Critilius - Commanding Officer Application

Whitelists Commanding Officer Applications
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Commanding Officer Application - Critilius

What is your BYOND key?

Critilius

What is your Discord ID?

#4912

What is your timezone in UTC?

GMT +3

Player Name You Use Most?

Aden Cooper / Chris ‘No Mercy’ Buford

Ban Appeals, Whitelist and Staff Applications:

Have you been banned in the last 3 months?

No

If so, why?

Command Knowledge:

How familiar are you with command positions?

Very familiar. I have been a part of this game since 2019 and been playing for a really long time. Although last year I have been on and off due to IRL reasons I have started playing again specifically in CIC as Captain. If I am not mistaken I have been a Commanding Officer from 2019 to 2022 and was removed due to Role Play infractions which was compleatly my fault. I would like to apologise for my prior mistakes as the council has been very nice with me at the time. I would like to confirm here that I will abide by the CO rules and will not go extreme with my roleplay as I have done previously and will keep myself in check at all times. I will act as how a CO should behave and stay within the expected standards.

Not to justify but to explain my RP infractions, at the time of my removal what is HRP and LRP were one of the main topics in the community and I really liked creating random scenarios to spice things up even though they were not real like talking to ARES etc or talking about none existant reinforcments coming to assist the marines. I now understand that it was not the best thing to do and is considered LRP.

I am familiar within the CIC and have been through many operations and events while playing command roles.

Hours in XO:

As CO I have 123 Hrs and as XO I have 122 Hrs

Hours in SL:

I have 167 Hours as Squad Leader

Character Information:

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

After losing his old friend Eugene during the events of USS Delemation. Aden was motivated to graduate from officer school and help assist people where possible especially against pirates who he disdains and blames for the death of his friend. He was later successfull in becoming a CO, given a small Vessel by Admiral Shawn to command and conduct operations. (This is all referenced in the story)

How did your character attain the position of CO?

After CIC was taken hostage by Pirates, who were demanding the CO to surrender to them which never happened. Aden after 15 hours decided enough was enough and went to COs quarters and disguised as one in order to save the lives of the officers in CIC. Aden was loaded into the Pirate shuttle, the Delemation Crew was safe but Aden was captured. 2-3 days later he was let out in a hostage exchange underground organization. When the pirates realised that Aden was not the CO of the Delemation they were furious and one of the Pirates nicknamed Jonjon punched Aden in the head which sent him unconscious.

After being rescued by USCM, Aden was motivated to graduate from officer school and beome a CO. Which ended up being reality down the track.

PS. I kept these segments short as there is more detail within the story.

Provide a short story of your CO.

I am putting here my Accepted CO story from my old application. It is a bit odd I wrote this long time ago

Command Actions:

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

I would only pardon a prisoner if the matter has been fully investigated and the prisoner owns up to his/her mistakes and only if the circumstances require it. This of course depends on the severity of the offense aswell. Capital offenses cannot be pardoned unless given special authority by USCM HC , as the act is a direct violation against USCM and the operation itself. If an investigation needs to be started and I have time to sort it out, I would start with the MP who has arrested the criminal and talk to the CMP about the situation, once that is cleared will see if there are any other witnesses to the offense and at the very last talk to the prisoner with all the information at hand. (With any evidence for and against the prisoner)

If it comes to a pardon it is also very important that I am not in violation of a direct order sent by USCM High Command. Only Minor and Major Crimes can be pardoned.

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

Pardon Not Applicable
Example 1:When a MP is trying to arrest a marine for breaking marine law during deployement there can be trouble having the marine put in custody as others tend to interfere. Lets say another marine shoots and kills the MP trying to make the arrest. Marine which killed the MP is a criminal and will not be pardoned by me as the act has been done on purpose and malicusly. His act caused further issues and thretened the integrity of the opertation.

Example 2: If Any personell of the Almayer decides to team up with the enemy forces such as CLF and ends up arrested. He will not be pardoned by me as he has committed SEDITION and has threatened the integrity and success of the operation.

Example 3: Lets say there is a new LT who accidentally mixes FOB grids with OB coordinates. I think most people have done this or atleast has seen it happen when they were new aswell and although it is very rare it does happen from time to time. In this case however being new is not an excuse as this action has most likely will result in complete operational failiure and lead to the deaths of multiple marines the LT will be sent to the brig and will serve out his sentence.

