STSF.net FAQ's

[Webmaster 20]

We're in the process of building a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) database to include in our help section.

 

In order to make it the best possible database as possible, we're looking to our members to submit questions they frequently see in the chat rooms.  Please feel free to reply to this topic and include the questions you would like to see included, and if possible an answer to the question (unless it's painfully obvious...  like What does STSF stand for, etc).

 

I would like to ask that we keep this thread free of general chit-chat.  If you would like to comment on posts here, please feel free to start a topic on it in the chit chat board.  That way we can keep this thread clean and easily accessable.

 

Thanks for your help in making STSF the best sim group online!

[Webmaster 20]

Here's a quick list of FAQ's I've written so far.  It's by no means a complete list...  but just something I've started writing.  Feel free to add your own FAQ's below.  

 

What does STSF stand for?

STSF stands for Star Trek ™ Simulation Forum.

 

Where do STSF games take place?

All STSF games take place in StarTrek.com's chat rooms.

 

For the most part, all of our training events take place in the Holodeck chat room and most of our Advanced games are held in the Ready Room chat room. You can access StarTrek.com's chat rooms at: http://www.startrek.com/community/chat.asp

 

What makes STSF different from other SIM groups out there?

STSF is a group that works hand-in-hand with Paramount Pictures to provide our players the very best online role playing expierence.

 

The group is managed by a GM Council that has years (for some almost a decade) of expierence in running online games. They have the skill and expierence that it takes to coordinate a sucessful group that is fun for all who participate.

 

But the biggest factor that sets STSF apart from other groups is it's community. Without the players, there would not be a forum. You would be hard pressed to find a better group of players who show as much dedication and love for the game as the folks who play here do.

 

I don't live in the United States. When are your events held in my time?

STSF lists it's schedule of events in both Pacific and Eastern time zones. But we understand not everyone is from those time zones. We just do not have the space on our website to list every various time zone thats available and what time it would be in that area.

 

However, there are several sites on the internet that can help you convert times from one time zone to another.

 

We recommend the TimeZone Converter. You can find it online at http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc.

 

How do I join STSF?

Joining STSF is simple! There are no applications to fill out or special interviews you have to go through.

 

All you have to do is show up to one of our Academy Simulations. (You will find our complete schedule of events at http://www.stsf.net/schedule.php) From there, one of our GMs (Game Masters) will ask for people who wish to play to contact them. They will assign you a post, and from there, you will be able to play.

 

Our GMs will help teach you how to role-play and how our games work. If you have any questions during the games, just send them a private message. Once they feel you have the skills necessary to be sucessful in one of our Advanced Simulations, they will promote you to the rank of Ensign and you will be invited to join one of our other Advanced games.

 

(Note: All of our training and advanced games take place in StarTrek.com's chat rooms. You can find them at http://www.startrek.com/community/chat.asp)

 

What are the different positions in a SIM?

All of the various rolls our players take on are based off the positions that might be typically found in the Star Trek ™ world. For the most part, this would be military rolls. But there are many times other positions as added by the GM.

 

Below are the most common positions you will find in STSF events:

 

Captain - The Captain is the person in charge of the ship. He/she makes the final decision on all important issues the ship faces.

 

First Officer - The First Officer is the Captain's "right hand man". He/she serves as the liason between the Captain and the rest of the crew. Generally the XO is responsible for crew discipline. He/she will also generally lead most away team missions.

 

Tactical Officer - The Tactical Officer controls the ship's weapons and defensive systems. Depending on the event, this player may also serve as the Chief of Security.

 

Operations Officer - The Operations Manager coordinates the allocation of the ship's resources. He/she makes sure each department has access to the materials they need and also has been known to serve as liason between the bridge and the other departments on the ship. Depending on the event (and the GM), the ship's communication system may be under the control of the OPS officer. (If not done by OPS, the TAC officer will be the one responsible for communications.)

 

Helmsman - The helmsman controls the ship's navigation system.

 

Security Officers or - Security Officers are responsible for protecting the ship, it's crew, and it's content. They also generally accompany Away Teams to assist with security issues as well.

 

Engineering Officers or - Engineers are the ship's mieracle workers. They are responsible for keeping various systems functional. They fix broken systems, do diagnostics on existing systems, and help install new hardware.

 

Science Officers or - The Science department is the investigative body of the ship. They typically are the ones who run various scans and control the ship's sensors. In addition they also are involved in many research projects.

