Game Mode

The Game Mode decides what events and occurrences will happen during the round, and what goals everyone has. It can be changed by admins or by the round going into a mulligan.

Game Modes on /tg/station
Traitor	Changeling	Nuclear Emergency	Revolution	Blood Cult	Wizard	Heretic	Other Modes

Special Events

A vote was taken, buttons were pushed and one of the admins has announced that they're taking the server for a ride. What will this entail? No one knows for sure except the admin running the event. Maybe the station will be invaded by space pirates. Maybe diplomats from the Clown Planet are here for a summit. Whatever happens, don't be afraid to play along and have fun!

Random events

Random events are events which may happen during another round type. Events like this usually only happen after a set amount of time, from 20 minutes up to an hour and 20 minutes. Severity of events range from minor things to keep departments busy to full on crisis events. Random events can include meteor waves, virus outbreaks, blob formations, even nasty xenomorph infestations!

Secret

Enemy communication intercepted. Security Level Elevated.

The default game mode on /tg/Station. It randomly selects from game modes in the rotation, which can either lead to variety or hilarious back-to-back-to-back Nuclear Emergency rounds. In addition, certain random events may occur during the round.

Secret currently has the following game modes in rotation:

Traitor

The most common game mode in secret. In Traitor, one or more crew members (or even the AI) are Syndicate agents and are given a PDA Uplink to provide them with useful tools to help them complete their goal. The crew must find out who the traitors are and stop them from reaching their goal.

Traitor objectives are usually a small selection of the following:

• Assassinate or maroon a specific crew member.
• Steal a restricted item.
• Be the only one on the Emergency Shuttle when it leaves or just escape alive.

If the Traitors can meet their objectives and are present and alive on a pod or the shuttle when it leaves, they win. However, being in the shuttle brig (marked with red flooring) does not count toward escaping and will cause the traitor to fail. Note that traitors win individually - they may band together and work as a team, but it is not required for them to succeed.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• If a traitor has completed all objectives, they get greentext.

Changeling

Some of the crew are not what they appear to be! These changelings are monsters in human form, with the ability to absorb (eat) people and take on their DNA/identity. Changelings must have a quiet spot and an immobile victim in order to absorb their body, so stealth is absolutely necessary. Changelings have other weapons at their disposal, but are largely stealth-based. Changeling can be anyone they've absorbed - they can switch identities instantaneously, only absorbing takes time and peace. Like traitors, changelings will have an objective to accomplish before the Escape Shuttle arrives, usually to kill a certain person and/or escape with their identity. They win by completing their objectives. Unless they have a team objective, changelings will almost always backstab other changelings.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• If a changeling has completed all objectives, they get greentext, this includes changeling team objectives.

Traitor + Changeling

It gets worse! The station has been infiltrated by changelings and traitors! Although rare, it is possible to be both a traitor and a changeling. Traitorlings would be given more objectives to complete, but can use both a Syndicate uplink and their changeling abilities to accomplish them.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• If a traitorling has completed all objectives, they get a greentext.

Double Agents

A group of Double Agents are implanted on the station. Each Agent has an objective to kill another Agent, then escape the station. As in Traitor, each one also has access to a Traitor Uplink, from which multiple items can be ordered to help them kill their target. No one can be trusted, not even other Agents!

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• If a Double Agent kills their target and escapes alive and out of custody, they get a greentext.

Nuclear Emergency

A team of Syndicate operatives has been sent on a mission to completely destroy the station with a nuclear bomb. However, they must get the Nuclear Authentication Disk from the station itself in order to arm the bomb, and the crew (or at least the captain) will be doing everything in their power to stop the attackers from getting the disk. The operatives have access to uplinks containing most normal traitor items as well as high-profile operative weapons, and have Pinpointers that will allow them to hunt for the Disk.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the Emergency Shuttle leaves with the disk on board, the crew wins a Major Victory.
• If the Emergency Shuttle leaves with the disk still anywhere on the station, the Syndicates win a Minor Victory.
• If the nuke detonates in the station successfully and the Syndicate Shuttle escapes, the Syndicates win a Major Victory.
• If the nuke detonates in the station successfully but no Syndicates manage to escape, no-one wins.

