Calixis
SWRP Writer
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2013
- Messages
- 655
- Reaction score
- 269
I've had a couple of people now message me about starship-focused characters. The problem ultimately comes down to people not really being bothered with characters who are pure starfigher pilots or ground troops, even when we permit people to 'mix and match'. It would be all well and good to say, "Well okay lets open up the Navy to people" but we know from experience that it's not really 'that' simple.
Activity fuels activity and fleet-based threads have never been especially popular on SWRP. The most we see out of starfighters are the occasional Battle of PvP thread and sometimes we may see a Mission Pack or two that similarly has a single starfighter focused mission. Does that come down to people being uninterested in the idea, or are we - well, the whole site - simply not facilitating the breathing room to allow people to properly get into their naval-based characters? In the GAR revamp, I folded starfighter pilots in with the Special Forces due to the former. If people want to fly starfighters they can do just that, right? But then I got musing on how non-existent fleet combat is after those couple of PM's and general discussions with people and it got me thinking.
The Mandalorians and now the Not-Stormtroopers have kind of usurped our position as 'the non-Force Sensitive military dudes' and it made me think on what kind of niche - as well as our Special Forces soldiers - we could take advantage up to try and draw the numbers and activity up a bit, or at least serve as a decent experiment which, at worst, leads to some wasted time writing. If nothing else, it could prove to be a fun test of seeing
Concept 1 - Fleet Officers and Starfighter Pilots
EDIT: Probably going with this.
The idea here is that we allow people to sign-up to the Republic Navy in one of two roles. Fleet Officers and Starfighter Pilots. Starfighter Pilots are self-explanatory so I won't even bother going into detail of them, although I'd probably say there's two ranks for them total (Pilot -> Squadron Leader).
Fleet Officers (the title is still a WIP) would be characters who, surprise, surprise, are given command of at least one starship. Obviously this involves a greater amount of responsibility IC than roleplaying a lone grunt with his boots in a trench, but considering how often they get torn apart like paper here- eh. When a member first signs up as a Fleet Officer they must present a profile that is generally of a better standard than we might expect from a GAR Trooper. Once Approved, they are given command of a single Hammerhead corvette. This should be enough to get them involved in Fleet-specific Mission Packs.
Advancement would probably work a bit differently. We could go with the three-rank structure we have now, or simply 'reward' the Fleet Officer with more powerful vessel to command (corvette/cruiser -> frigate -> destroyer -> dreadnought, etc), then a second rank where they move up to actually commanding a small fleet of their own. Any ships under their direct command or as part of 'their' fleet MUST be granted by myself or Fyremage, however. They cannot simply whip NPCs out of thin-air as if they were soldiers on the ground.
Concept 2 - Fleet Officers ONLY
People can still play starfighter pilots, however they would fall under GAR Special Forces instead. This is mostly to allow people to 'double-dip' plus it helps make the roster less complicated (Senator Ranks, GAR Special Forces ranks, Fleet Officer ranks AND Starfighter Pilot ranks). On the other hand we'd get a load of "b-b-but what about pilots?" questions from people who can't read but whatever.
Miscellaneous Stuff
Mission Packs could consist of all three sub-factions, GAR and Navy-led packs or just straight-up Navy packs. Transportation, pirate attacks, patrols, etc.
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Commodore - They have authority over two other NPC ships and/or other Captains. Depending on the thread.
As they rise through the ranks of the Republic Navy, aspiring captains may one day be granted the authority to command a squadron of ships. Only the most capable and experienced officers would be given the great responsibility of leading some of the galaxy's most powerful weapons of war, not to mention the hundreds of lives aboard each. It is not a position given lightly, but a war such as this has a way of bringing the best out in such capable men and women.
Captain - Default fleet officer rank. Begin with a corvette (Hammererhead is only one right now) and only the one ship. They can be awarded bigger commands (frigate, cruiser, etc) once they prove themselves.
Officers of the Republic Navy, as per their title, command the vessels that transport the Republic's armies and engage its enemies in ship-to-ship warfare. Most newly promoted captains begin in command of smaller, lighter vessels such as corvettes and escorts and, as they prove themselves capable leaders and tacticians, are given authority over more powerful warships. The rapidly escalating war against the Sith has put many captains - and their crews - through far more testing trials by fire than they or the instructors might have hoped for.
Squadron Leader - Our dedicated Starfighter pilot rank. Since basic GAR Troopers can fly Starfighters anyway I wanted to spruce this up a bit by giving them some NPC's, which is especially useful if they're doing a space thread in conjunction with actual ships.
Squadron Leaders are aces who have risen to take on the responsibility and challenge of leading their fellow starfighter pilots into battle against the Republic's enemies, be they among the stars on the the ground. These hotshots are usually flanked by two or more wing-men, although depending on their skillset it is not unheard of for them to be assigned to fly a mission solo. From short range scouting missions, escorting a bombing wing to annihilate a critical target or repelling engaging enemy starfighters during the chaotic throes of a space battle, the situations that the Squadron Leader will be called upon to lead their fellow pilots into are varied indeed.