 

Medical Officers or - The ship's medical staff is in charge of the overall health of the crew. They help heal injured officers, do preventative checkups, test medical equiptment, and also assist in medical related research.

 

How long do SIMs last?

Generally STSF SIMs last approximately 1 hour.

 

In our training SIMs though, you will want to be in the room 10-15 minutes BEFORE the start of the event. That way you can hear any announcements from the GM and also be assigned a position.

 

Who are the GMs?

GM stands for Game Masters. They are the people who help coordinate all of our events.

 

GMs are expierenced Role Players who enjoy helping other players have fun during their events. If you have any questions about STSF or how to play, they are the people to ask!

 

I already play in another group. Can I transfer my rank over here?

No. All players start out on equal footing. That means all players begin their expierence in Starfleet Academy. Once they graduate, they will be promoted to the rank of Ensign.

 

It is up to their Advanced SIM CO/XO to determine future promotions beyond that.

 

I've just graduated! Now what?

First of all, congratulations on your promotion!

 

The GM that promoted you should have requested your e-mail address in order to have more information sent to you on how to join our Advanced games. They will contact our Personnel Manager, who will assist you in placing you in your Advanced Sim.

 

You should generally hear from the Personnel Manager within 2-3 days from your graduation. If you do not, you can reach him directly at [email protected] or you may contact the STSF Webmaster at [email protected]

 

Can I be on more than one Advanced SIM?

Most certainly! Once you graduate Starfleet Academy, you are welcome to particpate in any SIM there are openings in (with the permission of the SIM's CO of course).

 

You will want to talk to the CO/XO of the extra SIM you want to join and let them know of your interest. They can tell you what openings they have and help answer any questions you have before you join them as well.

 

Once you have done that, contact the STSF Personnel Manager via e-mail at [email protected] .  He will help you in completing the process.

[LoAmi 0]

Addition for right after "where do games take place?"  "What are the system requirments?"

 

The chat rooms work under Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Netscape, and probably any other web browser, under any system.  Java Virtual Machine software is required and may be obtained from http://java.sun.com .  If you have popup blocking software installed, and the chat room links do not work, you may have to exclude www.startrek.com from the block in order to use the chatrooms.  For details on specific software, see your software's help.

[LoAmi 0]

Addition to "How do I join STSF?"

 

In order to join the chat rooms, you have to obtain a startrek.com chat name that may be different from your STSF message boards name.  To obtain a startrek.com name, go to http://www.startrek.com/community/chat.asp and press "Register now" at the top of the screen, then follow the instructions.  In order to identify your rank, cadets are requested but not required to begin their chat names with cdt_ or cadet_ as in: cdt_foo

[LoAmi 0]

Here's one I've seen a couple of times:

 

"How do I change my startrek.com chat name?"

 

There is no way to change or remove a startrek.com chat name.  However, many of us would like to change it, especially when promoted.  To effectively change your name:

1. Log in to startrek.com under your old name

2. Click on the "My account" link at the top of the page.

3. Change the email address to a dummy address and hit the "Update" button at the bottom of the screen.  

 

ASIDE about addresses: The address you enter here may be a real email address or it may not be!  If you never want to log in on your old name again, you can just enter something like [email protected] and it will work.  If you do want to use it again, enter a dummy address (still doesn't have to be real!) that you'll remember.  

For example, if you wanted to change from ens_foo to lt_foo and your real email was [email protected], you could change the address for the ens_foo account to [email protected] (something easy to remember) and log in under your old name again.

 

4. Register for a new name under your regular email address.

[Captain Huff 0]

How about:

 

"What is the role of the STSF staff and what can we expect from them?"

[Cmdr Laura Issia 0]

How about:

"How long will it take me to graduate the Academy/get promoted to Ensign?"

STSF rules require a cadet to attend a minimum of three simulations in a 60-day period in order to graduate.  However, there is no standard time-frame for graduation.  Some people are ready to leap right in after their third sim, and some take several months before they graduate.   Refer to STSF's help documents for hints on how to graduate, or ask your GMs how you can improve your performance -- they'll be happy to help!

[Garnoopy 0]

This may seem like an obvious question, but when I first joined, it was a bit of confusion for me and took me a while to figure this out. :: grins :: I didn't know what the "Jg" on "Lt Jg" stood for untill I was promoted to the rank... :D

 

 

What does those symbols at the beginning of names stand for, like "Lt, Lt. Jg."?

