A New Captain, What Ship Should He Get?

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I think the point is, that you don't want to get a green CO to be given anything close to a ship of the line until they have proven themselves worthy to command a ship and crew of that stature. Otherwise, why not give a newly minted LTCMDR a Galaxy Class Explorer?

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So what is a ship of the line in this context? Would experience vs. offensive power be Starfleet's primary consideration when assigning someone to a ship?

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I think an important point is that, being a PC, this character has both 'protagonist aura' and has probably run into dozens of bizarre situations, and lived. Given all the interesting stuff that happens to Trek PCs, they get a fairly interesting record, which would probably help them get noticed and respected when it comes to promotions : P

So how old is the character? What's his career been like, in terms of stuff he's been through?

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Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King

So what is a ship of the line in this context? Would experience vs. offensive power be Starfleet's primary consideration when assigning someone to a ship?

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I'd assume somehing along the lines of rank (a good indication of overall command ability in a military or paramilitary organization) probably bounced up for exerpeicne, famous incidents or an favorable renown rating (in ICON this would be renowen higher than expeacted for the rank in question), and by high scores in signficant skills (for example someone serving along the Romulan border with a high Starship Tactics (Romulan) skill might get a larger or more combat cpable ship is serving a tour on the Rom border).

As a rule of thumb, Captains seem to get the larger, better ships. THe cutting edge/top of the line ships (the "Starships" in TOS) go to Captains with a distinguised career. Commanders seem to get ships a little smaller/less capable (1-2 SIZ lower), and so forth.

Here is a little background information on the Character.

2355
Graduated Starfleet Academy
Specialized in Security
Rank: Ensign
Age: 22

2356
Cadet Cruise aboard the U.S.S. Calypso (Miranda Class, Capt. Fargo)
Saved the Captain's life during an away mission
Rank: Lieutenant Jg.
Position: Security
Age: 23

2357-2360
Served aboard the U.S.S. Archer (Excelsior Class. Capt. Randolph)
Fought the Cardassians (Cardassian / Federation War)
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Security
Age: 27

2360-2364
Served aboard the U.S.S. Valley Forge (Ambassador Class, Capt. Morgan)
Rescued Federation vessel on Cardassian Border and held off 4 Galor Class Warships.
Rank: Lt. Commander
Position: Security (2nd in Command of Security)
Age: 31

2364-2367
Served aboard the U.S.S. Poseidon (Nebula Class, Capt. Clark)
Ship destroyed at Wolf 359, Received a Medal for saving the crew when most of the bridge officers were dead or unconcious (Ordered the evacuation of the ship). Saved the Captain's life.
Rank: Commander
Position: Chief of Security
Age: 34

2367-2370
Served aboard rebuilt U.S.S. Poseidon (Galaxy Class, Capt. Clark)
Name came to attention of Admiral Kane due to number of missions that he was instrumental in.
Has full support of his Captain
Rank: Commander
Position: 1st Officer
Age: 37

2370
Possible promotion to Captain.
Possibly a Cheyenne Class Starship
Age: 37



There is his background. Maybe this will help but I am thinking that a Cheyenne Class Starship is really the way to go for him.

Thanks for all the great feedback.
:D

I see with this in ICON / LUG a few things:

If you are using the Player's Guide & Bridge Qualification rules:
2364, he'd be sent from the ship to command school, thus promoted from LCDR to CDR. He'd also at that time, typically be made XO of his next ship. PLUS Transferring from Security to Command branch.. no more security assignments.

If still using PG, but the Line officer rules instead...
He'd take the Line Officer advantage at some point...and at that point switch from Security to Command.

Also, I would think (yeah sure up to you) that most ships will not have a full commander in charge of security as that is the XO's Rank slot, typically, especially on the larger ships. Smaller ships, the Commanding officer himself is going to be Commander Rank.

Now sure your guy might be a Commander, with the XO having more time in grade.. it just seems.. a little weird / strange to me.

Certainly hes using a lot of his career on promotion points. looks like 2 pts per tour, on some tours. I see that as him being a hard charger.

Other than that, As written, I'd approve him for any of my own games, good job.

Looks like most any of my own PCs. It might be an interesting exercise to post some of mine here.

I personally would have given him/her one more tour of duty in an XO position, maybe aboard the Patron's flagship. That way he/she can show how good he/she really is. This could lead to a more modern vessel if he/she prove his/her salt infront of the patron.
Furthermore, it gives him/her more contacts with those who he/she may need help from when he/she is captain.
Furthermore, it allows the player a couple points to spend on more character building skills.
For one is defined by more then their job.

Nice suggestions!!

Thanks for the response.

I'm gonna tweak it some and see how he likes it.

OK,

So it should look like this...

