Rules Clarification

Deprecated Page

This page is no longer in use or updated. Any clarifications listed here are considered void. Please refer to the rules on https://cm-ss13.com/rules

Please bear in mind this page is subject to constant change as it is a repository for the main Colonial Marines discord's #rule-clarification channel. Late updates to this page may happen, and so it's recommended to use this page mostly as a way to view long-standing rule-clarifications. (You may ask maintainers to add a missed Rule Clarification to contribute to a more accurate page)

Roleplay RulingsGameplay RulingsBug RulingsMiscellaneous Rulings Question Answer Date Clarified Can you RP urinating on someone? No. It's LRP & 18+ 16/01/2021 Can I Call The Incendiary OB "Coom OB"? No, it's LRP/18+ and a sexual reference meme. 21/01/2021 Can I Call Runner "Rooner" In Character? Yes so long as it doesn’t become a problem. 21/01/2021 Can I Mutiny The Acting CO During Hijack? No, but you can mutiny the acting CO if he refuses evacuation as it would be a life or death situation and drastic action may be taken. 31/01/2021 Can I Jailbreak Before First Drop? No. 10/02/2021 Can I Refuse To Deploy Until Someone Is Released From Jail, Or To Break Them Free? No. 10/02/2021 Can I Wear Funny Uniforms Found On Colony Like Pyjamas Or School Girl Uniforms If you're a PFC, go for it, but you're still susceptible to marine law. SLs are held to higher standards and should not do it. 27/04/2021 Can I Use Egyptian Hieroglyphs In-Game? No, You will be warned and/or given an immediate ban due to it lagging everyone who can see it. Also, if you use it in a command announcement as an SO/XO/Whatever job you’ll be job-banned. If you do it as a CO your whitelist will be revoked immediately on the spot. 03/05/2021 As An XO Am I Bound To CO Guidelines? Yes and no, there are certain things you are expected to do if you’re leading the operation as an XO, which are server rule breaks. Examples being: You must build a FOB and can’t leave the primary LZ defenceless, Shitposting command announcements, etc... If your actions are putting marines at a deliberate disadvantage, you’re effectively griefing and shall not do it. If a CO guideline breach is also a obvious server rule break, we suggest you not do it. 18/05/2021 I Use A Common Name That Just Happens To Be Used By A Real Famous Person, Do I Need To Change It? It depends if it's a common normal name. If you don't roleplay like the person or character, and your name is something common like Michael Bolton. Now if you play as Michael Jordan and start talking about basketball, not so much. Staff still reserve the right to make a judgement call and may ask you to change your name. 20/05/2021 At What Point Do Shenanigans Become Griefing Or An OOC Issue Shenanigans become a IC issue into a OOC issue if it causes a major round disruption, or you do not have a reasonable roleplay reason to do it. Pretending to be a macho marine and messing around with your buddy or friends is one thing. Going around randomly bolting doors and sabotaging the ship just because you feel like it or “screw MPs/screw command” are antagonist actions and are subject to punishment. High tier griefing is still griefing. 27/05/2021 Can I Sabotage The Brig To Prevent MPs From Doing Their Jobs, Or Sabotage The Brig In Case My Buddies Get Jailed During Round Start? No, this is self-antagging and griefing 27/05/2021 Can An MP Bait Me Into Breaking Marine Law So They Can Arrest Me? MPs should not be antagonizing marines into breaking marine law, this goes against marine law and is a violation. You should ahelp if this occurs. However if you break marine law while an MP sees it, this is not baiting an arrest. 15/08/2021 Can I Save My Buddy From Being Arrested By An MP? Yes, but you have to use proper escalation and force per server rules, and if in your actions trying to stop this player from being arrested result in a round derail, you and anyone else involved can be held accountable for round start shenanigans by staff. 