Posted by Fleet Captain Nathan Miller (TECH Lead / EGO) in Command Report - August 2024

Posted by Commodore Jennifer Ward (Academy Commandant) in Command Report - August 2024

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We only had one Fleet report submitted for July (The Meridian Fleet), although the change between terms is a likely contributing factor. The fleet has had a relatively high turnover of COs, XOs and GMs, although this seems to be stabilising. I am encouraged with the GM situation in the fleet improving, with Sam Haynes starting her GMT sim on the Saracen. One observation I do have is that the Chernov is currently self-sim’ing, with the CO driving things forward. Whilst it is great that this is happening, the CO and FComm, with the GMDir’s support, need to ensure that there is still focus on getting a GM in place, and that continuity is available should the CO need to go on LOA.

I just wanted to slide in here, and let you know that the Chernov was approved to Self-Sim. I can’t remember which edict it was off the top of my head. But it was approved and she is officially a self-sim ship now.

There actually is not an edict changing the Chernov to self-sim. I did a full text search in the post database after you got me curious.

She was given GMD approval to self-sim for a few months while a new GM was found. This was reiterated later, and as late as March 2022 she was still listed as needing a GM; and then in April 2022 she is no longer mentioned but also isn’t listed as a self-sim environment. The April Meridian Fleet report says talks were in motion about charter changes to put that into effect. There are 7 edicts that mention Chernov, but none change her to self-sim.

But I don’t believe an edict is necessary, nor in my opinion should it be.

Alt-RPGs are defined as:

… areas where RPGs take place that do not meet one or more of the characteristics for Standard Ships.
… If nothing is specified for a given parameter of the RPG environment, it is assumed to be the same as a Standard RPG Area.
FCOMM > Alternate RPGs > Definition

Standard Ships are:

A Standard Ship is any self-contained RPG Starship or Starbase, commanded by a CO, on which regular RPGs take place under the administration of the GameMaster Department and the Fleet Commander.
FCOMM > Standard Ships

The Chernov charter does not specify anything about a GM or the Mission Type of its sims, putting them in “same as a Standard RPG Area,” which makes them a place where “regular RPGs take place under the administration of the GameMaster Department…” OGRE specifies a ship may be switched to self-sim with the unanimous approval of the GMDir, CO, and the FCOMM. We recently carved out an exception for class changes so they wouldn’t require a charter update, but that is only if the class is listed in the charter.

Following from precedence and the governing clauses, since the GM Mission Type isn’t specified in the charter and Standard Ships may change to self-sim, no edict is necessary to change the Mission Type.

Further, edictifying a ship as self-sim would place the President and the GMD at potential odds - only the President can issue an edict to change it to not-self-sim, but OGRE requires the unanimous approval of the GMDir, CO, and FComm as mentioned above, and this approval should come before every mission. Could a Prez use this to override a non-unanimous vote? Or can the GMDir override an edict?

Or could the President issue a charter that says an Alt-RPG is not “under the administration of the GameMaster Department?”

Anyway - all that to say there is no edict making Chernov a self-sim ship, there likely doesn’t need to be, in my opinion there shouldn’t be, but she has been treated as a de facto self-sim ship, if not de jure.

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Cmdre Ward, Academy Commandant

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Nathan
TECH Lead

Thanks both! This is one of the reasons why I wanted to do these regularly to prompt discussion.

I’m really content for the ship to be a self-sim (although we probably should tidy up the paperwork). My main worry is it removes an element of redundancy (the same for CO/GMing). RL happens, but if the CO were to go on LOA, it risks the ship grinding to a halt.

I wonder whether it’s worth us having a plan in place for those ships, or a way to call on temporary GM support. I appreciate that the XO could keep things ticking over, but that’s a lot of responsibility.

Jack