Den's comment on the Re-enlistment gave me this idea. Instead of spending all this time trying to come up with a list of the dead and who might be awesome to rise from the dead and the past, why not spend the time coming up with a list of the future.

So this is what I would like everyone to do. post in here on how you think the Navy, any aspect of it, as a whole, training, squadrons, conduct, story writing, etc, that could be improved upon. Try to be specific, not just something like "we could improve on activity."

Who knows, your idea just might come to pass. *hint hint*

I hope that every single active member will at least post once. REPETITIONS ARE WELCOME. The more people thinks something needs to be changed, the more likely something can be done about it.

Discussion on previously presented ideas are welcome as well. so please don't hold back if you have an opinion about an idea.



To start us off:

VE Meeting Attendance. in the past months, except for last week, there has been close to no naval personnel coming to the VE meetings. In the short time i've been back, two people from the Army has told me that "The Navy is Dead" I don't blame them. Between mid September and mid October, there wasn't even a single Navy report presented during the VE meeting, no representative whatsoever.

I hope that people will take part more on IRC. I know it is not required, but then nothing is required. One more person on IRC, at any time, would mean a more active Navy. Last week, there were 5 people from the Navy present for the VE Meeting, as a result, each one of them received a 25k bonus from me.

I'm on there as much as possible every day, hope to see you all there as well.

More Esprit de Corps.

I've been here only a short while, so correct me if I'm wrong, but there seems to me to be no real identification among Navy members with their units, and the Navy as a whole.  We're all just "members" or "pilots", not "Viper Members" or "Nazgul Pilots".

Improving this could possibly involve more inter- (and intra-) squadron competitions, whether its writing, gaming, rp-ing, whatever.  Also, in writing stories, why not just have a story or two (other than "vacation" stories) that involves a squadron's (or wing's, etc.) members simply interacting with one another, or "bonding" if you wish. 

I could be way off in left field here, but this has been my impression of the Navy thusfar- more like a bureaucracy than unit.

Arturo, believe me when i say this, squadron pride runs quite high in the VE at times. for most non-officer members, in their entire career in the VE, they only get to serve one unit/squad/squadron. Such as myself before coming back to active duty, the only squadron i served in was Kaph, for over three years.

In fact, sometimes i think there's too much hostility between the squadrons, for example, no one from Viper ever comes into Nazgul's topic, and vice versa, 95% of the time at least.

Competition wise, we have the ESC, but usually we only have it when there's three or more active squadrons, not much to compete against if you're either the winner or the loser.

However, I do agree with your opinion that there should be more bonding between all of the members as a whole, such as a wing story.

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Atrasin, I'm not sure if this way of organizing the ranks would help us or create more confusion. In real life navy, all pilots are officers, and the enlisted ranks are mostly deck hands, ship crew, and the like. However, in the VEN, all members, even the Crewmen, start off as pilots. There is no subdivision of ship crew. So i'm not sure how much this separation of officers and enlisted would help.

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While we're on the topic of ship crews, I just got another idea. In the game Republic Commandos, (assuming everyone has at least heard of the name) aside from the squad of commandos, there's always an unseen 5th member of the squad. This person is called "Adviser" and serves as a spotter sort of person for the squad from the safety of the base ship or command center.

The main purpose of this person is real time contact with the squad/squadron in the field with the higher ups. at the same time able to access secure information through the command center and provide the field units with up-to-minute intel as they come in.

For starters, this could be an NPC, and later on filled in by someone not in the deployed squadron, possibly in the officer ranks in order to access classified intel. This would, I believe, open up a whole new venue for story development, char/squadron development, etc.

I don't pay people to come to meetings, i simply rewarded them for coming not knowing they'll get paid. :P

Hunter, I don't literally mean for us to have a Squadron ID next to our rank and callsign on the ComNet, but for each equadron to have its own identity and... spirit, if you will. 

Will, I'm not saying Nazgul or Viper doesn't have pride, but morale goes beyond pride.  As I said, its about a squadron's own identity; not the name, but who they are and what are they known for.  Savvy?

Please kill double post.

-Drac

Again- let me just say that the meetings aren't supposed to be a chore (I used to say to my squadron members all the time if this felt like a chore, there's something wrong).  Neither, btw, are your reports: both are an opportunity to showcase your and your piers' contribution to the Navy, and the VE for that matter, at large.  Then, if you've earned it, you can receive recognition for your work.  *Cough*

And you are?

i actually agree. sometimes, it gets scary coming back and see a wall of text that needs to be read. much easier to read more posts that are much shorter. and as mentioned, it gives other people to post in between.

for example, my recent 5000+ word post. i dare someone from nazgul to say they didn't have a single thought of "damn, i have to read all that." I even thought of it when i went back to proof read my own post before posting.

a couple of points:

1) the extra ranks were set up for a multi-tiered career mode that Ibram and i had kicked around...might be something to look at again.

2) this is a game, no one wants to be a CPO for 2 years, or a LCRW for 6 mos. we've got to keep them intersted and coming back.  plus, if we have more people, we'll need the officers and high ranked non-coms to staff'em.