Pardon Applicable
Example 1: During low population, if an Engineer breaks in to REQ to try get what he wants while the RO or a CT is in there resulting in him being arrested for the first drop. It is considerable to provide a pardon given the Engineer apologises and understands the wrongdoing. This is of course if they are the only engineer present for the first drop or 1 of very few, as it is very critical to get COMMs and defences up as soon as possible.

Example 2: During an attack if a new PVT flames a specialist and other marines by accident resulting in them being captured by the enemy and he is called out for it thus being arrested. I would consider pardoning the PVT given he did not do it malicusly and apologises for the issue. Although an apology will not bring back the dead marines, it may be beter to have this man learn from his mistake and sent back to the frontline to save the next marine where he may be able to do. I would also consider finding a Gunny for the Pvt if applicable.

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

As a Commanding officer it is my duty to ensure that the USCM platoon that is under my control is in good condition both morally and operationally. Battlefield execution in my opinion should be the last resort a Commanding officer would execute during an operation.

First we must understand the effects that Execution causes in general. Executing a marine will cause morale of the marines that have a connection with the individual morale would be shaken and affect the rest of the squad negatively. Also at the same time reducing the combat effectiveness of the squad in general.

It is my opinion that Battlefield execution should only be used if the person is causing serious issues for the Squad he/she is in and other marines involved at the same time is delaying the objectives of the operation in a manner that the issue gets out of control and gets bigger for no reason.

I would only use Battlefield execution if the Marine is:

-Threatening the integrity of the mission
-Acting trollish to a severe degree
-Is threatingin other marines (Such as shooting at them)
-Bullying others causing them to be incapable of playing the game

BE should be the last resort and will be the last resort for Aden Cooper as a commanding officer during an operation.

Compared to normal execution if a marine is refusing the execute orders and cause other marines to be endangered because of individual actions he is to be court martialed if the Marine in this situation is refusing to comply still and causing trouble he should be arrested and explained his situation and if the decision is made to execute such person it should be done according to law and jurisdiction.

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

Example 1: If any personell of the USS Almayer is being actively Seditious such as shooting at others killing them incapacitating medics etc it is clear evidence of griefing and must be dealt with immediatly. I like to delegate command as much as possible when I am in CIC, during a similar situation I would immediately inforrm the MPs and have this marine arrested and if it is not possible MPs being incapaciated or not being present I would proceed with the BE and make an announcment accordingly informing everyone what has transpired as the actions of this marine are in direct violation and are a threat to the integrity of the operation.

Example 2: During briefing if a marine assaults a LT and starts punching them resulting being in them incapacitated. I would not resort to a BE as stated it should be the very last resort. I would immediatly call the MPs and if there are none present would have the marine subdued by the help of other marines or the rest of my staff officers. From here he would serve out his sentence and the matter would be investigated/reported further.

Example 3: During a FOB siege when the Alamo Pilot is told to stay on the colony and hold for possible evac, if the Pilot is constantly yelling in comms for EVAC and Demoralizing marines saying we are losing evac evac evac and going out of his way to interrupt turrets and start loading everything in to the dropship and actually launching back to almayer even though the situation is stable on the ground. Launching and creating confusin in the FOB resulting in many deaths. I would consider Battle field executing the Pilot as his actions have been in directly violation against orders from CIC and operational objectives.

Example 4: Lets say the Corporate Liaison smuggles an egged marine in to USS Almayer directly in violation of USCM objectives conspiring to have it be birth in CLs office. This action threatens the lives of everyone onboard USS Almayer as an unknown exeno threat being present is very dangerous possibly having most of the almayer crew killed in the process. If this happens and is brought to my attention just before going out of hand I would strongly consider battle field executing the CL if I do not have any MPs present and have the alien hunted down as soon as possible.

Example 5: If a marine murdered 2 of my SOs in cold blood but is in MP custody, I would not use battlefield execution as he has already been caught and the matter will be investigated and he will be court marshalled once the operation concludes. I would not BE someone in MP custody

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Once again to summarise this application, I would like to apologise for how I played as a Commanding Officer prior to my removal as the current council at the time were very fair and patient with me. I totally deserved to be removed looking back with my unnecessary announcements and random stories I wrote and created during rounds which were not real.

I made an application last December in which I was told to play the game more and familiarize myself with the new mechanics and the rules once again due to my long absence from the community. I would like to once again try my application in order to possibly-hopefully get my whitelist back and play according to how a CO player is expected to behave and act.

