Station Engineer
Engineering
Station Engineer
- Access: Engineering, External, Maintenance
- Difficulty: Medium
- Duties: Maintain and fix the Station, make sure the power doesn't go out. Get berated over the radio when power inevitably goes out.
- Supervisors: Chief Engineer
- Subordinates: Technical Assistant
- Guides: Guide to Construction, Guide to Power, Guide to Atmospherics
The station engineers are in charge of rebuilding walls, fixing windows, repairing airlocks and fixing hull breaches (spaced areas), as well as setting up and maintaining a power source for the station.
Starting Out
Head to the nearest engineering locker and open it. You'll need the insulated gloves in there to protect you from electric shocks while screwing around with wires. It's also recommended that you take a t-ray scanner for checking under-floor pipes and cables, a gas analyzer to check local atmospheric conditions, and a stack each of LV (Low-Voltage), MV (Medium-Voltage) and HV (High-Voltage) cables in case of power outages. You could take half a stack of metal and glass, but they are generally better reserved for usage across the department, so don't keep them in your backpack unless you are going to use them soon.
Power
Main article: Guide to Power
As an engineer, one of your primary responsibilities is generating power. This is absolutely essential to keeping a well-functioning space station from descending into darkness, chaos and villainy.
Fixing Hull Breaches
Repairing hull breaches is a tricky task as when an area gets bombed or dismantled and exposed to space, all of the atmosphere in said room will get almost instantly sucked out into the void. Squishy players of various species need that atmosphere not only to breathe, but also to prevent parts of their body from boiling and bruising.
Preparation
When you get the report of a hull breach (or that an area has been "spaced"), the first thing you should do is get your magnetic boots (magboots), a hardsuit and hardsuit helmet (engineering & salvage hardsuits have built-in helmets; fire suits and fire helmets work in a pinch) and put on an internals mask and oxygen tank (it's recommended that you use the one on your locker, you also start with an emergency kit containing these in your backpack that have a highly limited supply). After that grab some steel, LV, MV and/or HV wires (depending on the place bombed: for example, for maintenance grab HV wires or for the hallway grab LV and maybe HV) and optionally glass. Go to the place with the hull breach and, before opening the firelocks, examine and check it yourself. Are there walls broken? Windows? Which floors need fixing? Do you estimate that you have enough materials? Are your internals turned on by putting on your mask and switching your breathing tank open? Are your magnetic boots activated? Do you happen to see any casualties, and are they still alive and gasping for air? You might want to get them out first, if feasible.
DON'T OPEN IT UP YET.
Check if there is someone without a hardsuit on nearby and kindly make them leave. You're going to create another, hopefully temporary, hull breach when that firelock opens- which is likely to result in the room you and them are in getting firelocked as well. If they don't have a crowbar, they won't be able to leave once that happens.
Structural Repairs
Now pry open the firelock to the spaced area using a crowbar. If you didn't have magboots on and activated, atmosphere flowing from behind you may push you around as the room you left depressurizes. It's highly suggested that you manually pry the firelocks behind you closed as soon as your through, in case any air vents were still operational in that room.
Floors
If there are empty tiles where you can see freely into space, open the Crafting menu (default G) and make "metal rods" from steel and click on the empty spaces to add lattice. To seal against the void of space below, click on the lattices with steel sheets or floor tiles, which will turn into plating. Walls and windows cannot be directly built on tiles that don't have plating.
Walls
Once all of the lattices has been plated you will need to seal any lateral breaches due to missing and damaged walls or windows. Wherever these lateral holes are, you should have placed plating beforehand.
To construct walls, open your Crafting menu again and find "wall". Select it to see it's instructions, then hit "Place Construction Ghost". A blue planning grid will overlay your screen and you will be able to place planning ghosts. Simply click each tile that you need to build a wall on to place ghosts. When you're done, right click to exit the planning mode. The ghosts will remain- use steel sheets on them to first construct girders, then use steel sheets on the girder to complete it. Repeat for all walls. Reinforced walls require plasteel to create, which isn't possible to craft by hand. Windows work similarly with the caveat that you should probably use reinforced glass to make reinforced windows. Follow the same steps as before. Reinforced glass can be crafted by hand using metal rods and glass- in a pinch, you can re-form any broken shards of glass nearby using a lit welder to create new glass sheets and rods.
Further Repairs
If all has gone well, the area should now be safe(r). Double check that there are no holes to space anywhere, and you should be good to re-open any firelocks nearby. Be aware that this may trip further firelocks as the atmosphere between adjacent sections of the station equalizes.
Now see if the power is correct, and if not, fix it.
You will want to make sure that any Atmospherics piping and distribution equipment is repaired.
Work with the Science department to rebuild any destroyed machines, such as computer consoles.
Things To Keep In Mind
- Engineering is a very extensive department and has a lot of duties. Try splitting them up with your colleagues to save some work.
- Don't be afraid to ask! You and the other engineers won't know it all so if you need a helping hand just ask, most people will likely be eager to help.
