USS Calypso NCC 71350 :: Wiki - A Nova Guide (Getting Around Nova)

Getting around Nova

If you're familiar with SMS, Nova can be an easy adjustment. It can also be confusing. Some things are right where you expect them to be. Others... seem to make no sense at all. Once you are familiar with it, it's a great program to sim in.

This document will (hopefully) help you get familiar with Nova so that you can enjoy simming within its environment.

First, the menus. The main sections are along the top of the window, under the banner (or ship name, depending on what skin is used). They are: MAIN, PERSONNEL, SIM, WIKI, SEARCH, CONTROL PANEL (when logged in), LOGIN/LOGOUT

This menu bar can be customized. Sometimes the names are changed. Sometimes another item (such as the Fleet site) are added. For the purpose of this course, we'll deal with the standard items.

MAIN PAGE
(Links on the side) MAIN, NEWS, CONTACT, CREDITS, JOIN, SEARCH, SMS ARCHIVES

This is generally the first place you go to when you go to the ship. The CO usually has a welcome message of some kind here. Depending on what the CO set up, you can also see recent news items and recent posts.

NEWS
Where you can look at all news items.

CONTACT
How to contact the CO, XO or Webmaster.

CREDITS
Credits for Nova and for the sim itself.

JOIN
How to join the ship.

SEARCH
Search the site.

SMS ARCHIVES
Characters, database entries, deck listing, departments and positions on the old SMS site. (This is only available if your sim upgraded from SMS to Nova and you are logged into the site.)

PERSONNEL
MANIFEST, CHAIN OF COMMAND, CREW AWARDS, JOIN

A list of all crew, PCs and NPCs.
You can select to view all characters, playing characters, NPCs, open positions or inactive characters. You can also toggle between open positions and NPCs.

Click on the dot or combadge by the name to see more information.
You can see all posts by that character and the bio, which is broken into three parts (basic info, personality and history of the character).

When you log in, you can see all awards given to that character and any info on the player. In character awards are listed under the character. Out of character awards are listed under the user.

CREW AWARDS
List of all awards on the ship. (When you go to awards, on the side you see the menu for SIM.)

THE SIM
THE SIM, MISSIONS, MISSION ROUPS, PERSONAL LOGS, STATS, CREW AWARDS, TOUR, SPECIFICATIONS, DECK LISTINGS, DEPARTMENTS,

MISSIONS
A brief description of the ship's missions

MISSION GROUPS
Sometimes a ship will have multiple missions under one larger mission. These would fall under mission groups.

PERSONAL LOGS
A list of all personal logs

STATS
The ship's stats for the past month and the current month. How many posts, personal logs, etc. It also gives a posts per player average for the ship as well.

TOUR
If the CO has set up a ship tour, it will be here.

SPECIFICATIONS
Ship specifications. Size, decks, weapons, shields, shuttles, etc.

DECK LISTING
A listing of every deck and what is on it. (Granted, not everything can be listed, but you get the basics.) As most starships are modular, the CO may move a few things around, so not every ship has the same deck listing, even if it' is the same class.

DEPARTMENTS
A list of all the departments on the ship, with a brief description of each one.

WIKI
MAIN PAGE, RECENT CHANGES, CATEGORIES

This is what used to be the database in SMS. It is a collection of links, images and information on any and all aspects of the ship, Star Trek and simming. Take a look around. You'll find rules and regulations here, too. It is generally a collection of information to help you with the sim.

You can search by category, look at recent changes, or search for a specific topic.

SEARCH
MAIN, NEWS, CONTACT, CREDITS, JOIN, SEARCH

Search the various pages of the ship. A great way to find information fast.

LOGIN/LOGOUT
The player's email address is the User ID. The password is what you entered when you applied for the ship. Nova now asks for a security question and answer in case you forget either (under My Admin). Remember me keeps you logged in for up to 2 weeks. This does not work on all versions of Nova.

On the login page, in the upper right, you have Login now, reset password and back to site. Click on reset password if you forgot yours. Back to site takes you back to the main page.

If you enter an incorrect login, you will get a blank white page. You don't get an error message. You will need to click on your browser's back button to get back to the login page.

When you log in, on every page in the upper right corner you will see a small box. There are three times (two when you're on the admin control panel page).

INBOX
The first button on the left in the top right box. It takes you to your private messages inbox. You can write a new message, view sent messages, or look at your inbox. When the dot next to this is green, you have a new PM.

WRITING ENTRIES
The second button. It takes you to your writing control panel. You can write mission posts, personal logs and news items (unless the CO has disabled either). You can also view your saved entries, your recent entries and all entries. If there is a green dot next to this, you have a reply to a saved mission post.

The above two functions are also in your Admin Control Panel.

DASHBOARD
This is a handy tool to do some quick edits. When you click on this you will see a list of your linked NPCs, your links and site options.

CONTROL PANEL (ADMIN CONTROL PANEL)
Arguably the most important part of the ship. This is where you do just about everything.

At the top of the page in the center section you have:

MY NOVA
Click on this to display your personal stats (total posts, logs, news items, etc.)

