What this is about
A salvage group without roles is a group where everyone scrapes and nobody hauls. These five roles cover everything a salvage operation involves – from two to six people, only distributed differently.
Preparation
- Assign roles before launch, out loud, by name.
- Clarify who takes which role if someone drops out.
- Agree comms discipline: who calls, who confirms.
- Fix the abort criterion and the rally point.
Tasks and roles
- Operation lead. Keeps track of time, goal and abort. With two people the pilot does this as well.
- Salvage. At the salvage station. Works, talks little.
- Cargo. Sorts and hauls. Reports fill levels. The most underestimated role.
- Security. Watches, reports contacts, does not attack. Their work is that nothing happens.
- Technical/reserve. Repairs, fills in, keeps the second ship ready.
The rule: every role belongs to someone, even when it has nothing to do. An unfilled security role is only noticed when it is too late.
Equipment
Equipment follows the role, not taste: security needs a combat ship, not the second-best salvage ship. Cargo needs hold space, not salvage heads. What the ships can do is in Vulture and Reclaimer.
Not every role needs everything. This list is the sum – which role needs which function is stated with the role.
| Game action | Default keyboard/mouse | Default joystick | Trigger |
|---|---|---|---|
| Toggle Fire Focused | Mouse left | Button 1 | toggle |
| Toggle Fire Left | Right Alt + A | not bound by default | toggle |
| Toggle Fire Right | Right Alt + D | not bound by default | toggle |
| Toggle Fire Fracture | Right Alt + W | not bound by default | toggle |
| Toggle Fire Disintegrate | Right Alt + S | not bound by default | toggle |
| Salvage Mode Gimbal (Toggle) | G | not bound by default | toggle |
| Relative Beam Spacing | Mouse wheel (axis) | not bound by default | axis |
| Salvage Beam Axis (Toggle) | Left Alt + Mouse right | not bound by default | axis |
| Tractor Beam Vehicle- Increase Distance | Mouse wheel up | not bound by default | single press |
| Tractor Beam Vehicle - Decrease Distance | Mouse wheel down | not bound by default | single press |
| Toggle Scanning Operator Mode | V | not bound by default | toggle |
| Activate Scanning | Mouse left | not bound by default | hold |
| Cycle Lock - Attackers - Forward | 4 | not bound by default | single press |
Game default binding, game version 4.10.0-hotfix (55227). If you rebound it yourself, your binding applies.
HOTAS/HOSAS: the joystick column is the default binding of ONE stick. On two sticks you assign pitch, yaw, roll and lateral strafe yourself – which axis a manoeuvre needs is listed in the HOTAS / HOSAS section.
Sequence
- Call the line-up. Five roles, five names.
- Fly out together, security first at the target.
- Salvage starts once security calls “clear”.
- Cargo shuttles. From the first full container on.
- Status every 20 minutes.
- Abort on the operation lead’s call – not on anyone’s shout.
- Goal
- Set up a group so that every role is filled and everyone knows who has it.
- Preparation
- Four to six players, at least two ships, a wreck field. Comms agreed.
- Task
- Assign the five roles out loud before launch. Work for 45 minutes. Then everyone answers one question: which role did I have, and when did I have nothing to do? Reassign the roles accordingly and repeat.
- Success criterion
- After the second run everyone can name their role and nobody has long idle periods any more.
- Partner
- required
- Functions needed
- Toggle Fire Focused
- Toggle Fire Left
- Toggle Fire Right
- Toggle Fire Fracture
- Toggle Fire Disintegrate
- Salvage Mode Gimbal (Toggle)
Risk and reward
The role split is itself the risk reduction: security sees, the lead decides, cargo removes what would otherwise be lost. A group without roles loses not only the wreck in an incident but usually the cargo too.
Typical mistakes
- Assigning roles in the field. Too late and too loud.
- Letting security scrape along. Then there is no security.
- A lead without overview. Someone at a salvage head does not watch the clock.
- No deputies. If the cargo pilot goes offline the group stops.
Next step
The same roles in a ready-made preparation: salvage run in Mission Control. For the ground side see FPS group roles.