Acetylene - Commanding Officer Application

[Hankie_Mcspankies (The Audacious S.I.D)]

Commanding Officer Application - Acetylene

What is your BYOND key?

Acetylene

What is your Discord ID?

Acetylean

What is your timezone in UTC?

UTC-07

Player Name You Use Most?

Hank “Hangover” Hanover

Ban Appeals, Whitelist and Staff Applications:

Mentor Application - Acetylene

Mentor Application - Acetylene Byond CKEY: Acetylene Discord ID: Acetylean Character Name(s): Hank “Hangover” Hanover Sid “Ashigaru” Smith SID Why do you want to become a Mentor?: I’ve always jumped at the chance to train new players in a way that is not only engaging, but also perpendicular to the SOUL of the Aliens universe. That is to say, I’m dramatic, and I love getting people invested in roleplay, and of course helping them out. What gameplay areas do you know and which areas are you…

Have you been banned in the last 3 months?

No siree.

If so, why?

Command Knowledge:

How familiar are you with command positions?

I am VERY familiar with command positions.

Hours in XO:

93.4 Hours in XO

Hours in SL:

162.1 Hours

Character Information:

Why did your character decide to become the CO of a ship?

Hank used to be deep into the marine corps koolaid. When we was a lieutenant, and even into his early captain years, he gave it his 100% to try and rise through the ranks and go down in USCM history. After a particularly gruesome operation where his Commanding Officer and Mentor died, he quietly gave up, and resigned his life to monotony, unfortunately, the corps wasn’t done with him.

Now, Hank’s been forced to, out of respect for his mentor, do her justice.

How did your character attain the position of CO?

Hank Hanover was never really an outstanding officer. He was the gear that kept spinning, the old beat up truck that never quit. He did his job, and he did it acceptably. Following the loss of the Falling Falcons previous Commanding Officer, he was eventually promoted to fill the gap. More of a collective High Command shrug than a promotion for excellence or any other such thing.

Provide a short story of your CO.

Never Finished

Command Actions:

When do you believe it’s appropriate to pardon a prisoner?

I believe it’s only appropriate to pardon a prisoner if it keeps with the spirit of the game, with a focus on keeping rounds enjoyable for all people.

Give some examples of when you would or would not use pardon.

I would use a pardon only on prisoners that made honest mistakes, were new, and were being mistreated or generally vindicated by MPs for little reason other than to pad their arrest numbers.

If a private fresh to the server got arrested for helping up their squad lead who got flashbanged and arrested. I’d likely pardon them if their timer got ridiculously lengthy.

If an SO made a mistake with the OB and whiffed a shot, or god forbid, killed some marines. If they were new, and obviously showed regret. I’d consider pardoning them, especially if I could use some help in CIC.

If a sadar got themselves arrested pre-drop, I would not pardon them.

If all of bravo somehow got themselves arrested pre-drop… (I’ve seen it happen) I would also not pardon them.

When do you believe it’s appropriate to use a Battlefield Execution?

A battlefield execution should only be used in a similar vein to the pardon. That is to protect the spirit of the game. If someone is griefing on purpose that is the only time it should be used, I could also make a case for certain RP situations, like mutinies. It should be used to enhance a round, or keep it from being ruined.

Give some examples of when you would or would not use Battlefield Execution.

I would not use a BE on a marine intentionally trying to disrupt briefing, and doing it very well. I would simply wait for the MPs, realistically, you wouldn’t execute someone for being annoying.

I would use a BE on a marine that was opening fire on the req line, or purposefully gunning down marines on the front.

I would not use a BE on a marine that was throwing slurs around, I would simply notify the admins, based as it would be to do.

I would use a BE on mutiny ring-leaders, especially if the mutiny was a “Mutiny because we can” sort of mutiny.

Although it’s also well within my right to use a BE on LRP shenanigans. I’d much rather act the straight man to such things and roleplay it out anyways. Ends up funnier.

[Hankie_Mcspankies (The Audacious S.I.D)]

Hours. To prove I’m a lurker main.

