I am working on an alternate universe fan fiction with some changes to the setting and tech level. One of the things that I am working on is changing around some of the way the crew positions work. For instance I wanted to rework Operations to be more specifically related to damage control, power allocation, basically anything engineering related on the bridge. They would raise shields and keep them up. They would not report on anything outside the ship. For some reason with Data and Harry Kim they were sort of a catch all station and I wanted to straighten that out. Then you have Helm as usual but I was thinking about giving helm control over forward phasers so that they can time attacks themselves. More like Sulu used to do. I want a station that would cover navigation/tactical/long range sensors. They would cover firing weapons at off center targets or long range targets. They would also help the helm by setting way points and such. Basically they would cover everything outside of the ship. I'm not sure what to call this post. I was also thinking about an away team support post as well. Basically they would help with contact with aliens/communicate with away teams/pass on commands to the shuttlebay to get ready/ etc. Not sure what to call this one either. Any ideas?
Operations looked after ship operations, including sensors, communications and computer systems. But if you wanted to have them more ship focused and give sensor control over to a science officer, then I could understand that. Flight Control needs to cover both helm and navigation, I never got why they were separate in TOS. I find it a bit odd to split up Tactical though. One officer to handle all weapons makes sense to me, though split it from Security and have a separate Security Chief. If you're still having Troi, you could strengthen her role by making her Comm Officer in addition to Counsellor. Make more of her as a Diplomacy/First Contact Specialist as well. As for a contact point between away teams and the ship, that would be the Comm Officer. Though, using the information you put up, you could try something like: Operations Manager (ship-based matters) Helmsman (pilots the ship) Navigator (handles all sensors and course plotting) Tactical Officer (pew-pew) Communincations Officer (link between ships and teams)
Well I like the idea of combining Tactical and Navigation because if you were fighting then you would not be plotting a long range course and vice versa. Most of the time tactical would not be doing much at all except some scanning, assuming the ship was not a combat vessel. I would like a term that could encompass both functions. I agree that Tactical and Security should be separate functions. I have no idea why anyone would combine them. If you have intruders then you are likely in a dangerous situation and that would be the time that you would need your tactical officier on the bridge. Besides the fact that they both involve weapons there is no connection between the two of those. I can see your point about the communications station though. I'll think about that one. thanks for the feed back
Well one difference between writing fiction and making it is cost. The more positions you create to filma show the more actors you need to fill those roles so thats wht some positions seem to multi-task. But in fiction you can see the following positons CO XO Chief Engineer Chief Operations Officer Security Chief Tactical Chief Science Chief Chief Medical Officer Helm Officer Comms Officer