Crews & Academies

[Vandermeer]

The Wiki is often outdated in many regards, so 1/3 is true for all ranks. However I would really like some capability to customize this in a game. In my current game for example I had to introduce a Senior Captain rank, just because I wanted more captains, while the 1/3 rule would mean I basically get at least one Admiral type of rank per captain, and even some more later on. That is far too many admirals per ship captain if you have many ships and bigger fleets, and actually, even 1/9 would be too much if you use Commodore in between. On the other side I'd like to have only one marshal rank, so the ratio to that should be high (currently I am just adding a rank on top where there are not enough officers around to reach it, and then promote the leader per hand, which is fine too actually). Or in the ground ranks, I'd like to only have one general per real army, which I put artificially at 12-15 divisions.

So it would be nice to either have some custom control directly, or, as in the old wiki article, have some sort of differentiation between lower and higher ranks, but in another way. Maybe the "high-class" admiral type ranks start at 5 or so (would be best to being able to customize), so between 4 and 5 the ratio could one time be really low, like 1/20 or so, and after that normal again.

[linkxsc]

Heres an odd question, kinda in the ballpark. Why is it that some fleets that I set to "task force training" zip around the system on maneuvers or whatever, while others seem to just sit on planet and accrue TF training without moving or spending fuel?

[83athom]

Heres an odd question, kinda in the ballpark. Why is it that some fleets that I set to "task force training" zip around the system on maneuvers or whatever, while others seem to just sit on planet and accrue TF training without moving or spending fuel?

Just a different type of "training" 

[Vandermeer]

Heres an odd question, kinda in the ballpark. Why is it that some fleets that I set to "task force training" zip around the system on maneuvers or whatever, while others seem to just sit on planet and accrue TF training without moving or spending fuel?

I never had that - for me they all move, except... . Two explanation possible: Could you have zoomed out too much, so that slow ships look like they stay, when they aren't? Other, and I think most likely explanation: You train ships without engines, or Task Forces that contain at least one ship without engines. Those remain indeed stationary then. I have this all the time with my orbital training hangar starbases.

[linkxsc]

All ships have engines. As a matter of fact the fleet trains as the whole thing should (in 4 ship squadrons, 1 jump/command ship with the flag bridge, and some spare fuel, 1 escort, and 2 warships) Everyone has got engines, but it seems that a handful of them don't feel like moving. However it might be important to note that the 1s that dont move tend to be the fleets in other colonized systems, not Sol system. They've all got senior commanders, and are gaining experience... but I dunno, a few don't wanna move (I don't mind it, save me on some fuel)

[AL]

So it would be nice to either have some custom control directly, or, as in the old wiki article, have some sort of differentiation between lower and higher ranks, but in another way.   

One of the settings in the game details menu is "Realistic Commander Promotions".   If you disable that you should be able to promote/demote officers manually. 

[JacenHan]

One of the settings in the game details menu is "Realistic Commander Promotions".   If you disable that you should be able to promote/demote officers manually. 

I'm pretty sure you just need to to turn on SM mode.

[Rich.h (OP)]

I'm pretty sure you just need to to turn on SM mode.

It is a standard option you can set at the start of a new game and each time you load up an existing one. The problem is it does not seem to work well. I am having issues at the moment where ships are lying with no commanders while fighters are being given R4 officers at times. I ramped my academy level up to 100 and still the problem happens. My hope was that I could have a story type game with ships with officers and careers, but it doesn't want to play. The realistic option leaves ships empty, and it also stops me from promoting manually. Using manual promotions then leaves me with a choice of micro managing a couple of thousand officers or just having a tiny amount that I promote while leaving other ships empty.

[83athom]

However it might be important to note that the 1s that dont move tend to be the fleets in other colonized systems, not Sol system. They've all got senior commanders, and are gaining experience... but I dunno, a few don't wanna move (I don't mind it, save me on some fuel)

There it is. Is your fleet commander on the flagship or is he on Earth. Because if they are in another system than the commander of the fleet, they are not supposed to be able to train.

[linkxsc]

There it is. Is your fleet commander on the flagship or is he on Earth. Because if they are in another system than the commander of the fleet, they are not supposed to be able to train.

Each fleet has its own senior commander on the flag bridge, even if they are in Sol. Then theres an overarching admiral as the main staff officer for the navy

[83athom]

Each fleet has its own senior commander on the flag bridge, even if they are in Sol. Then theres an overarching admiral as the main staff officer for the navy

So every flagship has a fleet commander in them and they are assigned to their own fleets (in the TF menu [Ctrl+F4/the triangle button] not the TG menu [F12/Super Star Destroyer button])?

[linkxsc]

^ yes. Each group is its own task force, and has its own commander. Early on this time I built a few extra naval academies because I was testing out the "level 5" crew training. So I built a couple extras to offset what I thought might be a lack of crew (still turned out more than enough crew with 1 naval academy. But the 13% bonus for crew grade is certainly noticeable in combat/missile interception)

[MarcAFK]

Just in reply to some task groups sitting on their butt while training. Make sure there's no stationary ships or PDCs in the task group, check the actual speed the fleet is set to, and make sure you don't have shipyards building to that fleet.