Phasers (emitters/motors/etc) should only occupy one internal deck. That is how existing deck plans have done it (Franz Joseph, original Klingon, my own). I don't think they need one deck for the emitter and one deck for the motor.

By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Saturday, May 14, 2011 - 09:19 pm: Edit

I have never drawn the capacitors as a separate feature either, they are part of each emitter (when each emitter is destroyed you lose that part of the capacitor as well). The control rooms are of course separate features.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, May 14, 2011 - 10:03 pm: Edit

Nick, Thanks.

I went with the right-side version. I moved the capacitors up to Deck 3 next to the emitters. I know I don't need them, but I like the way they turned out, so I figured I'd use them.

By any chance, do you have a copy of FloorPlan Plus version 2 or version 3???


GarthL. Getgen

By Nick G. Blank (Nickgb) on Saturday, May 14, 2011 - 11:30 pm: Edit

Nope.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 12:20 pm: Edit

Well, shucks. Playing around with the files, I tried to open the FP3 file with TurboCAD, but it brings it in as one big chunk and won't let you edit it. I was able to export as DXF and import to TurboCAD, but it completely thrashes the colors and loses all the fill patterns.

I have made a lot of progress these past few days. Here's where I was at last week:

http://members.cox.net/garth.getgen/POL_3-4-5.gif

And now:

http://members.cox.net/garth.getgen/POL_new_3-4-5.gif

A closer view of the forward sections of Deck 3 & 4:

http://members.cox.net/garth.getgen/POL_new_3-4_forward.gif

And a better view of Deck 5, showing the Photon room (not finished), probes, and AuxCon:

http://members.cox.net/garth.getgen/POL_AuxCon.gif

Funny how a bunch of stuff all of a sudden clicked into place after I fixed what could have been a major error had I not caught it now. Getting there, but still a long way to go. I have not decided what all the rooms are yet.


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 01:23 pm: Edit

Hey, Nick ... least anyone think we're the only crazy ones, check out this guy's work:

www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?60485-USS-Enterprise-NCC1701-Deck-by-Deck../page11


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, May 23, 2011 - 08:00 am: Edit

WEB-MOM: Please delete my post, this topic, from Wednesday, April 20, 2011 - 03:45 pm. Thanks!!

All: Some of the GIF images I posted links to in this topic have been taken down because I needed to clear some web space. Sorry for the inconvience.


Garth L. Getgen

done

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, May 05, 2014 - 02:41 pm: Edit

Dusting off an old project, I wanted to put a name to every crewman on a ship's roster, with a little background biography. Given that a police cutter has a crew of about a hundred, that's a ton of work. Last week, I had an idea: Crowd Source the project! So, what I shall do is open a topic over on the FedCmdr board and post the crew roster and the few character sheets that I dreamed up, and then allow others to jump in and post their creations. Sound like fun?


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, May 05, 2014 - 04:42 pm: Edit

Okay, the topic is open. Look on the FedCmdr board under Prime Directive for topic "Building the crew of a Police Cutter -- crowd source project". I posted the service history of the ship, the crew roster, and eight crewmen that I created.

I had an Ops Officer drafted up but didn't like how it was turning out, so I deleted that file. Two of the characters (the Exec and Intel officers) were from a story I was writing set 12 years in the future to this setting, so I simply plagiarized myself and back them up to a lower rank.


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, May 06, 2014 - 03:44 pm: Edit

Three dozen views since I opened the topic yesterday, but no comments. Hopefully that just means people are busy coming up with a few characters to post. Like I said, I might have a few more characters in my head, but I really want to see what others come up with before I post any more of mine.

One thing I learned, or perhaps knew and had forgotten, is if you write in Word, you can't just copy-paste to a PHP board. You have to edit all the quotation marks and apostrophes to change them from Word's curly version to straight ones. If you don't the board will truncate the post at the first quote/apostrophe. What I do is copy-paste to Notepad and then use three Replace All commands to change them all, and then copy-paste to the board. PITA, but it still beats changing them one by one manually.


Garth L. Getgen

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Tuesday, May 06, 2014 - 06:43 pm: Edit

Why not just save as text in the first place.

I'm interested but haven't had time to really look at what you have. It does sound like fun.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, May 06, 2014 - 07:22 pm: Edit

That could work, too, I suppose, as long as all the curly quotes are changed somehow. By the time I had figured it out and corrected all my posts, the view count was up to 47 just to post 12 messages. (It's at 89 now.)

I left the Captain's slot open because I just wasn't coming up with any good ideas. If more than one author generates a decent character for the commander, I'll just use the "best" one and save the others to captain the other four or five boats in the squadron.


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Wednesday, May 07, 2014 - 07:00 pm: Edit

I thought of a cool idea for another character and couldn't resist writing him up and posting the file. There are TONS of story-plot options with this guy.


