Promoting Bridge Officers past Commander?

ussexeter

As an Admiral my 2nd in command Bridge Officer is currently a CMDR. Is there any way to promote him to Captain? I was wanting the TOS Film vibe like Kirk/Spock where Captain Spock & Admiral Kirk worked together in those rank capacities.

tc10b

Nope, you can't do it.

Commander is maximum rank for Bridge Officers unfortunately.

ashstorm1

As of right now, Commander is the highest rank a BOFF can reach. The possibility of promoting BOFFs to higher ranks has been brought up several times in the past, but so far, nothing concrete.

sylveriarelden

If you're RP-ing, you can pretend it is however you want it to be.

Want to believe your BOFF is Captain rank? Done.

See? That was easy.

alexraptorr

ussexeter#5462 wrote: »

As an Admiral my 2nd in command Bridge Officer is currently a CMDR. Is there any way to promote him to Captain? I was wanting the TOS Film vibe like Kirk/Spock where Captain Spock & Admiral Kirk worked together in those rank capacities.

Don't forget that Scotty was also promoted to Captain and served as such until the Enterprise A was decommissioned.
So in essence, the Enterprise A had 3 captains! Captain Kirk, Captain Spock and Captain Scott!

vendahra

Never gonna happen. It would take a lot of work to expand BOffs to a fifth level. I doubt the database covering this was even built for expansion. It would require new BOff skill levels and probably new skills for how many professions now? 7? And they the UI would have to be expanded for an additional slot for each BOff, and new ships would have to be balanced for up to five skills.

It's a lot of work and I don't see a way they can monetize it to justify the effort.

jorantomalak

i think you should be allowed to promote only one BOFF to the rank of captain

Like in a real navy you can have a flag officer and a captain on one ship, the flag officer is in overall command the captain serves as EXO.

jonsills

Most of my ship commanders wear Captain rank, because they declined to be promoted off their ships.

There's one that I let wear all the Admiral stuff; his XO has the costume with the white yoke.​​

dareau

Personally, I find using uniforms that don't forcefully reflect rank, or the TOS Captain's Tunic with "baked in" Captain's braid (on the shoulders following the neckline) are "acceptable substitutes" for "displaying" that a given BOff got Captain even though (s)he's still stuck wearing commander rank insignias...

ussexeter

jorantomalak wrote: »

i think you should be allowed to promote only one BOFF to the rank of captain

Like in a real navy you can have a flag officer and a captain on one ship, the flag officer is in overall command the captain serves as EXO.

^^^THIS!^^^ In WWII there were aircraft carriers that had a Captain and an Admiral on board. Keep the tradition going STO.

ussexeter

dareau wrote: »

Personally, I find using uniforms that don't forcefully reflect rank, or the TOS Captain's Tunic with "baked in" Captain's braid (on the shoulders following the neckline) are "acceptable substitutes" for "displaying" that a given BOff got Captain even though (s)he's still stuck wearing commander rank insignias...

Going to try this, good idea.

alexraptorr

ussexeter#5462 wrote: »

jorantomalak wrote: »

i think you should be allowed to promote only one BOFF to the rank of captain

Like in a real navy you can have a flag officer and a captain on one ship, the flag officer is in overall command the captain serves as EXO.

^^^THIS!^^^ In WWII there were aircraft carriers that had a Captain and an Admiral on board. Keep the tradition going STO.

Except Star Trek does not strictly adhere to Naval tradition.
Hence the NCC-1701-A which had 3 captains serving onboard all at once.

tc10b

ussexeter#5462 wrote: »

jorantomalak wrote: »

i think you should be allowed to promote only one BOFF to the rank of captain

Like in a real navy you can have a flag officer and a captain on one ship, the flag officer is in overall command the captain serves as EXO.

^^^THIS!^^^ In WWII there were aircraft carriers that had a Captain and an Admiral on board. Keep the tradition going STO.

First point: Many on this forum (notably not me) will convince you that Starfleet is not in fact a Space Navy or a military force of any kind, in spite of evidence to the contrary. http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/1219709/proof-that-starfleet-is-a-naval-force-military#latest

Second Point: In the "real navy" (or Royal Navy as we call it in the UK!) Flag officers when serving afloat are not (usually) in overall command of a vessel. They most often serve as commanders of the task force that is deployed to a specific region, the Captain is still legally responsible for his own ship even with a flag officer on board! They don't serve as XO.