I have been in this community since 2019 and my favorite roles are in the CIC. If I am qualified I would like to join the CO whitelist again and if given the opportunity I promise to show my determination and change in mind I had over the years.

Lastly, recently I have been playing as Chris ‘No Mercy’ Buford for most roles but my command character stays as Aden Cooper.

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Hello, Aden. Our interactions have been rather sparse even during times where it made sense; For clarification, I was playing Military Police for a few days straight now, and a few rounds were with you as the Captain. What I came across with the way you play command is that you are very gameplay-oriented, to the point there’s very minimal roleplay being shown from my point of view. Most of your communication on radio was full capitalization short sentences (1-3 words) and a lot of information being relayed to you was being ignored throughout the round. Of course, there is a lot to pay attention to as the role especially when low on CIC staff, but it does make me concerned about the same thing happening frequently if you were a CO.

I want to know, would Aden Cooper as the CO behave the same way? Personally I’d like to see some more roleplay interactions, even minor ones, as you do lead operations quite well even by yourself and so you definitely can lead.

My vote for now is -1.

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During round 33044 you decided as Delta SL to ignore CIC’s orders to move back to the FOB due to the comms team being wiped.

You asked your squad to pretend they couldn’t understand the comms garble repeatedly despite it being perfectly legibile.

When CIC tried to phone you, you threw off your radio pack and told your squad to not pick up the phone.

All the while despite tacmap orders to push north with Alpha through hydro took Delta to the west beach and got them completely wiped in a suicide push, letting every single person (roughly 3-5 people at memory) at comms perma.

Would you like to explain your rationale here?

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As an XO: Generally my planetside / shipside experience of Aden Cooper XO is someone who gets a little overwhelmed and lost, or is maybe distracted while playing CM? I don’t get inspired with confidence when I see Aden Cooper XO, and I think the trait present amongst all COs is that you hear the whistle and you know someone reliable is taking charge.

As an SL: The LV incident described above is fresh in my mind, but Buford is far more inspirational and is a very present SL, who talks on the radio and roleplays appropriately (although I haven’t played much in your squad) so I think this is your much stronger suite.

Overall, generally uninspiring XO who seems to get a little overwhelmed or lost in the sauce, issuing orders without understanding what the planetside situation actually is. Generally inspiring SL, above average.

-1

Only for the XO performance, I feel like you can get much better and back in your saddle if you focus in.

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Regarding this I was not aware that everyone actually died in Comms, about the phone if I remember correctly i told the HM not to pick up the phone as a joke. My perspective is that prior to briefing I informed the ACO that we should flank west caves and sneak in to the caves while Alpha distracted the Xenos. The ACO agreed to the plan and assigned a LT to assist us as a medic during our move towards west caves, the LT had to grab a body earlier which is why he was not with us.

This round is very unfortunate for me because I had Delta rallied and organised but rest of the marines wiped which can happen but I was not aware of the full scope of the situation. This is definetly my bad since Delta was very cohesive this operation, marines did end up winning if I remember correctly but this is definetly a bad call on my part.

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Thanks for the feedback I appriciate it you are correct I do get overwhelmed sometimes as XO. Usually when I play XO there around 45-60 people in the server and most departments are empty, from my experience I end up running around trying to get alot of things done but at the end maybe achieving minimal results since you cannot get everything done at the same time.

I mean well for the marines and try to ensure they have a plan even if its very simple it helps them organise each other / getting ready supplies for the FOB and Orbital Shell etc. The way I do it however maybe very gameplay focused though you are correct. I will try take things easy and see how it goes.

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Hello thanks for the feedback I appriciate it I have made a similar reply to Cyclops who raised similar concerns, you are correct. I really like to roleplay in CM which I have done quite alot over the years and try to do it whenever I can however I get lost trying to ensure some things are handled ship side and in order to assist marines as best as I can.

I would however like to say from my perspective if I cannot attend someone at the time I do come back to it and roleplay when I can. I think people will vouch for me on this since I have been around quite alot and been in many RP scenarios with people in many different rounds. As a CO I used to Roleplay at all times but I took it a bit too far which is my own mistake. I take this feedback to heart and will take things easy interact with players as much as I can given the circumstances which may be present during said round.

