Posted by Vice Admiral Jack D (President) in The Future of the Fleets - Consultation

Posted by Fleet Captain Nathan Miller (TECH Lead / EGO) in The Future of the Fleets - Consultation

Posted by Vice Admiral Krystelle Knight (Engineering DIrector) in The Future of the Fleets - Consultation
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Hi all,

Firstly, you will have noticed a few people have been tagged in this post. I have tagged all cabinet members, as well as those who have participated in the previous discussion. If you want to ‘snooze’ this post, please untag yourself. If you don’t want to be tagged in any command posts again, you can “quit current position” on your character (except for the cabinet… I will look for you, I will find you…). If you want to be tagged, let me know and I’ll add a ‘Command contributor’ character for you.

Thanks for your contributions so far; I think we had a really good discussion that highlighted areas where we could improve. Following the discussion, the areas I think we need to discuss are:

1. The categorising of ships (ie ‘standard’ and ‘alt’) and resulting restrictions in terms of new members, GMTs, etc.

2. What support is available for COs/XOs, including mentoring, etc.

3. The purpose of fleet reports, and what is necessary to achieve that purpose (this may morph into a wider ‘ship health’ discussion).

4. How cadets are integrated into the wider fleet post graduation.

5. Fleet roles, and restrictions on them, as well as how we organise the fleets.

If you feel there are any other areas that we should discuss, please say.

However, before we kick any of those off, I would like a discussion on the roles of both Fleet (FComm, AFComm) and, seeing we have touched on the mentoring of them, the Command Staffs (CO, XO) - i.e. what is it that they should be expected to do. We’ll start off with the Fleet staff, but before I do that I would like someone to volunteer pulling together what’s already in FCOMM (and other bylaws) so that we have a baseline.

Once we’ve worked out what the fleet staff is responsible for, we can then discuss what roles are needed to deliver against those responsibilities.

Hopefully that makes sense, but please do reply here or drop me a line if you want to add your own thoughts or ask any questions.

Yours,

Jack

I would volunteer to put together such a document, Jack, but I’m struggling to be active in an RP way at the moment.

From my memory though: FComm - names an AFComm, recommends COs to the President, approves XOs/GMs in consultation with CO/GM Department, Checks ship health, monthly report, Fleet MOTD/Fleet HQ MOTD, any fleet ‘static’ pages, character promotions above Lt Commander
AFComm - in charge in absence of FComm, any tasks given by FComm, involvement in appointments/approvals if FComm one of those involved in CO/XO/GM appointments.

Russell Watt
Command Contributor The Command Ship

Here is the official relevant excerpt from FCOMM:
Fleet Commander
All Fleets are commanded by a Fleet Commander, appointed by the President. The Fleet Commander is considered a member of the Cabinet. The Fleet Commander is charged with seeing to the proper functioning of the Fleet under his command and the administration of related COs, XOs, and other Ship Administrators. The Fleet Commander is responsible for the outward image of the Fleet under his command, for reporting to the President and working with the President on matters of Fleet business, and other duties as specified in this and other Edicts.

Specifically, the Fleet Commander is responsible for ensuring that the Ships under his command are healthy and properly functioning role playing environments, that the internal and external pages under his jurisdiction are maintained, and that fleet reports which detail the current status of each ship under his or her command are submitted to the President. The President is responsible for dictating in policy how and when fleet reports should be submitted.

In the event that the positions of CO and XO on a ship both become vacant simultaneously, due to AWOL, eLOA, resignation, or other circumstances, the Fleet Commander may appoint an aCO and aXO. They must notify the President of such action and relay their recommendation on whether replacing the CO permanently is necessary or not.

