Commanding Officer Code of Conduct

The following is a list of rulings applied in effect by the CO Council to all whitelisted Commanding Officers. These rulings must be followed and not broken when playing as the CO of the ship. Violation of listed rulings can result in punishment from the Council.

This page will be updated semi-regularly when new rulings are made.

Compiled by Naut and Frans_Feiffer of the CO Council. Updated 7/3/2020.

Punishments Clarification

Warning

• A player will receive a basic WARNING for a breach in guidelines as a CO. Basic warnings will have a duration of THREE months, at which point they cease to become relevant.

Heavy Warning

• A player will receive a HEAVY WARNING for a breach in guidelines as a CO if they already have an active warning OR if the incident justifies a heavy warning with no previous actions. Heavy warnings will have a duration of SIX months. After three months, a heavy warning will de-escalate into a regular warning, which will be active for the remaining three months.

Suspension

• A player will receive a SUSPENSION if they already have an active warning/heavy warning OR if the incident is so egregious as to justify a suspension with no prior incidents (extremely unlikely). Suspension times may vary depending on severity, but will always be a week, 2 weeks, or a month. After suspension time is served, it will be treated as a heavy warning for the purposes of punishment escalation.

Removal

• A player will have their whitelist REVOKED if, while still serving time from a suspension (in the form of a heavy warning), they’re responsible for a breach in the whitelist guidelines OR if they escalate to a suspension again after already receiving one in the past. Players may appeal their Whitelist removal after 3 months via PMing one of the current Council members with the filled out form found on the forums (Link). If a player has their whitelist removed twice, it will be permanent and the player will be barred from ever receiving the whitelist again.

Departments

Heads of Staff

• Department heads are not allowed to deploy to the AO, with the exception of the CMP and CE. Department heads risk trouble with staff should they deploy; don’t order them to deploy.
  • The CE is allowed to deploy to the FOB if there’s an XO onboard, and they require permission from the CO/aCO. They may deploy with the purpose of building the FOB, securing Tcomms, etc. however they are not to leave the FOB. Once the FOB is under siege, they must return to the ship.
  • The CMP is allowed to deploy to defend the Nuke to ensure it’s detonation, however there still must be at least one MP onboard the ship.

Marine Law and SOP

Pardons

• In order to pardon someone, you must know the crimes committed and roughly when they were committed.
  • Similar to BEs, after pardoning someone you must announce it and state the name of the marine, as well as why you’re pardoning said marine.

Uniforms

• Commissioned officers must wear their designated or otherwise appropriate uniforms. Non-standard clothing such as pajamas, shorts, maid outfits, or clown outfits are not allowed, and SOP cannot be modified to allow such.

SOP Modifications

• Military Police must be informed of any changes made to the SOP before it is implemented.
• Uniform regulations that disregard basic logic and sense, such as allowing marines to deploy without uniform or armor, are not allowed.
• The SOP may not be modified to the extent of griefing or physically burdening marines. Modifications such as “marines must walk only” are prohibited, as is modifying SOP to imprison a marine for a custom offense with malicious intent.
• Standard-issued equipment to Marines that can be found in their squad preparations and requisitions (such as the standard primary and secondary arms and attachments) cannot be restricted or prohibited in any way. Marines reserve the right to freely carry and use the equipment they are provided with.
• If helmet wearing is enforced, it should only be explicitly made mandatory to Squad Leaders, Specialists, or other vital and specialty roles. It should not be enforced on standard Marines.

Area of Operations

LZ and Telecomms

• Your extraction point (LZ) and Telecomms should at the very least have minimal PROPER defenses. You may build a FOB at any area other than the LZ, or you may additionally skip the construction of a well-defended FOB at the LZ; just make sure that the LZ has at least some form of proper protection.
• Do not attempt to circumvent this by building flimsy wooden barricades or other rudimentary defenses and calling it ‘protection’. LZ defense must be able to at least momentarily hold off an enemy assault.

