Lotus Fleet Forums

The following thread is a series of guides that will provide assistance in playing a specific RP position. It is recommended to read these, whether you are a veteran RPer or a new recruit!

((Originally Posted by Kheren))

THE BURDEN OF COMMAND
How to roleplay a Starfleet Captain in Lotus Fleet


PART 1: BASICS


'' Let's drop rank for a moment; I don't like you: I think you are insubordinate, arrogant, willfull... and I don't think that you are a particularly good First officer. ''

'' Well... now that the ranks are dropped, Captain, I don't like you either: YOU ARE arrogant AND close-minded; you need to control everything and everyone. You don't inspire an atmosphere of trust and you don't inspire these people to go out of their way for you; you have everybody winded up so tight, there's no joy in anything. I don't think you are a particularly good captain. ''

Captain Edward Jellicoe and Commander William T. Riker
TNG Chain of Command part II




The role of the starship captain in Star Trek is unlike any other: while all other science fiction commanding officers are but the pilot of the ship, like Star Wars' Han Solo, at least until the advent of gene Roddenberry's vision in 1966, in Trek, the job of the captain is not to push buttons but specifically and only to command:

In Lotus Fleet starship roleplaying, it is much the same thing for the captain player: he not only has to play out his own character as a commanding officer, but his job is also to command the story itself. He is not only responsible for his own part and fun, like all other players, but of the fun and play of everyone else aboard his ship and story. The captain/Gamemaster must also portray the entire ship, even more, the entire universe everyone will be playing in... and on top of it, run the events making up the story!

This means the player captain has a huge job to assume beyond the challenge of RPing his character; he has to do pretty much everything else that another player is not assuming! And even then, he is also responsible for those players in term of participation, integration to the group and story, their enjoyement and overall consistency with Trek lore... all at once!

It obviously requires good writing skills, good management skills and the will to give more time and effort to the play than anyone else.

The entire RP experience lies on all participants, but the captain/gamemaster alone can make it soar to greatness and fun... or crash and burn, just like the starship.


COMMAND SCHOOL: HOW TO DO IT

Like an actual Star Trek captain, the Lotus Fleet RP captain essentially has to follows five steps:

1- Gather data / Choose story
2- Evaluate situation / Adapt and detail story for ship and crew
3- Make a decision / Establish how the story will play out
4- Give out orders / Lead the story
5- Assume the responsibility and consequences

To this ends, here are some useful tools. Most evident here is that, as a starship captain, gathering data is the key to all the rest. Without proper information, any evaluation, decision and directions will go wrong... and you will still have to assume the responsibility of it all. That is the burden of command, even in RP.


GATHERING DATA

Not everyone is a walking Starfleet technical manual. But this is the internet age: information is readily available in seconds for the RP captain who wants to do right with the story and by his players.

Therefore, the foremost reference to consult is of course Memory Alpha:

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:Main


All Trek stuff and references can be found there. Not using them is risking coming up with inconsistencies and even absurdities that your players may spot and have a hard time coping with... or worse, that readers will note and then dismiss all your collective work because of it.

Never forget most of your readers will probably be Trekkers and Trekkies. They will immediately laugh at your story if you have a Talosian Starfleet officer or a Vulcan female going through Pon Farr.

There are also more specific references that the RP captain should always use:


SHIP TOOLS:

1- Ship's specs: Highly recommended is this technical reference:

http://techspecs.startrek.acalltoduty.com/federation.html



This reference is an accurate and consistent summary and resolution of sometime conflicting information, well detailed and goes beyond the numbers, providing a lot of information beyond the actual ship, like modes of operation, enmergency procedures, crew training regimen, history etc. All in one place and easily researched... even down to a deck by deck description! The author also provide the sources and reasonning behind some details that would appear doubtful and how he solved them.

Specifics about the Lotus Fleet ship can then be addressed, like the Lotus complement of transphasic torpedoes or the Spectre's DYCEP system. The ship itself may become a key factor in how a story will play out because of it's very characteristics. Evacuating 1000 colonists is not much of a problem for the Artemis with a capacity thrice as that, but quite a big challenge for the McKenzie having barely room for 150 refugees.

The more you know the details of your ship, the more numerous and interesting plots elements and good details from your fellow RP players will come out; and they will ring true.


2- Ship's visuals: Also helpful is this reference:


http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints-main2.php



Although less systematic and from many different sources not all freely accessible or complete, some digging there will nevertheless provide useful visual details to better roleplay within a specific ship: how is the bridge laid out, where exactly are the tractor emitters, what does the escape pods look like etc... Seeing always help a lot when time comes to roleplay and describe your character's actions and environement.

Even more important to consider: the readers will have to read from what you write to see anything. The more you describe the setting around your character, the better the reader can get immersed in the story. Actually seeing yourself how the bridge is laid out will give you all the ease to make it see in words to your readers... and for your players too, even if they should have access to the visuals themselves.

But remember, the readers will not see those. As we write in novel format, inputing actual images in posts is not only impractical (they will not be shown in novelization), it is very poor and lazy writing and your story will suffer in quality for it.

Most player are found lacking in this area, either voluntarily or involuntarily. So, it is your job to give substance and consistency to the story if they do not.. Be descriptive and Literal. Have the image of that bridge and describe it as the action unfolds. If you do, your players can concentrate on their character's dialog and action.

Yes, the workload is mostly on you, Captain. But you might be surprised to see your efforts being eventually followed by those of your fellow players. The true feeling of a bridge crew working together each with his own part to better the whole will transfer from fiction to reality.


STORY AIDS

3- Stardate calculator: There are a lot of them out there and they don't work the same or even give the same results! For consistency and quality, the RP Department has selected this one to built its official timeline and to be used by starship captains in LF RP:

http://www.hillschmidt.de/gbr/sternenzeit.htm



More specifically, the TNG stardate calculator (second one down) is used as it allow to both input a stardate and get the calendar date (down to the seconds!) or input a specific date and time and have it translated into a stardate.

Captains are highly encouraged to use stardates in their story, just like the TV series did. It neatly provides for the passage of time and give the famous trek flavor to your story when used in the famous '' captain's log'' entry marking each important part of the story. It also help in resuming story elements (like why are you out there doing this now?) to move the story along... even allows a captain to give hints to players and readers and work on character developement with a ''personal log'' (wich then other players can do also!). It can also help to jump from one scene or setting to another without being tedious.

4- In doing so however, take care to base your stardate on the OFFICIAL RP TIMELINE:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8675

LF RP stories are part of an overall continuity shared by all the ships, not just yours. The more you integrate into that continuity, the more your story will be relevant to the entire RP universe of Lotus Fleet. It also allows you to make references to past stories, just like they did in the series. This will not only pleases the players on other ships, but invite readers to go and read those stories too!


5- Warp calculator: Again, there are lots of them out there, usually all consistent with one another despite the scales varying from the original TOS to the TNG era. The following is consistent with the later and provides a lot of useful information :

http://www.ussdragonstar.com/utilitycore/warpspeeds.asp


This will help the captain provide a beleivable timeframe when reaching that next star or going through all the planets of a solar system, instead of having the feeling everything happens in a few minutes. It will also help time the entire story (see stardates above) and help determine how long it lasted and thus help coordinating better the interactions of all ships and starbase in the overall LF Universe.


6- calculating impulse speeds: there is no convenient calculator for impulse speed. But here is a rough guide below that should suffice to time events and actions in a roleplay story:

Full impulse is 25% (a quarter or 0.25c) of the speed of light. Lightspeed is rounded to 300,000 kilometers per second for convenience. In other words:

full impulse = 75,000 km/sec so 1 AU (Astronomical Unit = distance between Earth and Sun) is travelled in rouglhy 30 minutes. An average solar system could be travelled entirely in 2.8 days

- half-impulse = 37,500 km/sec so the distance between Earth and Mars is travelled in about 30 minutes at that speed. Use it as a reference for going between two neighboring planets

- one quarter impulse = 18,750 km/sec (now you can see how reckless Kirk was!) so the distance between the Earth and the moon (roughly 385,000 km) is travelled in about 20 minutes. Use it as a reference for something rising to a high orbit.

A faster way is to use the warp speed calculator offered above and input warp 1. This gives you 1.0c (one light year). Use the conversion line you need below and multiply the given time result by 4 for full impulse, by 8 for half-impulse, by 16 for one quarter impulse, etc

Note that ships at impulse are able to go as 75% (three-quarter or 0.75c) of light speed, but time dilation effects are dangerous to ship and crew beyond normal full impulse. Consequently, this is done only in dire emergencies and only on the captain's direct order.