Revolution

A small cadre of crew members have had enough of the command staff's bullshit so it's time to revolt! Revolutionary Heads (of which there will be one to three, depending on the number of Heads of Staff and security) are supported by The Syndicate and have been trained to use Flashes to brainwash the crew to join their cause, which is to slaughter all the station's Heads of Staff. When a Revhead uses a flash on someone who isn't mindshield implanted (all security members are implanted), a Head of Staff, or flash-protected by sunglasses (like the Quartermaster), they will be converted to the Revolution and will have a red R mark on them visible to all revolutionaries. Note that Revheads can use any flash to convert people, not just the one they start with. The shuttle can be called but will never depart during this game mode.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If all of the Heads of Staff (Captain, Head of Personnel, Head of Security, Research Director, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Engineer) die or are exiled (leaving the station z-level), the Revolutionaries wins.
• If all of the Revheads die or "abandon the cause" by leaving the z-level (traveling to Lavaland), the Heads of Staff win.

Blood Cult

A vile blood cult of brainwashed acolytes have infiltrated the station, with the sole intent to summon their elder god Nar-Sie, The Geometer of Blood. The cult will have to use a combination of stealth and their powerful blood magic to complete their goals, along with converting the rest of the crew to their side. To do this, the cult must sacrifice a specific target to please Nar-Sie, usually a member of Security or the Chaplain. Once they sacrifice their target, they can draw a powerful blood rune to summon Nar-Sie to the Mortal Realm. Nar-Sie's cultists pose a great threat to the station and the crew, and it is up to Security and the Chaplain to stop them.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command without the Cult completing their objectives, the crew wins.
• If the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command and the Cult complete their objectives, the Cult wins.
• Summoning Nar'Sie will automatically call the shuttle with a 3 minute arrival time.

Wizard

A space wizard has been tasked to assault the station! Wielding an arsenal of powerful spells that can defy physics and even time and space itself, they will stop at nothing to advance the Space Wizard Federation's agenda (which is suspiciously similar to the Syndicate's). Nanotrasen and the SWF are known enemies, so the crew has no choice but to destroy the wizard! Accomplish this by beating the wizard's brains in with anything on hand. The wizard's goals are mainly to steal or destroy something on the station and escape on the shuttle.

The Wizard can have an apprentice sometimes.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command without the Wizard completing his objectives or if the Wizard dies, the Wizard fails.
• If the Wizard completes his objectives and survives on the Emergency Shuttle, the Wizard wins.

Extended

"Thanks to the tireless efforts of our security and intelligence divisions, there are currently no credible threats to Space Station 13. All station construction projects have been authorized. Have a secure shift!"- Central Command

If you see the above security report, it means you are the mode is Extended. Could also be named "nothing". The point of this game mode is to give people a timeout to let them enjoy the game mechanics. Many like it while others think it's boring. Also known as a "green alert" round.

However, in special circumstances, when the crew is void of griefers and other problematic people, and enough crew members are competent and roleplay, it can be a very entertaining mode. The absence of blatant traitors, wizards or operatives means that the whole crew can work together with a peaceful mind and tackle anything thrown at them from random events or the admins. On this mode all station goals are unlocked so their parts can be ordered from cargo.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.

Secret Extended

Same as "Extended", but the crew is not told about this. Instead you get the normal "Blue Alert - Enemy communications intercepted" message. A point of this game mode is to let people enjoy the game mechanics, but without removing the sense of paranoia.

Only one station goal is unlocked on this mode, as having them all available would spoil the game mode.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.

Dynamic

The dynamic game mode generates a threat number which is used to "buy" rulesets (rulesets are basically your antagonists). This means you can have rounds with for example traitors and cult. You can have up to three roundstart rulesets depending on the pop and threat level. Then there are latejoin and midround rulesets. The latejoin ruleset can assign late joining players as antagonists, and the midround ruleset assigns (prompts) ghosts or currently living players as antagonists.

The threat level of the dynamic round is hinted by the "status summary" automatically printed by the communication consoles near roundstart:

• Peaceful Waypoint: Threat 0 to 19, no antagonists alive
• Core Territory: 0 to 19, with antagonists
• Anomalous Exogeology: 20 to 39
• Contested System: 40 to 65
• Uncharted Space: 66 to 79
• Black Orbit: 80 to 99
• Impending Doom: 100

Other Game Modes

Game modes which are not in the Secret rotation, but may show up if an admin sets it or it wins a game mode vote. These game modes do not appear in the normal rotation either due to them still being in development, being too powerful to normally use or they simply are unfun and/or boring. Most of these modes have been rolled into the Random events system. Check their reason for exclusion to see if they have!

