The Engineering Department

There are quite a few guides out there, here and on the wiki, about how to do the work Engineering does. I'm not going to repeat that stuff here. I assume, for the purposes of the guide, that you understand, and/or know where to find a guide covering, basic engineering duties. This guide endeavours to point out some of the more obscure points about Engineering, some intermediate tips, and how to help ensure that you're working as part of an Engineering Department, rather than as bunch of super-assistants who happen to all be wearing orange rather than grey.




All: So you've just joined the round, and you're about to run down to Engineering and do Engineering stuff. Right? No. No you're not. If you haven't already, check the manifest and see who's in the department. Introduce yourself, to the Chief especially if there's one, and get a situation report on the current state of the station. This doesn't need to be formal, a simple "Hello, what's been going on?" is usually more than sufficient. If the Chief's up to snuff, he'll be able to tell you what's going on and what's went on from when the shift started to when you've arrived.

The only department that relies more on communication than Engineering is Security. Communication isn't something that magically appears in tense situations, so build up a congenial atmosphere over the Engineering comms early in the round and keep that level of communication up. You'll appreciate it later.

Chief Engineer: Assuming you've covered the above and/or have started the shift as Chief, your first duty - ahead of all other things, is to ensure that the Singularity is in a position to be powered. That means opening Secure storage, and then closing it after the plasma canister has been returned. This is really basic Chief Engineer stuff, but it's the one job that you absolutely must do or you'll seriously impede your department's start.

Immediately after opening secure storage, if necessary (if it's round start it almost always is), check in with command and your Engineers/Atmos techs. The wiki suggests that you should do so to establish your authority over the Engineering department. Generally speaking, this isn't why you check in with your own department. Nine times out of ten your Engineers are going to be reasonably competent and competent Engineers, generally, understand that the Chief is in charge. Your job isn't to stamp your authority on the department, but rather not to lose it. This means, essentially, not fucking up or doing something inexplicable/unpredictable/odd/really stupid. Running out of Engineering without opening up secure storage, for instance.

Instead, what you want to do is ensure that your Engineers are talking to each other. One easy way to do this is to ask for regular status updates. If someone is out setting up the containment field, talk to them. They'll probably get a little annoyed that you're interrupting them in a delicate process but it should mean that they'll say, over the comms, when containment is ready to go. If only to shut you up. Do the same with Atmos. Also, keep a majority of the communication, especially early in the round, on the radio where everyone can hear. Later on you can talk to people in person, but keeping the comms active early is important. Establishing that baseline of low level comm traffic is something that you need to encourage.

Communication is a priority I don't think is stressed enough for Chief Engineers. There's no one else in Engineering who can demand a certain level of communication from its staff, no matter how crucial it is. This is your most vital ongoing role as Chief. If you've spotted a problem on the alert computers and are gearing up to deal with it personally nine times out of ten you're doing something wrong. Spotting it is a good first step, although somebody else should really be monitoring it. The next move is to alert the team to the problem, and from there figure out who should go. Communication and delegation is more than just talking, it's about managing a department to operate as a whole rather than constituent parts.

Station Engineers: You're the go-to immediate response guy for any Engineering problem, and breaches are your bread and butter. As a general purpose Engineer you're number two for almost every duty going. If there's a dedicated specialist on board, he takes point. You support everyone in all roles (except atmos), and you're the first man through the inflatable door into a breached area. Speaking of which, don't let the atmos techs come running into a breached area carrying pumps and shit around. It's possible that the area might not be recoverable, or it might take some time to repair the breach. There's no point having a load of unused atmos equipment and people up in that breach if it's not needed and/or just going to sit there for 10 minutes.

Exercise your lungs and communicate with the department. You fix breaches, and when you're done atmos can come in and fix the air. Everybody needs to understand that, and know who is going where, with what gear, and why. An established presence on the comm channel is important to this. If you've been silent all round no one is going to bat an eyelid at whatever you've suddenly started to squawk about.

Maintenance Technicians: You know all those small jobs that Engineering does like fixing windows, replacing lightbulbs, and such? That's all you. In some ways you're very similar to the Station Engineer, in that you play a support role. It is, however, a support role with an emphasis on non-breached stuff. So, doors, cameras, wiring, the engine... In some ways this is a good training job for someone interested in Engineering. You're expected to support everyone and do the relatively simple jobs, but no one expects you to take point on a breach or anything complicated.