The movies took creative license with this.

artan42

Yeah Starfleet admirals can and do command starships.​​

horridperson

Nothing past commander but I always look wistfully at the the appointments my BOFFS have in the DOff assignments UI. It would be redundant to assign a bunch of special powers to science or engineering HoDs when that's their trade anyway but appointment of a First Officer that would vary depending on their specialization might be neat. I'd enjoy having an XO/Number One on board.

For story purposes I have a First Officer but if they added mechanics I'd like anything involving the further development of shipboard life and by extension the identity of my ship. Archer, April, Pike, Kirk, and on; Captains may change but a ship called Enterprise is an icon as well.

warpangel

artan42 wrote: »

Yeah Starfleet admirals can and do command starships.​​

And go on away missions where they do all the work while their subordinates stand around twiddling their thumbs.

theotherscotty

There's still no official way to do it in the game, unfortunately. But in my own little RP/head-canon, as an admiral in command of an expeditionary fleet, I did in fact promote some of my boffs to captain and put them in command of my other ships that I'm not using, while the rest kept their rank of commander and became their respective first officers. My "Number One" (Elisa Flores) is actually the captain of my flagship while I command the overall fleet, and as my ranking captain she's next in line to take command of the fleet if my admiral character dies or retires or whatever. That was my in-story way of dealing with it.

starkaos

There was plans years ago, where Dan Stahl planned on allowing us to promote our Bridge Officers to Captain and use them as a new playable character. If I recall correctly, there was plans to attach it to the Duty Officer system where you train up a Bridge Officer to First Officer by using Duty Officers to grant them the skills to be a First Officer. So promote a Bridge Officer to First Officer, then promote them to Captain of their own ship.

Currently, if the devs ever introduce the ability to let our Bridge Officers to command our numerous ships for actual combat, then we will see the ability to promote our Bridge Officers to Captain.

sylveriarelden

starkaos wrote: »

Currently, if the devs ever introduce the ability to let our Bridge Officers to command our numerous ships for actual combat, then we will see the ability to promote our Bridge Officers to Captain.

I don't see it happening anymore than I see them allowing multiple ship command introduced into the game, which is another aspect that's been suggested many times.

I get the impression PWE/C wants to keep this game relatively simplistic- throw a few new storylines out every now and again, introduce a few new shiny ships with gimmicky consoles/sets, and new lottery lockboxes- lather, rinse, and repeat.

fruitvendor12

I guess as a leader I'd question my ethics keeping pet captains on my ship instead of making sure they get they command they've earned. Multiple captains on one ship doesn't mean they are all captains in fact, just rank. I consider that an abusive of privilege. Petty actually, suggesting I lack confidence in my own team.

sylveriarelden

fruitvendor12 wrote: »

I guess as a leader I'd question my ethics keeping pet captains on my ship instead of making sure they get they command they've earned. Multiple captains on one ship doesn't mean they are all captains in fact, just rank. I consider that an abusive of privilege. Petty actually, suggesting I lack confidence in my own team.

IRL, I'd be inclined to agree- however, this being a limitation within the confines of a video game, I cannot.

One simply cannot argue "ethical choices" when said choices are limited within the confines of someone else's reality, and not completely open in terms of possibility.

fruitvendor12

sylveriarelden wrote: »

IRL, I'd be inclined to agree- however, this being a limitation within the confines of a video game, I cannot.

Ok, no worries. To you it's just a game mechanic. Why not have level 60 BOFFS and DOFFS.

There are folks out here who do like something closer to the actual Star Trek franchise that just a numbers game. Not being harsh. Your's is a fair opinion. I just prefer Cryptic ignore that point of view.

sylveriarelden

fruitvendor12 wrote: »

sylveriarelden wrote: »

IRL, I'd be inclined to agree- however, this being a limitation within the confines of a video game, I cannot.

Ok, no worries. To you it's just a game mechanic. Why not have level 60 BOFFS and DOFFS.

There are folks out here who do like something closer to the actual Star Trek franchise that just a numbers game. Not being harsh. Your's is a fair opinion. I just prefer Cryptic ignore that point of view.

You misunderstand me, sir. It's not my opinion- it's the reality.

My opinion is that people should be able to do as they wish with as many choices available to them as entirely possible... but there are limitations within the confines of a video game that do not allow this. I did not say I agree with PWE/C's restriction of choice- I merely pointed out that you cannot argue choices of ethos when choices are limited (really for any reason).

nikephorus

In STO you're a loser admiral that takes orders from LtCmders and other lower ranked officers. While on mission your Fleet Admiral gets to do all kinds of lowly menial tasks that you would assign to enlisted personnel. That's how lame your character is.

sylveriarelden

nikephorus wrote: »

In STO you're a loser admiral that takes orders from LtCmders and other lower ranked officers. While on mission your Fleet Admiral gets to do all kinds of lowly menial tasks that you would assign to enlisted personnel. That's how lame your character is.