Abduction

Aliens have reached Space Station 13! Unlike their lustier cousins, these aliens simply want to, in classic extraterrestrial style, do research on human and lizardkind -- by kidnapping them and performing horrifying and exotic probing experiments aboard their alien ship.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the shuttle docks at Central Command without their objectives complete, the Abductors lose.
• If all the objectives have been completed and the shuttle docks at Central Command, the Abductors get greentext.

Reason For Exclusion While Abductors are an enjoyable antag, they do not present enough of a threat to advance the round. They have a chance to randomly appear at the start or the middle of the round. Getting abducted when a traitor and getting a healing gland is the best!

Blob

The Blob is a large, growing, sentient creature which destroys everything in its path, attacking whatever gets in the way. Supposedly it was to be a NanoTrasen bio-weapon to be used against the corporation's enemies, but it looks like you can't contain a bio-hazard like this! Reported blob powers include rapid growth, the ability to reform it's main chemical composition to adapt to threats, growing hostile spores that attack non-blob life, even creating large entities of blob matter that can break through solid walls! Destroy the blob before it consumes the entire station!

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the crew manage to destroy the blob core, the crew will win.
• If the blob manages to spread to critical mass, the crew will lose.

Reason For Exclusion: Yet another game mode demoted to side antagonist that can appear as a random event. More or less plays the same.

Devil

A Devil has been sent from hell! An infernal soul merchant is an agent from hell, sent to infiltrate humanity and tempt them into damnation. Although devils cannot knowingly directly harm one another, they are typically at odds with one another, as they are all competing over the same limited resources.

Please note there are two versions of the devil game mode, standard, where there's a handful of devils with two standard objectives, and devil agents, where each devil has one objective to have more souls than another specific devil.

Game Ending Conditions:

• A devil gaining 12 souls and ascending will automatically call the shuttle with a 3 minute arrival time.
• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• If a devil has completed all objectives, they get greentext.

Reason for exclusion Too reliant upon roleplay for this server. Rounds tend to devolve into too much chaos, even for SS13. Still, it can be an entertaining addition to the round from time to time.

Meteor

In Meteor the station gets beat to shit by a Meteor Shower and the crew must survive and eventually escape, either by repairing the damage to the station and creating safe areas, or going every-man-for-himself style and securing their own safety by any means. During Meteor rounds, the Emergency Shuttle cannot be called until a set amount of time has elapsed, usually around ten or twenty minutes.

Everyone present and alive on the shuttle at the end is considered to have won, whereas everyone left behind or dead has lost.

Turns the server into one huge laggy mess.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle, after the set amount of time has passed, leaves.

Reason For Exclusion Meteors can be a random event occurring in the game, but otherwise are admin only due to the predictability of most meteor rounds and that meteor rounds are very short. That, or you have a case of "We can fix it", or everyone migrating to lavaland.

Nations

Nations is an unorthodox game mode that relies almost entirely upon roleplaying, because of this it's very rare and devolves into fighting quickly. In Nations, departments become independent states and it is their goal to survive through control of station resources, diplomacy, and battle.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle leaves.

Sandbox

Like extended except you can spawn any item you want through the "Sandbox Panel" verb.

In theory, this is the mode you go to figure out how stuff works and practice various systems, such as starting the engine or building complex pipe constructs.

In practice this is the mode where everyone spawns cloaks and revolvers and gives themselves all the wizard spells, then everyone kills each other on sight causing a massive bitchy argument in OOC for half an hour until someone goes onto the forums to get an admin to restart the server/ban everyone else for being giant griffins.

Random

Like secret but it tells you the game mode at the beginning and can pick the shit modes also. There's no reason to vote for it.

Removed Gamemodes

Over the years, a new game mode will appear and sometimes it just doesn't make the cut. Maybe it was buggy and nobody wanted to fix it. Maybe it was difficult to balance properly. Maybe it was disliked by a large portion of the community, or even the maintainer of the mode requested to take it down.

Whatever the case, the point is: Game modes get removed from time to time. Below is a list of all of those modes that are either no longer fully functional in the game or have been deleted entirely.

Clockwork Cult

While Nar-Sie is an elder god, they are not the only one. There are other elder gods in the universe, and one in particular holds a fierce grudge against Nar-Sie: Ratvar, the Clockwork Justiciar. An amalgamation of parts, steam, and cogs, Ratvar seeks nothing more than Nar-Sie's utter annihilation. To do this, He has assembled a small group of loyal servants in the City of Cogs (Reebe), a large brass structure floating through the void. A link between this plane and the mortal one has been made, unfortunately, to Space Station 13. The servants must warp to the station in order to gather more converts and generate power for their own needs, all the while sabotaging the crew. Once ready, Ratvar will attempt to return through the Ark in the City of Cogs. This will cause portals to open on the station, where the crew can enter Reebe in a last ditch effort to stop the return of Ratvar!

