Commanding Officer

COMMAND

Commanding Officer

Difficulty: Very Hard Supervisors: Marine Law, USCM High Command Rank: Captain / Commodore ( CO Council ) Duties: Lead your small battalion and complete the mission. Guides: Leadership ; Marine Law ; Marine Techwebs Unlock Requirements: Commanding Officer Whitelist. Detailed Description: |__________| Your job is HEAVY ROLEPLAY and requires you to stay IN CHARACTER at all times. While you support the Company, you report to the USCM High Command, not the corporate office. Your primary task is the safety of the ship and her crew, and ensuring the survival and the success of the marines. Your first order of buisness should be briefing the marines on the mission they are about to undertake. If you require any help, use adminhelp to talk to game staff about what you're suppposed to do. Godspeed, Captain ! |__________|

"How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?"

"Thirty-eight. Simulated."

"How many combat drops?"

"Uh, two... Including this one."

― Ripley, Lt. Gorman and Pvt. Vasquez, Aliens

No army operates without good leadership, an army without a chain-of-command is a defeated army, it's your job and duty to represent the United Americas Allied Command and cooperate with the Company to solve the situation down in the planet.

The Commanding Officer is held in higher standard from all the crew of Almayer and expected to have the most top responsibilities from all other marines, because of this reason, the role is currently whitelisted, click here to go to the whitelist form.

• Note: Once your CO whitelist application gets accepted, you will be given the rank of Captain. All CO council members will be given the rank of Commodore, which has no In-game benefits. Every rank above Commodore, will appear only in events with Admin spawn, available for any player that holds the CO whitelist.

Your Mission

You are the Commanding Officer of the USS Almayer where you have been tasked with a mission to investigate an automatic distress call from the Weston-Yamada's Colony - Big Red planet or another map that you're playing. Your mission is to command the Marines to conduct a Search and Rescue (S.A.R) or a simple investigation on what has happened to the facility. Your ship contains a platoon of 4 squads of marines and the ship's crew (including the MPs, Staff Officers and so on) which makes up five squads. Your sole objective of this mission is to find out what happened, deal with the situation, possibly evacuate any ground personnel and go home with minimal loses. The lives of your platoon rest on your decisions and abilities as the commanding officer of the ship to succeed in this mission. You will also be responsible for the lives of the men and women that fall under your command.

Note: If you are going to deploy, make sure you tell the next in line of command that he will be the aCO either via Comms, such as Command comms or by speaking directly to the person.

You will also need to brief the marines on what they will be doing as in for example: "Marines, we have received a distress call from the research facility Solaris Ridge where we have been dispatched to investigate." (This is just an example of what a Commanding Officer could say, and after that, you can assign objectives for each squad). How you want this mission to go is entirely up to you to complete the mission.

As the Commanding Officer of the mission, you are to be in RP at all times from briefing the marines to ordering squads around. Don't act like an idiot! You will be held responsible for the failure of the mission if it turns south. You will possibly be demoted if you haven't met acceptable standards. Think carefully about your decisions.

In the event that you leave the ship to oversee ground operations or otherwise, it is important to know who you will be leaving in charge. They will be following the Chain of Command on who ever oversees ship side duties.

Note: Do not commit suicide without a valid RP reason; otherwise you may end with a command job ban. If you are unsure about your RP reason for suicide, you can ahelp any of the staff online to make sure you won't be job banned for it.

Your Tools

You can only go planetside and be part of the ground operation, provided you leave the Executive Officer in charge of the Almayer. That's EXTREMELY not recommended, however, since you are more useful on the Almayer for everybody - including you.

The Commanding Officer, for deployment, in case of no Executive Officer or Death of the same, can deploy if someone on the rank of Lieutenant or above is capable of taking over while maintaining his duties while on CIC, that list includes Staff Officers, Chief Engineer, Requisitions Officer, Chief of the Military Police, however, Staff Officers are always preferable over a departament head of staff since they are already there.
If the Department head selected has no other personnel on his departament, he is not elegible for taking the rank of acting commanding officer of the operation. IE.: Requisitions Officer without Cargo Technicians cannot take acting command.

