[StarSlayer]

No this isn't some flogged the dead horse joke about their lack of competence but a question about the physical possibility of such a command structure.  The idea of a command institution that hands-on controls the operations of a multi system military in realtime strikes me as nye impossible.  To even have such a CIC within a single system borders on incredulity.  Even with a lightspeed transmission it takes a signal 8.32 light minutes to travel a single AU (149 million km).   Now if your task group is stationed in the outer reaches of a solar system say 39.53 AU from your command base i will take 5.47 light hours for a signal sent by your fleet to reach them.  Even discarding the time it would take for them to digest and respond to a message it would be 10.94 hours after your initial transmission before you received a response.  Something tells me the situational parameters might have changed by the time Command gets back to you.  This is why most battlegroups have a flag officer and Flight Ops to handle the on site decision making, something that would be obsolete with the realtime command ability shown by GTVA (why bother with Flag officers when command can make every decision themselves ).  Therefore in order for a single solar system to utilize a GTVA Command esq CIC structure would require some sorta FTL comm, which would need to transmit many times the speed of light before it eliminates transmission lag.  This would be some heavy duty technology to achieve such a thing.

Here is the kicker though for a lightspeed transmission from our solar system to the nearest star is 4.3 light years one way, for it to reach the Orion Nebula is 1,500 light years.  Something tells me any messages transmitted between GTVA Command and its battlefleets are going to be a little out of date before either party receives them, even with a FTL comm.  The only way it could be marginally effective was if they utilized the Sub Space nodes.  But even with Nodal communication and FTL comms for the inner system communication there still would be plenty of lag to make it ineffective for the type of realtime hands on decision making displayed by GTVA command.  In reality such a technological ability displayed by GTVA command would be the highest achievement of the entire GTVA.

Not to mention the fact that for a CIC to command the entire GTVA fleet down to the Strikecraft Ops level would require and entire large countries' population worth of personnel and probably a nation spanning facility.  I dunno, seems to me the entire idea of GTVA command controlling the fleet the way it does seems silly, and not because they couldn't successfully order takeout let alone a campaign. 

[Solatar]

I think the assumption we've all been operating under is that the GTVA uses some sort of subspace communications technology. In FS1 you run across things like the Beta Aquilae Communications Terminal, suggesting that subspace communications are all coordinated through a single ship in a star system, then relayed to other star systems. I'm assuming destroyers or other military vessels have this technology so they can communicate in star systems with no communications terminal.

Communications aren't relayed by hand or anything by the station. I've also always assumed that there was some element of "Command" in each system, so the player was always updated promptly.

[Killer Whale]

Me: Yeh, command could be the current flagship's captain or something

Myself: But what about the Colossus, command told it to get out of the sathanas attack but kept on talking after destruction

Me: Oh, well... Maybe it's a subspace thing, the signal travels through subspace.

Myself: But it can take a few minutes to a few hours for a ship to travel through sub-space, command talks in real-time

Me: Maybe they've utilized a technology that can send a signal super-fast

I: Or maybe it's a game, it doesn't need to be realistic.

[ShadowGorrath]

In-system subspace jumps are amost instant , inter-system subspace jumps takes some time ( a few hours ) . That's what I read in the tech room . And since the GTVA uses subspace comms , command can notify them almost instantly . And I think that each system has it's own command figure , so they always know what to do .

[karajorma]

Intersystem jumps takes some time because the ship has to travel from one end of the corridor to the other. Even if messages are relayed through subspace corridors at lightspeed it still would take milliseconds for the message to travel the 10km or so from one side to the other.

So I don't find the idea of using FTL relays unbelievable at all.


As for command being on a local capship, I find that one harder to buy. Command remains the same guy at the end of the first set of SOC missions, when you're exchanged to the Vasudans and even after the Aquitane (presumably the ship he's on) leaves the nebula.

So unless Command is stalking you I find it hard to believe that that he's located on a ship in-system.

[TrashMan]

Intersystem jumps takes some time because the ship has to travel from one end of the corridor to the other. Even if messages are relayed through subspace corridors at lightspeed it still would take milliseconds for the message to travel the 10km or so from one side to the other.

IIRC, the only canon subspace mission shows the ship NOT moving at all (Lucy).
We all assume (and use in our campaigns) that the ship travels using it's engine power but it could very well be that everything - from a 10m/s capships, 100m/s fighter to a beam of light - takes the same time to travel trough intersystems nodes.
Strikes me a bit strange and I like our own explanation a bit better, but it's a possibiltiy we can't really ignore.

