Ship Engineer
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| Ship Engineer | |
|---|---|
 "I'll fix the power as soon as I'm off my lunch break." | |
| Information | |
| Access | Engineering, Power Equipment, Tech Storage, External airlocks, Construction Site, Maintenance, Telecoms |
| Additional Access | Atmospherics |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Supervisors | Chief Engineer |
| Rank | Sub-Lieutenant (SLT) |
| Duties | Set up the engine and repair any damage to hull and equipment. Keep the ship's FTL spooled and the armour pumps running. |
| Guides | Engineering items, Guide to construction, Guide to advanced construction, Guide to power, Singularity Engine, Supermatter Engine, Tesla Engine, Solars, Hacking, Guide to Telecommunications, Guide to the Antimatter Engine, Guide to the Nuclear Reactor, Guide to the Stormdrive Engine, Guide to Ship Superstructure and Armor |
Hey, Listen!
For the Storm Drive Engine, click here.
For the Nuclear Reactor, click here
What is a ship, without an engineer to maintain it? A sad, depowered, lifeless shell of a ship that's been cut into a million pieces. With you on board, the lights stay on, the rooms stay pressurized, and the ship stays in at least 3 pieces you and all of your friends return to Outpost 45, very much alive. As an engineer aboard an NSV, you are tasked with creating enough power for the ship's systems, keeping the armour wells and pumps working smoothly, and sealing up the hull breaches that inevitably appear.
Bare minimum requirements: Fix hull breaches, fix cables/APCs if power goes out in an area. Observe the other engineer set up the engine and know how SMESs work. Fill the armour well. Spool the FTL whenever the ship jumps.
Basic skills: Set up the engine without killing everyone. Fix emagged airlocks and rebuild machines. Familiarize yourself with Hacking. Set up and turn on the armor pumps. Know how to bring the ship out of superstructure crit.
Advanced skills: Detect and fix sabotage - Telecomms, the engine, power sinks. Know enough about Atmospherics to optimize the engines. Come up with some spicy engine mixes. Continuously monitor and adjust the armour pumps and shields during combat.
The Engineer[edit | edit source]
Engineering Etiquette[edit | edit source]
Take a look around engineering as the first thing you do, and see how many fellow engineers you have. If there's a ton, you probably don't want to snatch up everything that isn't nailed down. Don't fight over hardsuits. Don't try to break into the middle of a task someone has already begun: trying to fill plasma tanks at the same time as another person usually ends up filling engineering with plasma, and trying to turn on the reactor while someone else is still setting up the gasmix will certainly be deadly.
Be nice and courteous and you'll often be treated well, curse people out for their incompetence or how slow they are and people aren't going to rush to your retrieve your corpse when boarders blow your head off on the flight deck.
Engineering Equipment[edit | edit source]
Engineers have to carry a lot of equipment to perform their various tasks. The job is a lot easier if you carry around what you need so you don't constantly have to be running back to engineering for each step of a repair process.
Here's a suggestion how you can be prepared for shit on the ship:
git gud nerd
Some of this you start with, some you need to collect. The items you pick up are:
Engineer Webbing & Hazard Vest: A nifty carrying rig and a classic high-vis vest, to be strapped to the chest. Both have storage spaces for 2 small items, and can have an emergency oxygen tank buckled to them, they are generally a good to wear if you aren't in a hardsuit. Free storage! Yeah!
Insulated Gloves: Your most prized possession, these puppies protect you from shock. Engineers work with insane amounts of electricity, and it's easy to put yourself into crit if you tap into the main engine line without remembering to put them on. Always grab a pair of gloves. There's a few pairs laying around engineering, and more in electrical closets. Lock the closet when you're done unless you want the clown and mime to steal all the remaining pairs.
Welding Mask: You need this to avoid going blind while welding. Note if you have the hardsuit on, it works as a welding mask you don't have to flip up/flip down.
Metal & Glass: Basic building blocks. Carrying just one stack each is generally fine; convert it into floor tiles, bars, or reinforced glass as necessary. If you take one stack to yourself, pay close attention to the radio so you know where they are needed.
Duranium: A metal even stronger than plasteel, what the external wall of the ship is made of. Use this when remaking the outside of the hull. When making a wall with this, be sure to use a reinforced girder first. Can be put into the APNW, and breaks down into iron, plasma, and silver.
