Quartermaster
| SUPPLY STAFF | |
  Quartermaster |
Access: Cargo Bay, Quartermaster's Office, Delivery Office, Mining Station, Mining EVA, Maintenance, Mineral Storage Additional Access: N/A Difficulty: Medium Supervisors: Head of Personnel Duties: Paperwork, order stuff, paperwork, send your underlings to collect crates, paperwork, coordinate mining, paperwork... Guides: List of the supply crates, forms |
Papers, please. HAIL CARGONIA!
Do not play this without some experience as a Cargo Technician first, you'll ruin the round.
As a Quartermaster, your primary job is to flood the station with paperwork and more paperwork order equipment to help keep the station running. Make sure points aren't wasted, kick the clown out, and make sure your Cargo Techs aren't getting in to trouble - and pull their arses out of the fire when they do get in to trouble. You have three helpers to run off with anything not bolted to the ground and ignore you help you redistribute things throughout the station. You also have authority over mining, and should try and coordinate the Shaft Miners to meet the needs of the station -- Primarily, this means passing on requests from Robotics, Research, and Engineering.
You have sunglasses, a unique jumpsuit, mining access, and your own office. This is all that distinguishes you from a Cargo Technician. The Head of Personnel can waltz in at any time and order or take whatever they want.
Supply Shuttle Console
"Who the hell blew all our points on Wizard Costumes?"
The Cargo Bay and your office is filled with paper, paper and more paper. Most importantly, there is a console to order items. Everything that people will expect you to order that cannot be procured from the Protolathe will show up on the Supply Shuttle once you order it. Each order will produce a record paper, which is usually best just shoved in the adjacent filing cabinet and forgotten until Security kicks down your door demanding to know who flooded the station with shotguns and clown outfits. In general, you should just try and make sure that you know who ordered what. Don't worry about point-jackers, either: Your console and the one in the Cargo Office are locked, requiring Cargo Bay access to function, meaning that only your subordinates (Cargo Technicians) and Superiors (Captain and Head of Personnel)
Supply Points
Every order requires you to spend supply points, which regenerate slowly over time. If you don't want to wait, you can earn bonus points by shipping certain items back through the supply shuttle:
- 5 supply points per crate
- 1 supply point per correctly stamped supply manifest (GRANTED if the crate had the right contents, DENIED if it didn't – must be in a crate when sent back)
- 5 supply points per plasma sheet (must be in a crate when sent back)
Crates are money. Find them. Hoard them greedily. Steal them if need be. The more crates you send back, the more stuff you can order.
What's in Those Crates?
See the list of Supply crates.
First Thing's First
You start with quite a few supply points, so here are some good first choices for the prepared Quartermaster:
- Insulated Gloves
- Engineering Equipment
- Metal/Glass
- Brute Medkits
- Standard Medkits
How To Order Crates
"Robotics is bugging me for a Ripley Crate - Someone wanna punch that in?"
To be a good Quartermaster, you have to know how to order shit, and how to do it right. To start things off, your first move should be to order a "50 Metal Sheets" and a "50 Glass Sheets" crate acquire metal and glass from Auxiliary Tool Storage, located directly above the Mail Room, along with an Electrical Maintenance Crate and a Mechanical Maintenance Crate. The metal and glass should be fed to the Autolathe until full, while your slave force load the empty crates on the shuttle. From this point on, evaluate what's going on in the station and order accordingly. If there are no cargo technicians, you'll have to load and unload crates yourself. The upside to this is there is slightly less chance that everything in the crates will be stolen before you ever see them.
If someone wants to order a crate and you want to be a bureaucrat, do this:
- Ask them to use the computer to request it
- Ask them for a written permission from their head
- Ensure that the form has been stamped and signed
- Approve the request
- Stamp the form with the Quartermaster's Stamp
- File the form
- Make sure to PDA message them or radio them when it comes in
If someone wants a specific item you have, do this:
- Grab a piece of paper and make a form with name, department, requested item, and why they need it
- Hand them the paper and pen and let them fill it out
- Ask for a stamp from one of the appropriate heads to certify the order
- Grab a crate and toss the paper in there
If someone wants something you don't have:
- Tell them you don't have it
- See if you can't make it in the Autolathe
- If you can, make it and follow the steps for a specific item
- If not, have them order the crate AND fill out the paper
If someone wants something and you want to get it to them in a timely manner:
- Use your own judgement
- Ask yourself "Should this person have this item?" "Is this a good idea?"
- If yes, punch in the order or go to the Autolathe, hand it to them
- If no, paperwork and delays and accidental not-unloadings and thieving Cargo Techs etc.
Eventually, you'll get a feel for what different people want - The Roboticist will almost always want either metal, glass, or a Ripley crate, while the Virologist will always want a Virus crate. The Bartender might want to borrow a circular saw for his shotgun, and the Botanist might want seeds. One of the marks of a good Quartermaster is the ability to anticipate someone's order and have it ready for them. This often means keeping a stock of insulated gloves and welding masks (If you're the type to hand those out to certain people) and checking out who walks in. If you just hand out everything to everyone, you are a security risk. Use your own judgement - an Assistant should not have an RCD, but an Engineer definitely should. Likewise, the clown should not have a combat shotgun, but Security can have one if they want it.
