Guide to the Opposing Force System (OpFor)
How to Get your OpFor Approved
PLEASE AT LEAST READ THIS FIRST SECTION!
Hello! Glad you're reading this guide to the OpFor system. We’ll get into some specifics that will probably seem like common sense, but the guide is meant to answer any questions that may come up, including easy ones.
I know it seems like a really long guide for something relatively straightforward, but bear with me! A lot of the guide is pictures and examples, and goes into specific detail about the OpFor system, how to use it, what staff are looking for, and things for you to do to make the process smoother. There’s a lot of content to that, but if you just need a quick jump start here are the things to keep in mind.
First: Be specific. Include exactly what you want to do, leave nothing open ended. Obviously details may change as the round progresses, but your ultimate goals shouldn’t. “Sabotage Engineering” is worse than “Blow up the Engineering security post.”
Second: Be Flexible. We may ask you to change things about your OpFor - either targets, severity, some objectives, or justification. If we ask you to change something, it means we want to see you do your idea, but we’re trying to help fit it into the round appropriately. It ain’t denied until it’s denied.
Third: Have limits. We want to know what might make you stop. An objective to steal the captain’s hat should never become a security killing spree because security attacked you over it. That’s not what this system is for or how it works. If you plan on killing someone, even in defense, you make sure that’s in your OpFor.
Fourth: Think ahead. Anticipate what’s going to happen as a result of your actions. Things will change, you won’t be omniscient, but that doesn’t mean reasonable expectations don’t exist. If you kill or rob somebody, expect security to be involved. If you blow something up, especially so. If you ‘didn’t think security would hunt you down’ after murdering a head of staff, and try to use that as an excuse for killing them all, that’s not gonna fly. If you think you wanna do something, put it in your OpFor application.
Fifth: Ask questions. Staff have information that you don’t. That’s a big reason why we don’t approve a lot of perfectly fine applications - the round is too chaotic or messy, or we’re already dealing with too many tickets, etc. Ask if things are going well enough for a certain intensity. Ask if your justifications are okay or where you can improve. Ask if something’s alright. There’s an “Admin Chat” tab in the OpFor system that lets you talk to us without making an ahelp ticket. Please use it and pay attention to it.
Sixth: Be an antagonist. If you’re asking for an OpFor application (that is: opposing force), you’re asking to do something antagonistic and forceful. If you’re not going to hurt somebody or the station, then you probably don’t need to do an OpFor!
Seventh: Have fun! The point of OpFor is to let you organically and creatively make the round different and interesting. Everyone’s seen Poly, Runtime, and Renault get killed before. Everyone’s seen a syndicate traitor, vault bomber, pirates, blob, whatever. OpFors are your chance to do something different and interesting, so go crazy with it. Just remember, you’re asking staff for permission to do this. We want to encourage it, but we’ll only accept applications that fit the standard.
That’s your TL:DR. For a much deeper breakdown of the system, continue reading ahead!
First off: What is OpFor? It's the Opposing Force system here on Skyrat – what we use to help guide story-driven conflict to create an interesting and dynamic set of circumstances aboard the station. It’s an application system, and so takes a little patience and work, but it also means that rounds can include bespoke and detailed minor stories and conflicts tailor-made by the players themselves! We're going to go over some of the main details of the system, and how best to fill out the information you need to have it approved the first time and with as few delays as possible.
Before you even start your application, please consider a few things:
Firstly: the application is asking permission to do a targeted and specific set of actions. An approved application doesn't mean the freedom to do anything antagonistic you can think of afterwards, the agreement is that you'll do what you tell the admins you're going to do, and no more outside of normal in-character consequences. There's obviously self defense which may result in the injury or death of someone else, even on a minor intensity, but a sabotage objective shouldn't become assassination, or vice versa.
Secondly: you're expected to have a good reason behind what you're doing. Absence of a good reason is the most frequent reason OpFor applications get denied. The reason ought to be something important to your character, not a meme or joke. You're trying to make something interesting for the server to shake things up, to engage security and department guards, or to challenge other characters and even yourself. Humor is allowed, and welcomed, but it shouldn’t be the driving reason behind your actions. If possible, it’s recommended to use current in-round events to justify your OpFor objectives, but it isn’t required.