Titanium: Very useful for the APNW, necessary for almost all repair alloys. This will be the most sought after metal, and may be in short supply if your miners aren't mining.
Engineering Scanner Goggles: These have three modes: Meson mode allows vision of structures and terrain through walls; T-ray mode allows vision of objects beneath flooring such as cables and pipes; and Radiation mode reveals objects contaminated from radiation.
Gas mask: Basically the same function as a breath mask, but with the added bonus of protecting you from pepper spray, acid sprays to the face (once), and some of the diseases the virologist inevitably releases. Also keeps you on your feet a little longer in high concentrations of N2O, so make sure you have one in your inventory if not on your face for roleplay reasons. Note that it can be used to hide your identity, so don't be surprised if Security asks you to take off your mask to verify you are who you say you are. You can find them in engineering lockers, laying around in engineering and in maintenance tunnels.
Extended-capacity emergency oxygen tank: These canisters hold a LOT of air. The hardsuits can hold full-sized canisters which hold more, but two of these filled up in your bag and there's very little chance of you ever running out of air. To fill up: place it in the oxygen tank, click the oxygen tank and turn the pressure all the way up, open the valve, then close the valve. Once you're sure it's closed, remove the tank. Click the tank in your hand and lower the mask pressure to 16 KPA, which will give you the most possible use.
Power Cell: Needed to repair a fully broken APC, or just get an APC working in a drained area. Good to have one on hand.
Inducer: The Electromagnetic Power Inducer can be used to charge objects like APCs, cyborgs, and energy-based weapons without replacing their power cells.
Rapid Construction Device: RCDs can be used to create or destroy simple objects such as walls, doors and windows without using tools on them. Cannot construct/deconstruct reinforced walls.
Flashlights: These light up the area, even in your pockets. Two flashlights in your pockets and your helmet light on and you'll light up a huge area, very helpful to general crew when you're doing repairs in a freshly-darkened crater so they don't walk into the vacuum and freeze.
Power control module: You need this to repair a fully broken APC. Some sit by the SMES modules.
- Airlock electronics: You need this to construct an airlock. Having one on hand can save you a long trip back if you run across a broken door. Some by the metal and supplies, and one by the SMES modules.
T-ray Scanner: Click on it on your hand to activate. When activated it will reveal wires and pipes under the flooring, as well as Critters and Creatures inside pipes. Works in pockets and on your belt.
Firesuits can no longer be carried in bags, and it's unsafe to firefight without them, so just run to the nearest firefighter closet in the advent of a fire to gear up -- There is one close to nearly everything everywhere in the ship, learn their locations.
Note that some of these are for roleplay reasons only. Roleplay too determines if you're a good engineer or not -- When talking with people face to face, pop the helmet off and carry it a bit -- hardsuits look pretty cool without the helmet on. Write down things you figure out like the door wires and photocopy them, distribute to the other engineering staff as a memo. Engineers have some great roleplay as the people that fix everything when everything else is going to hell. Take advantage of that camraderie and the ludicrous nature the situations you will find yourself in. A robotic mute-guy-fixing-everything playing style is efficient of course, but it isn't nearly as fun for everyone.
Doing Your Duty[edit | edit source]
You have a few things you should do, if you don't want to be robusted, before doing what you want to do. Repairing things is what engineers do, and so is setting the ship with power. Without any engineers doing a little work, the ship will crumble.
Starting the Engine[edit | edit source]
This is an extremely important task, the task you should do at start of the shift. Luckily, it is relatively simple. For setting up the Stomrdrive look here, and for the Nuclear Reactor look here.
Starting The Other Engines[edit | edit source]
You may find yourself on a ship designed to draw supplementary power from a critical mass contained in an energy field, or an arguably magical power crystal. Please refer to Singularity Engine, Tesla Engine or Supermatter.
Fixing the Things[edit | edit source]
Is there a hole in the wall? Is there a hole in the floor? Has departures been nuked? Did an idiot break a window to get into the medbay? Are people complaining about electrified doors? Has a prankster stolen CIC's consoles? Did munitions blow themselves up? Is it more than thirty seconds into the round? The answer to two or more of these is always yes.
Quit reading "The Lusty Xenomorph Maid" and get to work!
Fixing the Ship[edit | edit source]
Just when you thought you were done, the ship entered combat. Now, what do you think happens when a torpedo gets personal with the ship? The armor takes the damage, to prevent the valuable inner parts of the ship getting damaged. And who do you think repairs the armor? It's you, of course.
