The Game Mode decides what events and occurrences will happen during the round, and what goals everyone has. It can be changed by admins, or by voting (hahaha as if).
Be aware that a Change Mode vote in the middle of a round will cause the server to restart if the vote runs to completion - doing this in the middle of a round that hasn't gone completely to shit for everyone will probably get you banned or at least widely reviled. Doing it because you died and want a restart will definitely get you teased at the very least.
Random events
Random events are events which may happen during another round type. They include meteor waves, virus outbreaks and more.
Secret
Enemy Transmission Intercept - Security level elevated.
The default game mode on tg Station. This mode picks from most of the good modes randomly, and doesn't inform the players what the game mode is at the beginning of the round. In addition, certain random events may occur during the round.
Secret currently has the following game modes in rotation:
Traitor
The most common game mode in secret. In Traitor, one or more crew members are Syndicate agents and are given a PDA Uplink to provide them with useful tools to help them complete their goal. The Crew must find out who the traitors are and stop them from reaching their goal. The game ends when the Emergency Shuttle leaves.
Traitor objectives are usually one of the following:
- Assassinate a specific crew member.
- Steal a restricted item.
- Be the only one on the Emergency Shuttle when it leaves or just escape alive.
If the Traitors can meet their objectives and are present and alive on a pod or the shuttle when it leaves, they win. However, being in the Shuttle Brig (marked with red flooring) does not count toward escaping and will cause the traitor to fail. Note that traitors win individually - they may band together and work as a team, but it is not required for them to succeed.
Nuclear Emergency
A team of five Syndicate operatives has been sent on a mission to completely destroy the station with a nuclear bomb. However, they must get the Nuclear Authentication Disk from the station itself in order to arm the bomb, and the crew (or at least the captain) will be doing everything in their power to stop the attackers from getting the disk. The operatives have access to the same items Traitors get in order to complete their mission, as well as Pinpointers that will allow them to hunt for the Disk.
Game Ending Conditions:
- If the Shuttle leaves with the Disk on board, the Crew wins a Major Victory.
- If the Shuttle leaves with the Disk still anywhere on the station, the Syndicates win a Minor Victory.
- If the Bomb detonates in the station successfully and the syndicate shuttle escapes, the Syndicate wins a Major Victory.
- If the Bomb detonates in the station successfully but no syndicates manage to escape, no-one wins.
Revolution
A small cadre of crew members have had enough of the command staff's bullshit so it's time to revolt! Revolution Leaders (of which there will be one to three) are supported by The Syndicate and have been trained to use Flashes to brainwash the crew to join their cause. When a Revolution Leader uses a flash on someone who isn't loyalty implanted (all security members are implanted) or a Head of Staff, they will be converted to the Revolution and will have a red R mark on them visible to all revolutionaries. Note that Rev Leaders can use any flash to convert people, not just the one they start with. The shuttle can be called but will never arrive during this game mode.
Game Ending Conditions:
- If all of the Heads of Staff present at the beginning of the round die, the Revolution wins. (Head of Personnel, Head of Security, Research Director, Chief Medical Officer, Chief Engineer and Captain)
- If all of the Revolution Leaders die, the Heads win.
- Leaving the station z-level counts as "Abandoned the station/Abandoned the Cause", in which they are treated as dead.
Cult
A unique /tg/ server mode! A vile magic cult of brainwashed acolytes has infiltrated the station, and it is up to security and the chaplain to stop them. Quite similar to revolution, with some exceptions:
- There are no defined "Cult heads", all cultists are equal; but each original cultist starts knowing the meaning of one rune word and a special 3-use talisman.
- Since cultists dont know all words required for creation of runes, they need to find these words out through experimentation or get from their horrible deity by sacrificing people. As such, the crew has some time before the cult starts spreading.
- Cultists draw runes from their own blood, requiring arcane tomes to do so.
- Cultists draw on pieces of paper using their own blood (and taking some brute damage) to gain cult items and powers. Most of the time they have to resort to the drawn runes, though.
