FD 130 · Crew resource management

Publication and delivery

This course is published for study. Publication does not confirm an available class, appointed instructor or completed practical validation. Before booking, obtain a session brief naming the organiser, instructor and assessor, equipment access and any independent review arrangements.

Before live assessment, the organiser must record the current LIVE build, validation date, ship and equipment used, tasks checked and any known limitations. If a required mechanic is unavailable, defer the affected assessment rather than certify an unobserved outcome. A material game update calls for a check of affected tasks, not cancellation of earlier academic achievements.

Your brief

For crew members preparing to share navigation, communications and monitoring.

A coordinated movement depends on several stations at once. Foundation practice exposes a small workload conflict before it becomes an unattended watch.

Two people, three urgent tasks

Practice case · FD 130 · 2956 teaching edition

Aster tracks the approach; Relay contacts Receiving.
A status check also needs attention. The crew has only these two people.
Aster is then asked to troubleshoot the main channel. Text remains available.

Before you begin: entry and equipment

Complete these courses

FD 100 · Crew induction and communications

Bring or arrange

Two crew members, an observer and a shared task board.

The organizer must confirm equipment access before booking. No ship purchase, pledge tier or donation is required.

Technical knowledge and game skills

Practical instruction revision 1 · 9 October 2026

Two-person movement and mutual support

Move without masking your partner

In an agreed PvE exercise area, assign a route and a sector to each player. Keep enough separation to avoid blocking movement or occupying the same line of fire, but remain close enough to exchange clear calls. Use solid scenery as cover rather than relying on foliage or darkness. Before crossing a partner’s view, announce the crossing and wait for acknowledgement; do not step through a firing weapon.

Alternate movement and observation

Practise with unloaded or holstered weapons first. One player observes the relevant approach from cover while the other moves to the next visible piece of cover. The moving player reports “set” only after arriving, orienting and being ready to observe. Then exchange roles. This is not a promise that scenery stops every round: test the training area and avoid relying on unverified collision or cover behaviour.

Keep a squad functioning under load

Announce a reload, healing action or inventory task before becoming unavailable. Do not have both players manage inventory at once in an exposed position. If a teammate is incapacitated, first locate the threat and an accessible recovery route; a second player rushing into the same exposed spot can create a second casualty. Let one person coordinate while another remains available to observe.

Practical drill

Move a two-person team between three pieces of cover, exchange roles, then inject a reload and a simulated casualty. Repeat with one missed “set” call; the observing player must not abandon coverage until the state is resolved.

Observed-skill checks

Movement preserves complementary observation and avoids crossing an active firing line.
Reload and treatment calls cause a deliberate coverage change.
The team responds to the casualty without leaving every role unattended.

Use these checks to document the technical evidence supporting the course outcomes in your agreed role. Record what you personally performed, what assistance you needed and what remains unobserved. A discussion or simulated action does not certify live equipment handling; Crew Support evidence does not confer Pilot qualification.

Game references and build-sensitive details

The linked pages were read for this revision. Community references mix release eras; each source note identifies what is used and what is excluded. Technical explanations below are an Academy synthesis, and drills and performance checks are Academy-designed. Before practice, compare the named actions with the installed LIVE build and actual equipment. Bind actions by name rather than copying old default keys. Research is not an in-game validation.

Star Citizen Wiki — Defend Occupants
A specific lawful bunker mission, shared access, allied NPCs and friendly-fire consequences. Other contracts have different conditions. Squad drills below are Academy teaching methods, not claimed game rules.
Star Citizen Wiki — Controls
Control categories, movement axes and targeting concepts. The page contains legacy bindings and flight-system descriptions; use the installed game’s bindings, not its key table.
Star Citizen Wiki — Medical
Body-part injuries, Hemozal, symptom medication, BDL, bed tiers and regeneration. Ship tables, resource costs and ranges change; inspect the actual bed and tool.

Check the official LIVE release notes and record the session build, equipment and observed limitations before practical sign-off.

Learn the method

1. Give each task an owner

List the tasks that need attention now and assign each to one person. Ask them to confirm. Name a backup for a task that cannot be left unattended; telling everyone to watch everything leaves nobody clearly responsible.

Workload depends on simultaneous demands, not the number of names on the roster. One person may cover navigation and reporting during quiet transit but not while troubleshooting a failed station on approach. Identify the busy transition in advance and decide which task will be delayed or transferred when attention becomes scarce.

Practise: Allocate navigation, receiving contact and a status check between two people.
Ready when: Every task has an accepted owner and an agreed response if that person is overloaded.

2. Challenge the detail, not the person

State the mismatch, explain its consequence and ask for a check. For example: “The route says A; Receiving says B. Which destination has accepted us?” Resolve the conflicting information before carrying out the affected action.

Make a challenge specific enough to act on: state the observation, its consequence and the requested check. If the first challenge is missed, repeat it explicitly and ask for acknowledgement. Deference should not turn an unresolved contradiction into a movement order; the decision owner must resolve it or hold the affected action.

Practise: Resolve two different destination reports.
Ready when: You identify the conflict and obtain one instruction that the affected crew acknowledge.

3. Hand over the unfinished work

Explain current conditions, outstanding tasks and the next check. Ask the incoming person to repeat what they are taking on. If the load is too high, reduce or redistribute it before the outgoing person leaves.

