07-19-2021, 07:29 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
Don't confuse "engineer" the profession with Engineer the skill. The GURPS skill Engineer is not "that which an engineer does"; it's the skill of designing things, divorced from all the other things that designers do. That's another header from How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations that applies here: "Read Rules, Not Titles."
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07-19-2021, 08:16 AM | #22 | ||
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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I'm not sure if the skill needed is gurps's engineer or not. Quote:
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07-19-2021, 03:51 PM | #23 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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(Computer Operation is also likely to be mandatory these days, of course… And some of the engineers of my acquaintance will also have had Electronics Ops (Telecomms) and Savoir-Faire (Military), but there were project-specific reasons for that.)
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07-20-2021, 12:21 AM | #24 | |
Join Date: Jul 2008
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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They only have any use at all for engineer if they're designing the next generation of the hardware. Or maybe devising sufficiently radical field modifications.
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07-22-2021, 12:04 AM | #25 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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The Engineering skill focuses on design, and the other aspects of the engineering profession are best depicted using other skills. This is not unique, this is how GURPS handles most professions, after all. A combination of Administration and Leadership, generally. Leadership for the people you work with directly, Administration for those whom you do not. |
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07-22-2021, 12:20 AM | #26 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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Technical specialists just become more knowledgeable and skilled in their design skills, and often work alone or with small teams. A lot of design work is very detailed and difficult, and it makes more sense to retain someone to do that work than to promote them out of the role and have to spend a lot of time and effort to train someone who won't be as good. I'd give them high levels of skill (and often specializations or hyperspecializations) in a core science-based Engineering skill, like Engineering (Electronics). Technical leaders learn to integrate lower-level assemblies into progressively more complex subsystems, eventually becoming system architects who are responsible for producing a complete marketable system. They (mostly) retain the knowledge of the assemblies where they were once experts, but add additional, shallower knowledge in other assemblies as well as the knowledge of how they work together. I'd give them a modest level of skill in a science-based Engineering skill as well as skill in a product-based Engineering skill like Engineering (Automobile), and perhaps a little Leadership or Administration, especially at the most senior levels. Program Managers need a technical background and have often (but not always!) worked as engineers for a while, but their job is to manage the money and the people, and will focus on Administration and Leadership with low levels of skill usually in a product-based Engineering. You also have system engineers, who work with interfaces between subsystems as well as things like documentation, and I would give them Administration and the skill of Engineering (Systems) to represent these skills... which by themselves are not typically useful even in the crunchiest campaign. But those technical leaders will also have some of these skills as well by necessity. And then there are the people who actually make the stuff on a production line (one-offs are usually done inefficiently by the designers or technicians). Most of the equipment would be designed by those with Engineering (Tools), and the processes and production line itself designed (incorporating that equipment) by those with Engineering (Industrial). The latter will also have Administration. Note that repair and maintenance and operation are different skills entirely and many engineers lake them entirely. I worked on radar systems at one point but never approached the user interfaces or touched the maintenance or repair procedures, because, well, that wasn't my job. I could operate at a higher default than a complete novice, but it sure wouldn't be something I could claim to have points in. |
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07-22-2021, 12:28 AM | #27 | |||
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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Engineering is a team sport if you want to make anything but the most simple of objects. Quote:
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07-22-2021, 12:31 AM | #28 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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07-22-2021, 12:35 AM | #29 | |
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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07-22-2021, 01:33 AM | #30 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: U.K.
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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And then there were the people whose job was customer interface, whose skillset was, at a guess, Diplomacy, Savoir-Faire (Military), and Electronics Operation, but who were seen as part of the project team. It was a project which did not end when the product was put into service. Let’s face it, “engineering” is a large and diverse field. Whether or not GURPS is a reality simulator, it’s certainly a simplified model of reality.
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Tags |
basic, engineer, engineer (gadgets), skill of the week |
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