No getting away from these! Each fleet is required to submit a report each month on its' performance. Each ship has to produce a report that goes on to make up the Fleet Report. Reports are required from each CO, XO and GM.

These are mandatory. If you are not going to be able to submit a report for that month you should notify your CO and your FComm. If you are not sure where to find the report forms, what to do with them or when they are due, ask!

Every role-playing environment in STF has a MOTD. The responsibility for the MOTD is down to the Commanding Officer of that environment. However, each one will have a section for updating your own comments. It is advisable to keep this up to date.

When taking the role of XO, seek clarification from the CO as to the extent of updating they will tolerate on the MOTD. Some CO's prefer to update nearly everything themselves, others are happy to let the XO deal with it. Remember, you are merely using the MOTD, not owning it! Don't make any big changes without asking the CO first.

Finally as a reminder, never ever ever, edit the MOTD of another ship without the express permission of the CO.

The actual means of doing this is discussed in the Administration Menu Course in Star-fleet Academy.

It is good practice to welcome everyone to a ship, regardless of whether they are experienced, new, or whether you helped to recruit them. You should be welcoming and friendly, introducing yourself and helping the new person to settle in. The best ships are the ones where you feel wanted. Make that person feel wanted too!

As XO you must be aware of the AWOL policy for your ship and the fleet. These should be clearly displayed on the both the Fleet and the Ship MOTD.

When you take the XO position you should ensure that you have discussed this with the CO. Some CO's will happily delegate AWOL responsibility to the XO, some will prefer to keep the AWOL task to themselves.

If the CO delegates the responsibility to you then you should send an email to the role-player involved. Remember to be polite! Explain what the AWOL policy is and that they are outside of it. Enquire whether they are okay. Most AWOLs are due to illness so be understanding in your dealings with a fellow rper. Ask them to post by or reply to you by a specific date or that they will be removed from the roster. Allow them time to reply. Remember to copy the CO!

If the time limit passes and the CO has agreed, remove the player from the roster. The details of how to do this are explained in more detail in the Star-fleet Academy Administration Course.

Whatever the situation and regardless of whom has responsibility for AWOLs it is your duty to bring an AWOL player to the attention of your CO. If you see someone is AWOL then you should inform your CO. Don't just assume that someone else will notice.

All ships need a healthy and active roster. People leave ships. Therefore recruiting is an important task for any ship to maintain a strong role-playing environment.

The task of recruiting may be delegated or even shared by the CO. Equally the CO might prefer to keep all the recruitment duties. This is another area that you will have to discuss when you come to take an XO position. It is always best to know what the expectations are from the beginning.

Even if you don't actively recruit for the ship there is nothing wrong with pointing out potential recruits to a CO. It shows interest and enthusiasm, and is a valuable skill to learn for when you take a command of your own.

Where do you start looking for potential crew members? Start by looking on the other ships you are already on. If people impress you over a period of time then pass the name to your CO for their opinion. Regardless of whether you handle the recruitment or not always report to your CO before making an approach to any prospect. There may be information or history that you are not aware of. It is always better to be safe than create a potential problem.

Look at other ships in your fleet. Read the other ships and identify the people that you think would be good for your ship. Another course of action would be to ask for recommendations from other role-players as to who might be best.

The official Star-fleet IRC channel and other Instant Messenger programs are also excellent places to look for new people. Other places to look include the publish fleet reports in the Command Ship and see what players have been spotlighted for their performances. Always remember to do a bit of research on a player you are going to approach, if you can.

Also remember that the Personnel Department (PDept) operates a vacancies list for each ship. You should work with your CO to ensure that the PDept has the right information to keep this up to date.

Just as it is important to know where to recruit people from, you must know where you CANNOT recruit people. Under no circumstances can you approach a cadet in the academy about joining your ship until AFTER they have graduated and been placed in the main fleets. This is a clear rule of the club. If a cadet approaches you to join your ship while still a cadet you must decline them and refer the matter to the Academy Commandant.

It is acceptable to contact the Academy Commandant about any potential graduates or recent graduates that they feel might be good for your ship. The Academy is here to help mainstream ships, not just the Academy Fleet.

Recruiting someone should always be done on an individual basis with an email sent to the person you want to recruit and copied to your CO. Mass emailing is regarded as Spam in STF and is an offence.

When you are looking for a potential candidate to join your ship you should look for several things. Look for the level of detail in their posts, since there is nothing worse on a ship than one liners. Look at the speed and frequency of their posting. Are they too slow for your ship? Will the sim and posting move on too quickly for them to keep up? Are they too fast for the speed of your ship? Will they lose interest and motivation? How well does the candidate interact with other people? Do they enjoy rping with everyone or only a select few 'friends'? Will they fit with the crew? Do they play off the wall or strange characters? Will these character types fit in on your ship?

If you are recruiting for a particular position, say for a department head, look at the potential candidate with that requirement in mind. How do they give orders? Do they have leadership skills? Are they team motivated? Do they provide positive reinforcement? How do they act OOC? Do they keep busy? Think of the position you have. Do you need experience or would an inexperienced role-player be fine? Is there a player on your own ship you could promote up to DH?

You might have to look at several ships and it is always worthwhile checking the player profile. Find out how many ships they are on. Will they have time to devote to one more ship? Will the amount of ships they are on detract from yours?

At the end of the day the only way you can find out if a player is interested is to approach them (obviously decide this with the CO). Don't be surprised or offended if the player declines the offer. We all have real lives and some players set limits on the amount of ships they are on. Thank them for their consideration.

Recruitment can be a thankless chore and rejection may happen several times before you get a suitable candidate, but never lose hope or sight of the fact you are doing this to improve your ship.