Assistant Fleet Commander
Each Fleet Commander is required to appoint a single Assistant Fleet Commander. The Assistant Fleet Commander’s primary responsibility is to take over as acting Fleet Commander should the Fleet Commander declare a LOA. An Assistant Fleet Commander may declare the Fleet Commander AWOL with the consent of the President and assume the position of acting Fleet Commander until such time as the President appoints a new Fleet Commander. Additional duties may be assigned to the Assistant Fleet Commander at the discretion of the Fleet Commander. The Assistant Fleet Commander is considered a member of Command, but is not a member of the Cabinet. A Fleet Commander may appoint additional training roles within the Fleet; however, no official power may be delegated to these roles.

Restrictions
The Fleet Commander must be a current or former CO. The Assistant Fleet Commander must be a current or former CO or XO. Equivalent positions in an Alternate RPG Area may count equivalently. Acting CO or XO does not count. No individual may be the Fleet Commander or Assistant Fleet Commander of more than one Fleet at a time, nor may any individual be Fleet Commander of one Fleet and Assistant Fleet Commander of another Fleet at the same time. The President may not be the Fleet Commander or Assistant Fleet Commander of any Fleet. Acting holder of a position does not count towards these restrictions.

And from GO:
Fleet Commander
The Fleet Commander of each Fleet shall be appointed by the President, who shall name his own Assistant Fleet Commander. The Fleet Commander is considered a member of the Cabinet.

And that’s all I could find about FComm’s specifically in our official Documents and Charters.

Krys

There are a couple more mentions in FCOMM:

The CO may promote members of his or her crew to the rank of Commander with the consent of the Fleet Commander.

The CO also has the power to dismiss members of their crews if they determine that such action is necessary to preserve or restore the ability of the ship to function effectively. A member dismissed from a ship may appeal the decision to the FComm (or AFComm if the CO in question is FComm). Should the FComm (or AFComm) support the decision of the CO, the ruling is final. Should the FComm overturn the ruling, the CO may appeal to the President (or the Vice President if the President is the CO in Question); in this case, the President’s (or Vice President’s) decision is final. Other powers may be specified by Edict or by the Fleet Commander.

There’s also their responsibilities and powers under OGRE:

Appointment of Gamemasters

Prior to the commencement of each mission, the Fleet Commander of a fleet or a subordinate of his choosing shall select a Gamemaster or Gamemaster Trainee-Gamemaster Mentor pair who shall serve as Gamemaster for that mission, subject to the veto of the CO of the ship in question. Notification of this selection must be sent to the Gamemaster Department within 24 hours of the selection, and at least 48 hours prior to the commencement of the mission. Failure to do so shall be considered a failure to complete a duty incumbent upon the office of the person in question. Additional regulation of Gamemaster appointments within a given fleet is at the discretion of the Fleet Commander.

The Gamemaster Department may recommend that a given ship host a Gamemaster Trainee-Gamemaster Mentor pair, and the Fleet Commander or named subordinate responsible is expected to give this request due and fair consideration.

Dismissal of Gamemasters

A Gamemaster may be removed prior to the completion of a mission by the Fleet Commander or previously named subordinate should the Gamemaster exhibit behavior ill-suited for his position, does not uphold his responsibility of maintaining an enjoyable environment aboard his ship, or abuses the authority of his position beyond the boundaries of STF law and common sense. Dismissal of a Gamemaster by the Fleet Commander himself shall be considered an act of the Fleet Commander and treated accordingly. Dismissal of a Gamemaster by a subordinate of the Fleet Commander shall be referred first to the Fleet Commander before further action.

Authority and Responsibility of Gamemasters, Rule 3.6:

If a member habitually receives Death Notices (more than 5 in a 6 month span), they may be ruled to be a suicidal character player by the Gamemaster Director or by the Fleet Commander of a fleet in which they serve. If a member is so classified, the limit for character death shall be one. Members may appeal a declaration of suicidal-tendency to the President. Such a declaration shall expire six months after the last death notice placed against a character controlled by that player.

