ENGINEERING TRAINING

By

Matthew Thrawn


 Firstly, I would like to welcome everyone to this session and congratulate you on making a very important and correct career decision.  If you are unsure of this choice, this may help because you are making an informed decision. I hope I can sway your mind towards this discipline of work.

In my admittedly biased opinion, the career choice you have made is one that you will find to be very absorbing and self-satisfying.     

* You will never be bored.
* You will always be in demand and will get to interact with all ship's departments.
* You will get to play with all the ships systems, testing them to the extremes of their capabilities, and sometimes beyond.
* People rely on you to make things work, sometimes because their lives and yours are dependent upon your skill, insight and perseverance. 
* A lot of good Captains and First Officers were originally engineers. If you know what you ship can do in battle, you are a long way towards achieving victory.

Technical Knowledge:

The first thing to say is that you don’t need to be able to quote the precise engineering specifications of your ship from memory in your posts.  That isn’t what is required.  However, saying that, the old adage still holds true – a little knowledge goes a long way.  In other words, if the other players can visualize what you are doing and get the impression that you know what you are talking about, then you will have satisfied the criteria – you will enable them to interact with the systems and with yourself, and you will have constructively added to the storyline. 

There is a mountain of information available on the net or in hardcopy, but something I did before I joined Federation Space was to buy the technical spec manual for the 1701D (unfortunately now out-of-print).  The information is available on the net so this isn’t essential, but I found it easier to read on paper and a lot more interesting. 

For ships you don’t have information on, expand on the technology used on previous ships;

For example – shields – increase them by 25% over the previous class.  Same with Phaser power, warp power, computer power etc etc.  Also don’t forget that as technology moves ahead, equipment may get smaller.  This means that battlefield upgrades using non-standard parts will require modifications to be carried out – again this is normally the job of an Engineer.  Consult with the Game Moderators (GM) or other Engineers if you are not sure, and if no one knows the answer then improvise but be reasonable - you can’t have a shuttlecraft armed to the teeth with a cruiser’s firepower.  

What is essential is to visualize the ship (what’s on each of the decks?) and be consistent.

Saying all the above however leaves one very important point:-

You only need to have a little technical know how when you begin – the rest you will pick up as you proceed with the game.  

Workload:

Put simply, you as Engineers keep a ship or station running, despite what others may be doing to it.  

In times of battle, there is always too much work to do – that makes the game more exciting – BUT you must keep an eye on what jobs are underway at the same time anywhere on the ship.  If you need to take a system offline (say transporters or replicators) then make sure that the senior officer knows before doing it and await his/her permission – it doesn’t only affect you, your actions could seriously hinder someone else’s posts.   ALWAYS use open-ended posts for such matters – this allows the GM or the Chief Engineer or even other players to interact with your post.

As in real life things will spuriously go wrong, so if you see someone is over-using a system – say phasers, then at the appropriate time in one of your posts suggest something along the lines << In main engineering, Ensign “abc” noticed that the phaser coupling were starting to overheat>>  Report it to someone and then let the GM decide whether to “roll with the idea” and let the phasers fail, or whether to indicate to you to reinforce the coupling so that it doesn’t fail. 

Story lines are always developing and slightly changing so you are at liberty to inject your own contribution to the story.  There will be times when there is no obvious story line for engineers to play – in these events then make something up yourself. (#See Caution (1) Below#)

As previously indicated, there are always things that need sorting – so if you have nothing to do discuss a requirement with (say) the senior officer present to go and undertake some maintenance, install some new parts, do investigations etc.  Alternatively, when you have finished your work at the end of your shift go to your quarters, have fun in a holodeck, go to 10-Forward and chat to other members of the crew, or if you are still stuck for something to do then send the GM or the chief engineer an email (most players post an email address) and discuss some work that you would like to do.  You may simply find that they will have already noticed, and will post you to do something because a vital system has failed.  Like real life you may be moved from job to job without finishing the first – this allows you to post some thoughts of the matter – let the other players know what you are thinking even though you may well be saying something else to the others.  Duplicity is a part of Real Life, and plays an interesting and important role in the game as well.

