Does this book assign Individual military ranks (captian, sergent, etc.) to the characters? Does it discuss the rank structure of the alliance and empire?

When a party reaches 100 duty and gains a contribution rank, it states that in addition to their reward they could receive a military rank upgrade, but it's left entirely in the hands of the GM and there is no rank structure listed.

T

No to both questions. It discusses guidelines on how the group's Contribution rank could relate to their reputation among the Alliance, along with some guidelines for plugging in rank (e.g., Contribution 0-1 analogous to recruit to corporal rank).

No detailed list of ranks as such.

Thanks. Hopefully the final book will have more detail on this.

Try the old WEG 2nd Edition Rebel Alliance and Imperial Sourcebooks, though (not that surprisingly) there were multiple rank structures depending on the branch, as well as "not-official-military" organizations such as CompForce without listed rank structures.

I'm sure it will. In the meantime, here's some stuff that might help.

For the Galactic Empire, http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rank_insignia_of_the_Galactic_Empire/old_version

In Star Wars: The Old Republic, the following command structure is given for the Republic military. I could easily see you just using similar titles for the Rebellion.

Supreme Commander

General (Army)/Admiral (Navy)

Colonel (Army)/Commodore (Navy)

Major (Army)/ Group Captain (Navy)

Captain

Lieutenant

Ensign

Sergeant (Army)/Petty Officer (Navy)

Corporal

Specialist

Private

Commander is often used to address any superior officer in charge of a situation or operation. Sir is often used to address superior officers as well, regardless of species or gender.

Looking on Wookieepedia it looks like the alliance had the following breakdown for the army/navy.

Trooper / Deckman

Corporal / Petty Officer

Sergeant / Sr Petty Officer

Lieutenant / Ensign

Captain / Lieutenant

Major / Lt Commander

Colonel / Commander

General / Captain

Admiral

I dunno if there needs to be anything purely mechanical about a PC's rank in the Rebellion, as opposed to something purely mechanical.

I figure most PCs are going to start out as Trooper/Deckman (depending on if they're Army or Fleet), maybe Corporal/Petty Officer after a few successful missions. You could have a PC that's built around leadership (such as having the Commander career) start out as a fresh-from-Officer-Camp Lieutenant/Ensign as a commissioned officer in contrast to a "worked through the ranks" non-commissioned officer.

Mechanically, I'm not sure there'd really need to be any additional benefit to having such a rank, other than a Boost die when giving orders or directing the actions of Rebel NPC troops.

Again, something that, fluff-wise, will probably be discussed in more detail in the full rulebook, where there will be space to go into more detail on the Alliance's military structure.

I agree that rank doesn't need to be in the mechanics (but I don't think obligation and duty need mechanics either) but was just curious since I heard the party contribution rank thing.

As far as starting rank for PCs I see that as starting with lieutenant/ensign. The PCs aren't common troopers, they sound like pilots and special ops types.

As far as starting rank for PCs I see that as starting with lieutenant/ensign. The PCs aren't common troopers, they sound like pilots and special ops types.

That would depend on the campaign, though. I can imagine a campaign where the PCs start off as rank and file ground-pounders and work their way up the ranks. The Clone Wars cartoon series got a lot of mileage out of rank and file clones doing interesting things, and even graduating up to ARC troopers. A PC could start off as a grunt and become a sergeant or Squad Leader or the like, maybe transfer into SpecForce.

The problem with gaining rank, it is it is rather useless without the "troops" to support. When you get beyond captain you start doing more strategic planning then tactical.

Really boring to have a player get beached/Benched because they gained too much rank. Some people get so dead set on a promotion so they can "give orders" they forget the responsibility that goes along with gaining ranks

Volunteer for suicide missions and the rebel alliance promotes you to General !

Never understood why Han Solo became a General. Seems ridiculous to me.

Generals get a lot of action in Star Wars. Just look at Han, Lando, Wedge, etc.

Seriously, the rebel alliance are quite stupid. Giving out general ranks to people totally without military knowledge or experience.

Though i must admit, General Solo sounds bad ass .

Seriously, the rebel alliance are quite stupid. Giving out general ranks to people totally without military knowledge or experience.