The main tool you will be repairing the armor is with the Armor Pumps. These are the four big white things in engineering, with a fifth one in the middle (the armour well). These things eat a lot of power and even more materials, but they repair the ship's armor and hull from the safety of engineering. For more information on these, look here.
If you are feeling brave, you can also grab a welder and go out to space to repair the armor manually. Hull plates are damaged when the armour is damaged, and fixing them with a welder will help to boost the armour values. Don't expect to save the ship doing this, though.
If you are on a ship without armour, fixing hull plates will repair the main superstructure. Hull juice is especially useful for this task.
Fixing the Power[edit | edit source]
The main engines and whatever else cargo you've set up will provide more than enough energy to fully power a state-of-the-art space ship -- unless something goes wrong, which it almost always will. Whether it's due to shoddy wiring, a powersink, an explosion, an assistant cutting cables, a mob of mice or simple engineer laziness, power outages are a common problem that is your, YES, YOUR, job to fix. See that Power Monitoring computer? If people complain of power outages, it should always be the first port of call -- assuming it hasn't already been cracked to shit by the all-consuming hunger of the Soul Drive.
See the guide to power to learn how to into power and, more importantly, how to fix everything.
Getting the Man Out of Danger... Alive![edit | edit source]
It's your job to save lives when they cry out for help.
Firefighting[edit | edit source]
Engineers get access to maintenance hallways, which contain several firesuits and extinguishers. If a fire breaks out somewhere, put it out. Firesuits allow you to walk in almost any fire. Extinguishers have a limited capacity. Refill them with water tanks, which can be found all around the ship.
Physical Rescue[edit | edit source]
If someone cries that he can't get out of somewhere and no one can get him out, then it's your job to do so. Hacking airlocks, deconstructing walls, basically whatever it takes to get to them. I don't need to point out that you should never put others or yourself at risk in doing so!
Space Recovery[edit | edit source]
A body's been spaced? Now it's your job to recover it. Ask the AI or captain to get a jetpack and space suit from EVA and go after the body. You'll most frequently find bodies by going in a circle around the ship, as our Z-levels loop. The use of lockers will help greatly, as lockers do not drift like bodies do, but cannot travel across Z-levels. ALWAYS have tools, glass and metal with you when doing this!
Fixin' it, With Friends[edit | edit source]
Between monitoring the engine, and manning the pumps, and spooling the engine, there's not always time to fix up the breaches and chasms in the ship. Luckily, you've got some backup!
The Damage Control Squad[edit | edit source]
When GQ sounds, all members of damage control squads will gain access to their kits revolved around patching holes and sealing breaches. While not much, their usefulness is not to be scoffed at; smartfoam grenades go a long way! Being the person with access to the alert console, you can help the squad out from the comfort of engineering! Simply calling out areas with atmosphere alarms (or even finding the breaches yourself) and summoning the damage control team is an effective method of keeping the air in your ship. If your fellow engineers have got the systems handled, get out there and assist the squads with sealing the hull! Why not give them extra material to repair with?
The Silicons[edit | edit source]
As they have more capacity to be everywhere at once, the AI and its cyborgs will naturally be more informed about breaches than you. Use this to your advantage! Feel the boat rocking? Ask the AI where the breach is located, then relay that to the squads, or a nearby engiborg (if there is one). Engineering cyborgs are very well equipped for dealing with breaches: no lungs to suffocate, no skin to freeze, built in material storages, and an RCD, perfect for repairing floor tiles. If the robots aren't busy unfucking the rest of the ship (read: your engine), they'll usually be on top of fixing whatever holes find their way onboard. And if not, you can kindly ask them to help out.
SOP and You[edit | edit source]
Now, with all these splendid toys and a lovely little reactor, what's stopping you from ignoring every hull breach in favour of min-maxing your engine? A little meddler called your boss, and this wonderful thing called Standard Operating Procedure. While they ARE only in-character guidelines, you should still try to follow them. If you're being a respectful little engineer, and generally acting like a regular person, chances are you're doing it right. Let's skim over the SOP and see what it's telling you:
- Make sure that you've got stable power going before you go and do some major engine repiping
- Try to make sure that all systems (tcomms, the engine, pumps, FTL, gravity and the like) are always operational
- Put off any personal projects if the ship needs repairs/a system needs maintenance
- Seal the goddamn hull.