As Commanding Officer, your most significant tools are not weapons and grenades, but the leadership and all military structure under your command:

• The Command staff: These are the direct successors of the command if you are away and have the primary mission of helping the squads down below. They operate by using the overwatch consoles to support the squads and by micromanaging them so you won't have to concentrate on four squads at the same time

• The Marine Platoon: you have four squads under your command, each formed by 1 Squad Leader, 2 to 4 Squad Medics, 2 to 4 Squad Engineers, 1 Squad Smartgunner, 1 well equipped Squad Specialists and endless waves made from fresh reinforcements of redshirts, erm... Standard Marines. In the course of the operation, you have contact with them, give orders to them (but give them to the Squad Leader first) and generally maintain order, structure, and discipline of the Marines. They were trained for a long time to be the representation of your wrath on the battlefield, so manage as if they were your own pieces in a chess game.

• The Military Police: A handful of Military Police and their leader, the Chief MP that answer directly to you. They are here to hunt anyone that breaks the Marine Law and to protect you and your crew from any hostile threats. Use them to make sure Marines don't get unruly on the Almayer.

• Medical staff: Since they are civilians, they don't receive orders from you, although they should listen. They are led by a Chief Medical Officer and composed of Doctors. It's recommended you let them be autonomous for roleplay and gameplay reasons since that micromanagement can make their job worse than it is. Researcher is also medical, make sure to provide them resources and ask them for exciting new experimental medicine for your squad medics.

• Engineering: The shipside engineers' primary concern will be fabricating custom explosives for your grunts, squad engineers and squad specialists, loading the Orbital Bombardment Cannon, then fixing any broken thing on Almayer. It's important to note that you can authorize the Ordnance Technician to go down planetside to assist in the construction of the FOB and/or the distribution of their custom explosives should it be absolutely necessary, but make sure they are not needed in the Ordnance Workshop to fill in any pending custom explosives orders first. They are more valuable to you keeping the production line in their workshop running than exposing themselves to needless danger.

• Supply: Supply is an important part of the Almayer. They provide weapons, equipment, supplies, medicine, chemicals for your Ordnance Technicians, and ammo for your ship and marines. You should always have direct contact with the Requisitions Officer to coordinate supply drops and what to order. Make sure to be explicit and direct on what you order and for which squads.

• Synthetic: A stronger version of a human, made from silicone and science, they're programmed to assist the Almayer in various supporting tasks and are not meant for combat situations. Remember, they completely understand Marine Law and never break it, so as long as your orders do not conflict with Marine Law, (or the rules) they will be followed through.

• The Vehicle Crew: One of the most versatile assets fielded by the USCM, if only authorized. Having competent Vehicle Crewman can turn the tide of any battle. The Light Tank, although not capable of taking too much punishment, can aid your efforts greatly as a mobile direct fire support platform. The APC, depending on the module outfitted, can transport small, crack strike teams to critical locations quickly, evacuate casualties from the frontline and even restore them to full fighting condition without ever needing to return to the Almayer medbay or provide frontline overwatch for a single squad and offer light direct fire support.

You also have the incredibly useful communications console, with the various abilities of:

• Making a general announcement: a general announcement will be heard by ALL marines, and anyone of any faction shipside, excluding xenomorphs. It's highly useful for making sure all marines are aware of any updated orders and the general situation of the battle, aka whether or not an area has been lost or gained.

• Sending a message to USCM High Command: Even the boss has a boss. Sometimes in times of need, you need to contact the High Command to ask for their support or to inform them of something important. This system is used only for emergencies, for less pressing matters, you have a fax machine within your private office and one located in the brig.

• Send a distress signal: Sending a signal will spawn a crew of Responders or an infected pod full of xenomorphs (very unlikely to spawn xenomorphs) composed by dead players - useful for when you need help defending the ship and want to call those dead players back to the action.

Mutually exclusive with activating Self-Destruct

• Setting Primary Landing Zone: Allows you to select a primary landing zone, if one isn't chosen 25 minutes into the round the primary LZ is defaulted as LZ one. Setting a primary landing zone means that the other landing zone computer cannot be used by the queen to hijack.

• Initiate the Almayer's escape pods: When everything goes haywire, you can always use this option to attempt to preserve the lives of your Marines and escape like a coward. The escape pods will take 10 minutes to launch. Note that you can only occupy three people inside the pod; otherwise the pod's thrusters will blow up due to overload capacity.