The greatest advantage of all this (and warp speed above) is that it will give not only a proper sense of scale for a space adventure, but it will have your orders actually make sense Icly and OOCly when you will order to modify the sensor array; if you go one light year away at warp 6, you will have more than 22 hours to do the work... and able to tell it to both players and readers!


7- Star Trek maps

It is most useful to know where you are in the Trek universe:

Galactic map:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_8SlQIdQ0ehg/TSibFVPK1gI/AAAAAAAAG0o/xmkj64snJj4/s1600/quadrants.jpg


Federation Space and neighbors:
http://booredatwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Star_trek_map2.jpg


You will notice LF Stabase 10 is not where the official Starbase 10 is located.but rather probably where starbase 343 is on the official map (near the Hromi cluster). Lotus Fleet Trek universe is its own reality (evidenced by the eradication of the Borg in the first Fleet Action story.) but, apart from such specific details determined by the RP dept, everything conforms to the official data.
Star Trek is a very defined and detailed universe. If you do not make the effort to conform to it, your players and readers will find the story all the weaker for it. And, as the leading storyteller, this responsibility is in your hands. And so you will avoid ridiculous mistakes like going from Earth to Vulcan in 3 minutes or having planet Delta Vega orbiting Vulcan...


CHARACTER AIDS:

To convincingly play out a Starfleet ship captain, there are essential information the player captain must have readily available and refers himself too. Most notably the following two:

8- Starfleet General Orders. Simply put, not knowing those means you ICly fail as a Starfleet officer and risk loosing your command. OOCly, ignoring them means that you have no idea what a starship captain is and must do. Read them, understand them and, even better, use them as character actions , in dialogs and plot elements.You can conveniently find them here:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/showthread.php?p=49527#post49527


9- Starfleet Rules of Engagement. Here is the clear and simple recipe as to how to act and order around in space encounters as a true Starfleet officer, and can be extended even to away team parts. Nothing says more '' Star Trek'' than those. Playing out along those lines will make your character truly look like the next Jean-Luc Picard. Again, they are conveniently located here:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8463

These rules will also help you plan space encounters scene with friendly, neutral, enemy and of course unknown ships and make them as exciting as consistent.



CONCLUSION:

By using those easy to access tools, the captain payer can turn even a bland story into a truly Star Trek one by conveying accurate details and beleivable elements he and the other players will be able to play with. The captain's orders will make sense, the story will hold up and the story will flow just like a TV episode and the characters action will be properly viewd in context (trigger-happy officers, beware!).

Next, we will examine closely this command duty of the PC captain, both Out of Character (OOCly) and In Character (Icly).


PART 2 : CAPTAIN OOC



'' Now look Jim; not one man in a million can do what you and I have done: command a starship. ''

Commodore Stone
TOS Court martial



Recalling the 5 steps of captaincy:

1- Gather data / Choose story
2- Evaluate situation / Adapt and detail story for ship and crew
3- Make a decision / Establish how the story will play out
4- Give out orders / Lead the story
5- Assume the responsibility and consequences

Let us examine closely this command duty as a captain as a gamemaster. Introducing:


CAPTAIN OOCly

Captain OOCly's middle name is GM: Game Master. As such, he is the only player responsible for step 2 and 3 even before playing start.

Within those, the 5 important steps are needed to be an efficient and successful ship commander:


1- Choose a story:

The captain player is responsible for selecting the story he will play out with other players making up the crew of his ship. A few tips for doing so:

1.1: Select a story that fits your class of ship. There is nothing wrong in wanting to play out an evacuation in a minuscule Defiant class vessel, but that will obviously create story problems that must be addressed with step no 2.0 (below). Research and publish your ship's specs for both your benefit and that of your players. References to ships in part 1 are most useful here.

1.2: Select a story that fits your players: Action-oriented players will be hard put to enjoy a diplomacy based story where not a shot is fired. Their specific ship position is irrelevant: a Chief medical officer player might relish ''pewpew'' because it gives him a lot of wounded to save! Advertizing potential players as to the story style you do and discussing their preferences is useful to encourage participation and avoid drop out in mid-story or lack of posting wich always causes problems.

Knowing their characters help a lot too! And you can find them all detailed here:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=102


1.3: Select a story that fits you: You will have to run the story, and help all the other players get into it, not just play out your character in it. If you don't understand or like the story yourself, how do you expect other players, and readers, to do so? If you are not much into science and technology, you can always do research to get all the elements right (fun and proper). But if you are not willing or able to do the legwork, select a story lighter in those regards, more within your capabilities and interests.
And you don't have to be an author yourself to be a good RP ship captain: there are a lot of good stories already available for you here:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=318

Using any of those also gives a shiny award to the author. Make a fellow fleeter happy and eager to talk about your next adventure! Even more: you get a story consultant to help you run it!


2- Adapt the story

Once you choose a story, use the synopsis to detail it explicitely for the ship and crew you play with. All sorts of plots twists and details will then come up to fleshen it out and make it your own. Some tips:

2.1:Adapt it to your ship: look at the specs of your ship and see how it can tackle the scenario. This also includes NPC crew, PC players, shuttles, probes, weapons... This will reflect into the story as your captain having knowledge and experience about his command and avoid giving absurd orders or suddenly having to resort to the lazy method of coming up with the ''wondrous magic-tech of the week.''

2.2 Adapt to your players: Make sure the story gives something fun and significant to do for every PC member of your crew. Not only in content but in style. Don't hesitate to add a scene or an encounter that will involve at least one PC; you will then be ready to give sensible orders and more precise than '' ok do your stuff.'' or the ridiculous '' be ready for anything, prepare everything, do everything. ''

2.3 Adapt to yourself; always make the story conform to your style and ability to lead it. If it is a heavytech story and you are uncomfortable with technobabble, avoid it and stick to the plot rather than those details. The entire TOS series is devoid of technobabble and yet, stories are exciting and compelling even while tackling hard science and technological themes. On the other hand, if you relish it TNG style, by all means add some!


3-Establish how the story will play out

Now that you know what the story is about, how it adapts to your specific ship and crew and to your style of playing as well, you have to see how the gameplay itself will be done. You should aim for participation, enjoyement and contribution.

Again, some suggestions:

3.1 Story rythm. Most effective in preventing story stalling while allowing player involvement. One very effective way is for you the captain to move the story along by posting every 24 hours after the last post made in the story thread, be it from you or any other player.

Thus, players are free to interact and develop as much as they wish in a particular scene or story part; but when no one has posted after the elapsed 24 hours, the story moves along to the next portion. This way, what your players like will get full involvement, and the less interesting parts will move by swiftly, all the while making the whole story advance at a steady pace without rushing people or waiting needlessly for them to post.

3.2 Story involvement: During your captaining scene, call out to as many PCs as possible with reports, orders or inquiries... or even banter and small talk! There is nothing wrong either for the captain to discuss other things than ship's business during lull moments like travelling towards the starbase and interact with the crew. Character developpement is also story developpement; Star Trek is most reknowned for that.

Other players might get the clue and start interacting more with each other and NPCs. Just be careful that those exchanges do not bog down into distracting chatter or nonsensical discussions completely unrelated to the actual context... at least not too long. When the story drags down with those, post the next main event and move the story along.to refocus PCs to the main event.

3.3 Story control: you are responsible for the story to play out to the end.This means that, as the gamemaster, you have the autority to control NPCs and even PCs to ensure this.

This is not something to abuse or use indiscriminately, however. By definition, a PC is the sole property of the player. But in case of absence or inaction, the captain must ensure the story does not stall with the inactive PC. In such a case, you have to make the character do and say what is needed for the story to move along.

The best way to handle this is to tell players that they should PM you a general guideline about their character's play in case they can't post. One other, more common way is to either ignore the character's presence if at all possible, or have the character removed to the sidelines with the convenient ''accident'' or ''illness'', or ''other personnel shift'' or ''other assigned duties''... as long as the story allows it. Some creativity here is much advised, especially if the PC might return after a while.

When it doesn't, you will have no choice but to play out the character until the player do return... or the story ends. Make sure however all your players are aware of this to avoid unecessary resentment.

