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==Introduction==
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The ship's science officer(s) has a very important role in creating an appropriately "Trek-like" atmosphere to a sim. But you don't need to have a PhD in physics to play one. Star Trek has ''always'' been more about people and their stories than about gadgets, and UFOP is no different. For convenience's sake, we can talk about three stages in any simmer's duties: pre-mission duties, in-mission duties, and outside-mission duties. I'll divide my remarks on simming a science officer accordingly.
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'''Science officers''' serve in the Science Department on starships or starbases in Starfleet. The head of the department is sometimes known as the Chief Science Officer and may operate the science station on the bridge or operations center. As the name implies, science officers are responsible for observations, research, and experiments in any of the sciences, including mathematics, statistics, physics (physical and temporal), chemistry, botany, zoology, geology, cosmology, and others.  Science personnel provide information on, and also record the effects of mission-related data on anomalies, alien races, etc. Their main responsibility is assisting the crew in understanding the phenomenon and species they come in contact with, so as to make better informed decisions on how to deal with them. In crisis situations, the science officer can be critical in ensuring that the crew reacts appropriately to natural and man-made threats.


==Pre-mission Duties==
The ship's science officers have a very important role in creating an appropriately "Trek-like" atmosphere to a sim.
This will depend a bit on the captain and on the mission, but sometimes a science officer will be asked to speak at a mission briefing about what the crew might be getting into. This might be as simple as giving the class of the planet you're orbiting around, or as complex as outlining the civilization you're about to make first contact with. It will vary. If you are asked to give a complex report, hopefully your captain has given you some notice so that you can whip up something good. But whether he does or not, mission briefings can often be moments where a science officer can really shine, where your creativity can have full play. Go wild! If you're worried about something being ''too'' over the top, check with your Chief Science Officer, First Officer, or Captain before sending something in. They'll let you know...


==In-mission duties==
== Specialization and the Science Officer ==
Because regs require a science officer on every away mission, a science officer is in a very good position to see a lot of "action". But if the danger for a security officer on an away mission is to become a "red shirt" (ie, the guy who shouldn't have beamed down), the danger for a science officer is to become just a spouter of technobabble: "The alien artifact is 2.356 km ''that'' way, it seems to be composed of an unusual steel-tritanium alloy..." That sort of thing. While a good science officer knows when to use the right sort of technobabble, it's often more important to know when ''not'' to use technobabble. Unless you're playing a know-it-all Vulcan who you ''want'' people to hate (and if so, you're on your own, pal!), technobabble should be used sparingly. As correctly as your knowledge of Star Trek physics allows, but sparingly. In my opinion, technobabble is part of the "atmosphere" of the game. Think of it like a smoke machine being used in a high school play. Just the right amount, and you have a very interesting setting for certain sorts of scenes. Too much, and you drown out the play (and perhaps the audience too!).
Unlike many other duty posts, the science position is unique in that an officer is expected to have some kind of specialization in a specific discipline of the field of science. (The Chief officer is expected to be more of a jack-of-all-trades, but we'll talk more about that later. For right now, we're talking specifically about non-chief science officers.)


That being said, what should a science officer be concentrating on then during the mission? Two things: plot twists and character development. We'll start with the second one first. Talk about your character's impressions about beaming down on this away team. What is he thinking or feeling when the transporter effect dies away and he sees the alien landscape for the first time? Does she take trying to locate the downed shuttlecraft as a personal challenge, or is it just part of her job? Does he hate having been teamed up with that Klingon officer? Has she been dying to tell that Bajoran that she cares about him, and now that they're alone she has the chance? What might the stresses of the mission itself reveal about your character? And away mission is a perfect time to have the best (or the worst!) brought out in your character.
There are a broad range of disciplines that officers can specialize in, which are [[Academy Majors and Minors#Science Specializations|listed on our wiki]]. Generally, officers who go through the Academy would then be placed on vessels where they will best serve based on their specialization. For example: a science vessel that does a lot of "follow up" to first contact missions would probably have a linguist, general xenologist, sociologist, and perhaps botanists and zoologists to study the flora and fauna of the new world. A deep space vessel might have astronomists, xenologists, and a linguist to deal with the various challenges of uncharted territory. As you can see, the specializations are not necessarily just in what we contemporarily consider the "hard sciences" of physics, chemistry, and biology. Anthropology, history, and even sociology are considered science specializations under StarFleet's standards.


