Training and Learning

RogerBW

This is condensed from GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School which you should probably read.

Training

The basic currency is training hours. 200 of these will give you a point in a skill, advantage, etc. You may save these from month to month but should consider buying restricted versions if possible. (The Dabbler perk is recommended.)

Training will alternate by months between Intensive and Standard versions, for a total of twelve months.

Intensive Training

You must have either HT (modified by Fit) or Will at 12+. At the end of the month of training, roll against HT, or at your option Will if the training mostly doesn’t involve physical hazard.

If rolling against HT: failure by 1-2 is a minor injury, 3+ a major injury and stress, critical failure a very serious injury.

If rolling against Will: failure by 1-2 is a new quirk, 3+ collapse from overwork, critical failure a new mental disadvantage.

If you pass the roll, you get 800 training hours.

Standard Training

Make a Will roll at the end of the month: +1 per hour/day for Less Sleep, +3 for Single-Minded, +1 for Attentive, + any Talent you have if you’re mostly studying skills that benefit from it.

If you critically fail, you overwork and collapse. If you succeed or fail normally, you gain 150 training hours, ±15 per point of success/failure. On a critical success, gain 400 training hours if that would be higher.

You also gain 100 hours of self-study in anything you like (equivalent to 50 training hours), doubled if you use interactive virtual environments, which obviously aren’t available for all skills.

Other sources of points

You will get more points from hazardous situations in play, which you can spend on anything you can justify having learned. Some traits are trained automatically by the environment.

You may add a point in G-Experience (any) every 12½ days; the first two should be “zero G” and “lunar”. By the end of training you will have G-Experience (all).

You may add a free point (one only) in each of Free Fall and Spacer after 12½ days.

You may add a free point (one only) in Savoir-Faire (Military) after 50 days.

If you take either or both of Code of Honor (Soldier’s) [-10] and Sense of Duty (Royal Navy, Large Group) [-10], you may take corresponding positive points in anything you can justify having learned. (But spread them out over the year, rather than taking them all at once.)

What you’re being trained in

You must have at least one point in each main skill by the end of training.

Some traits will be added automatically without being involved in this process: Rank, for example, and Duty.

Attributes

ST, HT, Will, Per

Advantages

Fit/Very Fit

Skills

Administration
Computer Operation
Electronics Operation (Communication)
Electronics Operation (Sensors)
First Aid
Free Fall
Leadership
Navigation (Space)
Pilot (High-Performance Spacecraft)
Professional Skill (Sailor) [equivalent to Soldier, covers lots of small tasks at a basic level]
Savoir-Faire (Military)
Shiphandling (Spaceship) [Starship doesn’t exist as a separate skill]
Spacer [Crewman]
Strategy (Space)
Tactics
Vacc Suit [Environment Suit]

Optional skills

Astronomy
Beam Weapons (Pistol or Projector)
Computer Programming
Diplomacy
Electronics Operation (Electronic Warfare)
Engineer (Antimatter, Artillery, Electrical, Electronics, but mostly Spaceship)
Forward Observer
Games (Uckers)
Hazardous Materials (Chemical, Nanotech, Radioactive)
Mathematics (Applied)
Navigation (Hyperspace) [this is very theoretical and not required for ship operations]
Pilot [Aerospace, Flight Pack, LP Spacecraft, Vertol]
Strategy (Interstellar)
Survival [any]
Hands-on technical skills (Armoury, Artillery (Guided Missile), Electrician, Electronics Repair, Mechanic, etc.) are available but not emphasised: the idea is that you know enough to direct people who know what to do, not to do it yourself. They may still be useful in small-ship postings.

Objectives

To graduate from the College, you must have at least one point in each of the main skills and should be at least Fit. For game purposes, ranking in the class will be determined by a set of skill rolls against a selection of both main and optional skills, and possibly some attributes; a high rank may give you a beneficial Reputation.

A typical mid-range posting after the College is as a junior departmental officer aboard a large ship (where, in theory, you can’t get into too much trouble, and can learn practical management skills that are hard to pick up in a classroom setting). High-range postings may be on smaller or more visible ships where there’s more of a chance to get noticed; low-range postings may be on shore batteries.

General areas of operations in broadly increasing order of isolation include:

Homeworlds Fleet

The RN’s garrison and reinforcement force. Big and new ships, very little action unless war breaks out, lots of time on-planet; opportunities for diplomatic and political contact with the powers that be, and work on prototype ships and systems.

Colonial fleets

The workhorse of the RN (just ask them). Some of this is static duty waiting for a call-out, some of it is flag-showing, some is general patrolling. Ships are medium to small, sometimes overdue for a refit; reinforcements are a long way away. Lots of merchant ship inspections, rendering assistance to civilians (in space or planetside), etc. I see this as the mostly likely sort of duty once you all get back together.

Deep Survey

The most isolated duty, small ships with big sensors going well beyond charted space to find new jumplines and worlds, including initial suitability assessments for colonisation.