Mentor Application - M4L4SS4S

[molasses]

Mentor Application - M4L4SS4S

Byond CKEY:

M4L4SS4S

Discord ID:

398666730697654273

Character Name(s):

Sampson ‘Ironfist’ Ponds
SQ-A7
Uahtan Ktal’t

Why do you want to become a Mentor?:

I want to become a Mentor because I want to drag new players into the rabbit hole that is Colonial Marines and SS13. When I first joined CM, I was admittedly lost and relied heavily on reading the wiki, which was sometimes tiresome. As a Mentor, I want to teach new players and be a real person they engage with on how to play the variety of roles found on CM, not just the basics but the nuances and what you find below the surface of a role and without spending hours reading wiki and forum guides.

What gameplay areas do you know and which areas are you strong and weak in?:

Strongest: (In no particular order)

• Command
  For Command roles such as SO and XO I am confident in teaching and explaining the different sections of CIC which a player must be knowledgeable of. From navigating the tech tree, using the OW console to send supply crates, interpreting the tactical map, the keycard authentication for enabling events, and the various consoles in the XO bubble. To take a new player to be able to support or even lead an entire operation (on their own if they roll solo XO or with a fully staffed CIC)

• Military Police
  Playing MP is one of my highest-played roles and I am comfortable teaching a new player the tools of their trade, Marine Law, SOP, and different procedures that MPs will go through on the regular such as the arrest, appeal, brig, execution, and NJP procedures. I strive to be a reasonable MP who doesn’t power trip over themselves and I want to pass along that attitude when it comes to playing MP to others who are starting their path down Marine Law.

• Req
  I am fully confident that I can teach someone how to take care of Req. From differentiating the vendors containing particular items and helping memorize the fastest way to find some items (such as abbreviations for attachments) to best serve whoever comes to the line of Req. As well as when it comes to the Req supply drops and ASRS Lift. I know how the handle the supply drops from filling ammo boxes, balancing the Req budget, creating or finding metal crates for supply drops, and the different needs of each squad on the frontline such as Bravo with building material or Delta with their gun-specific ammo.

• Engineering
  I am far more comfortable with engineering now compared to my prior mentor application. From playing as a Comtech building cadelines on the front or the FOB to being a shipside MT or CE building entire projects on the Almayer. I can explain the different building processes for whatever someone may want to build. Beyond building, I also am aware of charging shipside SMES for ground-side power, chambering the different warheads, and handling the reactors shipside.

• Medical
  With my highest played hours put together, I am more than confident in my medical abilities. From diagnosing the different symptoms and conditions to applying the surgery or medicine needed for different issues. I memorized the most common surgeries needed such as fractures, larva removal, and organ damage to be able to quickly perform the surgeries. Also with my experience don’t the battlefield as a Corpsman I know what is best to take and use under different battle circumstances such as IA being a mandatory pill bottle to take and when it’s appropriate to use suture or pump a marine full of drugs on the field.

• Marine / Jtac
  From Riflemen up to Squad Leader I’ve played all of the squad roles and I’m familiar with each of their weapons, tools, skills, and objectives that they are required to do on the field. I’m familiar with calling in CAS, Mortar, and OBs but also with manning them as a PO or Mortar crewman on the field to provide support to the Marines.

• Xeno
  Having invested more hours into playing Xenos (even with most of them towards Queen), I am confident in explaining the different aspects of each caste pathway and strains of the castes such as playstyles, how to use the different abilities, and what scenarios require what strains. (such as FOB siege needing a Trapper Boiler)

Average:

• Paperwork
  Having played more since my last mentor application I am familiar with the different paperwork/formatting processes needed to enhance the RP within the server. From HC faxes to WY faxes I can teach the paperwork system to others.

• Intel
  From finding intel to processing it I am sure that I can support the operation and ensure that we have enough tech points to raise chances of success for the operation. Decrypting disks is my favorite part of intel processing so I am more than able to teach this to another.

Weakest:

• OT / Chem / Research
  I am not too familiar with the chemistry behind the roles of OT and Researcher. I know some basics such as brewing thermite, napalm, IA, and ME but aside from that I am not too familiar with the more complicated chemicals/processes like brewing greenos or the different values to make the most broken chemical fires.

