Archive through April 20, 2011

Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Captain's Log: New Fiction: Federation Police Cutter -- Crew Roster: Archive through April 20, 2011
By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 05:02 pm: Edit

Okay, then, here's the updated crew roster. I added a colunm for Duty Station, where the person normally works when the ship is on routine patrol.

#Battle StationDuty StationRankOfficersEnlisted
1BridgeBridgeLtCmdrCommander
2Emer-BridgeBridgeLtExec Officer
3BridgeBridgeLtOperations Officer
4BridgeBridgeChief Ops Specialist - Helm
5AuxConBridgePO2 Ops Specialist - Helm
6Emer-BridgeBridgePO3 Ops Specialist - Helm
7BridgeBridgePO1 Ops Specialist - Nav
8AuxConBridgePO2 Ops Specialist - Nav
9Emer-BridgeBridgePO3 Ops Specialist - Nav
10Transporter # 1Transporter # 1PO1 Transporter Tech
11Transporter # 2Transporter # 1PO2 Transporter Tech
12Transporter # 1Transporter # 1PO3 Transporter Tech
13TractorTractorPO2 Tractor Tech
14TractorTractorPO3 Tractor Tech
15Any BridgeAny BridgeE-3 Crewman - Operations
16Any BridgeAny BridgeE-3 Crewman - Operations
17AuxConAuxConLt-jgIntel Officer
18BridgeAuxConPO1 Signalman/Crypto Tech
19AuxConAuxConPO3 Signalman
20Emer-BridgeAuxConPO3 Signalman
21BridgeAuxConPO1Sensor/Scanner operator
22AuxConAuxConPO2Sensor/Scanner operator
23Emer-BridgeAuxConPO3 Sensor/Scanner operator
24AnyOfficePO1 Yeoman/Legalman
25AnyOffice / CargoPO2 Storekeeper
26Any Bridge / BPAny BridgeE-3 Crewman - Intel
27Any Bridge / BPAny BridgeE-3 Crewman - Intel
28LabLabLt-jgScience Officer
29LabLabPO1 Forensics Tech
30LabLabPO2 Lab Tech
31LabLabPO2 Computer Operations Tech
32LabLabE-3 Crewman - Science
33BridgeAny WeaponLt-jgWeapons Officer
34Any WeaponAny WeaponChief Chief Gunner's Mate
35Phaser #1Phaser #3PO3 Gunner's Mate - Phaser
36Phaser #2Phaser #3PO3 Gunner's Mate - Phaser
37Phaser #3Phaser #3PO1 Gunner's Mate - Phaser
38PhotonPhotonPO2 Gunner's Mate - Torpedo
39Phaser #1Phaser #3PO3 Fire Control Tech
40Phaser #2Phaser #3PO3 Fire Control Tech
41Phaser #3Phaser #3PO1 Fire Control Tech
42PhotonPhotonPO2 Fire Control Tech
43T-BombT-BombPO3 Ordnanceman
44PhotonPhotonE-3 Crewman - Weapons
45PhotonPhotonE-3 Crewman - Weapons
46Emer-BridgeEngineeringLtChief Engineer
47AuxConEngineeringLt-jgAssistant Engineer
48WarpWarpChief Warpdrive Reactor Chief
49L-WarpL-WarpPO1Warpdrive Reactor Tech
50L-WarpL-WarpPO2 Warpdrive Reactor Tech
51R-WarpR-WarpPO2 Warpdrive Reactor Tech
52R-WarpR-WarpPO2 Warpdrive Reactor Tech
53ImpulseImpulsePO1 Impulse Drive Tech
54ImpulseImpulsePO2 Impulse Drive Tech
55APRAPRPO1 Auxiliary Reactor Tech
56APRAPRPO2 Auxiliary Reactor Tech
57DamConMaintenancePO1Boatswain's Mate
58DamConMaintenancePO2 Machinist Mate
59DamConMaintenancePO2 Data Systems Tech
60DamConMaintenancePO2 Hull Maintenance Tech
61DamConMaintenancePO2 Electrician
62DamConImpulsePO3Impulse Drive Tech
63DamConAPRPO3Auxiliary Reactor Tech
64DamConMaintenanceE-3 Crewman - Maintenance
65DamConMaintenanceE-3 Crewman - Maintenance
66Boarding PartyOfficeLt-jgTactical Officer
67BP # 1OfficePO1 Master at Arms
68BP # 1MaintenancePO2 Boatswain's Mate
69BP # 1MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
70BP # 1MaintenanceE-3 Crewman - Tactical
71BP # 2ArmoreryPO2 Armorer
72BP # 2MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
73BP # 2MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
74BP # 2MaintenanceE-3 Crewman - Tactical
75BP # 3OfficePO2 Master at Arms
76BP # 3MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
77BP # 3MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
78BP # 3MaintenanceE-3 Crewman - Tactical
79BP # 4ArmoreryPO2 Personal Equipment Tech
80BP # 4MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
81BP # 4MaintenancePO3 Boatswain's Mate
82BP # 4MaintenanceE-3 Crewman - Tactical
83Sick BaySick BayLtDoctor / Surgeon
84Sick BaySick BayLt-jgDoctor / Nurse
85Sick Bay / BPSick BayPO1 Corpsman
86Sick Bay / BPSick BayPO2 Corpsman
87AnyAnyPO3 Messmate
88AnyAnyPO3 Messmate
89ShuttleShuttle DeckLt-jgChief Shuttle Pilot
90ShuttleShuttle DeckCWOShuttle Pilot
91Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckChief Shuttle Maintenance Chief
92Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO1 Shuttle Engine Tech
93Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO2 Shuttle Engine Tech
94Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO2 Shuttle Electrician
95Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO3 Shuttle Ordnanceman
96Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO3 Shuttle Systems Tech
97Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO3 Shuttle Structural Tech
98Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckPO3 Shuttle Fuels Specialist
99Shuttle DeckShuttle DeckE-3 Crewman - Shuttle Deckcrew
100DroneDronePO1 Gunner's Mate - Drone
101DroneDronePO2 Fire Control Tech - Drone
102DroneDronePO3 Ordnanceman
103Ph-3Ph-3PO2 Gunner's Mate - Phaser
104Ph-3Ph-3PO2 Fire Control Tech
105Ph-3Ph-3E-3 Crewman - Weapons


