Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Knight Templar on October 27, 2002, 06:29:02 pm
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Ok i don't know about you guys, but there is some confusion around here and i need some answers.
Admiral Petrarch/Aquitaine's Captain/ Command
Are they all different people? I know for sure that command and the Aquitaine's Captain are not the same (obviously, one is white and the other is black) But What about Admiral P? We know that he is on the Aquitaine, by playing Argonautica ("Admiral Petrach reports his gunners....") but other than that, we neve hear form Petrarch in game, to my knowledge. All we hear of him is in the End Cutscene and the Breifings from Quarterdeck.
Ok, so are the Aquitaine Man and Petrach the same man? They sound nothing alike. I always pictured Petrarch as Command. But i don't think that is right either, because in Dunkerque, i'm sure there is something about Command saying he is leaving on the last Transport. So that leads me to wether or not Ad. P. and Aquitaine Man are the same person... I don't think they are, but then why would the Aquitaine have two commanding officers?
I'm naming every captain from now on...
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A modern US carrier has both an Admiral on board - the man who commands the CBG - and the Captain, who commands the ship itself.
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A modern US carrier has both an Admiral on board - the man who commands the CBG - and the Captain, who commands the ship itself.
ok....
well is it the same for GTVA ships then?
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One would assume that having the captain command the ship, the admiral would be free to concentrate on running the fleet.
The captain is not Petrarch. We never actually see Petrarch, only hear his voice (Robert Loggia.)
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Admiral gives the orders, Captain carries them out.
Admiral = Picard/Sisko
Captain = Riker/Kira
Admiral says: Blow-up those destroyers.
Captain says: Target the lead destroyer's communications array.
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Originally posted by Knight Templar
Ok i don't know about you guys, but there is some confusion around here and i need some answers.
Admiral Petrarch/Aquitaine's Captain/ Command
Are they all different people?
Short answer: Yes
Long answer: It's already been explained that a flagship of a fleet has several high-ranking officers aboard. There's the captain, who commands the flagship iself, and the admiral, who commands the entire fleet the flagship heads.
Command is a more esoteric presence. We never know where Command is transmitting from, but it's known to span adjacent systems at least. We know this because Command is transmitting into Capella from outside Capella in the final mission of the original campaign. Command is telling everyone still in the Capella system to get out when the Supernova begins. Then, just before the supernova hits, Command wishes everyone still in Capella "Godspeed" while he's behaving as if he's transmitting from somewhere that is evidently safe from the supernova, which would mean he's transmitting from outside the Capella system.
But, yes, Admiral Petrarch, the Aquitaine's captain and Command are all different people.
Just for the record, the Aquitaine's captain, the CO of the 242nd Suicide Kings and Admiral Kafre are all different people, even though they all sound like the same person (despite the Vasudan translator distortion in Kafre's voice) , but this might be that :v: couldn't afford to hire more voice actors...
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KT: Wait, who is this "Aquitaine man" you are referring to and how is he different from Petrarch? The Petrarch in the briefings and the Petrarch in the game do actually sound different, but that is probably due to what Su-tehp said. (the former sounds like the endgame movie guy and the latter has the Cordova/Khafre voice) Or do you mean the Command guy?
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Well i'm almost certain that Command , up untill Dunkerque, transmitted from the 3rd fleet HQ. When it was evacuated, i assume he went to Vega.
Just for the record, the Aquitaine's captain, the CO of the 242nd Suicide Kings and Admiral Kafre are all different people, even though they all sound like the same person (despite the Vasudan translator distortion in Kafre's voice) , but this might be that couldn't afford to hire more voice actors...
well duh.. i'm not that oblivious :rolleyes: ;)
KT: Wait, who is this "Aquitaine man" you are referring to and how is he different from Petrarch? The Petrarch in the briefings and the Petrarch in the game do actually sound different, but that is probably due to what Su-tehp said. (the latter sounds like Cordova/Khafre voice) Or do you mean the Command guy?
Sorry, i stopped Saying "The Captain of the Aquitaine" because it was alot to say, but that's what i meant. Aparently they are all differnet people.
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CP, the "Aquitaine guy" KT was referring to is, I think, the captain of the Aquitaine we see in-game with the comm animations and speaks with Cordova's voice. KT wasn't sure if this guy and Admiral Petrarch are the same person, but I think it's obvious that they aren't. They don't sound nearly like the same person, and KT didn't know that multiple flag officers (ship's captain and admiral) could be on the same ship.
