Maximum rank for ship class

[Ferret (OP)]

Like the minimum rank that we can currently set, it would nice to be able to set a maximum rank to command a ship class.

I restructure my naval ranks such that the two lowest ranks are intended to be fighter/FAC/commercial vessel pilots, while the third and higher ranks are intended to be capital ship captains.  Unfortunately, automated assignments have a habit of putting some high-ranking officers in fighters or commercial ships either due to high area bonuses or faulty logic in which ship class takes precedence, leaving some capital ships without a captain.  This means that a) my capital officers aren't developing their operations/deck crew bonuses, b) lower ranking officers aren't developing their training bonuses, c) some ships don't have captains and d) I might as well manually reassign instead of automated assignments, which is kind of a drag.

Seems like a maximum rank would solve this set of problems and hopefully wouldn't be difficult to insert (there's screen real estate below the min rank box).

[iceball3]

Like the minimum rank that we can currently set, it would nice to be able to set a maximum rank to command a ship class.

I restructure my naval ranks such that the two lowest ranks are intended to be fighter/FAC/commercial vessel pilots, while the third and higher ranks are intended to be capital ship captains.  Unfortunately, automated assignments have a habit of putting some high-ranking officers in fighters or commercial ships either due to high area bonuses or faulty logic in which ship class takes precedence, leaving some capital ships without a captain.  This means that a) my capital officers aren't developing their operations/deck crew bonuses, b) lower ranking officers aren't developing their training bonuses, c) some ships don't have captains and d) I might as well manually reassign instead of automated assignments, which is kind of a drag.

Seems like a maximum rank would solve this set of problems and hopefully wouldn't be difficult to insert (there's screen real estate below the min rank box).

A good idea, and I agree.
Though, a temporary solution to help you until/if this feature is added, might be using increased priority numbers on your important vessels, to allow them to be staffed more often, assuming it doesn't bug out like you mentioned. Another workaround would be assigning appropriate high-level officers and setting them to Do Not End Tour.
It soooort of defeats the purpose of automated assignments, but at least you don't have to worry about managing the rabble.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

There's an unwritten rule that they'll only assign up to 2 ranks higher than the selected minimum rank, but a lot of the time that's high enough to cause the problems you are describing.  I'd love it if that rule was selectable, or if i could set a design to ONLY have officers of X rank.

[Pixel1191]

Totally agree.

Nothing quite like the fleet admiral flying a raggedy ass fighter. 

[bean]

The text in the game is wrong.  Lower numbers correspond to higher priority.  That's one thing that's messing you up.

[Rich.h]

The text in the game is wrong.  Lower numbers correspond to higher priority.  That's one thing that's messing you up.

Can you confirm this? If it is the case then it just fubared my entire naval organisation......

[bean]

Can you confirm this? If it is the case then it just fubared my entire naval organisation......

I can.  I had forgotten about the bug for a while, and set up a fleet the way the game says.  After spending a few minutes wondering why my high-priority ships had no commanders, I remembered the glitch, and fixed it.  The officers are going where they should be.

[bean]

Thinking about this more, I would like to see an overhaul of how officers get assigned.  Currently, the auto-assign for general (non-fighter, non-survey) ships only applies to officers with a crew training rating.  I'd like to be able to choose to assign officers who don't, to allow them to gain experience, and potentially a training rating.
But we can go further than that, in a way that ties in with the OP.  I propose we divide officers (of all ranks) into three basic groups.  Let's call them Elite, Regular, and Lower.  For normal ships, Lower covers everyone who doesn't have a training rating.  I'm not sure where the boundary between Elite and Regular falls.  Maybe the top 25% of officers of a given type.  Similar metrics for fighters and survey ships.  You can set which pool a given ship will draw from.  For instance, you might decide that your older survey ships will only get Regular officers, saving the Elites for the new ships you've got under construction.  The same goes for setting it so only Lowers end up with freighters.  That benefits everyone.  There's a small risk of aging-out your best officers, but it would make things more interesting.

[Sheb]

Frankly, I'd just like to make it so that even officers without training ratings get assigned if all officers with a ration have already been assigned and there are still officer-less ships.

[jiduthie]

Thinking about this more, I would like to see an overhaul of how officers get assigned.  Currently, the auto-assign for general (non-fighter, non-survey) ships only applies to officers with a crew training rating.  I'd like to be able to choose to assign officers who don't, to allow them to gain experience, and potentially a training rating.

Maybe its just me, I generally prioritize Academies and perhaps tend towards fewer larger ships, but this is never an issue for me. I would however welcome the ability to prioritize certain attributes for certain commands or promotion levels. Fighter operations, initiative, and training being the biggies. Crew training tends to swamp everything but political reliability in terms of promotion score, and while I want lots of training ability in my middle ranks, I'd like the top ranks to weight more towards fighter operations, initiative and just broader skills in general. Nothing quite like having a beam squadron hampered because it's S.O. has 400 crew training and 115 initiative. Or being tempted to assign an R3 to command your main task force because all your Admirals have nothing but huge training and reliability scores. Crew training is great, but eventually it caps out at 34%, so the returns on it diminish but it's effect on promotion score doesn't.

Frankly, I'd just like to make it so that even officers without training ratings get assigned if all officers with a ration have already been assigned and there are still officer-less ships.

Again, perhaps its just because I build lots of Academies anyway, but I've never had this happen to me. I more often see senior officers without commands because their juniors have better crew training ratings. A lot of officer promotion and assignment oddities have been solved for me by 1. building more academies 2. having a good balance of commands between the ranks and 3. learning that a lower number(rather than higher as implied by the tool-tip) in the class priority box means higher quality officers for that class.

In a conventional start. I've also taken to renaming my ICBM to "Officer Gunnery Range," even building more as my games progress. Cheap way to train up those R1s that start with only 25 training. It wouldn't even be much micro to assign otherwise desirable but lacking in crew training young officers to them either.