Tagada

"Re-invigorating" in this case would mean retroactively changing lore to include new (but old), interstellar religions. It would mean retconning the lore about contemporary real-world religions that already exists. These new faiths would need to have a theme and rules that are engaging enough to people to RP about and fleshed out lore that interacts with the story so far. There'd need to be at the very, very least three of them. While a nice thought, it is also very unlikely to happen. I struggle to think of anything short of that, that could accomplish what you want - I feel that more lore added on top of old wouldn't actually solve anything and that changing the corporate outlook vis a vis religions would change the theme of the game itself too much. Perhaps religion should be left as it is - a shared system of cultural references for people who have that aspect of their background in common.

My two cents: We ignore alien religions too. The issue with religion as an element of roleplay is that the Horizon is a workplace - we're roleplaying working in a workplace - that's progressive and like most corporate environments, gives literally no shits about your religion so long as it doesn't become a productivity issue. This is a standard mindset that most of us are intimately familiar with through life and media, one that we adhere to in everyday life (all religious are fine so long as it stays a private subject) which means that in roleplay, religious interaction is more or less naturally restricted to people who share a faith. There's plenty of dominian religious rp going on - between dominians. (I play a dommie chaplain, for reference) There's plenty of tajaran psuedo-religious RP going on - between tajaran faithful. We even have one or two rare catholic priests who actually have one or two classic catholics in the crew as clients. We have a surprising amount of elyrans, most of whom are religious to some degree and RP about it. We have several Scarabs, all of whom also roleplay about their stuff. For me, the issue isn't as much with humans not having a religion, rather that humans aren't a single race bound by a single religion like the aliens. Humanity is very, very varied and because of this, your standard non-elyran, non-dominian, non-scarab has little to no chance of finding someone who has the same religion as they do. So most people just don't bother with it. Which is why it seems as though they have no religion. Because humanity has never had a single unifying faith - and aliens having religions that cover whole races is a touch unrealistic. Add to this that the chaplain role as such is mostly a meme meant to prop up some cult gimmicks and it's not hard to see why there isn't any sort of major spiritual life going on outside the established religions that cover whole populations and that have players playing them.

@GemI was thinking about a 1-2 slot operations role that mining friendly players would take to specialise themselves towards derelict salvage. They could accompany or lead outgoing expeditions, ostensibly trained to handle the dangers of abandoned space structures and ships - A specialist like that is warranted in the setting and would probably be a mining player making use of their knowledge in a legitimate way. My desire, of course, never was to break up the stated dynamic of inter-departmental expeditions teams - it's more a compromise: If the intention is to give miners legitimate access to derelicts via an alt-role, let's make it so that it has an in-game relation to the expedition system. Edit: Following that thought, such a role would satisfy the meta-need of miners to go do derelicts alone on lowpop or when noone is bothered to launch an actual expedition.

The common denominator seems to be the desire for the Operations department to be able to handle organising expeditions on their own without necessarily making shaft miners into generalist-space-adventurers. I believe that it's true: The new setting and new sites calls for the whole job to be handled in a slightly different way. Someone sufficiently dedicated to this should write up a separate suggestion about Operations being expanded to include a new job, specifically for explorers (or some other name), perhaps armed with xenofauna guns or some other minor form of self defence and gear themed towards derelict salvage. As things are set up, the Operations Manager is technically the best suited to call, organise and manage expedition. A simple piece of new SoP could describe their authority in that regard, perhaps even giving them a limited ability to draft engineers, science, etc. I think that miners should neither be qualified to handle derelict salvage as they currently are, nor transformed into a role that is basically the universal EVA hero. Extensions to game mechanics should be motivated by a desired thematic outcome, not the meta of how things actually stand.