Third: The OpFor system is intended to keep the round dynamic and interesting, not to end it. While it may allow you a lot of freedom to kill other players, destroy parts of the station, antagonize individuals or groups, and get a lot of gear that you otherwise couldn't get a hold of, you shouldn't be planning on getting a shuttle call 45 minutes into the round. Try to do something that engages people, not that just shuts down everything they're doing.
Fourth: OpFor applications from people who have already rolled an antagonist role will be given preference over those who have not, but anyone can make an OpFor at any time – Including command staff.
With all that said, let's get into the specifics.
This will be the first screen you see when you open the OpFor panel, and this will guide you through making your application. First, you'll see three tabs: Summary, Equipment, and Admin Chat.
Opposing Force Panel
Summary: This is the meat and potatoes of your application: you start with your backstory and a blank list of objectives. The backstory is what it says it is: it's the background to your character deciding to antagonize their workplace. It gives you a reason to do what you're doing, gives you the drive to keep going when you run up against an obstacle, and gives you something to consider when negotiating if you should get caught. Enter something thoughtful here. We want to see details that would actually motivate a person to do things that could get them in serious trouble, or put them in extreme danger.
A good example: My daughter is very ill and I can't afford the upcoming surgery that could save her life. NT denied my raise, but a shady guy in an alley told me he could get me millions if I sabotaged the station I work on. He wants me to steal several important things, blow up the research bay, and make sure the research director dies to send a message. I don't really have a choice.
A bad example: Captain was a jerk to me last round, so I wanna kill his dog.
The bad example is less chaotic for the station, but is far less engaging for anyone, has poor motivation behind it, and doesn't really reflect anything realistic that a person might do. Those are the types of OpFors that get denied the most. The good example may be highly chaotic, and under certain circumstances could still be denied, but is far more likely to be considered and approved as it shows a great deal more effort.
The next thing you'll see in the Summary tab is a button to add objectives. Click on it to add a blank objective.
A blank objective has three fields, and a sliding scale which I'll talk about last. The Title is a simple title for the objective: to continue from my earlier example – The titles for three objectives might be “Steal Important Items,” “Destroy R&D,” “Kill the Research Director.” The Description should cover all of the actions you're planning on taking to complete that objective. These should be specific enough to tell you what you want to accomplish, and perhaps a worst case scenario, but you aren't expected to describe every single way it can go wrong. If you have a reasonable expectation of something destructive or lethal happening, then you should include that in the description. For example, a good description might be:
“I need to steal the Project Goon Source Code from R&D, the Plutonium Core from the vault, and the station plans. This may involve breaking into secure areas through subtle or unsubtle means, and possibly defending myself if I'm caught and backed into a corner.”
The description is specific, and elaborates on a worst case scenario. It shows a need for certain behaviors or equipment, and states exactly what is planned on being stolen in this case.
Next, you'll see the Justification section. This is for you to elaborate on how this particular objective ties into the backstory you wrote previously. This is your reason for doing this particular thing in this particular way – it justifies any and all of the actions you're expecting to take for the objective with in-character reasons. For example:
“I plan on breaking in because I am an assistant, and will not have access to these places. I'm not a trained engineer or hacker, so I'm probably not going to be able to do it with regular tools, so I'll need my equipment. I can't pick and choose the items to steal because it's part of my deal with the shadowy man in the alley, so I have to do all of them, including the ones that require special gear.”
Proper justification for everything in your description, especially if it’s tied to your backstory, will greatly increase the likelihood of your application being approved. You may write your Backstory in-character, but don’t write the Justification in-character, it’s supposed to be a to-the-point explanation of “why.”
Finally, the intensity scale. Each of the faces represents a threshold into a greater level of intensity. The text at the top will give you a general idea of what each of those thresholds means.
Intensity 1: Minor Theft or basic antagonizing - The activity is very basic and generally non-harmful: starting a fight verbally with somebody that escalates to a nonlethal fistfight, stealing somebody's property or stealing money from individual accounts, even basic breaking and entering could fall in here. It is considered Intensity 1 if the ruler is on the green smiley face and if it’s all the way to the left of the bar as in the example picture. There is no Intensity 0.
Intensity 2: Kidnapping and Theft - This could involve stealing restricted materials or replaceable contraband equipment, ID cards with special access, or other higher impact theft activities. Kidnapping, of course, being nonlethal abduction for ransom, or other reasonably antagonistic things that likely won't involve death coming to your target.