Another important role a science officer can play in-mission is by creating interesting plot twists. The discovery of a cloaked Romulan outpost can really change the atmosphere of a sim very quickly. Or an unusual disturbance that prevents communications with the ship. There are two sorts of plot twists, those that shake up the storyline, and those that calm things down. For example, say that people on your ship seem not to be simming, with no real clear reason why. You may want to try shaking the plot up by detecting an unusual reading of some sort. Sometimes it's even best to be as vague as possible - this allows other players to build off your idea, it gives them a chance to get simming again. Maybe you planned that strange disturbance 100 light years from the ship to be a cloaked Warbird, but your tactical officer sims it as being a new space-faring lifeform. That's great! Be flexible and everyone has more fun. Just make sure to check with your Captain before doing anything ''too'' drastic.
Keep in mind that a science officer onboard a vessel wishes to expand their knowledge and participate in exploration via service to StarFleet. However, there are also scientists in the Star Trek omniverse who do not serve StarFleet, and may be a part of pharmaceutical corporations, universities, or other explatory organizations. Not every ship would necessarily need to assign a specific science officer to them permanently for a specific mission. In a non-normal situation, where a specific discipline of scientific knowledge is needed, StarFleet could enlist the assistance of a scientist who is not associated with them. These officers could "take the job" in an effort to further their research or simply to experience space exploration for a short period of time. In this situation, the scientist would take residence aboard the ship for whatever length of time is necessary to assist in the mission, or carry out their research, and then return to their "old life" after that.


The other sort of plot twists is the sort that settles things down when a mission seem to be getting out of hand. A science officer ''can'' be the person who makes the discovery that brings things back to a more even keel. Oh, the Gorn and the Andorians are fighting over this planet because there's a huge dilithium deposit here we didn't know about before. One caveat and one suggestion. The caveat: no player can be superman. No one person solves all of the problems. Even when you're trying to settle things down, you should still be opening up ways that other people can sim, not close them down. You need to close that leak in your shuttle, but only the Klingon security officer has the strength to do it. The suggestion is that often the first sort of plot twist can be disguised as the second. Your brilliant solution which seems to fix the problem can in fact really make things worse (and therefore more interesting for the other simmers), or it could uncover a deeper problem. The new species you've encountered has weapons aimed at the away team and you figure out a way of contacting the ship just in time so that the away team is saved. But then going over your sensor logs you see that the aliens' weapons are powered by Federation energy signatures. Suddenly things aren't as simple as they first seemed. And apparent solution leads to new problems.
For those officers who choose to serve StarFleet, life would not simply consist of going on away missions and doing reports. Indeed, the science officers aboard a starship or starbase would also be participating in their own endeavours. This could include research which they conduct between missions or en route to a mission. Almost all scientists routinely publish papers on their work, which would still hold true in the future. Despite the fact that we normally only saw StarFleet life onscreen, there is also a huge scientific community outside of StarFleet! So, your character could publish their work in scientific journals and take part in scientific conferences when they have the chance, to help further knowledge of their field.


''Explore:'' The [[Intrepid Science Bridge Station|science station]] on the bridge of an [http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Intrepid_Class Intrepid] Class vessel.
Above all, keep in mind that scientists have a drive and motivation to expand their understanding of what they do. Your character should be hungry for knowledge, and should seek new ways (either theoretical or experimental) to discover new things and share those discoveries with others.


==Outside-mission duties==
== Pre-Mission Duties ==
Your "duties" outside of a mission (eg, shore leave and other down-times) depend more on the personality of your character than on his or her posting to the science department. Still, you should be aware that the duty-driven science officer who would rather spend time in a lab or catching up on scientific journals than interact with his crewmates during shore leave is a cliché. It's much more fun to think up something else to do with your character. Shore leave is always a chance to round out our characters, to see them in a casual situation, when they are in fact most truly themselves. Maybe your character's secret passion is music -- have her try to organize an impromptu concert for the crew, especially if there are other musicians on ship. Maybe he is also a gourmet cook (or only thinks he is) - have him cook a meal for that cute Helm officer he's been dying to meet. Science is your character's job, but is it her whole life?
Before a mission begins, the crew is always notified by a mission briefing about what they intend to do, and what their goals are. Just like other duty posts, the science officer is integral in preparing for a mission, but in ways that we did not often see onscreen.