15/08/2021 What Are The Rules On Hostile ERT Teaming Up With USCM? Hostile ERTs are hostile, but if the ERT sees xenos, there may be a need to team up in the interest of saving ones life. However, these cease fire and truces are on the fly and may be considered uneasy. If the UPP/CLF/Hostile Freelancers or USCM decides to betray the other side, that's the risk taken. Friendly Freelancers should state their intentions to help, and Hostile Freelancers should state their intention is to pillage the ship. 16/08/2021 MP OOC Protections Again? Removed during MP removal tests, also will not be returning if MPs do return after the test 13/09/2021 Are APC's Considered "Secure Areas" For The Purposes Of Marine Law? Yes. Support roles may stay within the APC as they would any other secure area. MP's may make use of the APC to travel from one secure area to another, but cannot use the APC as a way of heading to or arresting people on the frontlines. 17/02/2022 Am I Allowed To Deconstruct The Ship Before First Drop? Deconstruction of the ship should not be occuring before first drop & confirmed contact. The marines would not immediately resort to taking their warship to pieces for a random unconfirmed distress call. This also includes deconstruction of things like chairs in briefing, however does not include the barrels and crates scattered around maintenance. Modifications to the ship as well should not be made with meta-purposes, no building a maze or bunker on the ship intended to help secure the ship for hijack before you even know hijack is a thing. 23/02/2022 As A Ship Side Xeno Pre Hijack, Can I Target Critical Equipment Such As Powerloaders Or Tcomms? General damage is fine, but specifically targeting irreplaceable equipment is not allowed. You can attack communications but exclusively going there is meta due to not knowing the importance of that one place/not knowing the layout of the ship. This is also the same for exclusively going to CIC in an attempt to decapitate the marine capabilities. 04/04/2022 Can I As CLF Dress Up As A Marine To Trick And Kill Them, Or As A Marine Dress Up As CLF/Another Hostile Faction? No. No pretending to be friendly then backstabbing, outside of events with specific permission. This does not include pretending to comply with an arrest and running. 05/04/2022 Can Xenos Refer To Humans By Name, And Humans Refer To Xenos By Prefix? No, the Xenos have no idea a human is so and so, and humans have no idea a Xeno has a “Nick name” Terms should be generic such as caste, tall host, specialist type etc. 17/04/2022 Where Does The Vehicle Crewman Job Fall As Far As RP Standards/Expectations Go? Vehicle Crewmen fall into the same bracket of IC and OOC expectations as SL's, RTOs, Specs and Smartgunners - this means that their character concept is meant to be somewhat grounded in our setting and perhaps more importantly they are bound by OOC rules to follow orders from the officer in command of the operation to the best of their ability unless doing so would put their life and/or the APC under direct threat. 24/06/2022 What, If Any, Images Are Acceptable In CIC And Queen Broadcasts? Players in command roles on both sides are allowed to post direct links to images containing current map (from sources like the webmaps or wiki images of the map) or images of the tacmap, with drawn on overlays giving directions/other information as long as they are kept reasonably IC. 28/06/2022 Can I Use The Gibber To Make Meals Out Of Dead Marines As A Chef Or Any Other Role? No. While there is nothing stopping you from doing that mechanically, grinding the bodies of recently deceased marines or random survivors to serve them as meals does not fit our established setting and would be considered a heinous/insane act. As such, it is considered to fall below the expected RP standard for all roles outside of events and is not allowed per our server rules. 07/14/2022 Are There Any Rules For The Corporate Liaison In Handing Out Their Items Such As Drugs And Implants? There needs to be roleplay between the Corporate Liaison and the other party. The Corporate Liaison should not be on the front line or at briefing handing out items like Ultrazine and saying LRP stuff such as "Free candy!" The items should be in exchange for the party working on behalf of W-Y interests, not just "Marine be my bodyguard, heres free ultra" 08/26/2022 Can hostile survivors kill other survivors? No. Given the nature of the situation you are in you should be primarily focusing on surviving and should be at least neutral to the other survivors. 04/14/2023 Can Chem ERTs Deploy After Their Mission Is Accomplished? Not without explicit admin approval as a minor event. 