The engineering department's goal is to maintain a livable and operable structure for the crew. That includes power, atmosphere, & gravity.
Quantity: 4
Engineers have perhaps one of the most integral jobs on the station: keep it all running. The primary goal of the engineer is to maintain the engine (and thus station power), whether it’s a radioactive crystal, or a contained black hole. As you may be able to imagine, the engineer’s job, when it goes wrong, will go horribly wrong.
The secondary goal of the engineers is to fix whatever gets disconnected or blown up, which can take engineers all across the station in order to perform their odd jobs. Aside from security, engineers may also see the most carnage of any other role on the station, and often find themselves dragging bodies or severed limbs to the medbay when they’re found at the site of a bombing.
The engineer is a great choice for players who like varied tasks, and jobs with a lot of accountability. On downtime, engineers will be able to enjoy their broad range of tools in ways that allow them to construct structures, renovate rooms, or tamper with the engines in dangerous ways to get absurd power output.
Quantity: 2-3
In the same wing of the station as the engineers, atmospheric technicians manage the one thing that everyone always needs: the air. The most basic and primary task atmospheric technicians will be given is to maintain the piping and airflow across the station to verify that all corners of the station are breathable.
That doesn’t just mean pumping rooms full of oxygen, it means ensuring proper mixtures of gasses go to the right locations; people emit CO2. Where are you going to pump those gasses? Into space? Or can it be used for anything else? Some gasses cool faster, some flow quicker, some interact in interesting ways. What do you do when all the air in the station is flammable? Can we pump anything into the engine to increase its performance?...
The role of the atmos tech may be one of the simplest to fulfill, yet most difficult to master. On downtime, the experienced atmos tech may enjoy pushing their mastery of piping networks to their limits, or collaborating with the engineers or even scientists in constructing new ideas.