If you’re reading this, then you, or someone close to you, has decided to pick up this guide on how to do engineering and damage control for your crew in Jump Space. Basically, your job amounts to putting out the fires and fixing stuff. Sounds easy, right?

Well…sort of.

The first thing to remember is this:

As the ship’s Damage Control Technician/Engineer, your primary job is the maintenance of the ship. This means putting out fires, replacing busted shields, managing the power board when necessary, and generally spending more time with a fire extinguisher than you are a Halberd or Sideclip.

This means that as the ship’s DCT/Engineer, your three most important tools are in no particular order:

1. Fire extinguisher.
2. Fire extinguisher.
3. Anything that shoots.

This is because you will most likely (on a Catamaran anyway) be spending most of your time running around putting out fires and fixing the thruster fuel lines.

Generally speaking, as the ship's DCT/Engineer, you should stay with the ship...if the ship is the Catamaran. If you also like to do space marine commando stuff and/or shore party stuff, that's perfectly fine. This is a guide, not a regulations book, and I am not on your ship. ...right now, anyway.

But, as with all crews, if you do decide to go off, make sure you notify your crew. If combat is upcoming, make a plan. And definitely don't try to grapple onto that corvette your ship is chasing down mid-combat, because I promise you, not only will you miss the corvette, but you will spend the rest of the fight chasing down the ship because your pilot/captain is probably not gonna want to turn around and expose the ship to more fire just to come pick you up.

...ask me how I know.

Anyway, here's the guide.

Some terminology before we go though:

Port is left,
Starboard is right.
Dorsal's on top,
Ventral's the bottom/underside.
Bow's up front,
Stern's to the rear.

So, you're the ship's DCT/Engineer. What do you do?

Unless you are the ship's owner, do not assume that you have control of the power board. Always ask before touching the power board.

Yes, you might be the DCT/Engineer, but you don't own the ship, and the person who does might have theirs set up in a specific way that they like. This of course, only applies to joining random crews. If you're in a pre-made, you probably already have that pre-determined.

So, ship duties. The first duty any Engineer is to the truth, whether that be scientific truth, historical truth or personal truth to make sure there's always coffee ready. ...What the hell do you mean, there's no coffee maker!? Damn it, Bozze! a fire extinguisher near you at all times.

Seriously. When combat breaks out, the first thing to pop up is usually a fire of some sort.

The second and third duties are (re)filling the ammo and shields, if they need filling. You might have already topped off during combat, but it's always worth double checking because neither of those things have a good reason to be below capacity...usually. Unless you never fixed that materia leak in time and are now adrift with no way to fix the ship without cannibalizing the ship.

The fourth duty is being on the away team as necessary. This is usually something that will be determined by your captain...or if the other two players have gone down.

The last job is mostly optional, and is purely dependent on a per-crew basis, which is to make sure the pizza's perfectly cooked. Unless you've got that pizza artifact, in which case, go make pizza.

Edit: One last thing: Because you will also be most likely be managing the ship shields and ammunition stores (if you are either the appointed DCT/Engineer or have been chosen/selected for the job by current crew), you also technically double as the ship's quartermaster. But as is with the power board, make sure you clarify and check with your crew to make sure they are okay with it. If it ain't your ship, check.

...unless you're on the Dart. Then you're most likely going to be auxiliary away team.

One more thing.

As you will be spending most of your time in Engineering (on the Catamaran), the crew quarters toilet is also the designated jump seat for the engineer. (Note: This is purely as a joke, use whatever seat makes you happy. I haven't tested jumping while laying down in the bunks yet, though.)


EDIT: Per Heckle_Jeckle87, (Thanks for the information), the bunks are not a safe place to be in between jumps. Don't lay down in the bunks in preparation for a jump, or you will most likely be experiencing an unexpected rapid relocation in several axes (X, Y and Z) with an equally rapid unscheduled transfer of momentum into the ship's hull. This may or may not also induce significant emotional events.

Some of you fellow wrench turners will have realized that while [i0]which[/i] locations you get are random, their locations are not. This guide will hopefully serve as a reference/guide to where these components may be found in no particular order of importance.

Shields

Shields are what keep incoming fire from actually damaging your core. These should be replaced as soon as possible, when possible. Shield status is represented by the blue bar at the top of your HUD in four segments. Keep in mind that this can lie about your ship's shield status, especially if your ship has the artifact installed that gives your ship extra shields per jump.


Shields can only be replaced once a segment has been fully depleted.

