As far as ships to command for a Commodore with a low Contribution Rank, the YZ-775 (Dangerous Covenants) is Rarity 3 and not a total loss as a combat vessel.

But I think Keith's also got a point in that for most starting groups, you're not established/trusted members of the Rebel Alliance. You're still fresh recruits (Contribution Rank 0) and you don't really start being "trusted" until you hit Contribution Rank 2, as discussed in the GM chapter. At CR2, a Commodore PC will probably be able to request (or be assigned) command of a smaller cruiser, like a refitted Consular-class light assault cruiser, or maybe a CR90 corvette (both Rarity 5), since they've at that point proven themselves to be a capable and most importantly reliable member of the Alliance. Capital ships are pretty hard to come by for the Alliance, and so they're not going to just hand out Nebulon-B frigates or MC80 cruisers to just anybody.

That being said, maybe we'll see a couple of Rarity 4 cruisers in the eventual Commander sourcebook so that a group with a Commodore doesn't have to wait two full Contribution Rank increases in order to get command of something other than a Lambda shuttle or light transport.

Well, the Core Book seems to state it pretty clearly in the Commodore write-up on page 71: Each Commodore given one to command (starship) has EARNED tremendous respect and trust.

This signifies that you don't start out with a command, you earn one over time. It goes on to suggest that Commodores should start out as department heads on a ship (given the talents, either in fire control, damage control, or navigation).

Anyone showing a capacity for the role finds themselves groomed for EVENTUAL command.

The class is not intended to begin with its own command, unless that command is a Lambda-Class or equivalent 120,000 credit ship or shuttle. Some GMs might add some negative features/templates, or allow the taking on of obligation from Edge, to get a used, fixer-upper of a slightly larger/more powerful model ship.

Like I said, if you wanted to design a campaign around the concept of one capital ship, which I think would be awesome, that is great, but you'd want other party members designing characters that function well in that setting.

I think it would be difficult to run a campaign where you have a Commodore character with, let's say a Neboulon B Frigate, and five other PCs each taking a random specialization from the other 5 careers, with more typical AOR character concepts. Now, every adventure you send them on, you have to find a way to deal with a "nuke from orbit" strategy (which, while there are certainly ways to do this, can become as repetitive as villians fighting superman with kryptonite), and in addition, you have a large NPC crew that the Commodore might want to mobilize as infantry, which is another element you have to constantly find a way around.

An entire ship like that is just a whole lot of power that is going to make the rest of the party feel somewhat useless, unless they have specifically designed their character to function as a part of that, both in terms of their character story concept and skill/talent selections. The other option is to constantly find ways to negate or call away the ship so that it isn't able to be used, so the other 5 players can get their moments to shine. Of course, while they are doing this, the Commodore might feel entirely useless.

In my opinion, a capital ship under direct PC control, particularly at start-up, is going to be a game breaker unless all of the players and the GM are building their characters and the campaign around that concept. However, the PCs all serving on a ship controlled by an NPC, where the Commodore is just one of the major officers (in charge of damage control, navigation, fire control, or some other department where his leadership skills can function effectively) you can be just fine, as the NPC ship captain can just become a source of mission generation.

While I have been part of many campaigns which have started with CR90, Neb-Bs, or equivalent vessels with no problem that is not what most of us are discussing right now.

Most of the ships we are discussing have a dozen crew or less with one yacht class barely breaking 3 dozen. That means the biggest crew we are talking about has about 4 percent the number of crew a Neb-B carries with less then a sixth the firepower and one quarter the fighter capacity without mods. And that's the heaviest ship currently being discussed.

Finding real life examples of ships with crews that that size being captained by junior officers won't be hard. The PT boats of WWII had crew compliments larger then that of the Consular, Gozanti, or YZ-775 classes which were usually commanded by Lieutenants while there were steam age gunboats with crews the size of that of a Minstrel also commanded by Lieutenants.

Also according to the EU if someone plays a key role in capturing a ship for the Alliance they can go through naval officer training be instantly promoted to Lieutenant then brevetted to command the ship with the promotion becoming permanent if they don't screw up badly.

Im of the belief the Specialisations are named for what you will become, not so much what you are to begin with. you have some basic aptitude, but your going to get much better at what your doing over time.

