making the engineers start the engine

[VictorMAngoStein]

post some cool ideas to give engineers an incentive to spend 5 minutes doing their job so everyone else can do theirs

here is mine

there is a button on the bridge that lights up if the generator hasn't been started at the 10 minute mark,
pressing it sets all engineers & the CE to arrest

Remove their limbs and burn them to power the engine. Come up with some pseudoscientific reason for why the limbs of engineers can power the engine al by themselves.

[Master Of Unlocking]

Just make it so that engineering is bolted down until the engine is started or SMES are turned on. Perhaps the captain / hos / AI can override this lockdown if there are no starting engineers.

The main reason the singularity was started regularly didn't have much to do with receiving death threats from the crew (which were rarely carried out). People started the singularity because it was one more thing that could mess the round up and add a bit of excitement to our boring shifts. There's nothing exciting about arc flashing people from APCs considering you're just as likely to get randomly shocked and slowly killed as the rest of the crew.

How about any extra power generated is automatically sold and each engineer receives a cut of the profits?
What about letting them use mass amounts of power to run some type of particle accelerator that can create various ores / cascade resonances?
Maybe a giant laser beam that can be aimed at the mining level to explode asteroids?

Right now setting up the engine is more like a baby sitting job. You pump in some gas flip a few switches and then wait till it needs fed again. There's really nothing to do in the downtime after you set it up which means most engineers vanish anyways and the engine slowly dies.

[jflan17]

People set up the singularity because it was easy and you didn't have to babysit it. It took 6-10 minutes, tops, and then you were free to fuck around.

People don't set up the current engine because, just like in real life, shoveling coal is a shit job.

Anyone suggesting punishments for not setting up the engine clearly doesn't understand human psychology.

[Conor12]

People set up the singularity because it was easy and you didn't have to babysit it. It took 6-10 minutes, tops, and then you were free to fuck around.

People don't set up the current engine because, just like in real life, shoveling coal is a shit job.

Anyone suggesting punishments for not setting up the engine clearly doesn't understand human psychology.

It takes six minutes to set up the current engine. And it isn't that hard to maintain. It's hardly a chore.

If all of the engineers can't set it up then shame on them.

[jflan17]

It's not about it being a chore so much as it is about it not being fun (enough). This is a game. People aren't playing SS13 to do things that are "hardly a chore."

[Preid]

The HoP should be rwalled into customs and the scientist should blow up if they don't make 200 units of black powered by 5 min in!

[babayetu83]

and besides, if the engineers are brigged/killed, that doesn't really leave anyone to..you know..start the engine

[Dastardly]

Engineers that don't start the engine probably aren't going to set up the engine no matter what incentive you give them, outside of the CE sealing them in the engine like how he could on ovarystation. And that really isn't a graceful solution to the problem.

I think it would be a better idea to let the Cyborgs turn valves so they can start the engine, and give the entire engineering department, including QMs and miners, access to the solars as well. That way, the Captain, HoP, AI, Engineers, Mechanics, QMs, Miners, and borgs would all have to drop the ball for the station to be without power. Add in some paper with guidelines to set the solars by for newbies, and ideally rounds where the lights and equipment go out would be less frequent.

[Captain_Bravo]

Everyone has such great ideas! Let's just make it so if you're unlucky enough to roll engineer, you're immediately locked in a room, marked for death, and forced to do one thing, unlike every other fucking position on the station.

Hell, I actually like setting up the engine sometimes, and if that was what Engineer entailed, you can sure as fucking shit bet I would turn that shit to "never" on my job page, and suicide every time a new round started and I ended up in yellow. How about some actual ideas, instead of just shitting on people?

Here's one: Have the engine start off with gas in it. Fill it full of a shitton of Nitrogen, in both loops. If you want to hellburn, it's easy enough to dump all the gas out and start anew. If you don't, or if you have no idea how to work the engine, just stuff the furnaces with coal and turn them on. It won't generate a lot, but with the solars it would probably be adequate.

[atomic1fire]

Make the payroll system depend on power to work.

In addition, maybe have things like pda's and radios depend on a antenna that draws power as well.

No power? No ticketing dudes, no sending rude messages via pda, etc.

No power means communications blackout.

It's probably a stupid idea, but watching someone kill all the radios and then play ultra stealth traitor and covertly murder everyone could be fun.

[APARTHEID]

Tying more features around the station into the power grid might do the trick, as stated above.

If the engine is NOT started, expect solars to only run the following:

* Emergency lighting
* Location-sensitive doors
* One or two rooms, given the SWITCH ROOM is placed into the Power Room.

Without the engine? Engineers and mechanics alike will have to decide between powering the communications arrays around the station (station-bounced radios, anyone?) or Genetics.

[Captain_Bravo]

But that's not providing any incentives for the engineers to start the engine. That's providing incentives for everyone else on the station to want the engine started, but it doesn't really give any major reasons for the people with the tools to break into anywhere they want, and control over which few places get power, to want to power the whole station.

When a problem arises because you have given responsibility of something to a group, and they have failed to fulfill that responsibility, you don't fix the problem by giving them more responsibilities. You either figure out a way to make it easier for them to fulfill their responsibilities, you find a way of better rewarding them for doing their responsibilities, or you fire all of the bastards and take their responsibilities away from them. This is business/management/common sense 101, guys, it's not hard.

[Clarks]

I've seen quite a lot of engineers fix breaches and doors. I think most of the shitheads go electricians.

The issue with the engine is that many people don't want to learn the very basics, and lose interest after a couple utterly failed attempts. Doesn't help that most people who can run the engine have burned out, so new guys have nobody to watch.

Make an advanced engine guide available in the book vendor. Having a layout for a couple high power setups could make people want to try the engine again.

[mozi]

clarks is right

[Don]

Put a few charging stations in engineering which only work when the engine is running. Give the engineers some toy that has to be charged in them. I don't know what it should be. Maybe their own ridable mulebot or some sort of scooter. Maybe a couple of miniputts in their hangar which will only run if they're charged. Maybe just a portable party light or a disco helmet. A carrot on a stick doesn't need to be powerful to make people want it.