Book 3:Scout what is Engineer (Ship Systems)?

[CosmicGamer]

J-o-T covers the gaps in the skills, and in a way, represents the depth of broad training in general knowledge that the scout with J-o-T gains to round off his character and prepare him for those times when he will only have his INT and EDU DM to count on.

I kinda said this earlier. I don't understand how you can say this yet still indicate that the core Scout careers were not sufficient in providing engineering skill and there is a need for certain scouts to be engineering savants via my understanding of your concept of the Engineering (ship systems) skill in Book 3.

There is no explanation for this new Engineering specialty and I think it may be a simple misunderstanding or typo. Perhaps it should be clarified as Engineering (any ship systems) similar to how it says "Science (any space science)".

No offense, but like others have posted, that is also how I'm going to handle it.

 

[Fovean]

How about this - each level of Engineer (ship systems) is limited to 100 tons of ship? Eng (ship sys)1 = 100 tons, Eng (ship sys) 2 = 200 tons, etc.

That way your average Scout can wrangle a Type S, experienced scouts can possibly save a Free Trader or a merc vessel that's in trouble and the grizzled icons of the IISS become a living, breathing part of their Donosev explorer vessels, some of which are only held together by that old scout's sheer will...

 

[alex_greene]

How about this - each level of Engineer (ship systems) is limited to 100 tons of ship? Eng (ship sys)1 = 100 tons, Eng (ship sys) 2 = 200 tons, etc.

Clearly, nobody's really thinking about the things that are possible, but only looking at what is not - not leaving things alone, but trying to fix what ain't broke.
Nothing stops the Scout character from brushing up on more straightforward specialities and having Ship Systems-3, Jump-2, M-Drive-4 even. With the more conventional specialities, the Scout could decide to invoke one of the conventional ones if the problem lies entirely within that speciality, and default to Ship Systems if the problem lies in one of the components he doesn't have a rating in, or one where the rating is weaker than ship systems and he hasn't got the time to play the learning curve game.

So the above Scout needs to coax a little boost, say 120% performance, out of his ship's M-drive to get him to the planet before all the air runs out; he could use Ship Systems, but since the problem lies entirely within the field of his M-Drive speciality which is his strongest Engineering skill, he uses that knowledge to get the boost out of the drive. Since his Life Support speciality is subsumed within Ship Systems, that is what he uses to coax the atmo processors into giving one last feeble whine of life and sustain internal atmo for even an extra hour.

If he needs to Jump in a hurry to get away from that Z-fleet that is still bearing down on him, it's Ship Systems. But if he's just making a routine Jump back to base, or he's down with the maintenance crew at the base to help them tear out all the modifications he'd had to make to the Jump-drive to get him back home, he can call on his Jump speciality to make sure she's going to work smoothly next time.

And if he were assigned to a Naval vessel as a representative of the Scout Service (a "Scout Aboard" program or some such) and something went wrong in Engineering, he could be asked to assist with the M-drive (which he'd have level-4 in) or help out with the J-Drive (which he'd have level-2 in) but the Navy would not ask him to work on any of the other systems, despite his intimate familiarity with anything ship-based, simply because they would not recognise his Scout Service rating in Ship Systems as valid or useful while he is serving on board their ship. And if all he had was Ship Systems-3, neither of the other two specialities, they would not call on him at all for engineering assistance.

Sometimes, you have to look outside the rules and bolting on mechanics here and there where they are not needed, and think about what people would do.

 

[rust]

I would tend to treat Engineer (Ship Systems) as a kind of
technical "MacGyver" skill, the ability to improvise a (often
temporary) solution to a starship engineering problem with
the materials at hand. It is not "engineering by the book",
but it enables the ship's systems to keep running until some
engineer with the right tools and parts can do a more con-
ventional job on the system in question.
In other words, the equivalent of the "Jury Rig" skill used
in some other games.

 

[alex_greene]

I would tend to treat Engineer (Ship Systems) as a kind of technical "MacGyver" skill ... In other words, the equivalent of the "Jury Rig" skill used in some other games.

Perhaps, but with more solid knowledge and application of engineering principles and less wild improvisation.

 

[CosmicGamer]

Clearly, nobody's really thinking about the things that are possible, but only looking at what is not - not leaving things alone, but trying to fix what ain't broke.

Exactly. Nobody. Look in the mirror.

What's wrong with the good ol' skills from the core rulebook for scouts? Why fix what ain't broke.
Isn't it possible that it's Engineering(some typo or editing mistake)?
Can't people leave things alone?

 

[CosmicGamer]

How about this - each level of Engineer (ship systems) is limited to 100 tons of ship? Eng (ship sys)1 = 100 tons, Eng (ship sys) 2 = 200 tons, etc.

Engineering (ship systems) is not described in the book. If someone were to use it instead of consider it an error, this is a good example of a house rule I'd think necessary to keep a new all encompassing specialty in balance with the the other engineering specialties.

 

[alex_greene]

Or ...

The speciality (ship systems) could have meant "pick a shipboard system and make that your speciality," so a player stumbling across this entry would read it as such and, say, pick Jump-drive or life support as his speciality rather than, say, chemical engineering or civil engineering.

 

[CosmicGamer]

The speciality (ship systems) could have meant "pick a shipboard system and make that your speciality," so a player stumbling across this entry would read it as such and, say, pick Jump-drive or life support as his speciality rather than, say, chemical engineering or civil engineering.

Sounds like a reasonable and popular opinion.

I allowed Engineer (any) rather than add another speciality to Engineer.

I think it was supposed to be short hand for Engineer (any specialty to do with a ship, but not electronics or anything added in other modules)

I did the same

There is no explanation for this new Engineering specialty and I think it may be a simple misunderstanding or typo. Perhaps it should be clarified as Engineering (any ship systems) similar to how it says "Science (any space science)".

 

[alex_greene]

Perhaps this ought to be clarified in the Great Traveller Cleanup in that other thread on this board.

Right. Job done. *wipes hands clean on grubby cloth* I'll be on the bridge if you need me.