I certainly didn't mean to suggest that mining is somehow at fault - the derelicts are there, miners have access and it's perfectly understandable that you like bringing high-tech mechs, guns and interesting objects more than clicking on rocks and then smelting them, even though every single shift is guaranteed to have a actual rock you can go to to actually mine - the excuse of all away sites being derelicts is simply not being true. It's perfectly natural for miners to want to go salvage but it is also very much outside their normal role. There is very little overlap between the skillset required for salvage and mining RL... And I don't believe our spessmen to be any different. If a xenobiologist can't become a xenobotanist overnight, why should a mineral extraction technician suddenly become a trained salvage engineer when they need to? My problem here is that a new title would formalise these kinds of awaysites being mining's job. But they're not, as of yet. Officially, they're there for expeditions. As a point of contention, I'd like to note that both security and engineering have significantly more EVA capable, armed and geared personnel than mining on most shifts - if your experience is that command refuses to launch expeditions, then it is an issue with command not doing what it's supposed to and not at all an issue of mining alt titles. (Obviously, I don't think this discussion applies to ultra-lowpop in any way.)

AFAIK Salvage technician is the commonly accepted English title, with Salvage engineer coming in close second depending on the precise type of salvage being accomplished. (though the in-game implications of that are a little vaster than a simple name). To be honest, the issue is that awaysites - that were originally mapped and added in to provide a destination for mixed-department expedition teams - are now exclusively the purview of mining, since they're there every round and have the means to travel, whereas assembling a team for the Intrepid and exploring requires Command bothering to do so. To my mind, mining should mostly (!) stick to mining and leave salvage to composite teams that include engineers, science, security, etc. The setting is after all, an Expedition ship. Not a salvage barge. Salvage, especially on the kind of awaysites we have, is normally done by trained engineers and scientist, not miners there to grab the shiny. Is the question of whether mining should target non-mining-related awaysites so often really settled to the point where we're ready to consecrate salvage being a part of that role with an alt-title? Would doing this make the intrepid even less relevant? Salvage has never been officially a mining job on the server, as far as I know. (Though correct me if I'm wrong) EDIT: Add to this that proper, mining-type awaysites actually come with pretty much the same loot and share of structures, crates, etc. Specifically put there so that even miners, who are supposed to mine, have something to stumble on and drag home.

I honestly believe that there was no malicious, direct metagaming involved. I'm not accusing people of conspiring, OOC, to ruin my gimmick. I do believe that security didn't differentiate between their OOC suspicion (which I helped generate and draw attention to myself) and their character's IC suspicion (which was based on no real proof apart from "locker = locker"). I believe that someone in the department, at least one person should have thought to actually investigate the issue before jumping to a decision as grave as ignoring a command order without command present. I also think that my character was treated as a distraction, stonewalled and the potential investigation almost completely ignored. If I had to speculate on why, I'd point to general problems with how certain styles security play and mentality currently work on Aurora vis a vis SoP - and that I played a loud, greasy, annoying, clearly antagonistic character they couldn't directly charge, which left them annoyed.

