Eve ‘Minty’ Attano, Millie ‘Jinx’ Goeminne, Amelia
Why do you want to become a Mentor?:
I love helping people! I got reminded recently as I was playing CO/Synth and I helped people figure stuff out, we’ve had some PVTs lately.
What gameplay areas do you know and which areas are you strong and weak in?:
My absolute BEST areas are Engineering and Command! I’ve got the mechanics of engineering down super easily, but some of the deeper OT experimentation eludes me. I’m a very solid medical source, but I admittedly know very little about research. Cargo is a no-brainer, it’s pretty simple. Even the more serious stuff about the Black Market and the heat values aren’t so bad. For ML and MP knowledge, I’ve got a pretty solid memory, but the edge cases I would need to review. Lately I’ve been playing MP to brush up!
Admittedly, I am not that familiar with xenomorph. I try to play when the mood strikes me, but I haven’t found it that fun so far.
How often are to able to play CM?:
I play about once every day, or every other day. Often more, I binge like five rounds in a night.
A screenshot or transcript of your human and xeno playtimes:
Three images! The highlights are four plat marine roles, FTL at 300, CO at 240, Spec at 215, and HM at 180. Total playtime of about 2200.
Mhmm! I was a Mentor before, but I was removed for inactivity during a hiatus. Should’ve refreshed my status and kept in, but I had something going on! This was around the year of 2022, early 2023.
I’d love to +1 this app, as I know you’re a great person, and would make an amazing mentor again!
However, the xeno hours are quite low, and the main problem is less than an hour in queen. One of the most important mhelps we get is often about new queens. Xeno mhelps in general also make a big chunk of our mhelps.
Get that hour in queen, and a couple hours more in xeno, and I’ll give this app the biggest +1 I can!
When you can, especially after getting a few hours in xeno, feel free to answer these questions. Treat them as you would an Mhelp.
1: Hello! No-one else in the hive would evolve to queen, so I had to, but I’ve never played it before. What do I do???
2: They’re telling me to make a “Hive pylon” as a drone. What is that, and how do I make it?
3: What do I do as drone, new player here?
Good news, I just got my one hour as Queen! Plus another 1.2 hours of Drone! I’m now at 1.8hrs of Queen actually, as of Round ID #31435. It was pretty insightful, I intend to practice more! It was oddly reminiscent of my CO gameplay?
Let’s get a few answers to those questions!
Firstly, make sure your hive core is up! If it is not, decide on a location and place it, and give it plasma with a left-click. From there, coordinate with your sisters to give them what they need! Most likely, you will need to give them leaders quickly to distribute your pheromones - this is done while you are on your ovipositor!
A hive pylon could be a few things, but is probably a hive cluster! That could be found in your green HUD icon called “Order Construction.” You would select it and then place it with a right-click or middle-click on a desired location! It’s good for giving you strong defensive positions and a way to place captured hosts on walls!
Drones are mostly worker bees! Drones function best in a more reserved playstyle with a focus on building and support. Try to give some pheromones to help your sisters! From there, be sure to place plenty of weeds to allow your sisters to heal and buildings to be placed.
Hello, Rxv995!
Its always good to see new applications to the mentor team, even more-so from people that I’ve encouraged to join the Mentor team.
While we may be friends, I’m afraid I don’t show any mercy with the prospective mentor questions.
As always, presume the questioner has no idea about any niche mechanics related to the question, and anything left too ambiguous will be misunderstood.
While questioners can ask for clarification, or ask follow-up questions, you should ideally aim to answer the entire question in the first response. Most questions have multiple answers to them; Feel free to write as much, or as little as you want, as long as you believe that the question has been answered.
Furthermore: if you do not know the answer to a question, say so. You don’t need to know everything, as usually there are multiple mentors online at any moment.
With that out of the way, let us delve deeply into the darkest and most mentorial reaches of my mind; for today, I seek only answers..
Marine Questions!
Hey my entire HUD just fucking vanished! Help!
I just joined as Smartgunner, why can’t I put on my armour or eyepiece???
How do I emote?
How does a shotgun work? Why won’t it fire?
I died. What now! Can I be cloned?
What is the difference between military and civilian CC?
What is an attachment? where can I get them?
What is a UPP? Additionally, what is the CLF?
Hi, is there some sort of in-game tutorial? I just joined as a rifleman and I’m clueless.
How does calling in CAS work?
I keep dying. do you have any tips?
My gun keeps clicking and not firing. Help!
I’m moving slowly. How can I move faster?
I just got killed after something taunted and roared at me, what the fuck was that?
How can I make a molotov?
