Ok, this will be my little area for ICON house rules.
And unless otherwise noted, all Starship Rules are made for the ICON system, not Spacedock.
My Spacedock House Rules will be posted there.
Enjoy!!!!
:D
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Ok, this will be my little area for ICON house rules.
And unless otherwise noted, all Starship Rules are made for the ICON system, not Spacedock.
My Spacedock House Rules will be posted there.
Enjoy!!!!
:D
What ship should a Captain have?
Ok after asking the Question on another forum, I decided to dabble with the ICON rules abit. When a player becomes a Captain, what ship should he have? This is what I came up with.
Ship......................................Power Scale..........................................Com mands
Sovereign................................ 10................................................ ........... 2
Galaxy..................................... 9................................................. ............ 2**
Akira........................................8.... .................................................. ........1
Intrepid...................................8...... .................................................. ......1
Defiant....................................8...... .................................................. .......1
Steamrunner........................... 8................................................. .............1
Saber...................................... 8................................................. .............1
Nebula.....................................8...... .................................................. ......1
Norway....................................8....... .................................................. .....1
Ambassador............................ 7................................................. .............1
New Orleans........................... 7................................................. .............1
Niagra..................................... 7................................................. ............ 1
Excelsior.................................. 6................................................. ............ 1 *
Cheyenne.................................6........ .................................................. ...1 *
Constellation............................5........ .................................................. ... 0
Apollo.......................................5.... .................................................. ....... 0
Merced.....................................4...... .................................................. .....0
Rigel.........................................4... .................................................. .......0
Miranda....................................4...... .................................................. ....0
Olympic....................................3...... .................................................. .....0
Deneva....................................2....... .................................................. ....0
Oberth.....................................1...... .................................................. .....0
Ship = Class of ship
Power Scale = This is my own personal scale. It gauges a Ship based on how powerful it is based on Shields, Phasers, and Topredoes. A 1 would be the weakest Starship in the fleet. A 10 being the most powerful.
Commands = How many Commands should the Captain have prior to assuming Command of this particular vessel. 2 Means he should have been Captain of 2 other ships before this one (As Captain Picard did, Stargazer, and Enterprise D before taking command of the Enterprise E)
* These commands are only given to a first time Captain if they have an outstanding service record.
** This command may be given to a Captain with only 1 command if they have an outstanding service record.
Also, I tried my best to stay within Star Trek Canon for this chart.
Commands
Picard - Stargazer, Enterprise D, Enterprise E,
Janeway - Bonestell, Billings, Voyager
Cisko - Deep Space 9, Defiant,
Kirk - he was a God, he don't count.
Archer - who?
Well I don't think that you can put that into too narrow statistics. It should also depend on where the ship is located. There are two kinds of fleets in starfleet: standing and mobile. Mobile fleets tend to be rather spread and have e.g. exploratory etc. missions, meaning the Captain will probably be on his own for quite some time.
In a standing fleet, you do not spread that far and are in rather close distance to superiors and other ships in general, meaning assistance and advise can reach you quickly, so the Captain needs not to have such a large experience.
The same counts for rather specialized ships, like Akiras, etc. If you have experience in a ships special field of operation, in this case combat, it would be far easier to get a command than for somebody who never fought a battle.
In this case it would be perfectly normal for a former XO of an Akira class to get one as his first command ( maybe even that of his XO tour ) than to give the Akira to a Captain who served on Oberth-Classes only...
In fact it is highly unlikely that an Oberth-Class actually gets a Full Captain as CO - the command of 80 people is actually more suitable for a Full Lieutenant, given the isolated nature and special missions in modern military such a vessel/ unit would probably commanded by Lt. Commander, but most certainly not by a Full Captain - although obviously Starfleet handles it differently, since Equinox was commanded by a Full Captain, although the XO was only a Lieutenant.
Without checking the books, I think you've got the sizes on the Akira, Steamrunner, Sabre and Norway wrong, they are not size 8 ships, and on a per ship basis I'm not sure they should all be a +1 - the Defiant is definitely wrong! It's not size 8, and I don't think it should have a modifier, it's a TINY ship!
Tobian,
My Power Scale is not about the size of a Starship, it's about the pure destructive power of a starship.
This graph is based on the Phaser Power, Torpedo Power, and Shield Power of an individual ship.
Size has got nothing to do with it.
If you read the definition of scale that I have there, you will see that I said that the scale is the power of the ship.
I believe a Captain has to have some command expierience before getting a top end ship. No one just gets a Sovereign Class Vessel. Picard had 2 commands, as did Janeway. Cisco commanded Deep Space 9 before he got the Defiant. Kirk was God so he don't count. And Archer, well uh, his ship was kinda lame anyway.
As for your Akira example, being a first officer doesn't mean you can be a Captain. There is nothing wrong with allowing the XO of an Akira become Captain of an Akira. I just wouldn't allow it.
P.S.
Ok I went back and made it more plain to read. My apologies if I made it difficult. I posted this at 2 am.
Ahh, ok but my comments still stand, though partly I think it's because your table of comparisons is maybe too small. As well as whether someone is a captain, their renown would make a big difference, and thus remove the need to put a ** on the table, simply state that with X amount of renown gives you a bonus on the table..
