Recruit Training

NOTE: Please be aware that it is an NCO's DUTY to train recruits, if they refuse to train recruits report it to an admin or someone of power. Some people may not train due to the fact that they don't know how to train. But if it's an IRL matter be sure to set up substitutes just in case an instructor may bolt or have a situation that takes them away from training.

You must let all recruits know that this is a serious RP server and training may range from about 30 minutes-an hour and a half per session, if they are causing too much ruckus or cannot be trained/refuse to train. Heed my words: DON'T BE AFRAID TO FLUNK THEM. There are some NCO that say that there should be chances for all recruits. There is, sure. But that doesn't mean you should hold up an entire session of 5 recruits just for the one that is having too much trouble learning. I would recommend doing what I do, as I use a three-strike system towards my sessions. If you reach three strikes, then that recruit that you have is now flunked and will either have to leave the server or wait for another session or NCO for a chance for them to try again. There have been too many instances of where people could not be trained due to time constraints, or general inability to learn anything that we wish to teach them. If recruits are too much of a problem even after flunking, operators or administrative staff can kick the recruit if they are causing a problem.

Now before I begin I will state that it is helpful to have 'pet' flags for doing this, as it will be more organised.

Part 1:

Part 1 is the main part that will involve the 'pet' flags as it will be using the toolgun for rope. If you set up a reasonable amount of space using a simple line for the recruits to stand on, the are less likely to move around when stood on a line.

If there are a a large amount of recruits online then make multiple lines for the recruits to stand on. To make this most efficient it would be wise to say the line colour (make the lines different ropes) so it is colour coded and they can differentiate what you are saying.

Part 2:

I completely understand that there are going to be walls of texts that people don't want to read, but a Serious RP server has standards. If they aren't willing to learn and read a paragraph or so, then they don't have the patience to continue. Be as lengthy as you can during this, giving examples and what not and AFTERWARDS you test them. If they already claim to know literally everything that you have said in OOC training (the way I said it /looc Do you understand LOOC, IC, OOC, Metagaming, /me and /it commands, PK's and TK's, Powergaming, the PM (Private Messaging System), FearRP, PainRP, admin requests, and other things included in OOC training?) TEST THEM. There have been so many instances of where people had lied to the instructors and got past training due to the fact that they really only had learned IC training and do not know how to roleplay properly.

Part 2 is where you start giving them the training, this can be done on personal preference as long as all of the training is done. The way I have been doing it is by starting off with LOOC and OOC, explaining what it is and when it should/shouldn't be used (include LOOC/OOC lines)

A quote I have been using (and people are welcome to use it as well) is:

".// OOC (Out Of Character) chat and LOOC (Local Out Of Character) chat are to be used when speaking out of your character so as you, speaking in real life about real life things or about the server. OOC chat is global and is sent to everyone in the server and LOOC is OOC chat but restricted to a local area so it is sent only to those around you. Avoid speaking in OOC wherever possible as it is sent to everyone on the server. If there is an 'OOC or LOOC line' then you are to stop all messages in OOC or LOOC with no question, this will be because there are too many messages and it is interrupting with what is happening in the roleplay."

Also, you should also inform them of what IC is, as it may be that the recruit has not roleplayed before:

".// Also in the other case is what is known as IC, IC stands for In-Character, this is where you would be speaking as if it was the character you are playing as is speaking. So you would not be able to talk about sever issues in IC chat, because that character would not be having server issues due to it being 'real life' for them. To help with immersion you can also roleplay going to do paperwork or going to sleep when having to go AFK or something along those lines. An example of this would be: (IC) "I've just remembered I have to message my family back home, as I have not spoken to them for a while, I will speak to you later, if you need me I'll be in the barracks." (OOC) "Got to go AFK, just going to stand in the barracks."

Next up is the Metagaming and Powergaming rules. These MUST be explained and use examples or people will not understand. My quote is:

".// Metagaming and Powergaming. Metagaming is where you are taking what someone has said OOCly and taking it into IC, so if someone said where they were or that they were going to do something in OOC chat. You couldn't interfere ICly because they said it over OOC."

".// Powergaming is where you use /it or /me to force an action upon someone. So if you did /me slams the recruit into the ground. Then that would be powergaming because you are forcing them to be injured. There are ways to do this but that is using /roll, and it gets complicated."

To give a little break before the huge blocks of text I'd suggest instructing the recruits about their descriptions as most will not understand what the character description is. Simply inform them of how to change it and explain what they should include in their description, so far I have:

You should also never, ever let a recruit be whitelisted if their character description is lacking. A person's character description is key to letting you know how that character may look to your IC'ly.