More better now?? Thanks for all the inputs so far.


Garth L. Getgen

By George Duffy (Sentinal) on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 06:45 pm: Edit

I know you mentioned that crewman #43 is suppose to work in transporter #2 and would deploy the t-bomb. So shouldn't his battle/duty station be "Transporter #2" or even "Trans. #2/Drone" and his enlisted posting be "Ordnanceman/T-bomb"

RE: Cargo master - I was thinking along the lines that since this is a police ship and part of their job is to apprehend smugglers or contraband that maybe part of the cargo in a ship, that this is what the cargo boxes were used for. The purpose to store illegal goods, when seizing an entire ship is not warranted or maybe even difficult due to circumstances. That's why I suggested one of the Master-at-Arms. But if that is not the case...

By George Duffy (Sentinal) on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 07:08 pm: Edit

Another point, you have all of the phaser crew techs (#'s 35-37, 39-41) all stationed at Phaser #3, I'm assuming that they are really stationed at one of the phaser control stations on three separate shifts...

Or are they really the WoP All-Stars and Phaser #3 is where they hang out to play Texas Hold-Em :)

[EDIT: I believe there are 3-4 weapon control stations on the ship. Phasers #1 and 2, Photon control room, 360* Phaser #3 (plus the drone rack after the refit), Phasers #4 and 5]

By Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 09:17 pm: Edit

AFAIK, the cargo boxes are there for all kinds of jobs. Transporting supplies to colonies in distress, can be turned into temporary accomodation for rescuees or prisoners, probably storing seized contraband sometimes too. It's a utility space for whatever the crew need it to be, so presumably the cargo area and its contents is going to be the responsibility of whoever is in charge of what it's being used for at the moment.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 10:03 pm: Edit

I think every ship has cargo space that are not represented as cargo boxes but are part of "Hull".

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, April 18, 2011 - 10:18 pm: Edit

George,

Yes, the Phaser # 3 (360) is normally manned 24/7, three shifts per day. If they go to Red Alert during swing or mid shift, then the two that are slated to go to Phaser # 3 go to one of the other Phasers instead. Otherwise you'd have to wait for your releif to show up, then run from Deck Seven aft to Deck Four forward. Same with Helm & Nav working the Bridge and Sensors & Comms in AuxCon.

RE: T-Bomb guy ... sure, I can note that for clarification.

RE: Cargo bay ... on the deck plans, it's a 10x20 meter hold on Deck Seven (overbay into Deck Six. That makes it, as required by SFB rules, large enough to house four shuttlecraft. (Actually, I found I can cram a fifth one in there, but it's so tight you need a shoehorn and a can opener to get them back out.) There's other storage spaces all over the ship, of course.