How often are to able to play CM?:

I usually play two or sometimes three rounds a day within the range of 5 PM to 11 PM PST.

A screenshot or transcript of your human and xeno playtimes:

Marine playtimes - https://gyazo.com/5b4d9adbbeb3ca68e5f55bc89a64fa71

Xeno playtimes - https://gyazo.com/87a935c5ada9c56a7a6e5026682a5b7c,

Anything else you’d like to add?:

Nothing else to add on my part, if there are any questions I will make sure to answer them.

[smellyhippie]

Hi, I’m here to hit you with a million questions. Good luck on the application

Mentor Help Theoreticals:

• How do I open the tacmap(xeno and human)
• How do I place a resin marker?
• How do I enable aim assist for xenos?
• How do I nest a marine?
• How do I use my scope?
• How do I remove a weapon attachment?

In Person Theoreticals:

• A new player has just woken up, you walk up to them in their prep room and say hello. They don’t respond, and walk around wordlessly, what do you do?

• A new MT is around, and they don’t know anything about engineering, what’s the first thing you teach them?

• You’re playing as a SEA and someone asks you to hack open a door, what do you do?

[Birdtalon]

Strong marine playtimes but a little light on Xenomorphs. Although you do say you are confident in explaining different aspects of Xeno gameplay. Could you answer for me the following?

• How do I open a damaged wall as a defender?
• I pounced a marine as a lurker and I can’t move got killed died, what am I doing wrong?
• Is there an easy way to pick up facehuggers as a carrier?
• What do the different pheromones do?

[molasses]

Hey, I’m sorry for the delay, I’ve been acquiring visuals for the answers to my questions to convey how I would help players out as a mentor.

How do I open the tacmap(xeno and human)

• As a marine the tactical map will be towards the upper right side of your screen. Click on the “View tactical map” text and it’ll pop up the last draw map from the command. The tactical map is updated when the command launches an announcement that is seen in the chat and on your screen “Tactical map is being updated”

As for Xenos, it’ll be the same but it won’t be available to Xenos who aren’t leaders unless the queen is on her ovipositor Leaders and the Queen can see the tactical map regardless of having the queen sitting on her sac or not. Xeno tact map will work similarly to the marine one where the Queen updates it and you only see the prior version she updated.
Screenshot - 72810f9f22b46c333b2337e8f3b28bb9 - Gyazo

How do I place a resin marker?

• Placing resin markers you are either the Queen or a Leader xeno set by the Queen. It’ll be an ability to the top left of the screen in your abilities bar named “Mark Resin” with this you’ll be able to select the type of mark you want to use and from there you will then shift click on the resin where you want to place the marker. (The marker can only be placed on weeds/resin)

How do I enable aim assist for xenos?

• For enabling aim assist for Xenos (also named directional slashes) you can into your edit character menu, go to the settings section, and click on “Toggle Directional Assist”

Alternatively, you can also go into the Alien tab at the top right of your screen (when you’re playing as a xeno) and click on the “Enable Directional Attacks” text.
Screenshot - c01e360308800d3b2aca3af62243a493 - Gyazo
Screenshot - c83b1a6a383ec2638318a40958af6169 - Gyazo

How do I nest a marine?

• After having devoured a human host you must bring it to the hive, regurgitate the human, and click drag the human onto an egg that is laid and they will be face hugged. Once the face is hugged you can click drag again onto a wall with resin (or a resin wall) to nest them as part of the hive.

How do I use my scope?

You’re going to want to have a scope in hand and then click it on the rifle to equip it. Once Equipped you’re going to wield the rifle and click on the scope on the top left row. There your line of fire will be expanded towards the direction you’re facing. Changing direction will move you out of your scope so you must rescope if you move around.
Screenshot - 72bc5b9580b286eb27a74bafbb68afee - Gyazo
Screenshot - 2de02453155092d1cb573d1ec9b09e6c - Gyazo

How do I remove a weapon attachment?

• Using the shift+alt hotkey will pop up the weapon attachments menu and show which attachments are on your weapon. (You must hold your weapon in your active hand to open the menu) Once the menu is opened click on the attachment you want to take off. Alternatively, if the hotkey doesn’t work then direct your attention to the weapon tab towards the upper right of your screen and select “field strip weapon” under the weapons tab. It will pop up the same weapon attachment menu.