My quote is “.// When you are creating your character description it should be describing how your character looks to other people. When creating it, it should be describing your physical characteristics and your accessories on the person. Your character description should not include personal belief, background, or history. It should also not include psychological traits about your character as you are trying to show how your character looks to others.”

“.// Examples would be your hair style and colour, your eye colour, weight, height, stature, skin complexion, clothes you are wearing, any visible birthmarks/freckles/scars on your character, and anything else you might want to add physically about your character. Use /chardesc to change your description now.”

After which I would advise informing them of FearRP and InjuryRP, as not many will know these unless they have previous RP experience. So far what I have is:

".// There are two terms called FearRP and InjuryRP, both crucial to your behaviour both on and off of the ship. First off is FearRP, if someone was to pull out a gun and hold it to your head, you cannot move from where you are standing (unless they want you to) nor can you pull out a weapon in retaliation because you must roleplay being afraid of the weapon being pointed at you. Plus your weapon will be locked away on the ship in the armoury unless taken out ICly for an event."

".// InjuryRP is slightly different but still important. InjuryRP is as it says, your are roleplaying to be injured when you get injured from either someone shooting you (enemy or even friendly) or falling from a high elevation such as a rooftop. The corpsmen will know how to deal with the injuries but you must tell them your injury, such as if you were shot by an NPC in the arm, then roleplay having a bullet wound to the arm. Act injured as well, if you get a leg injury, you cannot be running around jumping and everything because you wouldn't do that in real life. Be aware of the injury you are choosing to roleplay because any injury that would be enough to kill you will get your character killed, and anything that would be enough to render you incapable of fighting as a marine will get your character medically discharged, some simple injuries are small bullet wounds to the arm or leg which in most cases will just put you out of action for a while (depending on severity). Be mindful that if you are being left alone without being treated can cause you to bleed out or pass out from loss of blood, which is something you need to take into account when roleplaying."

If you can, get a corpsman to help explain to them what to do and what not to do when performing PainRP. Examples would be: What colour blood to bleed, where to be shot if you don't want to get PK'd, how to easily get TK'd if done incorrectly, and how to exactly to react to certain types of situations: Explosions nearby- Shell shocked if not hit, Bullets- What "Clean shots" mean, Extent of Needler and plasma rifle weaponry against us, etc etc. In addition to this, you might need to tell them that most Corpsmen would like you to use /it when describing a wound.

".// I would justify this by saying that a wound isn't exactly a direct action performed by your character, but is rather involuntary and should be counted as an "environmental change". You can do a /me command on how your character may react to the wound such as /me is shot in the thigh, as he screamed out loudly, holding the area near where he had been shot. He fell to the ground. While on the other hand actually describing the wound would be /it The bullet seems to have pierced his left thigh, seeming to have gone half-way though. There was no clear exit wound on the other side of his thigh, and he was bleeding a (color description) red blood and any other things regarding to the injury that you might want to add."

".// Remember that YOU are the one describing how the injury has effected your character, not the Corpsman. A corpsman job is to treat you and find out what you decide has happened to your character IC'ly. (Note that there are some instances on where you can't really decide how your wound is such as stepping on a mine or getting shot right in front of everyone) So be as specific as you can with the wounds, detailing exactly what happened to your character as that will be useful to whoever may be treating you. The rule of thumb I follow for myself would be: 1 Death= Start of PainRP/ Wounded, 3 deaths= Seriously wounded, 5-6 deaths= A very LENGTHY TK or a PK. I mean, who's gonna get killed five times in a row so quickly? (Do not count props, or other OOC happening as part of the counter for these deaths. Also note that you may not always need to count a friendly fire death towards the counter, depending on what may had happened)."

Next up as some may have noticed is following up for the /roll, I understand that even some of you may not know what to do with /roll but I hope to explain it:

".// You can use /roll to do certain actions like tackling someone to the ground where the person with the highest number succeeds and the other has to roleplay the fail. So if I was to tackle someone to the ground I would to /me attempts to tackle (insert name here) to the ground. Then use /roll to get a number. Then if I won he would have to roleplay getting tackled or if I lost I would have to roleplay face-planting the floor or something."

Be sure to explain to them what certain instances of a player vs player roleplaying situation or event they may encounter. Such as sparring: ".// There are two ways to do this. You can either have both players agree to using the /roll command which is called Basic /me RP, while Advanced /me RP would be having both players agree to not use the /roll command but instead roleplaying it all out, nit-picking any mistakes on the other persons /me command and taking advantage of it IC'ly. Most people will use advanced /me RP when sparring, and be aware that some people will make fun of/mock anyone that uses basic /me RP (/rolls) but if this happens, report it to an operator or admin and they will deal with them. Should it be and operator or admin involved in this, report it to a Super Admin or above or you can submit an administrator complaint on the forums."

