Guide to Bridge Officer
You are the Bridge Officer!
Naturally the Captain cannot press every single button on the bridge himself, so Centcom has employed multiple ~~assistants~~ HIGHLY TRAINED OFFICERS to press the buttons for him. When you join you will be automatically assigned a station to man. However, this is not a formal assignment so you and the other officers may switch places at will. This may sound dull, but worry not, many fun things await you!
The Chain of Command
As a bridge officer you are not part of command staff like the Captain or HOP. You are on the same level as a standard department crewman, but you work on the bridge. Thus you must obey orders from all heads of staff, and your fancy uniform does not give you permission to order other people around.
In times of crisis the order of succession is Captain->HOP->CE->You. The HOS cannot command both the ship and its security at the same time, and the CMO’s location is in Medical healing others. However, as a head of staff you should probably listen to them, but in the end you have authority over the bridge if the line of succession leads to you.
Bridge Stations
This console is how you move the ship to various locations. You can click on different circles on the map. Each circle represents a solar system, each with multiple celestial bodies. Different colors correspond to different factions. When you click on them it opens a menu where you can jump to the system and see more info. At the top you can click the "Show Map" tab to view the map of the current solar system. Clicking on planets lets you see if there are any points of interest.
- Ringed planets have asteroids for miners to mine.
- Orbital Platforms are trading stations.
- Lava planets can be landed on.
- Gas Giants are worthless
The Captain’s orders determine where you should be going, as well as the mission assignment. Your ship has a max range for jumps, so you need to plan the best route to travel to faraway locations.
Tactical Console
This console is everything in ship combat. You can see your shields, your weapons systems, and the location of other ships in the system. Not all ships are hostile, but if you shoot at a neutral or friendly vessel, expect to start an intergalactic war.
When looking at enemy vessels, be sure to note their location. If they are not at the same planet/nav beacon you are, then you are out of range and your shots will do nothing. Also, when firing at enemy ships, you can select various subsystems to target. Damaging and destroying these hinder the enemy ships. Destroying the shields makes it so they cannot block your shots, destroying the engines reduces their evasion, etc. Also note that where you target determines the state of the salvageable wreck. If you shoot the bridge, don’t expect to get much out of it. Use this strategically to salvage certain items (weapons, etc) for your ship!
Crew Monitoring Console
Exactly the same as the one is medical. Its uses are limited except for shouting at people whose suit sensors are disabled. Use this console to coordinate medical staff during a battle.
Engineering Console
Used to monitor power usage and generation. Expect this to heavily change after the power revamp.
Security Console
If the HOS wants to be on the bridge, he will probably use this one.
I am bored. What now?
When you are in FTL or waiting on miners to mine ores, things can get boring. Here are a few ideas on how to stay busy during the lulls in action.
- Shout at people to activate suit sensors.
- Shout at Research to upgrade the phase cannon.
- Shout at Engineering to increase power output/fix the engine core.
- Have the Chef bring you some food to eat.
- Have the Bartender bring everyone drinks and get super drunk.
- Find station pets and sacrifice them to the gods of war. The gods might appreciate this.
- If you have done everything on this list, then shout at the people outside to hurry up and prepare for departure.
- Repeat.