I love in depth OoBs ever since HoI III introduced me to the concept, so i was happy to see that in this game you cannot only make one but make a totally custom chain of command However, i am wondering how long you can make the chain. Can I, for instance, make it so I have a supreme command staff command multiple sector command staffs which command their multiple system command staffs. Can I then compose a battle fleet with a subordinate carrier group who in turn has a subordinate cruiser division? Can I then make terrestrial armies a part of this continuous chain?
No, sadly not. This is a feature I would also like to see, because right now you have so many Admirals later on, but they cannot really have a hierarchy between each other. I set up virtual lists for sector and system fleets in excel, and then even had "fleets" for just detachable task forces of an actual named fleet, so they can have staff too. ...But it is all in my head, and in Aurora you just get the task force window where all the fleets are equal in their command chain.
The best way to actually kind of do it was bringing the hierarchy into the "naval organization" tab of the task force window, and then make sure that the commanding ships of each detachable section/ or subordinate-fleet have micromanaged a commanding admiral to them. (if you detach them then, at least this Admiral will be in charge. He won't contribute much beyond his initiative rating though)
However, this means there is no staff for the subordinates still, so this is still severely lacking.
There might be some hope, because Steve is in an WH40k campaign itself. He already promised to introduce WH40k'y features like real particle lances, titans, and a crusade mode game option; and since more sophisticated command chains of Segment-/Sector-/Sub-Sector- and Battlefleet and such are characterizing in that setting, this might find entry too soon(ish).
And on a bit more mundane a note, how are characters promoted with political considerations activated? Can I influence it at all? Is there a way to make sure the most skilled scientists are always at the top of the chain so they have access to the most laboratory's without me having to micro-manage them.
Only by turning political reliability off. The level that administrators or scientists have is more like another skill here though, since it directly influences how many labs or what size of colony they can control, meaning you always profit from them getting better.(note: these also don't block other people's promotion by getting "promoted", so there is really no harm)
In army and navy you might find manipulators rising high, but that is exactly what the political reliability thing is meant to simulate. Send them to the front if you really despise them.
And finally, can I make it so that commanders and captains are automatically assigned to ships with a certain tonnage/HS and commandors and up not being assigned to individual ships at all?
In the class design window there is a DAC/Rank/Info tab in which you can specify minimum rank requirement to get a command on a certain ship type. However, this doesn't work backwards, so sometimes you see captains and even admirals being assigned to fighters.
It seems to be much more rare on modern Aurora however, and the sorting of assignments seems to make sense most of the time. (now, if we could also specify requirements to join a certain staff too, I would rejoice)