Port Rear Shield, Active


The blue fire effect indicates that the shield is still active. If the shield module itself has no blue fire and looks flat, it is depleted and needs replacement.

Port Forward Shield, Active

These are the four shield locations, as well as the nearest grapple points. It is faster to grapple to a nearby location than it is to run to them.

Port Forward Shield:


Port Rear:


Starboard Forward:


Starboard Rear:


Radiators

Radiators are high up on the list because if you leave them alone, fires onboard will become out of control. If you have extra crew around, don't hesitate to get extra hands on the problem.

There are two on the bridge above the sensor stations port and starboard and three down by the Living Quarters for a total of five.

Port:

Starboard



There are also three down the Living Quarters - one internal (port side), and two inside the vents (both sides).

Port Internal:


Port Vent:


Starboard:


Reactor Leaks/Power Conduits

These are the things that spit radioactive rods that must be disposed of. Radiation will interfere with your power grid and randomly disable ship systems. Always fix the conduit first so it does not produce additional rods while you are disposing of the rods.

There are four:

Power Board:


Starboard Rear, just outside of the Engine Room:


Port Rear, just outside of the Engine Room:


Living Quarters, by the Engineer Jump Seat:


Thruster Pipes:

These are on the ship's external and should be fixed ASAP so that your pilot can maintain combat maneuvers. Multiples of these are BAD. Ship can't turn = ship takes more hits = STOP BLOWING HOLES IN MY SHIP! I just fixed that bloody thing!

There are a total of eight: two on the top deck on both sides (forward and rear), one on each side, and two on the underside.

Topside Port Forward and Rear pipes are on the same side and look like the ones below.



Port Side Thruster Pipe - this requires you to walk onto the side of the ship.


And finally, the port underside pipe.


Here are the Starboard Forward and Rear Pipes:


Starboard Side Pipe:


Starboard Underside Pipe/Pilot Cannon Point:


You'll also note that next to this pipe is the installation point for the pilot weapon.

Materia Tanks:

These look like valves, and for the most part, are usually in a vent - except for the one on the topside of the ship.

These are the ones in the port and starboard vents by the Living Quarters:

Port (Valve at the end):

Starboard (Valve at the end):

There is one in the vent in Engineering that goes to the bar:


And there are two valves external on deck.

Port:


Starboard:


Ship Modules

On the Catamaran, there are a total of four modules that can be damaged and destroyed in combat if not stabilized. They are the pilot cannon, the sensors, and the port and starboard (or left and right) special weapon turrets. The Pilot cannon is located on the underside of the ship, whereas the sensor station is located at the front of the ship.

The left and right turrets are pretty self explanatory, as they are right outside of the left and right airlocks.

The Catamaran is a nice spacious ship with easy access to all critical systems, making it easy enough to get to where you have to go to put out a fire or fix the engines. As such, these are my recommended priorities on what to repair over what.

This list assumes the ship has already entered combat.

0A. Fires.

Why is this item number zero? Well, because fire fighting can be done at any time while you run around the ship to fix whatever the hell else is wrong with the ship. Unless the fires are spreading out of control, you have a little bit of time to deal with more pressing issues before you have to worry about the fires. Fight what you have to immediately, deal with the rest after the ship’s out of danger.

0B. Shields and ammunition.

This is also one of those "important but not important" items. Ship ammunition should never run out unless it's all gone to hell, your materia tank's got a leak, and all hands are already busy trying to keep the ship alive. For ease, I recommend keeping a four pack next to the loader at all times (materia and/or crew permitting). Likewise, with the shields, I recommend keeping a ship repair kit either up on the bridge or down below in engineering on one of the tables for grabbing and going. However, check with your ship's captain before you start using materia - never hurts to check.

Unless you're in a pre-made, in which case, go do that voodoo that you do (hopefully) so well.

EDIT: One thing i forgot to mention is that because the topside of the Catamaran is helpfully in a "U" shape with grapple points along the way, when replacing shields it is better to use the grapple points to quickly traverse the hull and get to the replacement points rather than running around. Try it, it's pretty fun.

1. Thruster Fuel Lines, Critical Engines and Generators

Busted fuel line means no steering. No steering means taking more hits and less ability for the pilot to use those big guns on the front. This also means a steadily increasing chance of dying. Stabilize this FIRST. If there are no other malfunctions or critical components nearby, repair this once you’re done stabilizing.



2. Critical Generators (Direct)

If the power goes out, the ship will become dead in the water, or you will lose critical ship systems. Don’t let them die.