To some extent, this apply to NPCs too. Some of them are created by your fellow players ; it is basic courtesy to treat them as PCs as they are ''part of the PC character'' for the other player. On the other hand, each player must understand that you can and will use them as plot elements. Just don't treat them as Redshirts.


4- Lead the story

This is the core of your job. Like all players, you build up the story; but you are the only one who knows where it is supposed to be going. All the others will wait for your lead and react to the events you propose from the story you chose and the way you play it out.

There are several styles that can be used, even within the same story:

4.1 Directive: You write down all determining scenes of the story and let the players react to it and add their own character developpement through the events. This the simplest and easiest but most confining and less creative form of play. It is highly recommended to all beginning captains and when new or players unfamiliar with Trek are participating.

Basically it goes like this: scene described, Captain give orders, crew obeys and play out describing their character's actions, thoughts, words and developping it's personality. Scene concludes. Next scene...

This how most RP stories are played out and despite the apparent restrictive nature, it works perfeclty well and people have good fun doing it that way.

4.2 Free Flowing: You set a scene but ask the other players their input (usually Icly but can be done OOCly also) before choosing one of their options, letting them play it out with you and building a resolution from it all that will lead to the next scene. This looks like a more ''Trek'' approach but it requires players well familiar with the setting to avoid glaring absurdities and a gamemaster imaginative enough and knowledgeable enough to fudge the story along without loosing it's overall conclusion. For veteran Trek Rpers and experienced gamemasters.

It goes somewhat like this: scene described, captain ask all five players for options. Of the 5 options he chooses option 3 because it is the closest one leading to the intended next scene and play it out with them, adapting the details of the planned story from what the player proposed and played out.

4.3 Improvised: You let the players build out the scenes as much as yourself and all control the outcome from the specific position of their characters. Of course the crewplayers obeys the captain player's orders, but they determine the consequences of both his orders and their actions.The captain player take all those outcomes and build up the next scene with those, until the story comes to a conclusion. For master Rpers and gamemasters only with a lot of time available to work on details and research.

It can go like this: captain describe a scene and ask for options; helmsman option chosen and played out; helmsman add a problem occuring; tactical add another; science propose another option, captain agrees and science let him complete the scene; but then engineer introduces another situation; First officer react to it... etc

It is the most creative form of all but the most susceptible to derail completely or never be finished properly. Too many times, stories drag for a long time, derail and never get finished in this format, so it is not recommended for LF RP.

These three methods can even be combined together within one story depending of taste and necessity... and of course the ability of players and gamemaster; but it is most important that the captain keeps overall control of the gaming process.

It is highly recommended not to disclose plot elements to other players (with the possible exception to your assistant gamemaster, the First officer) except ICly as the story is played out. Not only does it deprive all players with the fun and thrill of the unexpected, but it counsciously trap them all in an already planned story where their individual contribution seems all the more meaningless. It is thus very detrimental to creativity, participation and enjoyement.

And you, the captain, you are responsible to stimulate all of those.


5- Responsibility :

Everyone is responsible for the success of a RP story; but the Captain alone is responsible for its possible failure. Thus is the burden of command.

The players are dependent upon you to choose a good story, to incorporate them and proper details into it to make it feel special and their own, to keep it on track and moving and to be there to help as much as to let them play with their character in this wonderful Trek universe. A few suggestions to do this:

5.1 Join the Captain's table: there are regular meetings the RP dept holds with all Captains and First officers present from all RP ships. This is the single best source of help and information for you to get ideas and solutions and share your own experiences. There is also a forum thread to write those down and discuss them:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=179

Just as in Starfleet, you are not alone. The RP administrators and fellow Captains ae there for you, just as you are there for them.

5.2 Talk to your XO: Your First Officer player is your assistant gamemaster as he is executive officer ICly. Discuss with him ideas and problems to find a solution or have the story move as best as possible for all involved. He can not only take over if you can't participate, but help you build scenes and story plots, just like you are there to show him how to become himself a ship captain in RP (as he is the one next eligible when a captain steps down or a new ship is made available!).

Here is the official statement about those roles;

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4189


5.3 Talk to your players; You can help your players by PMing them to ask for their input on the story, help them rectify mistakes (be it just name spelling) and even more, send them relevant data for their specific ship position. If you send to your tactical officer the data about Klingon Birds of Prey and tell him: how would you go about fighting three of them suddenly decloaking and attacking? You help him or her prepare and portray a competent combat officer and enrich the story together when the scene do happen (hehe). If you give your Engineer the tech data of those ships, he might come up with a way to activate their plasma coils, and so their cloak, thus dropping their shields for that perfect shot of the tac officer with your last torpedo! You can PM your science officer player: ''OK you will be asked information about how to detect cloaking devices: get ready. '' and let him do his own research like a proper Starfleet science officer!

In this regard, for them as well as for you, the RP depatment provides many useful RP guides and update them regularly:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=473

Don't hesitate to avail yourself of those and point them out to your fellow players!

5.4 Enforce the rules: Just like a starship captain, you are there to maintain order, discipline and efficiency by unfailingly follow rules and regulations. Because you have to enforce those rules as well as play them out like any other Rper, you must be thoroughly familiar with LF RP ships rules:

http://www.lotusfleet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8340

These have been established to make reading easy and consistent for all RP ships. You should never make the reader assume the work (like eye-straining just to read different fonts of different sizes and colors) or insult the readers intelligence (by putting little symbols to ''show'' what you describe... or should describe).

They also help you a lot to novelize the story at the end, wich is another of your responsibilites as RP captain. The novelization make your story as easy to read as a novel and can be used to promote fleet activity and the awesomeness of your work and of your fellow players, on our website and even outside of it, to the larger community.

Following the rules will make everything easier for everyone... including yourself.


CONCLUSION


Even working completely in the background, Captain OOCLY is the very one that can not only bring story and crew alive, but make Captain ICLY even possible and plausible... and fun!

We will meet him in the last part of our guide.


PART 3 : CAPTAIN IC


''Captain Kirk! Are you aware, as a starship captain, that you are required to be responsible for the actions of your men ? ''

'' I am... As captain... I am responsible for the conduct of the crew under my command. ''

General Chang & Captain James T Kirk
Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country




Recalling the 5 steps of captaincy:

1- Gather data / Choose story
2- Evaluate situation / Adapt and detail story for ship and crew
3- Make a decision / Establish how the story will play out
4- Give out orders / Lead the story
5- Assume the responsibility and consequences

Let us examine closely this command duty as a captain as a gamemaster. Introducing:


CAPTAIN ICLY

Captain ICLY's middle name is Team Leader. As such, he is the player who will said the tone of the story and the cohesiveness of the group of characters, the goals of both the story and the players, of the events and for the characters. It is the most familiar sight of Star Trek: the captain with his trusted advisors and excutors at the center of the exchanges, guding all in their actions as they guide him with their counsel. The ideal RP arrangement!

The 5 important steps above are needed to be an efficient and successful ship commander In Character as much as Out of Character:


1- Gather data:

In most circumstances, the very first order a ship captain should give is: ''report'', or '' open hailing frequencies'' or '' scanning '' or '' status'' or... anything to get Pcs and NPCs provide information. This immediately brings forth the elements of the story and the players participation.

Furthermore, the more precise these orders, the more you will get your player involved and feel useful: '' report on ship status Number One''; ''Tactical: open hailing frequencies''; '' Lieutenant Science, scan that area ahead ''; '' Chief, status on those engines '' etc. will immediately call directly your crew to action and provide you (and the readers!) with the plot elements.

The captain must get the maximum information possible to make the proper decisions... and he may have but seconds to do it! In most situations, status report, scanning and communication are the first and most important orders to give. And they will make your character sound efficient, look efficient and be efficient... and wake up the crew!


2- Evaluate situation

From the information gathered, the captain must now evaluate if there is either danger or opportunity (or both) before making any decision. Here judgment is the key factor. Following general orders and Rules of Engagement (see PART 1) is the easiest way to evaluate properly a given situation and find the proper steps to order things around. A good captain will only bypass those if he is very sure he has a better way; even then, any consequence will be evaluated later by Starfleet Command on the basis of those rules.The more serious the consequences, the more severe will be your superiors judgment of your actions afterwards, especially if you did not follow proper orders and procedures.