2355
Graduated Starfleet Academy
Specialized in Security
Rank: Ensign
Age: 22

2356
Cadet Cruise aboard the U.S.S. Calypso (Miranda Class, Capt. Fargo)
Saved the Captain's life during an away mission
Rank: Lieutenant Jg.
Position: Security
Age: 23

2357-2360
Served aboard the U.S.S. Archer (Excelsior Class. Capt. Randolph)
Fought the Cardassians (Cardassian / Federation War)
Rank: Lieutenant
Position: Security (2nd in Command of Security)
Age: 27

2360-2364
Served aboard the U.S.S. Valley Forge (Ambassador Class, Capt. Morgan)
Rescued Federation vessel on Cardassian Border and held off 4 Galor Class Warships.
Rank: Lt. Commander
Position: Head of Security
Age: 31

2364
Command and Bridge Certification

2365-2367
Served aboard the U.S.S. Poseidon (Nebula Class, Capt. Clark)
Ship destroyed at Wolf 359, Received a Medal for saving the crew when most of the bridge officers were dead or unconcious (Ordered the evacuation of the ship). Saved the Captain's life.
Rank: Commander
Position: First Officer
Age: 34

2367-2370
Served aboard rebuilt U.S.S. Poseidon (Galaxy Class, Capt. Clark)
Name came to attention of Admiral Kane due to number of missions that he was instrumental in.
Has full support of his Captain
Rank: Commander
Position: 1st Officer
Age: 37

2370
Possible promotion to Captain.
Possibly a Cheyenne Class Starship
Age: 37


Ok so this would give him more time in the First Officer position.

With the security/tactical background, I'd suspect they'd give him something more "defense" oriented -- maybe a Steamrunner or a Norway.

That's why I was thinking a Cheyenne.

Crew 250.

Phasers 16 (Icon Rules)
Topredoes 20
Shields 48/70

It's not too overboard and since it's right after Wolf 359, I'm loading it with inexpierienced crewmembers (Ensigns and Lt.).

The Norway and Steamrunner are a bit on the Powerufl side.
I wanted him to earn his next ship (which is probubly going to be an Akira Class).

We were gaming the other night, and they were at a Starbase (74 I think) and the Commander hit it off with an Admiral. I was thinking that the Admiral liked him so much, and was impressed with his record, that he would offer him a command. It would be a temporary thing at first (he would keep his Commander Rank and be acting Captain), but if did well with a few missions, he would be promoted. Especially since they lost so many Starfleet personel at Wolf 359.

You don't need to be a four pip, "full bird", Captain to be called "Captain". For instance . . . there are CPTs, LT Equivalent, that command companys (average 160 souls) . . . or LTC, CMDR, Equivalent that command Bn size elements (3-7 Companys).

So why must you insist on giving him/her four pips to command.
Let him command as a CMDR . . . there is precidence for it, and it keeps with navy tradition. But I would highly suggest giving him a upgraded Miranda first . . . make him really earn his next command. The Cheyenne always seemed to me to be for the guy who is "Jonny on the spot", where as the Miranda is slow, dilliberate, and prodding.
Maybe even through in a rotation of midshipmen on their cadet cruise, say 15-20, to liven things up a bit . . . this also allows your gaming group, if you want it, to play real lower-deck missions, if you wanted them to.

Or how about a Renaissance Class
Or how about a Springfield Class

What kind of ship does the player want?

He wants an Akira, Nebula, Ambassador, Galaxy...all the high ends.

I have no prob with an Excelsior or anything lower, but those ship I stated above just seem kinda high end.

Then . . . give him something with a cool sounding name . . . have the admiral present it to him . . . and it's like something that was once top of the line, but is now used by Planetary Defense Fleets as a garbage scow. :D

No but seriously, give him something that will challange his gaming style . . . something that will have to make him and his crew work for his victories . . . or find ways other then powering through them.

Or give him the size 5 CVL that I created for Spacedock ;-)
If you do that, tell me what you think about it.

As folks have said, what kind of ship you're offered has a lot to do with what sort of person you are and how you got the command. After all, Kirk's first command was one of the biggest and best ships Starfleet had. The other captains of Constitution Class ships tended to be former Academy Instructors of Kirk's, or Commodores, or both. :)

They pulled out the "Big Chair" for Riker at least twice, and look at the ships they offered him: USS Drake was a Wambundu Class, then USS Melbourne was either an Excelsior or a Nebula, depending on which version of Wolf 359 you prefer.
But, Riker was being groomed for greatness.

It seemed that USS Equinox was the first command for Captain Ransom. Voyager was definitely not Janeway's first command.

There is no canon proof that the Intrepid Class existed back at Wolf 359, but I'm not sure there's any canon proof it didn't: I'm not sure of the canonicity of the idea that Voyager was the second Intrepid Class ship.

I agree with those who feel that, given a background in tactics and the immediate post-Wolf 359 era, one of the small combat-oriented ships would be a good fit. I'm not sure how old the Steamrunner or Norway Classes are (IMO their NCC numbers suggest they pre-date Wolf 359, but many feel they were developed in response to it.)



Oh, and in case you care, I found this in my big list of who was where when: Graduating from SFA in 2355 puts him 1 year behind Ben Sisko (class of 2354). Riker, Geordi, and Chakotay were 2 years behind him (Class of 2357), so he just might have known any of them. Janeway did not enter SFA until after he graduated, and in 2370 she's about to take command of USS Voyager. That might help put his career in perspective.

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Originally Posted by stule

He wants an Akira, Nebula, Ambassador, Galaxy...all the high ends.

I have no prob with an Excelsior or anything lower, but those ship I stated above just seem kinda high end.

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Despite what the player may want, Starfleet is not going to give a brand new and untested captain command of a top of the line ship. Having a mentor means he will get a ship command, not the ship he wnats to command a subtile difference. In most cases I will stick to my earlier suggestion of a Miranda, but if you want him to have a ship with better potential, then an Excelsior would be okay. In either case, these would be ships just taken out of mothballs to replace the ships lost at Wolf 359. You would have no shortage of plot hooks as the ship's systems are brought back on line with all sorts of problems, the need to find a store of non-replicatable parts, the raw crew, yep good fun to be had by all.