If for some reason you ''want'' to play the cliché, the shy, or anti-social lab-bound science officer, you have the responsibility for making it clear that this anti-social behavior is ''only'' on the part of the character and does '''not''' come from the player. Make sure that your crewmates know that, in spite of what your character says or does, you as the player really ''do'' want to sim with them. If handled correctly (especially if you have a willing partner or two), this can even be a lot of fun, providing some much-needed comic relief after a stressful mission. For instance, you are trying to run a few lab experiments during your "free time", but your partner keeps bursting in (Kramer-like) at just the wrong moments, ruining everything. Just make sure everyone knows what is IC and what is OOC and you can go crazy.
Before the briefing, your commanding officer may ask your character to speak at the briefing about information that may be useful to the crew. This could be more about the planet they are visiting, or perhaps about the civilizations they might come in contact with.


==For the CSO==
Whether or not your character speaks at the briefing, they will always be researching ways they can best serve the mission. So as the science officer, despite your specialization, you will need to find ways to make your character, or your NPC characters, important to the forward motion of the plot. If your character specializes in the area that the upcoming mission is dealing with (evolution? linguistics? sociology?), then all the better! Your character would be looking through the LCARS database, scientific journals, or anything else they can get their hands on to inform them more about the specific subject they will be dealing with. If your character does not specialize in that area, then create a science officer NPC who does, and you can SIM them doing the research and then working with your main character to bring the science department on your ship into a better understanding of what they'll be dealing with.
Everything I've said so far holds true for any science officer. When you are playing the Chief Science Officer, and ''especially'' when you are CSO with other player characters under you, you need to keep one more thing in mind. Usually a Captain promotes a player to the position of the department head who has shown herself to be (or at least able to become) a leader. Being a department head is a privilege not given to all, which makes it a responsibility as well. But don't let that scare you - your primary responsibility as a department head is to try to help others have as much fun simming as you do. This holds true first and foremost for the people in your department, but a department head, while not stepping on toes, should be a leader within his ship as a whole. He should take pride in seeing all of his shipmates becoming the best simmers they can be.


In this context, being a leader primarily means helping people sim, and sim better. Make sure to welcome the new Ensign assigned to your department (or to another department!). If he seems lost after his first mission briefing, help spell out his assignment. Give him something to do. Do a Joint Post with a newer crewmember to help her work on her simming style. Ask her for a second opinion on a particularly difficult problem. Look for ways that you can create openings for the people in your department (and the rest of your crewmates) to sim.
Whether you do it with an NPC or your main character, the point is to remember that your character, as a science officer, will be doing lots of preparation to ensure that they are fully able to assist the commanding officer of your vessel on how they can best deal with the challenges ahead. Your character will want to know everything, and also collect all the information they can into a PADD or tricorder, so that they can acess what they don't know.


== In-Mission Duties ==
Science officers are an intergral part of the story, as they must be on hand to assist the crew with the new situations that occur. However, as players in the science duty post are sometimes scarce, many crews can fall out of the habit of including their science officer in the story. Don't be afraid to insert yourself into the action! It's your responsibility as a player to have your character be useful.


==Resources for the Science Officer==
A great source of inspiration to any science officer should be the character of Jadzia Dax. Her innate, non-symbiont personality was one of great curiosity and broad knowledge. She once told Kira Nerys that as the science officer, it was her job "to have a better idea". (Source: Memory-Alpha) She appeared in a great deal of episodes on Deep Space 9, so you will find many appearances on screen that you can use as a model for your own character.
In my opinion, every science officer should have at least skimmed '''all''' of the articles in the [[Academy Library|UFOP Academy Library]] at least once. Within a mission, a science officer can come back to these pages as needed, but it helps to have some general idea of where what you're looking for might be. Another site I find helpful is the [http://www.ditl.org Daystrom Institute Technical Library]. Your Captain or other crewmates may know of other helpful sites. Remember that we are always going for atmosphere, not information overload.
 
