Post by Chris Winters on Dec 31, 2014 3:01:29 GMT
Heyo!
For those of you who couldn't make it to our meeting on the 28th December, I'll try and write up the main points we discussed.
Exodus Timeslot
Many of our U.S. players have issues with the timeslot. While this is regrettable, Exodus is this fleet's ship for European players primarily, always has been. The entire core crew is from this side of the Atlantic and the current average starting time is 21:00 h. Still, lately even we have a few problems with the current time due to people's jobs eating their weekends and things like that. So we're discussing a change.
Options put on the table so far were:
Moving the slot
- back by one hour
- forward by one hour
- from saturday to friday instead
We'd like feedback from everyone on the roster before we discuss this further, so if you have any more thoughts on this, let us know.
GM'd Ship RP, and our version of it
Starting with the next episode, we will try a modified take on player-GM-communication that allows F2P GMs like me to keep things sorted ingame. It will allow me a better situational awareness and higher speed at answering, while also showing all of you how much there is going on at the moment. That way you'll know when the GM is swamped or not.
Until now, this prodecure was used:
- GM announces stuff happening in RP Comms
- Players start bombarding him with PMs
- GM struggles to answer each and every one of them going by last in, first out
Next time, we do it this way:
- GM announces stuff happening in RP Comms
- Crew on the same deck just decribes their IC reaction i the channels, e.g. *checks the forward sensors*
- After that, they use /me to ask their OOC question, e.g. /me checks if he can see where the signal comes from
The GM will be able to put those emotes into their own window, with their own colors, and he can answer them one at a time, in order of first in first out. Crew on other decks or outside local chat range can still use PMs, but will not pummel the GM with them anymore.
Currently GMs are Tiana, myself and Emulator. If you wonder how that works, just look at how this fleet works with three leaders.
That means people can contact any one of us and they'll get an answer once we put our heads together about it. Takes a bit of time sometimes, but we get good results from it. It also means that if any one of us explains something to a player, you can be sure we all will be on the same page about it. If a GM says the sky is orange, then it is. There is no higher instance to go to and argue about it. In-character rank has nothing to do with it at all.
Departments and Tasks
We go by tradition - that means we have 7 departments.
Behaviour on and off duty
Generally we adressed some things concerning people who were present.
The rest of you are welcome to talk to us about stuff as well.
Some advice was so general we can repeat it here anyway, so here goes:
If your character's backstory has him be an officer, he has had several years, maybe even decades, of experience. Keep that in mind when deciding, and acting upon, character flaws. If he/she still has some that would prevent him from even getting his/her first promotion to Lieutenant, something somehow doesn't add up and feels weird about it. We should try to prevent that. Usually its better to get a whole new thing instead of stating 'was always like that', and then at some point later overcome it before it costs the character his/her career.
On general behaviour, I handed out the phrase "What would Wesley do?". If not even Wesley Crusher - who was made out to be a subpar Ensign and always cause more trouble than he was worth - would do the thing you're thinking about, a seasoned Starfleet officer sure as hell would not. "Outperformed by Wesley" is not a medal you should want to wear.
Another matter was respect. If a Captain meets a Lieutenant Commander, and both command a ship of their own, they are treated on par and will treat each other as equals. The same goes for all the other positions up there in the 'chain of command' bit. Its not the rank, its the position that demands respect. If someone is a Lieutenant and already is offered to run an entire starship department, he/she has to be a really badass miracle worker to be offered it that early. Nobody would look down on that, no matter how seasoned or high ranking.
In general, officers should not look down on anyone in their own organisation. Even the most junior one has had an excellent education and someone of rank pushed for him to be accepted into Academy. Followed by four years of training before they get to see the world out there on their first assignment. They are professionals, if inexperienced at first. Please keep that stuff in mind.
If you find yourself in trouble or don't know if "WwWd" works in a situation, you can always ask a GM real quick. "Would my char do xyz?" is a fast yes/no-thing. The 'why' can be discussed once there's time if its unclear. That's what we're there for, to help you out and help you get your story straight.
The rest of the meeting was more about GM background work, we got guest stars and guest GMs waiting for the holiday season to end so they can pay us a visit. Looking forward to a lot of stuff there.
Tucker voluntarily retconned his rank to Lieutenant to match his department size and maybe someday rank up even.
That's all from me here, hope you get a good start into the new year everyone!
Cheers,
For those of you who couldn't make it to our meeting on the 28th December, I'll try and write up the main points we discussed.
Exodus Timeslot
Many of our U.S. players have issues with the timeslot. While this is regrettable, Exodus is this fleet's ship for European players primarily, always has been. The entire core crew is from this side of the Atlantic and the current average starting time is 21:00 h. Still, lately even we have a few problems with the current time due to people's jobs eating their weekends and things like that. So we're discussing a change.
Options put on the table so far were:
Moving the slot
- back by one hour
- forward by one hour
- from saturday to friday instead
We'd like feedback from everyone on the roster before we discuss this further, so if you have any more thoughts on this, let us know.