What is a Weyland-Yutani? How can I play as them?
How do I open a MRE without dumping the contents on the floor?
What is the difference between satchels and a backpack?
What do the different squads do?
Xenomorph Questions!
OH GOD I WAS A GHOST BUT NOW I’M A LARVA WHAT HAPPENED HELP!!!
Why can’t I tunnel while hauling?
Why does my position keep changing as in queue?
How do I coat marines in acid?
How do I explode as a runner?
How do strains work?
How does evolution work? Why can’t I evolve?
What is the difference between a lesser drone and a drone?
What do different xenos do? Whats the best one to play as a new player?
I can’t talk over hivemind. What the hell?
Whats the Queen Mother?
How do I capture a marine?
How do I target limbs?
I can’t drag a marine. Why is this?
Why does healing take so long? is there a way to heal faster?
Miscellaneous Questions!
Hi, I’ve found a bug. How do I report it?
Hi, I believe a new feature could do with some work, where can I suggest changes?
How do I become a mentor?
How do I play as a robot?
I’m from RMC-14, is there anything I should know?
How do I rebind controls?
Whats a pve?
whats a youngblood?
How do I record gameplay in CM-SS13?
How do I view my playtimes?
I haven’t played since 2021. Is there anything I should know?
Where can I find the lore?
Where is the wiki?
I was told to ‘Have a CM day’. What does this mean?
I have never seen any Aliens movies. If I had to watch one, which one should I watch to get the best grasp of Aliens universe, as portrayed in Colonial Marines: Space Station 13?
Thank you in advance for answering this masse of questions. Remember to have a very CM day :)!
Easiest +1 in the world. The xeno inexperience is manageable and able to be learned, and I’d be hard pressed to find anybody else I think more deserving of the funky mentor title.
I will ask my most difficult, my most terrible, my SCARIEST question of them all.
Surprised you aren’t already mentor. +1; very trained in hard mechanics like GP and performs even those mechanical-y jobs with a really high level of RP immersion; i think you’re not only a great mentor but a great role model too for anyone looking to see what the server is about
Your HUD was probably turned off by hitting F12! Press that, if you would, no more than three times to make sure it comes back. If that doesn’t work, in your OOC Tab on the top right there is a “fix interfaces” button! If you press that and it still isn’t working, then I believe the last resort is to reconnect to the server.
You probably have your backpack/satchel still on! Try taking it off with a click-and-drag into one of your hands on the HUD.
If you’re looking to join your friends with a war cry, press “T” and type in chat “*warcry”, otherwise you can review the available preset emotes and give them a keybind in the Preferences tab under “Edit Hotkeys.”
Shotguns have to be cycled between each shot! By default, your keybind for this is your spacebar. If that isn’t working, in the bottom right of your UI there’s about five symbols - the bottom horizontal one with a few vertical lines and a horizontal line on each end? That’s your unique-action button. Click that while your shotgun is in your active hand, and make sure it’s loaded! If somehow we’ve done all that and it’s still not working, your safety is probably on. You can alt-click on a gun in your active hand to toggle its safety!
You’re gonna want to wait for a medic! They have about five minutes before your body is unrevivable. Feel free to chat with the other people in dead-chat, or you can join any available ERTs or the hive with a button in the top left! ERTs will have their own button, as will joining xeno!
Military CCs - Combat Correspondents - have one unit of firearms training and are given the rank of Corporal. Civilian CCs do not have firearms training, but have one unit of vehicles training instead.
Attachments go on your guns! If you’re in a squad, your prep room has one in the big room - not the hallway (though you can get them there at the cost of your points) - in the rightmost corner! There’s a vendor for them in the top right and bottom right. If that doesn’t have what you want, you’re probably looking to get some from Requisitions by just asking the person at the counter! Of course, if you want a bayonet, rail light, or other more utility-based underbarrel launchers - these can be found in your weapons vendors in the prep room, where you get your standard-issue guns! All attachments are applied to your weapons by clicking on the weapon in your hand with an attachment in the other (active) hand.
A UPP is probably referring to an Union of Progressive Peoples soldier! They’re kind of like our version of the Soviets. The CLF are probably also referring to a Colonial Liberation Front soldier! They’re kind of like some anarchist-revolutionary civilians, and typically very hostile to USCM soldiers!
Yes, there is! When you get the chance next round, I recommend selecting the tutorial from the lobby screen! Until you get that chance, I’d recommend asking your fellow marines for training, or asking to find the SEA! That’s a person whose whole role is focused on teaching new people!
