What is SS13?

Space Station 13 is a multiplayer sandbox that has a heavy focus on player interaction. In the year 2557, the megacorporation Nanotrasen employed you as a staff member onboard their latest state of the art research station. Nanotrasen claims to be researching plasma, a mysterious new substance, but rumors abound that the station is little more than a twisted social experiment...

Tuterr, the Private Eye says:
"Hmph. Fresh off the boat from Nanotrasen's recruitment office, huh? Let me tell you something, kid. You won't last five minutes on this floating deathtrap without help. You're as likely to be left for dead in a dark maintenance tunnel riddled with bullet holes as you are to get out of here alive. Lucky for you, I'm in a helpful mood today."

At the start of each round, each player is assigned a role onboard the station. There are many jobs, such as the scientist performing research and development of new technologies, the medical doctor trying to keep people alive, or the simple janitor. There are many ways to play. The game also randomly chooses a round type, ranging from an all-out assault on the station by nuclear operatives, a sinister cult sacrificing crewmembers to summon their god, or more commonly, good ol' fashioned traitors. It is player driven and not some procedurally generated indie game. Every round on Space Station 13 is different and a completely unique experience.

Before Playing

Your choices matter in SS13. They have consequences. The rules are here to ensure that when drama and conflict happen, they happen in a way that is beneficial to all parties involved. You should read the rules before playing. If you don’t understand them all don’t worry. You can engage in the server more and more as you understand.

At a base level don’t attack players without any reason. Role playing as an “insane person” is not valid. If you want to be extra safe (there is no reason to be this afraid though) you can avoid any kind of fight. Most rules define who, what, where and how is allowed to fight, main or kill. If you don’t fight you automatically comply with these rules. One last point: Please, remember the human. SS13 can be highly frustrating, you will be unceremoniously killed, griefed, or die to some galactic space-bug shortly before executing your master plan. Everyone is here to play a game they enjoy, so keep that in mind before you bash someone's brain in with a toolbox because they took your multitool.

Setting Up

Make your way to the BYOND download page and download the client. Once you've downloaded, installed, and logged into the client, feel free to close it - we won't be needing to use it directly anymore. Once you're set up, choose a server to join:

BeeStation Sage: byond://sage.beestation13.com:7878
BeeStation Acacia: byond://acacia.beestation13.com:7979

If you can't use these links to join, open the BYOND client, press Ctrl and O, and paste the link to the server you want to join.

Once you've connected to a server, you'll be greeted by a small popup window labelled New Player Options.

If this is your first time playing on BeeStation, you'll need to create a character. Click on the Setup Character button, and the character creation menu will open.

You don't need to worry about Special Names, Custom job preferences, Uplink Spawn Location, or Species - for now, make sure you're a human, and edit your appearance as you see fit. There's no difference between clothing/backpack options other than appearance, so pick what you think looks best.

Once you've finished editing your appearance, be sure to press the Save Setup button at the bottom of the window. Next, press the Set Occupation Preferences button.

Tuterr, the Private Eye says:
"You're brand new here, so make sure you sign up as an Assistant. Nanotrasen usually has checks to make sure fresh meat doesn't get to be the Captain, but if you manage to end up in that position, you'll probably be just another case for me to solve."

If the button next to Assistant is a red NO, click it once so that it says YES in green text. This sets your job to be assistant, no matter what.

After that, press Done, then, Save Setup. Then click on Game Preferences at the top of the character creation screen. The menu will change and have a big list of options.

Make sure all of the Special Role Settings are set to No (These control optional settings, like choosing if you'd like to roll for a traitor role - they assume you know how to play the game and are important to the round, so we want them off for now.) More importantly, change the Keybindings option to "Hotkeys". This guide will assume you're using this control scheme, as it provides quicker functions for actions than the default controls. Most of the options here are relatively self explanatory or irrelevant, so once you're done, click Save Setup one last time and close the window.