But what about in situations where a science officer doesn't appear to be needed? An encounter with hostile Romulans, for example? Think outside of the box! Create an NPC who specializes in Sociology, and has some knowledge with the Romulans. What could he or she tell your character about how the Romulans react to certain situations?
 
Find ways for your character to be on the bridge in encounters with species or phenomenon. In doing so, your character will be the one that the others turn to for more information. As a science officer, it's your character who will know the channels of data to access to cross-reference any given situations. If a stellar phenomenon occurs, it's your character who will know what databases in LCARS, and civilian networks, to get to in the hopes of finding a similar situation that could shed light on your current predicament.
 
Luckily, as was mentioned previously, science officers are present on all away teams to assist the crew in figuring out what they're dealing with. With this comes great opportunities to help drive the plot forward and participate in some of the most exciting moments of the story.
 
You will need to concentrate, in away mission settings, in having your character help others learn more about their surroundings. A good science officer will have at least superficial information about many subjects, and so can scan the surroundings to give clues about what has happened, or how the crew will react to the flora and fauna nearby.
 
Your character will also be important in bringing together many pieces of evidence to spring the "aha!" moment. As a science officer, they can draw from their vast knowledge of the physical or social sciences to draw conclusions about how certain things may be effecting the actions occurring. Is your crew having trouble contacting the ship? Perhaps it's these mangeto-ferrite mountains nearby that are skewing our transmission!
 
Just remember to temper yourself, despite all this knowledge. No one is a "superman," and weaknesses are always more interesting than strengths. How would your character feel if they hadn't seen the cause and effect chain that brought the crew to their current situation? No one can solve all the problems, but your science officer can always act as a good source of information about the scene and players.
 
=== A note about "techno-babble" ===
Because regs require a science officer on every away mission, a science officer is in a very good position to see a lot of "action". But if the danger for a security officer on an away mission is to become a "red shirt", the danger for a science officer is to become just a spouter of technobabble: "The alien artifact is 2.356 km that way. It seems to be composed of an unusual steel-tritanium alloy..."
 
While a good science officer knows when to use the right sort of technobabble to help make the mission interesting and to liven up their own speech, it's important to keep in mind that technobabble is more of a filler than a productive plot device. By all means, intersperse your speech with colorful vocabulary, but also be sure to make it simple for your fellow players to understand what is going on. You can use non-speech descriptions to give more information about what you're trying to convey in a non-technobabble kind of way.
 
On the flip side, don't forget to form your character in the appropriate way! If your character is the type who always talks in total technobabble, then by all means -- do so! The other characters will have to find a way to work around this, and you will also have to find ways to have your character react to others. The point to keep in mind is that you need to ensure that the other writers on your crew can adequately integrate what you are adding to the plot.
 
== Outside-Mission Duties ==
Directly after a mission has ended, your character will have some duties which they'll want to engage in immediately. Foremost, your character will need to write up the standard reports necessary for their commanding officer, but also report back to StarFleet's science divisions with any new information that may be useful to other crews.
 
After their normal duties are completed, a science officer's own activities will depend greatly on their personality. Keep in mind, as you go about simming your science officer, that the "duty-driven" science officer who forgoes shore leave or parties to spend time in the lab is an oft-used and sometimes overdone personality. While this certainly can be the personality of some science officers, and can be used in moderation, you'll be much better off creating a diverse character whose interests go beyond just the lab or research journals.
 
For example, when on shore leave on Risa, perhaps instead of avoiding the sunlight in his cabin, your character who specializes in archeology could take a day-trip to some nearby ruins to do some digging? Or, on an entirely different tact, your character could avoid work entirely and could take a cooking class to learn more about how to use real herbs and spices. Science is your character's job, but is it her whole life?
 
However, it's also important to refer back to what was discussed earlier in this article. Science officers would undoubtedly be conducting their own research on a regular basis, and also writing papers and articles for journals and StarFleet. If things have been very busy for your crew, you might find that your character is longing to use their down-time to work on the research that has been so important to them for so long, but that they haven't been able to look at for weeks.
 
