TF Training: Help!

[Jumpp (OP)]

I've got a fleet that I've sent out on training to get their TF Training up to 100%.  As the ships reach 100%, I pull them back to base and park them so they aren't using fuel, and I leave the others out in the field.

Most of the ships have quickly reached 100%, but there are a few stragglers that just won't budge.  The real outliers are these two support cruisers:

Code: [Select]

Vonnegut class Cruiser    15,900 tons     387 Crew     3912.3 BP      TCS 318  TH 700  EM 0
6289 km/s    JR 5-500     Armour 6-56     Shields 0-0     Sensors 110/90/0/0     Damage Control Rating 17     PPV 33
Maint Life 3.01 Years     MSP 2614    AFR 118%    IFR 1.7%    1YR 432    5YR 6474    Max Repair 875 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months    Spare Berths 0   
Magazine 400   

Cochrane J16-M     Max Ship Size 16000 tons    Distance 500k km     Squadron Size 5
1000 EP Internal Fusion Drive (2)    Power 1000    Fuel Use 25%    Signature 350    Exp 10%
Fuel Capacity 920,000 Litres    Range 41.7 billion km   (76 days at full power)

S5-R750 Missile Launcher (20)    Missile Size 5    Rate of Fire 750
Missile Fire Control FC173-R80 (50%) (4)     Range 173.9m km    Resolution 80
ASM-5-9 Silkworm Mk3 (40)  Speed: 20,000 km/s   End: 132.1m    Range: 158.6m km   WH: 9    Size: 5    TH: 133 / 80 / 40
ASM-5-16 Sparrow Mk1 (20)  Speed: 50,400 km/s   End: 10.3m    Range: 31m km   WH: 16    Size: 5    TH: 336 / 201 / 100
ASM-5-20 Harpoon Mk1 (20)  Speed: 20,200 km/s   End: 66m    Range: 80m km   WH: 20    Size: 5    TH: 161 / 97 / 48

Active Search Sensor MR115-R80 (50%) (1)     GPS 5760     Range 115.9m km    Resolution 80
Thermal Sensor TH10-110 (1)     Sensitivity 110     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  110m km
EM Detection Sensor EM5-90 (1)     Sensitivity 90     Detect Sig Strength 1000:  90m km

ECCM-2 (1)         ECM 30

Missile to hit chances are vs targets moving at 3000 km/s, 5000 km/s and 10,000 km/s

This design is classed as a Military Vessel for maintenance purposes

After years of training, these guys are still stuck at 4.0 and 4.1%.  Their COs both have Crew Training Ratings of 250.

Anyone know what might be going wrong?  These ships routinely hold up my operations with their long firing delays and I'd really like to get them trained up properly.

[HaliRyan]

Have you accidentally changed their task force assignment perhaps? Or lost your task force commander?

Other than that I'm not sure what to tell you.

[Nathan_]

F5(ship design) -> DAC/Rank/Info
Set minimum rank to level 1 or 2(not priority level, rank).
replace commander in charge of the ship with a level 1 or 2 crew training rated commander.
watch as ships complete their taskforce training.


As far as I am aware this is not a bug for some reason.

[sublight]

From what I've seen Task Force Training speed is set mostly by the Task Force Commanding officer's crew training rating and not by a ship or squadron commanding officer's crew training.

Further, the ship must train in the same system as their Task Force Commander. Ships commanded by officers that out-rank the Task Force commander appear to ignore the inferior training recommendations and will not improve their task force training rating. This last issue is probably the reason large command rank 3+ ships may refuse training.

[Jumpp (OP)]

That's all great stuff.  Thanks!  I'll try replacing the COs with lower-ranking guys.

Also, I don't know much about task force commanders.  Here's what I know:

Under Naval Organization I've got various top-level branches (Logistics, Survey, Engineering, and the High Seas Fleet).  Under that last one, I've got a single branch for 3rd Fleet.  (1st and 2nd were entirely lost in action.)

- That entire 3rd Fleet was together in a single TG doing their training in Sol.
- From time to time I'd check on the TG ("3rd Fleet Training") and remove from it any ships that had reached 100% TF training.
- Those ships I removed, I'd send them back to earth to refuel and join the "3rd Fleet" TG that isn't training.
- I didn't set any Task Force commanders.  I don't know how to do that.
- None of these ships have flag bridges.
- Some, but not all, of this training would have taken place while the "3rd Fleet" TG was out of system.  (I sent half the fleet out to cover my troops as they took a listening post in a nearby system.)
- When I looked last night, it turned out that there was no officer assigned to Fleet Command.  Once I assigned one, the various staff positions became available.  I manually filled one, and left the others to be filled automatically.

So I don't know which elements of that technique might be creating problems.  Is it bad to be separating the trained-up ships from the not-trained ones?  I did it to save fuel, but if that's messing up the training somehow then I'll spend the fuel.

How do I go about appointing Task Force commanders?  What ARE task force commanders?  Do I need flag bridges?  How many?

[Nathan_]

The taskforce CO is just the highest ranking officer in the fleet.

[sublight]

A flag bridge is required to make a TaskForce Command Staff mobile, but they can also be stationed on colony worlds. By default Task Forces are based off the home world.

Command staff aggregate bonuses and locations may be viewed from the Task Force Organization window (Cntr+F4).
Command slots are filled under the Staff Officers assignment grouping in the Officers/Leaders window.

'Fleet Headquarters' is the name of the default starting Task Force. If your ships were successfully gaining task force training without one then my understanding of the system would appear to be flawed.

[Jumpp (OP)]

'Fleet Headquarters' is the name of the default starting Task Force. If your ships were successfully gaining task force training without one then my understanding of the system would appear to be flawed.

They may not have been gaining task force training without a fleet HQ commander.  I definitely had one of those earlier in the game, because when I looked last night and found the post unoccupied, and I rummaged through my officers, I found several with former postings to various staff positions at HQ.  I suspect that what happened was the post was occupied, and my fleet was able to gain training.  And then the post became vacant because the officer was killed in an accident, died of old age, or was inadvertently assigned to some team somewhere.  At this point, maybe, the fleet lost the ability to gain TF training?  And I kept trying to train them up?  The ships with the least TF training were the newest.

[Conscript Gary]

I've certainly had that happen to me before, and if the post is empty that's your problem right there