Mission Types

Prior to the commencement of a Special Circumstances mission, all involved Gamemasters must obtain the consent of all related COs and all related Fleet Commanders, and must notify the Gamemaster Department prior to the start of the mission. In the event that the Fleet Commander or CO is one of the Gamemasters in question, the permission of the Gamemaster Director shall be required. In the event that the Fleet Commander is also the Gamemaster Director, the CO is also the Fleet Commander, or the CO is also the Gamemaster Director, the approval of the President shall be required. Special Circumstances missions must be approved on a mission-by-mission basis.

…

A Self-RPG Mission is one in which there is no explicit Gamemaster. Instead, all members of the crew have equal control over the storyline. In order for a ship to be considered for Self-RPG status, the ship’s CO must provide viable reasons why his ship is suited for self-RPG status. He must also provide proof that guidelines are in place maintain a pleasant role-playing atmosphere. The petition will be granted with unanimous approval from the Gamemaster Director, appropriate Fleet Commander, and ship’s CO.

Disputes

Should any member have a dispute with the actions of a Gamemaster, the member is expected to first address the matter to the Gamemaster in question. If the situation can be resolved, the matter is considered closed. In case of an impass, any of the involved parties may refer the matter to the next highest authority who is not already a party to the dispute for moderation. For the purposes of this edict, the chain of authority shall be the member, Gamemaster, Fleet Commander or designated subordinate, Gamemaster Director, Assistant Gamemaster Director, and finally the President. Only the Gamemaster Director, Assistant Gamemaster Director, or President may forcibly overturn a decision of a Gamemaster and a decision of one of those parties shall be considered final.

Nathan
TECH Lead

Thank you, Nathan! I forgot to look there:) So this provides us a lot of material to digest. What exactly is the question we are looking at here again, Jack?

Krys

I just noticed that I seem to have somehow removed all of the tags when I posted. Just adding those back.

Nathan
TECH Lead

Thanks all. The question I was looking to answer is what are the Fleet staff already responsible for. If I were to summarise the defined responsibilities above, without specifying whether it’s the FComm or AFComm, these would be:

• Ensuring the proper functioning of the Fleet, specifically the ships under their command are healthy and properly functioning role playing environments
• Administration of related COs, XOs, and other Ship Administrators
• The outward image of the Fleet under his command, specifically that MOTDs are updated (I don’t think we have external pages these days).
• Reporting to the President and working with the President on matters of Fleet business, including submitting fleet reports which detail the current status of each ship.
• Approve promotions to Commander based on recommendations from a CO.
• Hear any appeals for crew being removed from a ship.
• Appoint/dismiss GMs to ships prior to start of a mission (appointment subject to CO veto).
• Approve a ‘special circumstance’ mission - one that is self-RPG, CO-GMed, multi-ship and multi-GM.
• Handle disputes between a member and Gamemaster.

And then their powers (ie things that they ‘may’ do, rather than ‘must’ do) are:

• Appointing an aCO and aXO should both CO and XO positions be vacant due to LOA/AWOL/resignation, with the need to inform the President.
• Appoint training roles to the fleet, but with no official power delegated to these roles.
• Class a member as a ‘suicidal character player’.

Then there are the usual bits of appointing an AFComm, AFComm stepping in when FComm is on LOA, the AFComm being able to declare the FComm AWOL.

So, my follow on questions are:

1. Is that everything that is currently written down?
2. How much of this do we follow and, if not, what is the standard practice?
3. Are there any other tasks that are expected of the Fleet staff but not written down?

That should allow us to get a good baseline of what is currently expected of the fleet staff. The plan is then for us to discuss whether there is anything else that should be included, or whether some of the above should be modified. That then gives us a good understanding of what we expect of the Fleet Staff (ie a job description or terms of reference), which we can then use to review current structures and update bylaws. But for now, please focus on the two questions above.

Jack

I’m purposely splitting the thread, as we side-tracked down the GM appointment avenue. In particular, I’m interested in knowing whether there is anything else we expect of fleet staff?

Following on from that, I’m keen to explore ‘how’ we expect fleet staff to do that? (so what are the ‘implied’ tasks that fleet staff should do to meet their responsibilities?)

Jack