Up until now, this has been very rarely applied in RP, and never outside LF RP. However, any ship captain doing so, as part of a story, or even as a story itself (as in TOS Court Martial and The Menagerie or TNG The Drumhead or The First Duty), would mark for a great captain and gamemaster making the Trek universe all the more vivid and beleivable.


3- Make a decision

This follows directly from the above and of course from the plot itself you alone fully know. As such, a part of it is already scripted out. But altering it and enriching it (or even changing it!) after asking and listening to your fellow officers will not only make it less conspicuous, but even more life-like and beleivable; especially if a fellow officer points out a General Order or a Rule of Engagement or a Starfleet order your seem to be forgetting or should make more sense in the story context: remember, the others do not have all the story elements before them... and, this is most important, neither does your character!

Player knowledge (even more gamemaster knowledge) and character knowledge will be most important and difficult for you to make separate; especially because you have to lead the story to it's next scene with your Icly decision. That decision must be at the same time consistent with what has been read so far in the story; even if gamemaster foreknowledge might be played out as ''command experience'' or '' ''command instincts'' or ''intuition,'' it must base itself on something beleivable to the reader... and written down!

Else it will look like sheer luck... or more often obvious plot armor (obvious plotted event unrelated to facts, interactions or even credibility favoring the character).


4- Give out orders

This is the essential job of your character: make it good! There are 3 basic ways to go about this:

4.1 Address each bridge officer with a specific task: detail exactly what you want them to do like Captain Kirk did: '' Mr Spock, analyse that area ahead, Mr Chekov, keep a weapons lock on that area; Mr Sulu, plot evasive maneuvers but wait for my signal; Mr Scott, full power to shields at my signal; Lt Uhura, open hailing frequencies in case there is someone out there hiding. ''

The advantage is that your character look like he knows what he is doing as a ship commander. The drawback is that you may make him obviously knowing too many and precise things in advance (becoause you do OOCly!). Base those orders only on the data gathered and evaluated Icly and what a starship commander is supposed to do (General Orders and Rules of Engagement).to get the proer balance. Above all, don't give vague, meaningless orders like '' Mr Spock, do research'' or the infamous '' Prepare for everything.''

4.2 Address your First officer with a general order and let him order the specifics, just like Captain Picard did: '' We have to stop them: Red alert Number One. '' and Riker going '' Shields up! Arm all weapons and target engines! Helm, attack pattern Kirk Epsilon!'' and Picard saying: '' Engage!''

The obvious advantage is that you leave all the detail work to your exec, wich is convenient to make him more involved in the story when you are both on the bridge and to avail yourself of a player's deeper knowledge of Trek, or share the workload with him Icly and OOCly. The drawback is that your exec has to be good at this as much as you should be and you might become too reliant on the other character if abused, raising questions as to your character's competence to lead a ship (and maybe yours to lead a story).

4.3 Advise Starfleet Command. Major decisions that might involve war or first contact or crucial discovery should always follow that step in the 25th century ladden with subspace relays. But of course, stories often makes it so that ship and crew must face the problem alone (hence the adventure and why they have been trained so much!).

It is however consistent with the universe of Trek when feasible storywise and can allow a player to involve the RP dept for Icly directives of OOCly decisions or legitimate particularly grave orders and far reaching actions. Relying on it too much however will make your character look as bookbound and antiheroic as was captain Esteban in ST III.

Of course, a good captain like Captain ICLY will always avail himself with all three options, as their mutual benefits cancels out there disadvantages when wiselt used.

In all cases however, above all, do not go into a story or scene without studying first wich General Order applies to it, and never ignore them.. unless you plan to have your character court martialed and loose his command... or simply look like a fool. Rules of Engagement are also most highly recommended to have Captain ICLY look, feel, talk and act like a Federation captain and not a Klingon warlord, like we see much to often in other RP threads outside of Lotus Fleet.


5-Assume responsibilites:

The burden of command is all about what you are responsible of and a good Trek story and character will always highlight those:

5.1 The Captain is responsible for everything ship and crew do. If your Tactical officer fires at the other ship, even without your express orders, you are still responsible! Make sure all officers know this and thus, why discipline and obedience is not only required, but demanded out of them. They must be as reliable to you as the firing button or the deflector dish. Insubordination should releive the character from duty and affect future promotions, because srious consequences of such insubordination might cost the captain his command.

5.2 The Captain must place the safety of the Federation above even his own, that of his ship and crew. This is in fact the responsibility of all Starfleet officers; but the captain, being in command, will be declared sole responsible if a ship or crewmember fail in this regard. So, think twice before starting a battle that would cause death of sentient lifeforms, start a war or end any chance at peaceful contact. Failures like this should cost the captain his command.

5.3 The Captain is responsible for the welfare of his crew, even above that of his ship. Your officer will be all the more ready to obey you if they are confident in your desire and ability to safeguard them. So think twice before sending them on an away mission in unknown territory, exposing them to alien influence or leaving them all in a dangerous situation to chase a lone individual. Such dereliction of duty should also cause loss of command, especially if loss of life and other serious consequences are the result.

5.4 The captain is responsible for the safety of his ship. Any situation or decision that might endanger the ship (and by extension the crew, the mission and the Federation) must be evaluated carefully and other options explored and tried before commitiing to one. Allowing infected crewmembers to beam aboard or unautorized personnel access to the bridge (anyone not a bridge officer or at least Ensign or Federation official) is as much a show of bad judgment as raising shields up in front of another ship and thus provoke them into attacking you... as is staying in a battle instead of disengaging, allowing crewmember to be injured and killed. A captain loosing a ship rarely gets a new command... especially if it is the consequence of bad judgment.

5.5 The captain is responsible for the success of the mission. Getting all the data, properly evaluationg the situation, following the proper steps in the proper order to give out the correct orders and well directing and supporting his officers is what will make the mission a success, your character beleivable... and the story itself beleivable. Luck is often a part of success, but when it alone explains success, it makes for a weak story indeed... and a weak captain character. Starfleet does not leave weak captains in command for long, at least not on important ships or for important missions.


CONCLUSION

Captain ICLY has a lot of serious responsibilties on his shoulders. So don't burden him with responsibilities he doesn't have! For example, Captain ICLY can provisionally give crewman John Doe a higher rank of Ensign to replace a missing bridge officer during a mission, or name one as his missing Exec ; but only Starfleet Command can actually grant the new rank and position. This is also valid for Captain OOCly also (with RP dept acting as Command) if, taking the above example, he has to do it to account for an absent player.

Same goes for any new PC crewmember or any new technology, as RP 101 rules indicates; you can come up with something during the story, but it can only be added permanently to a ship only after Starfleet Command (and RP dept OOCly) approves.

In the same vein, a captain can not always choose his missions or modify their parameters without approval from Starfleet Command (or RP dept in OOCly) although he can to account for attenuating circumstances (in both instances). However, his performance as captain will certainly be judged on how those circumstances justified any serious change.

Captain ICLY has a lot of things on his shoulders; at least as much as Captain OOCLY. And both must assume it all on the shoulders of one single player.

Obviously, not everyone is willing and able to do it. But if you are willing, the hope is that this three-pat guide will help you be able to do it.

Stay tuned for this upcoming RP guide to starship RP in the LF Trek universe!

Stay tuned for this upcoming RP guide to starship RP in the LF Trek universe!

Stay tuned for this upcoming RP guide to starship RP in the LF Trek universe!

Stay tuned for this upcoming RP guide to starship RP in the LF Trek universe!

((Originally Posted by Kheren))

THE SCIENCE OF STAR TREK: ROLEPLAYING A SCIENCE OFFICER




"Spock; give me an update on the dark area ahead."

"No analysis due to insufficient information."

"No speculation, no information, nothing; I've asked you three times for information on that thing and you've been unable to supply it. Insufficient data is not sufficient Mister Spock! You're the science officer you're supposed to have sufficient data all the time!"

"I am well aware of that, Captain. But the computer contains nothing on this phenomenon; it is beyond our experience and the new information is not yet significant."

"You can't tell me what it is, let's use... reverse... logic. Perhaps it can help if you can tell me what it isn't."

- TOS The Immunity Syndrome






Lieutenant Jadzia Dax; Lieutenant-Commander Data; Commander Spock; Captain Janeway; Sub-Commander T'Pol...

As much as the captain is who you seek for guidance and the engineer for practical solutions, these are the kind of characters everyone seeks to find answers. When seeking out new life and new civilizations, they are the ones to make sense out of that phenomena or that alien behavior to allow the crew to save the galaxy.

