Getting Started

Welcome to Space Station 14! You and your crewmates have just started your shift aboard a Nanotrasen space station. Each of you has a job to do, hopefully having fun in the process.

This page's goal is to give a general and quick introduction to the game's basics - it is in no way exhaustive, necessary to fully read or remember in detail to begin playing. This is simply a guide meant to make it so that you can jump in and play as quickly as possible.

The Space Station 14 community has developed a good amount of slang over the years, which can even be found within this guide. If something seems unclear, review the relevant slang page and don't be afraid to ask for clarification.

Using the launcher

An image of the launcher's home tab, with some Wizard's Den and Goob servers already favorited

Upon installing the game and opening the launcher you will be prompted to log in. If you have not yet done so, you must create an account via the game's official site to continue. Once you have, and you've logged in, you will be met with the home page, which will be empty - here is where servers you mark as favorite will appear. Along the bottom of the launcher will be tabs for the already mentioned "Home", but also for "Servers", "News" and "Options".

To begin playing, head over to the "Servers" tab and select a server to connect to.

While you are free to join any server from the get-go, the page and wiki is written with the base Wizard's Den servers and their content in mind, and, therefore, it's recommended you join one of these, if it's your first time playing.

Rules & Roleplaying

A large part of playing Space Station 14 is roleplaying, and a part of that are rules, unique to each server, which dictate bounds under which all act. If you consistently do not follow these, you will near certainly be warned and/or disposed off by a Centcomm official, in short order.

Rules of conduct

Template:Main First, please make sure you understand the server rules. When joining a server for the first time via the server browser, the window listing them will open automatically. If closed, it can be opened again in the top left of the screen when in the lobby. If in game, it can be found in the Esc menu. It's good to read through the rules carefully to have a general understanding of what is expected of you and is considered normal behavior.

Many servers base their rules off of the Wizard's Den servers (from now on abbreviated as Wizden), which are servers hosted by the game's maintainers. The rules for these server are listed on the Server Rules page. Do keep in mind however, other servers may feature special game-modes or amendment's to those rules, which may change, nullify, or even invert those written for Wizden.

But, in extremely simplified terms: you are near certainly a member of the crew, therefore you must work together with everyone, even the Clown(!), to keep the station running. You should not be harming others, unless you have an extremely good reason. Before resorting to violence, try to talk it out, or run and call Security over the Radio. Only if then all else fails reciprocate. Do not be a dick. Do not intentionally hurt the experience of other players. Do not commit murder, unless it's your job to!

Roles of play

Template:Main As soon as you spawn in, you’re expected to act as your character, or "in character" (IC), and engage in roleplay.

When you’re in character, you forget specific knowledge of previous rounds or the world outside; and play as if you're actually a member of the station's crew. This means you treat other players as you would your respected real life work colleagues and the station as your actual station of work. More bluntly, this means no rampant killing, assault, stealing, or hacking without good reason. Remember that other players are involved, so try to make it fun for everybody and refrain from being rude, harassing others, and otherwise poor social etiquette.

You should note, "Out of Character" (OOC) communication and knowledge is allowed, however, anything you see or read out of character must not be used by your character in the game and can only be discussed in the OOC or dead chat. You shouldn’t discuss the current round or anything that’s OOC in IC channels. OOC knowledge includes anything outside your current character's knowledge, e.g., the in game designated OOC chat, an outside chat with your friends, or stuff you may witness as a ghost. If for example one of your friends tells you they’re dying in a certain location via a Discord message, you must ignore it and go about your business as if you don't know it is happening. Going to help them is known as metagaming, and will get you banned.

If you know or suspect a player in game is metagaming (for another example, if you're a Traitor and someone kills you before you've done anything to reveal yourself to them), you should report them by pressing F1 and relaying what happened in the Ahelp or in the project's Discord. If you have any questions while in game:

1. Consult this guide, or if applicable, the Wizden Server Rules page.
2. Check in with your in-game guidebook which you can open at any time while in game by pressing Numpad 0 or by clicking the "?" icon at the top of your screen.
3. Consult your colleagues on shift, in person or over the radio.
4. Ask in the help channel on the game's Discord (Be careful not to show screenshots or talk in detail about the current round in public channels, as this is against the Discord's rules).
5. Ask Administrators for in-game help (or ahelp for short) by either hitting Esc and selecting Admin Help, or pressing F1. This lets you send a message to all online administrators.