Getting Help

If you happen to get confused about something there are several ways to resolve this. The easiest is to contact a mentor. There is almost always at least one online. Don’t be shy! They love helping new players! In the top right there is a mentor tab. You can use “mentorwho” to check if any are online. Then you can use “mentorhelp” to send your question.

In the case there are none you can ask the players around you. It might be difficult to communicate your problem in an IC (in character) way. It might also be difficult to answer in an IC way. That is why we have the LOOC or “local out of character” button which defaults to the U key. LOOC is a special yellow text visible only in the chat window. Meaning it has no rune text (text over the head). LOOC is used to discuss OOC things. For advanced users it’s used to set up more complex RP scenarios. For beginners, like yourself, it’s used to explain controls in a literal “click this press that” way that IC does not allow.

Joining the Game

Now that you've created your character, you're ready to join the game. (You may want to continue to read the guide before jumping in.)

There's two possible menus here - the lobby screen will either display a list that has Join Game! or a Ready/Not Ready toggle.

Join Game!Ready/Not Ready/Observe

If the window says Join Game!, there's currently a round going on. This is most likely what you'll see.

Click on the button, and a window will pop up asking you to choose a profession. The jobs available will vary, but for now, pick Assistant. (The numbers in the brackets next to the job title show the current number of players who have been assigned that job for the round, if there is a zero inside the brackets, no one has been assigned to that job for the round. When you click on the job you want, you'll be brought to the station via the arrival shuttle. You'll start out on a transit shuttle that will dock at the station in a few seconds - you'll also be strapped into a chair, so don't forget to unbuckle yourself. (You can do this by clicking the Resist button - don't worry if you aren't sure which button that is yet, as it's explained further down the guide.)

If the window has three buttons that say Ready, Not Ready, and Observe, that means a round has not started yet.

This is ideal, because you'll be playing the round from the beginning, when things are the going to be calm and allow you to get your bearings in a relatively safe environment. Toggle the button to Ready, then wait for the game to begin. (You can see the time until the game begins on the Lobby tab, on the top right of the game window.)

Pressing Observe will spawn you as a ghost, which is essentially a spectator - you won't be able to spawn normally until the next round if you select this option!

Interface 101

Tabs

Status Tab.

Before you do anything else, take a look at the top right of the game window. You'll see some tabs labelled Status, Lobby, Admin, IC, Mentor, OOC, Object, and Preferences. The most important tabs are the Status and Admin tabs. If you're using internals (an oxygen tank and mask), the Status tab tells you the remaining air pressure - useful for avoiding death by suffocation. The Admin tab contains the Adminhelp button, used to contact admins directly if you have a question or believe someone is breaking the rules. The Mentor tab contains the Mentorhelp button, used to ask mentors questions, and the Request Mentor Assistance button, which gives any ghosted mentors the option to become an imaginary friend and help with anything you're confused about.

In the Status tab, take note of the map currently being played on the server. It'll be used later in the guide.

HUD

Tuterr, the Private Eye says:
""Interface"? What the hell are you talking about, kid? "Blue buttons?" Geez, you've been here for five minutes and you're already cracking. Hmmm... *recorder crackles* Note to self - check atmospherics. Gas might be poisoned."

The biggest barrier to entry in Space Station 13 is the controls. The UI is, at a glance, complex, and the controls are unintuitive. Thankfully, once it clicks, you'll never have an issue with it again. Don't let it overwhelm you - after a round or two of practice, you should be fine.

The top right of the screen contains the action tabs mentioned previously, and the bottom right is the text log. This is where you can see what people are saying, what's happening around you, and chat such as OOC or adminhelps. The bar along the bottom of the screen is the input bar, but since we're on Hotkey mode we won't need to use it. There's quite a few HUD elements on the main screen, so let's break them down into sections. Don't worry if you can't memorize what everything does at once - you can always come back to this guide.

