StarBase 118 HQ · Captains Council
We're separating "how much has this person simmed?" from "is this writer a part-timer?" — two questions the roster has been answering with one word. Here's the whole change, before we build it.
01The problem
The roster today answers two different questions with the same label. So a strong full-time writer having one quiet month looks identical to someone who's genuinely part-time. Several of you have flagged it — and you're right.
02The fix
Two separate ideas, each with its own job. One measures. One decides.
Just a number: how much someone has simmed this month, projected to a full-month rate against the full-time line of 12 sims a month. Nobody sets it. It reports reality — a slow month shows a low number and nothing else happens.
The actual full-time / part-time label. It only changes when a captain sets it, or when a long low pattern trips the automatic backstop. This is the thing that opens a seat for placement — pace alone never does.
The one-line version: pace becomes information only. The only thing that marks someone part-time — and opens their billet — is a real designation, set by a captain or by the backstop.
03What part-time status means
Before the four states, it's worth being plain about what a part-time designation actually does — it isn't understood the same way by every CO.
A part-time simmer isn't eligible for promotions or awards. Those are built on full participation, and a part-time designation pauses that eligibility.
Their seat becomes eligible to be filled by a new, more active player. How that happens is your call, in character — often the part-time simmer moves into a secondary position in the department, or a specialist role.
Why this matters. Long-term part-time simmers are a real drag on a ship. They're hard for the rest of the crew to interact with, they hold a roster seat a more active writer could fill, and they contribute less to the ship's overall activity and success. The model isn't about punishing a slow month — it's about making sure a genuinely part-time seat can be put back to work.
04What you'll see
A captain's decision always outranks the backstop. If you've set a status or vouched for a writer, the automatic rule keeps its hands off.
The default — most of your crew. No badge, just a pace number. The backstop is quietly watching the last three months.
DefaultYou've decided this writer is part-time — you know their situation. Their seat opens for placement. Stays until you return them.
Captain owns itA long low-activity pattern tripped the backstop. Marked part-time, seat opens. You didn't choose it — the pattern did.
Backstop owns itA CO has overridden the backstop to keep a low-pace writer counted full-time. A deliberate call — and one to use sparingly, because that seat stays occupied while the writer isn't fully active.
Captain owns it05The automatic backstop
The automatic backstop only marks someone part-time if they've been genuinely quiet for a while: below the full-time line in two of the last three completed months. The current, in-progress month never counts against anyone.
Just placed, back from a leave of absence, or transferred in — the backstop won't touch you until you've had real time on the roster to settle in.
Back at full-time pace for two solid months in a row, and a writer returns to full-time on their own. Harder to earn back than to lose, so seats don't flap.
If you've set a writer's status, the backstop won't touch it. You can also override it to hold someone full-time — but a locked low-pace writer still holds a seat and still drags the ship's numbers, so it's a deliberate choice, not a free pass.
When the backstop does act on its own, it surfaces in your "needs you" area on the dashboard — not your inbox.
06The roster, after the split
The real roster columns, unchanged — character, rank, duty post — with the simming column carrying a pace number by every name. Only the genuine exceptions add a designation badge; your steady full-timers show a number and nothing else.
Example crew — all character and player names are illustrative.
07Occasional simmers
"Occasional" is no longer a separate status — it's the lowest band of the pace number. It sets no status and opens no seat on its own. You still have the softer nudge (the simming-rate-commitment referral) to reach for first.
At or above the full-time line for the month.
Under the line, but still simming steadily.
Today's "occasional." A red number — a chronic pattern here is exactly what the backstop sweeps up.
Before we build it
This is the direction we're headed. Before it's real, I'd like to hear from you — the people who actually run crews every day.