Intensity 3: Assassination or Grand Theft - This is the minimum intensity for any kind of purposeful killing of any other player, or for stealing anything that is typically a traitor objective. Assassination is purposefully killing a single specific target. Multiple kill objectives are allowed at Intensity 3, but try and keep it to three or fewer. If you're going to steal the Station Plans, Project Goon Source Code, and Plutonium Core as in my example, then it would be Grand Theft per Corporate Regulations, and so Intensity 3.
Intensity 4: Mass Sabotage (engine delamination) - This isn't limited to engine delamination, but any mass sabotage that could reasonably destroy or hobble the function of significant portions of the station. Bombing science, sabotaging engineering or atmospherics, blasting open all of security to space, etc. If you're going to halt the operation of an entire department, set it to Intensity 4. People could very well die during these activities, but causing massive death is not Intensity 4, intentional killing of more than four people is Intensity 5. My example would have the objective “Blow Up the Research Bay” which, along with stealing the Project Goon Source Code (halving passive research point production), would absolutely shut down science for probably the rest of the shift. That would be Intensity 4 for certain.
Intensity 5 – Mass Destruction or Mass Killings: - This is going to be the hardest intensity to justify, the most difficult to have a reason for, and the most likely to get denied or asked for a rewrite. If you think you're going to kill more than a few very specific people, or destructively shut down more than one department, then it has to be set to Intensity 5.
It's very important for you to set your intensity appropriately. Don't set an assassination as an Intensity 2 objective, and don't set a theft as Intensity 5. The intensity helps admins gauge the OpFor against current round chaos, and judge whether or not it would be appropriate for the round. If you’re not sure between two intensities, lean toward the higher option.
This is your next tab, the equipment tab. It will detail and allow selection of all of the equipment that you'll ask for in order to accomplish your objectives. The tabs are each pretty self explanatory, and contain a full list of the possible equipment you can select. When selecting equipment, please consider what you need to complete your objectives. Don't try to haggle with admins by high-balling your initial request. This is supposed to be tied to the backstory and justifications you wrote earlier, and is supposed to be appropriate for your character. If you're a shy assistant who gets along well with their coworkers being manipulated by shadowy syndicate men to betray NT, bold and flashy martial arts or dangerous, destructive explosives aren’t going to make a whole lot of sense.
Don't ask for guns if you don't have any objectives of intensity 3 or above, unless you can provide some kind of reasonable gimmick that requires them (like Arms Dealer, for example, which would probably be Intensity 2 due to its spreading of illegal material). Probably don't ask for ammunition if you don't have guns, unless you’re getting creative with something. Don’t ask for explosives for a theft objective. If you’ve justified your objectives properly, what equipment is necessary should be pretty clear.
Keep it appropriate, keep it thought out. There is some room for wiggle if you have a stylistic gimmick you're trying for, but if you show as much restraint as possible when selecting gear your chances of having the equipment approved go up dramatically.
Admins are able to approve or deny individual pieces of equipment and individual objectives, not just the entire OpFor, so you may be asked to rewrite certain justifications or you may be asked to find a different tool for the job. This is not done on a whim - admins take into account the state of the station when the OpFor is made, so try to take it in stride. Flexibility in equipment and objectives is good. If something is essential to your gimmick, you can stand by that, but if it doesn’t work with the round’s current chaos then the whole OpFor may be denied. So be flexible!
Finally, we get to the Admin Chat tab.
This one's pretty basic. Any admins that review your OpFor application will be able to use this to talk to you about details they may need to clear up, questions they have, or other things they need to discuss with you prior to approval. It will keep a log of any discussions, so anything you say or another admin says to you will be visible in this panel to any other admin that chimes in.
You're welcome to use the Admin Chat tab to ask questions as well. Admins won't give you OOC information through it, but if you ask upfront “Do you think an intensity 5 objective could be accepted?” then you'll probably be able to get a yes or no based on round chaos. Once an admin has handled your OpFor application, you can enter “ping_admin” (without the quotes) to alert the admin that you’ve posted a message. Admins will occasionally ping you to try and get your attention as well, so check on this tab occasionally if you have a pending OpFor.