05/03/2023 Question Answer Date Clarified Faction When can defenses and major preparation on the Almayer be made after an evacuation? When the shuttle hijack message is announced. 16/08/2022 Marines Can I kill Captures Close To Bursting To Farm Acid Stacks? No. You should not be deliberately killing your captures to farm a game mechanic. It's LRP and exploitative. 21/01/2021 Aliens Can I Banish Xenos In Research So They Can Be Killed To Reclaim Larva? No, Banish is for xenos that are disobeying the Queen or otherwise breaking the RP Standards for xenos. 21/01/2021 Aliens As A Xeno Can I Bomb The Generators With Fuel Tanks? No. 16/02/2021 Aliens Can I Overdose An MP On Chems To Avoid Arrest? No, it's similar to shooting at an MP, can be lethal, and is a misuse of chems. It's also LRP, as a realistically played character wouldn't cause someone harm to avoid an arrest. I.E you cannot overdose them on inaprovaline to cause them to fall asleep. 12/03/2021 Marines Can I OB LV Beach Before Fog Drops? Yes, as long as you know it's xenos on the other side, I.E can see structures etc. 17/03/2021 Marines Can You Railgun The Dropships After Hijack And Such? No, Railguns will be treated similarly to OB's, aka after hijack you can no longer use it. In short, is the OB Locked from being fired? If yes, you are not allowed to use the railgun. 23/04/2021 Marines Can I Use C4, Alternative Explosives Or Lethal Weapons To Break Someone Out Of Jail? No. 10/02/2021 Marines Can I Deploy As A Doctor? Yes you can. However, you must stay away from the front-lines and be in general safety. You shouldn't ignore your duties and turn into a combat medic. 18/05/2021 Marines Can I Use Disposal System To Move Around? Yes, as long as the areas you're entering aren't out of bounds, for example, lifeboats and space. Using it as an alternative to break into areas you can access by other means like brig is allowed for example. 21/05/2021 Marines What Can Non Combat Support Roles Do If They Deploy To The Area Of Operations? They are restricted to the FOB, or a very secured area (multiple cades in all directions, such as a secondary FOB). MPs should only be doing control and can only go to the front lines in fresh pursuit. Techs should be helping to build a FOB or secured area. Doctors are restricted to FOB, secondary FOB, or medical APC. Doctors are not to be combat medics running into danger to pull wounded or dead marines out of combat. 24/05/2021 Marines What Is The Extent That A Queen Can De-Evolve Xenos? Queens can de-evolve someone if they want to add a certain caste such as de-evolving a praetorian for a boiler. However forcing everyone to go just one type of T3 falls under the meme hive clause and is prohibited. 31/05/2021 Aliens Can I Dismantle The Ship For Metal? At the current state of the game with this ruling, metal and plasteel are hard to come by. The previous ruling about dismantling chairs and shelving has been shelved. However this may be changed in the future depending on future development in the game and balancing of the metal economy. However this still requires the proper authorizations per ML and SOP. 04/09/2021 Marines Can I Booby Trap The Dropship? After first drop, you can booby trap the dropship, however it is suggested you don’t go overboard as you risk other marines being harmed. If this becomes an issue, developers may make a mechanical lock to prevent explosives from being placed in the dropship. The only exception is if marines are given actual in-game intelligence before first drop that xenos are on the planet (Event, Survivor's make contact with USCM, etc...) 06/10/2021 Marines Can I Not Take A Specialist Kit If I Get The Role, But I Want To Loot Other Spec Kits If The Player Dies, Or I Didn't Get The kit I Wanted At Spawn? No this is wasting a slot, you pick a kit on spawn. If the kit you wanted is not available, and you do not want to play because of this, you have the option to head to cyro. 15/10/2021 Marines Can Xenos Wall In Dead Marines? As of this ruling we’re running an administrative test. Xeno morphs are no longer permitted to wall in dead marine corpses. You can still build front line defenses and at the most one or two spaces should be near a dead marine. But no more 9x9 thick resin walls to hide a marine 17/10/2021 Aliens Can I Shoot A Fellow Marine If They're Being Dragged Off By Xenos, To Stop Them Getting Captured? No, not without their consent either ICly (Screaming at you to kill them) or OOCly (if they tell you in LOOC they are fine to be shot if captured. This isn't frequent) 15/12/2021 Marines Can I Kill Monkeys As A Survivor? No, not until Marines have landed. This is to prevent the round being stunted. 