Your post is hostile to the extreme and I'm not sure why since you - apart from refusing a paperwork request outright - weren't even involved in opening the crates, as far as I know. I don't really care whether you reply or not, but I wish to address the misdirection in your reply. 1. So for an hour of stealth-theft antag, not one person in a heavily staffed security thought to ask the AI if they've seen anything suspicious? How is that my fault? 2. Which was before my crates being busted open. 3. "Reasonable cause" implies that you have an actual reason apart from OOC suspicion to open the crates. You had none. You were simply, very, very suspicious for no particular reason. There are a 1000 crates and closet aboard. 4. Yes, you, the players did. The characters may have suspected. Did they act out their suspicion by investigating? No. 5. Why not before? Don't you interrogate the suspect before breaking a stamped command order, perhaps to make sure you should? Because that's what SoP and common sense would suggest. You bring this up several times, even going as far as to say that I'm accusing you of metagaming. I've mentioned this before in the original report, but here it is again: The crates were unwrapped but unopened by the HoS. I'm not talking about the identical sprites for wrapped closets. I'm talking about closets with radically different sprites from the ones you were searching for. I (obviously) in no way accused you of metagaming. The fact that security's internal communication sucked that round is not my fault. If people would have passed essential information - or had asked for it from one another, you would have all known. Did a single person wonder about the fax the HoS sent? Did anyone think to want to verify the command order keeping you from "ripping them open"? No. It's just that none of you seemed to care. - You didn't even check the CE's office, where the stamp was from. You had literally no reason 'not' to send a fax. A single fax asking to confirm my command order would have unveiled the entire trick. It's not derailing - your answer speaks for itself. Someone was talking to you IG, someone was making a legitimate request that fit into your role IC and the situation - but your breakdown is only about what you said, repeated, did. Which is what I said - you ignored me. The same way you've left my own interaction with you out of your "breakdown". Further, I'm not "calling your security play" into question - I wouldn't question that based on such a brief interaction - but I am demonstrating that my attempts as antag to keep my gimmick on track were met with stonewalling. (And actual IC stonewalling, since all I got as an answer were automatic-sounding, official lines of text that some synthetics in security - including you - use for thematic effect.) Again, I'm not sure what I did to you specifically to deserve the kind of tone your posts have - dismissive, hostile and indicative of not having read my complaint fully. If I insulted you, I'm sorry, but I do believe that my complaint raises a legitimate issue with how security reacted that round - and perhaps points at a larger one with respect of SoP as a whole.

I think that it is in bad faith to imply that any antag was "given" 30 minutes of time by a 5-man security team as a result of some sort of team meta decision to go easy. As if giving antags time was part of security's OOC role - as if that time somehow benefited me, the antag. I don't believe that I was "given" anything and I certainly won't thank anyone for waiting before "ripping them apart". My issue is that you did rip them apart, not the time it took you. I in no way implied that. There were plenty of things that security could have done to actually open that cargo with legitimate reasons. From simple asking the extremely helpful unlawed AI who helped me through the process and assisted in the wrapping, to tailing me, doing CSI (I left prints and fibers everywhere), sending a fax requesting help, interrogating the extremely suspicious merchant and assistant that I was trailing around with, in plain sight, investigating the CE's office, where the stamp was from down to simply interrogating my character, the suspected antag. - None of these things were done. I refuse to believe that you believe that "ripping them open" was literally the only option available to security department. You all had suspicion, but none of you had "good reason". That may be irksome but normally, being frustrated isn't an excuse to just say fuck it to your job's IC rules. It's motivation to investigate. I mean that after the HoS confirmed that the crates were not the type that originally contained the stolen weapons, they were looked at again (I forget the officer's name) who called out the same information for a second time on the security comms. You have access to the logs of the round in question, not I. Go look. There were at least five of you - and that was information on an ongoing investigation straight from the HoS. As far as I know, the HoS sent a fax, but it was a simple status report not a call for request, or even asking a confirmation of my "Gear Sample Crate" story. Security could have sent another one. They didn't. It's not pedantic, not completely, not partially - the particular type of lockers that I used was a specific detail mentioned by the HoS - remember, the Gear Samples were supposed to be sealed, and most lockers on station look exactly alike. That information being called out during the search is important. I was obstinate in trying to get you to respect basic paperwork protocol. I was standing a literal tile from your front door. I was non-violent and not charged with anything. You decided to react with violence and ignore me afterwards. You were never forced by anyone to employ violence, nor to ignore me. Dealing with unpleasant people with legitimate requests is also part of security's job. Again, I invite you to check the logs, which will show that you reacting with pre-recorded ZI-text to any question I asked or demand I made. Which brings me to... When I play an antagonist, I usually play them as antagonistic - that is, unpleasant, often aggressive, creepy, dysfunctional or annoying. I consider this to be a roleplay quirk on my part - it is certainly not an excuse for security not to take a legitimate paperwork request into account, especially one that concerns an SCC order. I "honestly" did not want to deal with security walking through my gimmick with jackboots, but here we are. You did not. You got busy for 30 minutes and then said fuck it, and ripped them open. Your words, not mine. If you had followed the paper trail, you would have faxed central for information, interrogated me, interrogated the person I was openly contracting for the shipment, interrogated the AI, checked the CE's office, from where the stamp was from etc, etc. You did none of those things before opening them. To answer your question, me complaint is here because security decided to spare themselves an actual investigation and busted the crates open despite a Command order they had no reason to think fake. Simply because they were suspicious, mostly OOC.

