Master At Arms
| MUNITIONS & COMMAND STAFF | |
  Master At Arms |
Access: Hangar Bay, Flight Deck, Munitions Bay, Air Traffic Control Additional Access: Maintenance Difficulty: Hard Supervisors: Captain Rank: Not defined Duties: Get the Munitions Technicians to supply munitions, harass Cargo Technicians to supply munitions parts, and keep your Flight Leader and Air Traffic Controllers happy. Guides: Guide to Fighters, Guide to Munitions Quote: "Fuck it, load the nukes!" |
You are the Master at Arms, also known as the guy who bosses around the MTs and pilots. You work with ATC to coordinate the fighters, make sure the MTs load and maintain the guns, and coordinate expansion to the ship's firepower. To be a good MAA it is crucial that you know the ins and outs of the munitions and fighter systems, as you will typically be manning the guns alongside your techs.
Bare minimum requirements: Supervise the reloading and maintenance of the ship's primary armaments and fighters. Make sure the MTs and pilots are doing their jobs. Know how to maintain the ship's weapons and fighters. Help coordinate fighters.
Basic Skills: Construction and Maintenance of the ship's weapons and fighters. Coordinating fighters to deal with internal threats ass well as external ones.
Your Office
As the Master At Arms, you are given an office inside of Munitions. Your office contains the Fighter Control Console, your locker (Containing the Munitions Budget card, a Bomb Disposal Suit, and some spare clothing), and Antonio, your lovable pet NXT-IV Thermonuclear Warhead.
The Fighter Control Console
Your figher control console can do two things to every fighter: Toggle the weapons safeties, and eject the pilot. The former allows a fighter to fire its weapons on the ship Z-Level, which can be useful when unwelcome guests come aboard. The latter allows you to kick any unruly pilots out of their jets, similar to if you had swiped an ID on their jet. Note, however, that Emagged ships will not show up on the console, and can not be remotely controlled.
The Munitions Budget
If you order anything from Cargo, when possible you should be using the Munitions Budget to pay for it. This will allow you to buy more ammunition than using the cargo budget, and will also keep Cargo from immediately running out of money and murdering you.
Keeping Munitions Supplied
You start the round with a decent amount of ammunition, however you will be dependant on Cargo to order/fabricate more for you. PDC/Flak ammo crates and Railgun slugs need to be ordered, however with the right research Cargo can fabricate torpedo components using their lathe, including nuclear warheads.
Ideally, you and your MTs should be resupplying Munitions outside of combat, to limit downtime during engagements.
Battery Control
Arguably your most important job as the MAA is to keep the weapons operational. There are 6 different weapon systems on the ship, all of which operate in different ways. These are: Flak, PDCs, Torpedos, Railguns, the MAC, and the Gauss Guns. Detailed information on these weapons systems can be found in the Guide to Munitions.
Maintaining the Guns
Whenever the ship isn't in combat, you and your MTs should be making sure the guns are in tip-top condition, lest you have to rip open a gun mid-battle. You will need Oil to lubricate the parts. Securing a steady supply from the Chemists is crucial to make sure your weapons remain operational, and having them build an oil factory in Munitions is even better.
Point Defense
One of the simplest weapons systems to maintain, the PDCs and Flak guns both fire from ammunition boxes. These can be held in one hand, and simply loaded into the loading rack by clicking. These are also some of the most crucial weapons to keep topped up, as they have the unique capability to easily intercept incoming missiles and rounds. The PDC is also often used against strike fighters targeting the ship.
Their ammunition can be ordered from Cargo, and you should be making sure you always have a few boxes lying around.
The Big Guns
Some of the most destructive weapons on the ship, the Railguns and the Magnet Accelerator Cannon (MAC) are the ship's primary armament during engagnements with large enemy ships. The Railgun is capable of holding 4 shots per weapon assembly, while the MAC can hold one. They are also some of the most maintenance intensive weapons, and will require frequent and quick reloading to keep the ship combat-effective. Ideally you should have at least 1 or 2 MTs manning this station at all times, since the Bridge Staff will quickly deplete the ammunitions supply once in combat. These weapons will also need frequent maintenance, and you would be wise to keep an eye on their condition.
Both of these weapons take Railgun slugs, which can be ordered from Cargo. You will want a lot of ammo for these on standby.
The Gauss Guns
On Multi-Z ships, there are often Gauss Guns. These weapons fire smaller slugs than the Railgun and MAC, however they fire in bursts and have higher ammo capacity. Often, there will be shutters to allow the general ship population to access the Gauss Guns, allowing crewmembers to help fight other ships. Since there are typically 3 or 4 Gauss Guns on a ship, this frees up several MTs to maintain the fighters and other weapons systems. You'll need to make sure that the crew operating the guns have hearing protection, however, else they'll go deaf from firing the guns.
