Auxilliary service?

[Guest Commander Hamblin]

When I came up with this idea for an auxilliary service within Galcom, I had at first thought of hoarding it for myself, and proposing it to Fleet Commander Blades, for Orion Fleet to use an an unofficial capacity.

But, I decided to post it up here instead, for every one else to see, consider, tell me if they've had similar (or identical) ideas previously, why it might work, why it probably won't, blah blah blah. So be appreciative. Or not, I dunno.

Anyhoo, the main thrust of my argument is this - a Galcom auxilliary service (and it's opposite number in any of the other military organisations of the various races, as well as Earthcom and the Insurgency, but for the purposes of this post, I'll use Galcom.) can perform vital functions for Galcom that can leave the frontline, mainstream officers to do the more visible stuff.

I envision it based upon the auxilliary services of the United States Navy (The Military Sealift Command) and the Royal Navy (The Royal Fleet Auxilliary). In both services, they provide vital support to the main Navies, by carrying supplies, oil, weapons, and so forth, as well as having special amphibious landing craft, which can assist with the main Navy's own amphibious landing craft, or can act separately, giving support to the other forces if necessary (A while back, RFA Sir Percivale was involved in rescuing British troops who had been captured by Rebel forces in Sierra Leone - as far as I know, Sir Percivale was a lone ship, not part of a task force or anything).

With the UCV castes that we have now, such a thing is possible. This would not have to require the creation of any new fleets, it would not require any changing of what ships the different castes and careers can choose, it would not involve modifying or adding to the game in any way at all. It could quite easily be employed in a manner which would merely require additional bookkeeping on the parts of the individual fleets, or certain members of Galcom. All it would require, is someone to lead each auxilliary service. That person would have to come from Galcom, so they don't just run off when they feel like it, and create their own corporation or something. Of course, as a member of Galcom, they could resign, become UCV, and then do that anyway, however, they would no longer be in charge of Galcom's auxilliary service. See what I mean?

So, for instance, some guy joins the game as a Terran/Commercial, their ship being the UCV Something or other, an LRT-15. This person then decides to join up with the Galcom Auxilliary service, using his own ship to ferry around goods for Galcom. The benefits are:

1) They get a regular paycheck, and it'd be sort of similar to being in a corporation.

2) They are still recognised as civillians within the game, however are unofficially recognsied as Galcom by us, and can do things like rise in rank, and hold positions within the Galcom Auxilliary Service.

3) Unlike in Galcom, they are free to quit whenever they want. They will still have the same ship, the same cargo (unfortunately), the same everything, just they'll no longer get paid, and they'll no longer have to obey orders. Which means that such an auxilliary force would require a certain degree of trust - but hey, that goes for just about every organisation, eh?

4) They can travel as part of a Galcom group of ships, and provide UNREP (Underway Replenishment) to the ships there, enabling them to function for longer without the need of supply runs to any nearby friendly starbases. This is especially useful in hostile or neutral territory, where ships will be underway for long periods.

5) They can move about more easily without raising suspicion, and therefore could be employed in an espionage or sabotage capability (if it's seen as necessary). The same goes for when replenishing their stocks - they are more likely to be let in at some stations, than a full scale military vessel would be.

6) They get to provide support in military actions, whether in space or on the ground. On the ground especially, as I think it's possible to carry marines around in ships (though I'm not sure about that one). At the least, they could provide spare parts, repair minerals, fuel, blah blah blah.

Now, I am making a number of presumptions in this post. Please don't kill me if I got something wrong.

1) That Galcom, as an organisation, has funding, which each fleet can then allocate for certain tasks (ie, buying parts, paying people, etc). If this is so, certain funding can be allocated to this Galcom Auxilliary Service (so you can pay the people working there, as well as give them amounts which would be required for gathering supplies, so the cost is burdened by Galcom, and not the person).

2) That non-military vessels can carry marines as guests, without them necessarily being a part of the ship's compliment (and therefore, would be unable to use them in military actions).

This could become a necessity when GCO comes out (and could be tested, to an extent, in BCM multiplayer). It could also, if pulled off correctly, give absolutely brilliant logistical support to our fighting ships and marines on the front lines, enabling them to fight longer, and harder, without worrying too much where they're getting their weapons and ammo from.

What do you think?

[Guest]

I think you've just said what the fleets will end up using as their supply routes: The UCV merchants.

A Merchant Guild would take care of those needs, and fear not, it will happen in BCM, its such a logical bussiness deal its almost in the game already

[Cmdr Nova]

Yep. Perfect!

This is the plan that Blades had me looking into, in particular. With my former UCV experience, I'm sure I'm going to be one of the main guys playing the entire thing out.

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Supplies, replacement ships, parts, weapons, replacement crew, etc. It's perfect! A perfect way to keep those bunnies at bay, IMO.

Hope to see more soon.

[Guest Remo Williams]

Interesting idea, but Prime Fleet already has these Fleet support units under my command. As Prime Fleets logistics officer I ensure that our frontline Commanders receive all the food, parts, weopons, etc. that they will need. Prime has no need of these Auxillary service units. Although I won't be supplying the rest of Galcoms Fleets, so this is something you guys really need to work out within your Fleets.

[Rico Jansen]

Remo is correct in a way. He is the man that knows exactly how many turrets will be pointing at his office windows if we don't get our neccessities on time.

