[silverwolf]

lol commander is the guy you click on for your options on the main hall so its safe to say he's on the flagship

[karajorma]

I don't believe command is present in the system onboard a ship. It's just too much of a coincidence.

In The Mystery of the Trinity the Aquitaine leaps into the nebula for the first time. At that time the Aquitaine is the only ship in the nebula yet command is present. So if Command is giving orders it must be from on board the Aquitaine but if that's the case why even have an Admiral on board?

Command is later still present when the player is assigned to fly vasudan craft. Yet in several of those missions the Aquitaine is probably still in the nebula.

I tend to think that command is speaking via a FTL link using the jump nodes. The signal is probably relayed via capital ships (which is why command isn't present in Lions Den).

[magatsu1]

I'm inclined to think "Command" is a name for "the bosses" as apposed to another squadron or wing. (for the players benefit)
I doubt the central Commanders of the entire GTVA would be issuing orders to specific fighters. (Chain of command and all that)
Most likely the fellow who appears on screen is an operator responsable for that particular wing.

[Stunaep]

I agree.

Plus it is fairly well established in the FS2 main campaign that said operator is based on the 3rd Fleet HQ in Capella. Why? Because the 3rd Fleet HQ is the ONLY ship in the game that uses the same head ANI that Allied Command.

[hobnob1978]

It could really be simple.

You`ve got 3rd fleet headquarters which holds

Admirals of 3rd fleet who give orders to,
Captains of "wings" of capships who give orders to,
Commanders of specific capships who give orders to,
lieutenants of the designated wings that are in the capship.

Wing commanders answer to him/her

But the lieutenant keeps an eye on major/ important battles/situations for command in case higher up authority/intel is needed.

So, alpha 1 is on important missions ALL the time... Don`t that make you proud!

Oh and the signal is FTL transferal from capship/base to capship/base a la piggyback through subspace nodes.

Nark!

[Stunaep]

Hobnob makes sense.

Only Petrarch is the commanding officer of the Aquitaine. He resides on the Aquitaine. So that would break the chain of command.

[diamondgeezer]

No it wouldn't. Might make it a bit lumpy, but it just means you've got a senior officer in immediate charge of a huge asset like a destroyer. I mean if a destroyer was cut off from Command, you'd want an admiral handy, no?

In actual fact, Petrarch probably shouldn't be the commander of  the Aquitaine but a fleet admiral who uses the Aquitaine as his flagship. The Aquitaine should have its own captain, who answers to Petrarch just like all the other captains in the fleet. That's how it's done in modern navies

[hobnob1978]

Originally posted by diamondgeezer
No it wouldn't. Might make it a bit lumpy, but it just means you've got a senior officer in immediate charge of a huge asset like a destroyer. I mean if a destroyer was cut off from Command, you'd want an admiral handy, no?

In actual fact, Petrarch probably shouldn't be the commander of  the Aquitaine but a fleet admiral who uses the Aquitaine as his flagship. The Aquitaine should have its own captain, who answers to Petrarch just like all the other captains in the fleet. That's how it's done in modern navies

Yeah and that still ties in with my idea....

As a fleet Admiral Petrarch does not have to remain on a single base witht he tohers. In fact that would be dangerous as a tactical strike could disrupt the system too much. With Admirals spread over the fleet inbases, Flagships ect it`s much harder.

Besides we know that the Aquitane has a Captain, in the mission were you test the stelth fighter and then shivans pop in to bomb the aquitane.. Command in this case are on the space station and tell you to get the Aquitane out due to them watching your simualtion of an important piece of tech. They then tell AQ to leave and that other dude (not Petrearch) tells them that they`ve set course ect. I presume he`s the Captain of the Aquitane.

Was the Collossus assigned to 3rd fleet? If so did it take orders from the Admirals there?
Or was the Collossus assigned to GTVA security council who told it where to go?

[magatsu1]

I'd imagine a ship as important (in a pratical and political sense) would be controlled the security council itself rather thsn just a fleet commander.

[StratComm]

Except that command issues orders to the colossus from time to time (when Bosch slips past into the knossos and as the colossus is about to be destroyed) and so it somehow falls under the juresdiction of 3rd fleet command.  Maybe that's because the 3rd fleet has operational control over all of Capella and Gamma Draconis, but it's hard to say.

[hobnob1978]

Originally posted by StratComm
Except that command issues orders to the colossus from time to time (when Bosch slips past into the knossos and as the colossus is about to be destroyed) and so it somehow falls under the juresdiction of 3rd fleet command.  Maybe that's because the 3rd fleet has operational control over all of Capella and Gamma Draconis, but it's hard to say.

Mmmm...  

maybe the council temporarily assigned the colossus to the 3rd fleet. After all they had Shivan incursions and also the NTF to worry about. I suppose it could be designed to be a "hot spot" eliminator.

I just wondered... would a command from 1st fleet headquaters override 3rd fleet?
I presume 1st fleet is guarding the new terran capital world and the new vasudan capital world.
2nd fleet guards the area around the cap worlds.

