36 replies to this topic

[Tanjar-Ongra]

Thought I'd go fishing and see if anyone had anything they wanted to discuss about engineering.


Personally, sometimes I find the most difficult thing is to keep something broken during a mission. I don't know if other engineers face this problem, but I'm trying for my character not to be a constant miracle worker that solves a problem instantly with some treknobabble. But often I feel there is this expectation that my character just fixes any problem that he raises.

[Lawn]

That's because you're the chief engineer of the flag ship...

PS - I'll try and help you keep a few things busted now and then... lol

[D. K.]

Hi guys,

Just starting out as an engineer, looking forward to the challenge of helping hold everything together while the ship saves day. Hope to be able share experience (When I have some )

[Michael Kelly]

Cool banners, btw. Someone needs to teach me how to do that.

One fun thing I discovered in RPG is coming up with a solution to one particular thing (how does a tesserac drive work) rather than a catch-all (all I have to do is tweak the calibration of the plasma intake/output algorythm which completely solves the problem). Know what I mean? One of my favorite ST shows was the NG Premire, "Encounter at Farpoint", with the Cystaline Entity. I keep thinking about their harmonics temporary solution. It helped, but it didn't solve the problem completely, if you know what I mean.

MK

[ethan]

There's the conundrum for the ship's Engineers. How to keep being needed throughout a mission that doesn't technically need an Engineer. "Keep breaking stuff" works a treat and "experiments that happen to tear a hole in our hull!" thing is also funky to roll with.

I found the hardest thing to do when I first started out SIMming an Engineer was to NOT be the one that saves the day when the ship broke. It was really hard sometimes not to contact the Bridge and just shout "Fixed it! We be fine!" but to span it out, make the plot device last that little bit longer so the Romulans could get the upper hand in the fire fight or the random-space-aliens could transport on board where our shields were down for just that minute moment...

I tended to SIM as more of a support role for the main cast, the Engineer keeps things going and can hitch the plot, throw a new ball into the juggling game or even cripple the crews abilities at the last moment. It it, by far, the most interesting duty post.

How're you guys finding it?

Edited by ethan, 02 February 2011 - 12:43 AM.

[Tanjar-Ongra]

There's the conundrum for the ship's Engineers. How to keep being needed throughout a mission that doesn't technically need an Engineer. "Keep breaking stuff" works a treat and "experiments that happen to tear a hole in our hull!" thing is also funky to roll with.

I found the hardest thing to do when I first started out SIMming an Engineer was to NOT be the one that saves the day when the ship broke. It was really hard sometimes not to contact the Bridge and just shout "Fixed it! We be fine!" but to span it out, make the plot device last that little bit longer so the Romulans could get the upper hand in the fire fight or the random-space-aliens could transport on board where our shields were down for just that minute moment...

I tended to SIM as more of a support role for the main cast, the Engineer keeps things going and can hitch the plot, throw a new ball into the juggling game or even cripple the crews abilities at the last moment. It it, by far, the most interesting duty post.

How're you guys finding it?

The same I think.

The conundrum is the one that the NASA engineers came up with - you can have 2 of the 3 in any system:

Cheap
Good
Fast



The thigs you don't have, the weaknesses, are what help give the drama tension. I think there's always too much of a tendency to write as if you were playing a tabletop RPG and power simming. Part of being a good engineer is to give people technological problems that they have to work around.

[ethan]

I'm trying to update the duty post on our wiki and I just might have to incorporate something like this as a diagram to reference to should the going get rough.

Secondly, if anyone fancies updating or adding content to the duty post on the wiki feel free! There's always something to do; write an article on your subsystem of choice, add any information about a system your ship uses that others don't...

[Rogg the Dachlyd]

Thought I'd go fishing and see if anyone had anything they wanted to discuss about engineering.


Personally, sometimes I find the most difficult thing is to keep something broken during a mission. I don't know if other engineers face this problem, but I'm trying for my character not to be a constant miracle worker that solves a problem instantly with some treknobabble. But often I feel there is this expectation that my character just fixes any problem that he raises.

I find as an Engineer I am often pointing out Star Trek canon that others in my group have overlooked. Not being a correcting know-it-all, but trying to keep the plot moving forward. Other officers are usually pretty good about consulting nearby Engineers. I usually try to leave such posts open and leave options. There are a few different approaches to options: 1. We can do A or B. I would recommend A because ___. 2. There's a problem with ___. I can put a team on it, but it's going to take time.