Roleplaying the Science Officer seems daunting. The Captain-player is the one to move the story along, but the Science Officer is the one that can make it believable or ridiculous, soars or crash and burn. Star Trek is science-fiction: fiction is the part guided by the captain and handled by all the players; but science is the part handed to you, the Science officer. If bad plots and bad characters (fiction) can ruin any good science-fiction story, so will bad science. A huge responsibility indeed!

But, take heart, O player! Playing the Science officer can be made easy and fun and exceptionally rewarding with but a few tips like those below.



I- The Computer is your friend

Everyone on the bridge (and every reader) looks at that thing on the main viewer wondering:what the heck is that? Then your captain turns around and orders you: "Analysis"

Oh man, you think, I'm no science major! What the heck IS that?

You might not sum up the knowledge of Humanity... but you have a mind and a great tool: the computer you're writing with and the internet you are connected to.

Let us say the captain's post only says something like "You see what looks like a hole in space." Fine. Enters search engine. 

1- from the post, some specific terms might pop up in one's mind like ''black hole'' or ''wormhole''. Typing this in the search engine gives you a titanic list of links, one being most often at the top being from the well known and very useful Wikipedia. 

Use this well made general source of information.Then you will have real life hard science facts at your disposal.

And so, in our present example, you would find this:


Black Hole: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole


and this:


 Wormhole: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wormhole



Now enters roleplay: the interaction of players within one story, as opposed to authoring were only one person writes everything (called fan-fic when in someone else's universe like Star Trek). Using the results of your search, you answer your Captain in your very Vulcan or Android or Trill or whatever way:

"The sensors' readout is difficult to interpret at this distance, Sir. It might be a black hole, the result of the deformation of space-time caused by a very compact mass... or a wormhole, a topological feature of space-time that would be, fundamentally, a 'shortcut' through space-time."

Bingo! Now with a simple copy-paste and little rephrasing, you speak believably with factual science and invite the Captain to move the story along and give you more plot clues for you to work with! (get closer? Ask which one could provide a passageway to pursue those Orion kidnappers? Which one could help fight off those pursuing Borg? etc).

And then others like the Engineer (Captain! If it's a black hole and we get closer, we will be crushed!), or the tactical officer (a wormhole might send us away... but where?) or even the Doctor (Sir, we might not survive close proximity to either!) can chime in. It's all believable and fascinating because reality (science) is the basis of imagination (fiction) and makes the story soars like only science fiction can.

2- But then, the crafty (or lazy...) Captain might just turn around and only say: "Let's get closer then... Alright, what are your sensors reading now?"

And you, the crafty (and hardworking!) scientist, search again, closer to the heart of the matter this time by typing: ''hole in space'' and you find this:


http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...erschel-stars/ 


Now ain't that interesting! A brand new real life scientific phenomena to build an even more mysterious and original story! And so you go again with paraphrasing and copy-pasting:

"Sensors indicate the phenomenon is a 0.2-light-year-wide hole made by the fitful birthing process of a nearby stellar embryo, Captain. The protostar is 3.5 times the mass of our sun. It is signaling its near maturity by shooting out super fast columns of gas from its poles that are blasting away any leftover material from the star's formation."

"English, please," now goes the bewildered (and uncooperative...) Captain. 

Ah but you are ready, thanks to your trusty computer and this good article you found:

"The star is launching a bipolar jet at hundreds of kilometers per second that is punching a gigantic hole in the surrounding cloud. Essentially, Sir, these bolts of gas are being shot forward and are sweeping away all the gas and dust, making this empty space we see."

Acting in real life like a scientist using your computer to get proper data and use it to roleplay, the story gets better all because of you.... with but a few easy clicks.


II- Memory Alpha is your friend

You might instead (or also, which is even better!) want to get direct inspiration from Star Trek itself. Great! There is a well respected source for that: Memory Alpha!


http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:Main 


All things Trekky, canon and soft canon, and links to other Trek sources are there available at your fingertips. And it can be used even like the general search above. Following our previous example, you might decide to type ''Star Trek hole in space'' in the general search engine and you will get the link to this Memory Alpha page:

http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Hole_in_space 

Now ain't that interesting too! And there you go, again with a little paraphrasing of a copy-paste, answering your Captain, maybe even before he asks, "Is there anything like this on Starfleet records?"

"Captain; a hole in space was the description given to the phenomenon created by the cosmozoan called Nagilum in the Morgana Quadrant in order to entrap the USS Enterprise-D in 2365. Unlike normal space, the phenomenon was totally devoid of any objects or energy and rendered the Enterprise immobile. There is also an ancient Klingon legend about a "giant black space creature" that was said to ''devour entire vessels."

And again, if the captain shouts back something like: "specify'', you are ready:

"The cosmic being called Nagilum created the hole in order to study the Humans aboard Enterprise. To this end, it also created an image of the USS Yamato to study the Humans' reaction and killed a member of the Enterprise crew in order to understand their reaction to death."

And if the story goes the same way and a solution is asked later in a classic briefing room scene, there you go adding: 

"Captain; in the recorded Enterprise incident I reported back on the bridge, Nagilum eventually released the starship when it became clear that Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the rest of the crew would prefer to destroy the ship rather than remain as prisoners of the creature. Here as then, our good doctor might find us a solution from his own extensive psychology expertise."

There! You do your job convincingly and even directly invite another player to participate (why should you do all the work?) and again help moves the story along believably and entertainingly (Trek readers love references and trivia). Again, only with a few clicks.


III- The Captain is your friend.

In Lotus Fleet RP, the ship's captain is effectively the gamemaster: he knows the entire story, all the details about ship and crew, and meets weekly with other ship captains and the Roleplaying Department administrators to discuss all this and enable the course of the roleplaying gameplay in the Fleet. And he's not a search engine: he's a player just like you.

Since you play together, why not work together?

When that vague, unknown thing appears on the screen in the captain's post and he asks you to tell him what it is ICly (In Character), you should then send him a PM and ask him OOCly (Out Of Character) the very same question!

From him, you will get at least enough info to have your character answer and stir the story where he knows where it is going. In the occurrence where he simply let you improvise or ask you what you would propose it to be, then you have options I and II to help him out. Being the captain doesn't mean he is any more a science major than you are! 

And if you are as helpful OOCly as your character is ICly, be ready for that RP award... or even a real LF award!


IV- The crew is your friend

Roleplaying is collaborative play: all players work together to create the story as it goes along and find fun, satisfaction and creative pride through this interaction between themselves and the story resulting from it. The other players on our starship roleplay count on you to provide the single most defining element of your common fiction: the science part. But that in no way means you have to do it alone!

And what is said for the captain also apply to your crew mates... or even other science officers on other ships! We do have combadges and subspace relays after all to help one another... (in real life, Skype and PM).

And isn't team work the very basis of Star Trek character relationships? And isn't these relationships the basis of Star Trek as a unique science-fiction universe?



A note on Science Fiction and Science Fantasy

Science-Fantasy is when the trappings of technology and science fiction (ray guns, spaceships, aliens, planets etc) are but the backdrop of the story. Star Wars is the best example of this. There is absolutely no real life science holding up, even less used as the subject of the stories. It's all about noble, valorous knights fighting evil and absolutely no different from Japanese samurai movies... except in the looks (lightsabers for katanas, spaceships for horses, aliens for oni, tengu and other Japanese mythological creatures, planets for countryside, blasting Alderaan for the burning of Kyoto, etc). Entertainment is theonly goal.

Science-fiction on the other hand is exactly that: fiction directly imagined and built out of some science principle or concept. Star Trek does not just showcase space battles and devouring aliens just for the fun of it: it takes cosmological concepts like life in the universe (TOS The Immunity Syndrome), ethical ones like animal experimentation (TNG Where silence has lease), psychological ones like the sense of self (VOY Faces), philosophical ones like the defining of Human nature (DS9 pilot), sociological ones like xenophobia (ENT Terra Prime) and a myriad others from all sciences... and built fun and entertaining stories and character interactions through those. The starship is not just a fashion replacement for the horses of the heroes but part of, if not the scientific idea behind the story (ENT pilot and DS9 as a whole) making up the very story itself! (TOS The Ultimate Computer and TNG Emergence being prime examples).

In science-fiction, science is at the heart of the story... and therefore, you, the science officer cares for this heart.

