What Makes a Captain?

[DrAmazing343]

What does a Captain actually *do?*

Are they an overgrown assistant whose sole responsibility is to hold the disk? Are they a man child whose job it is to play with pretty toys? SHOULD a Captain try to leverage their power to make things happen, even to the chagrin of the average man?

I think it’s interesting to see the dynamic of ultimate power and ultimate responsibility with little accountability thrown at a single player, and it’s even more interesting to examine what kind of player such a role attracts.

For me, I hardly play Captain because I take all the responsibility directly to the forehead. I’ve recently began playing Captain almost solely as the old man static specifically so I could do the grizzled veteran that cares about his men kind of archetype; I think that’s peak, and matches my feeling of loss when shit hits the fan. Others, of course, feel NONE of this, and may laugh at the idea. What do you folks think?

What makes a Captain?
Better yet, what makes a GOOD one?

[dendydoom]

the best captain i've ever had the pleasure of experiencing (i won't namedrop him here he might get embarrassed) steered people's attention toward interesting elements of the round. if someone was doing a cool gimmick, they would use their position and authority to divert resources to it and get people involved.

captains are at their best, to me at least, when they're a sort of stage director for the shift. they make sure that crew who have good ideas are empowered to complete them, then they make sure they get the attention they deserve by convincing people to check it out.

[Constellado]

the best captain i've ever had the pleasure of experiencing (i won't namedrop him here he might get embarrassed) steered people's attention toward interesting elements of the round. if someone was doing a cool gimmick, they would use their position and authority to divert resources to it and get people involved.

captains are at their best, to me at least, when they're a sort of stage director for the shift. they make sure that crew who have good ideas are empowered to complete them, then they make sure they get the attention they deserve by convincing people to check it out.

I agree, and this works for the AI in a shift as well. Cool thing happening? Advertise it! You will get free gimmick advertising by me if I am cap or AI that's for sure! (If I know about it, and if it is not something that looks purposely hidden)

I also do a bit of damage control and pick up the command slack when I am captain and things hit the fan. A good captain is one that can lead a crew to fight a threat!

[Itseasytosee2me]

I think what really makes the best captain is having heads of staff who turn to the captain for guidance and orders. The captain’s entire job can be summed up as “the ultimate authority,” In some ways this makes the captain the most RP heavy job of them all.

[RedBaronFlyer]

In my opinion, one of the best qualities of a captain is following the “Yes, and?” rule of improv. I’ve always thought of captains as being both an actual position that requires game knowledge (ideally), while also being like an admin who responds to prayers, but instead of supernatural it’s purely from station resources/command. I love captains that can do both.

[LiarGG]

Three things. Sabre, banter and a fancy hat.

[warbluke]

Are they an overgrown assistant whose sole responsibility is to hold the disk?

Yes.
Gimmicks are fun and all but I have seen WAY too many acting Captains and regular Captains leave disky out to dry.

[Rhials]

I could write about this for an obnoxiously long time, but I promised myself I would keep this post short. This post is stained by MRP bias so please be warned:

The role can feel purposeless, especially if nobody is listening to you. Often times the other crew (players) will not follow orders unless they trust you, have been bartered/begged with, or are promised something in exchange. This can feel very contradictory to the "I'm the captain so everyone will listen to me!" expectation people typically have. It's a bit of a mess when trying to determine what a captain "should" be doing at all.

There is only one truly mechanically defined duty, and that's being the disk holder. Everything else exists as the result of your place at the top of the chain of command.

The captain has access to all items, accesses, and information on the station. In my opinion, it is the captain's duty to use these resources to make a round memorable, whether it be by running your own schtick, or funneling resources/attention into someone else's. Sometimes this means funneling station credits to the clown's bannanium fund, sometimes it means letting security institute martial law. As long as it gives something for people to play/roleplay around, it's a positive contribution to the round.

You also have the final say on the emergency shuttle. You get to decide when the entire universe resets, effectively making you a space-god. You should be using this power for good, not evil.

The shuttle call is a decision that should be made entirely Out Of Character, with consideration to dead/SSD players, observers, round length, vibes, and other factors. If the round is just straight-up BORING, you may want to consider pressing the "reset-the-entire-universe" button with the consent of the crew (players). The skill curve of playing captain revolves around knowing when to call the shuttle.

