FCs could have taken ED to a new level

[Cohen the Worrior]

And they still can.
Who commands a flight carrier irl? It's obviously a senior officer, probably a rear-admiral.
Are they required to fly their own planes? No, they have people who do that for them.
So the commander of a FC orders his crew to go mine tritium. Probably for the fun off the game, he would be required to fly one the ships. He could pick a mining ship or an escort.
Loading or unloading the FC, he should be able to order to crew to do that. Again, he should fly one of the ships, either a cargo ship or an escort.

The NPC crew should obviously be paid, so it can be balanced.

Perhaps these groups should not be allowed to participate in a CG?

 

[varonica]

And they still can.
Who commands a flight carrier irl? It's obviously a senior officer, probably a rear-admiral.
Are they required to fly their own planes? No, they have people who do that for them.
So the commander of a FC orders his crew to go mine tritium. Probably for the fun off the game, he would be required to fly one the ships. He could pick a mining ship or an escort.
Loading or unloading the FC, he should be able to order to crew to do that. Again, he should fly one of the ships, either a cargo ship or an escort.

The NPC crew should obviously be paid, so it can be balanced.

Perhaps these groups should not be allowed to participate in a CG?

What? It's a Captain, it's always a Captain, that's why they are called Captains! A rear admiral commands a Fleet of destroyers, carriers etc.

 

[Cohen the Worrior]

What? It's a Captain, it's always a Captain, that's why they are called Captains! A rear admiral commands a Fleet of destroyers, carriers etc.

Same difference. An FC doesn't need a screen of destroyers, since it can't be destroyed anyway.
And taking into account Parkinson's law, I'm surprised it doesn't take 4 rear-admirals to command an FC.

 

[Danny2020]

The key gameplay mechanic for carriers should be centered around player groups. Having them as oversized personal ships was and still is stupid. The thousands of abandoned carriers littering systems speaks for itself.

 

[metatheurgist]

The key gameplay mechanic for carriers should be centered around player groups. Having them as oversized personal ships was and still is stupid. The thousands of abandoned carriers littering systems speaks for itself.

Who says they aren't from defunct groups?

 

[varonica]

Same difference. An FC doesn't need a screen of destroyers, since it can't be destroyed anyway.
And taking into account Parkinson's law, I'm surprised it doesn't take 4 rear-admirals to command an FC.

No you aren't following, the word Captain is specifically the word used to denote the person who is in command of a large ship, such as a Destroyer or Aircraft Carrier, or even a large merchantman, that is what the word means, the Captain of a large ship.

It's not a matter of the same difference, a Rear Admiral is an entirely different rank with entirely different responsibilities, a Rear Admiral would never be in command of a single ship, even if that ship carries other ships, it's always a Captain. Look it up yourself if you want, it's "Captain"!

 

[avow555]

No you aren't following, the word Captain is specifically the word used to denote the person who is in command of a large ship, such as a Destroyer or Aircraft Carrier, or even a large merchantman, that is what the word means, the Captain of a large ship.

It's not a matter of the same difference, a Rear Admiral is an entirely different rank with entirely different responsibilities, a Rear Admiral would never be in command of a single ship, even if that ship carries other ships, it's always a Captain. Look it up yourself if you want, it's "Captain"!

Different ranks can be in command of a vessel and would not neccesarily be called Captain.

lets look.
Lieutenant John F Kenedy commander of PT109.
Admiral Halsey USS Saratoga.
Admiral Nelson HMS Victory.
None of these people would have been called Captain on these vessels or refered to as Captain because in the military it's who is in command.
Merchant navy, do they have Captains?
Well it's a funny thing. In the merchant fleet you have different exams you sit to improve yourself sometimes referred to as tickets.
So to skipper a ship of a certain size you may need a Masters Ticket.
When you achieve this you would refered to as "The Master" as in Master of the ship and oddly enough it's called "Masters Ticket".
Cruise liners and some ferries may have a rank structure in place in their organisation for personal advancement and ultimately whoever is command may likely be a Captain but not neccesarily.
The last thing I may venture to say is most who work on the ship will refer to whoever is in command as "The Skipper".
Enjoy.

 

[Dragsham]

There's a community of elite cmdrs 1000s of em, that manipulate the bgs. They play specifically to undermine other bgs groups.
PP also
The carriers are their no1 tool in carrying out these attacks and defences.
Recently a huge campaign took place. A system with a few orbitals and planetary bases suddenly had 24 carriers in it and the CZs were ablaze with battle.
The amount of cmdrs out in the black with a carrier mining trit as they go, I'd guess are in the 1000s.
Yes there's defunct carriers about, there always have been, I've had a carrier since day 1 and seeing carriers decommissioning is normal.
Let's not forget the traders who use carriers. There's alot of em.
And folks like me, who just use carriers to raise hell.
I too wish it were different, the potential missed once again.
Let's hope they change things over time. But l doubt they'll ever stop cmdrs owing individually

 

[amigacooke]

https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/navy-life/shaping-your-career

I think this suggest that both Commanders and Commodores can command individual vessels. HMS Queen Elizabeth has had a Commadore as commanding officer.

 

[Cohen the Worrior]

What? It's a Captain, it's always a Captain, that's why they are called Captains! A rear admiral commands a Fleet of destroyers, carriers etc.

It's distracting from the original post. Who cares if it's a captain, a commander or a commodore. I know a rear admiral commands the fleet with the flagship being the carrier. In ED there's no fleet, no support ships, no destroyer screen. So what's your point?

The key gameplay mechanic for carriers should be centered around player groups. Having them as oversized personal ships was and still is stupid. The thousands of abandoned carriers littering systems speaks for itself.

That ship has sailed I'm afraid.

There's this discussion, ED is wide as an ocean but only as deep as a puddle. How can we add extra layers?
How do other games do that? At the start you micromanage your colony, as it grows you delegate more tasks.

Well, we could start by the capmander of an FC ordering his crew around, ordering them to go mine, scout or trade. Of course the ships on board would have to be equipped for the task. The crew would have to be paid, get better at their job as they get more experience, gain rank and get a raise in pay. Crew could be hurt in combat and accidents and spend time to recover. Or even killed and you would need to train a replacement.

And how about adding an extra layer by making basebuilding a squad effort?
This would add some depth to the game no?

 

[norlin]

Fun fact: NPC crew at any FC is already pair, each week.
There is a dedicated Fuel Depot crew members and officer.
And the FC Captain/Owner still should personally haul it's own Tritium from a FC storage to Tritium depot via it's own personal ship while docked to FC.

wat