Engineering skill specialties

[-Daniel-]

OK, I appreciate the answers, but let me provide some counter comments:

The Grav Plate exists on all Grav Vehicles, not just on the ship.

The Captains Thermostat is the same as the thermostat in every house and apartment on the planet.

Coffee Makers are everywhere, not just on spacecraft. (Gunners use Kuerig models, which are NOT disposable )

Faulty wiring exists in every building and vehicle ever made.

Algae filters are used in every habitat dome in Charted Space.

Control Consoles are used in most offices.

Magnetic Couplers and Fusion Bottles are on a lot of the higher tech vehicles, and even some large buildings have their own power supply.

My point is that you have forced common (relatively) items to be fixed using a Spacecraft specific skill and vice versa. Many of the things that are on a spaceship are in a lot of other places.

I don't know that I have an answer here, I am trying to work through the logic of what makes sense between the Electronics, Mechanic and Engineer skills and any Specialties.

All good points, but to be fair I added the assumption that you meant who on the ship. So as I said abov emy answers I limited myself to the three skill specialties I was suggesting. I should not have assumed you meant on the ship even though the examples were all on the ship.

I would not expect the answers would be the same everywhere. Faulty Wires in my work building, I would call the Building Maintenance (Electrician). Faulty Wiring in my car, Auto Mechanic. Faulty wiring in my home, Unskilled Owner. :lol:

I think the game could have hundreds of specializations if we really wanted to get down to it. I don't want that in my game. I want to keep the whole skill thing simple so the whole skill mechanic becomes a background game mechanic. I realize that is just my opinion of course, based on the type of game I like to play, but thus my thinking. Keep Engineer simple and thus the three specialties I suggested. Get one at level 1 or 2 and the rest at zero and we have a trained engineer on the ship. If they wanted they could have allocated their skill levels so they had a level 1 for both ship skills and leave Engineer (mechanic) at zero.

But I will also admit, if people left Mechanic as its own skill that would be fine too. :mrgreen:

 

[Jame Rowe]

I believe they should be consolidated, as the mode for skills is to stream line them in to broader structures. Look at how the skills have been changed, Battledress has been rolled into VaccSuit, Gun Combat has only two specialties Slug and energy, Zero-G is now part of Athletics Dex.

So as such a 4 part engineering skill is really redundant in light of the other changes.

Exactly. Condense it all.

 

[Tenacious-Techhunter]

Engineer needs specialties, just not these.

Maybe...

Propulsion Systems (jump, grav)
Electronics
Civil (buildings)
Mechanical

I like this approach; I might change "Civil" to "Habitation", or something that conveys a connection to an environment people have to live in.

 

[Infojunky]

Engineer needs specialties, just not these.

Maybe...

Propulsion Systems (jump, grav)
Electronics
Civil (buildings)
Mechanical

I like this approach; I might change "Civil" to "Habitation", or something that conveys a connection to an environment people have to live in.

The problem there is y'all are conflating two different things...

Engineering has always been the skill set of the Operating Engineer, i.e. the guys who keep large boilers, power plants, locomotives Etc. etc... going. Not the sit down with pencil and paper and design/problem solve sorts that are Civil, Mechanical et'al. The later are a subset of Sciences/Profession....

 

[Tenacious-Techhunter]

By that logic, the guy who keeps the life support and water systems going is also an engineer; a "Habitation" engineer, as I said.

Regardless, if Traveller is determined to use that sort of definition for "Engineer" in the modern day, then they should probably stop calling it "Engineering", and call it something more evocative, in spite of what the traditionalists may think.

I'm more of the opinion that the only thing that should separate an Engineer on a starship from an Engineer at a Shipyard's design firm is the access to the required machinery to build full-sized ship parts; which, practically speaking, only limits Power Plant, Maneuver Drive, and Jump-Drive development, and not, say, Electronics or Computers.

 

[Infojunky]

By that logic, the guy who keeps the life support and water systems going is also an engineer; a "Habitation" engineer, as I said.

Well, Yes..... HVAC techs are often rated as engineering staff in large plants and on ships for that matter.....

Regardless, if Traveller is determined to use that sort of definition for "Engineer" in the modern day, then they should probably stop calling it "Engineering", and call it something more evocative, in spite of what the traditionalists may think.

We could use what the Maritime industry call them.... Engineers...... Or Aviation, Flight Engineers..... I probably can think of a couple of more..... Or we are using modern terms, just because it doesn't match with you notions doesn't mean we're wrong. But if you want to come up with some terms of your own we would be glad to see them.

I'm more of the opinion that the only thing that should separate an Engineer on a starship from an Engineer at a Shipyard's design firm is the access to the required machinery to build full-sized ship parts; which, practically speaking, only limits Power Plant, Maneuver Drive, and Jump-Drive development, and not, say, Electronics or Computers.

Well, the person at the ship design firm is generally referred to as a Naval Architect.

 

[Tenacious-Techhunter]

Architects don't do engineering; they do style. Now, the best architects are usually engineers too, but it's much more common for the Architect and the Engineers to hand ideas back and forth until they get something they both agree on.

 

[Infojunky]

Architects don't do engineering; they do style. Now, the best architects are usually engineers too, but it's much more common for the Architect and the Engineers to hand ideas back and forth until they get something they both agree on.

In the industry a person who designs a ship is generally referred to as a Naval or Marine Architect. And yes Naval Architects do engineering as well as design.

 

[ShawnDriscoll]

The architects I know do not have engineers working for them. They have carpenters and tradesman and pre-fab material contractors. The building inspectors are just checkers. Maybe it's different outside of California.

 

[chiron0224]

Here's why I like the current breakdown of specialties. The engineer, in game terms, is going to be largely responsible for holding the ship together in a space combat situation in which his role is going to be rolled up largely into that one skill, or by prepping for jumps and things like that. By having specialties based on the two types of drive, power, and life support it allows for that "one skill role" to have different variations. So my ship's engineer won't feel identical to yours. Your guy can keep an M-drive going no matter what and my guy is a wiz at diverting power.

 

[FallingPhoenix]

My thinking is, if the rules as written are going to support the idea of a scout service that can reasonably expect a single person to fly around in a ship, is it reasonably easy for a single scout to get all the basic skills they need to maintain and fly a ship? If not, maybe the number of specialties should be condensed.