Electricians: You've one job dammit; write up an electricians report detailing what wires do what on the various different machines, doors, and the variety of equipment Engineering might have reason to tamper with or could be reasonably expected need to fix. For you, if there is an Engine Technician or Station Engineer, this takes priority over the Engine. Make sure you sign it and leave copies around Engineering. Then, tell everybody about the report and where they can read it. Here's a handy code you can copy onto some paper.



Remember to copy paste it first and save. You can add in the 'field' information later and writing [sign] into the signature field will create a signature. If you want to figure out the wires for other things, like the vending machines, autolathes, MULES, radios, and briefcases go ahead... but it's a little difficult to think of reasonable circumstances in which you would legitimately need any of these.

Engine Technicians: Set up the Engine. Pretty basic Engineering stuff really. What might not be so basic is that the Engine can be set up with unfilled plasma tanks. Don't do this. If there's no Chief, AI, or Captain about remember that you can run the Engine on unfilled plasma tanks. However, it's also true that operating without full tanks can lead to a glitchy powernet. It's generally to be avoided. The better option is typically to hack into the Chief's office and open secure storage. However, if absolutely necessary though adjust the SMES input settings accordingly and monitor closely.

Once the engine is up and running though, keep an eye on the SMES output settings. After engine start keep power output at around 400k (100k output on each of the four main SMES). Then, keep an eye on power monitoring. It will eventually drop to a little under 80k once the APCs are fully charged. Once it reaches that point, reduce power output to under 200k. At under 200k touching an exposed wire will not kill someone. Above 200k the odds of being put into crit are increased drastically. I'm not sure but I think at a certain point it's possible to kill someone if the output is set too high. Once the power is set to under 200k, just keep an eye on power consumption and the singularity. You want the singularity oscillating between stages two and three, and power output a little above power consumption or, preferably, under 200k.

Atmospheric Technicians: Set up Atmosia. There's a bunch of guides explaining how this is done, but if you're new then ask someone. Someone in the department will know, even if they're not an atmos tech. At that point, you have two important standing duties - ensure that the portable air pumps, and portable scrubbers, are both charged and ready for action; and be prepared to deal with atmospheric issues like fires, released toxins/plasma, etc.

When it comes to breaches evaluate the situation and ensure your response is appropriate. If the Station Engineer reports, or you confirm through cameras, that the vents and scrubbers are intact, then don't bother bringing up portable gear. Just use the central atmospherics computer. If there's a fire consider opening the area to space and/or employing canisters of cooled N2/CO2. Be careful of pressure in the pipes, heated gases are problematic at the best of times. Remember that the axe is a cool tool, but it's generally unnecessary and usually more awkward to handle than a crowbar.

Engineering apprentices: Jesus. Look, talk to the Chief and ask to shadow someone. Honestly, I'd suggest you look deep into your purse for your balls and take on a real engineering role (maintenance tech, perhaps?), but if you're panicked about ruining the round (and it's true, as an Engineer you can do this very easily) then the best thing you can do is watch people and ask all the questions you want to ask OOC in character. Ask the Engine Tech how to set up the Engine, ask the Electrician how to go about checking doors, ask the Atmos people how all the pipes work (don't worry if you don't get this though, people who have been playing SS13 for years have avoided atmos like the plague because it's difficult).

I'm coming off, perhaps, a little harsh on apprentices here but the reality is that all the guides and questions in the world won't prepare you for actually playing. I'd highly encourage you to go for one of the proper Engineering jobs. If that means you have to double and triple check every step before pressing the buttons then that's preferable to shadowing someone. You'll learn more, you'll learn faster, and it'll be more enjoyable for you. So take a deep breath, set Station Engineer to high and declare ready. Then panic when you realize you're the only Engineer on duty and the entire crew is looking to you to get the power up and running...




There are two solutions to this issue, depending on your skill as an Engineer.