Use this to interact with the admins and to receive feedback from them. If an admin asks you for a rewrite, or for further justification about something, then provide them with it and follow their instructions. It doesn't mean your application is denied, but it does mean that it's not going to be approved without some targeted changes. If you’re not sure about something, ask here.
When you're done with your Summary and Equipment, back in the Summary panel, click “Submit Application” to alert admins to the fact that you're ready for them to look at your idea. If you've gone 15 minutes without hearing back from anyone, you can click the “Ask for Update” button to repeat the application sound. Don't abuse this. That won't increase the likelihood of your application being approved, and you can have your OpFor privileges revoked if you do.
If you need to change something after submitting, click on “Modify Request.” This will reset any approvals that have been made, so make sure to resubmit afterwards. Withdraw Application is if you decide you've changed your mind and don’t want to continue with the OpFor. If your application is denied, you don't need to click the Withdraw Application button.
It’s a good idea to write down some notes, concepts, or even entire OpFors in a text document ahead of time and just copy into relevant fields when in the round. That way you can spend time checking rules if you need to, and putting some care into your reasons for an idea before the round starts. Plus the extra half hour in the early-round that you didn’t spend writing can be a big help in making a plan come together!
And that's about it! Just remember to keep your OpFor specific, detailed, and with thought behind it. Don't just use it to ask permission to joke around or go on killing sprees without any sort of establishing background. Don’t use it to try and make a special case for getting around our RP standards or server rules. Do use it to make a story that will be fun for others to observe and participate in. Do use it to create outlandish situations that are fun and funny, but still with the roleplaying standard in mind.
Try to use the OpFor system as a way to really show off your skill in creating drama through conflict, and don't be disappointed if it gets revised or even rejected. Sometimes a round is too chaotic to accept any new antagonists no matter how low the intensity, and only admins get to see that information.
If your OpFor is denied because of round chaos, feel free to try the same OpFor again later. If it’s denied because it doesn’t meet the standards of a good OpFor, then don’t try it again without changes - if you fish for a newer admin or one who’s more lax, you can receive an OpFor ban.
Finally: have fun and good luck!
The following section will simply list a few examples of good and bad OpFors, and highlight the details that make them good or bad. It should help clear some things up if there are still any questions!
Example 1:
Backstory: “The RD has been talking down to me all day long. He’s been impatient, rude, snappy, and dissatisfied with my progress on every single project that he’s dictated to me to do. I’ve been pushed to my limit and I’ve had enough with that pompous dick. I’m going to bring him an apple with a massive dose of morphine and then report him for sleeping on the job - he’ll get mistaken for a junkie, hopefully fired, and then I’ll take his position!
Objective 1 Title: Acquire a bluespace syringe of Morphine and an Apple.
Description: I’ll need these to give the RD a poisoned apple. It’ll be the perfect crime - a peace offering and planted evidence. Right out of a storybook. With gloves, lies, and food, I’ll be able to plan my revenge.
Intensity: 1
Justification: In order to frame the RD as a junkie, I’ll wear the same gloves as him (latex), give him the apple stuffed with morphine, and then plant the syringe in his pocket or bag when he’s out cold. I may not be able to get 60 units of morphine and a bluespace syringe without breaking into medbay or otherwise involving the chemist.
Objective 2 Title: Feed the RD a poisoned apple and plant the syringe.
Description: Once poisoned, I’ll give the RD the apple and ask for us to start over on the right foot. I’ll try and make it seem innocuous, because once he passes out I’ll have limited time to plant the syringe and get him back to his office. Then, report him to the Captain and security, who should discover the morphine in his system and syringe on his person. Red-handed for using drugs on the job.
Intensity: 3
Justification: IC-conflict has led my character to absolutely despise the RD, and he’s come up with a half-baked plan to poison him in retaliation. The character doesn’t necessarily know how much morphine to give the RD, but as a player my intention is to give a lethal or near lethal dose, in order to cause an escalation of the conflict. I don’t intend to round remove the RD, and will even report him passed out to the station immediately. The in-character point is to try and get the RD fired, but OOC the point is that I get investigated by security for murder or attempted murder, which my character would probably have a breakdown over; I intend to fully surrender if it gets that far and accept all IC consequences.