BYOND Key: Tagada Game ID: The round ongoing at 22:45PM CET, 12/06/2022 // The round preceding the round cio-dj8f Player Byond Key/Character name: Fehra Maskini and various members of security Staff involved: Arrow768 and MattAtlas both present during the round, commented on the incident. Reason for complaint: Recieveing the traitor role about 20 minutes into the round, I decided on the classic gimmick involving the theft and smuggling of weapons on board. I knew that there were other traitors on board via AOOC, so I wasn't worried about having to include the whole station. I robbed the crew armoury and the armoury both, taking care to leave at least one set of fingerprints on each site (metal rod in the crew armoury, glass shard in a pile of shards in the armoury. I destroyed the lockers via emitter, repackaged them in a standard closet and a crate, wrapped them in paper. Since security was on blue by then and patrolling, I decided to label both closet and crate as "Gear Samples, n#xxxxxx", meant for SCC Logistics as part of a quality control operation. I quickly forged a Do Not Tamper order, stamped it with the CE's stamp and delivered both officious-looking, labelled crates into the auxiliary hangar, taking care to pass by security twice, nod at patrols I met. (I did two full rounds of the tree in primary) I hung the Do Not Tamper order on the crate. I explained, several times, loudly, on general, that the nature of a Quality Inspection requires the crates to remain sealed until opened by inspection so as to avoid tampering. The HoS (Singh) on duty inspected the closet and crate and allowed them to remain there. Despite this, security remained stationed around my crates before being called away for another traitor. I originally wanted to bribe OE with some operations funding to take them off station and dump them somewhere, but they never arrived so I organised a tense, innunedo-filled meeting with the merchant and his assistant. We secured an agreement but buy the time we arrived, both crate and closet were gone. Security members either didn't know what happened with the them or didn't want to tell. I later learned that both closet and crate were taken to security, unwrapped - the locker and crate confirmed to be other than the gun closets - re-wrapped without being opened. The HoS went to cryogenics. I took specific care, through this incident, to be very, very loud on general and aggressive IC, so as to draw a little security attention to me and my seeming legal deal to ship the crates off station by contracting the merchant. At this point, the warden and remaining security members decided to ignore the stamped orders on the closets and open them anyway. I think Fehra Maskini did the opening, and thus that name is up there. They didn't tell my character that they've opened the crates, but didn't want to charge me either, instead interrogating me and keeping me there. As transfer came about, they let me go saying they had no time and that they were keeping the crates. - Security ignored a command stamped written order not to tamper with the closets, with no command present to authorise them - The HoS confirmed the closets to be not the ones security was looking for - The closets were again confirmed to be not suspicious on the sec comms. -Neither of the containers (standard metal closet and crate) are even similar to the container that security was looking for (two large gun lockers that I took from the crew armoury) -When I asked for any sort of paper trail to prove that security had confiscated items (without charge or reason given) I was laughed off and then neck-grabbed and thrown out of security by the ZI. Excalibur. I attempted to explain that since the parcels they've taken need a paper trail, but was ignored. I understand that security is a hard role, but similar incidents (where an antag gimmick is crossed off as a result of security just ignoring protocol or "following a hunch") have happened often enough recently for me to finally complain about one. The very nature of a paperwork-theft antagonist hinges on the idea that people will play their roles - and respect corporate procedure. I wasn't just collecting stuff all over: I included crew memebers, merchant, etc. I left clues and gave security ample chances and leads on which they could establish probable cause and open the crates - legitimately. Instead one of them said fuck it, they all agreed and broke protocol again. And again. Did you attempt to adminhelp the issue at the time? If so, what was the known action taken by administration/moderation? : Yes I did. Arrow instructed me to make a complaint if I wanted action, since the round was over. Approximate Date/Time: Round ongoing at 22:45PM CET, 12/06/2022