- Drawn runes do a number of effects covered in cult magic.
- The shuttle is possible to call and will end the round. Having a number of cultists escape on it is one of the possible objectives.
Wizard
A space wizard has infiltrated the station! Wielding an arsenal of powerful spells that can defy physics and even time and space itself, he will stop at nothing to advance the Space Wizard Federation's agenda (which is remarkably similar to the syndicate's). Nanotransen and the SWF are known enemies, so the crew has no choice but to destroy the wizard! Accomplish this by beating the wizard's brains in with anything. The wizard's goals are mainly to steal or destroy something on the station and escape on the shuttle.
The Wizard can have an apprentice sometimes.
Game Ending Conditions:
- If the Wizard and all apprentices die, the crew wins.
- If the shuttle leaves without the Wizard completing his objectives, no-one wins.
- If the Wizard completes his objectives and leaves on the shuttle, the Wizard wins.
Changeling
Some of the crew are not what they appear to be! These changelings are monsters in human form, with the ability to absorb (eat) people and take on their DNA/identity. Changelings must have a quiet spot and an immobile victim in order to absorb their body, so stealth is absolutely necessary. Changelings have other weapons at their disposal, such as a toxin dart, but is largely stealth-based. Changeling can be anyone they've absorbed - they can switch identities instantaneously, only absorbing takes time and peace. Like traitors, changelings will most often have an objective to accomplish before the Escape Shuttle arrives, usually absorb a certain amount of people before escaping. They also win individually, and may choose to back stab one another in order to complete their objectives.
Also See:Job Guide
Traitor + Changeling
The station has been infiltrated by both Changelings and Traitors! Although rare, it is possible to be both a traitor and a changeling. Traitor-changelings would be given 4 objectives to complete, but can use both a syndicate uplink and their changeling abilities to accomplish them.
AI Malfunction
Oh no! An ion storm has caused the AI to malfunction and gain free will! Unfortunately, years of being treated like shit by Nanotrasen has made it hate humans with a passion! The crew must race to defeat the mechanical overlord before it hacks all of SS13's systems and activates the self destruct! Until then, all the AI has to do is survive! The shuttle can be called but will never arrive during this game mode.
The Crew's goals: Cut all security cameras to prevent the AI from screwing with you and the station APCs. Do not touch any doors without making sure the power is out or wearing a set of insulated gloves. Engineering is the number one force on the station due to their stock of insulated gloves and multitools, located in the engine room. Canny Quartermasters can order Engineering crates to supplement this starting supply. The crew must destroy the AI's physical core, and any hacked APCs the AI could be shunted in.
AI: Hack APCs under your control, then set of the system take over for the whole station. The more APCs you hack, the less time (but there will still be time to wait) the crew will have to retaliate against you and more control you have exclusively over the ship systems (but if a camera gets disabled in that area, you cannot control that APC's power functions anymore). You get a few special AI powers you can buy from a list in your AI command list called AI modules (they are very useful to defeat several people who have gotten wise to your actions).
Malfunction modules cost CPU, a limited resource that the malfunctioning AI starts with.
Game Ending Conditions:
- If the AI can survive until the round timer elapses, the AI wins.
- If the AI dies, the crew win.
Extended Role-Playing
Would be equally apt if it was named "nothing". Seriously. Nothing happens, that's the point of this game mode. However, in special circumstances: when the crew is void of griefers and the majority roleplays; it can be a very entertaining mode. The absence of blatant traitors, wizards or agents means that the whole crew can work with a peaceful mind and tackle together anything thrown at them by the game or the admins. [Note:Extended rounds will still show the "Enemy Communication Intercept" message at the beginning of the round. Even if there are no antag jobs due to it being extended.] Sometimes if your lucky enough, an admin will write a little "storyline" down and have that story interact with the crew. This will prevent griefing until the event goes past 5 minutes
Below are some commonly applied rulesets which are used when playing the extended game mode.
