STSF Sorehl

Check further down in the string... :::seems to recall this conversation:::

There are several players who like to do joint logs, as previously mentioned. Sometimes these are done by sending e-mail back and forth, but plenty of players just pick a convenient time and go RP the dialogue they intend to use. No requirements to do so, but it makes joint logging somewhat easier. That's the reason we use "tags" like <CO> and <CENG> in the Academy, it helps people remember who's who, since Academy assignments change with each session. (Most Academy sims are also "one-shot" stories, although continuing arcs have been known to occur.) I should note that tags are not used in the Adv Sims. There, players are fairly stable in number and you quickly learn to remember who's who and who does what. Often, graduating cadets will opt to change their screen name to align with the character they create. The one convention that is used to separate different scenes is the use of a prefix like "@" or "#" for people who are grouped together, like an away team. People who type a particular prefix (usually adopted at beam down/over) are assumed to be together. Those still on the ship tend not to use a prefix, even if they're in other rooms like sickbay or the bridge. There are exceptions, like when there's a party in Drankum's Bar (where the use of "$" as a prefix is preordained). Example: Sorehl> @ Alright, team, we've arrived in a fairly wooded area. Let's set up a perimeter scan. OPS> Sir, the away team has made it to the surface. Blair> @ Wooded area? I half expect the cowardly lion to jump out. Corizon> Keep an eye on them, OPS, then open a hail to the Romulans. There's also sims that take place in a "future" era, a decade or more beyond TNG/DS9/VOY - these would be Agincourt and Qob. Hood is early TOS, while Challenger is movie-era TOS (Star Trek VI - ala the burgundy uniforms.) On the subject of availability, although there are sims with a full roster, you'll probably find most are able to accommodate any department you're interested in. Hosts may be willing to tell you in advance if you have a specific question about openings. Be aware, there are some sims with unique positions - Marine commander, flight wing instructor, intel officer, counselor - and due to the era on TOS sims, they may use Helm, Nav and Comm, instead of the TNG roles of CONN, OPS, and TAC. Watch and learn how the various Adv Sims do it and you'll get a feel for the diversity.

To be honest, I'm not aware that any sim has a minimum log requirement, but some sims will encourage players to post more often than others. I know on sims I've hosted, I've tended to promote more readily among those players who post logs - I appreciate the depth it adds. If you like posting and reading logs, it's not a bad idea to check out the Message Boards and see if the sim you're interested in posts a little or a lot.

Welcome aboard. Since we had a classroom session on just this topic last night, I thought I'd chime in. Sim time is one of the most important considerations once a cadet graduates the Academy. The more regular your attendance, the better the experience. We have several sims at just that time throughout the week, specifically Challenger (TOS) on Sun, Republic (TNG/DS9/VOY) on Mon, Arcadia (TNG/DS9/VOY) on Wed, and Talon (Rihannsu) on Thurs. Perfectly acceptable. Sim format and style are probably the next-most important thing to consider when selecting an Adv Sim, post-graduation. Not just the era (TOS/TNG), but the overall feel (station versus ship, plot speed, number of players, log commitment, canon in's and out's, etc) and environment (intel missions, Gamma Quadrant-centric, long plot arcs, recurring villians). Observing a sim is the best way to gauge how you would react/interact as a player. Leave character development (or it's revelation) until after the Academy. In the Academy, hosts are concerned with teaching the mechanics of play, seeing if one can work with others, and determining if the level of play is sufficient to warrant moving up. It has been found that introducing backstories or racial traits in the Academy complicates this assessment, especially since cadets come from a variety of Trek experience. For Academy sims, all cadets are therefore assumed to be a standard human template (no Borg enhancements, split personalities, or Admiral grandparents). Keep that background ready for when you've graduated and are about to select an Adv Sim. Some sims or host teams may have standing rules about certain races or attributes (no Borg enhancements, split personalities, or Admiral grandparents), so that's a good time to let them vet your bio. They will work to make sure your character can be integrated in, adapted, or (worst case) recommend an alternate sim. Just my thoughts.

I've not seen much evidence of a surge of Abrams-Trek fans. While many retro Trekkies (and I choose my terms knowingly) seem to have enjoyed the new film, they seem to accept it on its own alternative-timeline merits without being willing to jettison 40+ years of continuity. I think this is reflected in the make-up of STSF, as well. We have a Star Trek 11-based sim in Commanche Creek, but many more from the post-TNG/DS9/VOY eras, and a couple TOS. And we have alternate future ones in Qob and Agincourt, reflecting those interests. This isn't to judge the relative merits or quality of the various eras, but I think "fan fiction" in its various forms (like simming, internet boards, web sites, fanzines) seems to flourish in better established worlds. There are exceptions, of course (Firefly comes to mind), but I think it's notable that Pocket Books hasn't slated any Abramsverse stories for the near future. The "new" fans may not have latched on for the ride yet, although the returning "old" fans seem to be returning to what they remember. (I know I went out and bought the whole Blueray ST:TOS series after seeing ST11.) If ST:Phoenix plans to make more episodes, this old Trek fan will probably watch them...

