Creating an NCO

Good overall, but I wanted to make the climb to Warrant Officer roughly equivalent to the climb to Captain. Beyond the former is commission; beyond the latter is flag rank. The chief problem we have (pun intentional :D) is that we only have a single example of an important enlisted character: Miles O'Brien.

I am minded of my brother's six years in the Navy. He served aboard the USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN/MTS-635) as a Machinist's Mate after completing Nuke School and was I believe a Chief Petty Officer at the time he mustered out. Elite training groups seem to advance in rating faster than their counterparts.

*shrug*

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Originally Posted by Ergi

Hmm, I thought enlisted personnel were supposed to get only 15 skill picks, not 20. Since officers get 27 picks, 15 picks sounds okay to me. Besides, this would be closer to the relation between the respective ICON templates.
An other point we should consider is the 3-year training difference between officers and enlisted crew.
But as you said, Doug, the packages are not set in stone.
Thank you.

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IIRC (I don't have my books with me), all other professions get 20 picks assigned in the package and five picks they can use for any professional skill. That's what I was going for with the 20 picks (in fact, I believe the sidebar mentions five additional picks, but I could be wrong...).

I'll double-check when I get home...

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Originally Posted by RaconteurX

I am minded of my brother's six years in the Navy. He served aboard the USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN/MTS-635) as a Machinist's Mate after completing Nuke School and was I believe a Chief Petty Officer at the time he mustered out. Elite training groups seem to advance in rating faster than their counterparts.

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I went through nuke school myself. I know how fast we "push buttons" can advance. :)

However, the biggest difference between today's Navy and Starfleet is that enlisted personnel are not the subject-matter experts in Starfleet that they are today (with the notable exception of Chief O'Brien). The rest of the crewmen encountered in the first four series are simply maintenance techs, lab techs and orderlies (they seem to be a bit closer to modern enlists in Enterprise, but still not to the same expertise).

Honestly, I see Chief O'Brien (as seen in DS9) as not built as an enlist, but, instead, as a regular character that just doesn't have any promotion edges. That's just my opinion on the character.

With my enlisted creation rules, I want to more accurately represent the officer-specialist culture that exists in Star Fleet with enlists who are not (and will rarely ever become) stars of the show. However, I also wanted the opportunity for the most senior of enlists to be part of the "regular cast."

Was just reading over your posting. Very interesting. Wish I had the cash to spring on a CODA book (as I have previously invested in ICON), that way I could understand it better. So is CODA level based, or skill based? Well that is a more generalized question that you can PM to me, cause many reading this would probably look @ me funny for posting such a question.

However, maybe you should note the time in ranks are generalizations, and some rates advance faster or slower then other rates. Furthermore, I not that you are missing the five (or six (if you're looking at the legislation specifically)) tier Chief Warrant Officer ranks. What is your opinion on that?

Also, shouldn't Enlisted personnel above Chiefs (and higher) be very knowledgeable, far beyond that of their Ensigns and Lt (j.g.)s that are assigned over them?

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Originally Posted by JALU3

However, maybe you should note the time in ranks are generalizations, and some rates advance faster or slower then other rates. Furthermore, I not that you are missing the five (or six (if you're looking at the legislation specifically)) tier Chief Warrant Officer ranks. What is your opinion on that?

Also, shouldn't Enlisted personnel above Chiefs (and higher) be very knowledgeable, far beyond that of their Ensigns and Lt (j.g.)s that are assigned over them?

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I agree about the TIR.

For the Chief Warrant Officer ranks, I've only seen evidence of the ranks of Warrant Officer and Chief Warrant Officer in most Star Trek publications, and no additional grades of either.

Also, remember that the U.S. Navy only has three Chief Warrant Officer (W-2, W-3, W-4) ranks (we don't even use Warrant Officer [W-1]). We also do not use the W-5 rank; that rank is limited in use to only the Army.

Well, again, I come from the argument that in Star Trek, enlisted personnel are not technical experts; they're just the guys who do the mundane grunt and dirty work in their fields. They assist the officers, rather than perform the heavy technical work themselves.

In that vein, I would say that the average chief would have greater knowledge than the ensign, by virtue of having many more advancements than the officer, but the gap wouldn't be as great, since enlists aren't trained to be technical experts.

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Originally Posted by Doug Burke

I'll double-check when I get home...

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Found it!

Sidebar, page 65 of the PG.

"...simply make 15 skill picks from the starship officer professional skill list on page 66, and assign five skill picks among Engineering, Science, or System Operation skills."

You'll note that the packaqges listed for the other Professions (PG p. 90 to 96) have 20 points of assigned skills and five more picks for any other professional skill.

That's where the 20 came from...

Doug, you are right. I didn't went downstairs to get my Player's Guide and I must have misunderstood the sidebar, when was skimming trough the character creation chapters. Sorry for wasting your time.

Sea Tyger, cool. :D Thank you.

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Originally Posted by Ergi

Doug, you are right. I didn't went downstairs to get my Player's Guide and I must have misunderstood the sidebar, when was skimming trough the character creation chapters. Sorry for wasting your time.

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No worries. Just trying to help... :)

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Originally Posted by JALU3

So is CODA level based, or skill based?

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CODA is most definitely skills-based, but the concept of advancements mistakenly leads some to believe that it is level-based. The number of advancements a character has gives you an idea how experienced the character is, but there are no rules mechanics tied to the number of advancements a character has. In other words, just because Jean-Luc Picard has 53 advancements does not mean he can hold his own in a fistfight with Worf, who has 15 fewer advancements. Picard has, in fact, no Unarmed Combat whatsoever, while Worf has it at +8. Heck, Harry Kim, with only nine advancements, is still better in a fistfight than Jean-Luc (Harry has Unarmed Combat +2). All advancements do is control the rate of character development, as you have limits on what you can purchase during each advancement (no more than +2 levels in a professional skill and no more than +1 in a non-professional skill, for example).