As to seized cargo, I hadn't thought about it, but I would presume a two-man rule applies. The Storekeeper and a Master-at-Arms take inventory together, for legal reasons.

~~~~~~~

Thinking about my "new" Intel Crewman # 27 ... I'm thinking I might shift him to Crewman - Science and put both of them to Lab / BP duty.

I put the Yeoman and Storekeeper under Intel Officer just to organize the list, but in reality they should probably fall directly under the Exec Officer.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 08:39 am: Edit

Garth,

Your "senior Staff" seems to be distributed in an "odd" way. Perhaps its just my way of looking at things, but you have the following officers:

# Battle Station Duty Station Rank Officers
1 Bridge Bridge LtCmdr Commander
2 Emer-Bridge Bridge Lt Exec Officer
3 Bridge Bridge Lt Operations Officer
17 AuxCon AuxCon Lt-jg Intel Officer
28LabLabLt-JgScience Officer
33 Bridge Any Weapon Lt-jg Weapons Officer
46 Emer-Bridge Engineering Lt Chief Engineer
47 AuxCon Engineering Lt-jg Assistant Engineer
66 Boarding Party OfficeLt-Jg Tactical Officer
83Sick baySick Bay Lt Doctor / Surgeon
84 Sick Bay Sick Bay Lt-jg Doctor / Nurse
89 Shuttle Shuttle Deck Lt-jg Chief Shuttle Pilot


You have (What I would have called) Department Heads, mostly being Lt-Jg., and several more senior officers without such titles.

in the Star Trek Canon sources, the "Science Officer" has been first Officer/Exec. (and some didnt even have a named Science Officer).

Other sources had a "communications officer" but others did not, the functions being filled (variously) by Helm, Navigation, Operations or the tactical officer.

In others, the first officer/Exec led the away team missions, while others used the captain in every situation off the ship.

I wonder if it might not be appropriate to assign department head status to the rank of Lt, and assistant department head to the Lt-JG ranks (in as far as it is possible)?

Say you make the Exec the Tactical Officer, the Operations Officer The Intel guy, and the Science

Officer a Lt slot with a Lt-Jg assistant?

By John Sickels (Johnsickels) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 11:53 am: Edit

Not all Federation XOs are science officers. Number One was the helmsman.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 12:06 pm: Edit

Jeff,

I'm not sure I'm tracking. On one hand it looks like you're asking for more officers, but on the other asking for fewer.

One thing to consider is I am required to have three command positions, one for each control center during combat: Commander, Exec, & Ops. Ergo, the Exec can't be the Tac Officer leading boarding party actions.

I'm not sure I explained the organization tree very well. Let's see is I can do it this way:

- Commander
-- Exec Officer
--- Operations Officer
---- Intelligence Officer
---- Science Officer
--- Weapons Officer
--- Tactical Officer
--- Chief Engineer
---- Assistant Engineer
--- Chief Shuttlecraft Pilot
---- Shuttlecraft Pilot
-- Ship's Surgeon
--- Physician's Assistant or Registered Nurse

The Exec and the Doctor are on nearly equal footing.
The Division Heads under the Exec are: Ops, Engineer, and Shuttle Pilot. Also, Weapons and Tactical.
However, depending on the rank/experience of the different officers, the Commander may decide to move Tactical under Weapons, or he may move Weapons or Tactical or even both under Ops.
Or, on the flip side, he might bump Intel and/or Science out to be equal to Ops.
No officer will be more than three levels below the Commander, so he can't put Weapons under Ops and then put Tactical under Weapons. That can and does happen on larger ships, but not one this small.
Also, a command-line officer should not be placed under a non-line officer. It can happen but should be avoided if possible.

Does that help? Or is it clear as mud?


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 01:27 pm: Edit

Actually pretty rare for the XO to be anything other than XO. Remember that TV shows have a limited number of regular characters, and are written by people who know nothing about how real ships work.

I would not consider shuttle pilots a department that needs a department head. More likely shuttles (pilot, crew, techs) are a division, a sub-part of a department.

By A. David Merritt (Adm) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 01:46 pm: Edit

I would add that from the TV show Spock was the third XO, Number One from "The Menagerie" (Played by the actress that was Nurse Chaple in the rest of the series), and Gary Mitchel in the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before". Number one did not appear to have any other duties beyond XO, and Gary Mitchel was a Navigator.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 01:56 pm: Edit

In ST:TMP, Decker to the possition of XO and only did XO things (which was to needle Kirk in this instance. :) )

I think this best illustrates SFU XO's (in Star Trek anyway).

Question though, is 1st Officer alway the XO or might a ship have both? Do ships always have an XO?

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 03:10 pm: Edit