Gauss Guns typically have Gauss Ammunition Dispensers nearby, which can dispense an infinite ammount of Gauss ammunition given enough time, thus the crew manning the guns can typically handle the reloading by themselves.
Load Torp
Munitions also has access to the Torpedo Tubes, which are used to launch powerful, slow-moving projectiles capable of dealing massive damage on hit. These weapons will require semi-frequent maintenance, and can fire various specialized types of ordnance. Your MTs will be typically loading these with either standard or AP torpedos, and the Scientists will occasionally want to probe wormholes using probe torpedos. There are also freight torpedos available for remote cargo transportation, and thermonuclear torpedos for wiping entire ships off of the map. Naturally, it falls to you to coordinate loading these different ammo types, Make sure to communicate with CIC about what torps are loaded, lest you accidentally nuke that wormhole you were trying to probe.
Torpedo frames can be constructed from Metal Sheets, and the rest of the components can either be built at Cargo's Protolathe, or ordered from Cargo.
Ground Crew
"No, you can't load 4 nukes onto your fighter."
As MAA, you will also have to make sure your fighter pilots and MTs keep the fighters maintained and topped up. You'll need Tyrosene to fuel the fighters (Which comes from Chemistry, although there's a lot in the starting Tyrosene tanks), and Missiles and Torpedos to rearm them. You'll also need spare components to build and upgrade your fighters, which your MTs can get from Engineering (Weapons), Cargo (Structural Parts/Engines), and Science (Sensors and Avionics).
Upgrading/Repairing Jets
Occasionally, a fighter pilot may ask you or an MT for better components. These can be printed from their respective lathe/imprinter after they are researched, and your MTs can install them onto fighters after removing the old components.
New Jets
Eventually, due to someone dragging a jet across the hangar battle damage, a fighter will be lost. When this happens, the pilot's gonna need a new fighter. The Guide to Fighters has the instructions for making a new one, however you will need research
before the components can be fabricated.
Close-In Defense
Usually, the Air Traffic Controller will be controlling the fighters as they engage the enemy. However, should there be threats on or near the ship, you can choose to disable the fighter safeties, allowing them to engage those threats. Fighter weapons are quite effective against threats on and about the ship, however torpedos are also quite effective at destroying the ship itself. Fighters also can't fly inside the ship, limiting them to providing fire support from the edges of the vessel.
More Gun!
"Munitions, why are there 4 railguns and a BSA in the Briefing room?"
After Science researches it, Munitions will have the capability to make more Railguns, PDC mounts, and Torpedo Tubes. PDC mounts can be made from Iron, while Railgun frames and Torpedo Tube frames will need Plasteel to build. Every additional weapon built adds more ammunition capacity to the ship's weapons, allowing the CIC to waste half the railgun ammunition in one volley engage multiple ships before the weapons need to be reloaded.
Tips
- Your starting sunglasses offer welding protection.
- All munitions helmets offer both welding and hearing protection. You can wear one, but you'd have to sacrifice your hat.
- The Hazard Vest can store items in it.
- Antonio is a fully functional nuclear missile, in addition to your pet.
- Science often starts with warheads for Probe Torpedos. If you ask them for these, they might remember wormholes exist.
- A variety of things can be loaded into Cargo torpedos. This includes Cyborgs, Mechs,
and the clown. - Although ECM torpedos might seem useful at first glance, loading one first in a volley of torps can often distract enemy PDCs for long enough for another, bigger torp to slip through.
- New ship weapons can often be crammed into small spaces, as long as you can fit a console in as well. You still have to be able to get next to the sprite to reload it, though.
- Should the Munitions budget run low, most of the other departments often don't use theirs. If people complain about their salaries, tell them they're being paid in not getting nuked.
Ship fighter, Ship fighter, where will he bomb?
So you're an MAA that has become less than loyal...
Although you might not have much access to start with, people are usually used to MAAs going around to get parts for torps and fighters. You also have access to fighters right off the bat. One visit to the Control Console later, and you've got heavy weapons at your fingertips. Emagging a Fighter can also be done to disable it's IFF. Combine that with your friend Antonio, and you can force a shuttle call in a hurry. Just make sure you have a way to get back from all the nuclear hellfire you just caused. Alternatively, you can sabotauge the point defense guns during combat, allowing the Syndicates to fire on the ship and possibly cause damage, espescially if there's a boarding vessel or nuclear frigate about.