With that in mind has anyone tried giving a party control over a hanger on a Neb-B or CR90 at the beginning of a campaign? The large ship would be part of a mobile Rebellion Fleet, constantly dodging imps, dealing with getting supplies and support from star systems.

This could be similar to getting the Homestead from FH, and even more like getting a Rebel Base option which is coming in the Desperate Allies book. Although just saying it is a narrative thing to begin and them starting with y-wings would also work.

I would see it as the PC's being in charge of the hanger, all their ships would fly out of it, they are responsible for repairs with the available facilities etc.

objectives would be given by major NPC's on the ship or in the fleet, inter Rebel tensions could be fun

In this scenario the Commodore is acting in a Flight Deck command position (matches the early talents he has). as he goes up in contribution he gets the silhouette 5/6 patrol boat he is wanting, then slowly moves up the fleet, getting bigger and bigger ships.

the other pc's could be basically anything they want, the campaign would focus on doing things for the fleet, which would really act as a small highly mobile city.

just my 2c

Interesting idea. I still prefer staring as commander of a very small warship to it but if you have fun with it go for it

I can't help but think of Hornblower as a suitable concept. He starts the books as a Midshipman and works up the ranks.

His first command in a captured Spanish (if my memory serves) freighter carrying rice. He is given 5 of the crew and has to take the ship back to a British port as a "Prize". If I am remembering things, the ship was hit bellow the waterline and the water was causing the rice to expand and rip the hull apart. Which ends with Hornblower losing his first command and having to save his crew from drowning, and the captured crew.

I am also thinking Kris Longknife, who is a marine commander and may have to land a small unit of marines on a planet.

The actual role given the player could have quite a bit of scope allowed by the GM as a result.

I can't help but think of Hornblower as a suitable concept. He starts the books as a Midshipman and works up the ranks.

His first command in a captured Spanish (if my memory serves) freighter carrying rice. He is given 5 of the crew and has to take the ship back to a British port as a "Prize". If I am remembering things, the ship was hit bellow the waterline and the water was causing the rice to expand and rip the hull apart. Which ends with Hornblower losing his first command and having to save his crew from drowning, and the captured crew.

I am also thinking Kris Longknife, who is a marine commander and may have to land a small unit of marines on a planet.

The actual role given the player could have quite a bit of scope allowed by the GM as a result.

Talk about take an idea and run with it! Well done

Yeah though Longknife is now an Admiral with an 80+ frigate fleet under her command plus support ships and more warships are supposed to be coming soon.

Still the comparison with Hornblower does make sense in a way.

First the Alliance navy rank system isn't that far off from the Royal Navy Age of Sal rank system IMO. In that system there was no Lieutenant Commander rank. Instead there was Lieutenant Commanding obviously for when a Lieutenant was commanding a ship. Also there was no permanent Commodore rank. Commodore was the title given to a Captain who was assigned temporary command of a squadron or task force.

Second accord to West End Games who as far as I know were the only company to discuss Alliance Naval officer training in their material rather then having a naval academy recruits who weren't trained as naval officers elsewhere but want to be naval officers are made midshipmen then assigned to a ship where they learn various roles on the job until the ship's captain feels the are ready to become Ensigns.

one series any potential commodore (or gm for that type of campaign) may want to look at is the lieutenant Leary series by David Drake. Starts off being a tag along on an Admirals staff, when the admiral and the rest of the party gets killed he escapes in an enemy frigate. The further books let him keep that command as the public would turn if the dashing young lieutenant lost the command he fought so well, even though he is to small a rank to keep it technically.

Its a good series though I hope the war in it sparks again soon. Also Leary's ship s Corvette not a Frigate though. In that setting Frigates are basically the equivalent of large customs ships in Star Wars ok for anti-pirate work but not much else while Corvettes are the lightest warships suitable for heavy combat.

Been a while since I picked em up think a reread is in order.

Yeah I kind of have a case of OCD on the warship and starship details front. For a long time I was mad at the various people who named Star Wars ships that were cruisers or small patrol craft according to the classification system frigates or named ships that were frigates according to the capitalization system cruisers or corvettes. I understand why they did it now but it still annoys me in a few cases.