apps, within the last year. Also, provide "Ban reason; Verdict" beside each (job)ban link N/A
Have you received any ban within the last month? How long was it and what for? No.
Do you understand that any player - even donors or staff members - can have their whitelist status revoked should they break our Server Rules or Roleplay Guidelines? Yes
How do you view the tool of Battlefield Execution to be used? What circumstances do you think it would be necessary to BE a member of the crew? Where do you think the Battlefield Execution Mechanic Differs from regular Execution and why? The battlefield execution is an inherently low RP tool. Modern militaries don�t execute their own service members. In 250 years of US military history, one guy has been executed for desertion. The rest were all rapists and murderers.
I believe the BE has a very specific use, and that is on the BATTLEFIELD. It's exclusively for dealing with human threats to the operation who cannot be otherwise contained. It isn't for killing marines who are being annoying or calling the captain rude names, and it isn't a substitute for normal executions sentenced for extreme misconduct.
And until it has been boarded, the Almayer is not a battlefield. A shipside CO should never BE anyone without being personally deployed. You cannot battlefield execute someone if you are not on a battlefield. I feel very strongly about this.
How will your Commanding Officer run his/her ship? Provide a detailed explanation on how he would handle situations that might commonly occur such as, a insubordinate engineering staff, a Staff Officer who cannot do anything right, an Executive Officer wh I�m probably going to rotate through a few new characters to find one who fits the best with the CO position. Brooke doesn�t fit the bill. Instead, I�m going to focus this on my off-main, David Flashman.
In general, I�d like to remain pretty laissez faire about the other departments. How they run themselves is not my concern--so long as they don�t stumble. Using the MPs to correct marine behavior is kind of like torturing someone into being your friend. It doesn�t work. Incompetence or inexperience shouldn�t be punished, even when an SO launches an OB at 15 marines on the Alamo. Make sure that the person in question knows they fucked up, but taking revenge at that point is vindictive. It�s usually low RP and it�s never productive. Besides, who hasn�t OBd the FOB once or twice before?
As for the situations listed above, here�s how Flashy might deal with them:
CIC staff who repeatedly make mistakes or are otherwise unattentive are going to be relieved of OW duty and sent down on deployment so that I can take over. This is a win-win: I get to make sure shit�s done right, and usually SOs are begging to deploy anyway. The same goes for XOs. If things are calm I�ll walk them through it, but in my experience bad command staff isn�t the learning type--the job isn�t hard enough to need significant mentorship.
Situations of insubordinate command staff, particularly the XO, don�t really worry me; I�m far from infallible, I probably won�t be the best captain ever, and I want to hear the thoughts of my subordinates--especially SLs. If a situation arises where the XO absolutely won�t listen to me, I�d turn it over to the rest of command to decide our course--or tell the SO/XO in question to go deploy to get them out of my hair. And if SLs don�t want to listen to me, there�s really nothing I can do about it. I think it's vital that everyone on the ship feels like they have agency, because otherwise they won't want to listen to anything that I say at all.
As for MTs or CTs not following orders, it depends on the context. If they�re maliciously appropriating marine resources, they�re going to get hit with the MP hammer. If they�re just performing poorly, I�d speak to the department head and try to sort things out, or send a synth over. If things are really fucked, then I guess I might go and handle their department myself--provided I have someone on my staff to hand the CIC over to. My general philosophy is that if the crime in question is so inconsequential that the MPs feel the need to ask me what to do, it�s not worth arresting someone over.
What do you think is the job of a Commander? The CO�s role is two-fold: lead the marines to victory via CM�s CIC mechanics, and provide interesting roleplay opportunities for the Almayer crew. They�re the human side�s shepherd--not its king, not its dictator. That�s why he gets to give out medals. It�s positive reinforcement. Like dogs!
As a player what do you think could be added for Commanding Officer to benefit the role? DEFCON is a step in the right direction. I do think that the role of CO suffers from not being distinct enough; as is, with a competent XO, the CO doesn�t really have anything to do (and vice versa). But that�s what makes it an RP role. In general, the CIC desperately needs an OW terminal for the TC, and it�d be awesome if the CO could look directly through squad helmets on the command console.
What do you think you could contribute by being whitelisted? Honestly, my primary motivation for getting the whitelist is that I love playing aCO solo CIC during late-hour lowpop. I feel like I�ve been around enough to play the real CO, and not the XO-hoping-no-CO-wakes-up-and-ruins-everything. There have been many rounds as lone XO where I've desperately wished I could have handed out a medal or two.
Aside from that, and this might be folly, but I want--and have wanted since I started playing CM--to run the Almayer more democratically than I usually see. I believe winning rounds comes down to people knowing, understanding, and agreeing with their orders. It�s no coincidence that marines often win lowpop rounds when the CIC is deserted. Contrary to how we might feel with our fancy commissioned ranks, squad leaders are by far the most important part of marine strategy. What they think, do, and say matters more than anyone else.
Of course, I�d also really like to do my part in elevating RP standards for the entire shipside crew, as I�m often too busy to get into that stuff as XO and SL. I�ve always thought HRP on CM could stand to be more than just �do you talk with a funny accent or not.�
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