Space Station 13
By: Exadv1
Overview
Space Station 13 was written on BYOND. Like a majority of BYOND games it is two dimensional with a top-down view. It uses tile-based movement. Space Station 13 (or SS13 for short) starts you on a space station orbitting a very peculiar gaseous planet in a binary star system. Threoughout a round many disasters will probably occur from meteor attacks to internal disasters such as a traitor. The game is constantly being developed so eventually more disasters will occur such as pathogens, re-entry, and raiders.
Objectives
The primary objective in most modes of Space Station 13 is survival. You must stay alive long enough to escape. Now when you first start the game you shouldn't immediately try to escape! You should try and prevent disaster for as long as you can. Eventually you will be able to perform various experiments on-board SS13 between disasters (medical experiments, atmospheric experiments, and plasma experiments). Also depending on the mode there may be more objectives.
Modes
Traitor - In traitor mode there is a traitor aboard the space station. The objective of the traitor is to be the last person aboard the shuttle when it departs destroying anything or anyone in your way. The objective of everyone else to survive and attempt to pinpoint who the traitor is and stop them.
Meteor - In meteor mode the objective is to escape and see how long you can ride out the meteor storm. This is very challenging and you are given no precious time to prepare for disaster.
Monkey - In monkey a mode a extremely mutagenous retrovirus has infected the ship. The goal as a human is to escape on the shuttle to warn the rest of the world. The monkies must infect the rest of the crew and stop them. Future modes will allow the humans to examine exactly what the virus is and apply that knowledge.
Secret - This mode chooses randomly between all the modes (or just nothing). This is the default mode and generally produces the best gameplay.
Proposed Modes
Space Raiders- A group of combatants are trying to raid the station and gather a list of items to escape to their station with.
Alien- A parasitic organism has infected a crew member. The crew must stay uninfected while the infected people must try and infect the others.
Orbital Failure- The engine/reactor system is failng and you must regain a safe orbit or plummet into the gaseous planet.
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Getting around
The interface for Space Station 13 is largely click driven. When I refer to attacking I am referring to double clicking.
Getting Started (A Quick jump-start guide to get into the game)
You must select your preferences then go over the begin object and get ready. (use ready verb)
If you want to you can go to SS13 by using enter.
If you don't and the game hasn't started yet you'll still be automatically teleported.
Movement
Movement on SS13 is only in the 4 cardinal directions. The diagonal directions throw/drop items, switch hand/modes. If you move into a dense object you first try to push it. Not all items can be pushed. You can also right click on an object and select 'pull' and then every movement you make will ttempt to drag that object behind you. If you wish to stop pulling you must go onto your on-screen display and find the object with a person in a box. Click on it and you will stop pulling. If you ever desire to make sure of which direction you are facing use .center and then try to move what direction you want to face.
'Equipping'
You 'equip' items in SS13 by picking them up. In order to pick an item up all you must do is attack it with a free hand. Now you hae two hands. Which hand is being used is indicated by the blue button in the lower-left area of your HUD. You can change hands by clicking the hand button or pressing the .northeast macro. You can then also then transfer that item to another part of your body. In order to do this you just attack the green box (or blue storage box) on your hud that you would like to move it to. In order to 'unequip' a equipped item that is not in your hand. Get a free hand and attack the item. Then in order to drop an item in your hand (and make it a free hand again) click the drop button (or throw to throw the item wherever you are facing).
Talking
Talking on SS13 is still via the say verb so the normal say speech bubble on the command line will still work. Please note however that you can whisper. More on this in the items selection under radio, intercoms, and headsets. There are a lot of emotes that are accessed by preceding your text with a '*'. To view a list of available emotes for your character use the type '*help' into the say menu.
Taking Items/Giving Items
You can take items from people by dragging their mob onto your mob. A screen will pop up. From this screen you can select an object to remove from them. If you select a 'Nothing' slot then you will attempt to equip that slot with the object you are holding.
Death
If you are dead then you can use the watch verb to look through the eyes of another mob. Depending on circumstances you can use abandon mob to restart (leaving that box blank gives you a random name). A dead person hears everything that is said but might not hear all attack message dialog.
The Items
If it has a [stackable-x]. This means that if you attack another item of its type with it then you will gather more items on its stack until you hit x items. you can usually see how much is on the stack by right clicking and selecting examine.
Analyzer - Attacking this item with itself (having it equipped then using .southeast, mode, or double clicking it) shows the oxygen, carbon dioxide, and plasma content of the tile you are standing on.