Garth L. Getgen

By Patrick H. Dillman (Patrick) on Friday, May 09, 2014 - 05:24 pm: Edit

Been off the net since last Friday, reading the file now. Love the concept.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, May 10, 2014 - 11:50 pm: Edit

Thanks, Patrick, for the interest. I thought it'd be a fun project, but so far nobody else has posted any characters or even comments to the other board. :-(


Garth L. Getgen

By Randy Blair (Randyblair) on Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 09:24 am: Edit

Post it here. I for one, don't read the other board.

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 02:04 pm: Edit

Same here.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, May 11, 2014 - 02:49 pm: Edit

It's all quite lengthy. Each post is one page or less when typed in Word, but there are several posts. Also, the other board allows me to go back and edit the roster list to put the names of "new" character in as they are added.

I'll ask Jean what she thinks. In the mean time, here's the direct link to the topic:

http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=5321


Garth L. Getgen

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, May 18, 2014 - 04:32 am: Edit

Well, it seems this idea was a bust. There have been about a half-dozen views on the FedCmdr board in the past week, and zero comments posted.

Is there something I missed in presenting this project, or was it just simply a not-good idea to begin with?


Garth L. Getgen

By Loren Knight (Loren) on Sunday, May 18, 2014 - 09:49 am: Edit

Garth,

I think it's a good idea and the info you have put up is very interesting. what might be helpful would be to get SVC to put his blessing on the data/guidelines you present, (that is, the info on how the ship operates). I know you know your stuff but an SVC blessing might help people choose to invest their time.

Second, maybe not require such an extensive write up at first and let character be generated more easily. So the basics, (name, basic stats) gets applied. Later someone could then think up background details as the character now live in their mind. At the least you'd have a list of names with basic stats. I think it's the big background story people might not be getting by.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, May 18, 2014 - 06:15 pm: Edit

Loren, if by "how the ship operates" you mean the crew manifest of ranks and titles, that's just a scaled down version of the FFG crew list. (Actually, when I created the FFG list I scaled up the POL list I already had on file, which was modified twice based off inputs by SVC & SPP.) I would love for SVC or Jean to bless the project, but as I wasn't expected it to go into any published product, I didn't feel the need to ask them for it.

If I wanted just a list of names, I could have gone to http://random-name-generator.info/ and have it spit out a hundred names. I really think this project needs a bit more, if only a tidbit here or there that an author could hook a plot line into. Agreed the background story doesn't have to be extensive. Indeed, the junior crewmen (E-3 & PO3) don't need much at all. Even the high ranks can leave a lot of unexplored territory to explore; for example, Chief Carpenter's background only says he's on the ship because he was looking for an easy last assignment before retiring. Why is that? Is he lazy, or just tired of the politics? Is he looking to make a difference one last time, teaching younger troops, or does he plan to just sit on his butt and watch them do all the work?

Maybe I did get a little carried away with a couple of the characters. I 'borrowed' Yvonne Christensen from a different story I'm writing, so I already knew a lot about her. I based Everhart and Stoan off people I served with back in the day (names were changed, of course). In fact, Hammerstrom's back story is based on a true story of an officer I served under back in 1981-1983.

If someone wants to go that deep while creating a character -- great. If not, I'd like to know at least why this person joined the Police Force or in the case of Star Fleet personnel how they got cross-assigned to the cutter. I never expected the character's entire life history.


Garth L. Getgen

By Richard Wells (Rwwells) on Sunday, May 18, 2014 - 10:31 pm: Edit

It seemed a bit heavy in terms of information unlikely to relevant while running a game. I can sometimes budget 6 hours for a single game session. The players will not spend two or three hours discussing backstory with a single support NPC.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Sunday, May 18, 2014 - 10:47 pm: Edit

Richard, please note the first sentence of my first post:

---

Quote:

One of my silly little projects was to put a name to every crewman on a starship (with the intent to later write a series of fiction stories about said ship).

---

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 05:34 am: Edit

Over on another topic, Mike B. asked about how the Police Force is organized above the Cutter level. I don't have my books in front of me and am typing off the top of my head, but here are my thoughts on the subject. As always, SVC could reject any or all of this.

First, I have to ask what era (SFU Year) he wants this information for. That would determine how large the Cutter fleet is. SVC has said that there should be one Cutter per F&E hex.

There are 257 on-map hexes (264 if you count the Orion enclave) and at least 15 and perhaps as many as 28 off-map hexes. (There are three off-map provinces, with 5 or 6 hexes each, and if one assumes the smaller provinces along the edge have a hex or three off-map, that adds in up to ten more.) That means the Federation needs a fleet of 272 to 292 Cutters. One does not build that many ships overnight.

I remember reading in various places that there may be a Cutter assigned to each Base Station / Battle Station, one or two at each Star Base, and one to four at each Major / Minor Planet, plus an extra one in each Province. Also, one has to allow for spares in depot-level maintenance and special duty assignments. The grand total runs between 400 and 500 Cutters.

