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Thread: Wth do Operations Officers do?

  1. #1

    Wth do Operations Officers do?

    I've never really Narrated the Star Trek RPG before, so I'm quite new at this. I got one of my friends to make a character last night (It took him four hours! He wanted his character perfect!), and I'm getting a couple of others to make there's as well. Were playing around the Voyager time line. Anyway, my friend last night made an Operations Officer, I'm a bit confused though... What (Most of the time), do Operations Officer's do? I mean are they on the bridge? Are they the guys that pilot the ship? Or are they the one's that just beam people up? Oor what?

    A little clarification would be nice. Thanks!

  2. #2
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    Well, the two Operations officers commonly known are Commander Data and Ensign Harry Kim. They seem to handle a lot of the 23rd century science officer functions as well as management and damage control coordination. I'm sure there's other duties I'm overlooking but thats the basics.
    Crimson Hand Gamers...why have your own site when there's Facebook?

  3. #3
    In my gaming bible the Operations department is a catch-all group.

    While it is easy to define the sciences, medical, command, security and even engineers, what about the Comuter specialists? Transporter Chiefs? Yeoman and Administrative personel? Or Shuttle Pilots?

    It falls somewhere between (in business terms) IT Support, Building services, administrative staff... that sort of thing...

    In fact I did write up a full departmental breakdown for a crew. The text for Operations said;

    Operations:
    Quote; "Turn it off, turn it on, It'll be OK!"

    The Operations department is a hybrid department covering Helm, Tactical and some Engineering. Their area of expertise is the control and distribution of power and resources around the ship. They deal with Transporters and Communications as well as Shuttlecraft and Tractor beams, however under combat conditions many of these systems also fall under Tactical control. Operations also deal with Damage reports when they come in, as well as the Coordination of damage control teams during the aftermath. Officers in Operations are usually easily transferred between Helm, Engineering or Tactical in an emergency. They wear Gold/Yellow jersey's. Along with the Security and Engineering Departments, the majority of Starfleet's enlisted personnel serve within this department.

    Chief of Ops: The Chief of Operations is also known as the Operations Manager, this individual is extremely reliant on Artificial Intelligence subroutines built into the main computer network to carry out a significant majority of routine work in tasks such as the routing of power and sensor requirements and usage to different departments. All are mostly handled by the ships main computer, although the actual, allocation of such resources is often decided by the Operation Officer in charge. The important necessity of the Operations Chief is highlighted by its positioning on a ships bridge, often, right next to either Conn or Tactical.

    An Operations Manager has at their disposal a series of readouts that give a continually updated list of current shipboard activities, thus allowing Ops to prioritise resources on request, or alter the balance in cases of emergency or potentially dangerous tactical situations. The way in which resources for a ships sensors are allocated is particularly important for exploratory vessels as a number of differing departments require the usage of this resource for a wide variety of reasons. In cases when there is a chance of one department's use interfering or preventing the success of another, the Operations Manager may reschedule the allocation of resource usage and even request more drastic recommendations, such as course changes, to ensure total success.
    For all these reasons an Operations Manager is often particularly skilled in Computer use and often a skilled engineer to boot. The Operations and Engineering departments will work very closely together, blending almost imperceptibly, and it is true that many of their skills and abilities are interchangeable...

    On the Bridge as Operations Manager, the senior Ops console provides access to the status of a ship’s Sensors, Shields and Communications, often enabling the senior Ops officer on the bridge to access and report much of the same information also available to a Tactical Officer.

    It must also be noted that many of the newer style of Starfleet ships bridge arrangement, have begun integrating many of the Operations and Helm controls into a single panel (such as in the Defiant and Prometheus classes), as a result, more than a few Operations managers have found themselves serving as Conn officer as well. (Examples: Lt. Commander Data, Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien, Ensign Harry Kim)

    Deputy Chief of Ops: The deputy chief of Operations is there to back the chief up, and effectively coordinate any departmental operations across the ship while the Chief is busy on the bridge. He is also expected to take over on the bridge if the chief of ops is unavailable to take the position, likewise this officer is in charge during the Ops chiefs absence.

    Outside of that, the deputy chief of Operations is usually found in charge of one of the other duty shifts, effectively delegating responsibilities between duty shifts of personnel.

    Transporter Chief: The Transporter systems are one of the most important facilities available to Starfleet vessels and facilities, enabling the near-instantaneous transportation of personnel and materials from one location to another, and reducing the need for shuttlecraft or other auxiliary vehicles having to hard-connect via a docking station or shuttlebay. The transporters are overseen by a senior NCO in the Operations department serving as Transporter chief.

    The number of enlisted personnel under the chief depends directly upon the size of the vessel, with usually 1-2 personnel per transporter room, and nearly double that with trained Transporter Technicians among the regular Operations and Engineering crews.