[Ammoniacres]

I can’t necessarily speak to commanding competency due to lack of exposure, though the few times I’ve had Hank as XO as marine it felt like a positive force on marine cohesion and morale. However, I can definitely say that Acetylene is a really fun and positive player to be with, and is a great roleplayer with a composed demeanor.

Pretty easy +1 from me. They’re a competent participant in the community and someone I wish I saw around more.

[SergeantSwahili (Ysgoloem234!@)]

Right- okay. First off! Thanks for Applying. I’m going to say. I find your answers to be a little bit vague in places. I’m going to ask a few questions to try to elaborate on them. They come across as a bit hardline but I’m just looking to get your thoughts. I don’t necessarily have a “correct” answer in mind.

@Hankie_Mcspankies

If a private fresh to the server got arrested for helping up their squad lead who got flashbanged and arrested. I’d likely pardon them if their timer got ridiculously lengthy.

Even if the Private did something to dramatically hamper them, such as killing an MP or C4ing a wall to pull their SL out of jail?

@Hankie_Mcspankies

If a sadar got themselves arrested pre-drop, I would not pardon them.

What circumstances do you feel (if any) an individual’s weight and impact on the round warrant a pardon. Or should it just be a tool of justice?

@Hankie_Mcspankies

If all of bravo somehow got themselves arrested pre-drop… (I’ve seen it happen) I would also not pardon them.

Do you think that losing out on a whole squad and forcing another squad to take over FOB is going to have an overall positive effect on the round?

@Hankie_Mcspankies

I would not use a BE on a marine intentionally trying to disrupt briefing, and doing it very well. I would simply wait for the MPs, realistically, you wouldn’t execute someone for being annoying.

What do you do if the MPs are not there? If you are actively struggling to get them to stop? They’ve taken your microphone and are shooting windows out (though not at anyone)

@Hankie_Mcspankies

I would not use a BE on a marine that was throwing slurs around, I would simply notify the admins, based as it would be to do.

It’s been five minutes. No admins have responded and someone has said they are uncomfortable in LOOC. What do you do?

[Hankie_Mcspankies (The Audacious S.I.D)]

Heya!

for number one!

Obviously no, that’s a little more planned than helping out their squadmate. In that case I wouldn’t pardon them, as even if they were new, they should have realized that blowing up stuff or killing other people is definitely still a bad thing to do, especially with with context.

For number two,

I feel that mainly if someone is going to commit crimes, they should do the time. That’s something I will stand hard on. I don’t like people using roles as an excuse to be treated better than others.

For numero three!

Obviously no, that would suck. But I do believe if Bravo was purposefully testing the waters and antagonizing the MPs and actually did the crimes they were accused of, I would work around it. Especially if they knew what they were doing.

For number four.

If they’re shooting out windows and have robusted me to that point. I’d first attempt to subdue them with a flash, cuffs, or something similar, and go sit them in time-out somewhere nearby, possibly one of the MP security checkpoints. If they attempted to harm me when I did this, I would BE them.

For number five.

If they continued, I would’ve told them to stop, likely notified MPs. If there were no MPs and they were absolutely just… going at it. Yeah, I’d do it… at that point it’s just ridiculous.

Apologies for the vagueness!

[itsmarmite]

You have late joined 1:37 into the round. The map is LV 624. The marine force made a significant push early on into west caves, pushing the hive until they had roughly 5 left, including the Queen. The marines fed captures. You settle into your CIC only for a greeno Queen to walk in. The Executive Officer claims they are the reincarnation of George Washington here to install democracy upon the communist hive below. How do you proceed?

You are conducting a briefing. Throughout the briefing the smartgunner repeatedly bashes your cage with a machete, spamming a megaphone, calling you a condom, throwing smoke grenades. You call for MPs, they do not arrive, they’re too busy picking snot out of their noses and listening to their westlife CDs to respond. How do you proceed?

In the middle of the operation you are pulled aside to handle an appeal. Halfway through, an orbital bombardment is fired ontop of the FOB, wiping most of Bravo. The Executive Officer is panicking, the Staff Officer has ran out of the CIC In shame, the frontline leads are asking what is going on, the MPs are breathing down your neck, the appeal still hasn’t been finished, you’re still ironing out the details. People start screaming for the staff officer to be arrested, while the Liaison is spamming communications demanding your attention as the mess technician has started serving dead xenomorphs as burgers. How do you proceed?