If you are unsure what you're doing, or are uncomfortable setting up the Singularity alone then you should immediately grab a pair of insulated gloves, several cables, and don EVA gear with a full tank of O2 set to 16kpa. You should then proceed immediately to the solars just port of the drone area in Engineering. Wire the solars normally and ensure that the tracker is set appropriately. At this point sever the cable between the solar and the APC terminal (that small metal thing with three wires pointing into the SMES battery). Proceed to wire the solars directly into the grid (just connect it directly to the wires that lead out of the solar control area) and repeat for all four solars. This will generate, approximately, 270kw of power, which is sufficient to power everything and charge the APCs. If you do this, however, you should know that the station is operating solely on solar power with no reserve. The Captain, Chief, AI, and/or other Engineering personnel should be alerted to this as soon as possible.

If you are familiar with the Singularity set-up process then you should hack the Chief's door and open the open secure storage. The Chief, Captain, AI, other Engineering staff should be alerted to this as soon as possible also. If you are uncomfortable with this, you can attempt to set up the engine without filling the tanks. This is doable, but definitely not recommended.




Everybody has their preferred equipment set-up. This is mine. Do remember though to set your suit sensors to max.

• Uniform with brown webbing: Cigarettes, Zippo lighter, O2 mask, meson scanners, engineering tape.
• Bag/Satchel: Box, Gas Mask, Welding helmet, 50 metal, 50 glass, two slots free for versatility (one of these is reserved for a fire extinguisher when necessary, and the other for a spare o2 tank when undertaking a long repair job/EVA. It's useful to keep them empty, however, just in case.).
• One box: GPS (set tag to something identifiable), wire, wire, wire, station bounced radio, airlock electronics, air alarm electronics, apc electronics.
• Pockets: Flashlight and extended oxygen tank (make sure you fill it).
• Head: Beret, hardhat, or free.
• Ears: Engineering headset. Keep the second ear free.
• Eyes: Free.
• Mouth: Free.
• Hands: Insulated gloves.*
• Feet: Steel capped boots or orange shoes.
• ID: PDA w/ID and pen.
• Belt: Toolbelt with, well, tools. Make sure you upgrade your default welder to an industrial welder.
• Exosuit: Free.

The beauty of the brown webbing is that you can wear an exosuit over it. The hazard vest, I find, is a bit of a waste. I used to be a big fan of it, as you could mount an O2 tank and leave a pocket free but it's subpar in terms of total storage capacity. Brown webbing also means that you can equip proper exosuit gear, like a hardsuit or firefighting gear, quicker and with less shuffling. Feel free to swap the cigarettes/zippo for basic medical gear. I personally think that's a little power-gamey, but you've an abundance of slots and, as an Engineer, you're going to get yourself into a scrape sooner or later.

Remember to return your EVA gear/firefighting suit, and don't keep it to yourself. There are only three hardsuit sets in Engineering and two in Atmospherics. There's also only one Chief suit. Limited gear should be kept in its assigned place unless in immediate use. The same goes for other limited items in Engineering - like the inflatable box lockbox. If you take that and it can't be found during a breach the Station Engineers will have to breach it the old way... and that's messy.

* Atmos technicians should ask the Chief, or Engineering staff, for insulated gloves. Atmos techs typically operate near wires anyway when placing pipes and having a pair is much, much safer. It is, however, a little power-gamey.




Reassure the crew. The number one cause of Engineering departments doing nothing exciting all round is the crew panicking and calling the shuttle. Generally they're not actually panicking (though sometimes they definitely do), it's just been a really long round and people are bored. What they don't realize/don't care is that Engineering has been sitting around the same length of time and hasn't done anything other than set up the engine and maybe repair a few windows. The first thing you have to make sure is that the crew don't decide to up and leave. Hopefully you have a stable Chief to massage the command personnel into staying on. If you don't though, get on the general comms and make it perfectly clear that there's no reason to abandon the station. If they decide to leave anyway then demand that the person in charge notes in the watch log that the Engineering staff are not recommending an evacuation and the damage is relatively minor and would have been fixed quickly. It'll do fuck all, but it's a good bit of RP and, maybe, just maybe, they'll listen.

Assuming that the crew has been pacified the first order of business is communication. If done right, someone is watching the alert computers, preferably from Atmos monitoring. He takes charge of the comms until the Chief can get to Engineering and take over. Send out information as you have it, and find out who is active, where they are, and what gear they're in. If they're in EVA gear already tell them to proceed to the affected area. Even if they have no metal or gear, that can be brought up by other. If they're not and there are suits in Engineering, tell people to gear up. If they're closer to EVA, tell them to gear up there. Next is to identify the scale of problem. Engineering cameras are useful for this, but sometimes the camera has been disabled, destroyed, or simply aren't there. Gauge the crew, if you feel like they're okay with helping out and they might be near to the affected area, tell them to get some Mark One eyeballs on the damage but do not enter the area. You need information on the extent of the damage and what gear you might need up there. At this point supplies should be ordered from Cargo as necessary.