3) i'll be damned if i'm gonna put a limit on a good story. i've worked too hard over the last year+ to get people to expound on their characters and give detail.  sorry, but that's how i feel.

4) we might want to look at bringing back the Task Force as a career option. writing capital ship stories are different from fighter stories. just cuz it didn't work once before, doesn't mean it won't work this time.

I agree with Will and Shaz on all of their points

Especially the ones I'm going to talk about now.

First is IRC. When I first joined in 01, IRC was where everyone was. People actually were rarely on the ComNet. I actually felt it necessary to port into ThreeOf4's home computer so I could log into IRC because my parents' internet provider didn't allow access to IRC. There were days that easily half of the VE was logged on and actually involved in conversation. I think the biggest issue now is that a lot of the time new folks think that you have to pay for IRC, and it's hard to tell them (publicly) that you don't actually have to pay for it. So maybe sending them something in their welcome message letting them know that they don't have to pay for its use, we'd get more people on. As for the meetings, I do think that these are a vital part of the life of the VE, and I do apologize for pretty much never being there. As Hunter said, I do have a busy RL life, and some of that is because I work in theatre and we have matinees that run through the meeting time. But the other part is that weekends are free time the rest of the time, and I unfortunately choose social life over the VE, and I wholeheartedly apologize for that. You folks deserve a leader that is actually present, and I promise that I will change that.

Secondly is the promotions. Until Will and Shaz returned, we had 2 officers outside of the NHC, and not many folks over the position of Petty Officer. And the XO of the Navy is a Captain (now I'm not saying that I deserve a promotion at this time, because honestly, I don't) But, that's a bit ridiculous in my opinion. People should be rewarded, and when they reach a certain point that requires a test or anything be taken to achieve that rank, than it should be given to them right away. Most of you all deserve at least two more ranks than you currently hold, and I will work on getting that rectified. It would be a bit ridiculous for people to have 5 or more of the same medal because "we're afraid of promoting too much". Look at the Army, at least a third of every squad has people with ranks over that of Sergeant, which is equivalent to Chief Petty Officer or higher, and we have 4 people total (not including SCs or returning Officers) that exceed that rank. So as I said I will be rectifying that in the near future. And don't take this to offense to whichever NTO made this change, but I was actually just talking to one of the CPO's that wishes to take his MAE, and I remember in my day the MAE was just like any other AE, you could take the test, send it in, and get it graded. Now it's like the FOCE was when I took it, over IRC, and the FOCE is like a journey in the DJO. I'm not sure that this is the path we want to continue down. I think we want to make the test that are for non-comm positions easier to access, and the officer grade test the more personable one. Perhaps for a position over that of Commodore we can consider something like the FOCE is now.


And for Driver, the Task Force was a fantastic idea, however it was implemented incorrectly. We had a bunch of returning people, and a FL that was not entirely dependent, working on that project. And for a while, I was the only person posting on it. Will, Art, and DH helped out a couple of times, but it was pretty much a failure because we had too many people involved that had been set in their old goat ways. I think with a fresh batch of folks, it could really take off.

a new tiered system would of course work better if we can get the capital ship idea off the ground. At the time it was first introduced, activity was on the decline, not a whole lot of people were interested, and there wasn't much of effort put into its development. i would definitely be willing to help with that program again, provided that enough members are interested. However, we do need to keep in mind that the squadrons will suffer a bit as a result of members being reassigned to capital ship positions.
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I agree entirely agree on the promotion part. Everyone loves to get promotions, there's no down side to them. if one person got one promotion every week, that's only about 2 promotions per person in a year. and we're talking every single week. in fact, i think that's a good goal to aim for, 1 promotion per week at minimum, excluding promotions for passing exams, those are bonus. :P
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As for the post limit, I didn't mean to not allow long posts, that's a big no-no. we want our members to develop into better writers, not limit them. However, I meant that we shouldn't look down upon people who can only write 300 posts, yet feel pressured to write more because that's what everyone else is doing. many times those who are only able to put out 300 word posts at first may feel alienated when they see the rest of their squad pumping out 1000word posts. They may become easily frustrated or feel belittled. i know I did, as well as some members under my command in the past.

So this is my solution to that problem. We have a Venom squadron. so why not get a story going for them? new members get a 2 month training period or so in Venom before being reassigned to the Big guys. I can't remember if this idea has been presented before and whether or not if it worked. but ultimately, the goal is to have lower expectations for members until they are ready to take on the task and, regardless how unintentional, the responsibility, pressure, and expectations of the bigger squads.

The story could be just a free-for-all story where new people can jump in and leave at any time. And they can leave Venom and be transferred whenever they have completed all the required tasks and feel comfortable enough to move on.

Just an idea. I realize there's much planning and man power needed. Just an idea.

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In regards to the tests. No offense to Shaz, I know you put a ton, ton of work into making the Naval Academy to its present position. But I do agree with Den on the fact that the tests are very tough, and in my opinion, over the top. The current MAE carries over a period of almost half a year, 3 months min, and over 4 ranks. And i haven't even had a chance to look at the FOCE yet. If we incorporate Driver's idea for a new pay structure, and take into the idea that "Real" officer-ship is indeed in the up top echelons, such as Commodore and above, then I think the system would be more reasonable. In that case, the FOCE would be a requirement for Admiralty, and MAE a requirement for Officer candidacy.