Bottle - This item stores chemicals (60 cubic centimeters). You must use a syringe to draw chemicals from it. You can however pour bottles into bottles by attacking a bottle with another bottle.
Brute Pack [stackable-5] - This item can be used to treat damage done by brute force weapons or piercing weapons. A mix of biodegradable experimental nanites cures most damage almost instantly amone contact.
Card (identification) - Every crew member besides are issued this card. At game start they are given this card and a position (random) aboard Space Station 13. Late joiners get the hyper boring job of Researcher's Assisstant and must have their card filled by the captain at an identification computer. You can wear this card so that every door you walk through will open and close. (on security doors (has the black tab) you automatically try to use your card). You can also equip it and attack a door and it will stay open or stay closed. Also if you are wearing a card that is not yours then your name will be whoever the card is registered to. This however can be considered a crime and grounds for being arrested and punished.
Clothing - This has its own section at the bottom. This includes masks and suits.
Fire Extinguisher - This when you have equipped you can then attack anything besides a person (which can knock them unconscious) will release an anti-fire chemical which eventually helps greatly in stopping a fire. Yuo can refill this by attacking a water-tank and it will refill its 20 units. Right click on it and select examine to see how many units are left.
Flasks - These contain a large mixture of chemicals (liquid) that are used for cryogenic healing. More on this later.
Handcuffs - These are used for general detainment. It takes 3 uninterrupted (no movement AT ALL) seconds in order to place them on a person. These prevent the person from dong anything with their hands and allow you to remove things from them without resistance (they normally would need to be unconscious). you can rmeove handcuffs by either removing them via the right click option or by double clicking them with a free hand.
Health analyzer - This when you attack a target will give you the overall health and type of damage the target has occurred. note that this only gives physical health and not (role-played) mental health.
Ointment [stackable-5] - This like bruise packs allow you to heal your and other people's damage due to fire (or a welder that is on).
Paper - Double clicking on this will give you its text which can sometimes be very helpful. Various things not in this document are detailed on the papers such as job positions, chemical information, and an old map.
Parts - Table and rack parts. I'm not going to explaion these seperate so just attack themselves and you will construct a rack or get the box for a table. Using a wrench on these I believe converts them to its original metal.
Radios/Headset/Intercom - These are the general method for communication aboard SS13. In order to best use a radio you must either attack itself (this means for headsets you must take them OFF your head first) or if its an intercom attack it with a free hand. This will bring up its control box where you can select a frequency to transmit/receive on (It's very simple - You receive and transmit messages only if you are on that frequency). You can also select whether to hear messages (speaker). Having this off still let's you broadcast but you won't hear yourself broadcast or any responses from others. You can also select having it automatically boradcast. This is most important for intercoms. This means that whenever it hears something via say or a whisper it will send it broadcast it. If you have it off you can still use it prefixing your say with [h] (for head), [l] (for left hand), or [r] (for right hand). This also will whisper what you are saying to those in the tiles adjacent to you.
Rods [stackable-6] - These are like the parts and when you attack them with themselves they will either construct a grille (need 2) or repair a grille (only 1). Unlike the parts these can be used as an OK weapon.
Screwdriver - This item is able to help fasten and unfasten items. It can fasten canisters to connecters, tables to floors, and grilles to floors. It can also unfasten them as well. You can attack with this weapon but there is no chance of knocknig them unconscious. (besides making them bleed to death)
Shards - This glass item can be converted into glass by using a welding tool. Until then it is an unstackable weapon. They can cause a little piercing damage.
Sheets [stackable-5] - These are like rods except that the glass sheets build windows and the metal sheets build MANY things. All you must do is attack self.
Storage Containers (first aid kits and toolboxes) - These allow you to store items into them to allow easier transportation of a lot of items. You cannot store storage containers in storage containers no matter what the sizes are. Also certsin things can't go in ccertain containers because of their size. Most containers hold 7 items. You can open a container in 2 ways. Drag it onto yourself or equip it in one hand then attack it with a free hand. You can then remove items by attackng them with a free hand. Then when you've removed the item close the container by double clicking on the big red close X. You place items in the container by attacking it. They automatically go in unless they don't fit.
Syringe - This object is capable of injecting chemicals into a targets bloodstream. It can also be used for precise mixing of bottles wherejust pouring is too inaccurate. It injects and draws in increments of 5 cubic centimeters. Attack it with itself to change the mode from inject to draw and vice versa. See the chemical information paper for information on the chemicals.
