Space Agencies are groups of players who band together more permenantly than a Crew, similar to clans and guilds in other games. Space Agencies are created and run by an Administrator.
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| How many players does it take to form a Space Agency? |
You will need a full group of eight players to create a Space Agency. The group leader becomes the agency's administrator.
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| What skills does an Administrator need? |
A player must have the Administration skill from the Social Sciences Field of Study to create a Space Agency and become it's Administrator. The starting maximum members allowed is 32. To increase this number, leader must advance their management skills.
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| What are the benefits to being an Administrator? |
Administrators can hire, promote, demote, and fire members. They can assign roles, salaries, and budgets; create departments, allocate resources, and designate directors and managers to help in these tasks. Administrators can also rent launch and office facilities from government space centers, select and construct an independent space center, and even form partnerships with other Space Agencies.
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| What are the benefits to being in an Agency? |
Mutual support and sharing of resources such as funds, equipment, personnel, and services. Agencies allow players to join together and enjoy many of the teamwork aspects of human spaceflight. Only by joining an Agency are you allowed to design and build spacecraft and launch vehicles, build and manage an entire space center, construct space stations in orbit, or establish bases on other worlds.
Players can be assigned salaries for missions, tasks, or roles they perform. Mission rewards earned by players, such as salary bonuses or experience points, are shared among other active members of the Agency as dictated by the Administrator.
Space Agencies may also choose a logo, mission patches, and crew uniforms for its members. Members will have dedicated communication features to better coordinate tasks and missions.
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| How are Space Agencies managed? |
Administrators and directors will have many tools available to them to run an agency and the potentially large number of members as fluidly and effeciently as possible. The agency leaders can assign roles to members, designate managers, and award budgets.
Players will be able to access management tools and members in game through a flexible and customizable interface; as well as out-of-game methods such as emails, instant messages, IRC messages, phone text, and dedicated Agency webspace hosted by SFO.
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| What roles are available in a Space Agency? |
Members can be many roles in an agency. They can be the Administrator, running the program. A Director can be in charge of many groups of players or an important aspect of management. A Manager is a sub-director, with proportionate access and abilities for smaller groups or responsibilities.
Other roles include engineers, charged with space vehicle design; scientists, charged with designing payloads and experiments. Or you can just be a member of the Astronaut Corps of your agency, assigned to missions and spacecraft as alloted by your Directors and Managers, who themselves are active astronauts.
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| How are Space Centers built? |
An Administrator must choose a site cluster at a point on the Earth, then pick a construction site there (one of five for each). A fee is paid and the site is registered to the Agency.
The first building to go up is the Headquarters and Operations building. This building houses the offices, mission control, and astronaut lounges for the Agency. Other buildings include Spacecraft and Payload Processing Facilties, Vehicle assembly facilities, manufacturing centers, design and science labs, launch pad complexes, landing fields, member housing, and support structures.
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| Can a Space Center be lost? |
There are two ways they can be lost. For a fee an Administrator may wish to relocate the Agency to a different site. First the Admin chooses a new site, initiates the transfer, and within 36 real-time hours (18 days of game time) the new space center is opened. Once the center is up and running, all NPC personnel and equipment are moved to the new location and the old center is closed and torn down.
The other way a center can be lost is if the Agency is disbanded. The space center will be closed and remain in the gameworld for 36 hours, afterwhich the buildings will be torn down.
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| Do I have to be in a Space Agency to play SFO? |
No, you will be able to join flight crews, taking on spaceflight or robotic missions, interacting with other players, work in mission control, and various other activities. To build spacecraft, stations, and own property in space, you must first join or create a Space Agency.
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| How do I leave a Space Agency? |
To leave an Agency, simply open your Agency menu and select "Resign" and then confirm your resignation. You will no longer be on the Agency payroll or have access to its holdings or communications channels. All your personal items, including your financial accounts, will leave with you.
An Administrator, and perhaps a Director or Manager depending on alloted powers, may have the authority to force your resignation from the Agency.
The Adminstrator may resign as well and the next highest Director will become the Agency leader. If there are no other members, the Agency is disbanded and it's holdings, including any space centers or bases, will be closed and removed from the game.
When not in a player-run Agency, characters are automatically part of the International Space Center and the support and mission salaries it provides.
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