04/01/2022 Survivors Can I Attack The Hive As A Survivor? Not at round start, once the Xenos have developed T1s and are out of the hive you may go on the offensive. 04/01/2022 Survivors Can I Use CAS On The Dropship After Xenos Called It Down And Are Boarding? No, for the same reason OB is mechanically restricted, CASing the dropship post theft will get you into trouble. 09/01/2022 Marines Can I Wall Off The Dropship Consoles? No. It's metagaming. 16/01/2022 Marines Can I Banish AFK larva At Roundstart To Get Respawns? It depends, and should be ahelped. 02/02/2022 Aliens Can I Use Larva As Recon To Find Survivors? Absolutely not. Larva are not recon castes, and using them to find survivors goes against the principle they should stay in the hive, and puts them in danger. 08/04/2022 Aliens Can I As A Xeno Board The Dropship On First Drop To Cause Havoc On The Almayer? No, this should not be done until at least second drop, when general attacks around/at the FOB are accepted. 18/06/2022 Aliens Can I Fire An OB On The LZ As Soon As The Dropship Takes Off From The Almayer, Before The Queen Can Lock It? No, this would be meta without IC justification. For all you know there could be technical malfunction. In most cases you have no reason to suspect it has anything to do with the LZ or xenos. If you have IC justification you can do so, but this is subject to review at the time. In cases where you think you're justified to fire OB on the LZ after dropship takes off from the Almayer, ahelp your reasoning at same time as firing or before if possible 11/04/2022 Marines Can I Kill Marines Gearing Up In Cryo Or Prep Before Hijack, Because On Red Alert They Are Equipped With Mod 88s? No, Xenomorphs cannot attack marines gearing up in cryo or prep outside of hijack. 18/06/2022 Aliens Can I pretend to be friendly to the USCM as a hostile survivor (CLF) but then become hostile later? No. You must be consistently and actively hostile to USCM personnel if you want to be hostile at all. 16/03/2023 Marines Can the Combat Correspondent leave safe areas? Yes but you should not be fighting at the frontline like a regular marine and should attempt to disengage and run if attacked by hostiles. 22/03/2023 Marines What is off limits for xenos who have gotten aboard the Almayer before hijack? You cannot attack anyone who is freshly spawned out of cryo or in prep. No "spawn camping". Previous meta rules regarding attacking specific locations or devices are nullified. 12/05/2023 Aliens Can I guard a dead human to make sure they go into permanent death? No, this is akin to walling off dead bodies, which is still forbidden. If a human is dead, they're dead. You can only guard a body if a queen makes their intent to gib the body known. 27/05/2023 Aliens Question Answer Date Clarified Can I Fire Multiple OB Shots At The Same Time? No, if exploited you will get you punished. 27/02/2021 Can I Go To Space? No you can't, space is meant to be unreachable. If you go into space, then you're exploiting a bug. Only time you should be in space is if staff members somehow made it part of an event or you somehow got knocked into it and it wasn't your fault. If that happens, ahelp. Exploiting can lead to bans. 27/05/2021 Can I Implant Motion Detector In Chest? No, it's unintended and makes no sense. MD has a screen, so how will you operate it without looking at the screen lore-wise? Don't do it. 03/06/2021 Can I Place Acid Traps Intentionally So They Trigger From Behind Walls? No, Traps Are Not Meant To Trigger From Behind Walls. 29/05/2021 Can I Build Airlock Doors On Top Of The Dropship Doors To Make Them More Secure? Per developers this is not intended, will be treated at bug abuse until a fix is made 06/09/2021 Can I Drag The Queen To A Flank So She Doesn't Make Any Sound? No. This is bypassing a mechanic intended to pre-announce the Queen's presence. Dragging her while AFK, injured or otherwise is fine, but moving the Queen via dragging to avoid footstep sounds is bypassing this feature. 