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There was a deadpop round yesterday, where we were trying to OB ablock under constant pressure from xenos. There was only one HM with a phone (comms were obviously down and all announcements were incredibly garbled) and it took us a lot of asking for him to call CiC as he (as one of the very few medics) was busy. It took us legit several minutes and after he finally contacted CiC and gave me the phone, the aCO Aden Cooper simply dismissed my coords by saying “call Alpha overwatch” (meaning he couldn’t fire the OB from the bubble itself). I cannot express my frustration, as obviously the HM wouldn’t spend his time to call the CIC again.

I want to say that I (as someone who played this game for many years) do recall Aden Cooper’s name as the name of someone very competent, but I think his performance lately leaves much to be desired. Aden Cooper that I remember would make a fine CO, but I don’t see him right now.

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@ihatethisengine

Hello you are correct that was indeed me on the phone, to add some perspective to this I was coordinating with CO survivor Alan Jones regarding a possible Drop at the FOB for some specific items. I had also came back from reloading the OB and had to go to REQ as soon as possible. I wanted to provide you guys with an OB aswell and in order to coordinate it I asked you I think to call alpha OW so we can coordinate the OB, I was not aware at the time the CIC phone extends all the way to the Alpha OW computer.

We did OB A block shortly after however and sweeped the xenos with Survivor COs team flanking from the east side.

I did not mean to be dismissive if I was I apologise alot was going on at the time.

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Aside from everything else already mentioned here, I will say that the backstory and the like is very uninspired. I don’t expect every player to be an excellent writer, but I do expect the character you create to be compelling. When I read about Aden Cooper, it seems that he’s sprung to life fully formed in the military. His life before this is not depicted, and quietly, I suspect it simply does not exist.

was managing fusion reactors up until he got drafted for military service.

He was drafted in this Vietnam style space sim? In Vietnam? And he had no dissent, no recoil, he simply realized how much he loved it?

All Marines were to head to briefing and comply as best as they could as they were being taken hostage by pirates.

All marines? If we are using a rough, true idea of marine numbers, and not the amount on the Almayer- all 2000 marines? Being taken hostage by, what, 30 pirates?

Aden had enough of it and was furious realizing that the CO was too afraid to come out and actually handle the situation Aden decided to go to COs quarters and dress up as a Commanding Officer of the USCM

And let me guess, his plan goes flawlessly and he saves the day because he is the hero, right?

2-3 days later he was let out in a hostage exchange underground organization.

And point.

small vessel of a USCM officer named Lieutenant Gorman he was saved.

My suspension of disbelief stretches only so far. Lieutenant Gorman from the movie himself appears, saves Aden, and Aden is honored by USCM command. And the story ends with Aden becoming more assured that pirates are bad and being a hero is good.

What does this tell me about Aden? That he hates pirates? That’s nothing unusual; the average marine probably hates them too. Aden wants to save his friend? So would John Marine. Aden is brave? Everyone is brave. Aden’s story isn’t so much a story as it is a recount of why he is cool, why he is brave, why he is game; Aden realizes the marines are the cool heroes, but not brave enough, and Aden saves the day, Aden mourns his friend who died to give Aden that little sad edge, Aden wins.

But a character who is brave and wins all the time isn’t very interesting. When I imagine Aden Cooper as CO, what am I looking up to? He feels like a cardboard cutout of a man, made so you can play the game- which is fine, it certainly isn’t unusual, but when I see a CO, I want to feel something about them. I want to think, this CO always talks about the Company, like a jackass, or, this CO had to take a moment to compose himself because his SO is permanently dead in front of him and he can’t cry, not here, not now, but I see him stutter. If CO Cooper simply is the guy who did the brave things, was bravely rewarded, and now bravely continues to be brave… I suppose there’s worse things, but I don’t see why this should be a CO, and not just a rifleman.

Additionally- your story has lots of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors. You say you submitted this story (seven) years ago for your first application- surely you could have gone through it since then and fixed it up. By submitting it here and now, you say that you feel this is good- or perhaps good enough- and so I am going to judge it as it is.

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One of the possibly concern that I got from 3 days ago. I heard about this during round 33044 - Peacekeeping Mission Alpha-Claw with Aalto pointing this out in lrc, so I’ll quote from him directly
“Delta actively ignored CIC, saying there were dead people at north comms, threw their radio pack to the ground when CIC tried to phone them, the SL asked delta to pretend they couldn’t understand the garble, they then ignored the plan and tried protag west caves”

Sadly, he didn’t remember the last name of the character; he was only able to identify the Delta SL as Chris and as a Gunny Sergeant. I only know 1 other Gunny Sergeant who has Chris in their name, that is Chris McClean, who I haven’t seen in quite a while, but if it is true, this is honestly worrying. That’s why I would like someone with the ability to look into this to confirm Aaltos eye witness account.