EDIT: Damn, KT beat me by three minutes...;) :D
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ah I see; I wasn't sure what the discussion of the captain/admiral had to do with Petrarch, but I see what you mean now. :D
I guess the question then is who this other guy is; is he supposed to be Cordova or does he just sound like Cordova? (actually, I wouldn't be too surprised if Cordova suddenly got promoted really fast and it is indeed him, since we all know that Loukakis was able to advance three ranks in the space of a few hours at most; he must have played lots of RI :D)
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EDIT: Damn, KT beat me by three minutes... :D ;)
W0rd!
yeah i think i forgot that the Aquitaine was the 3rd fleet commad ship and not the Colossus.. :doh:
I would have remembered the Admiral/ Captain (ala starwars; The Executor, Vadar and Piett) thing if i remembered the Aquitaine was the Command ship. :blah:
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I can't say, I quite agree with the Admiral/Captain relationship here. If Petrarch commands the entire 3rd fleet, then what the hell is Command doing in 3rd fleet HQ. That's one.
If Petrarch commands the entire 3rd fleet, then what the hell does Admiral Kafre, on the Psamtik command. Psamtik is just the Vasudan flagship of the 3rd fleet, but still part of the third fleet.
I'd say, Allied Command (the one on the 3rd fleet HQ) commands the 3rd fleet, and the Admirals command their respective vessels.
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Ok, that's what i'd like to think, but it doesn't explain the Aquitaine Captain/Petrarch multiple personas.
and IIRC, the Psamtik wasn't 3rd fleet at all.. 6th fleet Vega i think.
Like i said though, play the mission "Dunkerque", I'm positive command makes a refrence about evacuating (himself) off the station. So i think that rules out command being Petrarch.
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The way I figure it Petrarch is admiral of the third fleet and is in command of the whole fleet IF the entire fleet is present.
Command watch the over all picture. When the ships are split up and fighting on multiple fronts command watches over all the ships and makes sure that ships don`t get outflanked or outnumbered.
Meanwhile during a battle Petrarch looks after any ships he can see. This lets Petrach concentrate on the ships present at the battle he's commanding.
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Originally posted by Knight Templar
Ok, that's what i'd like to think, but it doesn't explain the Aquitaine Captain/Petrarch multiple personas.
and IIRC, the Psamtik wasn't 3rd fleet at all.. 6th fleet Vega i think.
Like i said though, play the mission "Dunkerque", I'm positive command makes a refrence about evacuating (himself) off the station. So i think that rules out command being Petrarch.
Yeah, that's positive. That kinda rules out Petrarch being the commander of all 3rd fleet. Because, if Petrarch commanded the 3rd fleet, then what the hell is Allied Command doing in 3rd (!) fleet HQ
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Originally posted by Stunaep
If Petrarch commands the entire 3rd fleet, then what the hell does Admiral Kafre, on the Psamtik command. Psamtik is just the Vasudan flagship of the 3rd fleet, but still part of the third fleet.
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Originally posted by Knight Templar
...and IIRC, the Psamtik wasn't 3rd fleet at all.. 6th fleet Vega i think.
Actually you're both wrong :rolleyes:
The Psamtik was the flagship of the 13th Vasudan Battle Group.
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Then, just before the supernova hits, Command wishes everyone still in Capella "Godspeed" while he's behaving as if he's transmitting from somewhere that is evidently safe from the supernova, which would mean he's transmitting from outside the Capella system.
He could just be extremely cool when under fire. Some people turned into blabbering wrecks when Capella when nova and they realised they were about to be vaporised - not Command though, he's as solid as a rock!
I always thought that the in-game Aquataine captains was old RL, but with a different person playing him for some reason. On a slightly related note. Is the Admiral Bosch in game voice the same as the cutscene voice? Part of me says they are the same, but part of me thinks they're different. Anyone else think this?
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I can't say, I quite agree with the Admiral/Captain relationship here. If Petrarch commands the entire 3rd fleet, then what the hell is Command doing in 3rd fleet HQ. That's one.
Well, the Command guy is just a communications officer; he probably takes orders from a bunch of other guys. I think that he relays orders from both the Aquitaine (Petrarch) and central command (the big Beta Aquilae guys). If the Aquitaine happens to be in the mission, someone there tends to give the orders directly.