    The transporter chief’s primary duties are to supervise the personnel and maintenance of the various transporter systems that operate aboard a Starship. Its this crewmembers responsibility to ensure the safe transportation and retrieval of officers during away team missions, as well as assist their colleagues during the various unusual requests that seem to crop up on a regular basis. Another of the chief's responsibilities is to ensure that the equipment cabinets located in the personnel transporter rooms are always fully stocked and that the weapons and equipment stored within are always fully charged, to be ready at a moments notice.

    Should something go awry it is also the job of the transporter chief to conduct an official investigation to find out what went wrong and prevent it happening again.
    During periods when Transporters are not in use, the senior Transporter Chief may order technicians to carry out test transports, or even undertake such duties personally, utilising test materials. Such maintenance is to ensure the equipment is operating at optimum conditions, as the loss of any vital component during transportation can have catastrophic results on the individual caught in the affected beam. (Example Chief O'Brien (aboard the Enterprise-D))

    Mission Operations/Communications Officer: While the role of Communications Officer has lessened considerably since Starfleet Ships of the 23rd century, primarily due to increased technology and automation available within the Communications field. It has typically been the case for Starfleet to expand and increase the rolls of such officers who might find their positions undermined by such increases in technology.

    In the case of the Communications Officer, Starfleet has expanded the role to include that of Mission Operations. Effectively the officer serving the position on the Bridge is there primarily to monitor and control multiple communications channels and support the Senior Operations an Tactical bridge staff. But also to monitor the Mission Operations terminal, and keep an eye on the status of any Away Teams.

    This officer often also serves as a 'floating specialist' serving on the bridge and able to take over from the Operations Chief should he get called away. Thus a Communications Officer remains an important link in a Starship crew and commonly a senior Operations officer.

    Communications Officers, like Security Staff, must also be aware of Starfleet codes and emergency conditions, in order to immediately inform the Commanding Officer of potentially hazardous situations. This position can also sometimes be filled by a Tactical officer. (Example: Lt.(jg) Worf (as a tactical officer))

    Operations Officer: The rank and file of the operations department, generally filling a bridging role between Science, Command and Engineering. They often specialise in a particular system, focusing on Computer, Sensors, Holographic or Transporter systems, and will be technically proficient both in their use and in their repair, working closely alongside Engineering, and often the lines between Operations and Engineering get a little blurred. The Operations department often has the largest contingent of officers aboard a Starship. (Example: Ensign Nog, Rom)
    Hope all that is of some help.
    DanG/Darth Gurden
    The Voice of Reason and Sith Lord

    “Putting the FUNK! back into Dysfunctional!”

    Coming soon. The USS Ganymede NCC-80107
    "Ad astrae per scientia" (To the stars through knowledge)

  4. #4
    Senior Operations Officers (i.e. Data & Kim) manage all primary ship functions NOT specifically assigned to another bridge officer (Helm & Tactical) as well as routing requested power to ships systems as provided by the engineering department. Non-senior operations officers (O’Brian on TNG) handle the operation of their assigned department, transporter being the most visible but including all the non-engineer personal assigned to things like shield control, phaser coolant, torpedo magazine, environmental support, computer core monitoring, shuttle bay control, plasma regulation, janitor, my group even assigned the role of ship’s quartermaster to operations.

    As mentioned by Carlson coordinating damage control also plays a major part in what the Bridge Operations Officer does, as the Opps Officer should pay attention to what has happened to the ship while the remaining bridge officers focus on what going on outside the ship.

    And I see Dan has posted a nice essay while I was typing looks good there Dan.
    Phoenix...

    "I'm not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity,
    but maybe we should just remove all the safety lables and let nature take it's course"

    "A Place For Everything & Nothing In It's Place"

  5. #5
    Wow thanks guys!This was a really BIG help!

  6. #6
    If you like I will tart the whole document up and post it for the other departments...
    DanG/Darth Gurden
    The Voice of Reason and Sith Lord

    “Putting the FUNK! back into Dysfunctional!”

    Coming soon. The USS Ganymede NCC-80107
    "Ad astrae per scientia" (To the stars through knowledge)

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Gurden View Post
    If you like I will tart the whole document up and post it for the other departments...
    That'd be nice. Maybe we could put it over at Owen's and Patrick's sites, so that it is more readily available than in a forum post?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cut View Post
    That'd be nice. Maybe we could put it over at Owen's and Patrick's sites, so that it is more readily available than in a forum post?
    I will cheerfully post it on my site, even though it does seem a little 24th-century-centric for my personal tastes. It looks like a great little thing to have around, though.
    Patrick Goodman -- Tilting at Windmills

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  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by PGoodman13 View Post
    I will cheerfully post it on my site, even though it does seem a little 24th-century-centric for my personal tastes. It looks like a great little thing to have around, though.
    Can't help that it was written for a TNG SIM bible...