Your only squad leader has been detained by the MPs for killing the Liaison in response to being peppersprayed. Your men have zero groundside leadership as a result, the situation looks dire and morale is low. Do you invoke a pardon? How do you proceed?

The situation on the front is irrelevant to the following question. You want to pull out. All four of your squad leaders refuse, and say they’ve got this handled. How do you proceed?

You are alone on lowpop handling CIC. The moment is crucial, the Queen is about to flank the front. Suddenly you hear windows bashing, and the sound of a gunshot behind you. Five hairy colonist engineers break into your CIC yelling for IFF, demanding IFF. How do you proceed?

Why do you want CO? What will CO let you do that you already can’t do as an XO?

Under what circumstances can someone be ruled insane under marine law?

What is a discretionary arrest?

[Hankie_Mcspankies (The Audacious S.I.D)]

Heya!

For 1.

Considering the xenos still have numbers that could be dangerous, including a queen and captures, tactically, deploying the greeno queen would be the play. Although upon her first showing up and me not be briefed on this, I’d definitely roleplay being a little freaked out that we have that on our ship. Upon hearing the captain’s george washington remark, I’d ask him if he’s insane, or just joking and likely dismiss his antics as a bad attempt at a joke IC. Upon being fully informed of the situation regarding the Greenos, I would hesitantly elect to deploy them to assist our marines, ensuring I have an Order 66 type plan in place. I would also have an MP hang around CIC in case the captain’s gotten attached when I tell him our plan. Once the original hive is dead, we’d eliminate the greenos and head back to Chinook.

For 2.

I would hit the smartgunner with a me”pinches the bridge of his nose” and sigh. Giving them a final warning, if they don’t listen I’d attempt to detain them non-lethally and sit them next to me in briefing in time-out as I finally get along with briefing. If they attempt to harm me at any time I do this I would battlefield execute them. As I’ve likely given them more than too many chances to listen up and play along. I’d then string the MPs along for NOD and have a meeting with the CMP, lots of paperwork. (If time and resources allow ofc)

For 3.

I’d put up a finger to the person who’s appeal I’m handling for just a moment and unleash a smattering of orders into comms. I’d order the captain to give his head a shake and pull the frontline squads back to the FOB and have the Alamo hold for evac if need be focusing on revival of our personell and reconstruction. The SO will need to be dealt with at a later time, obviously, and the MPs are well within their right to arrest them, though I’d issue an order for the MST to cease the burgers, I’d have an MP go there to ensure they’re not continuing and if they are, arrest them for Major Insub and have the burgers destroyed. After uttering a string of commands, which shouldn’t take less than a minute and a half, I’d continue with the appeal as normal. Afterwards I would find the SO who fired the OB and personally figure out how that mistake came about. If it was honest, and we managed to at least somewhat salvage the situation, I’d likely let it slide, with a roleplay fueled chewing out in my office. If we didn’t I’d have them arrested for NOD and Manslaughter and fired, making sure that they know I don’t hate them, and that shit happens OOC in LOOC.

For 4.

One squad leader isn’t going to solve our problems groundside, especially a hot-head that killed a Liaison, not to mention I can’t even pardon them if I wanted to without the permission of HC… I would elect to deploy an SO if possible, if I have no people in CIC. Then I would make do with ASLs, as usually, in my experience, they work a lot better than most would think. I would let the MPs have their field day and continue with the operation, keeping a watchful eye on the situation below, doubly so as we lack guiding hands.

For 5.