HandsInventory ButtonsInteract CommandsOtherAlerts

One of the most important elements of the HUD. You have the ability to hold an item in each hand (unless an item takes up both hands, obviously). The square around one of the hands is the selected hand. If you have an empty selected hand, and click on an object, you'll pick it up/open it/use it. If an object is in your selected hand and you click on something, you'll use it on the item you're holding. (The way this works means that if you'd like to unequip your backpack, you need to click and drag the bag into your hand - if it was removed by clicking on it, you'd never be able to open the bag.) If this seems confusing, don't worry - it'll be explained shortly.

These icons manage your inventory.

The backpack icon can be toggled to show your worn equipment.

The belt , backpack , and pocket icons are all storage locations.

The ID

slot can hold your ID, or your PDA (which can hold your ID).

These buttons directly affect how you interact with objects.

The drop and throw icons do what the name implies. Dropping is self explanatory, but the throw button is a toggle - if it's on and you click somewhere, you'll throw the item in your hand at where you clicked. (You can also press R to enable throwing and Q to drop your held item.)

The pull icon only appears when dragging something, and can be pressed to stop dragging an object. Hotkey: "del".

The internals icon can be clicked to enable/disable your internals (oxygen tank and breath mask).

The resist icon can be pressed to break out of grabs, restraints, and if you're on fire, is the "stop drop and roll" button. Hotkey: "B".

The run/walk toggle icon can be pressed to switch between running and walking. Running is faster, but walking has benefits, such as being able to walk over water without slipping - useful for when the janitor doesn't put wet floor signs down. Hotkey: Hold "alt" to walk.

The body selector icon is used to choose which body part you want to target. This is used for both targeting specific sections to heal, or targeting specific sections when attacking someone. Click a limb to target it. (You can target individual arms, legs, the head, the upper torso, the groin, the eyes, or the mouth.) Hotkeys: "numpad keys".

Last but not least is the intent selector

- this will be explained in detail later. It has four modes: Help, Disarm, Grab, and Harm, in clockwise order. Hotkeys: "1-4".

The health

icon and

doll change depending on how injured you are.

The crafting menu icon opens the crafting menu.

The speech bubble icon opens the languages menu. You won't need to use this for the tutorial.

The create area

icon is used to create an "area", which is a more advanced topic. You won't need to worry about it for this tutorial.

These will only appear on the HUD if something is wrong.

Oxygen warning - The air you're breathing doesn't have enough oxygen.

Pressure warning - Pressure levels are too high (red) or too low (black). Low and high pressures can kill you.

Toxin warning - You are breathing in toxic gases.

Fire warning - The air is hot enough to burn you.

Freeze warning - The air is cold enough to freeze you.

Temperature warning - You're too cold or too hot.

Hunger warning - You're starting to get hungry. You cannot die from hunger, but the longer you go without food, the slower you will be able to run. You can also eat too much and become bloated.

Controls

Don’t get scared by the hotkey image. It shows all the controls and their alternatives. This might seem like a lot, but don't worry, you'll only be using a few most of the time. The control are quite elegantly designed. There are exceptions, but for the most part you will be able to anything from surgery to nuclear science with the exact same controls.

The default control scheme is “hotkeys” set in the game preferences menu. In case it’s not working you will see the bottom-right textbox in a red color. Click anywhere in the game window and press Tab. The textbox should go white showing that you are in “hotkey” mode.

Use the WASD keys to move around.
Press the X key to swap your active hand. The hand system is explained below.
Press the Q key to drop what you are currently holding in your hand on the ground.
Press the T key to talk. Prefix what you say with a semicolon (;) to say it in the global radio channel. Use the M key for non-verbal actions like “smile” or “wave”. Use the O key for OOC chat.
Use left click on a thing to interact with it. Interact means different things based on the thing you are clicking. Use right click for a context menu (mostly used for stacks of items).
Press the Z key with an item in hand to “use” it.
Use SHIFT + click on anything to examine it. Your new favorite button combo. It will describe what you are looking at. As a new player you will be using this very often.

If you just want to just jump into a round immediately the above controls should be enough for your first round. Doing a task like asking someone where the drink vending machine is, buying and then drinking something.

If you are not as impatient skim the full controls page here. You can also check out all the available hotkeys.

