Commanding Officer Whitelist Application
Personal Information
Byond ID? Chiwi
Player Name You Use Most? Joan Fitzsimmons
Make a list of links to all of your ban appeals as well as whitelist and staff applications (both accepted and denied) submitted within the past year. For appeals, provide an additional ban reason and the appeal’s verdict next to the link. nil!
Have you received any bans in the last month? No
What is your timezone in UTC? UTC+1
What is your discord username and handle? chiu#5165
Basic Questions & Story
What do you think is the job of a Commander? A Commanding Officer's duty is to balance coordinating both the ship's functionality and the efficient execution of groundside operations. Among their obligations ensuring proper operation of the shipside departments and handling the information received through comms and live footage.
Where the CO differs from the XO is in the fact that they have (in theory) additional influence over the Marines and possess more provisions to handle situations that may arise, as well as being the topmost judicial authority aboard- and so, their knowledge of ML and SOP must be extensive.
In an OOC sense, it's my impression that apart from being a liaison between the Marines and staff, one of the most important roles of the CO is to strive to provide an enjoyable experience, both for Marines and for the xenos. Some ways to do this would be:
1. Without a doubt, deviating from the hottest "MOVE [direction]" meta strats for each map and not pursuing speedruns, though this doesn't imply that one must come up with ridiculous, guaranteed-failure maneuvers for the sake of it,
2. Upholding a certain standard of roleplay by "leading by example", creating entertaining interactions and not engaging in conduct unbecoming of a commissioned officer.
Why do you want to be a Commanding Officer? The reason why I want to be part of the whitelist, aside from enjoying the "basic" TDM part of the game and having a good old time killing (or dying, mostly) to xenos, is that I believe that I've found my calling within the CO's role, both in the IC and OOC senses.
I enjoy the roleplay between commissioned officers, NCOs, and enlisted Marines. I often see rounds coming and going without COs, and only an XO with a single SO left to command the op. This leaves many rounds without important and soulful interactions, player and personality from the game.
Being a frequent XO/SO player, I've received positive feedback from multiple community members and whitelisted COs, encouraging me to work towards applying. I'm very passionate about getting to play the role as I interpret it, and I believe that as a proactive player, I could bring a new outlook for the whitelist.
Provide a short story of your Commanding Officer. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing
A short story narrating the reason why my character is operating in the Outer Rim, laying out her affiliations and motives. Inspiration drawn from the Aliens universe (of course), Brave New World and Monkeysfist's lore tidbits.
Experience
How familiar are you with command positions? I am acquainted with them and know how to carry out their duties. Specifically, I've got the most playtime as XO, RO and CMP.
I believe that I am a competent Commander, and I've a firm grasp on Logistics and MP duties.
Approximately how many hours do you have as Executive Officer (XO) at the time of writing this application? I've got 38 hours as XO as of now.
How familiar are you with Department Head positions? I often play RO, and am very familiar with running Requisitions on my own (be it as SO, XO, CT or RO). Logistics play a big part in combat operations.
I enjoy playing CMP. I've acquired a deep knowledge of the law and SOP, and coordinating law keeping efforts, providing insight to inexperienced MPs and correcting misguided ones is an interesting dynamic for me.
The XO is one of, if not my, favorite role. I am very familiar with all of its Command duties (callout, pointers, headcounts, orders, etc.) and I have a great capacity to improvise on the go and adjust for unexpected situations.
The XO is also a blank card at times, as they can perform other departments' duties. They can be assigned to Req temporarily, deputized/selected to perform appeals, or sent down to the AO to either assist the backline with their medical skills or the frontline with their command buffs, influence and (hopefully) acquired game-sense- I'm familiar with all of these duties.
How familiar are you with Marine Law and Standard Operating Procedure? I'm well versed and familiar with both. I have 37hrs as CMP, 8hrs as MW and 33hrs as MP. I believe that ML and SOP should be treated almost as roleplay guides.
I enjoy playing MP roles and exercising my acquired knowledge. I'm known to butt heads with fellow MPs over SOP and ML breaches- the law isn't meant to handicap Marines and its enforcers should be held at the highest standard.
Scenarios
When do you believe a Battlefield Execution should be used? Instead of reading the book and paraphrasing it, I'll give a short statement and then move on to scenarios.
I believe that an individual is a candidate for a Battlefield Execution when they become a risk to the operation's integrity or to the state of order in the ship or AO.
Scenarios:
1. I'm leading the operation from CIC. My XO is there with me, and he's intentionally countermanding my orders for no valid reason (i. e. sensible improvisation, changing tides), inciting Marines to ignore my orders and being uncooperative in the sense that he’s ignoring my prior commands to rescind themselves to an overwatch-auxiliary role while I’m investing the whole of my attention on the op. As they're knowingly undermining my authority, I will dispatch them.
2. During a rushed evacuation that I'm overseeing, a Pilot (against explicit orders not to) locks the dropship's doors, leaving a multitude of Marines alone outside for xenos to maul, and then takes off, leaving them stranded. It’s my impression that he’s directly caused their deaths by guiding himself emotionally instead of listening to my and my SO/SL's callouts and following my direct orders, so I will carry out a Battlefield Execution.
3. I've deployed and a Marine is causing massive damage to our frontline by spamming bad grenades, he's been ordered to stop, and he's ignoring our commands. In order to put a message across and prevent further losses, I execute him.
4. A Marine is disrupting my briefing by continuously shoving me, spamming, and assaulting others that are present. Apart from being an obstruction to the operation, he's being an LRP nuisance. I blow his brains out, though I’d be especially careful about collateral damage, as the BE mechanic is a windup that the individual can just dodge and the room’s full of Marines that could be hit if I'm careless.
All in all, it's a quick method to get rid of troublemakers when MPs are not at hand or you've got to put a stop to a troublesome individual (or multiple) immediately. It cannot be done when the perpetrator is in custody as per SOP.
Under what circumstances do you believe it is legal to pardon a prisoner? It depends on multiple factors (i.e. the individual's importance to the operation, the crime they've been brought to the brig for, the MP department's lucidity, changing circumstances) There are, however, consequences to bad pardons.
A couple of concrete examples:
1. It’s the beginning of the operation and two Marines are playing slug roulette. The MPs take notice of this and bring both of them in for AWDW. Being aware of the fact that whether they consented to the assault or not is irrelevant, and the operation isn’t in any urgent need of manpower/MPs made no mistake, and even if I like playing the game as a PFC, a pardon wouldn’t be in order in this scenario.
2. It’s 13:45 and the fight has stagnated into a stalemate. We don’t have enough people to push the xenos’ lairs which are heavily built and trapped, and the xenos refuse to come out, instead luring Marines in order to grind them down. A competent SPC assaulted the RO for being passive-aggressive against him and not ordering rockets for him to use, despite having the funds for it. He gets arrested for assault and DASO. Considering the circumstances, I’d grant a pardon, tell him he should’ve come directly to me when this happened and not to speak with the RO anymore to avoid further complications. Then I’d take it into my own hands to head to requisitions, speak with the RO, and have them buy the rockets. They don't have to interact with each other at all; the operation’s continuity is our top priority.
That being said: You cannot issue pardons for Capital crimes, and if an individual you've pardoned becomes a repeat offender, you can be brought in yourself.
Pardons are an extraordinary provision that should only be granted in very strictly named exceptions. One's actions have consequences, after all.
Confirmations
Have you read the Code of Conduct? Yes
Have you read the application process page? Yes
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
Do you understand you cannot advertise or promote this application on any platform, including Discord? Yes
Do you also understand that you may not edit this application 1 hour after it has been posted? Yes