Having the same thought after merging two pre-TN races and creating an officer corps of over 300 first rank officers, my "Fleet Admiral" instituted a mandatory retirement limit based on age consisting of the following:
Commander - 40 years
Captain - 45
Commodore - 50
Rear Admiral - 55
Vice Admiral, Admiral and Fleet Admiral - No limit as they would probably be looking at poor health in the future, would be retired as the result of some "incident", and are few in number anyway.
The first time I did this I reduced the corps by 1/3. I go back every two years or so and weed out those who have passed their limits. If I run across someone who still has usefulness, I will just promote them to the next level. Making this automated will definitely raise the realism, as well as keep down the overhead. A few "random" retirements due to family death, business venture, scandal, etc. before the age limit would be useful. This way officers just don't disappear without dying or coming close to dying.
Also, is there a way to have an entry made into the officer history stating that he has joined a team, and maybe list the team members in the team section of the F2 screen?
One more thing, what is the arranging method for the No-longer-active officers? I've noticed during the random purgings that when I retire an officer he just goes into that list in some "random" position. I'm sure the program ranks them somehow, but chronologically by date of retirement or death would be useful.
Thanks,
Adam.