GM'd Ship RP, and our version of it
Starting with the next episode, we will try a modified take on player-GM-communication that allows F2P GMs like me to keep things sorted ingame. It will allow me a better situational awareness and higher speed at answering, while also showing all of you how much there is going on at the moment. That way you'll know when the GM is swamped or not.
Until now, this prodecure was used:
- GM announces stuff happening in RP Comms
- Players start bombarding him with PMs
- GM struggles to answer each and every one of them going by last in, first out
Next time, we do it this way:
- GM announces stuff happening in RP Comms
- Crew on the same deck just decribes their IC reaction i the channels, e.g. *checks the forward sensors*
- After that, they use /me to ask their OOC question, e.g. /me checks if he can see where the signal comes from
The GM will be able to put those emotes into their own window, with their own colors, and he can answer them one at a time, in order of first in first out. Crew on other decks or outside local chat range can still use PMs, but will not pummel the GM with them anymore.
Currently GMs are Tiana, myself and Emulator. If you wonder how that works, just look at how this fleet works with three leaders.
That means people can contact any one of us and they'll get an answer once we put our heads together about it. Takes a bit of time sometimes, but we get good results from it. It also means that if any one of us explains something to a player, you can be sure we all will be on the same page about it. If a GM says the sky is orange, then it is. There is no higher instance to go to and argue about it. In-character rank has nothing to do with it at all.
Departments and Tasks
We go by tradition - that means we have 7 departments.
Command Division
Tactical, Security, Engineering, Operations, Science, Medical
Tactical, Security, Engineering, Operations, Science, Medical
Each division has two main kinds of tasks and services. Internal and External.
Internal | External | |
Command | Leadership and Coordination of the crew | Helm and Navigation |
Tactical | Combat analysis | Ship weapons |
Security | Shipboard security and law enforcement | Away team security |
Engineering | Ship maintenance and repairs | Engines, replicators, repair teams |
Operations | Shipboard logistics and organization, Power management, Procedures | Communications, Supplies |
Science | Internal sensors, Laboratories, Astrometrics | Shield systems, Deflector systems, Sensors |
Medical | Medical services to the crew, Research | Medical services off ship |
Captain, Executive Officer, Officer of the watch, Helm and designated shuttle pilots are the people in the Command division.
NEW: Command division on Exodus will get gold combadges, rank insignia and decor lines on the uniform.
The other 6 Divisions are lead by department heads.
Since Exodus has a crew of about 400 people total, that means each department has only so many people in it.
It barely makes sense to lead about 25 doctors and nurses using a Commander for it.
Exodus department heads start at Lieutenant rank.
NEW: Command division on Exodus will get gold combadges, rank insignia and decor lines on the uniform.
The other 6 Divisions are lead by department heads.
Since Exodus has a crew of about 400 people total, that means each department has only so many people in it.
It barely makes sense to lead about 25 doctors and nurses using a Commander for it.
Exodus department heads start at Lieutenant rank.
We encourage our players to keep that in mind when they sign up, for "realism" and character development reasons.
If you start out high, you most likely will not get a promotion unless you manage to get demoted first.
Lieutenant Commanders traditionally are the first ranks in the list used to fill a Captain's chair (see also: small science ships, medical ships, Defiant, etc) and will take quite a long time to rank up. Commander usually is the XO rank on a ship our size, we can only justify having one or two of those before they will be offered their own ships (see also: Riker). Not taking these offers will work for a while, but also prevent further promotions on the rest of the roster. Keep that in mind when making a character for us.
We will happily accept Enlisted crew! Might even be a very good way to incorporate characters of U.S. players who can't make it to our episodes regularly but still want a piece of the pie.
Chain of Command and Positions
Lately this hasn't been very clear. So we went over it top to bottom.
Starfleet Command is ontop, e.g. Admirals Quinn, Chakotay, T'Nae.
Fleet Admiral Vilaina Starsinger reports to them, leading 146th fleet.
Fleet Captain Connor Gardner reports to her, leading Starbase 146.
Captain Tiana Rastalon reports to her as well, leading U.S.S. Exodus.
Executive Officer (aka first officer) takes care of coordinating the departments and making them into a team that is capable of carrying out the Captain's orders. (At this time we don't have one, that means Tia will do it herself.) Traditionally for this ship, a Commander.
Officer of the watch is one of the Command division's officers who sits in the Captain's seat leading the bridge crew when the Captain is off duty. Usually considered "second officer". If a ship has a 3-watch-roation, there's two of these. On a 4-watch-rotation, its 3 of them. Traditionally these are Lieutenant Commanders.
Department head is one person per department that is in charge of it. They report to the officer of the watch, usually they're put on the same watch as the XO and Captain to facilitate coordination between departments. Traditionally these are Lieutenant Commanders and Lieutenants, based on department size. Our biggest department is Engineering. The smallest are Tactical and Medical.
All these are positions. The chain of command has these in place and isn't flexible.
What rank actually fills a position is up to the Commanding Officer though.