Though i must admit, General Solo sounds bad ass .

Actually, both Han and Lando had plenty of combat experience, with Lando leading the Battle of Taanab, and Han having worked with the Rebellion for a few years prior to RotJ.

Also, the Alliance is perpetually short on experienced field commanders, and giving those two the rank of General ensures that when the poodoo hits the fan (which it did), there won't be any chain-of-command issues from any of the other officers. There were a couple of very brief "arguments" between Admiral Ackbar and General Calrissian, but Ackbar ceded to Lando's unorthodox tactics, and Han's ability to improve his plans based on having to do so for years operating as a smuggler certainly paid off big for the Alliance.

Wedge earned his rank the old-fashioned way, and even refused a bunch of promotions past Commander since that would take him out of Rogue Squadron. He only accepted a promotion to General when Ackbar told him point-blank that other pilots in Rogue Squadron were following Wedge's example and refusing much-deserved promotions to the detriment of their military careers.

Seriously, the rebel alliance are quite stupid. Giving out general ranks to people totally without military knowledge or experience.

Though i must admit, General Solo sounds bad ass .

Not stupid at all. Han was the top of his class at the Imperial Academy! He was trained by the best to be the best. He just had an attack of conscience. He decided to free a Wookie slave instead of beat him. So he got chased out of the Academy, and made a new best friend.

Heck, before that he earned his Corellian Bloodstripes ! Which, by the way, are only awarded to those in the Corellian Military. Han is a master military man. He's earned his keep and then some.

-EF

han solo spent years with the Rebellion Likely there was a unfilmed scene with Ackbar and General Madine where he was asked to lead the strike force, and Han solo only accepted if he could become a General. Then when asked about Lando leading the Fighters, han told them about the battle of Tanaab, and because Han was a General, Lando wanted to be a General.

Obviously not the norm. Both still had a large number of subordinates to command. heck, Han was commanding a Fleet Group when going after Warlord Zsing

Part of the adventures boils down to "what are your minions doing?" and too often it is nothing more then a way to keep them out of the action

You can also point to a long history in EU lore of ex-Imperial defectors in the Alliance ranks, right down to General Madine having been (a/the) special forces commander on both sides of the Galactic Civil War, as well as former Clone Wars-era military on both sides.

For example, betcha never would have guessed that the very same Captain Needa whose apology was "accepted" by Lord Vader had, over twenty years before, given General Grievous ten minutes to prove the 'captive' Chancellor's survival before he'd open fire on and destroy Grievous' flagship at Coruscant.

Good lord... how old was Captain Needa at the time, like, twenty-one?

Well the Battle of Coruscant was 22 years before Captain Needa disappointed Vader and he was probably around 50 at that time so Lt Commander Needa was probably in his late 20s during the Battle of Coruscant.

I actually geeked-out and looked up Captain Needa on imdb, and he would have been 41 when shooting ESB. So 22 years prior he would have been... 19! I guess it must have been an unpopular war, if they had to put teenagers in command of capital ships.

I did see that. I guess he wasn't as old as I remember.

I guess it must have been an unpopular war, if they had to put teenagers in command of capital ships.

The Royal Navy has a toast where they drink to "a bloody war or a sickly season". Both traditionally opened up opportunities for promotion. For those who survived them.

--

The punishment for failure in the Imperial Military was death by strangulation, and as such by the time of the Battle of Yavin their command structure was full of officers whose principle skills were in avoiding taking responsibility for anything. The effect this culture of avoiding blame at all costs had on their combat effectiveness is well recorded by history.

Swing and a miss there... we were all talking about the Clone Wars!

It is almost like there is more than one discussion going on!

Nelson the Trafalgar guy was put in command of a ship at age 20. In the same way, the rapid expansion of the Republic military and heavy attrition of experienced officers clearly meant that by the end of the Clone Wars, ship command had become even more of a young mans game than it normally is.

Meanwhile, the systemic failings of the military culture of Palpatine's New Order that led to them being constantly outmanoeuvred by the far better led forces of the Rebel Alliance are continually discussed in the staff colleges of the New Republic.