In summation, it's important to remember that your science officer is just like any normal person: they have activities which they enjoy outside of their "work," but are also driven by their quest for knowledge and pursuit of scientific discoveries. Find interesting ways to balance work and play for your character, but also drive their personality in the direction you want. If you're looking for a pasty-pale, wild-haired scientist, then you probably won't spend much time on pursuits outside of the lab. If you're looking for the wild science-partier, then perhaps they need to take up the science of brewing as their leisure activity!
 
== The Chief Science Officer ==
While "regular" science officers are expected to have good, general scientific knowledge with a great deal of knowledge in their chosen discipline of specialization, the Chief Science Officer (CSO), and the Assistant Chief Science Officer (ACSO) are expected to have a great deal of general scientific knowledge, and rely on their staff for expertise in specific areas.
 
As you can imagine, it is often the CSO or ASCO who can be found on the bridge assisting the crew with any situations which may arise. Other science crew can usually be found in their respective science labs, providing support to the CSO as they can.
 
Because the CSO and ASCO are the leaders of the department, it is their duty to ensure that the responsibilities accorded to the science staff are completed. When research needs to be done on a specific phenomenon, the CSO will delegate the job to the person best suited to completed it. Similarly, they will follow up to ensure that the job is being completed, and report the findings to the captain.
 
The CSO or ASCO will probably also spend some time liasing with the medical and counseling departments to assist when necessary in whatever ways they can.


{{DutyPosts}}
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[[Category:Science Duty Post|Simming]]
[[Category:Science Duty Post]]
[[Category:Simming Guides]]

Latest revision as of 04:34, 15 May 2015

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Science officers serve in the Science Department on starships or starbases in Starfleet. The head of the department is sometimes known as the Chief Science Officer and may operate the science station on the bridge or operations center. As the name implies, science officers are responsible for observations, research, and experiments in any of the sciences, including mathematics, statistics, physics (physical and temporal), chemistry, botany, zoology, geology, cosmology, and others. Science personnel provide information on, and also record the effects of mission-related data on anomalies, alien races, etc. Their main responsibility is assisting the crew in understanding the phenomenon and species they come in contact with, so as to make better informed decisions on how to deal with them. In crisis situations, the science officer can be critical in ensuring that the crew reacts appropriately to natural and man-made threats.

The ship's science officers have a very important role in creating an appropriately "Trek-like" atmosphere to a sim.

Specialization and the Science Officer

Unlike many other duty posts, the science position is unique in that an officer is expected to have some kind of specialization in a specific discipline of the field of science. (The Chief officer is expected to be more of a jack-of-all-trades, but we'll talk more about that later. For right now, we're talking specifically about non-chief science officers.)

There are a broad range of disciplines that officers can specialize in, which are listed on our wiki. Generally, officers who go through the Academy would then be placed on vessels where they will best serve based on their specialization. For example: a science vessel that does a lot of "follow up" to first contact missions would probably have a linguist, general xenologist, sociologist, and perhaps botanists and zoologists to study the flora and fauna of the new world. A deep space vessel might have astronomists, xenologists, and a linguist to deal with the various challenges of uncharted territory. As you can see, the specializations are not necessarily just in what we contemporarily consider the "hard sciences" of physics, chemistry, and biology. Anthropology, history, and even sociology are considered science specializations under StarFleet's standards.

Keep in mind that a science officer onboard a vessel wishes to expand their knowledge and participate in exploration via service to StarFleet. However, there are also scientists in the Star Trek omniverse who do not serve StarFleet, and may be a part of pharmaceutical corporations, universities, or other explatory organizations. Not every ship would necessarily need to assign a specific science officer to them permanently for a specific mission. In a non-normal situation, where a specific discipline of scientific knowledge is needed, StarFleet could enlist the assistance of a scientist who is not associated with them. These officers could "take the job" in an effort to further their research or simply to experience space exploration for a short period of time. In this situation, the scientist would take residence aboard the ship for whatever length of time is necessary to assist in the mission, or carry out their research, and then return to their "old life" after that.