    I have seperated the document from the sim rules and here it is...
    Attached Files Attached Files
    DanG/Darth Gurden
    The Voice of Reason and Sith Lord

    “Putting the FUNK! back into Dysfunctional!”

    Coming soon. The USS Ganymede NCC-80107
    "Ad astrae per scientia" (To the stars through knowledge)

  10. #10
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    Phoenix
    uh, how do define quatermaster?
    (I come from a NAVY family(mostly) and the position of quatermaster is a enlisted/nco rating that would equate to the Star Trek universe as Helm(22nd-23rd Centuries) Flight Con (24th Century).

  11. #11
    Army myself (same as most of the rest of my group) where a quartermaster is responsible for supply lines and issuing of equipment. To me that fell under the category of a system management detail, fitting to the hands-on management of ship power/personal verses the seemingly administrative hand-off style of the command department.
    Phoenix...

    "I'm not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity,
    but maybe we should just remove all the safety lables and let nature take it's course"

    "A Place For Everything & Nothing In It's Place"

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phoenix View Post
    Army myself (same as most of the rest of my group) where a quartermaster is responsible for supply lines and issuing of equipment. To me that fell under the category of a system management detail, fitting to the hands-on management of ship power/personal verses the seemingly administrative hand-off style of the command department.
    The type of job that an Army quartermaster does would equate at least to the position in the Navy as Storekeeper

  13. #13
    re. The Quartermaster

    OK, lets try and define a TNG definition of Quartermaster. Its likely to have changed a bit in 4 centuries.

    So the Quartermaster is a relatively senior role with various crew management and ships supplies duties, so he is likely to have a major role in the Cargo and Shuttlebays, management of duty rosters, and a senior Computer/Replicator access.

    Sounds like Ops to me.

    But wait, we do see an awful lot of red-shirted types wandering the corridors in TNG, and they cannot all be Captain or First Officer.

    So lets have it as a Junior Command role, suitable for either a senior NCO/Warrant Officer or Junior Command Officer.

    Sounds reasonable?
    DanG/Darth Gurden
    The Voice of Reason and Sith Lord

    “Putting the FUNK! back into Dysfunctional!”

    Coming soon. The USS Ganymede NCC-80107
    "Ad astrae per scientia" (To the stars through knowledge)

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Dan Gurden
    But wait, we do see an awful lot of red-shirted types wandering the corridors in TNG, and they cannot all be Captain or First Officer.
    Flight control was also in red (Paris, Crusher, sundry un-named bodies) or mustard in TOS (Sulu, Chekhov). I included dedicated support craft pilots (mostly shuttles) as junior personnel in the same department. Then you add in a few Yeomen for ship wide administrative duties you fill out those red-shirts rather rapidly.
    [EDIT] My group included enlisted so add a Chief of the Ship (think first officer to the enlisted corp) to the command department.

    Sounds reasonable?
    Of course in sound reasonable Dan, the only reason my group added the Quartermaster to the Operations Department was because of Steve's crew breakdown from Spacedock, where we had assigned all the available positions under the command/flight control department and still had a lot of openings left in the operations third of the yellow shirts. That and we wanted to add names to (all) the faceless NPC's (my detail oriented players hated me, all that extra work, so little actual return)

    To be truthful, I have found that there are a few, duties in Starfleet that blur the red/yellow/blue uniform codes - Armory (sec/ops/eng), Orderly (med/ops), Quartermaster (ops/cmd) & Shuttle Bay Deck Officer (ops/cmd)
    Phoenix...

    "I'm not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity,
    but maybe we should just remove all the safety lables and let nature take it's course"

    "A Place For Everything & Nothing In It's Place"

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Phoenix View Post
    To be truthful, I have found that there are a few, duties in Starfleet that blur the red/yellow/blue uniform codes - Armory (sec/ops/eng), Orderly (med/ops), Quartermaster (ops/cmd) & Shuttle Bay Deck Officer (ops/cmd)

    Agreed. And IMO these personnel with a slight depertmental merge could in-theory draw from both pools, an offer a stepping stone between departments.

    Although my 'captain and XO' cooment was me being flippant, I dont really see a problem with a Quatermaster eing an either/or position too... there is aloso the Section Leaderrole in command (that I just made up) of a specialist officer in charge of a small work group that may also be either in departmental colours or command red... I like the idea of a core of talented 'fast-track' junior command officers serving all over a vessel, moving from department to department as they gather as much experience as they can...

    I also dont worry too much about the exact numbers for departmental size. In reality I am sure these are guidelines and in some ships they would have less numbers than recommended, but the starfleet officers are supposed to be 'renaissance men' and multi-talented and able to fill in where required even if thats out of their normal deprtment group...
    DanG/Darth Gurden
    The Voice of Reason and Sith Lord

    “Putting the FUNK! back into Dysfunctional!”

    Coming soon. The USS Ganymede NCC-80107
    "Ad astrae per scientia" (To the stars through knowledge)

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