And that's basically it. While the actual SOP has a bit more to it, these basics should keep you on task for most of the shift. Remember though, that sometimes you'll have to break the rules to save the ship. These are only guidelines for a reason! If in doubt, ask your boss about it.
Tips[edit | edit source]
The Engine/Power[edit | edit source]
- The engineering hardsuit has 75% radiation protection. CE's hardsuit has 90%. Atmos hardsuit has 25%. RD's and CMO's have 60%. If working near an active engine, use a radiation suit instead.
- Engines can be wired directly into the power grid; in the SMES rooms, each one has an input and an output. Connecting the two will cause the power to bypass the SMES cells. This is extremely dangerous, and can caused shocked doors to instantly put people into critical condition.
- Arriving half an hour into the round and nobody's set up power? Chances are all the SMES cells can be drained. However, you can still power Emitters and other equipment by loading the PACMAN generator with plasma, wiring it up and setting its output to full power.
- The P.A.C.M.A.N-type generators can each hold 450 sheets of their respective fuels once fully upgraded. Their fuel types and maximum upgraded outputs are as follows:
- P.A.C.M.A.N generator (Plasma) = 60000 W
- S.U.P.E.R.P.A.C.M.A.N generator (Uranium) = 180000 W
- M.R.S.P.A.C.M.A.N generator (Diamonds) = 480000 W
- Cell chargers give power to inserted cells faster than it takes power from the APC, meaning it generates some power from nothing, and you can alternate between two cell and keep an APC running forever! The wonders of space engineering.
Construction[edit | edit source]
- To get maximum camera coverage, you only have to place one camera every fifteen tiles. If there's a wall between them, use an analyzer on the assembly after you weld it to the wall to create an xray camera. Otherwise, count seven tiles from where the previous camera disappears from view and build a camera there.
- It is possible to upgrade the AI's cameras by using certain items: analysers confer X-ray vision, potentially allowing the AI to observe Maintenance areas; proximity sensors give their effect to the camera, alerting the AI when someone walks by. Plasma sheets will cause the camera to become EMP-proof.
- You can use an airlock circuit in your hand to modify its access requirements. Necessary if you're rebuilding doors to restricted areas such as the armory or bridge.
- For most construction/deconstruction operations (Mining, wrenching chairs/tables, deconstructing walls) you can click on multiple spaces to take things apart or build multiple things at a time.
- You can put windows directly on grilles by using a glass/reinforced glass sheet on them.
- You can also pry up 4 floor tiles and weld them together to get a metal sheet, which you can grind down for iron. Glass for silicon. Reinforced glass for metal and silicon. Wood for carbon.
- You can screwdriver wooden flooring to remove it without breaking it.
- You can turn one color of wire into another color easily, so long as you have at least one piece of the color you want: You can transfer wires from a stack of another color you have to change their color.
- Need to set up the Supermatter? No CE or AI to open secure storage? Turn off the APC's main power breaker and crowbar the blast doors open. Keep in mind that this will also shut down pumps and filters.
- You can hack the YouTool to get upgraded industrial welding tools, which hold 80 units of fuel as opposed to normal tools' 20 and industrial's 40.
- You can buckle people cough cough the clown to the Singularity/Tesla Generator.
Traitorneering[edit | edit source]
"Lets do this Texas style!"
Being a traitor engineer can be both the easiest and hardest task on the ship. On the one hand, you can go almost everywhere on the ship, and have easy access to the tools to get rid of any pesky doors (or walls) in your way. Also, many crew members don't bat an eyelid when they see an engineer wearing a jetpack, or standing in a hole in the wall. Any curious crewmen are usually deflected by saying you are doing engineering work ("I need this to repair hull damage, Captain!")
On the other hand, Engineers lack weapons. Stungloves, however, are the hidden weapon few ever search for, which can give the upper hand in a fight. Stungloves are gone 5ever, but stun prods can be made from basic tools! In addition, cable restraints may be constructed from cable coils. In a pinch, the welding tool is a fairly powerful weapon which causes burn damage when turned on. Secondly, engineers loitering near their target may quickly arouse suspicion, especially if you are far, far away from a maintenance tunnel. Engineers are also one of the few jobs which retain their maintenance access, making travel around the ship significantly safer, faster and easier.
And finally, if you truly hate the ship, it is within your grasp to release the kraken the fury of the supermatter another unfunny Chernobyl reference, and generally sabotage the power supply of the ship.