It should also be noted that a player should not simply dismiss their inappropriate behavior (belligerence or disobedience or wild antics) as "how my character acts". In an Academy situation, players are assumed to be individual officers (or cadets striving to be) in Starfleet. As such, they are expected to maintain a certain adherance to the rule of law, chain of command, and general Federation principles. "But," says one player, "my character is a violent savage who'll kill anyone who disagrees with him." Then he has no place in the Academy. As a player or guest in an Adv Sim maybe, or a Klingon-based ship perhaps, but not as a Starfleet cadet. Unless one enjoys raging by themselves in the brig. Remember also that, in the Academy, even experienced players can miss an ACTION statement or fail to realize an order was directed to them - it's not always insubordination. Gentle restatements or promptings by the Department Head, regardless of relative experience, are usually sufficient. If they're not, there are a number of useful tactics - noting unresponsivenss with an onscreen comment ( :::wonders if ASEC is going to answer::: or :::notices ASCI is still arguing and hasn't obeyed::: ), simply giving the order to a more responsive player ("OK, AMO1 doesn't seem able to follow directions. AMO2, are you up to the task?"), making a point to emphasize an order has been given ("AMO, I'm not accustomed to having to repeat my orders."), and in extreme cases, alerting the XO ("Sir, AENG2 is out of control. Should I alert security?"). In each of the above examples, the point is to imagine how a professional Department Head would act. It may be part of the test, even if unscripted, to see how they handle an unruly or off-the-wall player. Hosts observe and consider these things when thinking about whether a cadet is due for graduation.

I can think of occasions where Kirk shouts "Uhura, clear up those channels!" which suggests that the intercom was a kind of shipwide "party line" (if anyone is old enough to remember what those are). I guess bandwidth on the TOS Enterprise was expensive and they hadn't installed wifi. I've always imagined the TOS wall units as being a single ship-wide channel. But Jorahl cites some good examples to think otherwise. It is interesting that in 1st season TNG, Picard chastizes a civilian passenger not to use the wall panel comms to summon him because they're "for official ship's business only". Which seems odd since the official business seems to be conducted by commbadge. And without a comm officer to filter things, it looks like anyone can call straight to the captain at any time. (Which happens in STSF Academy a lot, actually.) And there's no voice mail, vibrate, or reject call features, as far as we've seen. So 21st Century cell phones seem to have some advantages over old and new Enterprises. As for a software implementation of internal comms, wouldn't PMs already cover it?

It's not necessary to establish a character in advance of graduating the Academy - all players are essentially human cadets, so they can focus on learning the mechanics and elements of gameplay, before trying to tackle alien attributes or specific backgrounds. Just show up, IM for an assignment and play that post to the best of your ability. Looking to the future, some of the Advanced Sims do allow Marine posting (either enlisted or officer rank) - Excalibur and Challenger come to mind - but even for those which don't, they may be open to such a possibility. You gotta wait until Academy graduation, though, when Personnel will put you in touch with some of the hosts. Until then, just drop into the Academy and enjoy the ride.

And the mark of a new era was that they didn't spend TEN MINUTES drifting around it to the tune of expansive music!

To my knowledge, porous though it may be, in all of Trekdom we've never seen a single incidence of a person beaming from a stationary planet to a ship at warp - especially not one that left the system hours earlier (long enough to walk 14km on a blizzard-like world). There's two cases I would cite against transporter use as we saw in the recent move. (I'll happily recant if someone can find a counter-incident). TNG: Best of Both Worlds said it was necessary to "match warp speed" for beaming between two ships travelling at warp. TNG: The Schizoid Man dictated that the Enterprise-D had to drop from warp just long enough to beam down an Away Team and go back to warp, resulting in the team having a brief sensation of beaming into solid matter. As for Federation transporter range, this has been limited to very short-ranges (40000km is often referenced), hence the frequent plot device of needing to get within transporter range even when a planet was visible. (For comparison, the distance from Earth to its moon is 300,000km.) Notable exceptions include the Dominion, which demonstrated they could transport a person with a homing device up to distances of three light years (DS9: Covenant), and the Ferengi, who used a subspace transporter to beam from light years away, through Enterprise-D shields, with virtually no trace. Significantly, the latter was never mentioned again - since it makes defending one's starship almost impossible. Both were 100 years later than the film, although Spock Prime may have learned similar methods (somehow involving Scotty) and simply ignored the Temporal Prime Directive. Transwarp beaming has never been referenced previously in any incarnation of Trek, past or future, but may simply have been referenced by some other name.

Well-deserved congrats for Ensign Armstrong.

:: fondly remembers Star Trek: The Motion Picture tie-ins on some of the very earliest McDonald's Happy Meals ::

The Tuesday Academy staff for 11/11/08 is pleased to announce that Cadet TKAR has graduated to the rank of Ensign. Congratulations!

Why humans insist on celebrating the recurrence of the same position in their planet's sidereal orbit to commemorate events is beyond me. Nevertheless, I extend my best wishes for a festive celebration of the anniversary of your emergence into mortality.

A little visual of the activity from Tuesday's Academy.