There’s a few methods, but ultimately you want a CAS signal out. You’ll want to use a signal flare or a laser designator on its red CAS mode! Either pop a green signal flare and throw it by using it in your active hand (throw mode will be enabled instantly), or look through a laser designator and CTRL-click on a desired location! Make sure it’s in an area the CAS strike can happen - if you examine the ground of the area you can see it explain if the area cannot be bombarded!
Naturally, this is based on your playstyle, but I recommend a few basics! Carry medicine on you, stick to at least one buddy you can count on to shoot the enemy with you, and focus really hard on your positioning! Most marines die because they were in a bad spot. Check with medics if you know you’re hurt, they’ll try to take care of you!
Run this checklist: weapon safety off, ammunition loaded, cycle the gun. You may have to alt-click the gun in your hands, load it in your off-hand with ammunition in your active hand, and then use the unique action key to make sure a round is now in the gun!
There’s a few ways you may be moving slowly! If you have splints, they slow you down! Make sure before you remove them that you don’t have broken bones that they’re keeping stable! Second is probably food, so try and find an MRE to eat! Third is probably damage, try and find some way to be treated, either by a medic or your own medicine you keep on you! Last is probably your armor, each armor type has different slow-down values. Light armor is naturally the fastest, while heavy armor is naturally the slowest!
If you mean a xenomorph, they’re not usually going to taunt you, but they are the main enemy of marines. If you mean a kind of man-shaped thing, you probably mean a Predator! You don’t know what those are in-character, so make up a name! If you got it to kill you, you had probably offended it in some way, either by damaging its things or attacking it outright.
Molotovs need a bottle of booze with booze in it, and a piece of paper! Click the paper onto a bottle of booze, and you’ve got a molotov! Their timers for detonation aren’t consistent, so be careful!
Weyland-Yutani is also known as “The Company,” they’re the main monopoly-like corporation that is responsible for colony-building, some weapons-manufacturing, and a lot of biological reserach! If you want to play as one, the most accessible role for the marines is the Corporate Liaison. They are almost exclusively a shipside RP role, so don’t expect to go gunslinging! If you want a Weyland-Yutani gunslinging experience, try to find out if a PMC unit is going to be spawning! Make sure it’s the Weyland one, other corporations have their own PMCs, too!
You’re probably using the MRE in your hand. Swap to your other hand and click on the MRE! Or, you can just middle-click the MRE as long as it is near you and in either hand, regardless of active hand.
A satchel can carry less, but is opened instantly and kept open while on the move! A backpack is the opposite, with incredible storage though to open it you have to “cast” the opening. The backpack will close instantly if you move. The exception to this is having the backpack off of your back! It can then be opened instantly and will not close unless you walk away from it or close the menu!
Mechanically, all squads are identical. By server culture, however, the only semi-consistency is that Bravo is typically the people that build and maintain the FOB! If you have a briefing soon, be sure to attend so you find out what your objective is! If you missed it in some way, check with your friends or check your objectives on the top right in your status menu!
Xenos!
You probably had join-as-xeno on in your settings! If you’d like to not do that instead, you may ghost and your body will be given to any willing ghost! If you spawned from the hive core, your body will instantly be put back into the core and a ghost may join in your place instead! If you’d like to keep playing, I’d recommend checking the hivemind with any message asking for guidance and an idea of what’s happening, most likely through “; Hello, can someone help me?” I recommend playing Drone or Defender for your first time! They’re not strongly offense-oriented castes and are great for beginners!
That’s a new-ish change, you’ll have to walk to the hive - or a hive cluster! You’ll naturally drop your host if you’ve held them for too long, so pay attention to your chat as it will alert you before you drop them!
That’s probably because new people are signing up! Larvae are given a priority queue based on who hasn’t played in the longest time! Keep a watch for any xenos that ghost, their bodies are probably your fastest but most luck-based way of getting back into the game!
There’s a few ways, but you most likely mean to play Spitter, Boiler, and Despoiler! All three of these castes have strong acid options that actually leave an effect on marines! Acid Runners and Praetorians are also able to put this effect on marines as well, but it isn’t as simple!
You’ll want to be an acid runner! Acid runners are selected with a purchased strain, in your Alien tab! Note that your explosion is based on built up acid, so try to get that number high for a better result! The timer for exploding is something you want to pay attention to, make your shot count!
Strains are purchased in the Alien tab! These subtypes are only selectable when as their parent caste, for instance an acid runner is selected when you are a runner!
Evolution is tied to, typically, your Queen being on ovi! If you find you still can’t evolve even after she is on ovi and your evolution is ready, the slots you want are probably not available! Check the hive status in your Alien tab to see if it’s available!
