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Common Engineering Problems and how to solve

Written By: Hortensia Harrison

Fiction
Common Engineering Problems and how to solve them
So basically you're a engineer, and you might wanna prep yourself with some knowledge about what could go wrong on the station. Well there are a lotta things that can go wrong, and you might wanna get yourself prepped for that. Well here's some stuff to deal with that.
 Problem No. 1. Oh god why is this door stuck open
  • Check if the door is actually stuck. As in try to push it open. If it doesn't open...
  • Crowbar the door. If it closes, then it's outta power for some reason. If it stays open..
  • Open the maintenance panel and check the door bolts. If they're on, then you need to find the bolt wire and pulse it with a multitool, then pulse the test wire and close the door with a crowbar
  • Is the door now stuck and won't open, even if you have the access? The airlock electronics might be broken. Well here comes the hard bit..
  • Cut all wires apart from the bolt wire, weld the door shut, then use a crowbar to remove the airlock electronics. If it's charred, then it's probably been fried by an electromagenetic field. If it's intact then the door was probably fine all along (which is probably never). Simply replace the old airlock electronics with some new ones (spares are in you-tool vending machines), after setting the appropriate access on the airlock electronics.
And now the door should work properly. Hopefully.
OH GOD THIS APC ISN'T CHARGING.
  • Crowbar the floor tile in front of the APC and use a multitool on the wiring in front of it.
  • No power? There might be a break in the wiring somewhere. Fix it. If there happens to be something blocking the powernet (i.e. a big green blob) then you might need to reroute the powernet
  • Power? There might not be enough of it. There should be at least 22500W in the powernet. If there isn't, the APC should probably have a message saying that the external power is low.
  • Lots of power and the APC still isn't charging? Getting reports of other APC's running out? There's something sucking all the power out. Find it and space it.
  • Can't find a break in the wiring even after searching everywhere? Panic, something might've gone wrong with the SMES's. If it isn't outputting, then you've probably got a big, big problem, as in Lord Singuloth big. Because the field generators and the emitters that power it run off the SMES's output. And with no output, there's no field power, and nothing keeping lord singuloth contained. Try setting up the PACMAN generator and hope you aren't too late in preventing a shutle call.

That was a bit of a miserable note to end on.
OH GOD PLASMA PLASMA PLASMA* *Or any other applicable gas
  • GET YOUR INTERNALS ON OR DIE A HORRIBLE DEATH.
  • Now try to stop the source of whatever is producing the gas (i.e. Like closing the canister. If the gas is coming from the vents, then someone has fucked with atmos, try getting an atmos tech to check it.)
  • Set the air alarm to scrub toxins/N20 out. CO2 is automatically set to scrub out, so don't worry
  • Now bring as many portable scrubbers over as possible. You can also use air pumps, but that's the equivelent of siponhing the air from the room. On that note, DON'T SIPHON THE ROOM. IT'LL TAKE FOREVER TO REPRESSURISE THE ROOM.
  • Even at the best of times, a room could take a good half an hour to scrub out. So yeah. Try to avoid gas spills.
OH GOD BREEEAAAAAAAAAAACH
  • You're really looking here on how to fix a breach? Chances are if you can read this book, then you probably can fix a breach.
  • Right, depending on the size of the breach, and the type of the breach depends on what stuff you need to use.
  • Is it a breach in the floor? If it's small you might be able to quickly use floor tiles (made from metal) to seal it up. Floor tiles need to be laid upon a lattice though, if there's a nice breach with no lattice, make one using metal rods (again, made from metal, what did you expect?) then lay on floor tiles. If it's any larger than a 3x3 gap, use a hardsuit.
  • Is the wall breached? If it's a window into space, just seal it with a metal wall. You're going to have to fight space wind (the atmos leaking out of the window) and you simply won't have time to make a grille and place the reinforced windows. Make a girder using metal, then displace it using a crowbar. Then push the girder into the gap and quickly wrench it. Finish off the plating with some metal, and it's all good.
  • If there's just a girder there, use metal to seal the plating.
  • Oh and if you're spending more than 30 seconds to seal a breach, just use a hardsuit. It'll just be easier.
OH GOD LORD SINGULOTH IS LOOOOOOOSE
  • Panic. After enough panicking, rush to engineering while yelling at centcom to BSA it. (Bluespace artillery for the newbies).
  • Check the position of Lord Singuloth. If he's moving at a brisk space, panic, and pray he didn't eat the communications console. If he's milling around, check how big he is. If he's at level three and over, and no BSA is going to be fired, call the shuttle. You are not dealing with Lord Singuloth, and good luck getting bombs from toxins.
  • Has the singularity been BSA'ed, or is small and heading away from the station? Well lucky you, you might be able to make it through the rest of the shift.
  • WIRE THE SOLARS YOU LAZY BUM. Is a appropriate response. Wire them straight into the grid, and that should be just enough to power the station. (i.e. ignore the SMES)
  • Now assess the damage done to engineering, and order the parts you need from cargo. Remember you need at least six collectors, 4 emitters, the entire particle accelerator and at least 7 field generators.
  • Create a 9 by nine square out of lattice, putting field generators in the corners and by the sides. Offset the side geneators from the center (i.e. place them two spaces away from the corner generators, as you don't want the field generators creating another field (in laymans terms, basically don't have two side generators in line with each other, or you'll have a nice field mess)
  • Create a nine by nine square using metal rods, put floor tiles in the corners and floor tiles on the sides of the square just one square away from the center(or two away from the coner tiles). Make sure none of the side tiles are in line with floor tiles on the opposite side or you'll have a bit of a mess when you start the field generators.
  • Now drag field generators to the floor tiles, wrench them and weld them to the tiles.
  • Repair the wiring/add new emitters and make sure they are in line with the field generators. Don't start the field yet.
  • Create a 3x3 square in the middle of the nine by nine square, in line with the particle accelerator. Drag a singularity generator (check secure storage or order one from cargo) into the center and wrench it down. No need to weld it. MAKE SURE TO GOD IT'S IN LINE WITH THE PA.
  • Repair/replace what remains of the PA, start up the field, configure the SMES, then start up the PA and congrats, you've repaired the singularity engine! Now make sure no one else sabotages it..
OH GOD THE RADIO ISN'T WORKING
  • Well this is probably going to be a nasty one to fix. Head to telecomns.
  • Enter/Hack into the site. If you had to hack in, check for any malfunctioning APC's, cause the AI probably did this, after all it does have the most reason to do this.
  • Has the site been bombed? Might wanna hide for a bit, the guys who bombed it might still be around. Coast clear? Check if the equipment got damaged. Hopefully it's all intact. If it isn't then you're going to have to built a subspace reciever, bus, processor and broadcaster in a line, link it all up with a multitool, and set the right frequency
  • No signs of damage? But everything is off? Check/Repair the APC. And cut the camera's and the AI control on the APC. The AI probably hacked em.
  • Nothing wrong on inspection? Well time to break into the console room. Check the middle console (the telecommunication server montoring console), add your ID and click the edit script button. Whole load of code there? Delete it or revert the code. It might be a mute script. AND CUT THE DAMN CAMERA'S.
  • Still no radio? The proccesors might be unlinked. Use a multitool and link everything back up. You're going to need to check the wiki to what should be linked to what. Oh and make sure they're still on the same network (which should be tcommsat)

Well that's all! Keep your eyes peeled for volume two! If I decide to write another.