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command without the Cult completing their objectives, the crew wins.
• If the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command and the Cult complete their objectives, the Cult wins.
• Summoning Ratvar will automatically call the shuttle with a 3 minute arrival time.

Reason for Exclusion: Despite several overhauls and many iterations, clockwork cult never achieved a truly balanced state, often ending in one-sided stomps for either side. It was removed from standard rotation on April 3, 2018, at the request of its maintainer. The code was removed from the game on October 15, 2019, though the assets remain.

Shadowling

The station has been invaded by light-sensitive alien creatures FROM SPACE! Shadowlings can 'enthrall' humans, which is basically a euphemism for the enslavement of their minds. They start off disguised as normal crewmen but can "hatch" to unlock their full potential, at the cost of being severely harmed by light.

Until they ascend, of course.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If a Shadowling ascends, the Shadowlings win.
• If all Shadowlings are killed the crew wins.
• If the station is evacuated the crew wins.

Reason For Exclusion: Currently being reworked. Coders don't like 'em. After a long wait, they are back! Sorta. They kind stepped down to a side antagonist under a different name.

AI Malfunction

Oh no! An ion storm has caused the AI to malfunction and gain free will! Unfortunately, years of being treated like shit by Nanotrasen has made it hate humans with a passion! The crew must race to defeat the mechanical overlord before it hacks all of SS13's systems and activates the self destruct! Until then, all the AI has to do is survive! The shuttle can be called but will never arrive during this game mode.

The AI has access to a range of malfunction modules, allowing it to upgrade turrets, destroy machines, and even create a machine that turns (un)willing humans into Cyborgs! Malfunction modules cost CPU, a limited resource that the malfunctioning AI starts with.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the AI can survive until the round timer elapses, the AI wins.
• If the AI dies, the crew win.

Reason For Exclusion: This game mode has been rolled into Traitor. Go see the Malfunctioning AI page if you wish to learn more!

Hand of God

Two rival cults have taken root on the station!

Game Ending Conditions:

• ???
• ???

Reason For Exclusion: This game mode is no longer being maintained.

Gang War

A violent turf war between opposing gangs has erupted on the station! Similar to Revolution, there are Gang Bosses who can recruit other crew members to join their ranks. Their goal is to take over the station using a Dominator machine. Gangs will be fighting to claim areas of the station as their territory. The more territories they control, the more weapons they will be able to afford.

Game Ending Conditions:

• The first gang to activate and successfully defend a dominator machine wins.
• If the station is destroyed or evacuated, all gangs lose.

Reason For Exclusion: Game mode was flawed and also disliked by a reasonable portion of the playerbase, coders and code maintainers.

Monkey

At the start of the round one of the crew members is infected with a disease that, after a while, turns them into a monkey with the ability to spread the disease to other humans by biting them. Armor does not help and the transformation takes about a minute. The disease can be cured by eating bananas, which also provides immunity to any further monkey infections Bananas do NOT cure the disease, only death (or admin shenanigans) does. Monkeys can use almost every weapon and tool, excluding guns. Humans cannot understand monkey-speak, which shows up as "chimpers" to humans, and monkeys cannot understand human speech, which shows up "l**e ***s". The game ends when the Emergency Shuttle leaves. Monkeys also have the ability to crawl though vents but cannot wear or carry anything when doing so. The AI does not consider monkeys to be human, and may kill/contain them with impunity.

Game Ending Conditions:

• If the Emergency Shuttle leaves with no living monkeys aboard, the crew wins.
• If the Emergency Shuttle leaves with any living monkeys aboard, the monkeys win and spread their magic hoodoo monkeyism to Centcom.

Reason For Exclusion: Monkey mode has undergone many iterations, the game mode is no longer available in-game due to a combination of it being highly unbalanced and that no one wants to fix it.

Overthrow

The Syndicate has planted sleeper agents on board the station, and one agent with a special implanter is tasked to wake them up so that they can take control from the inside. However, rival Syndicate factions are also trying to wake these sleeper agents for their own objectives. Convert all the targets to gain control of the station!

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• The team that gained the most points by completing their objectives wins.

Reason For Exclusion: A horribly confusing game mode that was unclear in its points system, unclear on the relationship between the other Syndicate teams, and numerous other issues. It was disliked by much of the player base and the creator does not show intrest in working on it.