A lesser drone is incredibly weak and can spawn in limited number from the hive core! A drone however is grown from a matured larva and performs most lesser drone tasks better! Lesser drones take longer to build and cannot provide pheromones. Full-size drones build faster, provide pheromones, and can order constructions! If I remember right, they alone have an improved dodge chance?
There’s so many to go over! Let’s address the main castes and their progression. Drones generally give way to builders and a few more special options, like burrower being a sabotage focused xeno, hivelord being a slower but better-building xeno, and carriers being support-focused xenos with huggers to infect hosts! Drones are also able to become Queens! Defenders give way to defense-oriented tanky xenos, growing into warriors! Warriors are actually more offense-oriented and fairly mobile - best for skirmishing! Crushers and praetorians are very healthy xenos as well, the former being highly tanky and the latter being more mobile-ranged adjacent! Sentinels are ranged-focused castes that give way to acid-based attacking xenos, growing into stronger but damage-focused spitters, of which grow into boilers that are heavy-hitting but lumbering ranged casters, despoilers that are highly-mobile AoE acid users, and praetorians! Finally, runners are low-health and nimble harasser xenos, growing into powerful and sneaky lurkers, and devastating and quick ravagers! My recommendation is Defender - they have the most accessible kit and a forgiving health pool!
Your Queen’s probably dead, OR you’re a lesser drone or facehugger! They’re not allowed to speak for a short period after they spawn.
The Queen Mother is like your ARES as a marine - to say they’re not tangible and give you insight! Either by how many talls are left, letting you know about major things going on with the hive, or ultimately being an IC medium for admins to speak to the hive!
Generally, you want to shove them while on disarm intent until you hear a thump instead of a swipe! Keep shoving them and grab them quickly, click on yourself, and then continue to shove them until it happens. You are now hauling, and be quick, you don’t have forever to hold them! Bring them to a hugger by any means, either an egg or friendly carrier, whom will infect said tall! During this time they will be stunned as they are hugged, this should provide you the necessary time to move them to a wall with hive weeds and click the wall to place them in a nest!
There’s a little intent doll in the bottom right of your UI, you can click desired parts to select specific limbs and extremities! The head is a special case, there’s the eyes and mouth to target as well!
The tall is probably dead and not infected, you can’t really interact with a corpse unless they’re infected!
Yep! You’re probably healing just naturally, which is SUPER slow. Try to be on weeds, and especially rest on them! This will allow you to heal faster. If you want to be even faster, be around recovery pheromones, a recovery node, and/or get the Queen to heal you herself!
Almost done, Misc. Questions!
In the top right of your game window there’s a big red “bug report” button! Hit that and fill out what you can, let me know if you need help filling out anything!
I recommend joining the Discord and talking with our contributors, OR on the forums there’s a way to respond to PRs or go to Ideaguys and share some ideas! Careful to not be rude, it’s received very poorly!
There’s an application on the forums, you’ll want lots of play time and a very broad knowledge of the game and its mechanics! I can get you a link, would you like one?
You probably mean synthetics or Working Joes! There’s a whitelist on the forums you can fill out, and you’ll need the synthetic councilors to approve and it wouldn’t hurt to have some community support!
Admittedly, I don’t know much about the differences between RMC-14 and CM SS13, I’ll ask the other mentors for some insight!
There’s an “edit hotkeys” button in your preferences tab, that’d be the place to go!
PvE probably refers to the CM PvE server, it’s focused on player-versus-AI gameplay and strong roleplay!
Youngbloods are predator spawns provided to ghosts, it’s a good way to practice - especially if you want to earn the whitelist!
What recording software do you wanna use? I recommend OBS! I’ll help walk you through whatever program you prefer.
In your OOC tab there’s a “view playtimes” at the bottom in your records section! If you’re in the lobby still, there’s even a big button just for it! There’s a few tabs at the top of the playtimes window, so sort through them to find your desired playtimes!
Oh, there’s a lot of changes! But in terms of what you remember before, it’s much the same! I’ll ask the other mentors who’ve played for longer than me, I started around the very beginning of 2021!
Mostly on the wiki, though a little bit appears on the Discord at times! I’ll get you a link!
Online, I’ll get you a link!
It’s a saying CM staff and some players use, it’s meant in a friendly way! It suggests enjoying your time here!
I recommend the second movie in the series, Aliens! It’s where the USCM first get introduced.
I hope to have impressed! You’re a delight as always, it’s nice to get this verification from you!
Y’know, I would’ve told you the first movie, but Romulus has really impressed me. Despite how I’ve been impressed and I’ve been made to question my faith of the first movie being my favorite…
I’m sticking with it. Alien is the best movie in the series. Romulus is a close second, and Aliens is easily the next best. From there, Covenant, Prometheus, Alien 3, and Resurrection. Resurrection was so bad.
