Electronics or Electronics?

CaptainOrs

Mongoose
Hi fellow Travellers!

I was looking through the skills section of the core rulebook and noticed Electronics appears as a specialty for two different skills. It's under both Engineer and Physical Science. The definition in the science section is fairly sparse, but seems to follow the same idea as the Engineer specialty (circuits and computers). It really feels like the same skill to me, but if I were to look at the common usages, science is more "knowledge of" where as engineering is doing. This feels a bit thin to me to draw that kind of distinction. I could suggest that a scientist understands the theory but not the practice while an engineer understands the practice but not the theory, but that may be a bit extreme within the context of a game. We could get really granular with skills and would need a lot more points to distribute if we took it to that level.

How do you guys address these two skills/specialties and their overlap? If you are good at one, should you get a bonus to the other? Use the higher of the two for any situation involving Electronics? Add them together as two sides of the same coin? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks,
Capt.
 
Never had this come up as an issue that needs to be addressed.

If wanting to use it as separate skill sets, note that Engineer (electronics) is specific to
The Engineer skill is used to operate and maintain spacecraft and advanced vehicles.

Keep in mind that duplication is a choice as the player decides what specialization to take. In a rare situation where someone possibly could get both skills (most likely from scholar/scientist specialty), when choosing from Any Science (any) pick one of the SIXTEEN other specializations instead of the one that mirrors a skill you may already have in Engineer (electronics).

Or if somehow you get Science (electronics) first, then later get Engineer (any), choose one of the other specialties instead of Engineer (Electronics).
 
CaptainOrs said:
Hi fellow Travellers!

I was looking through the skills section of the core rulebook and noticed Electronics appears as a specialty for two different skills. It's under both Engineer and Physical Science. The definition in the science section is fairly sparse, but seems to follow the same idea as the Engineer specialty (circuits and computers). It really feels like the same skill to me, but if I were to look at the common usages, science is more "knowledge of" where as engineering is doing. This feels a bit thin to me to draw that kind of distinction. I could suggest that a scientist understands the theory but not the practice while an engineer understands the practice but not the theory, but that may be a bit extreme within the context of a game. We could get really granular with skills and would need a lot more points to distribute if we took it to that level.

How do you guys address these two skills/specialties and their overlap? If you are good at one, should you get a bonus to the other? Use the higher of the two for any situation involving Electronics? Add them together as two sides of the same coin? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thanks,
Capt.

I treat them both as EE. If one gets a degree in "electronics" it is an engineering degree. There is no such thing as a degree in electronics that is not an engineering one.
 
I simply take a page from CT and roll all the subtypes of Engineering into one and call it "Engineering." Electronics becomes its own skill again.
 
It's a cascade in mong, but yeah, most people who work on electronics are techs, like mechanics, and not degreed engineers. I wouldn't stop anyone who wanted a degree though, it is just most don't care.
 
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