My Set of Recommended Helm Certifications by Mm'rek "Tabby" Llin Helm Certification 1 - Student Permit Available to: All citizens This certification allows the use of helm or fighter modes when a minimum C3 copilot is present in helm, fighter, or monitor mode. This certification may be granted by anyone with C3. --- Helm Certification 2 - Basic Helm Permit Available to: All citizens This certification allows the use of helm or fighter modes when a minimum C3 copilot is present in helm, fighter, or monitor mode. Helm must describe every entry on a HELM STAT Helm must describe every entry on a DETAIL with a full contact Helm must describe every entry on a BOR REP showing a border Helm must describe every entry on a NEB REP Helm must describe every entry on a SEN REP including flags Helm must state the minimum resolutions for each level of SEN REP detail Helm must describe where a contact is in relation to the ship given any contact arc Helm must demonstrate Helm power allocation to shields Helm must demonstrate Shield power allocation to equal levels Helm must demonstrate lowering and raising powered shields Helm must demonstrate toggling of LRS SRS and EW Helm must state the SU per second of IMP 25 50 75 and 100 Helm must state the SU per second of WARP 1 and 2 with local cochranes Helm must state the number of SU in 1 PC Helm must state the effective ranges of LRS and SRS Helm must demonstrate LIST PADS or LIST PORTS Helm must demonstrate OPEN/AIRLOCK and CLOSE/AIRLOCK or OPEN/HATCH and CLOSE/HATCH Helm must demonstrate DOCK and UNDOCK or LAND and LAUNCH Helm must demonstrate SET COORDS and RESET COORDS with at least GRC and UFP frames Helm must demonstrate LAYIN and ENGAGE on a location off of sensors Helm must demonstrate ETA and ETA AT at warp and impulse Helm must demonstrate WARP and IMPULSE including reverse speeds Helm must demonstrate INTERCEPT EVADE and PARALLEL Helm must demonstrate YAW PITCH ROLL and COURSE and explain how each moves the ship Helm must execute a flight to a location off of sensors (3 tries) Helm must execute a flight to a location on sensors (3 tries) Helm must execute a manual approach including triangle (3 tries) Helm must execute an autopilot approach (3 tries) Helm must execute a docking or landing including connecting (3 tries) Helm must know their ship's preflight and shutdown procedures This certification may be granted by anyone with C4. --- Helm Certification 3 - Standard Helm Permit Available to: All naval personel This certification allows the use of helm or fighter modes at any time. Helm must state which side of the ship a FPSUD contact will be on for any YAW PITCH or ROLL Helm must state the effect on LRS Signature of going from WARP 1 to WARP 2 Helm must state the effect on sensor resolutions by raising and lowering shields Helm must be able to compute the PC per second of any arbitrary warp speed without aid Helm must be able to compute the distance between any two points without aid Helm must be able to compute the ETA between any to points at any arbitrary warp speed without aid Helm must compute the power costs to raise a shield level to 100 150 175 and 200 percent Helm must demonstrate increasing one arbitrary shield's level to 150 percent Helm must demonstrate power allocation to match max and cruise warp and impulse Helm must demonstrate SHIELD FREQUENCY rotations Helm must demonstrate toggling the CLOAK if one is present on their ship Helm must execute a proper cloaking and decloaking. (3 tries) Helm must execute an Autopilot SRWD MRWD and LRWD to Port or Starboard on demand (3 tries) Helm must execute a SRWD MRWD or LRWD while pushing the autopilot (3 tries) Helm must describe in detail the counters and counter-counters for autopilot approaches Helm must describe in detail the tactics of impulse dogfighting Helm must describe in detail the shape and geometry of the four shields Helm must be able to close into range 1 SU or less on a contact moving at warp 2 (30 minutes) This certification may be granted by anyone with C4. --- Helm Certification 4 - Advanced Helm Permit Available to: All naval personel. This certification allows the use of helm or fighter modes at any time. Helm must execute an impulse (only) dogfight with equal fighters and win 2:4 against an FC4 or FC5 Helm must execute an impulse (only) dogfight with equal starships and win 2:4 against an FC4 or FC5 This certification may be granted by anyone with C5, upon successfully challenge by C3 personell. C3 personel may challenge C4 or C5 personel at any time. --- Helm Certification 5 - Masters Helm Permit Available to: Naval academy commandant and other designated personel This certification may be granted by the naval academy commandant. --- Notes: Now a note about how hard they are, and what I suggest: Don't let anyone short of C4 be allowed to fly a naval ship on a combat mission. I also don't have any qualms about outright denying access to the helm console to anyone who is not willing to develop the skills that mode requires, and here is why: Anyone put on that console mode takes the lives of every person on the ship into their hands. Every character on the ship has had work and care put into it, and losing all those IC lives and OOC RP effort because the helm person is lazy, watching TV, idling, playing elsemush, or just plain incompetent, is an inexcusable error on the part of that player's CO and the Helm trainers. I don't care if someone says they want to be Tom Cruise or Hikaru Sulu but don't think it's fair to have to work hard to have that IC duty. I don't care when someone says "It's just a MUSH, and I wanna fly a ship!" There is just too much at stake to put RP considerations first, when choosing Helm officers. Any other station, fine. Our ships are large, and our crews are large, and that's a whole hell of a lot to risk on anyone less than C3. Think about all the dead ships and dead crew, and the years of development of characters blown away every time one of the ships goes down, and if you can, look me in my EYE and tell me I'm wrong. Tabby Additional Comment: Lots of people did look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong, until I decided to leave ATS, so, you don't need to bother doing so... I'm offering this in case someone is looking for some documented certification material and needs somewhere to start.