So, the first and last questions were answered generally well, but…
A hive pylon could be a few things, but is probably a hive cluster! That could be found in your green HUD icon called “Order Construction.” You would select it and then place it with a right-click or middle-click on a desired location! It’s good for giving you strong defensive positions and a way to place captured hosts on walls!
A hive pylon is specifically a hive cluster that is placed near comms, which then builds up royal resin, etc etc. If the hive is telling a drone to make a pylon, they always mean a cluster near comms specifically. Though I can understand the confusion in the two terms.
Anyways, I do hope that you continue to gain a bit more xeno experience, but I’m still going to +1 you! Mostly because answering 49 questions is not something most people have to do on most mentor apps, and you did it well!
Mhmm! The pylon part was a bit tricky since I know there’s the comms pylon to make - but honestly I hear hive pylon for things like the cluster surprisingly often, too. It’s a weird bit of vocab overlap, though both occurred to me and I figured the cluster was more likely!
TL:DR: Overall, good job. You answered the majority of the questions to a satisfactory standard. You’d be great on the team. 1+.
This review uses collapsible sections, as to not clog up the thread further.
Review of Marine Answers
Good answer, no notes.
Good answer, no notes.
Good answer, though I personally would also go over custom-emotes. Do note that you cannot italicize your text while answering mentorhelps.
Good answer, though it also might not fire because it hasn’t been loaded.
Good answer. I’d add that they can see their ‘time since death’ in the statspannel (The pannel above chat), though thats a niche bit of knowledge, and I can’t fault you for not adding it.
Good answer; I’d personally remove the ‘one unit of’, and just say that they do or don’t have training, unless someone asks for the specifics, as adding it in might confuse someone who doesn’t know how the CM-SS13 skills system works.
Good enough answer; I don’t think most roles (Especially squad roles) can get attachments by points.
Good answers. I’d add in the fact that the Union of Progressive People are communist, though that can be inferred through ‘Soviets’.
Good answer; I believe that admins can send people back to the lobby, so when I had this question, I suggested they adminhelp and ask to be sent back to the lobby so they can do the tutorial, and I believe it worked, though this is rather situational.
Good answer.
Good answer, though I’d say ‘Stick to your squad’, as its a lot harder to keep track of a singular battle-buddy, as opposed to an entire squad.
Good answer. You can also inspect the gun to see if the weapon is chambered.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer
Good answer; theres also the ‘Corporate bodyguard PR’ that is on-and-off testmerge, which would probably warrant a mention if it is test-merged.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Review of Xenomorph Answers
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer; though: Lesser drones can provide low-quality pheromone, and I’m unsure about dodge chance.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer, though I’d add that you can easily find hive leader by alt+clicking on your queen tracker, and selecting a hive leader, as hive leaders usually have the Queens’ recovery pheromones, provided that the Queen is on ovi.
Review of Miscellaneous Answers.
Good answer, I’d personally add that the ‘Bug report’ function is all in-game, since that can help convince people to report bugs.
Good answer, though usually feedback should be given by the feedback form on the forums.
Good answer. Do note that any links posted in MentorHelp responses aren’t linked, and the questioner will have to copy+paste them.
Good answer.
Good answer, though in practice, if you don’t know the answer to a ticket, you’ll probably want to ask in MOOC first. In this case, you could engage in a conversation with the questioner and ask what RMC-14 has, and then compare that to what CM-SS13 has.
Good answer, I’d add where the ‘Preferences’ tab is, though.
Good answer.
Good answer.
Good answer. I OBS.
Good answer.
Good answer. I’d personally tell them to look at the changelog, though for important changes, thats a sisyphean task. Going over a few of the big changes (Hijack, removal of the APC, pop-lock to the tank, and suggesting they do a once-over of the CM-SS13 rules, as they have changed a lot since 2021.).
Aw, man! Would you believe I LOOKED at question Marine-3 and thought to myself “oh, yeah, I should totally respond with custom emotes, I love doing those!” and just forgot?
Thank you again, though! As thorough with your test as you were with the answers!
>Gets told they need more queen hours, immediately plays a round not an hour later, wins said round as queen, very groovy.
Now that’s dedication, and we could use more mentors who know about whitelisted roles.
It’s Minty Mentor time. +1
+1. I have little to say that hasn’t already been said. She’s awesome. She’s got the hours and the technical expertise, she’s got the right attitude to help people and I feel like new players naturally gravitate towards her already.
OBS.