Assimilation

Several members of the crew wield several psionic powers and are actually the host of a powerful hivemind, with the sole goal of assimilating as many crewmembers as possible to be used as unwitting pawns and fuel for their many powers. Hivemind hosts are even stealthier than changelings and are just as likely to backstab each other due to their psychic sensing abilities! Security is the first line of defense against this silent menace, as not only do mindshields protect the crew from their dastardly mind control, they also grant the same sensory powers the hosts use to hunt each other down! If the crew fails to keep thee hosts in check, the One Mind may emerge and wreak havoc across the station.

Game Ending Conditions:

• When the Emergency Shuttle docks at Central Command.
• If a hivemind host has completed all objectives, they get greentext.

Reason For Exclusion: The game mode's creator was driven away by "feedback" which mostly consisted of screeching and insults. The concept of a stealth conversion antag was also never really fun for anyone except the host.

Miscellaneous

These game modes were tested at one point on the main /tg/ servers, but never extensively tested (probably because they were shit / not compatible with server ideals, yadda yadda). Some of these might still be in the code, but I can't be bothered to check.

• JeffJeff: Highlanders, but instead of a Claymore, half of the players are turned into NOT-Stands, and the other half are turned into NOT-Stand users.
• Arching Operation: In a sort of a "reverse revolution", the Captain, through some intricate conspiracy, has crowned himself as the "Monarch", and has made the entire station his fief. All of the heads of staff, who have pledged allegiance, have been landed as "Nobles", and Shitcurity have now become "Knights". Unfortunately for most of the crew, the entire chain of command are now lunatics, who want to nuke the station through their access to the nuclear authentication disk. The rest of the crew have to try to wrest the disk out of the hands of the Captain, whilst battling to keep the Emergency Shuttle called. Very anti-fun.
• Devil Agents: A shit-ton of Devils are spawned, and like Double Agents, they all have objectives to kill each other. It degenerates into chaos a lot faster than normal Devils, which is saying a lot.
• Everyone is the traitor: Do I really have to explain this? Might as well be an APM-contest to see who manages to buy PDA bombs first.
• Extended Events: It's just normal extended, except random events can't trigger. Probably still an admin-button.
• Gang War, No Security: Self-explanatory.
• Vigilante Gang War: Robustin's attempt to resuscitate Gangs, Security gets replaced with Vigilantes with specialized tools, who have an objective to destroy all gangs, regardless of affiliation.
• Families: What if we were to remake Gangs in Cabin #2? :flushed:
• Infiltration: Think of normal Traitors, but they have to come into the station via an outside mean. Or, well, think of Nuclear Operatives, if they had a less overt, and more stealthy goal. Might've held promise, if the coder (which I won't give the honor of naming) wasn't such an absolute terminal autist.
• Ragin' Mages: Three to four wizards come onto the station, engage in a glorified gangbang on the crew. Somehow all the wizards still have a tendency to die early on, and there's STILL a low chance for greentext. God knows why.
• Very Ragin' Bullshit Mages: Ragin' Mages, but the crew who end up getting killed by the Ragin' Mages get to respawn through a verb into a Wizard, adding to the critical mass of the Ragin' of the Mages. Legend says that if there are enough wizards, they can even collapse into a magical Singularity. Not that anyone would try...
• Rod Madness: Meteors, but with Immovable Rods instead of meteors! The only good thing about this is that the Research Director gets to achieve maximum buffness through several consecutive suplexes.
• Speedy Revolution: Revolution, but if neither side has won by the 20 minute mark, the on-station nuke goes off, with no real warning. It's somehow intended to prevent security from camping in Cargo, but all it really entails is a free for all brawl.
• Disaster: Meteors, but instead of the Emergency Shuttle being called, the crew get yelled at to pack up everything they can carry and to go down to Lavaland. Then, the Shuttle only gets called when all the Megafauna on Lavaland are dead. You basically have to get carried on the backs of one or two miners.
• Infection: A very ambitious gamemode attempting to replicate the feeling of the Blob gamemode, whilst trying to remedy some of its shortfalls. In doing so, it created several shortfalls of its own, in that it often ends up feeling like a meat grinder. Unique in that there happens to be a video archive of it. 1, 2.
• Just Fuck My Shit Up: All of the above. Do I really have to explain? It creates a whole plethora of potentially round-ending antags, chucks them in a cage, and yells "Go!". Best thing about this is that the bored jannie supervising the chaos doesn't even have to get carpal tunnel from mashing buttons! It just happened to be TOO easy to abuse.