The Navigator Officer Player role is responsible for navigating the DeepEye platform safely through the increasingly treacherous underground structures of the world below Arclight City. With only their own sensor telemetry and word from the surface to guide their team in the dark, the Navigator must use their best wits to intuit their position and bearing, every turn. The Navigation station, where this work is done, is composed of a map of the city, seen from above and below, using the digger's depth gauge.

The Navigation Station -

During the ‘To Stations!’ Phase, the Navigator must establish from the other crew members three critical metrics; Location, Depth, and Speed. Using these reported aspects, the Navigator, in consultation with the Captain, may set a bearing that they will take, during the Manoeuvrering Phase. Ideally, Engineering will be able to answer the Navigator as to their current speed, the Communications officer can answer their current ‘Location,’ and the Chief Scientist in consultation with their ‘Thinking Bell’ may be able to calculate the digger’s depth. Once this information is known to the Navigator, they can call for ‘System Status.’ This will initiate the start up sequence, explained later in this handbook.

When each other crew member has reported that their stations are ‘Green,’ meaning functional, then they may claim ‘Systems Ready!’ This will mean that the digger is ready to move. The Captain will have the final say on whether the digger will travel in their chosen bearing for that turn.

Plotting Position -

The plotting maps are the boards used for the digger’s location and bearing. They are available to the Navigator in that command station and will be updated based in their own tracking work. Control will not be updating their estimated position, and their calculation could vary from the information received from the surface. Control will have a true plot, or source of truth, which will not be made available to Players, and any delta between what the navigator plots and what Control has could create narrative or mechanical effects. Some effects may befall the DeepEye that the Players are unaware of, should they not identify certain markers. With this in mind, Players in the Navigation Role should treat their plot, no matter how accurately they believe it to be, as indicative only.

During the Manoeuvrering Phase, once all stations have reported ready, and the Captain has given permission to start, the digger will have it’s engine, sensors, power-plant and treads activated, in sequence. Upon successful activation, the digger may move. Using the speed value reported, from engineering, as the amount of hex grids, and/or depth in fathoms, that the digger may travel on the plotting map, the Navigator may move the DeepEye.

There are some restrictions to the DeepEye’s movement;

• The DeepEye may only ever move the amount of hexes/blocks as that turn's total speed value. Meaning that the Deep Eye cannot exceed that number, but must travel at least that many hexes unless reversing. The Engineer will provide the digger's speed and communication between nav and engines is essential to progress.
• The DeepEye may only turn in increments of one along a hexagonal side. This means if the digger was travelling North, it could in its turn travel North, North East, or North West in the first hex. Each hex updates this facing, meaning arcs within one movement are possible, so long as they follow these other restrictions.
• If the digger wishes to move backwards it must first come to a stop, expending one point odf 'speed.' The digger can only reverse one hex backward, in the direction that it has come from.
• Stopping or reversing like this, risks the engine stalling.
• The digger may always plot a 0 baring where the machine does not move in hexes but only goes down in depth. In order to raise higher in depth, the digger must move forwards, as digging directly up is impossible.

Once the digger has manoeuvred, the stations must be shut down in reverse sequence before calling the movement complete. The Captain will know the shutdown order and can help manage that. If the shutdown order is done incorrectly it risks damage to the engine, drill, and other stations. Maintenance will be explained in greater detail later.

Digging Down -

The Navigation Officer is responsible for driving the digger but will be blind without information gathered from the Communications Officer and their probes. The probes can report obstacles and rock density in advance of the digger, but the navigation officer may choose to move without that information regardless. In this case, the digger will move block by block and Control will report the outcome of each space before continuing to the next. The difficulty of digging will stay the same as the current hex block when digging down, making it anticipatable without sensor data. This does not guarantee that there will be no unexpected obstacles. When moving, it is important for the Navigation Officer to remember that the intended path is not necessarily the path that is actually taken, due to events outside of their control. Moving without sensor data increases the likelihood of digging off target.

Energy -

Each station on the Deep Eye requires energy to operate. The energy resource is partitioned out by the Chief Scientist Role (and some through Engineering) during the ‘To Stations!” Phase. With what energy is allowed to their command station in that turn, the Navigations Officer needs only one point of energy to power their command station. Without it, the controls will still work but they will not receive feedback about the resistance in the soild before them and probes will not assist in navigation. Different amounts of energy may be available each turn, so priorities must be established.