Gameplay Concepts

Tuterr, the Private Eye says:
"You know, as much as I like to rib the fresh meat, it doesn't really matter if something happens to them - Nanotrasen thinks death is a waste of money, they'll just get cloned or something. What? Oh, shit, I gotta go. *click* You, uh, didn't hear that - right, kid?"

Before getting into anything else, it's important to note that since SS13 is such an open ended game that has other people in it, when you get in game and try to follow the guide, things may go wrong - the station might have been almost entirely consumed by a singularity, a traitor could attack you with a powerful weapon, or something no one could have predicted will kill you. It's important to not let death get to you - Rule 10 exists for a reason! There are multiple ways you can be brought back into the game - don't get frustrated if something happens.

As a brand-new player, your first objective is simply joining the station as non-essential crew and attempting to survive, escaping via the evacuation shuttle or one of the pods located around the station. From there, you can branch out into more of the specific concepts that are often stumbling blocks for newer players, so let's address those first. (These are all in expandable boxes to save space, but it's not a bad idea to read them beforehand.)

The Hands System

If an item requires two hands to use, then the other hand slot will instead be labeled as “off-hand”. Why do I start by telling you this? Because only one hand can be selected at a time. Imagine yourself as a creature with one hand. You only sprout a second hand when you need to use two handed items.

Another time when you sprout an extra hand is to JUST hold an item. That is because your hands are also just a part of your inventory. However, think of them as an “active” part of your inventory. You place items in these “active” slots when you want to use them.

The bright box around one of your hands is the selected hand. Swap your selected hand with the X key. This is the hand that's used whenever you click on something. If it’s empty. Otherwise, you will use what you are holding in your hand on what you clicked on.

This can also cause problems with backpacks, boxes, and other containers. If you want to open a container, Alt + Click it. You can also pick it up, then switch hands and click on the container with an empty hand. Clicking on a container with an object will put it in the container. This also means that if you'd like to take your backpack off, you need to click and drag the bag to an empty hand - a normal click just opens the equipped bag.

If you find this confusing, you should go check out the full controls page. It goes hand in hand (GET IT!?) with this explanation. If you still find it confusing, then maybe you should play your first round already because it really is not that complicated.

Intents

The intent selector has four modes: help , disarm , grab , and harm . This system mostly controls how you interact with this your bare hands. You can learn more about these uses on the intents page. It's not, however, critical that you learn this right now. When it comes to using things this system is much simpler then it appears. Using a crowbar on someone will hit them regardless of intent. Most items work like that. Instead when it comes to things there are special use cases, for example:

While doing surgery, if you are not on help intent, you will intentionally botch it.
Clicking on something next to you with a gun will shot them point blank. If, however, you are on harm intent you will hit them with the weapon instead.
Using harm intent on an airlock with a welder will weld it shut instead of repair it.

You don't need to know these things know. It's just so you understand the types of specific thing you will use intents for. These exceptions are not important to memorize. The only intent related thing I want you to know for now is that clicking on people with and empty hand with help intent will hug them.

Damage

There are a few different damage types in SS13. If you take enough damage, you'll fall unconscious into critical condition, better known as Crit. If left untreated in this state, you'll slowly suffocate until you die.

Brute damage is received from physical attacks - punches, kicks, toolboxes, hatchets - if someone is hitting you over the head with it, it does Brute damage.

Burn damage is received from fire or exposure to the vacuum of space.

Toxin damage is received from breathing in poison gases, attacks from enemies like giant spiders, ingesting poison, drinking too much booze, or generally having any harmful chemical in your blood.

Oxygen damage is received from being unable to breathe, or while in critical condition. It goes down over time by itself if you're not in crit.

Brain damage is reveived from being cloned or other things. Can randomly cause brain traumas. Those suffering from brain damage usually need chemicals to cure their condition.

Cellular damage is reveived from being cloned or from being fed on by a slime. Can be cured with cryo treatment.