Next up is admin requests, explain what it is and when it should/shouldn't be used. My quote for this is:

".// @ and then message is admin request, ONLY to be used when needed as this is speaking directly to the admins. This can be used for requesting for help from an admin, later you may get to know who is an admin so you can just pm one instead of using @ which goes to every admin online."

Pertaining to admin requests, be sure to tell them about Operators on the server.

".// While operators may not be admins or have all the powers that an admin would have (whitelisting or weapon flags), they are still a valuable asset on the server with the ability to still kick, freeze, TP and even ban. You can PM or use @ chat to contact them."

Next is the whisper and yell commands, basic stuff but my quote also explains that it is to be used for IC chat as well:

".// Other chat commands are /w for whispering, like normal chat but in a smaller radius. And /y for yelling, talking IC but with a larger radius. Standard chat, /w and /y are all classed as IC chat, so anything you say using these will be taken in character."

The next two are the /me and /it which I have labelled as 'acting'. Here is my quote:

".// Acting in first person is done using /me, this is visible actions that your character is doing, such as moving your arms, picking something up, facial expressions etc."

".// Acting in third person is done using /it, this is used to both describe something that people can see such as "There is a piece of metal in the dirt" or something. Or to describe an event around you. Like "The ball rolls down the hill"."

Part 3:

So the first part going back into IC is Ranks:

“.// Remember that IC'ly you do not know someone's first name or nickname (names that are surrounded in quotes " ") unless they tell you IC'ly or you find out some other sort of way IC'ly. Some people may have ‘dog tags’ or a name tag in their description which would allow you to find out the player’s name ICly.”

"There are three types of Marine's that you will encounter on this ship. There are the Enlisted, the NCO, and the CO's. The Enlisted consist of the ranks: Private, Private First Class, and Lance Corporal. You will refer to an Enlisted by rank, last name or first name. Next are the NCO. NCO stands for "Non-commissioned officer". The ranks of the NCO are: Corporal, Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Gunnery Sergeant, Master Sergeant and so on. You will refer to an NCO by rank and last name at all times, unless permitted to call them something else. NCO do not warrant a salute." (You can also add how they should refer to you as an example for them, such as: As an example you should refer to me as Corporal Wright, nothing more, nothing less. Because I am an NCO.)

Be sure to tell them to NEVER abbreviate rankings while speaking IC'ly. Such as calling a Private Pvt. or a Sergeant Sgt. SPELL ALL RANKING OUT while IC'ly. Certain shortening are allowed of course. Calling a Gunnery Sergeant "Gunny". A Sergeant "Sarge" and so on.

"Lastly are the CO's. CO stands for "Commanding Officers". The ranking of CO you will see mostly are: Second and First Lieutenant, Major and other rankings. You will refer to a CO by Sir or Ma'am at all times unless permitted to speak to them on a rank and last name basis. CO's do warrant a salute."

(be sure to explain to them that Major's in the Sangheili aren't CO and how to still regard other faction NCOs and COs.)

You also need to show them what certain things that they can and cannot do on the ship, SO many Privates get brigged and discharged due to breaking some sort of IC law up so badly. It's not because they are incompetent, it's because we never teach them the rules of the ship specifically. Some of these would be: don’t wander in to the bridge, or other barracks, vacate the hangar if you are told to do so etc. If you are unsure with some of the rules, message another NCO or even an admin/operator for help.

After that is the formation training:

Box: "This formation is called the Box formation, it is to be used when guarding high value personnel or injured who will be in the centre while the marines are around the outside shaped like a 'box'."

Double Firing Line: "This formation is called the double line Firing Line formation, also known as Double line formation or simply Firing Line formation, the front line would be crouched down and the second line would be stood up behind them. Allowing for full firepower to the front."

Wedge: "This formation is called the Wedge formation, also known as the Arrowhead formation. Marines would be in an arrowhead shape, normally used crossing open terrain allowing for most of the fire to the front but allowing for fire to be spread to the sides if needed."

Column: "This formation is called the Column formation, it is basically a line but you are stood one behind the other. This would be used for going through narrow terrain such as pathways."

Line: "This is called Line formation, similar to the column formation but you are stood side by side. This would be used for having all fire directed to the front but not as compact as the double firing line, and also can be used wide spread for searching."