But to my knowledge we have never talked about a designated supply wing or squadrons (in Prime). I'm not saying it's not possible. Just that that part wasn't fleshed out when setting up the Primefleet structure. But according to the ISS Fleet website (in this "GALCOM Factions and Groups Intelligence Report" ) there is a Prime support fleet, known as the "Main Support Fleet". I can't remember having seen anything about it here on the forum (or it's deep inside RP. I never go there.) so I am not sure it this is official or not. I would guess it is, 'cause nobody would like to see the SC get really really mad. But nobody mentioned this at all. As you can read in that part but also imagine, that fleet is dormant, not taking recruits.

Now something from a different approach. I remember seeing news footage from the pre-gulfwar months of men/trucks/tanks/cargo being loaded into what seemed normal cargoships to be transported to the gulf arena. Don't know what country that was, though I do remember Dutch material being transported too in the same way. I doubt any force is capable of profiding in it's own logistical needs. This is quite an undertaking, especially when a war is around the corner. Forces assign their assets to take care of their own logistics because they really need to be able to depend on it. A fully independant fleet is an illusion I think. But we will have MP to proof that theory soon I suppose.

In response to Hamblin's pont #5:

They might not have big guns and so be considered harmless and not really a threat, but if you don't want to have your enemies fire weapons at you, you have to make sure he's not getting them in the first place. In other words, those ships will be primary targets if an enemy wants to criple us/any fleet. I don't really like to have them go off alone unprotected. They WILL NEED protection.

[ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: Rico Jansen ]

[Guest Remo Williams]

It was discussed Here Rico. The main posts were made one 1-27-2000, and 2-18-2000. The only reason I have not added the fleet support units to our current fleet structure is because we don't have the man power at the moment. As soon as the wings have at least one active squadron. Then I will begin assignments to the Fleet support units or FSU for short.

[ 08-25-2001: Message edited by: Remo Williams ]

[aramike]

The GALCOM Coast Guard. Yay.

[Rico Jansen]

As should be obvious, I was aware of that thread. I posted in it myself. Ok, I guess I missed that one sentence where Thomas names a/the support fleet. And assigning staff positions. But that's about everything in the past +year I heard about that. You would think such a vital service would get more attention during the structure setup than it did. But you are right, we don't really have a market to dump those nutripacks in yet.

[Guest Remo Williams]

quote:

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Originally posted by aramike:

The GALCOM Coast Guard. Yay.

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Heh! Would you like to bring your Cub Scouts aboard a real BC for a field trip Scout Leader?

[Badgerius]

You know, I had a half-formed plan that when I get tired of being in GalCom, however long that would take, I'd retire, buy a Generis, and act as a contract trader for GalCom. This Auxilliary sounds perfect for it.

[Guest Remo Williams]

Well maybe the other Fleets will develope this idea further,and uses this auxillary service for there logistical support lines. Then you'll have something to do in your golden years.

[Badgerius]

Well, Remo, if you don't have any work for me in my eventual retirement, then maybe Max will

[Guest Commander Hamblin]

Orion already has logistical support lines, thank you very much. The reason I came up with this idea, though, is because I believe this would be far superior to anything that a front line fleet could generate in terms of UNREP.

Of course, Tac's point makes my whole thing kinda moot...I just like the idea of it being a Galcom organisation, employing indies to do the dirty work for us, than an indie organisation, being paid by us to do the dirty work for us. Not to sound too paranoid, but an organisation is more of a threat to the security of our goods being transferred (embezzelment, for instance), than individual indies in our employ.

[Guest]

Motivation is the key any game's supply system. No one more motivated than a merchant making a buck (ermm..that's why they chose the merchant career).

Security risks? Well, aye, but you would not trust a merchant with heavy weaponry or vital stuff to a newcomer merchant. Only those who've shown themselves reliable and who have good, fast ships are likely to get such missions.

Mean newbie merchant stole the cargo you gave him to haul? Put a bounty on his head with the mercs and a notice to shoot on sight with the rest of your fleet. That player will have quite a miserable time getting anywhere or getting any money for quite some time. Kinda reminds me of the EQ "couriers" on the PVP servers. When those scum revealed your secrets...oh he would lose levels ssssooooo fast it wasnt even funny. mwahahah

[Cmdr Nova]

Hmmm... So, is Orion still up for this? I'm interested in heading this up.

Message from Blades, after I said I would join (sensitive & irrelevant info have been deleted):

quote:

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As you know, public relations is somthing that is vital in both the recruitment and promotion of all the major fleets..............

........As it stands, you would be an excellent choice for such a role (recruitment officer), but after doing some thinking, I believe I've got somthing better for you. Somthing you are already familiar with and quite adept at.

Public relations is somthing we are going to increasingly see working in the run up to GCO. The way the casual player, or dedicated Indie see's the various fleets may well dictate how they interact with them in the future. I believe the best way to win the trust and confidence of any new player, be they indie or GalCom is to show a friendly face. Your face is very friendly. You are helpful, constructive and have the right sort of demanor for this line of work.

Most of the newbies and Indies already look to you for guidance, and I believe as part of the Orion Fleet, working within the guidelines that we can both determine, we can win over the poplulation and make them Orion friendly.

In some respects, this could be our most potent weapon. If we have the favor of many indies, we have better lines of supply, support and information gathering and dispersal. From the indies, we could recruit scouts, mercs or even spies to help us with our goals. Likewise, we can be in a position to turn a blind eye to the odd indiscretion here and there - so long as it isnt too serious.

We have friends, but we want more. I believe with your help, we can bolster our existing membership and gain valuable friends for the war ahead..........

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(Damn, Blades is good with words..... It's hard to explain it any better....)

Like Tac said, of course we'd be careful. We'll probably keep some records of loyal people to us, and not trust the newbies just like that. Of course not.

So, the answer would be?

[ 08-29-2001: Message edited by: Cmdr Nova ]