For those officers who choose to serve StarFleet, life would not simply consist of going on away missions and doing reports. Indeed, the science officers aboard a starship or starbase would also be participating in their own endeavours. This could include research which they conduct between missions or en route to a mission. Almost all scientists routinely publish papers on their work, which would still hold true in the future. Despite the fact that we normally only saw StarFleet life onscreen, there is also a huge scientific community outside of StarFleet! So, your character could publish their work in scientific journals and take part in scientific conferences when they have the chance, to help further knowledge of their field.

Above all, keep in mind that scientists have a drive and motivation to expand their understanding of what they do. Your character should be hungry for knowledge, and should seek new ways (either theoretical or experimental) to discover new things and share those discoveries with others.

Pre-Mission Duties

Before a mission begins, the crew is always notified by a mission briefing about what they intend to do, and what their goals are. Just like other duty posts, the science officer is integral in preparing for a mission, but in ways that we did not often see onscreen.

Before the briefing, your commanding officer may ask your character to speak at the briefing about information that may be useful to the crew. This could be more about the planet they are visiting, or perhaps about the civilizations they might come in contact with.

Whether or not your character speaks at the briefing, they will always be researching ways they can best serve the mission. So as the science officer, despite your specialization, you will need to find ways to make your character, or your NPC characters, important to the forward motion of the plot. If your character specializes in the area that the upcoming mission is dealing with (evolution? linguistics? sociology?), then all the better! Your character would be looking through the LCARS database, scientific journals, or anything else they can get their hands on to inform them more about the specific subject they will be dealing with. If your character does not specialize in that area, then create a science officer NPC who does, and you can SIM them doing the research and then working with your main character to bring the science department on your ship into a better understanding of what they'll be dealing with.

Whether you do it with an NPC or your main character, the point is to remember that your character, as a science officer, will be doing lots of preparation to ensure that they are fully able to assist the commanding officer of your vessel on how they can best deal with the challenges ahead. Your character will want to know everything, and also collect all the information they can into a PADD or tricorder, so that they can acess what they don't know.

In-Mission Duties

Science officers are an intergral part of the story, as they must be on hand to assist the crew with the new situations that occur. However, as players in the science duty post are sometimes scarce, many crews can fall out of the habit of including their science officer in the story. Don't be afraid to insert yourself into the action! It's your responsibility as a player to have your character be useful.

A great source of inspiration to any science officer should be the character of Jadzia Dax. Her innate, non-symbiont personality was one of great curiosity and broad knowledge. She once told Kira Nerys that as the science officer, it was her job "to have a better idea". (Source: Memory-Alpha) She appeared in a great deal of episodes on Deep Space 9, so you will find many appearances on screen that you can use as a model for your own character.

But what about in situations where a science officer doesn't appear to be needed? An encounter with hostile Romulans, for example? Think outside of the box! Create an NPC who specializes in Sociology, and has some knowledge with the Romulans. What could he or she tell your character about how the Romulans react to certain situations?

Find ways for your character to be on the bridge in encounters with species or phenomenon. In doing so, your character will be the one that the others turn to for more information. As a science officer, it's your character who will know the channels of data to access to cross-reference any given situations. If a stellar phenomenon occurs, it's your character who will know what databases in LCARS, and civilian networks, to get to in the hopes of finding a similar situation that could shed light on your current predicament.

Luckily, as was mentioned previously, science officers are present on all away teams to assist the crew in figuring out what they're dealing with. With this comes great opportunities to help drive the plot forward and participate in some of the most exciting moments of the story.

You will need to concentrate, in away mission settings, in having your character help others learn more about their surroundings. A good science officer will have at least superficial information about many subjects, and so can scan the surroundings to give clues about what has happened, or how the crew will react to the flora and fauna nearby.

Your character will also be important in bringing together many pieces of evidence to spring the "aha!" moment. As a science officer, they can draw from their vast knowledge of the physical or social sciences to draw conclusions about how certain things may be effecting the actions occurring. Is your crew having trouble contacting the ship? Perhaps it's these mangeto-ferrite mountains nearby that are skewing our transmission!

