Task Forces, Task Groups, and uses for same

[Caplin (OP)]

Hi All,
Perhaps this is merely my lack of real-world familiarity with the navy showing
through, but I'm finding the concepts of task forces and task groups a bit
difficult.
I gather a task force consists of multiple task groups which can be posted
independently?  Fleet training seems to be on the task force level rather than
the group level.  
I suppose what I'm asking is how exactly these multiple layers are useful.  I've
seen examples here of forces such as "Survey Command", for instance.  How,
exactly, does one assign groups to forces?
Any advice or insight on the issue would be appreciated.
Best and thanks,
Zack.

[UnLimiTeD]

The names might be a bit misleading here.
A Task Group is commonly referred to as a Fleet, and normally, a "Fleet" how you would write in an AAR consists of multiple groups, being the main body, supply, recon, and Anti-Missile Elements.

Task Forces are Groups of Officers, like Fleet Command, and may grant bonuses to whatever ships are assigned to them, if in the same system.
For a start, in the Officers screen, assign a high ranked officer with a good crew training rating to the vacant post of Commander under the staff officer register, then let the other spots be filled automatically.
Later on, you might need multiple task forces, to coordinate multiple fleets in multiple systems.

[Hawkeye]

Task Forces:
The administrative body of a fleet.
Created on the CTRL-F4 screen.
Needs a Task Force Commander and several staff officers.
Any bonus those officers have, apply to any Task Group under its command IF IT IS IN THE SAME SOLAR SYSTEM

[attachment=2:1wtrmzk1]Scrshot #0 [12.07.2010 18.08.46] TaskGroups.jpg[/attachment:1wtrmzk1]
I have three task forces right now. Forschungsflotte (Survey Fleet) has my best Survey Officers, Heimatflotte (Homefleet) has my best Training/Organisation/Espionage Officers and Logistik Kommando (Logistic Command) has my best Logistic Officers.


---------------------------------
Task Groups:
Your actual fleets. Task Groups are assigned to one, and only one, Task Force
Can contain from one to an unlimited number of ships.

As you can see, Forschungsflotte (Survey Command) contains 3 Task Groups, 1., 2. and 3. Forschungsgruppe (1st, 2nd and 3rd Survey Group),
while Heimatflotte (Homefleet) contains the Defense Groups for Earth, Mars and Titan (Erd-, Mars- and Titanverteidigung) as well as Hilfsflotte (Support Fleet) and Schlachtflotte (Battlefleet)
Into Logistik Kommando (Logistic Command) I have put Invasionskommando (Invasion Command), Terraformingflotte (Terraforming Fleet), Transportkommando (Transport Command) and ZbV Kommando (Special Forces)

[attachment=1:1wtrmzk1]Scrshot #1 [12.07.2010 18.09.19] TaskGroups.jpg[/attachment:1wtrmzk1]


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You can further divide your Task Group for organisatorial or roleplay reasons, as I have done below.
The actual Task Group is Kamfgeschwader 2 (2nd Battlefleet). But to keep a better overview and to make it easier to detach a part of the fleet if need be, I have further devided the fleet into several cruiser- and destroyer squadrons.

[attachment=0:1wtrmzk1]Scrshot #2 [12.07.2010 18.09.54] TaskGroups.jpg[/attachment:1wtrmzk1]

If, say, I want to detach 6. Kreuzergeschwader (6th Cruiser Squadron), I select it and click  "Branch only" and voila, a new Task Group with all ships of 6th Cruiser Squadron.

Hope this helps somewhat.

[UnLimiTeD]

I'm not quite sure posting screenshots for a blind guy is going to help him in any way, unless he has a really good screen reader.
^^

[Caplin (OP)]

Hi,
Thank you both for your replies.  They are informative and pretty much what I
was looking for.
No, screen shots don't help much, though I did manage to get the essence of what
was being shown from the text accompanying them.
Best wishes,
Zack.

[Hawkeye]

Sorry about the screenies, I didn´t make the connection zkline -- blind  

[Starkiller]

I'm still trying to figure out how to set those up. Not much luck so far.

Eric

[Steve Walmsley]

I'm still trying to figure out how to set those up. Not much luck so far.

Eric

This is the thread in which I explained the org chart and how to use it.

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2250

Steve

[MattyD]

It took me ages to work out how the Navy Org Tab worked, in spite of your thread, Steve, so I threw this together to throw up on the wiki. I just couldn't assign any ships to the structure I'd created. Of course its simple when you know how...



Selecting the Navy Org Tab (the 4th tab on the right from the Task Group window - F12) brings up a window with a a single fleet - Fleet Headquarters.

This is your only level of organisation, all ships and task groups are placed at this level. That makes it very hard to organise your forces.

Lets add a few levels of detail.

1. Select Fleet Headquarters by clicking on it.
2. To the right of the window, under 'Modify Organisational Branches' select 'Add'. Add 'Logistical Fleet' into the text box.
3. Add a few more elements directly beneath 'Fleet Headquarters', and then click on 'Logistical Fleet' and add to that.

After a few moments, you can make something like this..



Now, we have still only detailed a single fleet, so lets make a new one.

Select Task Forces (Cntl + F4) and at the bottom click on New TF, and then rename it to Logistical Fleet.

Now bring up the Navy Org Tab once more.



Ouch, that doesn't look right. But there are ways we can move elements. For this we use the 'Stored Branch List'

Click on Construction, and then on the add button beneath 'Stored Branch List'. Construction will appear in the box. Do the same for Refuel, Salvage and Transport. All 4 should be in the box.

Now select the new fleet, 'Logistical Fleet' and press 'Move Stored', this will transfer these elements to a new location. In this case, the new Logistical Fleet. Now select the old ' Logistical Fleet' element from beneath Fleet Headquarters and delete it. You should have this left.



Now there is a structure there, but they exist in paper only, lets assign some ships.

Select a task group in the normal way - The Name selection in 'Details and Special Orders', then you can assign ships from this group in two ways, firstly by selecting an individual ship and clicking on 'Add Ship' under the assign ships, or you can assign the entire selected task group, with the 'Add TG' button.

Here in this screenshot, I've added a squadron number, this is for roleplaying purposes, the task group is still called 'Freighter #4' when I move to select it.



I can now use this screen to select task groups. Clicking on any ships on the Navy Org Tree will select their task group. Useful when you have built up a huge system spanning empire.