This however doesn't mean it has to be a boring classroom dissertation like telling a story where your starship flies silently inside an alien living machine for an hour and a half! But it does mean that it has at least to make sense! Else you end up being laughed at like telling a story of two starships flying through a black hole (!) to time travel (!!) entering together from opposite sides (!!!) but emerging a quarter of a century apart (!!!!).

Evidently, in science-fiction, you can't have good fiction without good science and vice-versa.

Since making the science as good as the fiction will be your job for the most part, here are some mistakes to avoid:


1- Avoid Treknobabble: it might be fun to hear of transphasic inducers jamming the coil assembly in the dillithium matrix, be it only for the flavor it creates; truth is, all this is just plain gibberish; it is no more valid or useful than the googoogaga people offer children as ''language;'' and as silly and detrimental. In TOS, you never heard any of this from Spock or Scotty or McCoy. Yet stories where good and about science. In TOS ''Tomorrow is Yesterday'' the Enterprise goes back in time by slingshotting accidentally around a ''black star'' to escape its fatal gravity. No babbling here; but they were obviously talking about a neutron star or even a black hole (a term that was not yet into popular language, having been coined the same year in astronomical circles only!). No need to babble to make things sound (and be!) scienty!

Use what your search will give you. It should be more than enough for the geeky science buff reading your post. And it will not just sound right; it will be right. It is hard to take seriously a science character answering his captain saying: ''Gagagoogoo, Sir.''


2- Avoid Pseudo-Science: Star Trek is not imagining something a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away, but an idealized future of our Humanity, in our universe, from what weknow of Life, the Universe and Everything. Is it always right? Certainly not! But that doesn't mean we should refer ourselves to the bad episodes that were oh so wrong! You are a person of quality; so are your readers. Treat them and yourself with respect by doing so with the story.

Taking again the TOS example above, we know for a fact that neutron stars and black holes are powerful gravitational objects out of which we can calculate attaining incredible accelerations along a certain flight trajectory: that is the science part (Voyager I and II probes did exactly that with the giant planets of our solar system to slingshot away to the stars). Time travel out of it is of course a big stretch of the imagination, but that is thefiction part. So are consequences of time travel, the theme of the story. And there you have it: good science-fiction.

When instead you use same known phenomena and pretend ships can fly through it to travel back in time (when we know for a fact that gravity there is infinite = crushed to infinity aseven light can't escape out of it), fiction takes all the place and science is what is slingshotted out at hyperspeed. And there you have bad science-fiction. 

Again, use the computer in front of you and act as a science character: do some basic research and come up with something that will make us think and wonder, not laugh and roll eyes. Not many people today enjoy Captain Video, and those few only for laughing... at the authors. You deserve better.


3- Avoid glaring inconsistencies: Every good imaginary universe has its own rules, internal logic and established canon. Star Trek calls itself science-fiction; all the more important then to have science in this imaginary universe being consistent with both real life science and even more within itself. 

For example, gravitons are real, but chronitons are not. However, both (science and fiction) are present in Trek and usable; but properly. They are not interchangeable words just to sound sciency (see treknobabble above). 

There are imaginary telepathic alien races like Betazoids and Talosians. But if you write-in a Talosian Starfleet officer, readers will pull right in your face General Order 7 (the only death penalty in the Federation!) and the utter impossibility (polite word for ridiculousness) of the character. Trek fans are quite knowledgeable about their imaginary universe; who do you think is most likely to read your story... and reject it if it mocks established facts?

Ask the producers of Enterprise...

Use memory Alpha. Even Star Trek's own inconsistencies are discussed there. Another excellent source about this (although more tech oriented) is Ex-Aestris Scienta:


http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/ 


Quality is easy to achieve with but a few clicks and some reading; and it will be as fun for you as to your readers who will go : ''Wow! What a character! Sure that player-writer knows his stuff and make that story cool! ''


4- Avoid Magic: magic is fine in fantasy; it is in fact expected. But in science-fiction, it always amount to a cheap plot device used by writers who don't know what they're talking about and have no clue how to make a good story out of a believable idea. So they go the lazy way and make things up... inventing miraculous particles or magical phenomena or enchanted tech to solve a problem.

Avoid the cheap, easy way out. Look up the basis of the situation through your engine search of key words and just state them for everyone.(see above example from the TNG episode). Or use simple logic: if slingshotting around a ''black star'' sent you here, recreating the same conditions should send you back (end story) or even further away (to the next story!) and creating tension and drama out of the two believable possibilities.

And remember: you are not alone: you are there to provide data. But everyone is there to provide a solution. Don't propose magical solutions and even more; don't let others do it: use the data to evaluate their idea and offer the scientific rationality to support or reject it. Then it is up to the captain to decide.


Conclusion

All in all, playing a Science Officer does not require you to be a scientist, not even a Lotus Fleet Academy Science graduate. After all, not many RPer playing magic-users went to Harry Potter's school or can actually throw spells...

All you need is your search engine, a few good reference sources and the will to make the heart of a science fiction story like Star Trek beats strong and true and feel fine and fun.




'' Mister Data where are we? ''

'' ... Where no one has gone before. ''

TNG Where No One Has Gone Before

SCIENCE DATA((Originally Posted by Evshell))


Some interesting phenomena for a Science Officer that I may add to over time as I discover more. These are associations between mathematics and nature that could be particularly useful in interstellar exploration.


 Logarithmic spiral : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logarithmic_spiral


: Occurs in nature in varying scopes ranging in size from the Romanesco brocolli sprout to the arms of the Whirlpool Galaxy. A science officer might choose to note this phenomenon to indicate the natural origin of a certain anomaly, being, or galactic object.


 Parker spiral : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_spiral


: The shape of a star's magnetic field, specifically Sol. This affects solar winds, so it would be useful to know whether the shape of a particular star is a Parker Spiral (or to calculate the shape if it is different) if say, you were stranded without a sufficient supply of dilithium or deuterium and needed to build a ship with a solar sail.

((Originally Posted by Kheren))

MORE THAN PEW PEW: ROLEPLAYING A TACTICAL & SECURITY OFFICER

"He has no place here, Picard!"

'' I will not sit at the same table with that! ''

"It is my prerogative to investigate anything that may be relevant to the right of succession. Lieutenant Worf is my chief security officer, his presence is required."

Captain Picard answering Gowron and Duras
- TNG Reunion





Lieutenant-Commander Worf; Lieutenant-Commander Tuvok; Lieutenant Reed; Constable Odo; Ensign Montgommery; Ensign Giotto...

As much as the captain is responsible for the safety of his ship and the welfare of his crew, the chief officer responsible for security and tactical is the one everyone else rely on to escort high ranking officers, check hazardous areas and suggest strategies against that enemy ship... before taking down its engines; the one they all rely on to ''get back home '' from the perils of going where no one has gone before. 

Roleplaying the Tactical/Security Officer seems easy enough. The Captain-player is the one to move the story along and it looks like the Chief tactical officer only has to fire phasers when told to. 

But Star Trek is a morality tale; one that promotes universal peace and understanding even among different sentient species with vastly different cultures. Conflict does happen, but it is always to be resolved before violence erupts; and if it does erupt, to quell it as fast and as painlessly as possible. 

Limiting player's participation to mere fighting scenes that may not even happen once inside the kind of stories Star Trek often proposes would be rather unfair and make play diminished and boring to those wishing to embrace characters like those cited above. 

But, take heart, O player! Playing the Tactical & Security officer can be made rich and fun and exceptionally relevant to any story, even one without any combat, with but a few tips.



I- The Computer is your friend

Everyone on the bridge (and every reader) looks at those three klingon warships on the main viewer, wondering:what are we going to do?*Then your captain turns around and orders: "tactical."

Oh man, you think,*I'm no master tactician! What the heck can WE do?

You might not sum up the genius of Alexander the Great, Ulysses, Napoleon or Admiral Nelson... but you have a mind and a great tool: the computer you're writing with and the internet you are connected to.

Let us say the captain's post only says something like " Three Klingon warships decloak before the ship." Fine. Enter search engine.

From the post, some specific term might pop up in one's mind like '' ambush. '' Typing this in the search engine gives you a titanic list of links, one being most often at the top being from the well known and very useful Wikipedia.*

Use this well made general source of information.Then you will have definitions and even references to real life stories of strategies and tactics at your disposal. Like here:


 Ambush 


And there you find topics like: surviving an ambush, avoiding an ambush and countering an ambush. 