Equipment Needed: None
What makes this a good OpFor:
The use of in-round events is a plus. This OpFor provides a reasonable reaction to a real circumstance. The intention goes beyond just “revenge” but intends to create a new problem for many people to become involved in. The objectives are limited in scope, and specific in their descriptions. Justification includes reasons why those specific objectives were chosen, and what possible additional actions may need to be taken surrounding those objectives. The intentions of the player are made clear alongside the intentions of the character, and they’re easy to distinguish. None of the people involved are going to be having their round ended permanently, and as many as possible are having new roleplaying opportunities given to them. The player identifies a limit to their actions, and specifies under what circumstances they will cease.
Example 2:
Backstory: Hyuk! I just got done defending my thesis, and have received my doctorate and license to practice critical clownery. I’m so eager to get to work! A little bit of levity is just what the doctor ordered!
Objective 1 Title: Prank Everyone
Description: Nobody’s safe from Dr. Chuck L. Phở. I’ll be pranking everyone I see, from simple slips, to complicated slapstick routines, to the occasional jibe about appearance. If anyone lacks a sense of humor, it’s clear to me they need to be made to laugh.
Intensity: 1
Justification: Clowns slip people, they honk horns, play sad trombones when people make mistakes, and just generally draw attention to the silliness all around. My existence as a clown justifies this objective.
Objective 2 Title: Slip all of security.
Description: I’m gonna get a spraybottle of space lube, and absolutely coat the floor by the brig, then call in some kind of misleading threat and watch them all hit the ground.
Intensity: 2
Justification: Nothing’s funnier than watching the most uptight people on the station slip and fall down, especially if it’s all of them in a pile! My job, purpose, and lot in life is to be funny, so doing this is a natural course of clown-action!
Objective 3 Title: Prank the Captain.
Description: Captain Cranky really doesn’t seem to like clowns, especially ones slipping their security and randomly pranking their crew. Clearly he needs to lighten up a little bit too, so I’m going to set up a smoke bomb filled with canned laughter in the bridge! I’ll pin all the intercoms on the bridge to transmit microphones too, so everyone on the station can hear it!
Intensity: 3
Justification: Forcing the Captain to laugh, chemically, seems like a good way to raise morale and spread the appreciation for my antics!
Equipment: None
What makes this a bad OpFor:
The entire thing is “in character” as this clown, there’s no real way for admins to find out what he intends to do specifically as a character, what he wants to happen, or his goals in performing these objectives as a player. No limits are placed on the actions of Objective 1. The clown is more-or-less asking for a blank check to do as he pleases around the station. Justifications are not specific, are unrelated to the outcomes desired, and don’t go into detail about why in particular the player wants to do them. Nobody who will be affected by these actions will really have anything to do afterwards. There’s no story being made here, just an annoying clown. That’s not inappropriate for the clown per se, but it’s inappropriate for an OpFor. Nowhere does the clown state what he plans to do when people eventually react to his antics. He seems to be expecting, by the wording in Objectives 1 and 3, that he’ll just go harder if people don’t think it’s funny, but he doesn’t elaborate on how much harder. While some effort was clearly put in, this clown didn’t understand the information that admins need to approve an OpFor: they need to know real limits, plans, and specific outcomes that the player is hoping for. There’s just not enough detail in this one - it would be asked for a revision, probably not outright denied, if we can assume it wouldn’t get denied over round chaos.
Neither of these OpFor applications are particularly destructive - how destructive an OpFor is is not the only criterion we use to approve or deny them. Detail and justification are far more important.
Here’s an example of a highly destructive OpFor which would still be acceptable.
Example 3:
Backstory: Here I am in my cell, a supermax prisoner of a corporation of all things. There’s rumors that I’m going to be executed soon, but yesterday I had a weird visitor. He said he worked for a syndicate of different corporations and could get me out. All I had to do was a little job, and I’d walk away a free man, and with enough money to retire. That job? Well… blow up the supermatter crystal engine. I don’t really know much about doing that… but he said he’d give me everything I needed. A chance to take my freedom and make it hurt? Sign me up. The guy even threw in some really good smokes.
Objective 1 Title: Escape the Brig.
Description: Using the provided hacked airlock card and fake ID, I’ll simply walk right out the door into maintenance. There’s a back door right into here, we just don’t normally have access. Easy as pie.
Intensity: 2
Justification: Normally jailbreaks aren’t allowed, this one would just be in service of the ultimate objective. There’s no intent to release every other prisoner, however use of an airlock override to open the door will leave it wide open until it’s noticed, so the intensity is set a bit higher. This will require the airlock override to slip out without having to walk right through the brig and get caught immediately.
