Greetings Humans!

[Guest STSF Muon]

As I suggested before, I highly recommend you read the "Getting Started" section on the main page and also "Moose's Tip" on the message boards. They both explain all about simming here at STSF and how everything works.

[Caelan Fletcher 0]

Oh ok, so it's like a surprise party? :)

 

How does one get on a ship, do you wait for offers, or do you ask around, how does that process work?

 

After the GM's feel you're comfortable enough with how STSF works, and ready for an advanced sim, you'll graduate. Now, I forget the order of things, but you'll end up sending an e-mail to STSF, which lists your preferences for ships/positions. If the position is open on the ship you've requested, they'll generally give you that spot (provided it doesn't require additional expertise or experience, i.e. First Officer/Chief of a Department).

 

What you'll want to do is check out the different advanced sims you'd be able to attend on a weekly basis. If you have a known, long-term conflict on Friday nights, you probably wouldn't want to sign up for Aegis, as you won't be able to make it on a regular basis. Occasionally, if you're watching an advanced sim, a GM may contact you and ask if you have any questions or maybe to pitch their ship, but that's not necessarily something you should expect. Find a couple of sims you'd be interested in joining, because you may not get your first choice if a position isn't available. Most of the sims have a list of available positions (either on their websites which can be accessed through the schedule section at stsf.net, or on their message boards), so that helps when trying to make your decision.

 

There's a waiting period, usually less than a week, where your post preferences are reviewed, and afterward you receive your assignment. That's when you start working on a biography (which is subject to your GM's approval).

[The Strategy Expert 0]

Ok thanks!

[Cuda 0]

first, why is everyone feeling bad. i already graduated.

 

Ok, well my guess is that they want you to think that they are keeping track but it seems to be more of an on the spot thing, really. First they make you think they're mad at you and then they pin a pip on you. Mine went about like this:

 

STSF ? (I don't remember, must have been either Ndak or Atragon): Cuda, did you really think it was a good idea to let a crew do a walk about in an asteroid field?

 

Cuda (me): I swear, I was just following orders!

 

[GRADUATION]

 

And all I did that time was keep my assistant busy in a time were security had absolutely nothing to do in the main plot.

 

Also, for the record, I'm pretty sure that I didn't do 20 sims before graduation, but I might be mistaken.

[The Strategy Expert 0]

Cuda -

 

How come I don't see you in the graduation announcements?

[Cptn Corizon 0]

Because not every Academy GM remembers to do one :)

[Samantha_Kent 0]

Ok, well my guess is that they want you to think that they are keeping track but it seems to be more of an on the spot thing, really. First they make you think they're mad at you and then they pin a pip on you. Mine went about like this:

 

STSF ? (I don't remember, must have been either Ndak or Atragon): Cuda, did you really think it was a good idea to let a crew do a walk about in an asteroid field?

 

Cuda (me): I swear, I was just following orders!

 

[GRADUATION]

 

And all I did that time was keep my assistant busy in a time were security had absolutely nothing to do in the main plot.

 

Sometimes I think they deliberately wait until you do something really weird -- it seems to me that my graduation occurred on an evening in which I, as CENG, had allowed an entire ship to be squashed flat by gravimetric forces. O.o

[Grom 0]

Sometimes I think they deliberately wait until you do something really weird -- it seems to me that my graduation occurred on an evening in which I, as CENG, had allowed an entire ship to be squashed flat by gravimetric forces. O.o

 

LOL. Sometimes that may seem like the case, but I think it's just coincidence. Graduation is more cumulative than anything. We take into account a cadets' progress from their first sim to their graduation. If we feel that a cadet has mastered all of the basic criteria for what we expect on an advanced sim, then a pip is issued. That is why we stress to cadets to talk to the GMs, listen to what we have to say.

 

I think the Academy is really what makes STSF unique. We place an emphasis on quality and I think that really shows in our advanced sims. It might not be a perfect system (although I've yet to see a better one), but it preserves the quality of our advanced games while it provides a place for individuals to learn and grow in our style of play. Being a part of ad hoc groups of the years, one comes to appreciate the organization, commitment to quality, and the lack of internal strife!

[Kansas_Jones 0]

Ok, well my guess is that they want you to think that they are keeping track but it seems to be more of an on the spot thing, really.

 

GMs keep track of all cadets (good and bad behaviour) who come through the acad, from the beginning sim straight up to the graduating sim. This doesn't change after being assigned to an advanced sim either: if a player is disruptive in the acads, their advanced game GM team hears about it.

 

Being a part of ad hoc groups of the years, one comes to appreciate the organization, commitment to quality, and the lack of internal strife!

 

Word.

[Cuda 0]

The first time I did an academy, one of the cadets almost lost Kbear, I think, while transporting her, and graduated. How do the GM's keep track of the cadets, though. I've been looking around at the Academy Logs and a few, like the one I graduated in, aren't there. I don't know if its a matter of time or anything because there is the sim of the next day.

 

Anyway, the academy sims are definitely distinctive about STSF. I think its the best training system, you really get to play every part. Though I haven't been First Officer. :)

 

I wonder why I graduated. Someone in this long thread said they think you feel comfortable with STSF. My graduation occurred during a sim in which I had to take an assistant to do a walkabout and I wasn't sure what a walkabout was. It went thusly:

 

Me: Assistant, we're doing a walkabout.

 

Ass: OK.

 

XO: (something like) Get ready

 

Me: (has no idea where one would go to do a walkabout)

 

XO: Lets suit up.

 

Me: (thank the prophets) Ass> Come on, get ready (goes to the airlock)

 

PAUSE SIM

PAUSE SIM

PAUSE SIM

 

Me: Paused (THANK YOU PROPHETS!)