@Atrasin: Is it possible to split the squadrons up so that the people who'd rather write shorter posts (maybe not enough time to read through the longer ones) into one group and those that want to write long, detailed stories are in another? I mean, honestly, I wouldve stayed in the VE this whole time if I didnt have to wade through posts up to, like will's, 5000 words. For me it's one thing to create a detailed character history, but another thing entirely to try and keep up with the long posts for squadron stories.

Will-

I was done with my training and placed in Nazgul in only a couple of days.  I was in and out of Venom Squadron in under a week, too fast for me to ever be on the roster there.  Two months?  I know that most don't go as quickly as I do through Basic, but I doubt two months is necessary unless the training program gets a serious overhaul and step-up in difficulty.

Can anyone tell me more about this "task force" idea?  PM me if you want, please.  It sounds like something I might be interested in...

Lol- I know it's a horrible system- no need to apologize, lol.  I'm ganna try to break it down into the basics of what's going on here, but there's a bit to read, so I appologize in advance.  Since it's open to debate, I figured you might like to know why things are the way they are, as well as some alternative ideas I had.  In my defense, lol: I've known since I first created the MEs that it wasn't quite what I was looking for, but it would take me up until early 2008 to really have a thorough understanding as to why it didn't work.  Now for a breif run-through?  Lol.

First and foremost: the MEs aren't being implemented in the manner it was designed to be used.  I tried to work it the way it was initially planned, but I was completely over my head with responsibilities, so it just wasn't happenin, lol.  The MEs, ya see, was a direct reaction to the things we're still talking about, namely the difficulty in promoting members on a consistent basis.  The Mes weren't created to fix the entire situation, but I thought if we could offer tests that would legitimately enhance the performance of individuals, and promote them incrementally, we could offer a real pathway to officerhood.  However, the MEs turned into a database dependent series of tests that only tested one's reading comprehension and patience, not their metal as a leader or their true ambition as a pilot.  Thus, the MEs missed thier mark.  By the time I got to the MA, aside from being a bit exhausted, we'd invested so much time into the MEs that it would seem fruitless to not include a review of that information in the MA- so the MA became a kind of review/continuation test taken in real-time over IRC.  Don't get me wrong: they're good tests over the materials, but they do little to help the Navy, and, in their current form, are monsters, lol.

I was developing an alternative near the end of my tenure here in early 2008, though, and it went something like this.  I wanted to convert the pages of material we'd collected for the MEs/MA, those pages and pages and pages on equipment details and tactical decisions in various scenarios...  And convert them to articles.  Instead of making them a part of some test, we could collect them into a series of articles designed to inform the interested pilot, and then offer accreditation or reward for those who read through and understood them.  Therefore, we created an incentive and excitement for the materials versus a never-ending series of tests one had to complete to become an officer.  It would take a little work, and much of the materials needed re-working anyway, but it would be a great resource and would also remove a serious block in our training system.  What would replace it though?

Ask yourself this- what's the purpose of the SA?  The MA?  The FOCE?  They're supposed to test whether or not you're ready for flight, squadron or wing command, in that order, right?  Or something close to it.  But, in reality, they're nothing of the sort.  Instead, the culture in the VEN has been to use tests as a means of promotion.  You might say- well, duh- but that's an awful idea, lol.  Why?  Because you're adding an element to the equation that may or may not happen.  As an SC, you say- well, he shouldn't be promoted unless he has this exam, or the exam is ganna take care of the promotion anyways- so suddenly the very existence of the exams is jeopardizing someone's promotion.  On top of that though, when people don't get promoted, we use tests as a fall-back to promotion.  For instance, when a higher-up thinks that someone is ready to be an officer, they have them take a meaningless test so that they have an excuse to promote them.  That's what happened with myself and the MA (which was not much harder than the Aviator's, even in its initial form).  So instead of saying- "we'd like to make you an officer because you've worked so hard," it's "take this test so we can promote you."  The tests make up the gap, in other words, which just further masks the fact that there is a gap.  Maybe I'm just snowblind, but that's like figuring out that you're in love with your best friend after you move away from her, lol: a bit after the fact, right?

What's the answer?  I'm just spit-balling now, but from what I remember thinking back then, I wanted to place the role of training on the squadron- not the academy.  Instead of going to the academy to get trained (which, who thinks about going back and getting their tests taken in a timely manner? lol), it could become a part of the squadrons' role.  I mean, who's ganna know better who's ready to become an officer than the SCs and XOs?  Plus, they're the ones who can give real opportunities to those pilots: they can let them put together or lead stories to help train them, they can allow them to edit or enhance the squadron wiki or web-page: they can assign projects in general.  Maybe we could set some loose guidelines, but I think if we wanna fix all these problems with promotions and officership: we need to give the responsibility to the squadrons.  Just spit-ballin here, lol.  *Ducks out back door...*