A new player has just woken up, you walk up to them in their prep room and say hello. They don’t respond, and walk around wordlessly, what do you do?

• I would notice the player and do all that I can to grab their attention. Once I have their attention I would use both IC and OOC methods to tell them how to use the chat function such as “Marine! Talk starts with T, learn that!” followed by LOOC and tell them how T is used for local IC talking, L for LOOC in which I address them, and Y for comms to start. Once I can establish a basis for them on how to communicate in and out of the game I would go through the gear-up process with them, how to use their rifle (and the rest that comes with its use) and from there I would get them on the drop ship ready to roll. Before I send them off I’ll explain how to use the mentorhelp function in-game and provide a link to the CM discord if they want further aid outside the game itself.

A new MT is around, and they don’t know anything about engineering, what’s the first thing you teach them?

The first thing I’d want to teach them is how to build a wall. This would allow them to best get a grasp of the building mechanics by building and taking down a wall. I would then follow up by teaching them how to replace windows. If the MT wants further help learning from there I would join as a SEA (if possible or as an imaginary friend) and guide them through different processes they may encounter during a round)

You’re playing as a SEA and someone asks you to hack open a door, what do you do?

• In the event of an evacuation I would gladly hack a door in order to allow for the passage of marines to vital areas such as lifeboats, engineering, fueling stations, etc for an evac. But during a typical day if someone has no business being in an area I would chastice them IC as a drill sergeant would and MAYBE give an NJP like 5 push-ups for attempting to go into an unauthorized location.

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get all the visual references that I would’ve liked but I got what I could with the two rounds I played in order to respond in a more timely manner.

[molasses]

As for your questions here are how I would answer them.

How do I open a damaged wall as a defender?

Honestly if a wall is damaged it is better to destroy it by slashing on harm intent, that way it’ll allow for builder castes to swiftly replace it especially if on the frontline. Better to have newer and fresher walls to seek cover behind than a damaged one. And the only structures that “open” for xenos are resin doors, not the walls.

I pounced a marine as a lurker and I can’t move got killed died, what am I doing wrong?

You are doing nothing wrong, you need more practice playing as a lurker. The best way to think of a lurker is as an ambush team player. It’s not ideal to be alone as a lurker as a marine with his friends will light you up. Instead, run in a bundle with other lurkers or runners and attack the Marine backlines together. This way you can more successfully attack marines without dying. Once you feel robust enough you can challenge yourself to run solo.

Is there an easy way to pick up face-huggers as a carrier?

The simplest way to pick up face huggers is by taking one from the egg, picking it up, and then clicking on it. This will cause the huggers to mount on your body allowing for shift hugger transportation.

What do the different pheromones do?

Three different types of Pheromones (Pheros) are used which are useful in different situations. However, you may only emit one type of phero at a time and it will act passively and slowly degree your plasma pool which is the second blue line by your health bar

Teal “Recovery” Pheros will cause fellow xenomorphs to regenerate health at a faster rate when on weeds. Based on the tier of Xeno the higher the effect. Ex: Queen will be higher than Praetorian (Warden), and the prior higher than a prone, and so on.

Green “Warding” Pheros will give Xenos a higher resistance to damage and upon an Xeno going into critical condition they will have more health when downed compared to another Xeno who is not on Warding Pheros.

Red “Frenzy” Pheros will allow for faster movement speeds for the xenos affected by it, additionally, you will also be able to slash at a faster rate.

Different Xenos with the Pheromones ability can stack the abilities to maximize their effect. Such as using both Warding and Frenzy during a push and Recovery when out of combat.
Screenshot - 7a9a76fe38b18e2fe9dafa690ac58e42 - Gyazo

[Birdtalon]

Cool thanks for answering that. A little bit of feedback on them for you, obviously answering questions on a forum is very different to DMing a player live so take this with a pinch of salt. These questions were designed to be a bit ambiguous since newer players rarely have all the context about the game.

