Tips for Newbs #4, Superheroes

Superheroes

What is a superhero?

I'm not talking about Batman or Spiderman or whoever, I'm talking about characters in writing who have unnatural abilities. That doesn't mean that they can suddenly start flying around Engineering or run faster than a phaser beam, it just means that their characters are capable of things that quite frankly don't make sense. In many ways, this is related to having flawed characters (more on that later).

Let's say your character is the ship's science officer. Science officers spend most of their day scanning, analyzing, and calculating, working with data, that sort of thing. That takes a lot of brain power and a lot of time studying up. The science officer spends his time being just that: a science officer. He doesn't have to spend time being a tactical officer, or an engineering officer, or a pilot, since we have tactical officers and engineering officers and pilots.

Since the science officer is busy being the best science officer that he can be, does it make any sense when he suddenly mans the tactical station and does it perfectly, or fights off armed boarders without any trouble? No, it doesn't make sense, but that's what a superhero does.

If the science officer has been spending time being a science officer, how would they have these amazing abilities? It would be like a lawyer suddenly signing up to be an architect and designing a skyscraper, just like that. There's no sense in that in the real world, and there's no sense in it in the Trek world.

So my character can't have other skills?

No, they can, just make sure they make sense. Some departments are more related than others. A great operations officer would probably make a decent engineer or a decent science officer, but would be a bad doctor or a bad tactical officer. The fields just aren't that related.

By the same token, a great tactical officer probably would make a decent marine but a lousy helmsman. Marine makes sense, since they both deal with weaponry and shooting, but a helmsman needs a lot of training and instincts that are very different from what a tactical officer needs. Thusly, it doesn't make sense for the CAG to suddenly be performing sensor scans, or for a marine to fix the plasma conduits. They just aren't trained in it.

But what if my character does it as a hobby?

That's just it: It's a hobby. They aren't going to be very good at what they're trying to do if they've just fooled with it in their spare time. A banker who doodles on the side of his ledger isn't going to be able to take over for a full-time artist. An engineer who visits the arboretum and waters a few flowers isn't going to be able to deal with an ecological plague. A security officer who tinkers with his phaser rifle won't know how to reroute the ship's EPS conduits.

If in real life, you were a construction worker, and a business owner came onto your site and asked to help lay a foundation, would you expect him to be competent?

Neither would I. It's the same principle.

Suppose my character switched departments in the past.

A lot of characters do this, and it makes sense. Ensign Kiwi might start out as an operations officer, but after a few tours of duty, he gets bored with scanning and decides to become an engineer. That doesn't mean he should be a great engineer right away, or that he'll be a great operations officer a year after the switch. At any point in his career, he probably would make a bad medic.

For those of you who play MMOs or RPGs, it's like slowly transfering skill points from one profession/skill tree to another. As one gets stronger, the other gets weaker.

That's all for now, folks. In the next issue: Perfection (not the mission).

Well done. My total approval is given.

I'll try not to run any sensor scans.

Don't ask me to be performing any surgeries anytime soon either!


Oh..wait a minute...."Hey Neeva! Come here for a sec. Let me try this laser scalpel out on you. Hold still."

just curious, Ryan graduated from the Academy with a degree in Engineering, and then went to the Marine Academy instead of being an Engineer. Would this line then not apply to me?

just curious, Ryan graduated from the Academy with a degree in Engineering, and then went to the Marine Academy instead of being an Engineer. Would this line then not apply to me?

Your biography states that he graduated from the Academy in 2371. That's thirteen years ago, from the current date of 2384. I don't think that anyone's going to be proficient in something they studied that long ago, especially since they haven't done anything in that field since then, especially since they've been doing something totally different since then.

just curious, Ryan graduated from the Academy with a degree in Engineering, and then went to the Marine Academy instead of being an Engineer. Would this line then not apply to me?

Your biography states that he graduated from the Academy in 2371. That's thirteen years ago, from the current date of 2384. I don't think that anyone's going to be proficient in something they studied that long ago, especially since they haven't done anything in that field since then, especially since they've been doing something totally different since then.

touche. Well i had not plans to be doing Engineering work, so it's ok

So you're saying I can't break out my as-of-yet not shown amazing kickboxing abilities? *sigh* Back to weeding the arboretum.

Great advice, as usual.

bumping these up, as it's been nearly a year and they are very good to review (for veteran members) and read (for new members).

Bumping just in case