Lastly, conflict resolution and smoothing friction between departments via your all-radio headset. When players fight, the whole station weakens, the rounds become shorter, and interesting moments will be cut short by sudden chaos. You are the most well equipped person to handle conflict resolution, and keeping the station from generating any unnecessary heat can go a long way.

Summarily, the three goals of a captain should be "Make sure the round is interesting", "Make sure the round does not end too early or overstay its welcome", and "Make sure the crew don't maul each other".

Works Cited:

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[iwishforducks]

listen to rhials they’re a really good cap’n

[Critawakets]

If they take the antique laser roundstart, they're a bad captain and you should be allowed to steal all of their lunch money.

[BONERMASTER]

As someone once put it: if you can't control the chaos, you have to become the chaos.

With theoretical regards
-BONERMASTER

[dendydoom]

10/10 advice

there goes my hero................

[saprasam]

the optimal captain gets bumblingly drunk only to show up in the path of the murderboner & swirlie him into crit

[DrAmazing343]

peak fiction

Works Cited:
the hours.png

I think your point about the all-access headset is a huge and incredibly, incredibly underrated bit, too. I LOVE having all comms just as a pure gossip-hound/peoplewatcher type, but I love to play AI in a very sort of terminal AI that analog responds to requests as formally/digitally as possible but my secret pleasure is hearing something that needs done mentioned on comms and I can just make it happen SILENTLY and then announce that x thing is done for y department.

Captain lets me do that a lot more hands on, and being Captain, I hear ALL the gossip that goes on without going into each department myself, and similarly, it helps with a lot of conflict resolution, since I often have a more complete view/set of facts to defuse with.

One of my favorite rounds of all time happened when the station had no Command, and I, as an assistant, tided the ID and gear and managed to whip the disinterested crew working on their individual projects into a cohesive crew sharing the fruits of their projects to the point that I spent all round as an errand girl yet managed to keep everything afloat on intense lowpop and with less than stellar role management.

I don't mean to braggy brag or anything since, as Rhials has already posted, people are FAR better at and do this more often than I do, but that round was SO fucking fun for me because I was NEVER still, always putting a tool in one person's hands or taking a package from another. Using every bit of my game knowledge to help people when they needed it, or ideally, beforeso.

That's another thing I think is important in a Captain¡ getting your hands dirty! Having knowledge, and using it a lot or in great precision, gives you the respect from your crew that you (arguably) deserved from the outset.

Basically, act like they're all your kids without any of the condescension that would normally come to mind.

[Dax Dupont]

Fully staffed station captain should delegate to other heads, coordinate, make the hard calls and even sacrifice themselves for the station if needed.

But on lower staff you sometimes end up being security and other roles as well.

I've had round where as captain I've had to:
1. Capture multiple highly hostile antagonists.
2. Save the SM from exploding
3. Do surgery on what felt like a conveyor belt of wounded people.

I'd rather stay fully in my lane and be comfy but the station and it's crew are number one, even if it costs me my round.
It can be chill but it can be hell. Some captains are idiots but a lot are great but can make mistakes or be harsh when all hell is breaking loose.

[TheLoLSwat]

TLDR: You are not a bad guy. You are not a good guy. You are THE guy and as long as you carry yourself as such, youre fine



Try not to get banned

Throw your influence around as much as you can, even if you dont actually care about the situation.

Be remembered for your impact on the round (good or bad)

you should know security (you will be involved in security matters in 99% of rounds as the highest ranking member of security, doubly so if the HOS doesnt show up)
It helps to know basic engineering (its much easier to just shrug at an SM delam and "gg go next" though so i wouldnt put this as "should know" )

Everything else is really up to you and thats why captain is still really fun even after nearly 1000 rounds of it

[Rhials]

LolSwat you are projected to overtake me in captain rounds some time in March-May 2024. When that happens, do you promise to uphold the sacred station naming tradition of (Name)station (Round Number)?

I want to see Greenstation 800, just as there was a Duffystation 500 and Funnystation 300.