High Command

• If a flag officer (Rear Admiral or higher) is sent to your ship, DO NOT fire on them or their bodyguards, and comply with any orders they give you as they are your superior officer. High Command will not send Admiral’s to harm you, if one is sent it is to resolve an issue without mod intervention ICly. Your compliance will ensure that the round continues to run smoothly.

Metagaming

• You can order marines to gear up for redeployment, even if you primarily expect it to be for ship defense, you can't however order supplies stockpiled in a single area, even if you say it's for redeployment because it’ll likely be perceived as stockpiling supplies for the Almayer defense.
• You cannot order marines to immediately charge into an area where Xenos have been known to set up a hive in the past, such as ordering marines straight into central caves, the Lambda lab, or civilian residences.

Armory

• Special equipment found in armories such as the Mk221 or M41A Mk. 1 can only be handed out to non-officers with a clear and understandable reason for doing so.
  • You may not send them as part of a supply drop, give them away as rewards/prizes, or form a squad that uses such equipment as standard.
  • You may hand them out to deploying CIC staff (you, XO, or any SOs) as part of their standard equipment.
  • Armory equipment may be handed out to all personnel during boarding or a Code Red or Delta scenario. Officers should be prioritized before enlisted.

Briefing

• Briefing must be done physically and not via announcements. Briefings may be held anywhere within the Almayer, so long as it isn’t the Hangar, Dropships, or Tankbay.
  • Briefing shouldn't disrupt a Department’s ability to operate.
• The briefing can be given to SLs/SOs only within the CIC or elsewhere, so long as all active SLs/SOs are present for the orders.

Command Staff

Senior Enlisted Advisors

• Senior Enlisted Advisors are not permitted to do overwatch in the CIC. Don’t order them to do so.
• Senior Enlisted Advisors may also not be deputized to act as MPs.

Commanding Officer - specific

Medals

• Meme medals for actions that do not in actuality warrant any sort of medal at all are not allowed. Medals can be given for acts of true accomplishment in combat or in support, such as killing the Queen but can’t be awarded for trivial or meme things such as cooking dinner or being of a different race.
• The Commanding Officer may not award themselves with medals - only superiors (RADM+) may award them for distinguishable actions.

Deployment

• You should not be deployed on the first drop. You may deploy after the first drop if you deem necessary, but you must leave the CIC staffed to oversee the operation.
• Failure to leave any commissioned officer of command authority (LT+) in the CIC is not allowed. The CIC must remain staffed by an officer at all times.
  • The Command APC is not a valid extension of the CIC.
• Make sure you remain on communications and are actively using announcements, comms and regularly issue orders and command. You still have to do your job while deployed.

Equipment

• Do NOT give your Mateba or M46C rifle away. If you die, go unconscious, etc., and it is stolen, that's fine, but you should try to get it back to the best of your ability.
• Your tablet should not be given out to non-command staff. Preferably only either you, the XO or acting Commander should be in possession of the tablet.

Announcements

• The Commanding Officer may not issue any LRP, meme, or immature announcements. Making a remark or two is allowed (provided it’s still in-character), but focusing the entire subject of the announcement as a meme is not.
• Announcements should be informative to the marines in at least some extent, and should not be used to insult, degrade, or otherwise impact the morale of marines.
• Announcements should only link to known image capture sites such as Gyazo or imgur. Only still pictures of the tactical map are allowed -- no GIFs and/or pictures of content other than the tactical map.

Battlefield Executions

For further reading on Battlefield Execution guidelines, see the Marine Law section on BEs here.

• Don't stretch the concepts of what is a valid BE or not too far, people insulting you is not a threat to your command, people insulting you to draw everyone away from your command is.
• BEs may not be performed if the suspect is currently restrained or in custody, such as if they are in surgery or if they are safely contained within the brig.
• An exception to this is when standard execution procedures (i.e. firing squad) are otherwise impossible, such as during boardings and/or during Delta Alert.
• You may not order a BE by proxy - you cannot ask any marines or other staff to kill someone on your behalf. You must do it yourself.