Posted by: Starmantle
« on: January 30, 2018, 01:03:32 AM »I'm so excited to roleplay with bridge officers
One past problem Aurora had was the crew were large compared to present day warships, where the crew is getting smaller as automation takes over. Steve has addressed this in the past. To artifically inlflate crew size seems a backward step.
In addition Aurora only covers one third of the crew of a ship, the officers, and then perhaps only half of them. Is there any reason that Aurora has only seven steps in rank?
It can be argued that anything below the XO should be a non-executive officer, e.g. Sub-lieutenant or Lieutenant. Thus the rank structure could be one with twelve steps in it as below:
Non-executive officers
Ensign or Midshipman/Warrant Officer
Sub-lieutenant
Lieutenant
Executive officers
Lieutenant Commander
Commander
Captain
Flag rank
Commodore
Rear Admiral
Vice Admiral
Admiral
Administrative
Admiral of the Fleet
1st Star Lord
Sub-lieutenants or lieutenants could command small craft of 1000 tons or less. Above that an executive officer would be required. Lieutenant Commander could bridge between non-executive and executive ranks. Commodore could be a bridging rank that commands their own ship as well as a squadron. An Administrative rank is one normally associated with a sector command, Admiral would be the bridging rank between a fleet command and sector command. Even flag ranks could command their own ship (the Royal Yatch was usually commanded by a Rear Admiral) If twelve steps are too many then the Ensign, Admiral of the Fleet and 1st Star Lord could be omitted giving a nine step structure.
As I said earlier Aurora only covers one third of the crew of a ship, missing out the enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. If you want to expand the rank structure further consideration could be given to non-commissioned officers, e.g. Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer and Fleet/Master Chief Petty Officer. Thus the crew of a 1000 ton fast attack craft could be a Lieutenant, a Chief Petty Officer and a Petty Officer (engineering). Alternately the FAC could be captained by a CPO. The NCOs could be "hidden in the woodwork" perhaps a FAC commanded by a CPO which destroyed a high value target could be promoted to Warrant Officer and thus appear on the promotion track.
That's my tuppence worth
Ian
No need to hard code ranks. Different nations and species and themes will use different ones anyway.
In regards to the first question about what ranks should be used for Chief Engineers, I'd keep them to the Warrant Officer ranks. Plus, I think a limitation of Task Force organization should be that the CO needs to be a flag officer. Also, it is often not uncommon to have people with ranks usually found in infantry organization serving aboard military vessels as the XO, like Majors and (lt) Colonels. A notable example would be the USAF and Marine Corp. It is not unlikely that with the further advance of technology and integration of combined arms, that these spots will be filled by field grade officers, serving under flag officers.
Anyway, for my suggestion of ranks:
CO: CMDR up to CAPT
XO: LCMDR ... CMDR (OR, Major... Lt. Colonel (Colonel if on Flag Bridge))
CEO: Chief Warrant Officer can be promoted to the billet.
CSO: 1LT ... MAJ
I would have thought that the Bridge is a proper place for a Captain, its not just the place where you drive the ship from? and some classes may not have a CIC or a Tactical officer. Makes sense that the relevant information is carried to smaller (Read more focused) screens on the bridge, where one is present.
Were captains not in CIC because their ships were not moving put providing radar coverage for the air and ground combat elements. To my knowledge there has been no direct ship to ship naval combat since WWII. Captains were certainly on the bridges during that period.
Regards
Frank
But would not the Commander be in the CIC during combat? During the Falklands war that is certainly where the Captains were in RN ships. Thus you could have the Tactical fficer and the Captain killed in one hit on the CIC.
What I would really like to see is Auxiliary Control not being a requirement for an Executive Officer, but instead allow the appointment of an Executive Officer anyway.
A Bridge would then become a special item of which each ship could only have one (similar to how there can be only one type of engine), typically housing both the Executive Officer and the Commanding Officer, meaning both can be killed in the event of a hit on the Bridge, where there is no Auxiliary Control present.
Where an Auxiliary Control is located on a class design then the Executive officer is present there instead for the purposes of damage calculation.
I would also like to see a 3 Ton (0. 03?? HS) component for FAC / Fighters that represents the cockpit of these crafts. (3 Tons to balance out the 2 Ton Crew Quarters, Fighter )
I would further propose that the class design doesn't have a default control rating of 1 but instead zero, and only after adding these systems can it rise, Bridge / Cockpit 0 > 1. Auxiliary Control 1 > 2. And so on.
Making it possible for ships to be unable to carry out orders without a Bridge / Cockpit or an Auxiliary Control when the Bridge has been damaged.
Having all of the control stations being able to be affected by microwave lasers, enabling a mission kill of the intact ship.
I too will also miss the Staff Component of Task Forces, but am more excited about the possibility of seeing my own bridge crews work first.
SNIP
Thanks
Frank
I still like the idea of fleet commanders having their own staffs in addition to the new ship specific junior officer roles. Macro vs Micro bonus applications.
That was what I intended. However, with the change I am going to make that will no longer be the case.