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Yes I was the Delta Gunny that round. I have made a similar reply early on about this round but to summarize the situation and give my perspective here, I have had informed my plan to rally delta and sneak in to west caves to command which they have agreed to proceed with even providing us a LT to act as a medic during the deployement. The LT had to grab a body early and and had to move away from us he told me as he was doing so which I agreed that he should do.

We regrouped and rallied north west of the map in position to sneak in. Please be advised that at this time I was not aware that all the units have been wiped at comms and I had no idea about this as we have killed a warrior in Comms passing by it. My HM was being called that is correct and I did tell him to ignore the call as a joke but please note that I was under the impresiion that Alpha was going to bait the enemy at the river crossing and we would sneak in shortly after.

What I did not realize which was my biggest mistake that round was that all marines have been killed somehow at comms after we passed through it. I mean well for the marines and would never want us to lose as I am very comitted to beat the xenos whenever I play. I have never griefed anyone in this game but that round was a big failiure on my part I should have realized what was going on at comms and regrouped.

Marines did win that round if I remember correctly but that does not excuse my mistake. But please do note that although this is one round in many I actively try to do good for all marines whenever I can and it was never my intention to have my squad killed like that. I geniunly beleived we would be successfull.

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You told them to ignore the call as a joke yet you actively ignored announcements and didn’t clarify that the HM wasn’t actually to ignore the call? Am I understanding this correctly or have I veered off course?

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I honestly do not remember this much detail on this operation and to me it seems that this was a major problem on my end if someone could pull the logs to clarify and answer everyones concerns on this operation I would appriciate it.

An admin also pinged me after we died and I explained my situation there aswell. In my defense and my perspective we had a green lit plan by command which ended in disaster as we all died in the caves due to me rallying delta there. But I was not aware of the whole picture at the time and we had no comms, I would also point out that as you all would know it is really hard for marines to be even reasonably in proximity of their squad leader and so many things happen across so many different perspectives. I could not force marines to follow me in to caves and die there if I tried my best to do it. We had good cohesion,communication within Delta as they trusted me but it turned out rest of the marines key being Alpha squad was wiped out at comms.

I take full responsibility here I had my squad killed in the caves but I did not do it knowing the out come. I also apologised to Delta in DCHAT which is in logs and some marine even said he would follow me again if they were alive please see here that there are many perspectives at play here.

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Critilius,

You are not a bad player, and you are certainly competent at command technically.

As one of the older players around, I remember I was there for you before your were accepted into the CO WL back in 2020.

This is your old application: Accepted Critilius - Commander Application

Although irrelevant to the current application there’s something I want to make very clear to you.

While you are technically good at the role and competent enough to run operations for the marine side, in the current day Whitelisted COs are required to take the position more seriously.

What this means is, if you are playing leadership roles, be it SL, SO, XO, take your responsibilities seriously. I appreciate the humor behind wanting to meme around and be comical, but things have changed and this is something that will keep you out of the CO Whitelist guaranteed.

Right now you have a chance to show everyone evaluating this application that you are in fact who I think you are, someone that is competent at leadership and capable of carrying responsibility nobly and with integrity.

Please take this into consideration and use the remainder of the time of this application to adjust your behavior correctly, and prove my opinion to everyone watching you right now.

Good luck and do yourself proud.

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First I would like to thank you for the encouragment and helping me understand what it means to be a Commanding Officer in CMs era today as I will do my best to show that I am a capable commander. I do understand that serious standards are expected from Commanding Officers and it is not like the past.

I would also want to thank you for linking my first application which was accepted, as looking at it I still remember writing it up and awaiting replies enthusiastically to see if I would qualify for the position and I still remember reading Frans_Feiffers reply qualifying me for the position I remember it because I was super happy. Time really flies very fast. I am very happy to be a part of the CM community as I very much enjoy it and have great fun memories with friends and randoms throught the years although we occasionally have some people which move on but this game gave us all great memories and fun times looking back at it. During my first application I have had alot of great advice come to my way and have thought me alot about the game even after receiving the Whitelist I was showered with advice both ingame and in discord which I am gratefull for.

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