Final word on this subject - You will only get enjoyment out of the game, if you interact within the game.  If a GM or departmental head notices that you have nothing to do, then they may set you a task to do.  If you can’t think of anything then contact your chief engineer or GM and say something to them.  I would suggest by e-mail, but in last resort post it somewhere like hailing frequencies.

Use of Non-Player Characters (NPC's):

On a starship there will normally be over 200 - 300 engineering crew of varying ranks.  In the RPG there will be only a few players covering these tasks.  This means there are tremendous opportunities to play additional members of the crew.  Don’t ignore the petty officers and crewman when deciding what rank you would like this “make believe” player to be – these ranks actually do a lot of the “hands-on” work and you can show others the depth of your knowledge and bring some “feeling” to the game.

You are not confined to using NPC’s solely within your own department, but if you are thinking of creating one in someone else’s department, ask the head of that department first.  They may well be waiting for someone to create one for something they have in mind and could offer ideas on what that person could do.  

Interaction with Other Players:

There may well be up to 10+ real players on the ship and as in reality a ship works best if everyone on board is a team – that means interact with other people from your own and other departments.  For example on damage control teams you may well be working with medical staff, on investigations with security and science, and on away missions with all departments on the ship plus the senior officers.

You may make friendships with other players, or pretend to have problems with other players (in which case let them know before hand, and they can join in the fun by being angry back at you).  Don’t forget that what you say and think can be two entirely different things – but remember to explain why you are being duplicitous to help everyone else understand the friction or other reason behind it.  In real life, most people don’t like everyone – and that is what the RPG is all about – having fun with other players and either getting on well with them or hating their every decision. (#See Caution (2) below#)

Cautions:

(1) There are two types of story line, main plots and sub-plots.

Main plots are set by the GM – i.e. what is your mission.  A GM must agree ANYTHING that directly affects this mission before you post anything.  For example there is no point heading into battle with an enemy, and just before you start, you post that the shields are no longer online – it would be a very short battle.  The only time this type of post is acceptable is if a GM has agreed it before hand either publicly on the site or to you in secret (so that the developing story line is a surprise to everyone else).  This is also part of the enjoyment – knowing something everyone else doesn’t – as an Engineer there will be a lot of this type of thing simply because as you control the systems, you can inadvertently send a planned plot into oblivion.

Sub-plots are any other story line that does not directly affect the main plot.  i.e. routine maintenance, holodeck recreation, interaction between players (good or bad) – see (2). 

The distinction between the two rapidly comes with experience.

(2) Remember at all times that you are a professional – In reality there will be people that you like and dislike.  That doesn’t mean that you go up to them in the street and verbally abuse them, and you don’t do it in the game – however what you can do is think it, but explain why you think it.  That way other players can see how the relationship between the two is really going, the underlying reasons behind it.  If there is going to be friction then the golden rule is discuss your ideas with the person before hand.  This also helps to sort out misunderstandings.

(3) If you are discussing something or interacting with another player, DO NOT make assumptions on their characters response unless it has been agreed before hand.  Simply end your post with an open-ended statement or question, and allow them to continue the story line.  It is as much their story as yours, and to be honest – would you want someone posting a story telling everyone how you reacted to a problem, when you knew you would have reacted in a different way.

This is covered in more detail in one of the other academy briefing sessions.  

Summary:

As an Engineer, people are relying on you to help them and to provide them with the systems necessary to do their job.  You will make an important contribution to the success of the missions.

An Engineering profession gives you a good broad knowledge base of all the ships systems and departments, and is a good way to progress up the ranks to positions of greater responsibility.

I wish you well in your chosen career.     Above all else - ENJOY AND HAVE FUN

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