I have a Question.
Is it possible to have more then one officer per ship?
Larger ships often have more officers, not unlike the structure you have in the flag structure, but also for some navies there are more command roles on board.
A ship Captain who sail the ship and has the final authority on the ship, and for the ships safety.
But there is also a Operations Officer or Officer in Tactical Command whom runs the show from the Operations Room.
While a Ship might not always need as big of an org as a flag level.
Maybe a solution could be that any ship above 1001 tons(just an example) should have:
CO (Captain of the ship)
XO Executive officer
And for ships above a certain;size, crew number, and/or minimum rank for command give them:
Operations Officer (if Missiles or larger than commerical beam weapons)
Fighter Operations Officer (If Hanger space above xxx size equipped)
Logistics Officer (If one or more of Collier/Supply/Tanker are used)
Intelligence Officer (If Both Passive sensors and active sensors and ECM/ECCM(programming the necessary ECM/ECCM programs against known Threats)
Communication Officer(If Flag Bridge or other type of command module like a Large bridge which might be used for TG lead ships)
Fighters or ships at 1000 tons and below:
Only one Officer can be assigned.
From my perspective this would solve some issues I have had during my playthroughs.
Commanding Officer on a ship dies while the ship is on a long tour/patrol there will be some officers whom can take command of a ship.
Skill gaining for officers whom will be placed in the Task Force staff later on. Currently some skills can only be trained in those positions which means they serve there until they die or retire and a Noob takes their spot.
You have roles for the lower ranked Officers to fill while they improve, and thus its more natural to have more Officers at a lower and fewer at the higher ranks.
It also grooms the officers to be of higher rank when they are good enough for Flag duties (other then the CO of course) which is more natural as well.
Also I do like the idea that promotions are depending on how many positions are available at each rank.
I believe many nations forces operate after this principle for Officers of O-3 and above (Major/Lcdr) while O-1 and O-2 are promoted by command/time in rank.
But there are 3-4 ranks in the O-1/O-2 ladder for most nations as well.
So if this was to be implemented maybe it would be a viable option that the player when he/she makes the rank structure tick of the maximum rank for promotion by time in rank/service and another tick mark for when Flag level begins.
Thus you could have three levels of ranks
The ranks which your Officers promote to with time until max achieved if nothing else happens
The Command ranks which has Officers filling certain positions needed to be filled (plus some more if you want to change them around)
The Flag Officers which fill the top level ranks for executing the command of the fleet.
Maybe this could be an option for ground commanders as well?
Also are there plans to have a hierarchy which takes the position all the way from Headquarters/Fleet Command or even Ministry of Defence(with both Ground and Fleet Flag Officers represented) which are commanding Task Forces which are commanding Task Groups and Units?
And will we be able to set a retirement age or will there be one standard?
I'm sorry if I seem blunt, but I just want to hear others thought on my ideas and I hope it might be a helpful contribution.
Also thanks for a really great Game