24/06/2022 Can I Build Cameras On The Colony And Link Them To The Almayer? No, this is a bug exploit and is not intended to be possible. 24/06/2022 Can I Plant A Custom C4 On A Mouse, Then Put It Into My Backpack So It Can Be Detonated Via Remote Trigger If I Am Capped? No. That is a bug that will be soon patched up. As a general rule, C4 is not supposed to be mobile after planting and is supposed to be clearly visible once it is planted. Anything that bypasses those two conditions is most likely a bug in which case you should report it and stop using it. 08/20/2022 What About OT Grenades? Can I Set Them On A High Timer, Prime Them, Put Them In My Pack, Then Get Capped On Purpose? No. Blowing up the hive and caps with any explosive hidden in your backpack is not an intended mechanic. 08/22/2022 Push Ups, Or Any Other Mechanic, Has Made My Character Permanently Horizontal, Allowing Me To Move/Shoot At Regular Speed And While Holding My Gun. Can I Use This Mechanic Because I Find It Entertaining Or For Any Other Reason? No. Making your character permanently horizontal is jarring from an IC standpoint and skirts our memery/ooc behavior rules and is clear bug abuse as well. Moving forward, purposefully abusing this mechanic will be treated as blatant bug abuse. The only allowed way of movement via remaining horizontal on the screen is using the crawling mechanic, done by moving while laying down. 18/06/2022 Question Answer Date Clarified If I get hacked on discord or game, or if someone uses my account and breaks rules and gets me permanently banned do I have any recourse. Your account is your responsibility. If you get hacked via a discord trojan and you recover your account and enable F2A we will take that into consideration. However, if someone physically gets access to your BYOND and breaks our rules, the account/CKEY is held accountable. You can always appeal it, but remember we’re not a big fan of “well my brother did it” so if you’re going to use this argument, make sure you can give us reasons to believe you. 13/07/2021 I'm Really Good As A Xeno Queen, Can I Ask The Queen To Swap With Me? No let the queen play, you'll get another chance to queen. Queens are only replaced if they need to leave/disconnect or if the queen player themselves decides they cannot do the role. 13/08/2021 Am I Allowed To Stream CM Without Delay? Yes, however metacommunications rules and others still apply. 14/10/2021 Can I Rebind M1 Or Another Button To The Scroll Wheel To "click" Faster? No, similar to auto-clickers this is not allowed. We cant prove it easily, but if we have reasonable suspicion, we will take action. 16/05/2022 Can I Use Macros/Create Them With Third Party Software To Do Multiple Things At Once? No, making macro's outside of byond should be refrained from, but if we have reasonable suspicion, we will take action. 16/05/2022 Can I Spam The Give Item Dialogue To Mechanically Disrupt Players In Game? No. This is considered an exploit and will be met with an immediate ban. 27/06/2022

How To Use

There is 4 categories in order to make the stream of clarifications easier to digest:

• Roleplay Rulings - usually contains marine law, roleplay or meta-knowledge rulings.
• Gameplay Rulings - contains rulings relating to the main gameplay or balance.
• Bug Rulings - contains rulings that relate to what is and isn't a bug exploit.
• Miscellaneous Rulings - anything that does not fit into the categories above, which can include things that are not part of the normal game state.

It is recommended that you do not read it in it's entirety, and instead use it as a confirmation source when you want to know if something borderline or questionable is allowed or not. This can be done in a variety of ways, however it is recommended you search up (with ctrl+f) a few keywords for your question or skim the list in the appropriate category (after sorting the table into the faction that it would likely be contained to.)

Regardless, ignorance is not an excuse. So the rulings above should be relied upon nevertheless as an extension of the Rules page. But the main Colonial Marine's discord (as mentioned at the start) can be relied upon for knowledge on what new rulings have been made; this is simply an easy to access historic rulings/a better repository of the #rule-clarification channel there.