Next, you need to secure the breaching area. Sometimes this is as simple as setting up some tape and inflatable walls. Sometimes it may be advisable to purposefully pull the fire alarm in the room through which you are going to breach. The firelocks in the affected area should be closed, and remain closed, but sometimes the system gets confused and/or mistakes are made. Exercise best judgement and ensure, at all times, the safety of the rest of the station. If there is an AI it can be useful for it to bolt affected areas down.

At this point you can enter the affected area. Make sure your O2 (set to 16kpa of course) and magboots are both on. If it's a gas leak of some sort, or you've reason to believe that toxins are in the room, then get your gas mask on. Here's a rough priority order of how to deal with a breached area:

• First, rescue people. Remove any living persons from the area. Don't move them further than absolutely necessary. Whoever is in charge of comms should call Medical. Once everyone alive has been moved to safety, repair the breach.
• If it is an important area ensure that you recover any equipment that was spaced in the process. Be careful during this stage, it may be advisable to have an extinguisher on hand for use as a ghetto jetpack for this step.
• Sometimes a breach is so large, or a room so unimportant, that it is not necessary to fix the breach entirely and a new exterior should be built. This is a judgement call, but get the walls and floors up again in whatever pattern you deem best. Watch the piping though, you'll need to reroute that as well if you alter the exterior.
• Next you need to restore air to the room, this may involve the central atmospherics computer or portable air pumps and replacement pipes. Act accordingly. If an air pump and pipe is needed have an atmos tech come up and handle it.
• Efforts should be made to restore power, lighting, and functionality if applicable to the room.
• At this point efforts can be made to clean the area up, fix tables, etc. If there is one, leave cleaning and organization to the janitor and appropriate department respectively (if it's a common area then organize it yourself).
• Once done, call out over the comms that the area has been secured and call for janitor, departmental staff as appropriate.
• Return to engineering, return your exosuits/limited gear, refill/replace your gear as appropriate.
• Go to the bar, and have a smoke and a pint.

Communication is key. It can't be emphasised enough. No department, other than Security, is its success and failure so intricately linked to its ability to communicate than Engineering. Everything revolves around a rapid and coordinated response because, if you fail, or act slowly, the crew might decide that the station's done for... and not only will you have failed the station, but you'll have missed out on an opportunity for some exciting Engineering RP.

Eventually, however, you'll come across a no-win situation or you/the department will make a bad call and shit will go south. That's something that's going to happen. Your only hope is that someone in the department has faced that before and you have set yourselves up a department which encourages communication and delegation of responsibility. Some situations are so rare, and so specific, that nothing will prepare you for them.



You will, eventually, come across a situation where there are no procedures or set guides. You'll have to wing it and hope that you make the right call. Although your odds are not good it's those situations, working with, and sometimes against, the rest of your department which can make Engineering such a fun job. Unfortunately, the flip side of this is that, if you fuck up, it could end the round. Which leads me to my final point...

On power-gaming as Engineering generally:

Engineering is probably one of the few, if perhaps the only, profession where you're going to have to power/meta-game a little. If you don't, then you're going to be a bad Engineer. Taking on a blob with welders is fun, but doomed to failure without an overabundance of people- which you won't have. If Security doesn't have its shit together then grab an emitter. The alternative is the blob grows out of control and the round ends. Generally speaking, that's not fun for anyone.

Similarly, strictly speaking, you shouldn't carry metal or glass on you. The reality is, however, that Engineering's gameplay is built around responding to incidents and dealing with them. If you don't respond quickly enough, or strongly enough, your weak-willed crewmates will call the shuttle (they never call ERT) and you won't get a chance to do what Engineering is meant to do - fix the station.

You need to be fully prepared, and have a team behind you, to walk into any situation, evaluate what's going on, and call out over the radio to confidently say "The situation is fucked. Fortunately, Engineering is here now to fix it. We'll be done in a few minutes. So stay the fuck out of our way."