• The question about opening a wall was actually referring to a metal, colony, or reinforced wall, which had been damaged, the answer I was looking for was about lowering the crest to prise the wall open. Chances are a player won’t be specific about what wall when sending an mhelp so it would be important to recognise.
• Another tricky question, I was wondering if you would pick up on the self-root that lurker has after pouncing someone. Also how to break out of it (something the wiki doesn’t mention). The advice is good and you wrote a good response to the question though although quite generic. But not exactly what I was looking for answer wise, the self root can be quite jarring when new to Lurker since you can’t move at all after pouncing a marine.
• Another quite specific Xenomorph question, I was again wondering if you knew that you can use middle mouse with the throw facehugger ability on an egg morpher to pick up all the huggers possible. (You can also do this on a stack of eggs as egg carrrier)
• Your answer about Frenzy is not quite right, it increases damage on slashes, not attack speed.

I think you’re on the right track but I would like to see a bit more time on Xeno before I would give this application a +1, but then again I was asking some quite specific questions.

[smellyhippie]

I’d give you a +2 if I could. Birdtalon gave you some really hard ones. These mentor applications usually stick around for at least two weeks, perhaps longer now that we’re without a mentor overseer. This should give you some time to put in some xeno work (no pressure). Come back to us in a week or two with a few xeno things you’ve learned/updated hours and I’m sure you’ll make it

[molasses]

Thank you and I’ll make sure to take the feedback and grow from it. I’ll certainly work towards getting my xeno hours up and learning more specifics about the different castes to be more knowledgeable.

[CoyoteKhan]

Superb and knowledgeable player. Have had alot of great interactions with their marine character and I’d trust them to instruct newbies. Only real weakness I see is the low xeno hours but one can always get them up. So a +1 from me.

[Dross]

I kind of hold the belief that under 500 role hours is a tad low to be a mentor/server staff but multiple people have been approved with less hours so I’ll throw some random mentor help questions at ya as I believe you’re a solid community member who appears to care about the state of the server.

• “Hi I woke up late as a SO and my CIC console screen is red! I hate this color and can’t see things properly how do I change it back to blue?”

• “yo this is my first round as a doctor wtf do i do lol”

• “I saw someone pickup and carry a body quickly without a stretcher, how do I pick up and carry someone?”

• “how do I get a combat shotgun??”

• “Hello I am a drone trying to activate this communications tower for us and having issues, I’m trying to build a pylon but I cant see it or it wont let me, can you help me please?”

• “I keep trying to take apart this table but it’s not letting me! I have a wrench and everything but I just keep placing the wrench on the table, is it bugged or something?”

[molasses]

Hey I’m sorry for the delay in my reply, I’ve been busier with school work but here are how I would answer your questions.

Hi I woke up late as a SO and my CIC console screen is red! I hate this color and can’t see things properly how do I change it back to blue?

To change the console’s UI theme, you’ll need to alt-click on it to cycle between the different themes.

I saw someone pick up and carry a body quickly without a stretcher, how do I pick up and carry someone?

Characters/roles with the skill “fireman” carry are able to pack someone on their back to carry more efficiently. Common roles that are capable are MPs and officers.

To fireman carry you control click or click someone on grab (yellow) intent which will grab them passively, click a second time to grab the player sprite to grab aggressively, and once you’re grabbing aggressively you can click-drag them onto your sprite. It’ll wind up for a second to load them on your back. You can set them back down by dropping them like any other item. (You can do his process faster if you click grab one passively and then use hotkey z to grab aggressively quicker than clicking)

yo this is my first round as a doctor wtf do i do lol

As your first round as a doctor you want to make sure you get your m276 belt of choice and other standard medical equipment from the vendors South West of Medbay where doctors and nurses gear up.

As it’s your first round you’ll want to stick to doing shipside surgery. If you don’t know the surgeries then you can reference the guide for all the surgeries you may perform.

Surgery - CM-SS13 - Wiki

Also, make sure to make use of the medicine guide to make sure you know how to treat the different damage types and the symptoms of different issues such as a marine not being able to see needing IA or not breathing needing lung surgery.

Guide to Medicine - CM-SS13 - Wiki

Also, make sure to conduct surgeries in the operating rooms on the eastern side of the med bay along with using the body scanners to diagnose patients.

how do I get a combat shotgun??

