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    Devlin's Notes on Good Starfaring

    
For those who look forward to advancing in rank and paygrade, we (the
crew of the Trojan) encourage you to savor the days you have as a
lowly Ensign.

I am Marine with Rank 5 and a veteran of many missions aboard the
infamous U.R.E.F. Trojan (now a defector and viable asset in the
Rebel Alliance), space docked at Underground Games in St. Louis, MO.
As such, I thought it would be useful to share some observations the
crew of the Trojan are experiencing.

Most crew members aboard the ship are between Ranks 3-6. Which means
with around 5-7 crew members aboard ship any given week and a total
crew rank between 25-35 the enemies we frequently encounter on our
weekly missions are very very tough. Lately they have had around 9
in their primary and around 3 in all their secondary stats with an
Athletics of around 5 or 6.

What this translates to in game terms is very tough missions. How
does a crew still prevail against very tough adversaries?

1) Begin with a fair and knowledgable Game Master. Designated Rules
Guy for the Battlestations Yahoo Group: Patrick Crowley / aka:
Gunslinger is one of the best. He is very knowledgable of the rules
and always modifies the scenarios slighly to add some unique personal
flair to the mission. If anyone crosses the line he politely yet
definitively sets things back in order very quickly. What he says is
final and its the law!

2) Have a Captain thats a good leader. Without a good leader the
entire ship is in chaos and most missions are doomed to fail.
Captain Dick Blaster is one of the best in the Rebel Alliance and
keeps all crew members focused on our objective and the most prudent
course of action needed. All aboard the Trojan would follow him into
Hell if he led us there.

3) Teamwork. Back each other up at all times. This is more and more
essential as each crew member on the ship advances in rank because
the missions continuously grow in difficulty. All it takes is one
crew member on their own personal agenda and before you know it the
objective is lost and the crew are bug/alien food. Knock on wood,
the Trojan's misson success rate is very high due largely to our
great teamwork.

4) Have at least 1 crew member with a strong primary attribute for
the battlestation they are manning. It takes high skill to pull off
tough maneuvers, so start specializing in skill and abilities to help
you better achieve your ships goals and that means sometimes its
better to raise skills or take abilities that benefit the whole crew
not just the individual.

5) Double up on good pilots and always have someone close by to
assist them. The larger your ship (Trojan is Size 7) the harder it
is to navigate. Lately we started having two good pilots at the helm
at all times. Watching this dynamic duo in action last week was a
thing of beauty and in a pinch our Science Officer frequently
assisted them. Triple teaming at the helm allowes the Trojan to make
moves most large ships can only think about.

6) You can never have too many Marines. Whether manning Missiles or
Blasters aboard your ship, defending your ship from unwanted boarding
parties or when boarding an enemy vessel Marines are often the
critical crew members that determine success or failure.

7) Make sure your boarding parties work as a Fire Team that
coordinate their attacks and back each other up. One lone Marine
aboard an enemy vessel is soon to be a dead Marine, especially when
encountering Aliens with higher ranks and skill levels, which is
always the case with the crew of the Trojan. Also, make sure a Medic
is part of your Fire Team. We have found him at critical times to be
the most valuable member of Fire Team. Many a boarding mission would
have ended in disaster if a Medic hadn't risked life and limb to come
to a Marine in aid.

8) Never underestimate the value of an Engineer. The Trojan takes
a lot of power to operate and our Engineers are the best in the
fleet. Engineers are the one key invaluable multi-purpose crew
member aboard the ship. They are always upgrading modules on the
ship to make every battlestation more effective; repairing modules
that are damaged; running to the gun modules to change them from
blasters, to multi-barrel blasters, to lasers; dumping trash when a
flight of missiles are chasing you, running from engine room to
engine room to maximize power and even manning the tractor beams.
One thing can be sure, if your an Engineer increased movement
enhancement (such as a cyberfoot) is definitely in your future
because you will move around the ship more than any other crew member.


Marine Devlin SureShot
aka: Chewy
Crew Member on the Trojan

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