A useful relief contains the present state, the next expected change and the condition requiring escalation. Ask the incoming operator what they will do first. That question tests whether responsibility has transferred more reliably than asking “All clear?” and gives the outgoing operator one final chance to correct a misunderstanding.

Practise: Change roles with one receiving check still open.
Ready when: The incoming crew member accepts a manageable task list and knows where to get support.

A worked decision

Navigation is asked to fix communications during approach. The watch leader transfers the receiving call to a backup rather than leaving progress monitoring unattended.

Put all three tasks on the board. Assign ownership explicitly instead of asking both people to “keep an eye on it.”
Aster reports the conflict: troubleshooting would interrupt approach monitoring. The watch leader holds the approach or moves the contact task to a workable arrangement.
At relief, the incoming person reads back the still-pending status check and its next report. The outgoing person leaves only after acceptance.

Try it yourself

Run the workload change and rotate roles. Explain which task you delayed, reassigned or stopped and what consequence that avoided.

What changes during the exercise

One crew member loses access to a station while holding two tasks.

Keep this record

Task / accepted owner / backup
Workload conflict / consequence / agreed change
Incoming owner / unfinished task / next report

Download FD 130 worksheet

Plain-text worksheet with this case, your working fields and the assessment criteria. Fill it in privately; downloading does not submit work or record completion.

Check your reasoning

Should a watch leader treat a workload warning as refusal?

Compare your reasoning

No. First identify what cannot be covered and what would be missed. Reassign, delay or reduce the task; the warning provides information the plan needs.

Answer first, then compare. In a later session, explain the decision using a changed case without referring to this answer.

How completion is judged

A task board and individual observations of challenge, reassignment and handover.

The assessor checks your own work against all three “Ready when” criteria above. Use the observed-skill checks in the technical chapter to establish the applicable game-handling evidence in your agreed role. A successful team result does not replace an action they did not observe.

Findings, another attempt and review

Demonstrated: Your observed work meets the criterion in the agreed role.
Further practice required: The assessor identifies the observed gap and the specific practice needed.
Interrupted: Equipment, staffing or personal circumstances prevented a valid assessment. This is not a failure.
Not assessed: There is not yet enough evidence for this outcome.

A fresh attempt

Make the receiving call, rather than navigation, the overloaded task. Keep the same requirement to identify and resolve the conflict.

Reassess the missing outcome, plus any linked skill that needs new evidence. For prior learning, compare existing work with the same criteria and observe any missing practical action.

Ask for the reasons behind a finding. Reviews must be handled by someone independent of the original decision; defer the review if that person is not available.

Read the Academy Ordinance and review rules

For instructors

Session setup and coaching

Prepare the session

Two crew members, an observer and a shared task board.

Assign crew stations and tell each learner what they will practise. The instructor must be able to hear the calls and see the action being assessed. Brief the callsigns, channel, route and expected duration. Replace the example locations with the places you will actually use.

Ask the learner to explain the relevant earlier procedure without notes; correct any gap before the practical.
Teach and demonstrate the technical chapter using the actual game indications. Run its drill with feedback before connecting those skills to the three methods and worked decision. Use the observed-skill checks to identify missing handling evidence.
Let the learner complete the normal procedure first, then introduce the change described in the exercise. Give them time to respond without coaching. Keep unrelated failures out of this attempt.
Record the learner's action against each criterion. Give one specific next step for any gap and transfer unfinished operational work before closing.

What to watch for in FD 130

Do not reward a learner for silently absorbing every task. Ask them to identify what would be missed and obtain an actual reassignment.

If another attempt is needed

Make the receiving call, rather than navigation, the overloaded task. Keep the same requirement to identify and resolve the conflict.

Running the exercise

Before the crew assembles, try the exercise in the ship you intend to use. Check station access, equipment and the route. Brief the crew on any faults that affect the task. If a bug prevents someone completing it, repeat that part once it works; do not record a failure for a broken mechanic.

Brief the command “Stop exercise” before starting. On that call, cease the drill and tell the instructor what needs attention. For weapons practice, identify the participating ships and crew; anyone else entering the area is a reason to hold fire.

Session administration: use player handles in your notes. Ask before recording voice or video, and agree when the recording will be deleted. Academy rules and review procedure.

Sources and edition

Lex Astra · Foundation teaching team
Course FD 130 · edition 2956.3 · 2956 teaching edition · revised course text.

Academy Ordinance

Governs instruction, individual assessment, conduct and review. This course turns those duties into crew practice.

Professional references and instructional revision

Instruction revised 9 October 2026. Lex Astra cases supply the teaching situations. Professional references inform communication, decision-making and instructional design; they do not confer external qualifications. LIVE capabilities remain subject to the recorded session check.

Editorial context and teaching basis

The lessons are current Academy teaching, not newly discovered historical records. Lex Astra opened in 2891. Historical sources keep their original issuer and date; all case callsigns, quantities, times and conditions are supplied for practice.

Your session brief names the instructor, the crew assignments and the equipment provided. Contact the teaching office above to arrange a place.

Course-text revision: 8 October 2026. Educational references were reviewed for the framework on 8 October 2026; they inform the teaching approach, not external accreditation or current game-capability claims.

Teaching research and its limits

Where this leads

Qualification and role requirements

Courses that use this work

Course records retain the edition and role assessed. New teaching text does not erase earlier achievements.