So, I'm Hungarian and this obviously resonates with me because seeing pieces of your own cultural aesthetic in lore is fun. Not quite the balkans, not quite the slav. Here are some remarks: - I don't believe you need to fluff the setting any more. Sometimes a big tree is just a big tree, sometimes lots of rain is just exactly that, lots of water. Our lore is already high-sci-FI enough to be able to take in all sorts of technically impossible things, but that doesn't mean every single planet needs a special, unique, seen-nowhere-else attribute - besides, you've obviously focused on the culture more than the environment to give your write-up flavour. - Perhaps in order to make the idea simpler, you could write the lore so that the colony foundation isn't specifically linked to Poland, but rather some other appropriately fictional regional grouping. (Something along the lines Visegrád Group or V4 RL). People are going keep getting hung up on the idea of this being a polish colony otherwise. - Hungary, Austria and others in the region have a certain wine-growing culture, true, but not anywhere near as distinctive and large as for liquor (Palinka, Vodka, Becherovka, etc... ). Slovakians in particular make several types of tree-sap based popular drinks which would possibly fit with your arboreal theme better. (Ex.: Austrian zweigelt is an objectively /bad/ wine. It's small wonder most countries in the region prefer their vino white and with soda.) - This is a question of personal preference but... the rogatywka already looks weird and retro RL. They're also rarely worn outside official events and are virtually unknown outside poland. Why? Why not a kucsma? Or some other traditional head-dress that people actually still use in the 21th?

