Getting Started

Welcome and enjoy the ride. A confusing and overwhelming ride... but fun at that. Before you do anything else, make sure to at least read the rules once.

Overview / TLDR

1. Read the Rules
2. Check the article for any Roles you are interested in, to get a rough idea
3. Socialise
   1. Tell people you are new ("it is my first shift on this job")
   2. Ask your colleagues / Department Leader / Head of Personnel for "basic training"
   3. Ask the radio (; Is there any NT Career Agent around?) or the Head of Personnel for a Nanotrasen Career Agent - those are mentors in disguise focusing on helping new players
4. Take your time and don't let anyone tell you otherwise
5. Be prepared that your first shift(s) might be chaotic and not learning-friendly (Most notably Zombie-Apocalypse or Nuclear Operatives declaring war on the station)
6. Check out Roleplaying

Which role to pick first

There are a couple jobs that are good for starting, depending on your preferences. They all are part of the Service Department

• Stationary jobs (it is easy to get lost after all)
  • The Chef is about recipe based crafting. There usually is other chefs around to ask for help. You can also get a lot of roleplay experience by talking to the hungry crew.
  • Bartender - is about recipe based chemistry. It is much more straightforward in terms of game-mechanics since your focus will be talking to customers and dealing with drunkards however you see fit.
  • Librarian - Very chill gameplay - chances are people won't beat you up or vandalise your place, which is a perk in itself. Besides that, people visiting the library to socialise are very relaxed and will be more than willing to show you how to play cards or chess.
• Mobile jobs
  • Janitor - Roam the map and get familiar with various mechanics. If someone complains, tell them it is the Clown's fault. The downside is that you will be working alone for the most part, so asking for help will be harder.
  • Service Worker - Your main job is to help out the kitchen, bar and botany. This can mean helping with deliveries or actually cooking / mixing drinks when they are understaffed. You can also help serving customers or delivering donuts to security officers (or coffee to officials). Another benefit is that you can talk to the botanists/chefs/bartenders and have them teach you - without blocking their role-slots or having actual responsibility.

Job-Progression

Feel free to try out new jobs in whichever order you want, but generally speaking there are departments and roles that are more complex / fast paced / intertwined with other roles. The following is the usual progression:

1. Service - as mentioned above
2. Cargo - the Mail Technician is more straightforward, but starting as a Cargo Technician is fine, too

After that you should have a decent understanding of how the station works and some experience with other departments

• Engineering - has many complex parts but is very rewarding to learn.
• Medical - is fun but can get very chaotic as casualties ramp up
• Science - has many aspects that can be quite strong. Expect to be the prime suspect for any explosions happening on station.

Finally there are departments that are particularly demanding and require you to have a decent knowledge foundation.

• Silicon - requires you to roleplay a machine and follow your lawset. The gameplay itself is also very different since you can't just pick up and use tools but have to make do with your internal modules. On the other you can experiment in many areas and get essentially all-access to almost the entire station.
• Security - gets the most action and will be messed with the most. Sadly most of the times things escalate so quickly that you can't take your time for proper roleplay. You will also have to endure being antagonised and called "shitsec". There is a high expectation for playing security since you have the tools to make the shift very miserable for others.

Keep in mind that the list above makes no statement about roles/departments being easier but rather about varying learning-curves.

Learning by looking

Certain things need to be done as soon as possible on shift-start, such as setting up the main station engine to avoid a blackout. Everyone will be busy, so teaching will be hard. A good approach is starting the round as an observer, watching what people do and communicate. Sometimes they will have a Personal AI, which observers can join as a so-called "Ghost Role". This allows you to talk to your "owner", asking him question. Not every player will be a good or willing teacher, but surprisingly many are.

General advice

If you are afraid of screwing up due to the lack of experience, do not worry! Because people of all experience levels screw up both intentionally and unintentionally all the time. It is to be expected, it is part of the game and most importantly it is fun. There are many very helpful people around that will not mind showing you the ropes step by step - we all started somewhere. If you still feel stressed out or require further guidance you can ask for help on the discord, for example like this:

Hello everyone! I am new to SS14 and would like to get into it. I read a bit in the wiki but it feels overwhelming. Does anybody have some spare time to answer some questions or maybe even show me the ropes during a shift? Thank you in advance!

Just post that in the general chat. Since mentors are neither paid nor chained to their computers for eternal servitude they might take a bit to respond, so make sure to have a little patience with them.