+ engineering info (ataraxion)

[regulatingpressure]

ENGINEERING

a division of the operations department the hottest mess this side of alexandria

functional overview. As can be surmised from the name, engineering's primary purpose is the monitoring, maintenance and repair of the engines, machinery and structures of the Tranquility. The duties of the engineering crew are thus as diverse as the systems and necessities of the ship: from monitoring all life support systems to verifying fuel usage and distribution, to priming the systems prior to every jump, among many others. Everything is far more advanced than most have seen so there is a learning curve even for the hard sci-fi characters. The workload is high enough ( and the workforce generally a skeleton crew ) to keep those signed up plenty busy.

job technicalities. Technically speaking, engineering comprises the entire ship. Taking into account only the engineering complex itself and the engines, it remains the biggest department on the ship counting eighteen decks to its name. It can be accessed via the orange lifts. Engineering primarily monitors and attempts to ensure the proper functioning of: the environmental systems - climate control. air flow and filtration. artificial gravity. the power systems - the electrical grid. the fusion reactor. the back-up generators. the jump - ensuring everything is primed and ready pre-jump. More information on the different locations and a list of available supplies can be found here. As of the 34ᵗʰ Jump, the title of Chief Engineering Officer passed to the playable characters and all those signed up to Engineering found their access greatly expanded. Following is a brief description of these changes: True to layout engine schematics from the ship's origin, including auxiliary thrusters. Layout of the power routing throughout the ship, however these schematics are only of the routing and not of specific ship locations. More extensive and accurate diagnostic systems providing specific information on general performance ( including power generated and power usage ), suggestions to improve performance, as well as greater facility in locating problems and malfunctions as they occur. A remote view of any area in the engineering complex, and much of the power distributed throughout the ship. Access to storage (located near the Engineering Complex) containing further replacement parts and tools. The aforementioned tools are in keeping with what's already rigged up in the ship, only newer or with items for recharging/refueling and/or replacing worn tool parts. While most of the complex is now accessible to characters officially signed up, the Jump Drive remains inaccessible with one significant difference: the access panel now gives a different response if the Chief Engineering Officer attempts to access it — an error message. Others will continue to receive the previous warning for attempted unauthorized access. Regarding the mysterious center of the ship, the new live power routing map will show general low usage there and be very glitchy on accurate readings. Occasionally it will pick up sudden surges of demand in unknown locations in that area. Characters who pay close attention over a good period of time will notice these; they are rare, short and fluctuate in location.

engineer lyfe. Current head of the department is Raven Reyes, and the unofficial second-in-command (by her personal preference) is Leo Fitz. The department operates under a very loose hierarchy where a combination of seniority and experience is favored, but it's pretty rare that anyone has to pull rank in an official way so it rarely comes up. Overall, the mood in Engineering can be described as 'laid-back but efficient'. Nobody's cracking any whips or giving you stink-eyes for not working 'til you drop... But conversely, if anyone lets things slip and she or one of the other senior Engineers has to pick up the additional slack, Raven will zero in on who did it and some definite words will be exchanged. Such things as banter, eating, and even playing a casual game of cards are fine on the job as long as attention's still paid to the monitors and nobody gets anything slick or greasy. Music's acceptable, but if you're on a 3+ person shift and your partner hates what you're listening to, don't be the dick who just turns it up louder. The only absolute 'no's offhand are drinking on the job and sleeping on the job. Shifts are 8 - 11 hours on average, but that leaves 13 - 16 hours out of the day to get your sleep. No matter how low their numbers get, each shift in Engineering is comprised of at least two people unless an extreme emergency dictates otherwise. A two-person shift includes a scanner and a runner. These are unofficial titles, a quick way to make sure that at any given time, one person is observing the monitors and the other is out making manual checks of everything under their jurisdiction that can possibly be checked in some manual way. This may seem redundant - why have someone running around checking things that someone else can tell you is just fine without lifting a finger? But the trouble with the good old TQ is, at least half of the major emergencies and system malfunctions can only be detected by manual checks, reading completely fine on the monitors as if laughing that anyone even bothers to watch them. So... one scanner, one runner. They're free to trade off as they please, as long as we've got one of each at any given time. Additional people on shift can fill whichever role they want, honestly. Wherever they'd be most useful. Relatedly, many of the people Engineering is gathering are much more skilled in one area than the other. For example, Dean Winchester can fix things and run manual checks a hell of a lot better than he can stomach staring at a computer for hours on end. On the other side of things, Skye (who isn't officially with ENG but pulls some shifts) is almost exclusively a monitor girl. If you leans one way and get along well with someone who prefers the other, you can count on getting put on shifts with them more often than not, just for efficiency's sake. However, those who do have a strong bias still have to learn to effectively perform all facets of the job, even if they don't have to exercise that knowledge regularly. It doesn't matter how much they struggle with picking it up. Raven'll see to it personally, even if she has to lose sleep to make it happen. Trainees as well as the newest members work in conjunction with a more senior Engineer as they acclimatize/prove they won't blindly touch every blinking red button. If your character proves to be an asshole, their permissions will be revoked. So play nice.( And do let us know if your character wants to be an asshole! We are an easygoing bunch open to any plotting that complicates our characters' lives. So don't be afraid to shoot us a PM or PP! ) Most of the toys in engineering can only be used by someone officially signed up to the department, and for security purposes, Arya was known to further restrict access to schematics and systems as was merited by the situation. Raven has since been somewhat more liberal with them, though as soon as that turns around to bite her in the ass, she'll lock that shit up in a hot second. Really, as long as nobody does anything stupid with the intel their job in Engineering grants them, everything should be fine. To officially sign up, fill out the text form here. Note: if your character is not officially signed up, they are not considered a member of engineering and cannot access anything in the department without a member directly allowing them access at every step. If you play a member of engineering, leave a reply here.

miscellany. Many of the Engineers also have quite a bit to offer one or more of the other departments, and vice versa. When crises arise, engineering works closely together with the flight crew, for example, in order to alleviate the chronic understaffing. Even outside of emergencies, as their tasks are in many ways similar, it is not uncommon to see members of either department taking shifts in both. If you'd like your character to take shifts in Engineering despite belonging officially to another department, please leave a reply here.