Even at a moderately-aggressive build rate of one per month / twelve per year, it will take twenty-five years (Y150) before there are enough Cutters to field one-per-hex, and another sixteen years (Y166) before reaching maximum coverage. A more realistic build rate in the earlier era moves these dates to Y160 & Y172, give or take.

In the unpublished History of the Police Cutter article that I wrote, which SVC has yet to approve and very well may reject out-of-hand, I purposed that prior to about Y145 there were too few Cutters in service to field them into proper patrol zones. Thus they were relegated to convoy escorts and base/planet support missions. Also, I suggested that during this era the Federation Space Police was little more than a hodge-podge of many separate and often competing agencies. It wasn't until the big political shake-up in Y151 that the Federation Police really evolved into what we now think of it as.

So assuming the era in question is post-Four Powers War, we can assume that the fleet has a coverage of one Cutter per hex and one Flagship per province, making up one Squadron. Most Cutters would have a Lieutenant Commander as the captain, but perhaps one in five or six (one per province) would have a full Commander in charge. The Flagship would also have a full Commander in the center seat. A full-bird Captain would be in command of the entire Squadron, but he would usually run things from a ground/base station headquarters (not saying he might not take the Flagship out for a spin once in a while). By the time the Federation joined of the General War, the Flagship skipper would usually be a full-bird Captain, and the Squadron Commander a one-star Commodore. The squadron headquarters would have a staff of fifteen to twenty personnel, mainly to oversee the logistical and administrative needs of the squadron.

Four to six Squadron are combined into one of nine Groups, each commanded by a one-star Commodore (later a two-star Rear Admiral) headquartered out of the nine on-map Star Bases. The Group commander is also in charge of all police personnel on base stations and planets within the district. The headquarters would have forty to sixty personnel, again to handle logistical and administrative needs of the Squadrons, but also to set policy guidance and send out the dreaded Staff Assistance Visits teams to inspect the ships & crew. Also, there will be a forensics lab of fifteen to twenty technicians co-located with the district headquarters to process evidence that the Cutters collect.

There will be a Detachment at each Base/Battle Station and Starbase, and on Major/Minor Planets and larger colonies. The size of the detachment will be dictated by the mission, that being whether they are the primary law enforcement agency or simply a liaison to the indigenous agencies. Most will be commanded by a Lieutenant (O-3) with a Lieutenant-jg (O-2) as a second-in-command, and will have ten to thirty uniformed Patrolmen. Larger detachments will be run by a Lt-Commander (O-4) with fifty to three-hundred Patrolmen. Detachments fall under the either the Squadron or Group commander for their district, except for those located on Federation Charter Member worlds (i.e., Earth, Vulcan, Rigel, etc.), which fall directly under Police Central Headquarters.

All of the Groups fall under the Police Force Commissioner (equivalent to a three-star Vice Admiral) and Deputy Commissioner (two-star equivalent) at a central headquarters in the Capital Hex. This was originally at Star Base One but was forced to move due to overcrowding, first to Star Base Two, and then later Luna and finally to Mars.

Police Central would have four- to seven-hundred personnel assigned to handle everything from approving Awards & Decorations (medals) to procurement of new ships. Lieutenant-JGs and Ensigns would be a dime-a-dozen. Police Academy (covering enlisted Basic Training and Officer Academy) would be a Mission Support Squadrons under Police Central. Other such Mission Support Squadrons / Detachments cover recruitment, scientific/forensic research, undercover agent support, intelligence, and other police functions that are better served compartmentalized away from the main headquarters.

In case you're wondering, I based most of my ideas on how my old command (Air Weather Service) used to be organized. We had a Detachment as the Base Weather Station, which fell under a Weather Squadron which in turn fell under a Weather Wing, which belonged to AWS Headquarters, under the Military Airlift Command ("Mother MAC"). I couldn't even begin to explain how it all works now as the Base Weather Station is no longer a Detachment but rather a Flight "owned" by the host base Operational Support Squadron under the Operations Group.


Garth L. Getgen

By Jeff Wile (Jswile) on Monday, September 01, 2014 - 08:22 am: Edit

Garth,
If I may throw in a couple cents worth of opinion... (happy).

I wonder if your numbers are inflated too high? The police cutters assigned to the base stations, battle stations and star bases may not be in addition to the one POL per hex rate SVC stated, but rather reflect deployed POL's that respond to an emergency at the various bases. These pol cutters would be those likely assigned to the F&E hex where the base(s) are located in or adjacent to them.

My second thought, is to wonder if the police forces of the federation might be organized more like real world law enforcement with distinct jurisdictions?
More like state police troops instead of a minature version of star fleet.

For example, each major and minor world might have its own police detachment consisting of a mix of POL and police variants of APT, Free Trader or prime Trader variant as well as local security skiffs .

This would make sense since we know the police commissioners are part of the provinces, and some of them have police flagships assigned rather than a additonal POL.