Downtime System (Version 1.0)

Out of Character CEO Lee here to welcome y'all to the new downtime system. In response to suggestions about the downtime system I'm going to try out the following mechanic. If you wish to re-do your current downtime before the next mission goes ahead (Week 3) then you may re-submit, provided y'all don't do anything sneaky and evil in an out of character sense.

You get 1 Major action, 2 Minor actions and as many free actions as you need

Each week you can assign time to one major action, which takes the majority of your time and skills. This major action will receive your full attention, and may not necessarily represent something that takes all of your time, it simply takes priority over everything else. For example, if John Smith assigns his major action to be watching the big Weltball game on Saturday, they will only be watching the game on the day and be able to do other things for the rest of the week. But all week long, John will be just wishing he was at that game, and if in the middle of an exciting chase scene while pursuing a suspect through the underswell he gets a call to pick up his tickets, then whoever he was chasing can rest assured that they are home free... Well maybe not quite that bad, but hopefully that gets the point across.

The major action works like a normal downtime action that takes one week
If the major action is information gathering, then there is a very good chance you will succeed and uncover something interesting if it is there.

Each week you may assign two minor actions that can be done around your major action. For example, John Smith can watch a building for suspects while he waits for his Welt Ball tickets to arrive. These actions will take a back seat to the major action, but are still likely to provide very useful information or experience.

A minor action can also be considered a week of downtime, but the effects will be considered very much reduced. For example:
Training for XP yields only half an XP point
Sparing yields half an XP point for the higher level combatant and only 1 XP for the lower level.
Close Combat tutoring by a master must be performed as a full action
Learning from a master can take a minor action, but will only gain 1 and a half XP

Minor actions are best used for research, investigation and preparations, such as supervising building work or performing surgery. The all knowing GM may state that some actions must be performed as major actions only.

You may perform any number of free actions such as:
Buying standard equipment from a store
Sending messages or calling someone
Meeting with other agents in Oracle

I hope that makes sense. Any questions?

Please submit downtimes with clearly labelled Major and Minor actions. If you are not sure if something is a major, minor or free action, then have a guess and I'll see if it feels right. The system is in flux and is also based on my mood at the time, so prepare for some inconsistencies.

The following guidelines are for deciding if an action is likely to be major, minor or free:

Cybernetic installation
Free action if less than 3 hours in a week
Minor action if less than 24 Hours in a week
Major action if less than 96 Hours in a week
(updated 21/11/12)

Buying things
Free action if available legally in a store or if very common in the black market
Minor action if it must be commissioned specially and fitted. such as mainframe modules and specialised cybernetics and weapons
Major action if the thing is an incredibly rare, hard to locate artefact, such as a piece of xeno-tech or an illegally acquired Western Federation agent quality weapon.
Underground operations training will make this action significantly more likely to succeed, and may speed up searches for black market equipment.

Surveillance
Free action: Throw a few AV bugs in an unguarded, public place without worrying about stealth
Minor action: Place bugs, track people or stake out a location for a few hours in a stealthy manner
Major action: Watch or follow someone for many hours throughout the week. Place bugs or hack systems in a very secure location.
Having the surveillance training or other relevant skills can make these tasks faster or more effective in some cases.

Trainings
Taking a training requires 10XP and a major action.

Downtime Submission Deadline
Downtimes will be submitted by 6pm on Tuesday each week. If a downtime is not submitted before this time then I may not deal with it and you will be assumed to have relaxed for the week to recover your conviction points.
I will also have a deadline for downtimes; I will now reply to all downtimes by the end of Wednesday night.
The deadline of 6pm on Tuesday is for the initial downtime post. If the downtime requires further work, such as if I have questions about it or RP takes place in the downtime thread then this will not have to be completed by the deadline.

Update
If you are not on a mission during the week you may take one additional minor action, as you do not have to spend as much time preparing for something dangerous that can take 1-2 days to accomplish.
(Updated 21/11/12. The 3rd minor action has been removed)

From which game week will this apply?

Week 10+

Would learning a new language take an action as well as the 5 XP?

Learning a language is now a minor action in addition to the XP cost.

Back in January you posted this as the system for close combat sparring and training:

Sparring is between two people

When sparring with someone with a higher close combat skill, the person with the higher close combat skill gains 2XP as normal and the person with the lower combat skill gains 3XP.

When two people with the same combat skill spar, both gain 3XP.

Training is performed between a 'master' (close combat skill 7+) and up to 4 'students' who are at least 2 levels below the master in combat skill.
The master only gains 1XP for the downtime
Each student gains up to 4 XP, capped at the amount needed to advance 1 level

If someone has a close combat training and close combat skill 8+ then they can train one student in that combat training, if they meet the prerequisites. This grants 3XP towards the 10XP of the training per week. Only one student can be trained like this per week, not 4.

I thought it should be in this topic to be easier to find... assuming it's still being used the same.

Also, could similar training exercises be done with other skills?

I am going to allow this system to be used for other skills. The XP values quoted above are for Major actions. Minor action results are detailed in one of the posts above.