• Activate the Almayer's Self-Destruct Mechanism: One can activate the Self-Destruct System if all seems lost and there are aliens aboard. Every 10 minutes, a safety rod will pop up and can be activated. After activating all 6 rods, one must go to the Self-Destruct Control Panel and can detonate the entire ship if they think the mission is lost. Remember to build defenses around and inside the SD room to have a better chance of detonating the ship.

Mutually exclusive with sending a distress signal.

• Award Medal: Commanding Officers (and ONLY Commanding Officers) can award medals for various marines through their heroic acts. See below for more information.

Supply Drops and Orbital Bombardment

Please refer to Supply Drops in the Staff Officer section.

Your Actual Tools

As the Commanding Officer, you have access to a few unique items. While you should always be leading from the Almayer, however, there may be circumstances where you may need to lead the Marines from the front, either on the colony or on the Almayer itself.

You spawn with a special issue Mateba, an extremely powerful auto-revolver that can dish out massive damage, it's powerful enough to knock a Human off of their feet, which is normally used for Battlefield Executions. You also have access to a Whistle for coordinating the marines and a special prototype weapon the, M46C Pulse Rifle which can be found in the command armory. Additionally you have your Command Tablet which is a portable communication console on the go. It can be found in your bathroom. Finally, you spawn with binoculars, for long-range recon.

Techwebs

The Marine's Techwebs allow your battalion to purchases powerful abilities that improves the individual Marine capabilities.

Head over to here to learn more.

How to Lead

Now that the Commanding Officer is a whitelisted role, some basic things don't need to be said anymore. Don't go AFK, don't be a super-dictator. As a fresh CO, there are some things you need to keep in mind. One, you might be called the Commanding Officer, but you're more suited for the title coordinator. Don't see your SLs and SOs as pawns, but rather valuable tools (that sometimes talk back to you) who have a mind of their own. With this in mind, you'll have two overarching leadership styles:

One, being a gentle guiding hand for the marines. This involves giving your squads and SOs some leeway to perform what they think is best, as they're the ones on the ground so they'll know a little bit better than you will. This, in essence, is being firm; but polite, as no marine respects a Commanding Officer who is excessively strict and hostile towards them. If you're going to go this way, I would suggest giving the two chattiest/competent squads semi-autonomy objectives, whereas the less chatty/competent squads are given things such as FoB or Power duty.

Two, be a dictatorlike Commanding Officer who is incredibly strict and stomps dissent with his Military Police. This works exceptionally well if you have compliant and quiet squads who won't be likely to oppose you. You'll want to threaten no support, brig times, and other horrible things in the hopes of getting your marines to follow your orders. With this kind of control scheme, you'll be wanting to have no autonomy for your marines and be continually giving them orders, or they'll stop listening to you. As a note, this can and will result in a disastrous mutiny that will get BOTH sides killed. Be warned.

Here are some things you'll want not to do when you're a Commanding Officer, lest a mutiny happens or the marines flat out ignore you:

• The Commanding Officer stays silent or won't talk over the console or radio.
• The Commanding Officer leaves the bridge or walks around the ship without good reason.
• The Commanding Officer doesn't give the briefing or delays deployment for no good reason.
• The Commanding Officer provides wack-a-doodle or different orders.
• The Commanding Officer insults the lower ranks regularly or expresses contempt.
• The Commanding Officer insults Marines who die in battle.
• The Commanding Officer refuses to acknowledge suggestions.
• The Commanding Officer orders any lower rank who disagrees or criticizes them to cease talking.
• The Commanding Officer refuses any responsibility for failures.

If you as a player see a Commanding Officer checking off most of this box, alert staff via an "Ahelp" as this will allow them to take action if needed, and if it's severe enough they might be taken off the whitelist.

Mutinies

Mutinies can happen for many reasons, but it's mostly due to the marines not liking something you did. Expect there to be a mutiny because you didn't hand out a particular drug, didn't call up the shuttle instantly or they will simply blame you for the operation failure. Whatever the case may be, you have two options of handling it. Conceding to their demands and stepping down, or fighting them off - with lethals or not. If you decide to fight fire with fire, remember that the Military Police will always be on your side, unless High Command (Admins) grants them permission to overthrow you from Command.