Tanks - These plain and simple hold gases. The 2 types of tanks come prestocked with either oxygen or plasma. you can attach these to a siphon or canister for refillng by attacking it. This is one of the few items that CAN be worn on your back. Also if you have a gas mask on you can attack the tank with itself in order to switch your internals on. This puts you on an external atmosphere and lets you traverse highly toxic or low oxygen environments without fear of being injured. They also make a great item for attacking. It is a good idea to turn on internals then put them on your back so they are out of your way though. See the canisters sections for more information on refilling.
Tile [stackable-10]- These are like the rods except that they build or repair floor tiles. (only one tile regardless)
Welding Tool (or Welder) - This has two modes swapped by attacking itself. When its off its like a wrench except it won't deconstruct. When its on it will cause piercing fire damage. It also can slice canisters open releasing their contents. It also can be used to weld open the plating on a wall, cut grilles, form chards into sheets, and many other things. Be warned that using this in a high plasma environment may ignite the highly flammable plasma! Most actions with this use up fuel which can be refilled by attacking a welding fuel tank and cghecked by using the examine verb.
Wirecutters - These can be used to cut wires on electronic devices. They can also easily cut grilles open
Wrench - This item performs a variety of functions that largely deal with deconstruction. Attacking a chair, stool, table, rack, or wall girders will deconstruct them into eith metal sheets, table parts, or rack parts. It's also not too bad as an item to club an assailant over the head. (You can knock them unconscious) Since they disassemble tables and racks in order to place them on the table drag them over to the table.
Clothing
Masks- There are currently two types of masks. Masks can be put on by either attackng yourself with it, attacking your mask hud button, or if the other person is submissive (unconscious/handcuffed) attacking the other person to place it on them.
Gas mask- This filters out most plasma from the environment and allows for running on internals
Muzzle - This is a negative item and prevents all speech including gasping generally leaving only nod. you can take this off yourself provided your hands aren't handcuffed.
Suits These work like masks except you must use the external clothing HUD.
Fire suit - This prevents damage from the flames of fire. (Not welding tool attacks though as well as the oxygen deprivation from fire) also note there is a limit which once surpassed the suit can't disperse the heat causing you o take damage.
Canisters/Siphons/Scrubbers
If you attack these with a free hand you'll bring up the control box. The only part that really deserves observance is the first set of buttons. The lower valve is not in yet. The release button releases x amount of units into the connected tank or if no tank to the environment. The amount of units is determined by the valve. You can alter this amount from 0 to 1000 by using the + + + and - - - buttons which go alter by adding or subtracting 1, 5, or 50 units. The next button - siphon - either siphons gas from the environment or an attached tank. Canisters are unable to siphon from the environment! The next button stop stops all siphoning or releasing. Siphons/scrubbers also contain an option canisters do not - automatic. This makes the sensors on board the unit to try and equalize the atmospheric environment of the tile it is on every second. The vents start with this as its option. Please note that the presence of a tank makes no difference as this part is on a seperate air track and it will still release into the environment. Once your done click the close button to stop the box from popping up.
Scrubbers/air filters - These are like the normak siphons except that before its air cycle it releases all the oxygen it has stored. The automatic mode also instead of equalizingthe oxygen level removes carbon dioxide and plasma.
Chairs
Chairs have a special feature - buckling. You can buckle someone (including yourself)into a chair by dragging them onto the chair object. The person must already be on the same tile as the chair however. You can unbuckle them/yourself from a chair by attacking the chair with a free hand. (Note: Handcuffed people can't unbuckle from chairs.)
Miscellaneous Object Descriptions
Alarm - This object is able to detect whether the area arod it has an appropriate co2 and o2 content to stay alive. Basically green is good and red is bad.
Cryogenic Healing Units - There is a tutorial for this on the main SS13 website so I won't detail it here. Please note you can't revive already dead people.
Firealarm - This is able to lock down an area instantly. When a fire gets near it it will trigger the lockdown to prevent contamination. You must use the reset button on this in order to clear the alarm and unlock the firedoors. You can also initiate a timer lock if you want time to escape.
Grilles - These do a great job of blocking a lot of thngs. They stop most meteors in their tracks and are hard to destroy with normal weapons. (although it IS possible.)
Miscellaneous Notes (a.k.a. archived world messages)
Job selection is in thanks to Spuzzum! A captain is still randomly assigned if no one picks captain as their choice. Also please note that if you pick something as your primary and someone else picks it as their secondary (or tertiary) then they will always lose. This is essence is fairer. Also you can pick your beginning gender and name. I hope you enjoy it! Also I've extended time till start from one minute to one and a half minutes.