FAQ

Why was this project created?

Oddas Aria created this project to replace some of the manual counting of sims they were doing on a regular basis and it grew from there. Originally a set of spreadsheet it grew to this outline tool and was eventually asked to roll it out to the fleet.

Why are we using it across the fleet?

In the past Google Groups was used to report various statistics to the fleet as a whole, including the number of sims each ship produced, how well a particular writer has performed over time, and so on. These numbers have proven inaccurate in the past and Google has made it clear those numbers will not be made available in the future.

What work is needed by the Ship Staff?

Each ship must maintain their ship rosters within the tool. A special email address must be added to the ship's Google Group in order to receive and count the sims.

Can sims be deleted from the system?

Yes, a sim can be delete from the system by admins. Next to each sim a delete button will appear and will allow the user to delete a sim.

If the system identifies the wrong author, say for a Joint Post, can it be changed?

Absolutely! Just use the edit (pencil) button next to the author for the sim you want to change.

How do I delete a date from the Joined and Left field in Chrome?

Chrome is missing the 'X' in the Date field widgets. To clear the field, simply put click the field and press 'delete' on your keyboard.

How do I see old members of my crew?

Below the final entry on your list you will see a button marked 'Current', clicking it will toggle your display of crew members from the 'Current' crew to 'All' of our crew, past and present. The move from one to another is governed by the 'Left' field - those without a 'Left' date are in the 'Current' list, those with a date are not.

I get a message that a player’s ID is already in the system, what do I do?

Instead of trying to re-add the player as a new record, simply re-activate the player by removing the ‘Left’ field from their record.

1. View all the old members of your crew (see above)

2. Delete the value in the ‘Left’ column of their record

Players Visiting Other Ships

When players visit your ship, for a short adventure, shore leave family time, whatever, be sure to add them to your roster. This will include their sims in your totals, automatically associate their JPs and other regular sims, and keep everything sorted. For best practice add an appropriate ‘Date Left’ date so they automatically disappear from your reports, and of course, mark them as ‘part-time’ to keep your calculations for the rest of your crew appropriate.

Cross Posting

Occasionally you might be in a situation where one or more players are posting to both your ship to and another. In this case both ships are receiving the same posts at the same time. Because of the way the posts are forwarded from the various Google Groups to Project Aria best practice is to have your players send seperate emails to each group. For example, if your player is posting the same sim to both the USS Eagle and Denali Station, advise them to

1. Write their sim as normal, post it to the USS Eagle group

2. Copy the sim and post it, in a separate email, to Denali station

If a post is simply sent to multiple groups, for instance both the Eagle and Denali groups, on one ‘to’ line it will be counted by one or the other groups in the statistics systems.