The stations · Combined
Tactical
Helms and Weapons in one seat. Read both of those pages — this one only covers what changes when you’re doing them at the same time.
What changes
The good news: the argument between the person who owns the angle and the person who owns the trigger disappears, because they’re both you. Lining up a beam arc stops being a negotiation and starts being a reflex, and that’s genuinely faster.
The bad news: you now have twice as much to watch and the same number of eyes. Shield facings slip. Missile tubes sit empty. The screen you aren’t looking at is the one with the problem on it.
Doing it well
Fly first, shoot second. A ship in the wrong place with full tubes loses to a ship in the right place with one. When you’re overloaded, drop the shooting and fix the geometry.
Lean on Science harder than a full bridge would. You have no attention left for the wider picture, so make somebody else own it. Ask for ranges and threats out loud, constantly.
Reload in the gaps. Every quiet moment is for tubes and shield facings. There won’t be a convenient one later.