Station Engineer

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Station Engineer

Superiors: Chief Engineer
Difficulty: Medium
Guides: Guide to Construction, Guide to Power, Guide to Atmospherics
Access: Engineering, External, Maintenance
Duties: Maintain and fix the station. Make sure the power doesn't go out. Perform renovations.
Subordinates: Technical Assistant
Radio:* common

• eng

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Station Engineer is a job in the Engineering department.

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: 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 spess monotheism worshipping the Chief Engineer villainy.

The first thing Station Engineers need to do in every shift is set up the Antimatter Engine (AME). Next, the Chief Engineer should provide direction on what types of permanent power generation should be set up, as the AME will not keep the station powered for a full shift. Once the station is running on permanent power, Station Engineers may move on to fix the solar panels but this is optional.

Fixing Hull Breaches

When an area gets bombed or dismantled and exposed to space, its atmosphere is 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.<ref>see cold and asphyxiation in [[Health#Damage_Types]|damage types]</ref>

Equipment

You should have an engineering hardsuit, magboots, and an oxygen tank before entering a spaced compartment - that equipment is available in engineering lockers. A Template:Crowbar and t-ray scanner are optional but useful if the power network has been disrupted. The materials typically needed for hull breach repairs are steel, glass, and all three types of wires.

Entry

A holofan can be used on the airlock to a spaced compartment before opening it to prevent pressure drops in adjacent compartments. If you don't have one, evacuate nearby crewmembers before opening the airlock to prevent pressure-related injuries. If power to the doors has been disrupted, you may need the crowbar to open the airlock. Remember to close the airlock behind you.

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 (also created from the Crafting menu), which will turn into plating. Walls and windows cannot be directly built on tiles that don't have plating.

Walls and Windows

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 safer. 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.

Depending on the cause of spacing (mainly, whether there was an explosion or not), lights, doors, and machines may still be unpowered. 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.