Aha! And now you are an expert tactician knowing exactly how the situation can be faced.

Now enter roleplay: the interaction of players within one story, as opposed to authoring were only one person writes everything (called fan-fic when in someone else's universe like Star Trek). Using the results of your search, you answer your Captain in your very Klingon or Andorian or Trill or whatever way:

" Sir, we were surprised; we have no knowledge of how it was planned or how they will cut us off. Best option: withdraw quickly from the killing zone the way we came in!'' 

Bingo! Now with a simple copy-paste and a little rephrasing, you speak believably with sensible strategic and tactical know-how and invite the Captain to move the story along and give you more plot clues for you to work with! (Are they already encircling? Is one ship closer or farther than the others? Have they locked weapons?).

And then others like the Engineer (Captain! These Vor'cha class battlecruisers are slower than us!), or the science officer (Sir, Starfleet reports the Klingons have broken the Treaty) or even the Doctor ( I know Klingons: they will try their best to board us!) can chime in. It's all believable and fascinating because the adventure is sustained by beleivable action and makes the story soars like only space opera can.

But then, the crafty (or annoying) Captain might just turn around and only say through the NPC helmsman: " They are cutting us off! " and thus nullify your option. But you still have in your found reference another final recommendation to provide as a tactician:

"Then Sir, there is no other option but immediate, positive, and offensive action... and a prayer."

But you, the crafty (and enthusiastic) tactician, search again, closer to the heart of the matter this time by typing: '' naval warfare ambush'' because Trek space combat ressembles most naval warfare... and you find:


http://books.google.ca/books?id=aPK7...hl=fr&ei=PUR1T 


Now ain't that interesting! The explanation on how such an ambush could be built between ships. And so you go again with adapting, paraphrasing and copy-pasting:

" They are taking an inverted crescent-shaped formation; Sir, their strongest ships will be at the sides in an attempt to draw us to the weaker front one and close in to encircle us between all of their Lines of fire. Recommend we move straight at the left one and fire all weapons at the right one to confuse them and escape while they evade our charge."

"These are Klingons: they will pursue," now goes the bewildered (and uncooperative...) Captain.

Ah but you are ready, with a little imagination:

" We will then be facing directly the nearest neutron star, Sir... It's intense radio emissions will disrupt their sensor and target locks... And they will not see us lay torpedoes behind us as mines. ''

Acting out real life strategy using your computer to get proper data and use it to roleplay, the story gets better all because of you.... with but a few easy clicks.



II- Memory Alpha is your friend

You might instead (oralso, which is even better!) want to get direct inspiration from Star Trek itself. Great! There is a well respected source for that:Memory Alpha!


http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Portal:Main*


All things Trekky, canon and soft canon, and links to other Trek sources are there available at your fingertips. And it can be used even like the general search above. 

Let us say you are playing out being emprisonned by mercenaries. You might decide to type '' A Piece of the Action '' in the general search engine, remembering an escape scene in the original Series and you will get the link to this Memory Alpha page:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Piece...riginal_Series) 


reading about the escape scene, you search further into this:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fizzbin#Fizzbin 


Now ain't that interesting too! And there you go, again with a little paraphrasing the scene to offer the option to your captain:

"Sir; since they ae playing poker... how about inviting them to a game of... Fizzbin? "

And again, if the captain whispers back something like: " Fizzbin?'', you are ready:

"Let's say it's... complicated, Sir. But while I distract them, you will have time to sneak behind them... and we'll catch them between us."

And if the story goes the same way and you have to play out the scene, there you go paraphrasing it with your character talking to your jailers:

" Alright gentlemen listen up good: this is real man's game, not for dimwits. Each of us gets six cards, except for the player on the dealer's right, who gets seven. The second card is turned up, except on Tuesdays. Oh you got two jacks, a half-fizzbin! But beware now: a third jack is a shralk and is grounds for disqualification. With two jacks, one wants a king and a deuce, except at night, when one wants a queen and a four... What do you know? A third jack! Now, had a king been dealt instead of a jack, you would get another card, except when it's dark, in which case you'd have to give it back. What you need is to get the top hand, a royal fizzbin, but the odds of getting one are astronomical. Now what are the odds Captain? Oh, heck I dropped that card now, that's a kronk... ''

And then, just like Kirk, Spock and McCoy, you surprise the guards, defeat them and escape!

There! You do your job convincingly and even directly invite another player to participate (why should you do all the work?) and again help moves the story along believably and entertainingly with more than just a fight scene (Trek readers*love*references and trivia). Again, only with a few clicks.



III- The Captain is your friend.

In Lotus Fleet RP, the ship's captain is effectively the gamemaster: he knows the entire story, all the details about ship and crew, and meets weekly with other ship captains and the Roleplaying Department administrators to discuss all this and enable the course of the roleplaying gameplay in the Fleet. And he's not a search engine: he's a player just like you.

Since you play together, why not work together?

When that vague, unknown thing appears on the screen and starts shooting those strange light blobs eating your hull through your shields in the captain's post and he asks you to offer defensive options ICly (In Character), you should then send him a PM and ask him OOCly (Out Of Character) the very same question!

From him, you will get at least enough info to have your character act and move the story where he knows where it is going. In the occurrence where he simply let you improvise or ask you what you would propose it to be, then you have options I and II to help him out. Being the captain doesn't mean he is any master tactician than you are!

And if you are as helpful OOCly as your character is ICly, be ready for that RP award... or even a real LF award!


IV- The crew is your friend

Roleplaying is collaborative play: all players work together to create the story as it goes along and find fun, satisfaction and creative pride through this interaction between themselves and the story resulting from it. The other players on our starship roleplay count on you to provide a defining element of your common adventure: the*action part. But that in no way means you have to do it alone!

And what is said for the captain also apply to your crew mates... or even other security officers on other ships! We do have combadges and subspace relays after all to help one another... (in real life, Skype and PM).

And isn't team work the very basis of Star Trek character relationships? And isn't these relationships the basis of Star Trek as a unique action-adventure universe? And isn't RPdefined as cooperative playing?



A note about battle in Star Trek 

The very name '' Star Trek'' already mark this universe very differently from other Sci-Fi universes named '' Star Wars,'' '' Battlestar Galactica'' or '' Starship Troopers.'' Star Trek is space opera: action-adventure in a Sci-Fi setting; yet, the very opening credits of each and every series are totally devoid of any combat scene whatsoever. 

The message is clear: Star Trek is not about war, fighting, death and destruction; it is about peace, universal friendship, life and building up a better future.

This does not mean that there is no violence or combat in Star Trek: far from it! And you as the chief of security and tactical will be at the heart of it. But it means that, in the Trek universe, the heroes work to avoid it, defuse it or end it in the most humane way possible whenever possible, to transcend destructiveness and killing, fear and hate, with knowledge and rationality, with understanding and empathy.

Only when there is absolutely no other choice will a true Starfleet officer resort to lethal force... and always with regret.

Like the martial art of Aikido proclaims: 

''The goal is not to defeat an enemy, but to be without an enemy.''

And that is your job, Chief! 

When action erupts, you are not there just to destroy that huge space station and the thousands living on it; it is expected of you to find a way to neutralize it's threat and safeguard ship and crew long enough for all the bridge officers (and that includes you!) to find a way to convince those thousands to stop threatening others from that station, or find a way to nullify their threat potential.

Because, like all exemplary Starfleet officers, you also know and beleive in these old proverbs: 

'' Violence is the last word of the imbecile. ''

'' He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword. ''

'' Violence begets violence. ''

'' He who fights and runs away may live to fight another day. ''

This is the mindset you should follow if you wish to play properly a Starfleet chief of tactical and security. But now, since making the action as good as the adventure in the proper mindset will be your job for the most part, here are some tips highly recommended to help you do so:


1- Know Starfleet General Orders:You find them here:



Lotus Fleet Forums 



These are mandatory even above and beyond a captain's orders. Part of your job is to remind them to the captain, as they are all designed with the safety of the Federation, of the ship and of the crew in mind... even to insure security to other species, worlds and cultures!

If the captain violates those, you are bound to obey him no matter what, as he is solely responsible (even of your actions!); but then, you are also bound to tell him that you will enter a formal protest or send a report to Starfleet Command about his actions if you judge these violations will needlessly endanger the ship, the crew or the Federation. This is often the basis of great scenes of character relationships in Trek; but you better know and understand completely and precisely those duties before you start any form of protest! Insubordination is the single greatest danger to ship and crew, especially in a crisis (in the age of sails, sailors were flogged and sometime hanged for this!)