I'd put a Galaxy and a Sovereign at maybe 4 (high renown captains / admirals) so rank / service of 2 and a renown of +2 - and a 0 could be a Lt. Commander.
During the Dominion war Lt. Commander's and Commanders would frequently be given ships above their station, but then that would be atributable to higher renown recieved during combats, if not promotions etc.
I'd put an Intrepid or Nebula at 3, as they are both 'full' starships: I.e. they are heavy hitting explorers. I rate 'explorers' over other ships, as they often operate on the edges of known space, and hence Starfleet would place it's more trusted officers. You could also rate uprated Excelsior's in here (or even 4 in their own era), but the old one's wouldn't rate highly as they are.. old! :D
Below those, many of those ships are more 'gunboats' - specialised ships, which are more likelly to be part of more static fleets, or strategic operations, such as the Akira, Norway etc, middle sized ships rated 2, for Commanders or Lt. Commanders with high renown modifiers.
Below that come in 'first command' ships, older ships, smaller ships going in either 1 or 0 depending on how irrelevant they are.
While I do take note that some of the newer heavy hitting newer ships can go toe to toe with a galaxy class explorer, or Sovereign, the 'ambassador to the federation' ships are always going to command more prestige, and therefore get the better candidates than ships basically designed to do patroll routes!
I agree.
I think I will exchange the ** with a certain level of Renown.
Great Idea!!!
Thanks for the feedback!
I am not sure if I understand you right. If this is just as a guideline for you as a narrator for what to do with your players, that this may be true, but otherwise your above statment is - speaking of facts - wrong. Because that is exactly what an XO is supposed to do.Quote:
Originally Posted by stule
In real navies an XO has to have the same training and qualifications as the actual CO, because in case of an emergency, meaning in case the CO is incapable of doing her job, "second rate" substitute does not suffice.
Also don't forget that, although maybe not as the CO of a whole ship it is highly unlikely that any officer of higher rank ( Lt. Cmdr and up ) came to that rank without ever having a command of some kind, meaning they have command experience - which is part of being an officer, especially in Starfleet's command branch.
This could range from being a Department Head to commanding a small outpost, listening post, etc.
House Rules = rules for my playersQuote:
Originally Posted by Evan van Eyk
These rules are for me so that I can gauge what kind of ship my players can have. It's not for NPC (who will already meet the qualifications).
My player wants to Command an Akira.
I want him to have something to shoot for (he is a Commander and First Officer of The Poseidon - Galaxy Class Starship). He has served for about 3 years, so yeah maybe he can do it and is ready, but I want him to start in a lower ship and work his way up. That way he will have something to look forward to.
He may be ready for the command of an Akira, but I want him to prove himself more.
So I gave him a Cheyenee. Even used it in battle today (Holodeck Battle) and it did pretty damn well and he was happy with it.
As for what an XO is supposed to do in real life, so a real life XO of an Aircraft Carrier gets an Aircraft Carrier when he is ready to be promoted? What if there arn't any available, then what do they do? You see, I am not in the Armed Forces so you will have to educate me about them.
Again these rules are for my players. I just share them in case anyone else comes up with snags like I have.
:D
COs and XOs for CVNs tend to be, from my understanding (I am not a squid) so you can ask Sea Tyger for more accurate information), tend to come from Surface Warfare or Flight routes . . . and are usually CAPT (0-6), or RAdm, lower half (0-7) if they are also the CVBG (now known as CVSG) Commander.
However, if one of the 12 CVs are not available . . . there are other commands of similar responsibility for 0-6 positions . . . Carrier Air Wings, Training Wings . . . related desk jobs underneath higher ranking admirals?
For instance, I was at an Army Medical Center, for the length of my enlistment. Underneath the CG (Commanding General), a BG (Brigader General)(O-7), there was one other BG, as the AG, and atleast 3 "full bird" Colonels (O-6). Therefore, there are other slots that someone of high rank can hold in the mean time.
um.....wow
:eek:
For a while the Captain of my Ship, a medium-heavy cruiser, was a full captain, who had figured he was gonna be given a carrier to command, only he didn't get one, he got us. He was pissed, he let the crew know it, and told us none of us were qualified to be led by him.
The ship ran aground in the gulf about a year later, he was relieved, and the next captain was great, a guy who designed ships for the navy. Whose name, no lie, happened to be Captain Scott, only he was american.
Great captain. Hell yeah.
I'm back.
Sorry to be gone for so long (World of Warcraft kinda sucked me in.).
My group has decided to get back together and start playing again.
They have chosen the ICON rules so its off to the races.
I will be posting more House Rules as I come up with them.
Thanks.
Stule
:D
Good to see you back again Stule! :) Looking forward to more of you ideas :D
You know, this explains the red shirting of the Miranda . . . they are given to new COs with only smaller unit size command experiences, and low renown compared to other COs . . . these COs don't have the background and tactical experience to be able to improvise to success . . . . where as those with more renown, and experience, would have a higher chance of success in combat situations.
I guess a lot of these COs would eventually be yellowed.