BYOND key: Tagada Character names: Youssef Hammadi, Benicia Santistevan, Mawussi Kelakaw, Hayat El Sadaawi and Sigurd Babu are my currently active characters. How long have you been playing on Aurora?: I think my current account started late 2017, after a near year long hiatus. My old account had the key "Anyad" and had played sporadically on Aurora for the better part of two years before. (I had changed accounts because of the length of the hiatus and because I was playing several servers at the time. Nothing shadier than that.) Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: I've been on this server for what seems like a long time and I've never whitelisted for anything - In the olden days, I got my command and antag jollies on bay and used aurora for more relaxed, character centric roleplay. When Bay launched the Torch and I left the server, I never got around to applying for a whitelist here. Since summer is coming and I seem to be in a period of SS13 activity again, I thought this would be a good time as any to try. Aurora has roles (like liaison, consular officer, etc) that I've never tried and am curious about and I do miss certain aspects of command play. Why did you come to Aurora?: Originally because I wanted to find a more receptive, relaxed roleplay environment. Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: Yes. Have you received any administrative actions? And how serious were they? My current account has a rather old warning for launching the tesla without containment. I was actually trying something specific and had reasons for it (it did not lead to disaster in any way), but I received the warning some time after the event and never bothered to appeal. My old, pre-2017 account had none, to my knowledge. Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each. Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: Perhaps because my first and most basic roleplay experiences come from very open, text-based environments (MUDs, MUSHes, etc), I am one one of those people that believe that our roleplay should be more collaborative storytelling than anything else. Our characters are just narrative tools, projections we use to bring about a specific story, trope or message that we enjoy seeing played out. In this perspective, compromise with others is important, as is unsaid (or explicit) OOC cooperation to 'not' break the flow of our overarching story and to find interaction that works well for all of us. Aurora is, of course, not a purely text-based medium. Games like SS13 compound our task by adding mechanics that we have no agency over, yet directly affect our characters - providing a thematic/narrative frame into which we insert those stories. What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, in-game?: The most important, fundamental OOC purpose of all Heads of Staff is communication. They are meant to serve as hubs of information, players who have the most access and oversight into what is actually happening on board and are thus better qualified to coordinate activity. Without their input and direction, tasks and emergent IC problems are often resolved ad hoc, on an individual basis and make the round's story confusing and segmented for the players and observers. Aside from this, in a very simplistic sense, Heads of Staff carry the OOC responsibility of acting out IC reactions to player activity from the setting itself, helping to establish the frame I've mentioned in my answer to the previous question. What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Carrying a whitelist means that the player in question is officially deemed suitable for playing a particular role with additional challenges (like OOC responsibility). A whitelisted player has the natural responsibility to continue living up to that standard, so as to serve as an example to others who want to whitelist. Could you give us the gist of what is currently happening in Tau Ceti and how it affected your character and their career? The current, worsening Phoron shortage has rendered whole swathes of corporate infrastructure non-viable across Tau Ceti. Energy-generation specialists are in high demand as almost all interests seek to further streamline and optimize their phoron consumption and secure favourable deals with Nanotrasen extraction subsidiaries. Price variation is near an all time high and some days, segments of the system market seem on the verge of collapsing on themselves despite reassuring corporate market protection efforts. Karim Golshan-Assadi knows that the best tools are forged from the raw matter of chaos, financial, political, societal. Ever on the lookout for talent to add to the engineering legions of Hephaestus (and thus advance his own standing) he rejoices at a posting that allows him to fish from troubled waters. Irene Nagymarosi was only recently dragged from the quiet, relatively low-demand work of coordinating an alternative energy generation research team and assigned to Tau Ceti as reserve command. Having been a vocal advocate of implementing massive phoron-less power supplies corporation-wide, she feels that the current crisis is just another confirmation of humanity's fatal dependency on the miracle element. She resents her position, but is determined to make the best of the shifting situation through her expertise and other ways that present themselves. What roles do you plan on playing after the application is accepted? Corporate Liaison for Hephaestus and probably a Chief Engineer (although I don't think we actually need another one right now). I will possibly try other roles in the mid-to-far future. Characters you intend to use for command or have created for command. Include the job they will be taking.: I've oft said that Youssef Hammadi won't ever get to command. He is an excellent engineer and coordinates well, but is mistrustful of security and is rather foul mouthed. If you think he would nevertheless make a CE worth playing and can be bothered to say it, do. I'm taking opinions. Otherwise: - Karim Golshan-Assadi (Heph Liasion) - Irene Nagymarosi (Chief engineer) How would you rate your own roleplaying?: I'm an enthusiastic roleplayer and have roleplayed as a hobby for rather long time, both on and offline, on a myriad supports. I believe that when not otherwise motivated, I am a fair roleplayer with plenty of experience, used to having to tell coherent, enjoyable stories and fill out blanks on the fly. Do you understand your whitelist is not permanent, and may be stripped following continuous administrative action? Of course. Have you familiarize yourself with the wiki pages for the command roles? Yes. Extra notes: I've always main'd engineering on any server I've been on and have gone through several characters in that department on Aurora. I would like to reassure anyone who needs it that I regularly play other roles, other departments and am not in any way limited to engineering as a wheelhouse. It is however what I have the most game knowledge about.