3. Critical Weapons

No weapons, no shots. No shots, no reducing incoming damage. No reducing incoming damage, no more ship.

4. Radiator damage.

Damage to the radiator will increase the chances of new fires coming to life. Put this out and stabilize this first, and then deal with the fires nearby or other components as necessary.

5. Radiation damage.

Damage to this component will generate a radioactive rod every so often that will screw with the ship’s systems. Unless you know that the ship has a protected power grid, stabilize the thing so it doesn’t make more rods, then dump the (hopefully just the one) rod, and then finish the repair. If your ship does have a fully protected power grid…you can probably ignore the rods to some extent, but still fix this thing.

6. Materia tank leak.

This one is…ultimately, fairly minor in the same way how rolling just one under what you need to pass the difficulty check – depends on context. If you have a lot of materia in the tank, you should probably fix this so you stop losing materia, but this is ultimately small potatoes compared to the rest of the ship. If your materia tank is damn near empty and you don’t have anything to scrap to replenish, fix this as soon as you can as your situation allows.

7. Sensors.

In my opinion, at this time, while they are useful to have, you can still identify stuff without them. That said, losing a ship component is still losing a ship component, so stabilize and repair as necessary.

The DT-4 Dart is a heavy fighter, and is best utilized as, you guessed it, a fighter. From a maintenance standpoint however, the materia collectors are located ventrally, the shields and special turret are dorsal, and trying to do any mid-combat repair anywhere else but in the crew compartment is more or less asking to be accidentally left behind unless you put yourself there before combat starts.

That said, any important repairs to the Dart should be made after combat unless the ship and its crew are in danger of suffering an immediate significant emotional event with a finite existential ending.

Keeping the ammo loaded is easy enough - it's the back with the board and the rest of engineering.

...still no coffee maker, though.

If you're reading this section, congratulations! You might be one of these guys!


Now, as a Marine, your job is primarily to go shoot what needs shooting, grab what needs grabbing, and board enemy corvettes preemptively (I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT ATTEMPT BOARDING ACTIONS MID-COMBAT IF YOU ARE NOT ALREADY IN RANGE. YOU WILL FALL BEHIND.).

For the most part, your job is straight forward. But, if you're feeling helpful, there are a couple of things you can do to help.

Number 1: Help with damage control. If the DCT is busy up on the hull fixing a thruster line and there's a radiation leak, help out and plug that leak. Or if they're on the other side of the ship and a fire breaks out, put it out. As a Marine, your second primary job is auxiliary damage control...if you're there.

Number 2: ...that's really mostly it for now. If you're not out shooting and doing stuff, help put the fires out.

Boarding Actions:

So, you're the marine and there's a corvette out there in a flock of fighters. What do you do? Well, first off, above all else,

COMMUNICATE!

Your captain needs to know if you're not onboard the ship. If you and the other marine are off the ship, that's two people that can't help with maintenance, repairs, and keeping the ship from having a rapid unscheduled disassembly by means external to the crew. Likewise, if three of you guys are all gone and the ship doesn't have a weapon, that's something the pilot/Captain needs to know before the shooting starts.

The other thing is that the moment you enter combat, the ships will become aggro'ed on the ship, not you, and you'll have to work fast.

Now, this isn't a complete list, as some things have changed a bit, but I'll add to this list as things change.

1. Corvette

This is the big thing that you'll want to board and steal the component for. Bring something you're good with that isn't your pistol - it won't do enough damage and you'll need it to cut through their defenses. You'll either grapple on either to the port or starboard side, but it's the same game plan on both sides - get to the center, open the hatch, steal the component and get back to the ship. If you are still on it when it goes, you will die.

The best way to do this is before combat starts. That gives you time to grapple on and set up for the attack. If you leave your ship mid-combat to board one of these things, it had best be because the other corvette is in range and you have the option to grapple. If you do not, as mentioned in previous sections of the guide,

YOU WILL MISS, YOU WILL FALL BEHIND, AND YOU WILL BECOME COMBAT INEFFECTIVE...usually.

2. Gunships

Grapple on, shoot fuel tanks. Killing all of them will not cause the gunship to self destruct, but you will take out a huge chunk of its health and make it very easy for your ship to kill.

3. Fighters

Simple enough. Grapple on, blow up fuel tank, leave.

4. Sniper Units

These, to my knowledge, cannot be grappled to. Do not try.

There's probably some more stuff, but for now, I'll just leave this here in case anything new gets added. Don't forget to give the game a thumbs up.

9-28-25: Added components location list for Catamaran.