As for command being on a local capship, I find that one harder to buy. Command remains the same guy at the end of the first set of SOC missions, when you're exchanged to the Vasudans and even after the Aquitane (presumably the ship he's on) leaves the nebula.

So unless Command is stalking you I find it hard to believe that that he's located on a ship in-system.

It's a game.. I bet they either were lazy to make several more headz or just wanted a player to have a familiar face when important orders come trough.

That said, it's very likely that there is a command post/ship in every system, each system having it's own "command". Recall the "Into the Lions Den"? No Command there.

[AlphaOne]

Well i guess the inefectiveness of Command regarding real time orders and situation development  must be what lead to the Hecate destroyer beeing designed as a C&C destroyer. To be able to handle anithing that migh come up. Something whiuch the Aquitane hasproven it can do several times.

So from this POV the Hecate is a superb ship .

[Snail]

IIRC, the only canon subspace mission shows the ship NOT moving at all (Lucy).
We all assume (and use in our campaigns) that the ship travels using it's engine power but it could very well be that everything - from a 10m/s capships, 100m/s fighter to a beam of light - takes the same time to travel trough intersystems nodes.
Strikes me a bit strange and I like our own explanation a bit better, but it's a possibiltiy we can't really ignore.

IMO, it depends on the mass of the ship entering the subspace portal, so it takes a cruiser less time to complete an intersystem jump than a superdestroyer. The Lucy had a large mass, where a beam of light doesn't.

That said, it's very likely that there is a command post/ship in every system, each system having it's own "command". Recall the "Into the Lions Den"? No Command there.

That's because AFAWK (), the GTVA had never entered that system.

[TrashMan]

Where do you get that travel-time mass dependent stuff? Cite some canon source pls.

Also, the fact that there was no command in "Into the Lions Den" kinda breaks the "command sends orders from another system" premise, since there was nodeline present, ergo, command probably has a CIC center in every theatre of operations

[Snail]

Where do you get that travel-time mass dependent stuff? Cite some canon source pls.

Uhhh... Okay then... Umm...

Lucifer took, what, 10 minutes? The uhh...

Okay, in the King's Gambit, it takes the NTCv Perseverance a maximum of 300 seconds to arrive (I came to this conclusion by adding up the arrival delay and departure delay of all the NTF ships in this mission up to the Perseverance), which is less than 5 minutes. In the briefing, Beckett, your squadron leader, informs you that intelligence saw all the ships in the mission except the NTT Inspiration and Perseverance enter the node. Therefore, it took the Perseverance a minimum of 300 seconds to reach Gamma Draconis.

Compelling argument huh? No...?


If I asked you that on your statements you'd be doing the same thing...

[Kie99]

Where do you get that travel-time mass dependent stuff? Cite some canon source pls.

Also, the fact that there was no command in "Into the Lions Den" kinda breaks the "command sends orders from another system" premise, since there was nodeline present, ergo, command probably has a CIC center in every theatre of operations

If there's a base in every system, who was giving orders in the final mission?

[karajorma]

Also, the fact that there was no command in "Into the Lions Den" kinda breaks the "command sends orders from another system" premise, since there was nodeline present, ergo, command probably has a CIC center in every theatre of operations

Not at all. I'm saying that there needs to be a relay point in each system in order to pass the message on. Capships would carry one but fighters wouldn't (and thus could only talk to ships actually in the system). That explains what is going on in Lion's Den just as well.

[Snail]

Command is in an escape pod 10 clicks out giving orders.

[ssmit132]

It's an observational platform.

[Hades]

Command is in an escape pod 10 clicks out giving orders.

Heh heh, JAD 3's Frakking Command.

[ssmit132]

Wasn't he 120 clicks out?

[CaptainFAT]

Command's a black guy. I think that's good enough.

[TrashMan]

Not at all. I'm saying that there needs to be a relay point in each system in order to pass the message on. Capships would carry one but fighters wouldn't (and thus could only talk to ships actually in the system). That explains what is going on in Lion's Den just as well.

F'course there has to be a relay station. I never disputed that. The FTL comms IMHO, are like the internet.
You got a relay station in front of every node, and they send data to eachother. They are like servers as all data is routed trough them. Each system is it's own closed network and only the relay stations communicate directly.

That said, it kinda makes sense to have a command post in every system, or at least every tacticly important one. 

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Command is an artificial intelligence built into all ships.  That's why it makes such bad decisions and cares so little about pilots.   

[Snail]

Meh if he was an AI he'd be a sexy girl not some ugly black dude.