Just remember to temper yourself, despite all this knowledge. No one is a "superman," and weaknesses are always more interesting than strengths. How would your character feel if they hadn't seen the cause and effect chain that brought the crew to their current situation? No one can solve all the problems, but your science officer can always act as a good source of information about the scene and players.

A note about "techno-babble"

Because regs require a science officer on every away mission, a science officer is in a very good position to see a lot of "action". But if the danger for a security officer on an away mission is to become a "red shirt", the danger for a science officer is to become just a spouter of technobabble: "The alien artifact is 2.356 km that way. It seems to be composed of an unusual steel-tritanium alloy..."

While a good science officer knows when to use the right sort of technobabble to help make the mission interesting and to liven up their own speech, it's important to keep in mind that technobabble is more of a filler than a productive plot device. By all means, intersperse your speech with colorful vocabulary, but also be sure to make it simple for your fellow players to understand what is going on. You can use non-speech descriptions to give more information about what you're trying to convey in a non-technobabble kind of way.

On the flip side, don't forget to form your character in the appropriate way! If your character is the type who always talks in total technobabble, then by all means -- do so! The other characters will have to find a way to work around this, and you will also have to find ways to have your character react to others. The point to keep in mind is that you need to ensure that the other writers on your crew can adequately integrate what you are adding to the plot.

Outside-Mission Duties

Directly after a mission has ended, your character will have some duties which they'll want to engage in immediately. Foremost, your character will need to write up the standard reports necessary for their commanding officer, but also report back to StarFleet's science divisions with any new information that may be useful to other crews.

After their normal duties are completed, a science officer's own activities will depend greatly on their personality. Keep in mind, as you go about simming your science officer, that the "duty-driven" science officer who forgoes shore leave or parties to spend time in the lab is an oft-used and sometimes overdone personality. While this certainly can be the personality of some science officers, and can be used in moderation, you'll be much better off creating a diverse character whose interests go beyond just the lab or research journals.

For example, when on shore leave on Risa, perhaps instead of avoiding the sunlight in his cabin, your character who specializes in archeology could take a day-trip to some nearby ruins to do some digging? Or, on an entirely different tact, your character could avoid work entirely and could take a cooking class to learn more about how to use real herbs and spices. Science is your character's job, but is it her whole life?

However, it's also important to refer back to what was discussed earlier in this article. Science officers would undoubtedly be conducting their own research on a regular basis, and also writing papers and articles for journals and StarFleet. If things have been very busy for your crew, you might find that your character is longing to use their down-time to work on the research that has been so important to them for so long, but that they haven't been able to look at for weeks.

In summation, it's important to remember that your science officer is just like any normal person: they have activities which they enjoy outside of their "work," but are also driven by their quest for knowledge and pursuit of scientific discoveries. Find interesting ways to balance work and play for your character, but also drive their personality in the direction you want. If you're looking for a pasty-pale, wild-haired scientist, then you probably won't spend much time on pursuits outside of the lab. If you're looking for the wild science-partier, then perhaps they need to take up the science of brewing as their leisure activity!

The Chief Science Officer

While "regular" science officers are expected to have good, general scientific knowledge with a great deal of knowledge in their chosen discipline of specialization, the Chief Science Officer (CSO), and the Assistant Chief Science Officer (ACSO) are expected to have a great deal of general scientific knowledge, and rely on their staff for expertise in specific areas.

As you can imagine, it is often the CSO or ASCO who can be found on the bridge assisting the crew with any situations which may arise. Other science crew can usually be found in their respective science labs, providing support to the CSO as they can.

Because the CSO and ASCO are the leaders of the department, it is their duty to ensure that the responsibilities accorded to the science staff are completed. When research needs to be done on a specific phenomenon, the CSO will delegate the job to the person best suited to completed it. Similarly, they will follow up to ensure that the job is being completed, and report the findings to the captain.

The CSO or ASCO will probably also spend some time liasing with the medical and counseling departments to assist when necessary in whatever ways they can.


Mission Specialist Helm/Com/Ops Engineer Science Officer Medical Officer Nurse
Intelligence Officer Security Officer Tactical Officer Marine Counselor Civilian
Duty Posts