That means that on a Defiant, if the Captain position is taken by a Lieutenant Commander (Worf), his XO would be a Lieutenant, and the department heads either Lieutenants or Ensigns. It is oriented at ship size, and roughly what number of people one has under ones command. Since you're responsible for them, you should be experienced enough to handle the responsibility.
If a position is vacant for any reason, the person -above- will take on the task until a replacement is found. If the people in the positions below were qualified for it, they would be in that position already. It takes additional training and experience that only the person above the open position already has. Only in the most dire circumstances they step up and give it a desperate try.
If you start out high, you most likely will not get a promotion unless you manage to get demoted first.
Lieutenant Commanders traditionally are the first ranks in the list used to fill a Captain's chair (see also: small science ships, medical ships, Defiant, etc) and will take quite a long time to rank up. Commander usually is the XO rank on a ship our size, we can only justify having one or two of those before they will be offered their own ships (see also: Riker). Not taking these offers will work for a while, but also prevent further promotions on the rest of the roster. Keep that in mind when making a character for us.
We will happily accept Enlisted crew! Might even be a very good way to incorporate characters of U.S. players who can't make it to our episodes regularly but still want a piece of the pie.
Chain of Command and Positions
Lately this hasn't been very clear. So we went over it top to bottom.
Starfleet Command is ontop, e.g. Admirals Quinn, Chakotay, T'Nae.
Fleet Admiral Vilaina Starsinger reports to them, leading 146th fleet.
Fleet Captain Connor Gardner reports to her, leading Starbase 146.
Captain Tiana Rastalon reports to her as well, leading U.S.S. Exodus.
Executive Officer (aka first officer) takes care of coordinating the departments and making them into a team that is capable of carrying out the Captain's orders. (At this time we don't have one, that means Tia will do it herself.) Traditionally for this ship, a Commander.
Officer of the watch is one of the Command division's officers who sits in the Captain's seat leading the bridge crew when the Captain is off duty. Usually considered "second officer". If a ship has a 3-watch-roation, there's two of these. On a 4-watch-rotation, its 3 of them. Traditionally these are Lieutenant Commanders.
Department head is one person per department that is in charge of it. They report to the officer of the watch, usually they're put on the same watch as the XO and Captain to facilitate coordination between departments. Traditionally these are Lieutenant Commanders and Lieutenants, based on department size. Our biggest department is Engineering. The smallest are Tactical and Medical.
All these are positions. The chain of command has these in place and isn't flexible.
What rank actually fills a position is up to the Commanding Officer though.
That means that on a Defiant, if the Captain position is taken by a Lieutenant Commander (Worf), his XO would be a Lieutenant, and the department heads either Lieutenants or Ensigns. It is oriented at ship size, and roughly what number of people one has under ones command. Since you're responsible for them, you should be experienced enough to handle the responsibility.
If a position is vacant for any reason, the person -above- will take on the task until a replacement is found. If the people in the positions below were qualified for it, they would be in that position already. It takes additional training and experience that only the person above the open position already has. Only in the most dire circumstances they step up and give it a desperate try.
Generally we adressed some things concerning people who were present.
The rest of you are welcome to talk to us about stuff as well.
Some advice was so general we can repeat it here anyway, so here goes:
If your character's backstory has him be an officer, he has had several years, maybe even decades, of experience. Keep that in mind when deciding, and acting upon, character flaws. If he/she still has some that would prevent him from even getting his/her first promotion to Lieutenant, something somehow doesn't add up and feels weird about it. We should try to prevent that. Usually its better to get a whole new thing instead of stating 'was always like that', and then at some point later overcome it before it costs the character his/her career.
On general behaviour, I handed out the phrase "What would Wesley do?". If not even Wesley Crusher - who was made out to be a subpar Ensign and always cause more trouble than he was worth - would do the thing you're thinking about, a seasoned Starfleet officer sure as hell would not. "Outperformed by Wesley" is not a medal you should want to wear.
Another matter was respect. If a Captain meets a Lieutenant Commander, and both command a ship of their own, they are treated on par and will treat each other as equals. The same goes for all the other positions up there in the 'chain of command' bit. Its not the rank, its the position that demands respect. If someone is a Lieutenant and already is offered to run an entire starship department, he/she has to be a really badass miracle worker to be offered it that early. Nobody would look down on that, no matter how seasoned or high ranking.
In general, officers should not look down on anyone in their own organisation. Even the most junior one has had an excellent education and someone of rank pushed for him to be accepted into Academy. Followed by four years of training before they get to see the world out there on their first assignment. They are professionals, if inexperienced at first. Please keep that stuff in mind.
If you find yourself in trouble or don't know if "WwWd" works in a situation, you can always ask a GM real quick. "Would my char do xyz?" is a fast yes/no-thing. The 'why' can be discussed once there's time if its unclear. That's what we're there for, to help you out and help you get your story straight.
The rest of the meeting was more about GM background work, we got guest stars and guest GMs waiting for the holiday season to end so they can pay us a visit. Looking forward to a lot of stuff there.
Tucker voluntarily retconned his rank to Lieutenant to match his department size and maybe someday rank up even.
That's all from me here, hope you get a good start into the new year everyone!
Cheers,