Opps, I got Divisions and Departments switched around. My wife will kick my butt for that one.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought First Officer and Exec Officer (XO) were interchangable terms. I should just go ask the Navy gal I sleep with. ;-)

SVC: I see your point about shuttle ops falling under another Department, but which one? Operations or Tactical? Either makes sense, but both are already pretty busy with their own jobs.

Speaking of busy, I made a lot of progress with stage two of my project -- the FF / FFG crew list.


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 03:34 pm: Edit

Well, Klingons have three major departments (weapons, engineering, navigtion) and three minor ones (marines, science-medical, commo).

Think of a cruiser as a battalion, with three companies/departments (tank, artillery, infantry) and three specialist support platoons/divisions (medical, combat engineers, mortars).

First officer is the old term, XO is more modern but the same thing.

And Garth, we all know you cannot get any sleep with a redhead.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 05:48 pm: Edit

Garth,

No. You are not understanding me.

No change to the number of officers.

I am asking / suggesting that each Lt head a department, excluding the X.O.

for example:

# Battle Station Duty Station Rank Officers
1 Bridge Bridge LtCmdr Commander
2 Emer-Bridge Bridge Lt Exec Officer
3 Bridge Bridge Lt Operations Officer & Science Officer
17 AuxCon AuxCon Lt Intel Officer & Weapons Officer
28 Lab Lab Lt-Jg Assistant Science Officer
33 Bridge Any Weapon Lt-jgAssistant Weapons Officer
46 Emer-Bridge Engineering Lt Chief Engineer
47 AuxCon Engineering Lt-jg Assistant Engineer & Assistant Operations Officer
66 Boarding Party Office Lt-Jg Tactical Officer & Assistant Intel Officer
83 Sick bay Sick Bay Lt Doctor / Surgeon
84 Sick Bay Sick Bay Lt-jg Doctor / Nurse
89 Shuttle Shuttle Deck Lt-jg Chief Shuttle Pilot


I changed #17 from Lt-JG to Lt., and tried assign a Lt-jg to each department head (Intel, Science, Engineering, Tactical, Operations) so that there was a head, and an assistant in each dept.

In essence, its a A team B team structure.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - 09:43 pm: Edit

Jeff, At first glance, I don't like it. I don't see why, for example, the Weapons division should fall under the Intel department.

But I'm not the final say. If this goes to print, it's up to SVC. Example, what I call the Ops Officer, he calls the Navigator. Either title, I kind of want that guy to be third in line of command, then the Weapons officer and Engineer fourth and fifth.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 08:12 am: Edit

Garth,

It was meant to illustrate the concept, that each "department" has a head and an assistant... think of it as a chain of command so that if the senior officer were to be injured or die, there is a replacement available who is versed in the details of the job.

Just a suggestion, I'm sure you and SVC will decide for the best.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 08:54 am: Edit

Jeff,

I've been mulling it over. If you go strictly by percentages of officers in the fleet by rank, I should have a more even split of O1/O2 to O3. But then again, the number crunching says I should have another O4. I do not want the Exec to be same rank as the Ship's Captain.

Another item I factored into the making of the roster is the Frigate officers as listed in GURPS: Module Prime Alpha. That says an FF has one O5, one O4, four O3 and eleven O2/O1. I'm trying to keep the same split. Still, I could be convinced to promote one of the LT-jg (Weapons or Tactical, but possibly Intel) to full LT.

By the way, Jeff, I meant to ask you what your background is? You do seem to know a fair amount about the Navy, or at least the military in general.

I'm a retired 26-year USAF Master Sgt (was a weather forecaster by training), and my wife is a retired 23-year Navy Yeoman.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 09:43 am: Edit

Garth,

I suspect it depends on actual time frame.

If the POL you are assigning crew for is pre war, you might have a O4 as the ship captain assigned.

If the time period is during the General War, you might even have a lower ranking commander (an O3?) as the more experienced and higher ranked officers are moved to new construction hulls or even posted to command reactivated mothballed FFs. If memory serves, there were 18 frigates in the mothball fleet, and eventually 12 (or if over building frigates, even more frigates being built every 6 months (per F&E build rate).

There might not be enough Commanders and Lt. Commanders available for all of the "command slots" available.

Back to the department head question. I imagine there is a certain latitude available to the captain of a POL... he or she could assign officers as he sees fit.