Navy ranks function a little differently in that. Members can either apply as a Squadron Leader or as a Captain. The two share the same sub-faction (Navy), but perform very different roles. It would not make too much sense for a starfighter pilot to suddenly advance up to commanding a whole ship and the type of roleplay as written - despite both taking place above ground - are very different beasts.
Activity fuels activity and fleet-based threads have never been especially popular on SWRP. The most we see out of starfighters are the occasional Battle of PvP thread and sometimes we may see a Mission Pack or two that similarly has a single starfighter focused mission. Does that come down to people being uninterested in the idea, or are we - well, the whole site - simply not facilitating the breathing room to allow people to properly get into their naval-based characters? In the GAR revamp, I folded starfighter pilots in with the Special Forces due to the former. If people want to fly starfighters they can do just that, right? But then I got musing on how non-existent fleet combat is after those couple of PM's and general discussions with people and it got me thinking.
The Mandalorians and now the Not-Stormtroopers have kind of usurped our position as 'the non-Force Sensitive military dudes' and it made me think on what kind of niche - as well as our Special Forces soldiers - we could take advantage up to try and draw the numbers and activity up a bit, or at least serve as a decent experiment which, at worst, leads to some wasted time writing. If nothing else, it could prove to be a fun test of seeing
Concept 1 - Fleet Officers and Starfighter Pilots
EDIT: Probably going with this.
The idea here is that we allow people to sign-up to the Republic Navy in one of two roles. Fleet Officers and Starfighter Pilots. Starfighter Pilots are self-explanatory so I won't even bother going into detail of them, although I'd probably say there's two ranks for them total (Pilot -> Squadron Leader).
Fleet Officers (the title is still a WIP) would be characters who, surprise, surprise, are given command of at least one starship. Obviously this involves a greater amount of responsibility IC than roleplaying a lone grunt with his boots in a trench, but considering how often they get torn apart like paper here- eh. When a member first signs up as a Fleet Officer they must present a profile that is generally of a better standard than we might expect from a GAR Trooper. Once Approved, they are given command of a single Hammerhead corvette. This should be enough to get them involved in Fleet-specific Mission Packs.
Advancement would probably work a bit differently. We could go with the three-rank structure we have now, or simply 'reward' the Fleet Officer with more powerful vessel to command (corvette/cruiser -> frigate -> destroyer -> dreadnought, etc), then a second rank where they move up to actually commanding a small fleet of their own. Any ships under their direct command or as part of 'their' fleet MUST be granted by myself or Fyremage, however. They cannot simply whip NPCs out of thin-air as if they were soldiers on the ground.
Concept 2 - Fleet Officers ONLY
People can still play starfighter pilots, however they would fall under GAR Special Forces instead. This is mostly to allow people to 'double-dip' plus it helps make the roster less complicated (Senator Ranks, GAR Special Forces ranks, Fleet Officer ranks AND Starfighter Pilot ranks). On the other hand we'd get a load of "b-b-but what about pilots?" questions from people who can't read but whatever.
Miscellaneous Stuff
Mission Packs could consist of all three sub-factions, GAR and Navy-led packs or just straight-up Navy packs. Transportation, pirate attacks, patrols, etc.
_______________________________________
Commodore - They have authority over two other NPC ships and/or other Captains. Depending on the thread.
As they rise through the ranks of the Republic Navy, aspiring captains may one day be granted the authority to command a squadron of ships. Only the most capable and experienced officers would be given the great responsibility of leading some of the galaxy's most powerful weapons of war, not to mention the hundreds of lives aboard each. It is not a position given lightly, but a war such as this has a way of bringing the best out in such capable men and women.
Captain - Default fleet officer rank. Begin with a corvette (Hammererhead is only one right now) and only the one ship. They can be awarded bigger commands (frigate, cruiser, etc) once they prove themselves.
Officers of the Republic Navy, as per their title, command the vessels that transport the Republic's armies and engage its enemies in ship-to-ship warfare. Most newly promoted captains begin in command of smaller, lighter vessels such as corvettes and escorts and, as they prove themselves capable leaders and tacticians, are given authority over more powerful warships. The rapidly escalating war against the Sith has put many captains - and their crews - through far more testing trials by fire than they or the instructors might have hoped for.
Squadron Leader - Our dedicated Starfighter pilot rank. Since basic GAR Troopers can fly Starfighters anyway I wanted to spruce this up a bit by giving them some NPC's, which is especially useful if they're doing a space thread in conjunction with actual ships.
Squadron Leaders are aces who have risen to take on the responsibility and challenge of leading their fellow starfighter pilots into battle against the Republic's enemies, be they among the stars on the the ground. These hotshots are usually flanked by two or more wing-men, although depending on their skillset it is not unheard of for them to be assigned to fly a mission solo. From short range scouting missions, escorting a bombing wing to annihilate a critical target or repelling engaging enemy starfighters during the chaotic throes of a space battle, the situations that the Squadron Leader will be called upon to lead their fellow pilots into are varied indeed.
Navy ranks function a little differently in that. Members can either apply as a Squadron Leader or as a Captain. The two share the same sub-faction (Navy), but perform very different roles. It would not make too much sense for a starfighter pilot to suddenly advance up to commanding a whole ship and the type of roleplay as written - despite both taking place above ground - are very different beasts.
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