There are two types of shotguns in the game that you can acquire. The standard M37A2 pump shotgun which you can acquire at your squad prep room can make use of buckshot, slugs, and flechette rounds and most attachments available in the attachment vendor to the east of the weapon vendors.

The second shotgun available is the MOU53 break action shotgun. This is only available through Req, not many use it so it won’t run out (for the most part). The MOU is a specialized shotgun that holds only three rounds in three separate barrels. It can rotate between which barrel you’re shooting so for example you load all three types of shotgun shells available in the marine vendors and first, you shoot a slug to stun a xeno and then you can switch for your second shot to be buckshot after you close the distance. (You’ll need to set up the barrel change in your hotkeys because as I’m aware they are not macro’d by default)

Hello I am a drone trying to activate this communications tower for us and having issues, I’m trying to build a pylon but I can't see it or it won't let me, can you help me please?

As a drone or any builder caste, you’ll need to use the “order construction” ability to the upper left side of the screen to build the “hive cluster” next to the communications tower. Once it appears on the tile it’ll look faded/transparent. You’re going to need to fill it with plasma, you’ll do this by clicking on the structure on “help” intent”. It’ll transfer your plasma into the structure, as a drone you typically won’t have enough plasma so after filling it once you’ll need to wait to regain plasma and put more plasma in it.

On a side note higher caste xenos will be able to transfer more plasma to the structure to build it in one click. And any xeno with plasma can put plasma towards a structure.

I keep trying to take apart this table but it’s not letting me! I have a wrench and everything but I just keep placing the wrench on the table, is it bugged or something?

For a standard table, you’ll want to make sure you’re on “harm” (red) intent and use your wrench, this will also work for the racks in Req.

For a reinforced Table you’ll want to use your welder (don’t forget eye protection) first to weaken it and then use your wrench.

Using harm intent will deconstruct the table rather than putting items on it. For further reference, if you want to deconstruct something but it won’t allow you then try cycling through the different intents by clicking on them or using 1-4 numbers (not numbpad, the numbers above the letters) hotkeys.

[Dross]

I’m satisfied with how you’ve answered the majority of the questions thrown at you including my own and more importantly think you have the right attitude/personality to be a good mentor. +1

[eMiiX]

I don’t personally have much feedback with you ingame, nor have interacted with you lots due to our timezone difference, but i think your answers are very good, have a decent knowledge in most roles, if not almost all of them, and judging by other’s feedback, you seem someone nice to interact with and be trusted.

Birdtalon asked you quite tricky questions that many people don’t know, untill they play some specific castes for a bit, and are not indicated elsewhere, not even the wiki. Wich, i would also recommend getting a bit more of Xeno playtime in different castes and learn a bit further about them.

Would also recommend getting a bit of knowledge about Research and OT. Atleast on the basics, you will be asked a lot how to make greenos, and some other common questions, and the process of some of those questions is quite simple to remember. Regardless, i believe you will be a great addition to the mentor team. +1

[molasses]

For 3 weeks I’ve hadn’t the same time to play CM much due to school but I’ve still worked towards having more Xenos dedicated rounds where I play a greater variety of castes, I still feel confident about being able to help players with questions about Xenos, their castes, playstyles, and mechanics.

https://gyazo.com/f4a369994c7b45a28d60b896ad23a8e0

[Birdtalon]

I’d keep it up as you go forward but you’ve shown willingness to improve your Xeno hours & increase your knowledge.

+1

[Tyranicranger4]

While I personally can’t vouch for M4L4SS4S’s game knowledge, I can, however, say that I’ve had a number of good interactions with them in-game (particularly with their Yautja character) and on the Discord.
I have no doubt that they’re a good member of the community.

[Copper-Wilson]

I have seen you across many marine roles and can say you know your stuff. You RP well as high ranking/important roles too. We dont get many pred mhelps but it will be nice knowing we have another mentor that will be help us on the front. With recent TMs to the game and such, you might want to make sure to stay on top of your weak-sides just a bit more, but other then that I have nothing more to add. Looking forward to having you on the mentor team! +1 from me.

[Robotic_Potato]

Accepted.