[Kie99]

On a capital ship who does what?  For example is the guy's head you see in messages supposed to be the captain of the ship, or just a comms officer.  Also what do Admirals do on their Destroyers?  Do they command them or is their role purely tactical?

[Liberator]

Admirals are the COs of whatever destroyer they happen to be stationed on.  Since a destroyer is almost always the center of a battle group/fleet which consists of dozens of smaller vessels, the Fleet Admiral is mainly a tactician since the destroyer is rarely deployed to combat unless all other options have failed.  Since Fleet Admirals are responsible for the entire fleet, any other destroyers attached to the bg/fleet would answer to the Fleet Admiral, even if they are commanded by Admirals(which the are).

The dude you talk to most of the time is indeed one of many communications techs.  Odds are he's not an officer since it would be stupid to have a bunch of highly trained officers sitting around nursemaiding the pilots.  It's a unique position since an enlisted tech is actually giving orders to an officer.  There is no such thing as an enlisted pilot, all pilots are officers.

[Blitzerland]

Admiral Petrarch talks to you from the Aquataine during a few nebula missions, so I'd assume the Admiral does indeed communicate with the pilots.

[Nuclear1]

When does he do that? I don't ever remember Petrarch himself speaking from the Aquitaine. That's the same comm officer that you get throughout the campaign.

The Admiral gives command briefings and squadron assignments at quarterdeck. The captain more than likely directs the ship in combat and maneuvers. The comm officers "nursemaid" the pilots.

[Blitzerland]

His voice is muffled-ish, but you can clearly hear him in the first nebula mission, and the mission in which you have to protect the Aquataine, during the Vasudan-Terran exchange program.

[Nuclear1]

I could swear that it's the same voice as in the Barracudas mission and all the other nebula missions.

Whatever. It isn't worth an argument over.

[MicroPsycho]

anyone remember the mission where comm officer talks to you in a woman's voice but the animation is clearly that of a man's? I'm thinking the mission where the Knossos 2 is found, but I'm not sure (I havn't played the FS2 campaign from start to finish for many years)

[Nuclear1]

That would probably be a Vasudan mission. Who cares about Vasudan genders?

First person to say "other Vasudans" or any other Vasudan sex joke gets a beating.

[aldo_14]

IMHO the comms guy is some form of fighter controller, somewhat like an ATC bloke.  It's possible that Petrarch - or anyone in command - can also use that channel to (for example) rally the troops, but I don't think he'd micromanage the individual wings.

[WMCoolmon]

Originally posted by Blitzerland
His voice is muffled-ish, but you can clearly hear him in the first nebula mission, and the mission in which you have to protect the Aquataine, during the Vasudan-Terran exchange program.

Petrarch never ever speaks ingame, at least not in the English copy. You may be thinking of the Colossus; that guy's distinctive voice (sounds like he's constipated) is pretty evident the second time you play through the campaign, and he plays a wing commander as well as colossus captain.

Interestingly enough, while Petrarch doesn't address his pilots directly, I believe that the Psamtik's Admiral and the Colossus' commander do.

[Taristin]

Originally posted by nuclear1
That would probably be a Vasudan mission. Who cares about Vasudan genders?

First person to say "other Vasudans" or any other Vasudan sex joke gets a beating.

Well, while I wasn't thinking along those lines until I read you write that... (meh)...

Yes, Other Vasudans care. Although, how you tell, and why the females would have higher pitched voices is beyond me.

For all you know, the deep grunts may be the females, and the high pitched ones may be the males;)

[Mongoose]

Originally posted by Blitzerland
His voice is muffled-ish, but you can clearly hear him in the first nebula mission, and the mission in which you have to protect the Aquataine, during the Vasudan-Terran exchange program.

No, that's definitely not Petrarch; it's actually the same voice actor as Lieutenant Cordova, the Suicide Kings squadron leader.  This guy has a British accent, and Petrarch doesn't.