If Petrarch commands the entire 3rd fleet, then what the hell does Admiral Kafre, on the Psamtik command. Psamtik is just the Vasudan flagship of the 3rd fleet, but still part of the third fleet.
Actually, while the Psamtik is the flagship of the 13th battle group, Terran and Vasudan fleets are quite distinct. The 3rd Terran Fleet has nothing to do with the 3rd Vasudan Battle Group, and the two may be (and frequently are) stationed in completely different systems as well.
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Tar-Palantir, the in-game voice and cutscene voice of Bosch are both one and the same person, both played by Ronny Cox, one of my favorite character actors. For those of you who don't know him, he played the head bad guy in Robocop (not the head thug who killed Murphy in the beginning, that was Kurtwood Smith, who incidentally also worked on FS2; Smith did the voice for the Colossus cutscene. Ronny Cox played the bad guy who was the second highest guy at OCP and was killed by Robocop by falling out of a building).
CP is right about the Psamtik and Aquitaine being assigned to different fleets/battle groups. I made a list of which fleets and battle groups are assigned where. You sholud be able to find the list here:
http://pub11.ezboard.com/fjtofrm11
and scroll down and click on the "Fleet Organization notes for the GTVA and the NTF! LOOK HERE" link. That will give you the list. (There are other goodies here too, so feel free to have a look at them also.)
This list should also illustrate the difference between fleets and battle groups (namely, fleets are Terran while battle groups are vasudan).
But you guys should also note that even if the Psamtik and Aquitaine were assigned to different fleets/battle groups, there ARE instances when elements of both Vasudan and terran fleets get ordered to the same system. We see this in Deneb at the start of the FS2 campaign. The Aquitaine was transfered from Capella to reinforce the Psamtik at Deneb. So even though the Aquitaine is the flagship of the Capella 3rd Fleet, that doesn't mean it always stays in Capella or that it can get transferred to other fleets or special taskforces into the nebula as necessary.
CP is also correct about Command. It could very well be that Command is transmitting all the way from Beta Aquilae, since I already illustrated that the Command (black) guy is transmitting from a different system than Capella during the supernova. I don't think Petrarch was on 3rd Fleet HQ when it was being evacuated; he was already onboard the Aquitaine. Petrarch can command the 3rd Fleet from the HQ or the Aquitaine; I think his support personnel were all at the HQ, however, and it was those guys (Petrarch's staff) who were being evacuated.
Tar-Palantir, solid as a rock or no, the Command guy said "*you* must evacuate Capella now", he didn't say "*we* must evacuate Capella now"; so it seems self-evident that he wasn't in Capella at the start of the supernova and thus wasn't in danger from it.
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I still think command and Petrarch are different though, because there is now reason why Petrarch would be on 3rd HQ when he is also on the Aquitaine. Besides, command is in effect command. Petrarch wouldn't be with each and every fighter wing on every sortie talking it through. That's non sense. Petrarch commands the ship and the Rest of the Fleet in engagements and when moving somewhere.
He doesn't order individual ships around all the time though. If he sends a deimos on a mission, he doesn't command it , the captain does. It's like What a crew does on a ship. The captain doesn't do everything on the ship, he just tells the crew what to do for the ship, then they carry it out.
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Of course they are different; I fully agree, KT. Here's something that should shed some more light on the status of the Command guy:
In usual military practice "Command" is a bunch of generals/admirals/other military bigwigs sitting in conference making decisions together. Then there is the guy or guys who communicate the decisions of Command out to whomever needs the orders. So the black guy would be the one communicating the decisions of Command.
Perhaps Petrarch is part of the Command conference via subspace communication, perhaps not, but it would seem likely at least in any situation in which his fleet is involved. Probably Command includes several generals and admirals who serve directly under the Security Council as the overall military masterminds of the GTVA, and the admirals like Petrarch are junior members of any Command conference in which their fleets are involved.
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I think Sesqy has this right.
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Think of Command Like the Pentagon. They sit back and dish out orders from a far, while the Alpha 1s do the dirty work.
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Right, but... is that guy like Alpha 1's guardian angel? I mean, in every mission, he's watching you, dictating orders and giving status reports. What are the chances the GTVA's top officials are all sitting around, following YOUR progress? Just something that always bothered me.
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right, that's why they have officials or Comm officers that talk to the ships that or in a certain sorteed area.