Reporting Personnel: Youssef Hammadi Job Title of Reporting Personnel: Station Engineer Game ID: Personnel Involved: Youssef Hammadi, Station engineer - Witness / Imran Zadeh, Chief Engineer - Witness / Sreznai Guwan, Drill Technician - Offender Secondary Witnesses: Numerous colleagues witnessed inter-departmental chatter about the nature of the incident on general. Time of Incident: x Real Time: Approx. 21:30-22:00 CET Location of Incident: Library, Exterior zone - Interstitial exterior access Nature of Incident: [ ] - Workplace Hazard [ x] - Accident/Injury [ ] - Destruction of Property [ x] - Neglect of Duty [ x] - Harassment [ ] - Assault [ ] - Misconduct [ ] - Other _____ (Place an x in the box that applies. If other, replace line and specify.) Overview of the Incident: Noticed an atmospheric alarm in the Library. Informed engineering - the technician on monitoring was absent for a few minutes. Prepared access, cordoned off the zone. Upon entry, noticed that the library main room was completely voided. Cursory survey of adjacent zones turned up no other breaches to further contain, active or otherwise. Upon inspection of the damaged area, two large holes in the ceiling became apparent. C.E. arrived and joined the inspection. I left for the interstitial level to survey the damage from higher up. Exiting interstitial exterior access, I immediately noticed two standard mining drills secured onto the reinforced bulkhead above the Library. They had exposed an approximately 18 square meter section of reinforced roofing, clearing it from ambient dust and had drilled two large holes responsible for the breach. Upon closer observation, it became clear that the breaches were created as the drills were dropped, then abandoned on site (it is highly doubtful any minerals were extracted from a hole into the library). Called the issue out to the drill technician, who retorted that they had dropped the drills some time before and had informed no-one of having breached the library roof. They then called into question my assessment, asserting that they had seen no sign that they had dropped drills on the library roof. (This seemed doubtful, as the drills were not only pointlessly unproductive while set up over holes in the roof, but had also uncovered a large patch of reinforced plating upon drillfall.) Informing the department, I received instructions to photograph the damaged roofing and proceed with repairs and complete an assessment of damage form. Repairs were swiftly completed and the drilling equipment was deposited on the interstitial atmospherics pipeline so that mining would have no issue finding it. C.E. finished re-pressurization approximately 10 minutes after engineering was alerted to the breach. At the time of my departure from the surface, no mining staff had arrived to recover them. Upon return to my department, I was instructed to prepare an inter-departmental IR form. Submitted Evidence: Did you report it to a Head of Staff or a superior? If so, who? If not, why?: Yes. Actions taken: Repairs and re-pressurization, IR form Additional Notes: I was instructed to file this inter-departmental IR by duly appointed command, following the incident.

Yes, I agree completely - the worst engineering rounds are the ones with six-seven people in the department and not a word on the channel - despite there being a crisis or work to do. I generally believe that it's the CE's role (should there be one, anyway) to stimulate this side of the work, with roll-calls, reminders and questions like "What exactly are you doing 'right now'?". If the CE can't precisely tell what everyone is/should be doing at any given moment, he's not paying enough attention to his department. (although even without command, an engineer's first instinct should be to Inform, Share and Report anyway). Much more than literally any other department (save for perhaps security which a whole different bag of communication patterns) engineering needs to know what engineering is doing, otherwise it devolves into a handful of assistants with wrenches randomly fixing (or not) the issue. Aurora is actually good at this... We've had bad periods for engineering, but it's never completely frozen in. Of course, stopping to type information in the middle of a fight is suicide. ? As for assistants, my methodology is generally picking one or two and using them as my hands. Hammadi toddles around comfortably with a cup of coffee and a smoke (both hands taken) and narrates what the apprentices are doing for him in real time. He follows them around at a leisurely pace as they do literally everything his own hands would have done and explains the system in a steady stream of information. It works well because the apprentice can take as much time as they need, "alone" but accompanied and it gives everyone a chance to voice their questions and such in real time - as they pop up during whatever it is he's watching them do, instead of having to remember what it was that they're still unclear about later on. Just telling an apprentice to "do a thing" and letting them fend for themselves is how you get grown-ass engineers not understanding what the scrubber loop does, why the circulatory pump is important or how to calculate pressure during a burn. (if the apprentice doesn't just give up outright in the face of indifference). As an aside, I've always roleplayed that the duty to train and teach apprentices is literally in our engineering contracts (much like in the real world, where many companies that go through a 'lot' of interns have similar provisions for certain employees). It makes sense to me, but it would be nice to see it writ down somewhere, officially.

That's what I get for trusting autocorrect to run with it. Thank you. Number 12 is one of the more important ones - I generally make them do literally everything, again and again because that's how you create reflexes. It's why more experienced engineers do things so much faster: They don't need to think about what they're doing, at least for the basic stuff. I do think people get that rule though 'and' apply it. Look around - We're currently living a "Golden Age of Engineering" thanks to enough people putting in the effort - the department is almost always staffed and our engineering roster actually understands what they're working with. Many of them were apprentices first.