[StratComm]

Originally posted by WMCoolmon


Petrarch never ever speaks ingame, at least not in the English copy. You may be thinking of the Colossus; that guy's distinctive voice (sounds like he's constipated) is pretty evident the second time you play through the campaign, and he plays a wing commander as well as colossus captain.

Interestingly enough, while Petrarch doesn't address his pilots directly, I believe that the Psamtik's Admiral and the Colossus' commander do.

Petrarch briefs his elite pilots and squadron leaders, but doesn't comm out from his ship.  We don't know who's in command of the colossus, but I somehow doubt that it's the talking head we always see, if only because, even in the heat of battle, he's still focused on manning the comm.  He may be the ship's operational commander, but I doubt he's the ranking officer onboard.  It's hard to tell with Vasudans.

[WMCoolmon]

It always seemed like the commander to me, since they converse with Command and other big ships.

The easiest way to tell would be if they give orders to the beams (ie "Commence plasma core insertion"). That wouldn't be the role of a comm officer (Unless the GTVA has some really convoluted chain of command).

[NGTM-1R]

Originally posted by nuclear1
That would probably be a Vasudan mission. Who cares about Vasudan genders?

First person to say "other Vasudans" or any other Vasudan sex joke gets a beating.

I do. I'd kinda like to know what gender adjective I should use in referring to them.

I suspect that you're seeing the ship's captain, although with destroyers it might be the Air Boss or the CAG.

An admiral is typically in overall command of a task force, but does not tactically direct the ship he is onboard: the captain fights the ship, the admiral directs the overall battle.

Since we rarely have more then one friendly capital craft on the battlefield, tactical command of the fighters would devolve upon its commander under most circumstances. On the other hand, guessing somewhat now, full captains would command destroyers or installations, commanders corvettes, lieutenant commanders cruisers, so there are situations in which a fighter pilot might outrank a cruiser commander. (You can give commands to the GTC Fortune in the mission during which you blockade the Knossos.)

Obviously GTVA ships would have a captain and an executive officer. The only other posistion that can be confirmed from the evidence available is the weapons officer, known colloquially as "Guns" (or at least they used to be; in the modern USN that position is referred to as "Weps"). Reference "Surrender, Belisaurius!" and the Psamptik saying "Guns, power up photon beam cannon. Commence plasma core insertion."

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by MicroPsycho
anyone remember the mission where comm officer talks to you in a woman's voice but the animation is clearly that of a man's?

I remember.  I'm not sure which one it is... might be Apocalypse.

[StratComm]

Originally posted by ngtm1r
Reference "Surrender, Belisaurius!" and the Psamptik saying "Guns, power up photon beam cannon. Commence plasma core insertion."

Actually, it's "Gunnery Control, power up photon beam cannons.  Commense plasma core insertion."  But the idea is close enough.  Seems to me though that "gunnery control" is refering to a station or perhaps even a section of the ship rather than to an individual.

And for those of you looking for a female Vasudan, the comms officer/captain of Iota 1 in the first mission has a female translator.  That to me indicates a female Vasudan on the other end of the line.

[NGTM-1R]

Gunnery Control is funny, though. I would have expected something like Main Battery Control...

[Grug]

With a crew of 10,000+ I'd expect there's someone with a job for everything. So cleaners, lightbulb changers, probably even guys that just have to check one screw on a fighter before launch.
When you think about today airline regulations, they basically check for a needle in a haystack everytime a plane is serviced, and usually find it.
So I'd imagine that in space, it would be way more severe. I never took to the Star Trek style where they just say 'minimal damage' and shrug it off.
Realistically, they'd have hundreds of crew dedicated just to searching for minor problems and malfunctions that can lead to bigger ones.
A sort of NASA fanatical attention to detail. Especially on long voyagers where there won't be many chances to give a complete workover on base.

I like a more realistic feel to things like this.

[Charismatic]

Id have to agree with most of you, except, i dont remember the female voice and the male ani.