 

The symbols stand for the rank that is earned once you graduate the STSF.net Academy, and are promoted past the rank of Ensign. People apprivate them to the shorter terms because they are easier to type, and shorter. A complete list follows:

 

Ens - Ensign

Lt Jg - Lieutenant Junior Grade

Lt - Lieutenant

Lt Cmdr - Lieutenant Commander

Cmdr - Commander

Cpt - Captain

 

( Someone has to add in the "First Lieutenant" which I'm not sure how you abbriviate )

[Webmaster 20]

I've moved several posts from this topic to the Community & Trek Discussion forum.  Ya'll had an interesting thread going, but it did not really fit in with this topic.  

 

So please feel free to continue it over there.  

 

Thanks!

[STSF Jorlis 0]

How about "I can't make the sims... could you schedule one on DAY at TIME?"  That one seems to pop up quite a bit.

[LoAmi 0]

Here's one that (although not necessarily in this form) seems to come up a lot in sims (but not on the boards):

 

"What are all those :: symbols, what do they mean, how do I use them, and why are they every simmer's best friend?"

 

Text enclosed in :: (two colons in a row) denotes an action or a thought.  Text not enclosed in :: symbols is considered speech.  For example, if Player1 were interacting with Player2:

 

Player1> :: hears a sound  :: Did you hear that?

Player2>  Yes, sounded like thunder.

Player1> :: looks in the direction of the sound :: Look at that!

Player2>  ::thinks: "gee that's an odd looking animal" ::

 

Notice that actions, thoughts and speech can be (and frequently are) included in the same line.  The :: separator tells other players what was intended.

[LoAmi 0]

What are the brackets ( >) and when should I use them?

 

Text enclosed in brackets is not part of the sim.  You might use these for:

(1) questions you have about what's going on in the sim that you think everyone needs to know (for example, a request for a GM to clarify an unclear action).  

(2) out-of-character remarks (for example, a joke about what you or another player said)

 

Use of out-of-sim text tends to disrupt the flow of a sim, so it should only be used when necessary.

[Erein Vor'Tic 0]

My question is not on here

As you should know, we can not address every question, because that would be to many to list. You can send a PM to A9, Dac Garnoopy, LoAmi, or any one else who is a Ltjg and up. (that why the do have more than 1 week experience in an advance sim)

 

Note: also include-mails so if they do not have a log-in acount for the boards, they can e-mail them

[Vex Xiang 0]

Doesn't the or > or something interfere with the PeoplLink chatrooms because it tries to identify it as a font type or color or something? I thought I remembered that.

 

I do know that :: :: sometimes messes up because it attaches a smiley to it. Or was that fixed?

[LoAmi 0]

Doesn't the or > or something interfere with the PeoplLink chatrooms because it tries to identify it as a font type or color or something? I thought I remembered that.

 

I do know that :: :: sometimes messes up because it attaches a smiley to it. Or was that fixed?

Although this doesnt belong on the FAQ page, only certain codes interfere with the PLink chat room's minimalist interpretation of HTML

 

The FAQ that we got A LOT is:

 

How do I make my chat text show up in bold, italics, or color?

 

While typing in the chat rooms, before each line you type, you need a formatting code, as in these examples:

bold

italic

red

blue

 

(without the spaces in the , webby: is there any way to show these on the boards w/o spaces?)

 

You can stop typing in formatted or colored text by using another formatting code.  (again without the spaces inside the ) For example:

 

Player1>  My text is red.   Now it's blue!

 

Will look like:

 

Player1> My text is red.   Now it's blue!

 

You can also use HTML-style color codes.

(Perhaps somebody who has a link to a color-code website could provide a link here.  I don't know any good ones)

[Cmdr Laura Issia 0]

You can also use HTML-style color codes.

(Perhaps somebody who has a link to a color-code website could provide a link here.  I don't know any good ones)

 

Personally, if I have a good clue what color I want to use, I check:

http://www.visibone.com/colorlab/

or

http://www.engineerjobs.com/eg/colorguide.html

which were just the first two clear sites I turned up in a google search the day I needed a chart. :-)  but as I generally don't know what color I want exactly, I prefer to experiment in PaintShop or PhotoShop and then read the code off the palette.