For now this will be my last part on Squardons, with the previous part about Organisation/Diplomacy here. And this is the most wishful thinking yet, as it requires in part a change to the technical structure of the game, which FDev will probably never do, but here we go regardless.
My biggest gripe with Squadrons is, that they come at a time, when everyone already established Communication, Organisation via the good Journal API and third party sites. So aside from the fact, that Squadrons only provide a small number of features, they cannot tie in with external sources, which makes them kinda obsolete. All the while Squadrons could hugely benefit Console Players, VR Users and actually everyone else, by allowing them to have the most important parts of their organisation channeled into the game, so they don't need to tab out/keep an eye on an second screen.
API for Squadron Management
Seeing how the Journal API allows us to access reports from the Game, I don't see any reason, why the API shouldn't be able to provide a Commander to Manage all aspects of his Squadron provided he has permissions of course via a simple Web-Interface and Web-API, so that automated bots can be setup to sync stuff like member invitations, promotion/demotions, kicks as well as Statements and everything else I suggested previously with outside sources like an INARA Page. I see you have already some sort of webpage in the works and I hopes it comes with such features or gets them added in the future.
External Chat
This is currently my final big point and properly not something we will see anytime in Elite, but I just want to share it with you to complete this list. Just as there should be an API to allow for managing a Squadron, I would love to see an API to interact with Squadron Chat from the Outside. Imagine FDev went so far and replaced their Chat System with an IRC-Network and allowed Commanders to join it from outside the Game by providing a special login. Not only could people use the network to talk to each other without having to boot up the game. Bots can once again be used to integrate other third party communication channels such as a Discord Channel or other IRC to the Players inside, allowing for squadrons to become supplemented by already great community made tools.
Ultimate Example if all 4 Parts are fuily implemented just for fun: I can type into Game Chat, that I want to set a 1 Million Credit Bounty on the Head of Commander MasterGanker. A bot would read my message and inform me, to make a payment to the squadron Treasury. After doing so, the bot sends a Diplomatic Statement towards the Bounty Hunter Network Squadron containing the Contract Details, along with the Bounty Ammount. The Bot of that Squadron would pick both up and send a Notification on Discord and the Squadron Channel and also post it on the internal Board for everyone to see. Some Commander from that network decided to go for the contract locates the target and destroys it, getting a small bounty voucher. As he turns it in, he gets a flat boost of 500k Credits through the Treasury and gets a point on the internal Leaderboard for completed Contracts. Afterwards he confirms the kill in chat, which leads the bot to send a reply back to Squadron A, which sends it further to the original Commander.
And with that I am done. If you managed to get through all 4 parts take a cookie.
My biggest gripe with Squadrons is, that they come at a time, when everyone already established Communication, Organisation via the good Journal API and third party sites. So aside from the fact, that Squadrons only provide a small number of features, they cannot tie in with external sources, which makes them kinda obsolete. All the while Squadrons could hugely benefit Console Players, VR Users and actually everyone else, by allowing them to have the most important parts of their organisation channeled into the game, so they don't need to tab out/keep an eye on an second screen.
API for Squadron Management
Seeing how the Journal API allows us to access reports from the Game, I don't see any reason, why the API shouldn't be able to provide a Commander to Manage all aspects of his Squadron provided he has permissions of course via a simple Web-Interface and Web-API, so that automated bots can be setup to sync stuff like member invitations, promotion/demotions, kicks as well as Statements and everything else I suggested previously with outside sources like an INARA Page. I see you have already some sort of webpage in the works and I hopes it comes with such features or gets them added in the future.
External Chat
This is currently my final big point and properly not something we will see anytime in Elite, but I just want to share it with you to complete this list. Just as there should be an API to allow for managing a Squadron, I would love to see an API to interact with Squadron Chat from the Outside. Imagine FDev went so far and replaced their Chat System with an IRC-Network and allowed Commanders to join it from outside the Game by providing a special login. Not only could people use the network to talk to each other without having to boot up the game. Bots can once again be used to integrate other third party communication channels such as a Discord Channel or other IRC to the Players inside, allowing for squadrons to become supplemented by already great community made tools.
Ultimate Example if all 4 Parts are fuily implemented just for fun: I can type into Game Chat, that I want to set a 1 Million Credit Bounty on the Head of Commander MasterGanker. A bot would read my message and inform me, to make a payment to the squadron Treasury. After doing so, the bot sends a Diplomatic Statement towards the Bounty Hunter Network Squadron containing the Contract Details, along with the Bounty Ammount. The Bot of that Squadron would pick both up and send a Notification on Discord and the Squadron Channel and also post it on the internal Board for everyone to see. Some Commander from that network decided to go for the contract locates the target and destroys it, getting a small bounty voucher. As he turns it in, he gets a flat boost of 500k Credits through the Treasury and gets a point on the internal Leaderboard for completed Contracts. Afterwards he confirms the kill in chat, which leads the bot to send a reply back to Squadron A, which sends it further to the original Commander.
And with that I am done. If you managed to get through all 4 parts take a cookie.