NOTIFICATIONS
Click on this to see the number of saved mission logs, personal logs and news items. You will also see any unread private messages.

If you have any of these, the notification box will be displayed and there will be a number indicating which and how many of each you have. If you have nothing saved, the My Nova list will be displayed.

MILESTONES
If a member of the crew has reached a milestone (like being on the ship for a year), it will be listed here.

Right below this, you will see WHO'S ONLINE NOW. This shows you who is currently signed in to the ship.

Just below this are the mission posts, recent personal logs and recent news items.

At the bottom you can click on VIEW ALL POSTS.

In the side, you will have a menu. Most of these are self-explanatory, so I'll be brief...

ADMIN CONTROL PANEL Control Panel, What's New Control panel takes you to the control panel. What's new lists what is new with the version of Nova.

WRITE
(Writing Control Panel, Write Mission Post) Write Personal Log, Write News Item. There are several ways to get to this control panel, as have been listed above.

PRIVATE MESSAGES
(Inbox, Sent Messages, Write New Message) Where you send and receive personal messages from other crewmembers.

MANAGEMENT
(Mission Posts, Personal Logs, News Items, Upload Images)
Where you view (and edit) your activated (posted) and saved mission posts, personal logs and news items.

CHARACTERS (This option depends on your access level)
(All NPCs, Create Character)
All NPCs lets you manage NPC characters (usually for department heads and higher access). Create characters lets you create player and non-player characters.

USER
(My Account, My Bio, Site Options, Request LOA, Award Nominations)

MY ACCOUNT
Where you set and change your name, email address, password, date of birth, language, Security question and answer (VITAL for when you forget your password or ID), date and time (set your timezone), daylight savings time. This information will be shows in your User ID Bio under your character bio.

MY BIO
Your location, interests and biography (If you wish to enter it.)

PREFERENCES
What you do and don't want emailed to you.

NOTE: Be very careful about putting too much personal information online. Even though this info is only visible to members of the sim, it is not always a good idea to list your address, etc. ,p>

MY BIO
Your character bio and the bios of your linked NPCs. You can see which characters are linked to you and edit your PC and linked NPC bios.

A linked NPC is a player-specific NPC. It is like a minor character where your PC is your major character.

Click on the name of the character, then on images. Here you can upload an image for your character. It has to be on your computer so you can navigate to it and upload it. Then, you click on use image to add it to the list of images in your character bio. Submit. Then arrange and update the images.

You can only see the images you uploaded. (Or that transferred over if you were on a ship using SMS that switched to Nova.)

SITE OPTIONS Select which skin you wish. Check with your CO on this. Some COs have one skin they prefer you use as they don't always set banners and graphics with each skin. In Nova, some skins don't' allow you to create banners and

add graphics.)

Request LOA
When you need to go take a Leave of Absence, you report it here. LOAs are for if you will be gone for a week or two. If you will be gone for a month or two, request an ELOA (Extended Leave of Absence). PLEASE let your CO know why you are leaving and how long you plan on being gone. ELOAs are up to the CO. They can put you on an extended leave of absence, or if you will be gone for a while, put your character in the inactive crew and reactivate them when you get back.

Award Nominations Nominate a fellow crewmember for an award here!

REPORTS
Crew Activity, Posting Levels, Site Statistics, Milestones

CREW ACTIVITY
Posting levels for the active crew for the current month.

POSTING LEVELS
Total posts for users, player characters, non-player characters and inactive characters.

SIM STATISTICS
Stats for the past and current month

MILESTONES
When each player character joined the ship. You can also see the user bio and character bio.

WRITING A PERSONAL LOG
You must first select an author. You can select your player character or one of your linked NPCs. If you're writing a joint post, select other PCs, linked NPCs or NPCs for the post. Select each one and click on add

Personal logs, too, need you to select and add an author.

Don't select both the player character and the NPC if the player character isn't in the post. It will still go to the player if the NPC is linked. If it isn't, you will need to add the NPC AND the PC.

To remove someone from the post, click on the red circle next to the name in the list.

Then fill out the other spaces.

You will see POST highlighted. Don't' click on this until you are done. To the right of POST is save (delete is to the right of that). NOTE: Some ships have switched SAVE and POST so SAVE is first and POST second.

After you save (or post) you must click on control panel to get back to the admin control panel.

Be sure to add yourself to the post if you are in it. If you don't, it won't show up under your saved mission posts and you won't be able to tag it.

There is a place below the contents box for tags. Here you add whom the tag is for. If there are several tags for different characters, all can be listed in the tag field.

ADD A COMMENT
Nova has a feature that allows you to make a comment on posts, personal logs, wiki entries, etc. At the bottom of the page (when you read the log/post/wiki, etc.) there is an ADD A COMMENT button. Click on this and you can make a comment. This is not to be used indiscriminately. It is to be used with care and consideration. If there is an error, a note that will add needed information, or if the writers did a particularly good job, you can make a comment.

The CO has the right to moderate or remove this feature if it is abused. Everyone on the ship can see the comments.