COTC Outline

[Kyle Briggs]

If you have chosen Commissioned, you will start at the rank of Ensign, and once you reach Lieutenant Commander, you will then take the Command Officer Training Course(COTC) in preparation for advancement to a potential leadership role.

If you have chosen Enlisted, you will start at the rank of Crewman. However should you change your mind in the future, there is the option of changing to Commissioned with a comparable rank. You may also take the COTC, once you reach the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

The Command Officer Training Course (COTC) will consist of two levels.

Level 1:

Part 1: You will be asked to build a sample mission. The mission must be simple, engaging, and feature at least a starting point and 4 story beats you'd like to crew to hit. After you post that, your instructor will respond with 2 problems the mission suffers from, and you will explain how you would fix them. This is to test your ability to plan and run missions.

Part 2: After addressing the problems in part 1 to your instructor's satisfaction, you will write an opening post/captain's log for the mission. This will assess your storytelling and ability to engage your players in a new mission.

Level 2

You will be given some out of character crew scenarios to deal with. Each one is designed to test your ability to deal with player conflict in a SIMM. In your replies, you will be expected to abide by the Shadow Fleet Rules, while at the same time coming to an amicable solution. Remember that it may not be necessary to please both sides but you do have a duty to serve the players of your SIMM as well as the Fleet as a whole.

This is an overall outline of the course you will be taking and the expected standard of posting for each level:

LEVEL 1 - Mission Planning
- Simplicity & engagement
- Use of story beats
- Spelling & grammar
- Response to problems
-Storytelling ability

LEVEL 2 - Player conflict scenarios
- Be firm but fair
- Abide by Shadow Fleet Rules
- Be polite
- Resolve the conflict, one way or another

*Posted by Commander Katheryn Brighton