Regarding company sizes, I'm doubtful that the game limit of 8 frames is necessarily the true size cap on a company. Personally I think tank companies are probably a better analog than infantry companies. So a typical tank company (for the US Military) seems to consist of 3 tank platoons of 4 tanks with a command element of 2 tanks plus 4 support vehicles. So 14 fighting elements which seems like a good size for a frame company to me; a large battle would potentially see the majority of a company engaged (one could assume the rest are guarding the base, on patrol, under repair, or fighting in another section of the city).
So anyways in my scheme your character commanding of a little less than 80 Frames would still leave Neler Stirling leading a reinforced Battalion (say 5 full sized companies plus the command element). While I would say your would probably be better off making her a Lieutenant Colonel (or a full Commander for the naval equivalent) for a unit this size, I can see a Major/Lieutenant Commander rank working if was sort of a battlefield/impromptu promotion to allow her to coordinate all the Companies; this assumes those Companies are only led by Captains of course.
Well now that I've completed my treatise on the formal structure and organization of several fictional interplanetary militarizes, I await Soren or Joshua to waltz in a destroy all my wonderful theories.
spacemonkey wrote:...I'm thinking that frame Companies instead of breaking into Platoons simply break into Squads of 4 frames and a Lieutenant would then take the spot of Company XO: on one side I can see each squad leader is a 2nd Lieutenant with a team made of simply "Pilots" (a nominal junior officer rank) and on the other side I see each squad led by a Sergeant with a team of Corporals or Specialists.
I'll leave the NCO ranks for the infantry or hardsuit units that invariably also exist in the Solar Calendar setting.
aimforthetop wrote:Also the support roles that a Frame unit may require, that would require a number of both officers and enlisted men.
aimforthetop wrote:It's a big, big chunk of universe the SU has expanded across, and surely there's wrinkles in the organization, even within the TEM.
aimforthetop wrote:Speaking of that scale- wow, a Division-level command would probably encompass several star systems.
Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:Oh, and remember: most of the colonial populations in SC 0245 are very small. Labor frames make them six times as effective as humans for most labor purposes, and if they had the resources to support a large population, they're probably churning out materials or goods fast enough that they're gettin' paid by the TTA.
Well the Army rank of Captain does historically correspond to the command of a company of soldiers and quoting from the Captain (armed forces) wikipedia page: "The rank of captain is generally considered to be the highest rank a soldier can achieve while remaining in the field." So if Estar was the type to prefer field service instead of becoming a paper pusher, Captain would probably be the highest rank she would seek. Also I don't remember someone else speculating that it was typically a UMFL Major (with a suitcase full of cash) sent directly from Mars that was tasked with building up the each colony's UMFL force. If that's true, it would make a certain amount of sense for a Captain to be the highest rank a Colonial might typically reach which would also allow the Martian officer remain in command while overseeing multiple companies if necessary.Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:Estar is a captain, so apparently the UMFL has captains in charge of a company. I can't remember if that was based on research or, more likely, the highest rank she can get before she gets Peter Principled, and doesn't want that.
So regarding Zora Mennit, after a few PMs with you, Joshua, it was determined she was meant to have the rank of First Sergeant. A First Sergeant is typically the company commander's principal non-commissioned assistant and handles a lot of the training for the company's NCOs, supervises administrative issues, and takes care of non-judicial disciplinary actions. So having Zora as First Sergeant still places her an important leadership position in (if not necessarily directly commanding) the company and since the wording is vague enough this doesn't go against the brief information blurb about her in the rulebook.Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:I'm pretty sure I researched the ranks of the other two SU characters in the book, though, so... well, you can see how much I care about this. If you find a reason to determine who's got one rank instead of another, I'd love to see it!
This is largely off-topic but what do you consider very small? A few thousand or hundred thousand? A few million? Less than a hundred million? I mean the US currently has a population of 317 million people making it the world's 3rd most populous country but if that same population was spread across the planet, Earth might be considered to have a very small population (when compared to the current world population of 7 billion people).Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:Oh, and remember: most of the colonial populations in SC 0245 are very small ... if they had the resources to support a large population, they're probably churning out materials or goods fast enough that they're gettin' paid by the TTA.
Joshua A.C. Newman wrote: Oh, and remember: most of the colonial populations in SC 0245 are very small ... if they had the resources to support a large population, they're probably churning out materials or goods fast enough that they're gettin' paid by the TTA.
...what does "that they're gettin' paid by the TTA" imply? Are you saying that such colonies would reasonably prosperous and happy (thus not need of large military forces to keep them safe or stable) or something else?
Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:Oh, and I'm sure they each have slightly different ranking systems and they blame each other for the confusion.
Joshua A.C. Newman wrote:Mokrani is one of three dozen Legionnaires who have gone into battle behind Captain Estar.
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