Given that the POL is a nimble ship, he might want his best helmsman as the officer with the fastest reaction speed. That might be a younger officer instead of a grey haired veteran with years experience. But if so, then that officer might not be the best person to assign as head of a department with more senior officers reporting to him.

Just something to think about.

As far as my background, I have never served in the military. I am fairly well read on the subjects of history (military, naval) and have many relatives who have served.

Jeff Wile (devoted SFBs fan).

By John C. Barnes (Nitehawke) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 10:19 am: Edit

Garth Getgen wrote


Quote:

the number crunching says I should have another O4. I do not want the Exec to be same rank as the Ship's Captain.




How about the Doctor/Surgeon? If there need to be two O4s on the ship, it seems (to me) that that would cause the least friction, as doctors do not typically have command authority outside of their own staff.

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 10:35 am: Edit

John's is a good point, talking about the difference between a line commission (in the chain of command) and a staff fucntion, that is technically outside the chain of command.

It might also include the chief Engineer, if you wanted to stretch a point. perhaps the POLs Cheif Engineering officer is a maverick officer promoted from the ranks. There are worse things to have in a POL than a Legendary Engineer who can increase the ships generated warp power from 10 Warp energy points to 14 (a 40% increase! Such an officer might be too valuable to promote!)

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 02:16 pm: Edit

Okay, I'm close to releasing first drift of the Fed Frigate crew roster. I want to go back over the deck plans one more time to make sure I didn't miss any thing.

When I first started to up-scale the POL crew list, the first thing I had to do was convert the Tac-Teams to Marines. I was thinking, "Oh no, how am I going to cover everything now." I was "cheating" by using the Tac-Team to do the routine maintenance jobs around the ship (hense why I made most of them Boatswains). Somehow, I just don't see Marines doing that stuff. Maybe they can do K.P. duty and some scrape-&-paint.

Once I got into it some, I was saying, "What am I going to do with all these people?" It took me a while and a good night's sleep, but I think I have something.

As of right now, here's how it stacks up:

DEPARTMENTCREW
Command5
Navigation19
Communications10
Science14
Weapons25
Logistics8
Engineering27
Medical6
Shuttlecraft14
Marines30
Refit adds5
TOTAL163


Command is the Captain, Exec, Chief of the Boat (CoB), and two Yeomen.

The problem I face now is I might have too many people in Engineering. Even covering all the engines, I have 14 bodies left for DamCon. I'd like to trim that down a couple, but I don't know where to send the guys I move out.

Here's the break down by rank:

POLPOL+FFFFG
CMDR--11
LCDR1122
LT4455
LT-jg771010
CW3--11
CW21111
WO1--22
GS-9--55
Sr. Chief1111
Chief3344
PO115161719
PO226293133
PO327283031
E-314151818
Marines--3030
TOTAL99105158163


On the FF, the five GS-9 are civilian scientist who wear the rank of Warrant Officer while aboard ship. The officer ranks and titles were defined in GURPS:Prime-Alpha, so they're pretty well "locked in". SVC said there are four shuttlecraft pilots, but as all the officer slots were accounted for, I made them Chief Warrant Officers. The PO1/PO2/PO3/E-3 count is not locked in yet. Some people might get promoted / demoted in the final list.


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 02:27 pm: Edit

John, It's not that I "need" to put another O4 on the ship. The issue is the pyramid gets very narrow quickly. That's not too big of a problem for Star Fleet, because promoted officers simply move up to larger ships. But in the Police Force, they can't do that. They don't have but one class of larger ship to move up to.

Part of the answer is that this list is, while a "standard" roster, it's not set in stone. Perhaps one if every five or ten Cutters is commanded by an O5 CMDR, with and O4 LCDR as the Exec. Even amongst the rest of the Cutter fleet, some of the LT-jg Weapons/Intel/Tac officers might be slated as LT. There are people at Assigments who keep track of it all.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 02:36 pm: Edit

Garth,

Perhaps you could sweet talk Web Mom into letting you have a separate topic in GURPS RPG devoted to proforma crew rosters of various ships?!?

That way, each type could be in a separate thread and you wont force SPP and SVC to sort through thousands of posts looking for specific ships (that is assuming they would use this as a resource).

Potential writers for SF Fiction would clearly appreciate it.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 02:48 pm: Edit

Jeff, ah, no. My wife asked me if I was going to do any others. No. I am not going to try to figure out all four hundred and thirty personnel on a Federation Heavy Cruiser. Not going to happen. You want to do it? Knock yourself out. I'll post the FF list, and then I'm done.


Garth L. Getgen

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