For me, a fun part of being an Engineer is that I have an excuse to be anywhere I am posted. In every mission I have been on the setting was either a ship or a starbase. Both entirely artificial, both the ultimate responsibility for Starfleet's Engineers.

[Tanjar-Ongra]

I find as an Engineer I am often pointing out Star Trek canon that others in my group have overlooked. Not being a correcting know-it-all, but trying to keep the plot moving forward. Other officers are usually pretty good about consulting nearby Engineers. I usually try to leave such posts open and leave options. There are a few different approaches to options: 1. We can do A or B. I would recommend A because ___. 2. There's a problem with ___. I can put a team on it, but it's going to take time.

Yeah, I am a canon-hawk in my group too. The options method you've outlined is a good method to focus the minds of the other crew on the problems at hand. Always best to think of alternate possible plots in case people sim differently/misunderstand what you've written and so then you need to adapt.

[Rogg the Dachlyd]

Personally, sometimes I find the most difficult thing is to keep something broken during a mission. I don't know if other engineers face this problem, but I'm trying for my character not to be a constant miracle worker that solves a problem instantly with some treknobabble. But often I feel there is this expectation that my character just fixes any problem that he raises.

Oh, man. This totally ought to have occurred to me the instant I read your post. Who is the natural enemy of the Starfleet Engineer? Why, the saboteur, of course! If there is a saboteur aboard, they will totally keep things broken for you. Man, I ought to write this up under the mission ideas thread. There are all kinds of sabs, but of course the most dangerous is the Engineer Turned Rogue.

You could easily be the center of an entire mission if you were trying to restore the ship to the Captain while your arch-nemesis was attempting to subvert control to their self.

[Tanjar-Ongra]

Personally, sometimes I find the most difficult thing is to keep something broken during a mission. I don't know if other engineers face this problem, but I'm trying for my character not to be a constant miracle worker that solves a problem instantly with some treknobabble. But often I feel there is this expectation that my character just fixes any problem that he raises.

Oh, man. This totally ought to have occurred to me the instant I read your post. Who is the natural enemy of the Starfleet Engineer? Why, the saboteur, of course! If there is a saboteur aboard, they will totally keep things broken for you. Man, I ought to write this up under the mission ideas thread. There are all kinds of sabs, but of course the most dangerous is the Engineer Turned Rogue.

You could easily be the center of an entire mission if you were trying to restore the ship to the Captain while your arch-nemesis was attempting to subvert control to their self.

That... really wasn't the thrust of my post.

I mean, ok a saboteur... but the saboteur being a Starfleet engineer deliberately endangering a ship out of his own ego... it's pretty tough to envisage.

[Quinn Reynolds]

I think the biggest problem I encountered when I was an engineer was that things were breaking too often (it became a running joke with a friend of mine that Starfleet really should just rip out the turbolifts and comm systems, because they seemed to stop working at so much as an angry glance). It's a shame that many people seem to think that fixing what's broke is the entire engineering repertoire.

Beyond the fact that on the TV shows, Starfleet engineers always displayed a great deal of lateral thinking and analytical ability - skills that can be applied cross-boundaries - a problem can be technological in nature without requiring something to have broken. One of my favourite missions as an engineer was one in which an alien life-form had taken up residence in the Independence's EPS systems and was feeding off the plasma inside. We had a whale of a time working out how to get the thing out of our warp core without harming it or ourselves.

[Rogg the Dachlyd]

Personally, sometimes I find the most difficult thing is to keep something broken during a mission. I don't know if other engineers face this problem, but I'm trying for my character not to be a constant miracle worker that solves a problem instantly with some treknobabble. But often I feel there is this expectation that my character just fixes any problem that he raises.

Oh, man. This totally ought to have occurred to me the instant I read your post. Who is the natural enemy of the Starfleet Engineer? Why, the saboteur, of course! If there is a saboteur aboard, they will totally keep things broken for you. Man, I ought to write this up under the mission ideas thread. There are all kinds of sabs, but of course the most dangerous is the Engineer Turned Rogue.

You could easily be the center of an entire mission if you were trying to restore the ship to the Captain while your arch-nemesis was attempting to subvert control to their self.

That... really wasn't the thrust of my post.

I mean, ok a saboteur... but the saboteur being a Starfleet engineer deliberately endangering a ship out of his own ego... it's pretty tough to envisage.