Brute and Burn damage are applied to specific limbs. If you've been smacked in the head with a toolbox a few times, you'll have to aim at your head (with numpad keys) when you use a bruise pack. Most medicines can be ingested to heal damage anywhere on your body. If you take enough damage to one limb, you can be dismembered. You will need surgery to replace lost limbs.

Combat

Combat in SS13 is very heavily focused on who falls over first. If you're prone, you've likely lost. This means items like soap or disablers are extremely useful.

If you get into a fight, consider your options - it may be best to try and simply run away. If you think you can disarm your opponent, you could turn the tables by taking their weapon. Combat in SS13 is fast paced and revolves around a lot of back and forth swipes, almost like a strange joust between 2D spacemen.

Getting better at combat in SS13 requires practice - there's only so much you can be taught. The rest is learning how to create and take advantage of opportunities. Hopefully, you won't have to get into many fights as you start out.

To learn more about combat and how to win fights, see the Guide to Combat.

Ghosts

If you end up dying, don't worry, there's a few ways to go from there.

If you try to move, you'll ghost out of your corpse. This is essentially spectator mode - you can communicate with other dead players (and talking about the round out of character is okay in this chat) by talking normally and are able to fly around the entire map. (Note that while it's okay to talk about the round in deadchat, if you're revived, you cannot use any information gained while dead. Anything you saw while alive is fair game.)

If you die, you can be cloned, revived via defibrillator, turned into a podperson, have your brain removed and put into a cyborg, or more. There are ghost roles that can be played by dead players - some areas have objects that, when clicked on as a ghost, will spawn you as a new character. (You're a new character, so don't use any information from your past life.) There may even be alerts that pop up while you're dead, asking if you'd like to take control of a xenomorph, a morph, or almost anything else. These are often provided by admins, but can occasionally happen via random event. Please note that if you take on a ghost role you CANNOT be cloned or return to your original body!

Playing the Game

C-05-MO, the AI says:
"Hello! The automatic diagnostic and announcement system welcomes you to Space Station 13. Remember: Have a secure day."

If you join a game in progress, you'll spawn on the arrival shuttle. (You'll start buckled onto a chair. Use the B key to resist out of the chair).

Finding your way around

On of the hardest things for new players is learning what there is on the station and where it is. This is compounded by the fact that we have several different stations with different designs. Look out for signs on the walls. Ask the people in the hallway. Look out for lines on the floor in the case of Fland or Rad station. Ask the mentors.

We live in the future! And thanks to revolutionary advancements in technology, we have an online map viewer for all BeeStation stations! It is helpful not just to find your way, but to get a more complete understanding of the stations. You can notice thigs here that are a common trend across all stations like: bar is always next to kitchen, atmospherics are always next to engineering, the dorms always have a room for cryo sleep in case you want to leave the game, and more for you to discover!

Since you've chosen Assistant as your role, you'll have no responsibilities. This means you can safely attempt to get your bearings without fear of someone telling you that you need to be doing something. Check out the full controls page for suggestions. Eventualy, once you're confident in the controls, why not consider doing some roleplaying? Theres also a guide to help with that. [ADD EXTERNAL LINKS]

Using Internals

Your character starts with a box. Inside the box you will find an EpiPen. It’s used to stabilize people in critical condition. You will also find an emergency oxygen tank and a breathing mask. In a situation where there is a lack of oxygen, a viral outbreak, or some toxic gas in the air you can use this.

Equip the mask into your mask slot (press the equipment icon to see it) or quickly equip with the E key.
Place the oxygen tank into your pockets and press the button on the top left. You are now breathing from the oxygen tank.

Despite being called an emergency oxygen tank these puppies start with ~1000 kPa of pure oxygen. This, in layman’s terms, means you can breathe from one of these for about 30 minutes. You don’t have to fear running out of air in 5 minutes. The situation to use internals are not that common though. Lack of oxygen is usually accompanied by extreme temperature or pressure. The mask will not help with those. The best way to deal with things like breaches, fire or plasma fires is to run away from the affected area.