For your first few times, roleplaying may be relatively simple and light, as you are someone who is still learning and taking in the sights. It's completely normal that you may slip up in playing your character for your first rounds, especially if you are trying to wrangle with the controls as a first time player. Don't worry, near every new player has probably made the same mistakes you have, if not much worse ones. Just remember to have fun!

Summarizing, when you’re in game:

DO	DON'T
Keep in character and keep up roleplay Follow server rules Communicate in-game politely Check in with the in game guidebook	Share OOC information in character Go out of your way to act on OOC information Harass other players or ruin their gameplay Hesitate to ask for help

The lobby and creating your character

To change your character and select job preferences you must click the "customize" button highlighted here with a red box

Once you've joined a server, you will find yourself in the lobby, where you can change in game options before playing proper, while also possibly being able to chat with other players, if the server is not currently in a round. You can also customize your character's appearance, clothes, their species, and job preferences by clicking "customize" under the image of your character. As showcased on the right.

If the server is currently in a round you can join by clicking the "join" button and selecting a job; If it isn't, you will be able to click "ready" in the same place instead. However, you should probably wait on doing either because we've not yet talked about jobs.

Jobs

Template:Main Clicking on the job tab under customization, you will notice that there are many jobs to choose from in Space Station 14. Another thing that you will notice is that you cannot outright choose a job before a round starts. You can, however, set preferences for how much you want to do jobs, and how much you do not want to do others, by setting priority somewhere between "High" and "Never".

First round

Now to the specific question of which job you should pick. For your first round, it's a good idea to take up being a Passenger. You can do this by setting the Passenger priority to "High" and leaving the other roles set to "Never". Passengers have no dedicated responsibilities on the station, allowing you to learn the game's unique controls and explore at your own pace. You should be able to walk around the station, get in character, talk to people, and try not to get blown up hassle free. Don't worry, you will likely get blown up anyway!

If you're joining during a round, you won't start on the main station, unless you selected "cryosleep" as a preference for spawn priority when customizing. If so, just wait to get on the shuttle that periodically docks nearby, then leave the shuttle when it arrives at the destination. You'll now find yourself at the Arrivals section of the station. Look for a bright green station map nearby for directions or roam the halls for fun.

Beyond first rounds

Once you've got the hang of the controls, interacting with the world, and maybe have even died a few times, you may want to take on some basic responsibilities, which employment entails.

• Do you enjoy role playing and helping other players? Why not give Service Jobs a try. Being a Service Worker, a Chef or a Bartender allows you to help the station stave off hunger and thirst while talking to others from across all departments!
• Already feel confident in (or bored by) cooking and making drinks for others? Try being a Botanist and grow extraterestial, and only sometimes lethal, plants in order to make food, medicine and other resources for all who need it!
• Relegated to a single departmental room driving you up the walls? Try out being a janitor. Help prevent darkness, slipping incidents and offenses to human taste - generate resources for the station via recycling, while getting to explore literally every map's darkest corner!
• Drudging through trash, organs, glue, and toxins isn't something that seems like much fun for you, but exploration still seems interesting? Try out being a Cargo Technician, making money for the station by delivering mail to others, completing bounties, and running deliveries between the automated trading station and the cargo department using the state of the art cargo shuttle!
• Not excited by being an errand boy, and feeling brave, wanting to learn more complex systems? Try out our Medical Intern, Research Assistant, or Technical Assistant positions! Shadow Medical Doctors, Scientists, and Station Engineers during duty and ask for advice - the community is quite friendly! Do beware though, that these latter 3 roles are more demanding, and you may now more frequently find yourself in danger from hostile environments and sabotage.

