Hard Light Productions Forums

General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: General Battuta on January 17, 2010, 06:15:48 pm

Title: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: General Battuta on January 17, 2010, 06:15:48 pm
Just wondering about that possibility. I'd always assumed Command was on the Aquitaine, but behavior in Proving Grounds suggests otherwise.

It'd make that last transmission - "This is Allied Command, signing off. Godspeed, pilots."  - rather more poignant. Rather like FS2's equivalent of "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!"
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Blue Lion on January 17, 2010, 06:21:48 pm
I assumed he was in a central command station away from the frontlines. I would assume in a mass evacuation of a system, people like him wouldn't be there.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Rodo on January 17, 2010, 06:28:36 pm
Assuming "command" is that black guy? don't know about that... but If it was, the command center is always far away from the front lines, so no, they wouldn't be in Capella IMO.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: General Battuta on January 17, 2010, 06:32:23 pm
Possibly. It depends on the latency of communications through jump nodes. Command may need to be in the same system (which brings up the weird issue of why Command follows Alpha 1 around, but hey, it's a game.)
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Dragon on January 17, 2010, 06:35:00 pm
He might have coordinated the evacuation though, nobody saw the destruction of an entire star coming.
Prehaps he decided to buy some more time and get some transports free for civilians, just like the captain that goes down with the ship if there are not enough lifeboats.
I think he wanted to make sure that all civilans will be evacuated, then when supernova started he knew that he won't make it out.
If it was like that, the tone of the last transmission would fit the theory of heroic sacrifice.
Also I don't think he was from the central, but rather from a local in-system command (Capella was fairly important, so a command post located there would have some generals and admirals on board. It just happened to be close to GD, so nebula ops were most likely controlled from there.).
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Woolie Wool on January 17, 2010, 07:10:31 pm
I don't really think it would be accurate to call him "Command". He speaks for Command, but Command itself is a panel of senior officers somewhere else, probably in Beta Aquilae. It's quite possible that Lt. Baldy died in Capella; a communications officer isn't exactly a VIP in most militaries.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Blue Lion on January 17, 2010, 07:21:10 pm
But where would he be? In a station somewhere? On a ship? It was an evacuation. They were basically sitting with their fingers on the buttons waiting to close everything down.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Woolie Wool on January 17, 2010, 08:02:58 pm
Probably on a ship trying to stay as far away from the battle as possible while still being in communication range. Someone has to stay behind to coordinate the evacuation.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Dr. Pwnguin on January 17, 2010, 09:00:25 pm
I tend to think of it as one guy having cloned himself multiple times and placing a clone in every populated system.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Mongoose on January 17, 2010, 09:07:47 pm
I'd assume that "Command" was based off of 3rd Fleet HQ in Capella, which was evacuated in the mission "Dunkerque."  I don't see any reason why he'd stick around after that, since communication through intersystem nodes does seem to be just about instantaneous (see: FS1's "Good Luck").  I always took the "Godspeed" line to just be referring to the player, since there was no guarantee that you'd be close enough to the node to save your ass.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Droid803 on January 17, 2010, 09:24:52 pm
Doesn't 3rd Fleet HQ play the command messages for that mission?
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: ShadowGorrath on January 17, 2010, 10:19:53 pm
It does. So, yeah, Command was on the Messana, IIRC.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Colonol Dekker on January 18, 2010, 02:30:51 am
You see all the FS2 commands in the mainhall.
 
So I postulate they're all on the Aquitaine.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on January 18, 2010, 02:33:01 am
Command is an all knowing presence transcending space and time. 

All be it a pretty stupid one.........
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: TrashMan on January 18, 2010, 02:56:53 am
Command probably has several communication officers in each system that relay their commands.

I can understand why [V] only used one head ani for it - for familiartiy. Frankly, I believe having a WIDE head ani pool to select from could improve the atmosphere significantlly.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: headdie on January 18, 2010, 03:07:29 am
like some here i always assumed he was a CIC type officer on the Aquitaine though that falls apart when you have the same CIC officer while based off the Psamtik and Memphis so i dont know.

maybe subspace communications allows the officer to be based at 3rd fleet HQ so got evacuated and was operating from the Messana, also perhaps to go between systems you need an active subspace node so the god speed and command signing off was because the node was going to be sealed soon anyway
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Pred the Penguin on January 18, 2010, 03:21:35 am
Alpha One's personal comm officer to command?
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Androgeos Exeunt on January 18, 2010, 06:13:01 am
The Command that we see in-game is probably the Options guy in the Aquitaine's mainhall.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: ShadowGorrath on January 18, 2010, 08:00:48 am
So why would you get Command's messages from the 3rd Fleet Command station in Dunkerque, using the same head ani and voice?
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Dilmah G on January 18, 2010, 08:04:00 am
The Command that we see in-game is probably the Options guy in the Aquitaine's mainhall.
Dude, they look nothing alike!

I think the whole concept is inconsistent, since our BlackMan appears everywhere. But I think the statement in Battuta's post by 'Command', confirms that he's on Third Fleet HQ ("...This is Third Fleet HQ...").
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: darkdaej on January 18, 2010, 08:55:49 am
The Command that we see in-game is probably the Options guy in the Aquitaine's mainhall.
Dude, they look nothing alike!

I think the whole concept is inconsistent, since our BlackMan appears everywhere. But I think the statement in Battuta's post by 'Command', confirms that he's on Third Fleet HQ ("...This is Third Fleet HQ...").


I Agree with Androgeos.  The Options guy and the head ani for "Command" look rather identical.

In the case of "where is he?", then i'd bet he's on the Aquitaine.  The headani for 3rd fleet HQ isn't "blackman" but rather is identical to the captain of the trinity/Actium/Colossus/etc... (IIRC the same voice actor does 3rd fleet HQ and the Colossus)

Also, "command" is simply a quick way to say the orders came from higher up, kinda like an Army Company CO who would relay orders to his men would refer to the source as "Battallion", such as: "Battallion wants Baker (as in Baker Company) to take that artillery position and dig in until reinforcements arrive."

Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Lucika on January 20, 2010, 04:23:23 pm
If he is on the Aquitane, why does Admiral Petrarch talk to us when the destroyer is evacuated from Capella?

I always thought that FS1's Command guy was stationed on Earth. Remember how scared he was when the Lucy was getting closer and closer to Sol?
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Dragon on January 20, 2010, 04:30:38 pm
FS1 one might have been, byt we're talking about FS2 one.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Lucika on January 20, 2010, 04:35:17 pm
If he is on the Aquitane, why does Admiral Petrarch talk to us when the destroyer is evacuated from Capella?

This is the main stuff.
Title: Re: Did Command die in Capella?
Post by: Tantalus53 on January 21, 2010, 09:05:54 am
Well based off the issue of when the player oversees the Evac of Third Fleet HQ, and the Command Ani is our resident FS2 Black guy from 3rd Fleet HQ, (and the player is on the Aquatine, Flagship of the Third Fleet) I would say they got out when the Mesana evac'd them.