It really is hard I agree, with such a broad spread of rank it's hard to put everyone in the same scene. I'm happy for either idea, but I find it hard to see a way for the entire group to be in a scene at once without something major happening to level out the power structure of the ship.

One reboot idea would be for Jack to not be ship commander, have that role filled by an NPC. Then making sure everyone else has a similar level of command, or at least some kind of "expert adviser" role. We get given briefings as a group then there is a reason to work together as a team to get those things done.

If this is intended to continue as a "PC's with a Cap ship" idea then the other option is promote everyone to a high position of command within the crew. It's still going to have the problem of some PC's not working with others regularly.

I guess the question that needs answering is "how do you get indivuals from all over a ship to be working together regularly?"

Away Missions.

Ship crash with very few survivors.

Put everyone in the same unit, or the same division (all Marines, all within Engineering, all within Fighters group)

Put everyone on the same command level.

Unite the group with a common an probably secret goal that's more important than command (a secret spy mission, building a rebellion within th crew, anti espionage, etc)

I don't really mind which way it goes, but I don't want to play a Solo campaign with occasional cameos...

I was thinking that, shortly after Alderaan, the group meets and agrees that the Empire isn't right, and that they should do something about it. Lo and behold, the Kuma is in dry dock while the fleet is being reorganized. Find a handful of like-minded folks and stage a hijacking. When you're a group of co-conspirators, rank is secondary.

That's just a thought; I'd like to hear what everyone has to say first.

Seems fairly sound to me. (Actually, something that was one of my guesses for what was going to happen anyway)

I don't so much see rank as the issue as being spread out in departments. The current mission hasn't progressed enough for it to involve everyone. For example, no one really knows the current mission so we're all off in our respective departments doing what the characters would logically be up to until they get new orders or a new mission. So I think we need missions or a game plan that is going to draw the PC's together.

I'm ok with a reboot (though Neville is still gonna be the Major ) but a reboot should also figure out the premise that draws the various PC's together. I think that's what is lacking currently (what is the current mission anyway?). I think the tie needs to be a bit stronger than "defect from the Empire" as to be honest if we don't build up to wanting to defect then what's the point of starting in the Empire? That's part of why Neville is currently ok with the status quo, because honestly if he was leaning towards joining the Rebellion then why is he not already doing that? If we continue as the Empire with an end goal of joining the Rebellion then I think we need to spend some time actually wanting to be a part of the Empire and growing to dislike it. Otherwise, we should just cut to the point where we are joining the Rebellion and skip the entire Empire part.

I'm open to either or. I kinda like the concept I have and would love to explore it but I could .... edit it.

I am on board for either possibility. It sounds like we're leaning toward a timeskip, though, which suits me just fine.

I might or might not be offline for an extended period starting today or tomorrow. If not, fine, but the likelyhood of me disappearing mysteriously for a while is possible.

Been thinking about this, but I'm still not sure how to proceed yet. It's a vexing situation. The general feeling is time skip, which is fine, I'm just trying to figure it out going forward.

So, you ever postpone something to the weekend when you'll have more free time? Two weekends in a row now, and I've realized I usually have less free time than the rest of the week. I'll have to find a period where I can focus on the game a bit more.

I'll try to get something out this weekend, possibly tomorrow night(?), but we'll see. Actually, if anybody has any ideas they'd like to throw in there, I'm all figurative ears.

It's a tough one. Finding a common story thread to keep the party together is tough.

Fighting off a boarding party could provide opportunities. Or a crash landing with minimal survivors. Away missions could work as well, "I need a Shuttle Pilot, Soldier, Intelligence, Advisor, Doc better come too, let's go get the info we need"

Normal ship operations just don't seem to be the place where this group would have reason to be together.

Even if we fast forward to "hey crew let's all join the Rebellion" finding reasons to all be in the same room will be hard.

So we could rewrite our characters a little to get them all closer together, then defect with the ship when that happens.

Or have a big event which leaves the ship stranded but repairable, most of the crew dead, but us on the run. We go find the Rebellion together and lead them back to the ship which we help them repair and become part of the fleet. At which point the PC's are all good friends and want to hang out. Then it's Empire killing time.