The captain relies on you to keep ship and crew safe. Knowing all the responsibilities of every Starfleet officer is the first step to do this effectively aboard a starship.


2- Know Starfleet Rules of Engagement:You find those here:



Lotus Fleet Forums 



Applying scrupulously those rules will have you know exactly what to recommend to your captain in any space encounter. And it can easily be adapted to away teams or boarding situations as well. These alone are enough to make your character look like a true Starfleet officer instead of a vulgar mercenary or brutish Klingon out for blood.

These should be your main guidelines. Study them, understand them and most of all, apply them!


3- Know ships specs and racial profiles:

The Art of War written by Sun Tzu of Earth millenias ago is mandatory reading for every cadet at Starfleet Academy. It's greatest lesson is this:

'' If you do not know yourself or your enemy, always will you know defeat;
If you know your enemy, you may know defeat as much as victory;
But if you know yourself as well as your enemy, never will you know defeat. ''

Use Memory Alpha to learn about ships, weapons, defenses and space hazards as well as species, hand weapons and planetary hazards, focusing on what is expected or happening in the story. 

Check your NPC security personnel and learn about their innate abilities and how to use them in any given situation: Andorians are born and bred strong, fast and tough warriors with a living sensor array... but they are blind deaf and smelling nothing from behind! But no one is a better expert at survival and combat on a ice planet!

Our RP dept has already built a list of species profile approved for our roleplay. You can use it also for easier reference:



Lotus Fleet Forums 



You should also get all information on your own starship, know its capabilities, its ressources, its layout; then you will be ready when those Klingons board you! The same way, knowing as much as possible about that Vor'cha battlecruiser will offer you tactical opportunites against it that no other characters will. 

Check the logistics section of your ship RP thread, this is where you should find all relevant specific data about your ship. And you can even contribute to it as well, like building up the NPCs under your command in the security dept.

If you need stats about generic ships, again Memory Alpha is useful. And so is this site:


http://techspecs.startrek.acalltodut...ederation.html 



And for interior details:



http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars...ints-main2.php 



4- Know about ship procedures and ressources:

To be a beleivable security chief and have something to do more than just fire weapons, it is important that you easily understands what it means when the captain orders Yellow Alert or Red Alert; what is planned in case of evacuations, medical emergencies or what armament is on board in the armory... and that, on Lotus Fleet ships all having photonic officers on all decks, it is now impossible to have the hologram safeties off!

Some things most important to know:Ship defensive and offensive systems, Armory content, brig installation, operating modes and Emergency operations. You will find those specific to your ship type with the generic ship reference given above. But always adjust them to the specific specs of your LF RP ship (it is good to know that the USS Spectre has a unique camouflage system or that the USS Lotus alone carries transphasic torpedoes!).



5- Know the military & political situation of the Federation: 

As a tactical officer, you have to understand all the risks and consequences when your captain orders you through the Neutral Zone or when you detect a Dominion warship in Federation space. You are the one to remind him of the consequences of his orders, the risks, and propose the best strategies and tactics... or simply to confirm to him that this Dominion warship is illegal!

In short: you have to understand the different situations Starfleet has to face as part of its mandate of preserving the peace and security for all Federation citizens.

These situations can be found here:


Klingon border treaty (might be void with the ''absence'' of the Organians in current RP Timeline)

Lotus Fleet Forums 



Romulan Treaty of the neutral zone (still valid despite the Romulan situation)

Lotus Fleet Forums 



Dominion Surrender

Lotus Fleet Forums 


Cardassian Surrender

Lotus Fleet Forums 



Ban on subspace weapons:

Lotus Fleet Forums 



The Treaty of Algeron regarding the use of cloaking devices:


http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Algeron 


Of course, you don't have to know all of those by heart! As long as you understand what it means globally (no military action in the Organian Zone, no entering Neutral Zone, no Breen, Cardassian or Dominion warship is allowed to those governments, subspace weapons are universally banned, cloaking technology is forbidden to Starfleet), you will know what to say and do. Then, using the above references will give you any detail you need, especially if your captain wants from you options about that Jem'Hadar attack ship on sensors...


6- Security is not just fighting:

As you will find with no 4 above, you have much more to play out than just firing phasers and fighting boarding parties! You are not just a mere soldier but responsible to all security situations and needs aboard a starship and during an away team:here are some examples of things you should play out when the story opens an opportunity:

- Escort dignitaries (wich includes the captain and XO on away missions in hazardous areas)
- Guard prisoners (or plan the guard duty of the brig... or test escape possibilities!)
- Rescue injured (you should be the one running into this plasma fire to save the trapped officer!) 
- Face hazards( extinguish fires, close hatches against hull breaches... and make safety drills!)
- Train the crew (not only security personnel but every officer must be regulalrly tested in shooting skills and hand to hand skills)
Maintain the ship's fighting status (diagnostics of offensive and defensive systems... and conduct simulations for equipement as well as personnel!)
- Study and test weaknesses and improvements to the ship's combat effectiveness (and report to the captain how requesting quantum torps will help you next time you face those Borg!)
- Establish security protocols (how will you respond to a hull breach? A fire or radiation flood? A boarding attack? What is your version of attack pattern Kirk Epsilon? How are prisonners to be handled? Or contanimating risks?)
- Build and command your department (number and commposition of duty shifts; specific duties in different conditions; distribution per deck... even who each they are! (rank, name, species, gender))
- Control ship departemental safety measures(each of the other dept has safety protocols to follow in case of yellow or red alert; know them and check on them or even improve on them! Are those biohazrd materials properly contained? Is residual trillithium from the engine securely disposed of?)

And these are not the only things you can think about and play out! And most can be used to build up good scenes even if there is not even a single fight during the entire story; and anyone of them could be pivotal in the success of the mission.

Don't see your character as just a phaser trigger; play your character as the one most concerned with each and everyone member of your ship being returned home safe and sound, whatever danger you all may face.


7- Act as a bodyguard and a policeman, not as a barbarian or a commando:

Your first job is to be the embodiement of the very Federation: promote peace and security for all, the respect of sentient life and the enforcement of law and order. Your job is not to kill, maim and destroy: it is to protect and to serve.

If the Chief Engineer loses people from failing equipement, you failed because you didn't enforce all safety measures; if the Chief Medical officer is overwhelmed with casualties, you failed because you didn't apply safeguards against incoming hazards; if the Chief of Science falls victim to his own research, you failed because you didn't check if all precautions required were applied; if the First officer or the captain is kidnapped, you failed because you didn't scout the area first; if the ship is caught unprepared into an ambush, you failed because you didn't study the incoming zone beforehand and the possible enemies expected there.

Carrying a big broadsword (a regulation breach by the way) and a TR-116 rifle while sitting at tactical your finger poised over the torpedo firing control is failure if you just wait for a fight instead of preserving ship and crew from danger.

Starfleet is the instrument of Peace and Security for the Federation, a government of hundreds of allied worlds sharing the same ideals of universal brotherhood. You are expected to prevent wars, not start them; and if at war, to end it quickly with as little death and destruction as possible, on both sides! Not pile up trophies and notches on your phaser handle.

And when confrontation is inevitable, the true Starfleet officer follows the wisdom of the old TV series Kung Fu:

'' Avoid rather than check;
Check rather than hurt;
Hurt rather than maim;
Maim rather than kill.
For all life is precious,
And none can be replaced. ''




Conclusion

All in all, playing a Tactical & Security Officer does not require you to be a strategist, not even a Lotus Fleet Academy tactical graduate. After all, not all RPer are policemen or serving in the military.

But it is much more fun than just firing weapons and far from being limited to mere fight scenes. All you need is your search engine, a few good reference sources and the will to make the heart of an action adventure story like Star Trek beats strong and true and feel fine and fun.





'' What did your investigation reveal about the explosion? ''

'' It was a bomb. ''

'' And was YOUR analysis just as... insightful? ''

'' It was a common explosive. ''

'' What type? ''

''Triceron. ''

'' What about the detonator? ''

'' This is pointless! Findings were inconclusive! ''

'' Fortunately OUR investigation was more thorough! ''

Worf questionning Gowron and Duras
TNG Reunion