Saboteurs are not necessarily Starfleet Engineers or even officers. Suppose an Engineer's spouse wanted to keep them busy with double shifts? Or maybe someone's offspring inadvertently causes a lot of trouble on the first (and probably last) "Bring Your Child to Work Day"? Or an Engineer makes a robot or other semi-autonomous drone to assist the generally mundane maintenance of the ship and it starts causing trouble instead of fixing trouble? Or a curious alien lifeform gets aboard and is small enough to get into the ship, or is insubstantial enough to not be confined by the bulkhead or doors, or if it is one of the common energy beings Starfleet seems to encounter?

There are plenty of accidental and intentional saboteurs outside of Engineering, even outside of Starfleet.

[ethan]

On our last mission, we encountered sabotage from "some" Engineers conducting the Independence-A refit at Deep Space 17 but didn't affect the ship until we were out in space. Everything went down suddenly. Even though it was only supposed to be a minor plot device to delay us a bit, the crew really flew off with it and took it in all directions, essentially turning it into a mission of its own. Definitely worth it.

[Rogg the Dachlyd]

A few NSFW lyrics, depending on one's job.

"The Engineers' Drinking Song" (6 min. video)

[Rogg the Dachlyd]

Update, people:

The USS Discovery-B was recently (as of this post) under siege from a mad bomber. Security began sweeping the vessel, deck by deck, while everyone else was evacuated to the USS Achilles which was rendering assistance. Apart from the evacuation, there was not much to do in this subplot. Well, not much for non-Security to do.

Anyhow, Inarr Rogg the expert engineer located what may have been a bomb while stationed at the bridge engineering station. With the Captain's leave, Rogg Transported as close as possible to investigate. Rogg did in fact find a bomb. The downside was that the bomb exploded despite Rogg's efforts to neutralize it.

Important points:
1 - As an Engineer, I was able to locate the bomb (and following explosion) in a critical, but unobtrusive portion of the ship. The bomb was in a pylon, in the Jeffries tube which provides access to the warp nacelle. When the bomb exploded, it crippled our vessel, but there was almost no risk of it damaging anyone's quarters, possessions, or pets.
2 - I demonstrated that one should never attempt to disarm a bomb, especially in person. Although the ship was mostly evacuated, just about everything else Rogg did was wrong. Ideally the bomb would have been removed from the ship and disarmed remotely. Instead, Rogg tinkered with it and it armed, then nearly blew up in his face.
3 - Security continued looking for remaining bombs (they found another) and the bomber. Their mission remained little changed.
4 - Unoccupied and previously evacuated persons decided to rescue Rogg, cast adrift by the explosion in the severed warp nacelle.
5 - After being rescued, Rogg needed attention from Medical.

I got the idea for the bomb placement from the Enterprise episode "The Catwalk" (wherein the crew take refuge in a maintenance section of the warp nacelles). The idea that the bomb would trap Rogg in part of the ship (and subsequently require rescue) was from Enterprise's "Minefield".

Anyone else feel like tooting their horn about how well they performed as an engineer aboard their ship?

[ethan]

I've had nothing recently; just a toolkit full of empty dreams and a heart full of melted isolinear chips.

R&D doesn't get many "save the day" roles anymore, but on the plus side helping Engineering and still being classed as an Engineer is totally worth it.

[D. K.]

Unfortunately I must admit my RL was constantly getting in the way of my Simming in the last few months. Coupled with a lack of interest in the engineering post itself on my ship, I find I have slipped into a routine where I'm only there when necessary, but have done little to develop my PC or contribute to a current plot or provide interesting little twists from the side. (I love doing that).

I really must begin getting creative again. I think I'll read the old OOC mails and older posts to get the creative juices sloshing again. This thread has gotten me thinking again. Thx

MFG

[ethan]

No worries McGhee.

It's a double edged sword really. We're either in there all the time or we're never needed. I find that an Engineer isn't the first port of call when it comes to diplomatic missions so I tend to find myself something else to do, like work on the Bridge or put my hand in the diplomatic routine.

It's not the easiest post to write for, I'll admit.

[ethan]

I've played an Engineer since starting in the UFOP. My main character and my secondary character are Engineering Officers and I've hardly deviated from the duty post. So, you can imagine that over the years I've had to go to a few different sources for my information to keep it relevant, at least "Trek-alistic" in my SIMs.

In the event of a technical issue, for reference or maybe just for some inspiration - where do you get your information from?