[Flipside]

I agree with you on the Colossus thing, it would not be assigned to any particular fleet, it would be considered more or less a fleet in it's own right, at least when it's not practising it's Ballet, which is almost as embarassing as watching a freighter do the Judo Death Roll with a ship 4 times it's size

As for who commanded it, my vote is with the GTVA security council, after all, it was a joint Terran-Vasudan project, so the Vasudans are hardly going to take lightly to it being assigned to any Terran Fleet, or having Terran command base itself there, I don't think they trust each other quite THAT much yet.

Flipside

[Atlur]

Originally posted by hobnob1978


I just wondered... would a command from 1st fleet headquaters override 3rd fleet?
I presume 1st fleet is guarding the new terran capital world and the new vasudan capital world.
2nd fleet guards the area around the cap worlds.

I can't be sure, but I wouldn't think so.  I've always assumed that the GTVA fleets were parallel in the chain of command.

As for the Colossus, considering the firepower of that ship in comparasion to any other in the GTVA fleet, it could have been easily construed as a 'non-conventional' weapon and deployed like a commander today would deploy a tactical nuclear weapon. I'd imagine it would be assigned to fleets as needed, but only with direct supervision from the GTVA Security Council.

[Taristin]

Originally posted by Flipside
I don't think they trust each other quite THAT much yet.

...Or at all for that matter. Trust is a lie for when you're too afraid to rely on your own volition.

[Flipside]

LOL It's the Vasudan War project! Wanna play that one

And we can never rely on our own Volition, they've proved that time and time again hehehehehe

Flipside

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Flipside
I agree with you on the Colossus thing, it would not be assigned to any particular fleet, it would be considered more or less a fleet in it's own right

In one of the briefings they refer to the Colossus and it's battle group doing something. That suggests that the Colossus was part of a fleet. If it was though they would probably have had both Terran and Vasudan ships in the fleet.

Oh and according to Su-tehp's list (I know it's not canon but it's still pretty well thought out) the Terran first fleet is still in Sol. When Sol was cut off the 1st was never reformed in memory of the fleet missing in Sol. That does kind of make sense to me.

[magatsu1]

Here's one to rack your brains with:
as a Hammerhead pilot the Psamtik appears to recieve directives from "Command".
Is that 3rd fleet directing the leader of the 13th Vasudan battlegroup ?

[hobnob1978]

Originally posted by magatsu1
Here's one to rack your brains with:
as a Hammerhead pilot the Psamtik appears to recieve directives from "Command".
Is that 3rd fleet directing the leader of the 13th Vasudan battlegroup ?

I always assumed a "battlegroup" was one below a fleet ie

3rd fleet comprised of (say what?) 100 battlegroups?

thats why the collosus takes orders from 3rd fleet command. It may be a battlegroup under total control of GTVA secuirty council but they`ve attached it temporarily to 3rd fleet.

And vasudans are most likely mixed with the terran Battlegroups.

And to answer the question of admirals... Petrarch could be an first order Admiral. These are seasoned Admirals who command fleets. Khafre is a second order admiral, these command battlegroups and can be promoted to fleet command.  

So order is

GTVA security council (say Command Prime).
Fleet Command (2nd, 3rd ect) (admirals of first order)
Battle group CIC (Admirals of 2nd order)
Command carriers (Captains)
Wing group commanders (commanders)
Wing commanders (Lieutenant commanders/lieutenants) (A1 blue lions)
Wing leaders (depends on rank, up to commanders) (Alpha 1 you me everyone)
Civilian Support structures. (transp, Cargo, sensors)

Hows that?

I borrowed here and there from Honor Harrington, Startrek, Babylon5 and Starwars to cook that up. any chinks?

Special ops can override orders up to ones given by Fleet command with authorisation on scene by ranking officer (Ie snipes when the Vasudans attack early giving you the order to attack as they were renegade)

So once again... Anyone see any chinks.

[magatsu1]

but you're presuming Terran and Vasudan fleets operate the same fleet structure.
Doesn't the Tec. room info (where it shows the difference between GT and GV) say Terrans and Vasudans operate seperate fleets, with only the GTVA General Assembley linking the two ?

[hobnob1978]

No I don`t think so.
The techroom says that the Terrans and Vasudans operate seperate fleets under a singular comand structure

This means that command has to consist of more than one council ect.

While this goes on it shows the difference between terran and vasudan ships. I presume that "seperate fleets" in this context means Ships ie terrans and vasudans have equivilant classes foir their fleets and they are crewed by humans in human ships and Vasudan in vasudan ships. Thisis instead of having one set of classes and both Vasudans and terrans crew them. The fleets remain separate but operate under their fleet command who in turn recive directives from GTVA command (security council)

If however they mean that the fleets are run seperately then the command structure is run by one spacestation. This would be stupid and dangerous as an attack on command central could cripple the GTVA. By incorporating fleet commands under the GTVA security council you get flexibility and a firm command even if the main "fleet headquarters" is attacked.

[Edit] Another idea. The reason A! always has orders given to him and capships, wings ect in our missions is that Baldy is Petrachs aide and therefore relays Petrarch`s orders as he resides on the Aquitane and forms battleplans with the other Admirals of fleet command. I presume FTL is fast enough to do that.
Otherwise Baldy is really twins... LOL One on fleet command headquarters and one on the Aquitane;)