And next up will be radios, however I do not issue them out until just before weapons training so that they do not get the radio chatter during training. My quote is:

".// Okay, so moving on to radios. You will be issued with radios in a moment for you to try out. To use the radio you would use the command /r and type your message. The radio frequency is always set to 141.1 unless told otherwise. If someone is to say radio discipline, then this means that only NCOs and up can use the radio."

And finally for this it would be IC radio training.

"For radio you must inform them of proper radio procedure, this includes what it means by radio discipline so new marines don't get confused by the terminology. So far my suggestion would be "There are a set of rules or guidelines called 'Radio Conduct'. When someone says anything along the lines of "Clear Comms, Clear Radio, Radio Discipline, Radio Conduct, Radio Silence, or Get off the radio", this probably means to get off the radio and they are reminding you of the Radio Conduct. You are only permitted to use your radio under the certain situations: You are in an emergency, you are asking permission to use the firing range, you are reporting a crime, you have spotted an enemy that no-one else has spotted, or you are responding to a question asked over the radio by someone who is permitted to do so. In such times where 'Radio discipline' is called, only NCOs and above may use the radio."

Part 4:

As per normal, once this has all been completed this is where weapons training would come in.

Teach the recruits to hold the weapon properly while remaining in the training centre, show them how to raise, lower, and get them to do it from orders too, to make sure. Also make sure they understand that when the order 'Open Fire' is given that they begin to fire their weapons. And again for 'Cease Fire', to ensure that if something happens they understand to stop firing straight away. My quote so far is:

"With the weapons you will be issued, you are entrusted with the safety of that weapon and should know only to use it when given permission. If your squad leader issues the command 'Open fire' then you should being firing at the target, most occasions your squad leader will notify you of the target to engage before issuing the 'Open fire' command. And when your squad leader issues the command 'Cease fire', you are to stop firing there and then, do NOT try and continue to fire because this command may have been given if you are either shooting friendly units or civilians and would bring more unnecessary casualties. Once more, if you are given the command 'Raise weapon' or 'Lower weapon' then this means you are to either raise your weapon to a firing position, or lower it down to a rest position."

After this it would be best to move the recruits over to the Armoury to show them how to ICly get their weapons:

"Here in the armoury you would gather your weapons and equipment before an operation. This area will be locked up unless there is an operation or the ship becomes under attack so you will be unable to access your weapons when it is locked. You can however request the use of a weapon that you are qualified to use, so for you it would be the MA-5D assault rifle and the M6G magnum, on the firing range, but you must radio in a request for the use of that weapon and how many magazines you wish to use on the firing range. An NCO will then either grant or deny your request."

Also explain to them where their weapons are, my quote is (.// OOC'ly you always have your weapons on you, while IC'ly they are in here when off-duty which means you must come here and collect them before using them ICly.)

Then show them how to access their weaponry using /me:

".// To roleplay getting your weapons and equipment you would type in chat: '/me picks up several magazines for his MA-5D, placing all but one into ammo pouches on his vest, then picks up his MA-5D from the shelf, loads in the final magazine into the rifle ensuring the safety is still on and slings it over his shoulder, then picks up three magazines for his M6G and loads all but one into other ammo pouches on his vest, then picks up his M6G off the shelf, loads in the final magazine into the pistol ensuring, the safety is still on and places it in his holster.' And to be able to raise and lower a weapon you are holding then hold 'r'."

Once a basic understanding of weapon safety is made clear, you may then move over to the firing range. Then get the weapons raised and poised on the targets, you can get them to fire single rounds at first to test if they are listening or not or just have them fire a certain number then stop. Alternatively you can go straight to firing in bursts, 2-3 rounds per burst to ensure the kill. About a second or two between each burst, to conserve ammo.

After you are confident with their ability to fire the weapon you can either use the range to explain how to set up their new characters or go back to the training room. Ensure they know how to get to the character creation screen and how to edit their description afterwards (/chardesc).

NOTE: This guide is a work in progress, constructive criticism is welcome and advice is also welcome, I would like to have this guide to both improve the quality of training for the recruits, but also having all of the text written out for you brings down the training time by hours. Giving them high quality training at a very fast pace. Ensure that gaps between each message are given so they don't end up with a wall of text that no one will be able to read fast enough.

[EDIT]: I'd just like to point out this method was invented and initially developed during my time on the server one night where I was training for several hours straight, with a ratio of about 10 recruits : 1 of me. So this does help if you are massively outnumbered while there is an event or lack of activity. Also as some of you will know I am still new to being an NCO, and being so means that I know what it is like to be new and end up training recruits with no idea of what to do, luckily training is what I do for a living at the moment.