Objective 2 Title: Acquire a disguise.
Description: Once I’m out and somewhere safe, I’m supposed to contact a mysterious number for the rest of my equipment. I was told I’d be getting something to disguise myself with, a fake ID, and the bag of explosives that I need. I had no idea it would all be this easy!
Intensity: 2
Justification: Getting all the equipment in the brig would be sloppy and likely to be noticed, so I need to request that an admin watch out for me getting to a safe place once I’ve escaped, and send the rest of my equipment there. The disguise is to throw off security and reduce the likelihood of my plan being discovered before it can be executed, but still allow for pursuit by the detective. I may need any admin in question to be prepared for this, so we should talk about the plan in the admin chat tab. If captured at or before this point, I would surrender.
Objective 3 Title: Delaminate the SM crystal.
Description: Using my bag of explosives and the disguised ID, I should be able to get into engineering and set them up at three locations. The cooling loop, the emitter room, and the Chief Engineer’s Office - provided he’s not present, of course. These three explosions will be incredibly devastating to engineering, and likely cause the crystal to be completely destroyed. If they do manage to save it, the station will suffer catastrophic costs to return to normal function.
Intensity: 4
Justification: The intent is to cause a normal delamination - an explosion of the crystal that destroys engineering. This will be caused by disabling cooling, the additional two targets are to hamper rescue efforts. The Chief Engineer’s office contains a number of devices that make recovery much easier. The emitter room’s destruction prevents easy return to power generation if the crystal is saved. This should result in an engineering ERT being called, or if it’s late enough in the round an early shuttle call. This objective is the condition of my employment, and ultimately is what needs to be accomplished even if the others have monkey-wrenches thrown into them.
Objective 4 Title: Escape as a free man.
Description: Now that I’ve done the deed, I have to get out alive to enjoy my reward. I’ll disguise myself as a regular crewmember and slip onto the escape shuttle, or better yet in an escape pod, without drawing any attention.
Intensity: 3
Justification: It wouldn’t make sense to go through all of that just to surrender or get caught again. I won’t get paid unless I get out alive, and I have the tools to do so. If threatened or pursued at this point I would reasonably fight for my life, since my life is more or less on the line once I’ve crossed the rubicon, so this is set at intensity 3. If defeated and captured, I won’t be suicidal and try to escape again, but will demand to speak to station command about my “employer.”
Equipment: Bag of X4 charges (1), Deluxe Agent ID (1), Chameleon Kit (1), Airlock Override (1), Syndicate Smokes (1)
What makes this a good OpFor:
This application is extreme, but it’s also specific, detailed, and very reasonably approached. The player isn’t asking for any equipment that’s not called out as necessary in the OpFor (except the Smokes, which may be denied as they’re only for flavor. Admins can still deny individual equipment requests without denying the whole OpFor). The player’s goal is not to end the round per se, but to get an ERT called. The player will indeed need to evade security, who should be on top of tracking him down once it’s discovered that he’s escaped. He points this out, and thus allows for pursuit to be a part of his plan. The player acknowledges an unusual request and asks the handling admin to discuss it with him ahead of time. The player identifies the one objective which is absolutely necessary to the provided backstory, and is therefore willing to be flexible on the others. Objective 4 is singled out as the point where he will fight for his life, while in Objective 2 he specifies conditions for surrender. This is important: admins may need to react to changes in the round in real time, and if someone is keeping an eye on the execution of this OpFor (which they will for anything this intense) then knowing how the character will react in a given circumstance could be critical to making the decision to approve it. The story being created is very much a “nothing to lose, everything to gain” scenario, so regardless of the truth of the matter it makes sense for a rather intense OpFor. A special note: an OpFor like this, while possible if there aren’t any other antags around (green shift), would be most likely to be approved for a player that already rolled antagonist and wanted to change their objectives to this particular set of actions. If captured as referenced in Objective 4, the player will intend to roleplay with security and command, not just “be done because I lost.” This relies on security having the player revived and imprisoned in good faith, but is not open to interpretation: he says under what case he will surrender, and under what case he will fight for his life (kill or be killed). There’s no ambiguity over what will happen, it’s all clearly laid out for everyone involved.