The reason for all of this is to leave a paper trail; traitors will be much less likely to order potentially dangerous things from you if they have to give you proof that they ordered it. You have a nifty little clipboard on your desk that can store every requisition form you get, so it's a good idea to use it. It should also be a dead giveaway if an assistant tries to order a Robotics crate or Plasma Assembly crate, or asks for an RCD.
Junk mail: Disposals mailing
- Wrap your item/crate in packaging paper.
- Use the destinations tagger to choose where to send it.
- Tag the package.
- Stick it on the conveyor and let the system handle it.
Slave Revolt
"Confirmed Revs! Loyalty implants and nothing but!" - Anonymous Quartermaster, shortly before suffering a tragic work-related accident
During a revolution, you play a pivotal role that can turn the tide for either side. Because of this, you will almost always be a target for both security (for implants) and revolutionaries (for weapons). Just because you're not a head of staff doesn't mean you're safe from the revolutionary lynchings. Security also isn't afraid of beating you if you don't order more loyalty implants. And if you happen to be one of the scant few bourgeoisie who have taken up the cause of the working man, remember to convince your comrades that it is time to rise up and throw off the chains of the opressors - Those who suffer the most under the harsh yoke of the capitalists will be your staunchist allies in the glorious struggle. Always remember Comrade - A true revolutionary seeks a peaceful solution, if at all possible.
Tips
- If you're riding a MULEbot, you can't get facehugged.
- You can flip caps backward by right clicking them in hand or on your head. Don your trusty cap and tell the Captain to eat your shorts as you ride about on a MULEbot.
- Lethal projectiles can open crates, albeit slowly. Make use of a .357, the Bartender's Shotgun, or any other projectile weapon to bust open Secure Crates.
- Packaging paper allows you to wrap things up and put them in your backpack when they wouldn't otherwise fit, like space suits!
Tips for traitoring
- Emitters can open locked crates, as can Gibonite explosions.
- Crates can be trapped: Get a crate, put stuff in the crate, close the crate, apply cable coil, apply Electropack.
- Emagging the Cargo Consoles allow two special crates to ordered:
- The Spec Ops crate contains several grenades and a parapen, as well as other assorted good
- The NULL_ERROR_ENTRY crate contains a random Syndicate bundle - The same kind you can buy for 20 TC in an uplink!
Ordering a Good Helping of Death
"Why does the Quartermaster have more guns than me?" - Jeremiah Swift, Head of Security
"Why is there a Singularity being built in Escape?" - Commissar Jesus, Chief Engineer
"OH GOD IT'S LOOSE CALL THE SHUTTLE!" - Poly
Being a Traitor QM is one of the best damn things in the game. As a Quartermaster, you have direct and easy access to weapons and tools many other jobs do not have access to, and can easily conceal most of your nefarious deeds. Cutting the cameras is the first step to success drawing attention to yourself, followed closely by ordering and hiding a weapons crate, better yet, send the crate back and stash the loot in your locker. Hell, you can even order a ton of weapons crates and give all the weapons to the greyshirts. Maybe they'll accomplish your objectives for you. If you're feeling daring, order a Cryptographic Sequencer and use it to unlock any crate you want. You can even emag the ordering computer to get the Special Ops crate, which has some nifty things. Problem is, it makes it a dead giveaway that you're a traitor, so pocket what you want to keep, space what you don't, and send the crate back. Don't forget to awaken the MULE's bloodlust, that'll cause some havoc, creating an amazing distraction, and you can blame one of your slaves to take the heat off yourself.
Requisition Me a Beat(ing)
"Fun is Contraband. And we're all about contraband."
You can do all of those things listed and still be a mediocre or just decent QM. Many members of the station know that the QM can make things they aren't supposed to, and most security officers will overlook a little recreational Hacking. Hack the Autolathe to make nifty toys like RCDs and Flamethrowers. You dont even need a multitool for this one. Just snip and fix till you find the one that turns off the blue light - Remember your rubber gloves, because the green light makes it shock you. As long as you don't try to wall off QM with an RCD, most people will forgive you for wasting resources on it to be prepared.
It's common for the Quartermaster to, at the very least, enable the MULEbots' nonstandard cargo and speed the motor up, though you can also upgrade the power cell if you have spares. The MULE is one of your best tools as a Quartermaster, and can make your life (and subsequently the lives of the rest of the crew) so much better.
See here how to use a MULEbot.
Contraband
The contraband posters are with inappropriate themes that Nanotrasen has deemed too vulgar and have subsequently banned them from their space stations.
How to obtain:
- Get the circuitboard of your supply computer
- Multitool it and set its receiver to the appropriate spectrum
- Put it back in. You can now order contraband
- Note that contraband is illegal. Security can do whatever they wish to it, and therefore you for bringing it on board
There's also a certain way to open crates you shouldn't, if you can get your hands on it. Security will often panic about a Quartermaster that is better equipped than they are, so keep your ill-gotten gains hidden and secure until they are needed.
