03-22-2015, 12:18 PM | #11 | |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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The difference comes when you're working on the edge of technology, or you want to do things that humans just can't achieve by themselves: when your interstellar exploration game gets going again, we're going to want to build an FTL communicator once we figure out the ancient artefacts a bit more. |
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07-18-2021, 05:16 AM | #12 | ||
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
Two quotes from another thread about Engineer, which I think are well worth preserving:
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The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
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07-18-2021, 06:15 PM | #13 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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What GURPS skills ought to be used to manage a highway construction project, an electrical power station or distribution grid, a marine engine and drivetrain, an oil refinery, or a smallarms factory? Administration?
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 07-18-2021 at 06:20 PM. |
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07-18-2021, 09:39 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Aug 2007
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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Although some modern factories are gettign small enough in numbers of personnel that you might not need Adminstration there either. Moslty though if you're managing a large number of people to get them to do anything not military you are using Adminstration. .
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Fred Brackin |
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07-18-2021, 09:55 PM | #15 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
Yeah Engineers design things but unless the engineer is the one building it Administration seems most5 likely. If leading a small time, especially on site go with Leadership. But a big staff where you in charge of budget, shifts, resources, and getting the permits I'd go with Administration. Let the work supervisors manage the staff with Leadership.
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07-19-2021, 12:39 AM | #16 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
That gives Administration an extraordinary scope. But GURPS is not a reality simulator.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
07-19-2021, 12:43 AM | #17 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
An engineer (or team of engineers) usually is the one building a civil engineering project. And an engineer usually is the one managing an oil refinery or an arms factory. But if in GURPS they use their Administration skill and not their Engineering skill nothing more need be said.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
07-19-2021, 01:09 AM | #18 | |||
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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Some of these sound specialized enough to be expert skills. The Oil refinery and Power station are particularly interesting cases. But I don't know that the skill to design a custom refinery that cracks motor oil into drilling mud is the same as the knowledge of how to operate it efficiently. But I don't have a name for the skill of operating a oil-refinery... and it certainly is a skill.
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07-19-2021, 02:18 AM | #19 | ||
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
Strictly, it's the process. The materials, the equipment, the way the equipment is used, the balance of speed and accuracy with which machinists work.
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For example, the production engineer might notice that the proportion of rifles produced that fail QA inspection has increased for the third month in a row. That could be because of chance. It could be because of a change in the specification of the materials supplied. It could be because a die is worn or a jig has got out of alignment. It could be because one of the bearings in one of the lathes is getting worn. It could be because a machinist has developed presbyopia or a tremor. It could be because the oil in the quenching bath needs to be changed, or because the thermostat in the heat-treatment furnace needs re-calibrating, or because a worker has developed slack habits in the heat-treatment. It could even be because the QA inspector is becoming cross and fussy. So the engineer checks in what way the products failed QA, examines the rejected products, and tries to see whether a bunch of them have failed for a common reason. If so, they use their knowledge of the design to try to discern what defect could cause that failure, and then their knowledge of the manufacturing process to try to narrow down what problems could produce that defect, and then they examine the actual machines and their use to work out which possible reason is the actual reason. And then they use their engineering problem-solving skills to devise and execute a cost-effective way to fix the process. Meanwhile they also monitor not just QA failure rate, but output, consumption of supplies and power, tool wear, inventory levels, staff injuries, and any smell of ozone in the washroom. Besides that they might change the process and tooling to effect an improvement specified by the design office, or continually refine the process to improve quality and reduce costs. Industrial production processes are amazingly complex and unexpectedly dynamic. Changes in supply specifications, machine and machinist time, output, quality, inventory, maintenance time, consumption of lubricants, coolants, fuels, and cleaning supplies occur all the time, and they have to be monitored continually by someone who understands the process and product and who can judge what is insignificant, what has to be adjusted for, and what requires remedial action. That's what (I understand) most engineers actually do. Quote:
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 07-19-2021 at 04:01 AM. |
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07-19-2021, 06:45 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Engineer
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Tags |
basic, engineer, engineer (gadgets), skill of the week |
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