Controls and HUD

An image depicting a right click context menu over a mk 58. In context of using shortcuts to avoid use of the menu - hovering over the gun and pressing E will close/open the bolt, Mouse Left will pick it up, Alt + Mouse Left will eject the magazine, Shift + Mouse Left will show it's description and Ctrl + Mouse Left will begin pulling it. If picked up and pressing Y, the gun will first close the bolt, and then rack with every subsequent press.

Welcome aboard, we're glad you've made it!

To move use W + A + S + D . To speak press T.

General actions, such as picking up items, using switches, doors or opening computer interfaces can be quickly done with Mouse Left. All other actions in the world or inventory can be done by hovering over the relevant thing, pressing Mouse Right and selecting the relevant action in the drop down menu. If unsure how to do something with a shortcut, the prompt to do it can almost always be found here.

Pressing Z will automatically use the default action of the item you are holding in your hand. To switch hands press X. To drop an item from your selected hand use Q.

You can pull or push objects by hovering your mouse on them and pressing Ctrl + Mouse Left or Ctrl + Mouse Right , respectively. It's good to note that unless you are a lizard or a monkey, pulling objects requires a free hand.

To open the crafting menu press G. Here you can craft items, this includes structures, such as girders, tiles or walls, but these must be place using a blueprint system. To rotate items you wish to place down as a blueprint you must press Mouse Middle.

To open the action menu, which lists all possible actions you can quickly do, press K.

To enter harm mode, in which you can damage your surroundings and others, find the appropriate blue colored action in the top left of your screen, or in the action menu. In harm mode your left click actions are swapped for an attack button, allowing you to attack with any item that can do damage.

Some other less necessary to know, but none the less helpful, shortcuts, buttons and tips regarding controls:

• Shift + B will automatically place an item from your hand into your backpack, or, if your hand is empty, retrieve the last one placed in. Shift + E does the same, but for belts.
• Pressing Ctrl + Q allows you to throw items. Some items, such as shards of glass, darts or throwing knives do damage if thrown even outside of harm mode.
• Using E while hovering over an item will automatically use the first action bolded like this in the Mouse Right drop down menu; likewise Alt + Mouse Left will automatically use the first action that isn't bolded.
• You can bring up the radial emote menu by pressing Y. The emote menu has frequently used blurbs of communication such as screaming, saluting or feigning death.
• You can walk slowly using the movement keys and pressing Shift - this can help prevent slipping on most slippery surfaces.
• Shift + F and Shift + G will automatically place an item into/or out of your respective pockets.

HUD

Let's quickly go over the HUD on the edges of the screen:

• In the top right you can see the chatbox window. You can speak here and anyone you can see will be able to hear you and respond, showing up in the log. You will also be able to see what they are saying/doing above their heads. To use the radio, gestures or OOC chat press Tab to cycle through chat types. You can also append the prefix of either :h, *, or (, to your message for each of the three respectively. At the edge of the typing area, you also have a button that allows you to filter the entire chat log.
• Below the chat log you have your health indicator, stamina indicator, internals indicator and any other status you may accrue. While mostly only transfering information, you can click on some of these for further actions, such as clicking on internals to toggle them on or off, or if on fire clicking the indicator you are to stop, drop and roll.
• Along the bottom of your screen is your hotbar.
  • The left most item here is your PDA, it can have many surprising uses, but the most important part for now is that it holds your ID card, whose corresponding access is used to open most doors on the station. Don't lose it!
  • The slot to the right is used to hold belts or other similar items, which most often provide additional specialized storage.
  • The next slot is the backpack slot. You spawn with a backpack already equipped - one containing a survival box with all you need for just a bit less dying, should the worst come to worst. You can open your bag without removing it by either pressing E while hovering over it or by pressing the small backpack icon in the bottom right of the slot. Once open you can manage your backpack's contents by clicking Mouse Left on whichever item you wish to move - this also places it into your hands. If necessary you can also rotate items in your backpack via Mouse Right.
  • In the middle are your hands, whichever one is active will have a highlighted border.
  • Next to your hands are your pockets.
  • Lastly you have the suit storage slot, which is only available if you are wearing an outer covering of some kind, such as a jacket or space suit. It's primarily for holding tanks with breathable contents, or firearms.
• In the bottom left is your clothing inventory, you can open or close it via the green backpack icon or pressing I. Placing an item here will make you wear it.
  • The clothing slots are - going from top left to bottom right - the eyes, head, neck, face, ears, body, external body, hands and if you aren't a diona, also shoes.
• In the top left of the screen is a list of all possible quick actions you can do, mapped to 1 through 0, and Shift + 1 through Shift + 0 , if you manage to accrue beyond 10 possible actions. Any time you gain a new action you can perform it will automatically appear here. By clicking and dragging on this list you can rearrange or remove actions. If you happen to remove an action you want to use in this list again, you can put it back by pressing K and dragging it back into the list.
• Above this is a list of buttons which allow you to open some of the already mentioned menu's with just your mouse - most of these are not worth bringing up again with the exception of the ahelp menu. If an admin is trying to contact you, or they have responded to your message, a distinct "bwoink" sound will play and the large warning triangle symbol in this part of the screen will light up red, to indicate that you should check it out and likely repent.

