[Charismatic]

Hello everyone,
I’m attempting to start a "willy_principal" type discussion topic.

I was wondering, what do they do in there past time.. what are they allowed to do, go?
I know they have a bar, sure thing, but, if they have like a few days off, can they roam in their fighters, or freelance and visit other bases\ships?
Certainly their life isn’t just 23 hrs of their day is in a fighter screwing things up.


And as a sub topic, how long do you suppose is the life expectancy of a pilot, or a 'estimated __ missions before they die' guess (This I ask, cause of most missions I fly, by the end command spent 4-5 wings and your the last one)?

That should get us started off. Discuss.

[Jaeger]

Off-duty pilots probably find their way to the ship's mess, rec rooms, run laps around the floor of an empty cargo bay, hit the simulator modules or check the communications network for messages from friends and family back home.

There also seems to be a fair amount of women serving aboard GTVA warships, so that's always an option.

I doubt many pilots would get the chance to boot around the galaxy whenever they felt like. Fighters need prep-work, fuel, munitions, and repair every sortie they fly; the average maintenance time for Navy and Air Force fighters is about two hours for every hour of flight time. During peace time, the ship's Air Boss may grant flight time for pilots to make sure they get at least the minimum number of flight hours per month required for every pilot.

Undoubtedly, it's a major event for all involved when an Orion or Hecate reaches port for resupply. Doubt many pilots would stick around onboard; those not assigned to CAP duty probably find the first transport to an Arcadia.

I'd say the average life expectancy hovers around four or five sorties. Bombers slightly less, Herc pilots a lot less, and Lokis... well, hope you don't get assigned to one.

[phatosealpha]

I would expect taking out fighters for joy rides is a big no-no.  Not like they let modern pilots cruise around in F-16s doing errands on their day off.  In a time of war there ain't no way that's happening - between missions the techies are almost certainly doing everything they can to repair the damage flyboys do to the ships.  In times of peace, those things still cost a fortune and I just don't see it happening.

Likely they have more recreation on a destroyer then just a bar.  Health clubs, social clubs, malls and the like seem likely.  I'd imagine there's planet leave too, well, at least when the shivans aren't trying to blow up the universe.  Given that the military seems to have ditched any gender based exclusion policies, I imagine that recreational pursuits of a horizontal nature are fairly common, at least with the more charasmatic pilots.

I'd expect life expectancy is pretty good most of the time, and alpha 1 is just a bad luck charm for everybody else.  The interceptor unit (ravens, I think?) apparently lasted from FS1 to FS2, and with a turnover rate like the one you see in missions, 2 years would be an eternity for a single squadron.

[Kie99]

I doubt they would be able to use their fighter for anything other than missions, GTVA command just wouldn't let them in case they crashed them or got in an argument.

Life Expectancy for:
Normal Pilot: 1 mission
Ace: 2 missions
Double Ace: 3 Missions
Triple Ace: 4 Missions

If you survive 5 missions you are probably made an admiral.  Unless you are Alpha 1, then you will be expected to stop the SAthanas Armada before before becoming a Lietenant Junior Grade.  Of course while you're an ensign you can control the 70th Blue Lions

[Unknown Target]

Joy riding fighters = a big no no. Not only does it use up fuel, but it's a danger to expensive equipment and the pilot's life.

Anyway - I would expect life for them is much like life is on today's aircraft carriers.

[aldo_14]

Short.

[Charismatic]

@phato- a mall? Anyone agree with phato?
@kiet- Basically.
@unknown- What is the life onbord todays aircraft carriers?

[Jal-18]

aldo stole my joke

[dan87uk]

They would possibly let higher ranking officers have their own personal fighter that they can take out if you think about it, as for pilots live's id say they jus do whatever they wish within the rules of conduct lol.
I'd say life expectantcy in normal circumstances are 10+(ie: against pirates and small crime syndicates) in war times against NTF/HoL etc i would say 3ish and against shivans id say 1 meyb 2 mission life expectantcy

[pyro-manic]

Titties and beer. Then laser-tipped death.

[NGTM-1R]

An Orion is essentially a small city stuffed into an armored box that has guns on it, so I imagine it has most of the city-type amenities: movie theater somewhere, a few bars, a few gyms, some general-purpose gathering place areas like observation decks or lounges, swimming pool or two, maybe a small indoor park.

If they were only flying the missions we see, then their life expentancy would be awful short, but I think we're just getting the highlights of Alpha 1's career, and he's probably flying five or so other missions where nothing happened for every one where something did (and hence we played it). Call it 7 mission life expectancy in a major conflict for a new pilot, but only 2 or 2.5 missions where they see combat.

[J.P.]

Possibly one or two Gyms. Then maybe they have database access to history, technology and such. Maybe they can watch the news on their personal laptop. They would probably have maybe one mission every one or two days, so they can do what they want in that time.

All of the other stuff that ngtm1r said is probably most unlikely. They have to have a big fusion reactor somwhere in there, because they mention it a few times in FS2. The Orion is a Destroyer class. It's a military vessel so I doubt they would have swimming pools and movie theatres. They probably have crew qaurters and such. They probably have people that work in the night and people that work in the day so they have people maintaining the systems at all times.

But they proably get furlough every now and then when they come to a station or a planet. But usually it is probably work, work and more work. They probably each have an an hour and thirty minutes to eat at random times during the day. Most likely they schedule everyones eating times so they have at least several people working on maintaining systems.

Pilots have it sort of easier but also have it the hardest on missions. Like I said in the first paragraph they probably spend their time just playing around doing that stuff when they are not on a mission.

Ok, I am done babbling

[Taristin]

Originally posted by J.P.

All of the other stuff that ngtm1r said is probably most unlikely. They have to have a big fusion reactor somwhere in there, because they mention it a few times in FS2. The Orion is a Destroyer class. It's a military vessel so I doubt they would have swimming pools and movie theatres. They probably have crew qaurters and such. They probably have people that work in the night and people that work in the day so they have people maintaining the systems at all times.
 

It's called morale. Modern vessels today have movie theaters and gyms and the like. And yes, they're military, too.

[FireCrack]

I'd say the command breifing rooms double as movie theaters when not being used.

[Carl]

three words: wiggy wiggy wiggy.

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Raa


It's called morale. Modern vessels today have movie theaters and gyms and the like. And yes, they're military, too.

Gyms have the side effect of keeping the crew fit, too.  Maybe they have special rooms without gravity for ****s n' giggles, as we see so often in cod (and sometimes not cod) sci-fi stories?

[kv1at3485]

Anybody have an idea how modern carrier pilots spend their time?  I suspect it would be roughly equivilent to that of FS pilots (except they live longer, of course.)

[Ghostavo]

Didn't Captain Loukakis raise 3 ranks in something like 4 hours? If so, I'd expect pilots to have a very, VERY short life. Why would a Destroyer have useless stuff like swimming pools or even mess halls if there is no one to use them?

[aldo_14]

Originally posted by Ghostavo
Didn't Captain Loukakis raise 3 ranks in something like 4 hours? If so, I'd expect pilots to have a very, VERY short life. Why would a Destroyer have useless stuff like swimming pools or even mess halls if there is no one to use them?

You forgot the officers........

[Unknown Target]

Originally posted by Charismatic

@unknown- What is the life onbord todays aircraft carriers?

You get some gyms to stay in shape, some video/web links to surf the web/talk to family, you have the food court, you have all the various small area sports you could play, each pilot probably has a terminal in his quarters (officers only, probably), that they can use, etc.