 

See. The art is in staying cool. On reflection, I really should have asked, though.

[Guest STSF Neptune]

Academy files are kept for all cadets, and after each game a progress report is noted on their file. As to your specific log, it is up to the individual hosting team to post the logs (as we're not all privy to each log) and not all of us have time to parse the log and post it in the library section.

[DrDMatthews 0]

How do the GM's keep track of the cadets, though.

 

 

They have a magic mirror that allows them to see everything. :)

 

Seriously, they keep track....they really do. I'm pretty sure they have their own "private" message boards accessible only to the GMs. And I know of a player on one of my advanced sims who got into trouble because of bad behavior during a couple of Academies. This happened long after they graduated. So the GMs definitely keep track of what's going and who's doing what.

 

In other words....mind your manners. :rolleyes:

Edited June 10, 2008 by DrDMatthews

[Aliana Lucindak 0]

Sometimes I think they deliberately wait until you do something really weird -- it seems to me that my graduation occurred on an evening in which I, as CENG, had allowed an entire ship to be squashed flat by gravimetric forces. O.o

hahaha when I graduated, it was because I discovered a plot and got the ship blown up.

I still think yours is better sam.

~Ali

Edited June 10, 2008 by Aliana Lucindak

[Kansas_Jones 0]

Sometimes I think they deliberately wait until you do something really weird -- it seems to me that my graduation occurred on an evening in which I, as CENG, had allowed an entire ship to be squashed flat by gravimetric forces. O.o

 

hahaha when I graduated, it was because I discovered a post and got the ship blown up.

I still think yours is better sam.

~Ali

 

Weird is always an option. But, the overall deciding grad factor was probably how well you both handled yourselves in the academy game for those particular squashings or implosion adventures, combined with past performances as well.

[Cuda 0]

Wow. Somewhere there is a file about me. Creepy thought. One day many decades into the future when the cadets finally revolt against the GM's and break those files open, will we find notes somewhere along the line of this:

 

[sD 240806.08

 

Cuda was incompetent at his post as operations officer, messed up the status report, and failed to obey simple tasks at the appropriate time.]

 

Gee, I hope that never happens. If there is a revolution I shall defend the GM's with my life! :)

[Aliana Lucindak 0]

Wow. Somewhere there is a file about me. Creepy thought. One day many decades into the future when the cadets finally revolt against the GM's and break those files open, will we find notes somewhere along the line of this:

 

[sD 240806.08

 

Cuda was incompetent at his post as operations officer, messed up the status report, and failed to obey simple tasks at the appropriate time.]

 

Gee, I hope that never happens. If there is a revolution I shall defend the GM's with my life! :)

Well if they did break out, because your file would say that it meant the GMs would have been annoyed with you or something so the rebels would celebrate you or something.

~Ali

[The Strategy Expert 0]

Wow. Somewhere there is a file about me. Creepy thought. One day many decades into the future when the cadets finally revolt against the GM's and break those files open, will we find notes somewhere along the line of this:

 

[sD 240806.08

 

Cuda was incompetent at his post as operations officer, messed up the status report, and failed to obey simple tasks at the appropriate time.]

 

Gee, I hope that never happens. If there is a revolution I shall defend the GM's with my life! :)

 

Yeah you might never get a post in the real life Starfleet in the future because of what is now on your permanent record!

[Cuda 0]

Okay, then here is my file draft 2.

 

[sD sometime in the future

 

Cuda was a hardworking cadet who would give his fantasy life to the GM's]

 

Ha! Now can you see them refusing me a post?

[Aliana Lucindak 0]

Okay, then here is my file draft 2.

 

[sD sometime in the future

 

Cuda was a hardworking cadet who would give his fantasy life to the GM's]

 

Ha! Now can you see them refusing me a post?

yes. Because they might think you a stalker (jk, jk, jk, jk).

~Ali

[Samantha_Kent 0]

hahaha when I graduated, it was because I discovered a plot and got the ship blown up.

I still think yours is better sam.

~Ali

 

Actually, my best story was probably from the (only, unsurprisingly) time I got to MCO and condemned the entire crew to a slow death by radiation poisoning. :) But that was after I graduated and therefore does not technically apply to this discussion.

Edited June 11, 2008 by Samantha_Kent

[Cuda 0]

My favorite Academy I think was with Muon and Jumper in which we were in an away team in which we get attacked by bats, spiders, and slugs. Memories.

[Aliana Lucindak 0]

My favorite Academy I think was with Muon and Jumper in which we were in an away team in which we get attacked by bats, spiders, and slugs. Memories.

::remembers that sim, with dreamy look on face, suddenly look changes to shock, and then disgust, and then nausea::

~Ali

[The Strategy Expert 0]

Actually, my best story was probably from the (only, unsurprisingly) time I got to MCO and condemned the entire crew to a slow death by radiation poisoning. :) But that was after I graduated and therefore does not technically apply to this discussion.

Wait a minute.

 

If the crew died do they still get to keep playing?

 

I would think that once you died you are done as a character?

[The Strategy Expert 0]

Also,

 

At the time I signed up here i also sent a request to join another game the A Call to Duty version which looked quite similar to this game. I just rec'd an email from a guy that was out of town that wants me to train with him.

 

Does anybody have any info or insight on that just out of curiosity, or any other interesting star trek games whether internet or video games that they like?

Edited June 12, 2008 by The Strategy Expert

[Col. C.E. Harper 0]

Wait a minute.

 

If the crew died do they still get to keep playing?

 

I would think that once you died you are done as a character?

 

 

Academies 'reset' at the end of the game, so if you 'die' it doesn't matter. You're almost always playing a different character each time anyway. Death in an advanced sim is more permanent and has to be handled carefully, but it does happen.