Antagonists

To give the game a bit of excitement, some players are selected to work against the crew by acting as an Antagonist, or an antag for short. There are various types of antagonists, some which are present from the start of a round, like traitors, nuclear operatives and revolutionaries, and some which aren't, like skeletons, revenants or space ninjas. You can volunteer to play as an antag through the customization menu in lobby, or sometimes during a round via a raffle if you're a ghost.

Even if you volunteered to be an antag, it is not guaranteed that you will be picked. When a round starts, players will be automatically and randomly selected to fill the antagonist roles. The game will notify them of their assignment in chat and by playing a unique audio stinger respective to which antagonist the person is playing. If you're not sure if you've been selected, press U. If you're not an antagonist, the character menu will say "Crew Aligned", in which case you're a normal employee. If it does not say this, it will say "Solo/Team Antagonist" and list goals which you must accomplish (if you have any).

How you complete your objectives is up to you - as always, try to have fun with it! Ideally, not at everyone's expense but... that is up to you.

Of note: being an antagonist is not an excuse to go on an unrelated murder spree. Your job is to complete your objectives. On occasion, those will be the assassination of a target or large scale robbery. If this is the case, you are not allowed to take out an entire department and/or all it's personnel to achieve your goal of stealing a singular pair of fancy boots from it. On Wizden servers, this is against the rule against excessive damage and destruction and causing massive undue havoc will get you banned. While different servers may have different caveats related to this, in general, existence of this rule is fairly universal.

Wizden exempts from this rule all actions of nuclear operatives, traitors with an objective to die a glorious death, and wizards.

Responding to Antagonists

If you suspect someone is an antagonist, report them to security as fast as possible and do what you can to protect yourself. Though remember, antagonists are legally people too, so they must be arrested and prosecuted if at all possible.

Self-Antag

Self-Antagonizing (self-antag) is when you are NOT an antagonist, yet you go out of your way to break the law, damage the station, or commit murder. Breaking the law is not inherently self-antagonizing, but attacking your crew-mates, attempting to break into high-security areas, and hoarding items your job doesn't need is. Self-antagonizing can and will get you banned.

Unless the game tells you that you are an antagonist, you are a normal member of the crew, and your only objective is to complete the shift in your designated role.

The end

Congratulations employee, your diligence to reading to the end of this manual and guide shows great promise. While this is all we have for getting started - assuming you have now already played a bit to not feel too green around the sometimes literal gills, and are not yet somehow feeling overwhelmed - we recommend checking out the below "see also" section and "Jobs and roles" navigation box, both of which contain additional resources and some of the most useful pages on this wiki.

Good luck out there!

See also

• Interactions
• Slang
• Space law
• Antagonists
• Guides listed on the main page
• https://discord.ss14.io/ - the game's official Discord
• Liltenhead's guides YouTube playlist - a playlist containing guide video's by YouTuber Liltenhead. Some of these may be outdated as the playlist contains every video made since fairly early in development, but there are few better informative videos on the game's mechanics. If neither the guide or this wiki provide an answer to your question, there is a decent chance searching within this playlist or on YouTube with the query of "[thing you are interested in] liltenhead" will bear fruit.