1. Inventory Management: The inventory system is a little unintuitive at first, but once you figure it out, it'll stay with you. Items in the game have 4 different "weight classes," tiny, small, normal, and bulky. These weight classes determine in which storage slots it can fit in, and what they can't fit in. If you are wearing a jumpsuit, the two item storage slots to the rightmost of your screen are your pockets. These pockets can only store tiny items. Your hands are where you can grab items and interact with them. Your back is where you should have your backpack. Your backpack is your main storage space, but it can only fit a limited amount of items. You can stuff tiny, small, and normal classed items into your backpack. However, normal classed items will take up more storage space than a tiny classed item. Your belt is where you store your toolbelt, (if you are an engineer), your gun, or a variety of other different items, which range from swords to defibrillators. The items which you can fit in your suit storage (on the leftmost of your screen, below your gloves) depend on the uniform you are wearing. For example, a hardsuit would allow you to fit an oxygen tank in there, whilst an armor vest would allow you to fit a taser in there.
File:Nuvola apps important.svg2. Hazards: A good start to reacting against someone beating your teeth in is by screaming ";HELP <LOCATION NAME> <GUY BEATING YOU UP> IS A <TRAITOR/LING/WHATEVER>. This allows security to flag that guy down as arrest, which means that if a security officer encounters that person again, they see an arrest overlay. Try running away instead of fighting unless you are a security officer, remember 99% of the time you aren't a trained combatant and should try contacting security instead of just screaming that theres an antagonist in your exact location Radiation Storm: A message stating "High levels of radiation detected near the station. Maintenance is best shielded from radiation." will broadcast. Normally, if the heads are competent, a station-wide emergency will then be declared opening up maintenance even if you don't have access. All you have to do now is mill in maintenance until the radiation storm passes over. If there's cries of revolutionaries or a cult, blood or otherwise over the radio, it's probably in your best interests to secure a pair of sunglasses and head towards security to get implanted (or baton "unconverted"). It's not unknown for security to become particularly trigger-happy towards unimplanted crewmembers.

What Jobs to Take After Your First Round

The best beginner jobs are ones where no one is going to come to you asking for something you don't really understand. assistant is the best because no one expects anything at all from you. You are free to explore and play with the controls. However once you get a grip on the controls is recommended to move to a job where still no one expects anything, but that have a designated objective. The recommended assistant plus roles are:

Janitor: People will expect nothing from you except maybe that you clean the floor.
Curator: The library is practically abandoned. Play with board games and painting. Organize books. Get fun loot from your curator beacon.
Cargo Tech: Move crates until you die. It is said that all SS13 journeys begin and end in cargo. This is because cargo is of vital importance to several game modes. As a CT you will get to see the flow of these rounds first hand. However, your job will still remain to be just moving crates.

After that it's time to move on to some real roles. Funnily enough, the best way to learn these roles is to sign up as an assistant again. You are going to use this role as intended and actually assist some departments. Going to the HoP or whatever place you want to learn about and asking nicely for someone to teach you is a very effective way to learn. The HoP can even give you custom job titles like "medical intern" or "brig receptionist". Job that are good for this are: Medical Doctor, Scientist, Station Engineer... This is also the best way to dip your toes safely into being a Security Officer. Be careful, because it's very easy to play security poorly, and letting the power get to your head is a bad idea.

Avoid joke roles such as the Clown or Mime at first. Many players find harassing the on board entertainment much more fun than any jokes the clown might otherwise have.

After some time, when you're confident enough in your combat abilities, you should enable antagonists within your game preferences, so that you can roll for antag when the shift starts. A good half of the game is arguably being an antag and beating everyone up. Don't be scared that you will be a bad antag. Due to the fact that you can't predict what or when it will happen everyone was a painfully obvious antag at one point. It's just how the game works. You should however avoid team antag roles. Blood cult, blood brothers, revolutions, clock cultists, nuclear operatives, xenomoprhs... The most common and "safe" antag options to dip you toes in are Traitor and Changeling.

Starter guide

Contents