The Civilian role in ACTD is an exciting and challenging position to play. Civilian characters can be true civilians such as a lounge manager like Guinan, a specialist in a field such as medicine or science who is not a member of Starfleet, a Federation News Service reporter, an officer's spouse, and so on. A civilian character may also be a Starfleet officer or crewman whose duties do not fall under any of the other specified game roles. Examples of this type of character are diplomats, JAG (Judge Advocate General) officers, strategic operations officers, or a department specialist.

Ship Managers must approve a civilian character before it can be used in the game.

2. Chain of Command - who the CIV reports to
(dependant on type of CIV)

Most civilian characters are expected to follow the same chain of command as other characters. Some may, however, be asked to report directly to the Captain or a department head. It is dependant on the type of civilian character and the ship or station's command crew's preferences.

3. Picking a role that allows you to stay active

When choosing to play a civilian character it is important to select a role that will allow you to stay active as a player.

Some roles work better in certain divisions. For example a lounge manager may find it easy to stay an active part of the game on a PBeM vessel but find that such a character is isolated on a chat ship.

Players deciding to play a CIV need to carefully consider their personal playing style, their goals for the character, and the vessel on which that character will be stationed. If you want to be in the thick of the action as often as possible consider giving your character a secondary background such as a diplomat who also has a science or medical background. This will enable you to find more ways to help out in a mission and give the command crew more ways to incorporate your character into the missions.

Players who are not comfortable with role-playing and who are not independent should consider trying out a more structured position such as an engineering officer or tactical officer before jumping into a CIV spot.

4. Promotion for Civilian characters

True civilian characters do not received promotions as they are not Starfleet officers.