And while I agree that it's indeed lame- what alternative do you propose?

Personally, I've tried to wrap my head around this issue many times, and it all circles back to the design of the "ranking system" as it was introduced. The expansion of said ranking system (Captain to Admiralty, etc.) is basically where a lot of this "problem" began originally. If we're always intended to be ship "captains" then such an expansion of the rank system should have never been allowed, IMO.

That said- and this being a video game in which most people are expecting to increase in level/skill/whatever, what do you propose as an alternative/counter to this system? It's a problem that exists in the majority of games- not just STO.

nikephorus

sylveriarelden wrote: »

nikephorus wrote: »

In STO you're a loser admiral that takes orders from LtCmders and other lower ranked officers. While on mission your Fleet Admiral gets to do all kinds of lowly menial tasks that you would assign to enlisted personnel. That's how lame your character is.

And while I agree that it's indeed lame- what alternative do you propose?

Personally, I've tried to wrap my head around this issue many times, and it all circles back to the design of the "ranking system" as it was introduced. The expansion of said ranking system (Captain to Admiralty, etc.) is basically where a lot of this "problem" began originally. If we're always intended to be ship "captains" then such an expansion of the rank system should have never been allowed, IMO.

That said- and this being a video game in which most people are expecting to increase in level/skill/whatever, what do you propose as an alternative/counter to this system? It's a problem that exists in the majority of games- not just STO.

My favorite mission as a Vice Admiral was helping Nelix get ingredients for his feast. That's what Vice Admirals do...they find the salt and pepper.

sylveriarelden

nikephorus wrote: »

sylveriarelden wrote: »

nikephorus wrote: »

In STO you're a loser admiral that takes orders from LtCmders and other lower ranked officers. While on mission your Fleet Admiral gets to do all kinds of lowly menial tasks that you would assign to enlisted personnel. That's how lame your character is.

And while I agree that it's indeed lame- what alternative do you propose?

Personally, I've tried to wrap my head around this issue many times, and it all circles back to the design of the "ranking system" as it was introduced. The expansion of said ranking system (Captain to Admiralty, etc.) is basically where a lot of this "problem" began originally. If we're always intended to be ship "captains" then such an expansion of the rank system should have never been allowed, IMO.

That said- and this being a video game in which most people are expecting to increase in level/skill/whatever, what do you propose as an alternative/counter to this system? It's a problem that exists in the majority of games- not just STO.

My favorite mission as a Vice Admiral was helping Nelix get ingredients for his feast. That's what Vice Admirals do...they find the salt and pepper.

Ah, OK - for a minute there, I thought you were actually trying to communicate your dislike for the current ranking system in regard to how it relates realistically to game content at present.

Good to know that you're indeed satisfied with it and have no alternative proposals or suggestions to change it if you were dissatisfied with it then.

jonsills

My Captain helped out with that. You know, as a diplomatic gesture. And to make sure the food wouldn't make me projectile all over the buffet, of course.

I don't know why they kept calling me "Admiral", though - I guess Talaxians don't know Starfleet ranks very well.​​

fruitvendor12

sylveriarelden wrote: »

You misunderstand me, sir. It's not my opinion- it's the reality.

Step back from the keyboard, slowly take a nice warm shower, call your mother, then go for a long walk. Perhaps then you'll remember what reality means.

prometheus

How do you become a specialist I.E., Intelligence, command, pilot.

theotherscotty

Regarding the whole "being an admiral and doing menial tasks" issue, one way I've dealt with that (again, in my own in-universe head-canon) is by simply ignoring STO's rank/leveling system and having my toon be a captain who occasionally does beam down on away team missions because he's the kind of person who hates being stuck at a desk and doesn't mind going "out there" and getting his hands dirty (another reason why he never wanted to be promoted to admiral). Tho he does tend to bring along a security detail (some red-shirts) as a precautionary measure, as it's required according to Starfleet regulations (flag officers must have a security escort while on away teams - I remember seeing it in Memory Alpha somewhere).

And re finding spices for Neelix, my in-story explanation for that is that my character did it as a diplomatic gesture (thank you, nikephorus), plus he just simply likes hanging out with Neelix and his Talaxian crew, which is why the Vaadwaurs' brutal attack on their base affected him so deeply. It became kinda personal for him from then on.