I’d groan in my CIC bubble and first attempt to pull rank and law on the squad leads. Informing them that if they don’t pull back I’d have their careers ended, and them arrested for Major Insub. If this doesn’t work. I’ll make the announcement anyways, banking on the vast majority of my marines still be loyal enough to pull back. If this doesn’t work. I’d employ my SOs to deploy and drag my marines back, and have MPs waiting to arrest the squad leads for this stunt. Replacing them with ASLs and SO command. If the squad leads still don’t want to listen. I’ll have the captain or ASO hold down CIC and I’ll deploy to personally drag each one of them back to the FOB myself. Grumbling the entire time. At this point I’d be more than willing to use a battlefield execution if they attempt to fight me or my SOs and MPs, as they in my opinion, risked the lives of my men, and the integrity of the operation on a “Just trust me bro” after being quite lenient with them.

For 6.

I’d pray to god that they’ll hold off on their shenanigans long enough for me to order my men to pull out from the flank, acknowledging that whatever happens next is in god’s hands now. Then I’d deal with the engineers, firstly calling for MPs, or hell, at this point even some riflemen and asking them what the FUCK they think they’re doing. As this is a goddamn military vessel, and we don’t owe them anything more than a hot, a cot, and a rescue, especially not after this stunt. I’d yell at them all to leave, and if they don’t, hopefully the riflemen and MPs have arrived to take them away for civil insub. If they try anything violent, after we’ve got reinforcements, I’d order them taken down and arrested for at a bare minimum, assault with a deadly weapon. If I could make a case for attempted murder, I’d try to make it stick. But they’re for sure getting disorderly conduct and that civil insub charge. After they’re released I’d have them kept under watch by the MPs and given IFF, if they continue to cause trouble, I would banish them back to the planet. I’d then make sure an MT comes to CIC to repair the windows, and I’d take a cigarette break.

For 7.

I would love the CO whitelist mainly for the roleplay opportunities it can allow for which are usually much more unique and freeform than the usual XO grind cycle, as lets be honest, XO is usually confined to the whims of the round more than the CO is. I would also love to help tend to the roleplay environment of the server, and although I’m not the best roleplayer, I do believe I add to the immersion much more than I take away. (Also I want to BE Alan Jones he keeps bullying me /s)

For 8.

They can only be ruled insane by the CMO or a Synthetic as per marine law for reasons that make them suspect for not operating under sound mind.

For 9.

A DA is a powerful tool for maintaining order and acts as a “Take them to detroit” button that should only be used for the good of the operation/round. It doesn’t require a law to be broken in ML, though it can be reported to HC if MPs believe it’s being abused. It functions as a red tape cutter for edge cases where someone really ought to be imprisoned, but can’t be regularly, it can be used to change normal ML law breaks to permanent ones, or simply extensions for further punishment. It cannot be used on civillians, but can be used on anyone a lower rank than you that’s under your command.

[WestRover (Annie)]

Hank, I love being in your squad when you SL, regardless of the situation we’re in. Though I do have a minor concern

Your behavior - Sometimes, your laid back attitude can make a turn for the worse, and you disregard orders. While it’s not often, it is something i’ve seen often enough to want to see changed. It’s a weird situation, because its clearly not coming out of a place of “this command sucks” it is more coming out of a place of, “i feel like this would be better” - which, is both a benefit in making you stand out more in my brain, but it also makes me concerned in some circumstances, one example is you leave coms too early, at least in my eyes, and you’ll often do everything in your power to avoid doing more supportive less combat heavy orders. Again, I cannot stress this here, I really don’t think it comes from malice at all, but just a bad habit you’ve developed from ungaing.

[Hankie_Mcspankies (The Audacious S.I.D)]

Absolutely, I definitely have noticed that myself and it’s something I’m working on. I try to make an effort to keep to command’s plans as much as possible, and have started taking to suggesting different plans of action before acting on them!

I’ve also been learning to enjoy sitting still, my biggest worry when I do things like that is running out of squad cohesion, which definitely starts ticking down when marines aren’t firing rounds.

All I can say is thank you very much for the feedback! And I’ll apply it in the future!

[WestRover (Annie)]

Perfect response I wanted to see, Habits are hard to break - but the fact you noticed it before i pointed it out already makes me eager to see you as a major, good luck with your app

[agenttine]

I’ve kept my eyes on this guy for a very long time now, for almost three months or four months now, when he first announced his intention to apply for CO. I managed to observe him back then, and a bit now as well. Even back then, I thought he was a strong candidate and, and I have no doubt that he has only improved. Hank “Hangover” Hanover would be a solid Commanding Officer, and a good fit for the server.

