1 dismissal New occupation suggestion. "Officer of the watch."

[Kelnor]

What do you guys think of making a new position. "Officer of the Watch"

In Navy's (and merchant marines) there's a position referred to as "Officer of the Watch" It's basically a Captain but just for the "watch" (read shift) the person isn't a Captain.

In real life it's generally it will be held by an Officer. Any rank can get it. They temporarily have the authority of the Captain (in matters requiring immediate attention, they wouldn't be able to perform a Captain's mast or make a significant decision.)

My in game suggestion would be to basically make it open to any existing command and maybe bridge crew that want their character to get a chance in the big seat. ICly we could put a limits like "Has to have held the command or bridge crew position for X months/years or whatever, not code forced but admin or mod enforced. I'd suggest requiring the player to have the command whitelist in the case of a bridge crew however.

A Captain can co-exist with them, and override their orders, relieve them, or just use this as an opportunity to mentor at the Captain's discretion.

I would disable this role (or make it part of the narrative) for Events since OOW is meant to be an off time kind of thing, especially for events the Command team would KNOW some shit is about to go down.

It could be used for events that surprised the crew however, possibly the Captain showing up mid round spawned by Admins.

 

Edit: Could also be a random game mode (ghost spawner maybe?) or limited to when there is no captain queued or currently active. After all the Captain already has little to do most of the time.

Edited December 16, 2022 by Kelnor

[Faye <3]

Not a fan. We're not a navy. If a captain is needed and there is no captain, we have acting captaincy already. As well, it's too er, larpy.

[The7thLain]

This sounds a bit redundant. Most of what is here aside from the irl-tied fluff can be accomplished by the XO or someone assuming an Acting Captainship.

[Fluffy]

ngl I would not mind a specific role, for each head/department + captain, to let people train (while backed by an already experienced head) in command duties or captainship

 

basically, an intern/apprentice/cadet slot but for command roles, a slight and more broad variation of kel's proposal, would definitely help out in practicing for the players applying (or considering to apply for) the command whitelist to have direct mentorship and see if they like the role, and for those who already have it and other characters in other departments that they would like to verify if they have all the hang of the department before making a head of a specific department

[Cnaym]

Not a fan of having a captain "just in case" instead of using the current acting captain system tbh. We got a none whitelisted command learner role with the bridge crew and interim positions for people wanting to get their name out there. Bridge crew is already in a weird spot of everything from young pilot, to bridge guard marine to "I am boss till anyone notices I cannot do anything without a command member around.", which may need some clearing up before thinking about changing or adding established systems imho.

[Fluffy]

31 minutes ago, Cnaym said:

interim positions for people wanting to get their name out there

indeed, but if you have an interim, which only happens when the situation goes bad usually btw, you don't have the experienced head of the same department mentoring you, which is the value i was proposing, and you can't focus much on doing the work of a head either, as you also have to cover whatever duty you had in your previous slot (especially in sec if you are an officer, assuming all departments equally filled to capacity), so that's the best value i can see that implements in a modified way the proposal, as you save the slot for someone that will do the job you was supposed to do at roundstart, have a mentor on hand, can focus on the mentorship and all the positive stuffs you can think of, of course this slot would be antag prevented (on ship antags), not available if there's not a head, and only applicable to departments that have at any given moment a head, you won't be another commander alone bypassing the whitelist, and mechanically you are limited to the selected department head access

that was my idea on how to modify the proposal, now slightly expanded with some thoughts on it more

[KingOfThePing]

No thanks, as for the reasons Faye said

[Dreamix]

I'd love it, but...

- we are not ready for this much larp yet (some day though...)
- I do not want to see bridge crew assuming anything even remotely close to command (and it is not a command learner role anymore, anyways)
- and we already have acting captainship for situations where we need a captain but do not have one

Edited December 16, 2022 by Dreamix

[Cnaym]

Just to clear up my use of command learner role. There is nobody going to teach ICly what is mostly an OOC thing, mixed with a fitting character. Learner role for command purely meant that you get to listen in and toss some suggestions into the command channel to get a feel of how it is played by people who got their whitelist.

As for interim, just ask for it. If you got a big enough department command usually does not mind having someone step up to handle it for them.

[Kelnor]

21 hours ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

Not a fan. We're not a navy. If a captain is needed and there is no captain, we have acting captaincy already. As well, it's too er, larpy.

OOW isn't Navy. Merchant Marine and exploration vessels do it too because ships need chain of command whether civvie or not, but other people have made a lot of other good points against it.

[Gem]

if you want to be a captain, play captain. otherwise, become interim when and if its necessary.

voting for dismissal.

[Zulu0009]

A lack of chain of command is almost never an issue on the Horizon. If anything, too much chain of command can be problematic sometimes. Bridge Crew is already a good middle point between Command and the crew, where if I'm alone as BC on the bridge, I will manage it accordingly and operate with a minor degree of authority above the ship, but if a Command member arrives, I yield that degree of authority back to them. A lone BC is essentially an OOW (I cannot find a single definition for OOW tbh) until a Captain or XO appears: they don't get to order everyone around, but they fly the ship, maintain communications with other vessels and quite literally keep a watch on the Bridge. What the suggestion presents is essentially the acting captaincy we already have, which works well and gives people a chance to be in command if need be. I also would tend to agree that military or naval terms don't quite match with the vibe of Aurora, we're more like Star Trek - I mean, we literally stole their medicine names. If you'd like to play the vibe of OOW, I'd recommend a Bridge Crewman with a military origin, like my Francisco Vazquez, San Colettian Civil Guardsman, or perhaps a Gadpathurian.

Edited December 17, 2022 by Zulu0009