Taking on the mutiny head-on can be scary at first, but remember that you've got an always loyal crew of MPs and possibly bridge staff, and an easily defendable location. You'll be able to funnel them in and hopefully tazer them down, arresting them in progress. If it comes to guns, you'll be ready to fight them off if the mutiny is relatively small. Make sure to announce over the command system that a mutiny is happening, and for any free marines on the Almayer to assist. You'll have plenty of loyalists ready to die for you and the Corps.

Of course, the best course of action is to prevent the mutiny outright. Make sure you treat your marines right, and they'll treat you right.

Abilities: Orders

Orders are a timed active ability that characters trained in leadership can activate. The duration of the ability is related to how high the character's leadership skill is, an example being that the Commanding Officer's order will last longer than a Squad leader's order. The leadership skill also determines the intensification of the ability, the higher it is, the more intense the effects of the order are on surrounding players. Note that these abilities do not stack and that the abilities cover your visual view range and no further.

Orders:	Description:
Move!	Increased mobility and chance to dodge projectiles.
Hold!	Increased resistance to pain and combat wounds.
Focus!	Increased gun accuracy and effective range.

Medals

To show that a member of the Almayer's crew has gone above and beyond during the mission you can log into the communications computer and use it to submit an award. This award then appears after the round, and it will also print-out an actual award that can be pinned onto the deserving players. Note that abusing the system or making tons of fake awards will result in removal from Commanding Officer whitelist.

Medal System

Medal Name	Medal Sprite	When is it Awarded	Example
Medal Of Valor		A silver medal awarded for acts of exceptional valor. Normally given to those who outstand themselves from the ranks, either it be in Leadership skills or actions crucial to the mission success.	For actions above and beyond the call of duty, and exhibiting exceptional courage, extraordinary decisiveness and presence of mind, or an unusual swiftness of action, regardless of his or her personal safety, in an attempt to save and protect human life against a hostile, boarding alien force. Issued by Cpt. Devereaux 8/25/2190. USS Almayer; 2nd Battalion "Falling Falcons", 4th Brigade, 4th United States Colonial Marine Division..
Medal of Distinguished Conduct		A bronze medal awarded for distinguished conduct. Whilst a great honor, this is the most basic award given by the USCM.	For distinguished, gallant and good conduct in the field. Issued by Cpt. Devereaux 8/25/2190. USS Almayer; 2nd Battalion “Falling Falcons”, 4th Brigade, 4th United States Colonial Marine Division.
Medal of Exceptional Heroism		An extremely rare golden medal awarded only by the USCM. To recieve such a medal is the highest honor and as such, very few exist.	For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of their life above and beyond the call of duty against an opposing force. Normally received for actions that surpass the Call of Duty. Issued by Cpt. Devereaux 8/25/2190. USS Almayer; 2nd Battalion “Falling Falcons”, 4th Brigade, 4th United States Colonial Marine Division.
Bronze Heart Medal		A bronze heart-shaped medal awarded for sacrifice. It is often awarded posthumously or for severe injury in the line of duty.	Awarded for being wounded or killed while serving with the United States Colonial Marines on Solaris Ridge in the name of the U.S President or U.A Security Council on or after April 1st, 2101. Issued by Cpt. Devereaux 8/25/2190. USS Almayer; 2nd Battalion “Falling Falcons”, 4th Brigade, 4th United States Colonial Marine Division.

Credits to: Vispain (Cassius 'Santa' Klaus), Greg Lauffer (Snooper44), and Enyonggg (Cha Jin-Wook)
Edited by Moderator Hunk1 (Jason 'Goliath' Williams) in order to add official ruling approved by Commanding Officer's Council.

Your Skillset

To find out about how the skill system works head over to the skills system page.

The Third Fleet

The Third Fleet

Sources and Reading

• Marine Combat Guide (General Tactics and Strategies)
• Commanding Officer Discussion Thread (Tactics, tips, and tricks)
• Commanding Officer Council Rulings and Clarifications

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Congratulations, your CO Application has been accepted and you will be able to RP as a Commanding Officer. Remember that you may and are even encouraged to try out new tactics, to improve the gameplay of everyone under your Command. Listen to your fellow Captains and Commodores as they will help you with your first steps.

Good luck Commanding Officer, you'll need it.