Workstation

A Workstation is a designated area within a ship set aside for crew duties.

• It is a type of Computer and Ship Equipment.

Description (Specifications)

A workstation typically contains a control console mounting one or more control panels, a display screen or other form of data output, and a crew seat.

• A workstation is connected to the ship's internal communications.
• Depending on the nature of the control panels it utilizes, a workstation may have a hard link to the ship's computer.
• It is generally ergonomically designed to allow prolonged usage.
• The seats within workstations may be acceleration couches.

If a ship uses "Linked" control panels a workstation's role can generally be changed. For example, controls for the jump drive may be passed from the engineering section to a workstation located on the bridge.

• A ship may have multiple workstations throughout the hull that are only utilized occasionally. These may include such things as the fuel purification controls.
• Systems such as Life Support or the Grav Plates may be monitored (or overridden) from a bridge workstation but are usually locally controlled by individual control panels.

Hard Workstations

A workstation associated with physical shipboard work such as repair duties. Such workstations generally lack a seat and have additional space set aside for supplies such as tools, chemicals, and other mundane shipboard equipment. Supplies are secured in place.

• "Hard" refers primarily to the lack of a seat.
• Hard Workstations are generally used by technicians, stewards and service crew.
• A small control console is used to keep track of supplies and consumables and to monitor the environment.

The function of a Hard Workstation is generally set and cannot easily be changed.

Crewmembers assigned to Hard Workstations make much of the fact that other crew work at "soft" or "easy" jobs.

Computer Control Standards

Computer Controls: In almost all cases where the ship's computer can control a given ship function (gravity, doors, etc.), orders fed in at the central bridge computer take precedence over those fed in at local controls. Only if the computer is inoperative will a computer override be ineffective. Some ships have been known to be built with a different system set-up, but this arrangement is commonplace on most vessels within Charted Space.

History & Background (Dossier)

Workstations are usually sited in important locations around the ship.

• The bridge generally has a pilot's position, navigation and sensor workstations, commumications workstations, and workstations for any onboard defensive electronics.
• The engineering section has control workstations for onboard devices and procedures such as Jump Drive and Maneuver Drive operations, the Power Plant, and onboard fuel regulation. Such workstations may be clustered together into a main control room. They have multiple control panels.
  • Machine Shop (a Hard Workstation). An area of the engineering section set aside for maintaining, repairing or fabricating items, typically minor components for shipboard machinery and fittings. Most modern machine shops feature a 3D printer and a scanner, as well as more traditional equipment such as a lathe, a plasma cutter, a fusion torch and big spanners.
• Medical Workstation. A first aid cabinet with some limited diagnosic capability.
• Steward's Galley (a Hard Workstation). Typically this has facilities for washing fabrics, supplies suitable for cleaning clothing and equipment of all kinds, a small but efficient galley with storage, and the facility to produce drinks on demand. It is where the ship's accounts are kept up to date. You can tell a lot about a steward by the state of their galley.
• Janitorial Closet (a Hard Workstation). Cleaning supplies of all kinds, including mops and buckets, solvents and detergents, and air fresheners.
• A gunners workstation is generally located within a weapon turret.
  • Gunners may remotely control multiple turrets from another workstation aboard the ship: this facility allows turrets to be clustered into batteries of coordinated weapons controlled by a single gunner. On some vessels, turrets are remotely controlled from a central location.
  • Bay weapons have correspondingly large workstations that require multiple crew.
  • Spinal Mounts have multiple workstations.
  • Screens such as Nuclear Dampers have dedicated workstations.
• Warships may have a plotting room, containing multiple workstations and control consoles, to coordinate fire and defenses.

References & Contributors (Sources)

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), TBD.
• Traveller Wiki Editorial Team
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master Scout Emeritus Adie Alegoric Stewart of the IISS
• Author & Contributor: Lord (Marquis) and Master of Sophontology Maksim-Smelchak of the Ministry of Science