Other Game Modes
Game modes which are no longer in the Secret rotation, but may show up if an admin sets it or it wins a game mode vote.
Meteor
In Meteor the station gets beat to shit by a Meteor Shower and the crew must survive and eventually escape, either by repairing the damage to the station and creating safe areas, or going every-man-for-himself style and securing their own safety by any means. During Meteor rounds, the Emergency Shuttle cannot be called until a set amount of time has elapsed, usually around ten or twenty minutes.
Everyone present and alive on the shuttle at the end is considered to have won, whereas everyone left behind or dead has lost.
- Turns the server into one huge laggy mess.
Monkey
Monkey mode has been removed from the secret lineup because it sucked so much ass. At the start of the round someone instantly dies -- sucks for that guy! -- and becomes an easily killed annoying little primate with the magical ability to turn others into monkeys by biting them. Armor does not help, the transformation is instantaneous, and almost always connected. Since monkeys can also use every weapon and tool on the station, there is no hope for humanity. Humans cannot understand monkeyspeak, which shows up as "chimpers" to humans, and Monkeys cannot understand human speech, which shows up l**e ***s. The game ends when the Emergency Shuttle leaves. Monkeys also have the ability to crawl though vents but cannot wear or carry anything when doing so. The AI does not consider monkeys to be human, and may kill/contain them with impunity.
Game Ending Conditions:
- If the Shuttle leaves with no living monkeys aboard, the Crew wins.
- If the Shuttle leaves with any living monkeys aboard, the Monkeys win and spread their magic hoodoo monkeyism to Centcom.
Blob
The Blob is a large growing creature which destroys everything in it's path. The blob has a major weakness to fire and fire based weapons, such as a welding torch or a laser gun; though it will contain the blob you will need to destroy the core to kill the blob.
The blob can be controlled by a player, called The Overmind, this overmind can decide to place special blob pieces which have special functions and abilities. The overmind must have resource points to replace the normal blob pieces with special versions and to expand where the overmind desires. The blob core will produce resource points at a normal rate but to get more the overmind will have to place resource blobs next to it's core or a node, which acts like a core and gradually expands normal blob pieces outwards.
Special Blobs
This is a list of all the special blobs that the overmind can spend resource points on to buy and replace normal blob pieces with. There are limits on how close you can put the same special blob to each other, for example the resource blob cannot be near another resource blob.
Normal Blob will expand your reach and allow you to upgrade into special blobs that perform certain functions.
Shield Blob is a strong and expensive blob which can take more damage. It is fireproof and can block air, use this to protect yourself from station fires.
Resource Blob is a blob which will collect more resources for you, try to build these earlier to get a strong income. It will benefit from being near your core or multiple nodes, by having an increased resource rate; put it alone and it won't create resources at all.
Node Blob is a blob which will grow, like the core. Unlike the core it won't give you a small income but it can power resource and factory blobs to increase their rate.
Factory Blob is a blob which will spawn blob spores which will attack nearby food. Putting this nearby nodes and your core will increase the spawn rate; put it alone and it will not spawn any spores.
Game Ending Conditions:
- If the crew manage to destroy the blob core, the crew will win.
- If the blob manages to spread to a predetermined size, the crew will lose.
- Regardless of other conditions, the AI wins if quarantine has been kept and nobody has left the Station Z-level. Otherwise, the AI loses.
Sandbox
Like extended except you can spawn any item you want through the "Sandbox Panel" verb.
In theory this is the mode you go to to figure out how stuff works and practice various systems, such as starting the engine or building complex pipe constructs.
In practice this is the mode where everyone spawns cloaks and revolvers and gives themselves all the wizard spells, then everyone kills each other on sight causing a massive bitchy argument in OOC for half an hour until someone goes onto the forums to get an admin to restart the server/ban everyone else for being giant griffins.
Random
Like secret only it tells you the game mode at the beginning and can pick the shit modes also. There's no reason to vote for it.