Summary

The Contact Starship Training Programme needs you!

The outer reaches of Human stellar influence is teeming with opportunities and fascinating extra-solar species. We are a peaceful and benign civilisation and as such we are always in need of the best crews to man our peacekeeping, policing and enforcement ships in deep space!

As a trainee in Contact, you will use your natural excellence in team-working and communication while learning what it takes to be a Weapons Specialist, Science Officer, Helm, Relay, Chief Engineer or even Captain in deep space. Unlock new ships, new weapons and new missions as your crew (and you!) gain ranks in the Contact Starship Training Programme!

Contact is an hour-long co-operative computer simulation of a "starship bridge" where each player must work together with 5 other crew mates to fill their roles and complete one or more space missions. Each event includes orientation for new players, team role assignments and an hour of "flight time" presented in an immersive, themed bridge room supported by two or more "Flight Control" officers making sure everything goes as smoothly as possible.

Roles will be assigned at the start of the session but can be summarised as follows:

• Captain: Leads the crew! Has no direct control of the ship but must keep the crew focused on their goal and make strategic decisions both in and out of combat.
• Helm: Flies the ship, controlling heading, speed, docking and combat manoeuvres as well as the warp or jump drives (depending on the ship).
• Weapons Specialist: Controls all combat elements of the ship including shields, targeting, beam weapons and missiles.
• Chief Engineer: Controls the power management and coolant systems of the ship and dispatches repair crews should the ship become damaged.
• Science Officer: Directs the sensor scans and has access to the ship computer should more information be needed.
• Relay: Uses the Sector Map to marshal allied forces in the sector, controls communications and hacking equipment and launches probes.

Contact is run by One Free Elephant at Airecon and Tabletop Scotland.

Event Format

Each event "slot" is 1hr 30 minutes long. This is intended to give your crew 1 hour "flight time" plus 20 minutes before for briefing and orientation and 10 minutes at the end for debrief, cleanup and reset.

During the Briefing and Orientation stage, you will be given a sheet giving a quick overview of the roles available on the ship (Captain, Science Officer, Relay Officer, Helm, Weapons Specialist and Chief Engineer) and asked to organise amongst yourselves who will fill each role. This should take less than 5 minutes. Then each recruit will be given detailed briefing packs with instructions on how to perform that role. This should take around 10 minutes. You will then be taken into the simulator area and your mission will begin.

During the Mission Time you will be guided through basic orientation of the systems you have available and asked to complete various simple tasks directed by Flight Control. Assuming you perform satisfactorily, you will be given a follow-up mission of appropriate challenge where you have much more agency.

Expectations

To increase immersion, the events will be run with a “light roleplay” flavour that you are welcome to engage in but not required to. We expect that this is unlikely but if anything makes you feel uncomfortable, speak to the Flight Director or any member of the Flight Control team - we want this event to be enjoyable for everyone.

If you have any mobility or personal issues that may impact your participation please let us know in advance so we can try to prepare for and accommodate your needs where we can.

Finally, there's a roughly 16.7% chance you might want to learn how to play Minesweeper. Just saying…