Kingfisher SOP

KingFishers SOP, Guidance and Procedures 

Creation 0.1
V6

Glossary

• General Guidance 

• Guidance for KingFishers 

• KingFishers Process Walkthrough 

• Rescue Process Flowchart 

• Change Notes

General guidance

• Rescue requests will come in through the #Repair-requests channel in the Hull Seals IRC. If you see a request elsewhere direct them to the IRC. In the event that they are unable to access/connect to the IRC, alternative methods may be used (in-game chat etc). This is expected to be primarily console players. 
• Let the Dispatcher do their role, they are there to communicate to the client and gather the information and assign KingFishers. Don’t try and do their job for them or distract by requesting information directly from the client. Listen to the dispatchers, if you have an issue with a dispatcher, contact the Hull Seals leadership. Offer advice constructively in the KingFishers chat after the case is finished if they make any errors/mistakes. 
• Do not post unnecessary chatter in the #Repair-requests channel, anything that isn’t critical can go in the chat channel. Please don’t tell people off for posting things there, the dispatcher can manage that! 
• Remember the golden rule, we are here to have fun and enjoy the trips we take. If you are unwilling or unavailable to go on a Rescue operation then simply do not call jumps to target and the dispatcher won’t assign you. If you have to go for IRL mid-way through a Rescue, then let the dispatcher know and you can be unassigned from the operation. 
• Do not report yourself as “online or offline”. Signing in and out of the IRC is enough to report status (IE Being signed out means you won't get notifications unless you set something up intentionally)
• Do NOT ping large roles such as Active KingFisher with requests that can be made specifically to a few people. The ping ability may be removed in the future if pings become problematic, these are intended for necessary announcements and key information only.

KingFisher Operations

• Your name on IRC should match your in game name, you may wish to attach [PC] or [KingFisher] or [Seal] tags to your name. Any format is acceptable provided it is clear. If your name does NOT match you should put in your in-game name when calling jumps. 
• Assist the Dispatcher, if there are multiple cases ongoing mention which one you are on, IE if you are reporting wing/team received you may say something such as: “Wing/team received for Client123” so long as you don’t ping the client it’s ok. Clear communication and confirming key events are essential. 
• Do not post jumps that are significantly higher than everyone else. If your jumps are significant then wait a few seconds to see if there is someone much closer. For example if 4 people post jump ranges in the sub-20j category then your 85j is an unnecessary addition (exception being Code Black events, see Code Black SOP for full details). 
• Communicate with your dispatcher on various events that could change what happens next. Events like hull of client being reported differently, Client in a different gamemode, or instancing issues
• Keep other communications (e.g. in-game) between yourself and the client to a minimum until you can see the beacon. Otherwise the client may start to ignore Discord and you’ll end up dispatching in-game whilst trying to fly. 
• Do not ping the client as this will distract them and they should be focused only on the Dispatchers commands. 
• Remember to report your Rescues via the google form. If the stuckage has been done deliberately (e.g. Testing) this should be logged clearly in the notes. 

Kingfisher codes

• Code Lift: client stuck in a canyon, needs a lift
• Code Golf: client stuck in prop/on a tree/etc. Needs a nudge
• Code Puck: client stuck in space.
• Code Pick: client stuck in a crack

Standard Missions

• CODE LIFT: These are Ascent/Descent Extraction Missions. The Client SRV is stuck in low or high terrain where they cannot recall the ship and either cannot navigate out and require a lift  (Ascent) or driving down the terrain risks destruction of the SRV and they need a ride (Descent)
  • Ships with a flat deck are best used for these missions, such as:
    • Krait family
    • Anaconda
    • Python
    • Corvette
    • Cobra
    • T-7 / T-9
      
      
  • The Kingfisher will have to maneuver their ship in such a way that they can disable shielding and allow the Client SRV to drive onto their ship and apply handbrake. From there the Kingfisher will carefully maneuver their ship with the client SRV on-board to more level ground where they can recall their own ship successfully.

• • GREAT CARE MUST BE TAKEN WITH DESCENT EXTRACTIONS It is easy to out-pace the SRV during powered descent, at which time you will see the client vehicle begin to lift off your deck, allow this for too long and the client will incur appropriate falling damage when you attempt to re-establish contact with your hull.
    • For ships where the client SRV is out of sight of the cockpit, it would benefit to Kingfisher to practice Free-Camera flight in order to maintain visual contact with the client SRV and react accordingly to in-flight issues.
  • When piloting larger Hulls, the use of an SLF is recommended to perform dislodge missions. Taipan or Condor works best.
  • Smaller ships with long noses or comparable ship kits can also make these missions much easier to manage.
• CODE GOLF: These are simple Dislodge from Terrain Kingfisher missions, the Client has become stuck on terrain and is unable to free themselves. They simply require a “nudge” from the responding Kingfisher to get free.
• CODE PICK: These are slightly more complex Dislodge from Terrain missions that may couple with a CODE LIFT. The Client SRV has become trapped in narrow terrain such as a crack or structure.
  • These missions demand the use of smaller, pointy ships, or SLFs. 
  • The Kingfisher will need to maneuver into the terrain as appropriate and dislodge the SRV, potentially maneuvering their ship in such a way as to get under and push the SRV out of the terrain. Use great care when conducting this form of extraction and maintain vigilance on their Shield and Hull status, stopping to let shields recharge if necessary.

• CODE PUCK: The most complex and dangerous Kingfisher Mission is SRV Capture and De-Orbit In this mission, an SRV has had an interaction with a surface feature (usually a geo vent) and has found themselves departing the planet with no way to get down safely.
  • Using great care, the Kingfisher needs to maneuver their ship into a position to halt the SRV, and SLOWLY modulate speed to bring the ship into contact without allowing the SRV to smash into them at a rate of speed that causes damage.
  • Once contact has been made and the client applies the Hand Brake, the Kingfisher can conduct a standard Descent Extraction back to the planet’s surface.
  • Upon Approaching the planet surface, the Kingfisher may elect to bring the client all the way down to the ground, or:
  • The Kingfisher may allow the client to roll off the deck at a height comfortable for them. It is advised that the client SRV orient their wheels down, set 4 pips to engines and begin applying full boost at 1KM altitude, continue to apply boost as the capacitor recharges to full until the SRV touches down. It’s not recommended to attempt this if the SRV Hull is already damaged.
• The Kingfisher will have to locate, approach, and match velocity with the SRV

Weird and unusual Events

• No Dispatcher: If there is no dispatcher available you may self-dispatch asking the client for the next step of the process. This should be a last resort. If 2 KingFishers are available one should pick up the dispatcher role with the other on the Rescue case. Always put all conversation in the main channel not in game to allow for a dispatcher to pick up should one arrive and allow for fellow KingFishers to help if they can. If you see this occur as a KingFisher when you are not on a case offer to dispatch. A novice dispatcher is better than no dispatcher!  
• Busy Times: There may be times where the #repair-requests channel is too busy, often during major events like Code Blacks or when 3+ rescues are already ongoing. The Dispatcher may in these occasions choose to redirect cases over into #IRC-OVERFLOW. The Dispatcher will make this very clear with a statement requesting the channel chatter cease. Please cut all non-Rescue chatter until the Dispatcher gives the all-clear, in these events there will be a high level of stress so anything we can do to help (including keeping quiet) should be done!
• No Response: Unfortunately, sometimes we are unable to dislodge a client, or perhaps there isn't a Kingfisher able to get to the client. In these circumstances, if the CMDR is on LIVE or ODYSSEY codebases, instruct them through a Recovery to Orbit. You can find the instructions for this procedure here.