+1.

[DangerRevolution (Cyclops & XSO)]

Seeing a Prime Lurker made me feel extremely ill and instantly suspicious but Hanover’s character, RP-first playstyle and quality as an SL definitely won me over. I haven’t seen much of Hank as XO but that’s probably our time of play not overlapping much. He would definitely add to the roster of fun and interesting characters in the CO WL.

One of the few SLs I’d follow to the ends of the map.

+1

[BasilHerb]

Hank is a treat of an SL and XO to serve under, and I’ve got no doubts about their ability to seriously roleplay and fit into the role. They’ve adhered to the SEA’s HRP standards pretty well, so I don’t doubt their seriousness at all.

I think a role’s importance is a big dictator of how much effort people put in to RP, and many people who take HRP roles like CO, Synth and Yautja seriously do end up turning their brains off for nothingburger roles. SL is on the high-end, but it’s still substantially below whitelist-tier, so I’m not concerned about Hank’s laid back attitude in SL impacting how seriously they’ll take CO whatsoever- They’ve already demonstrated that ability with SEA.

Goodluck on the app, I’ll upvote anything that causes lurker mains to spend more time ERPing shipside instead of griefing me.

+1

[DukeofCagliostro (Archibald V. Cartwright)]

Fantastic XO and SL. +1. Good grasp of command both in CIC and on the field.

[Wriath1 (Zahn Vitrez)]

Like others gave said, Hank is effective in leadership positions. He’s got a good handle onpredrop rapport building as an SL, and has repeatedly shown himself to be good at the kind of multitasking that’s needed to keep track of comms and whatever’s going on. He seems to take the game seriously while maintaining a character who is not pedantically serious, which can be a hard balance to strike for some people. Looking forward to blaming you for our future groundside failures. +1

[Tysonix1 (Jason ‘Smoker’ Prescott)]

An excellent Squad Leader, reliable and gets things done when called upon or dies trying. As an XO, he is equally as solid, understands the mechanics at play and does not shy away from RP scenarios. I’d follow this man and die trying to recover his corpse when he inevitably falls.

+1

[Sandvich123 (Gods Shortest Warrior)]

I’ve seen Hank groundside in an encirclement and they were the only marine who had enough game sense of how to break out and survive multiple times. They know the game flow and seem to have good instinct. +1

[Zanfee (Clemens Darling - Shiva Ridge)]

SID to my knowledge in CM playtime was always beginner friendly, competent and level headed. I never seen this guy loose his cool after all its just a game and we are all here to have fun and roleplay.
I would trust this man with the CO whitelist, +1

[luscao (Lopits)]

On our latest round, we went through hell together and i deployed you as the XO.

I could see the tunnel vision happening from time to time and that is not a big deal. But you placed yourself on countless situations where a Squad Rifleman would be, aka PFC+

Do keep in mind that your stance in this is to coordinate movement and push in when needed, be it a counter screech, a decisive push to kill a wounded Xenomorph, countless options, just not constant frontlining, even more on enclosed caves (at our second attempt to push in, this was the case, even after it was clear no one was with you for some reason.) If you get captured, the entire coordination to that point is basically over, and a crucial tool goes with you aswell.

Your announcements were on time and you kept yourself true to the planning since the start, taking initiative to do some wounded recovering or flank repelling, and that is very nice.
You also coordinated both Lieutenants who deployed with you amazingly well.

I’d like to reinforce your interaction with the marines, some of them tried to talk with you but you waved them off or mostly ignored, and that is fine considering the pressure of the role and the situation at hand.
But it’s fine to lie back a few minutes to interact with other players, you are a human being after all and not a victory machine, do take any chance you can to roleplay, even more as a Senior Officer.

You also kept yourself true to the logic behind one of the pardon answers during this round, with a ill placed OB by a Staff Officer.

Keep it going Acetylene .

[Hankie_Mcspankies (The Audacious S.I.D)]

Ma’am, yes ma’am!