A quick spiel on some of the things we're working on in the Academy:

VENA-S

First off, I'm pushing for an organized approach to testing- too many people are forgetting about it and they don't realize they could be promoted or helped in any way by doing so.  Thus, tied much to the original idea behind operators, the VENA Staff is going to start helping others walk through the Academy over their careers.  This doesn't mean we'll be your baby sitters and make you do what you obviously will not, but we'll serve as reminders or at least help you to remember yourself.  Furthermore, for test like the MEs, which are pretty complicated and sometimes difficult to understand, especially when trying to figure out what is actually important, we will provide outlines for every chapter and section and make clear what you need to learn from it.  So- expect to hear more about that.

Skills and Professions

I'm going to talk for a while now, so bare with me

What most of you will probably be most interested in is the fact that we have a realistic chance of putting what the army calls 'specialties,' into our own system.  "However, un-like the specialties, these added skills do not make your character an expert." In order to make this understandable in a story pretext, remember that the VE is a fairly small faction in comparison to the larger Imperial Remnant and the New Republic.  While there are the obvious down-falls to this fact, such as a lack of manpower, there are definite benefits.  In simple combat mythology, you use your enemy's strengths and your weaknesses against them: your small and he's big, your small and difficult to pick up; your small but agile, he's big and slow; they're loud, your quiet....  In a strictly story-line sense: that's what this system would be enhancing.

Rather than allowing your smaller military to be at the same level as the much larger one, you make them better: give them better equipment, more knowledge on their particular profession: make them capable of doing what three of their enemy would usually be able to do, and do it better.  You all remember the tweaking done to the VEN's Tie Interceptor's, yes?  A larger military force simply doesn't have the funds to put a shield on every interceptor or modify them to carry any number of missiles: such a feat is ridiculous.  For someone smaller?  A simple collection of money.  That's not to say the VE is rich by any means, but able to be more specific: this is what led to drive from the Empire's Imperialism where pilots and soldiers were given numbers rather than names, brainwashed to give their lives without reason and make mistakes that no expert would make.  Pretty dramatic huh?

This is where we represent that move in the most obvious sense: expansion of a single unit's abilities.  There are people who stick strictly to a single profession at all times: its necessary; they must exists to teach others the finer points of what they do; without them we would be lost.  However, for those who have shown the capacity, the ability to be a double or triple threat becomes paramount: why make one person be that one person?  Why not make him two or three people?  Maybe confusing right now, but think of it like this: a pilot has been assigned to a base when it is finally hit an enemy fighter group.  Naturally, the pilots first job would be to take the skies and engage that enemy.  But what then?  Their jobs done?  Story over?  Maybe if they're just a pilot.  Of course, we've managed it in the past with miraculous grace, but I think this might make it easier: what if the pilot had medical training?  Bam!  He's not done: he can attend to the injured, make calls on who lives and dies, make a toaster oven dramatic!  Maybe not so much on that last.

BUT!  That is what we're trying to do.  I've mentioned to our commanders the idea of expanding exactly what the Navy does.  Actually, in one case I asked that the commander totally drop everything Navy, and ground himself- do nothing with military written on it.  Difficult to think of it at first- but its expansion.  I'd like to further that by possibly assigning certain groups, possibly just flights at some points, to a single planet or space station- we could adjust the idea in any number of ways, but-  giving them multiple capabilities will allow the story to go on with less people, not to mention the obvious things that can be done with character development.  But, to tie in with that statement I made bold at the top of this message: those pilots wouldn't be experts.  They wouldn't be able to diagnose some rare disease or make good a demolished star destroyer engine core: they're only knowledgeable enough to be helpful and story worthy.  They are not experts.  I need to make that perfectly clear because it would be too much otherwise.  The downside to have those abilities is splitting what you'll be able to learn.  Say I play saxophone, trumpet and guitar: will I be a Jimi Hendrix if I play all of those instruments equally?  Probably not because you'll never have the time to become outrageously good at any of them, always splitting in between.  Maybe if all you did was play instruments?  Nah- you have to sleep.  I'll be able to elaborate on this in greater detail to show all the benefits and deficits a little later.

SO!!!

Naming and Creation

I've got some obvious ideas in mind for things people could do, primarily medic (just as non-specific as it sounds), engineer, hand-hold weapon expert, possibly big bang expert, systems experts (possibly slicer-like):  and then we give 'em cool names:

The gun guy would be a 'Gun Seller'?  Something a little slang, basically but not horribly confusing.  Why?  I'd kind of like them to be separated from the specifications the army has kind of created, though I'm not entirely knowledgeable on what it is they do: I'd just like to be a little different with this.  So- what I need you folks to do, is help me and my staff figure out exactly what we should be creating: what do you think would be helpful to a pilot in a sticky situation?  What can make the screwed the un-screwed?  We're looking for something helpful, so do think it through before answering.  Anything that a person suggest and is actually accepted will be met with a reward- I'm going to have to confer with a couple of people what exactly we should be willing to give, but expect something for your good intentions.

So: we're looking for possible skills that they could learn, a possible name for that skill, and places it might apply- any of those three will do, but if you could give us all of them: it'd be awesome   Lastly, if anyone has any comments about how I'm going to do all this- mainly the idea about this new system in general: let's hear 'em.  Does it suck?  Is it not quite on?  What can we change to make it better if it's not already.  Do you have a better idea?  Let's not fill this place up with anything totally ridiculous, but if you think you have some good ideas I, at least, would be happy to hear them.

I'll begin taking suggestions immediately: thoughts?
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

No one else with any good ideas?  I expected a little more than this   Do you really want me to make them up for you?  Throw me something so I can work with, otherwise you may just have what I can come up with.  Thanks for putting something out, Chip.
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

Well, people could draw from RL experiences. For example, if someone works on cars in RL, they might be able to adapt that to VE. Myself, I've been around firearms since elementary school, and so can write about that with plenty of first-hand experience behind me. Or anyone that wants to be an EMT could be a medic (maybe toss in some fancy medical terms or something).

Hmm, guess I've come up with some here already. Emergency Repair Technicians, and Corpsmen (would have said medic, but corpsman sounds more navy-like). Plus the previously mentioned Designated Marksmen.
 
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FM/ESN Chipmunk Man/Nazgul 4/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)[LoC][MC:1]x3[LSM][VC:B]

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, 'Did he fire six shots, or only five?' Well to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off, you need to ask youself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya? Punk!"
-"Dirty" Harry Callahan

"Mr. Stratford, it's just a party..."
*wags finger* "...And Hell is just a sauna."

CIC (kick) Capital ship Infiltration and Capture specialist.

I have seen at least a few situations where somebody crashed their ship into the enemy's hanger and ended up screwing things up for that enemy a bit while they were on board. Of course a CIC would most likely not be there by accident.

They would be kind of like the Navy SEALs in the aspect that they would most likely work together in a small group to achieve an objective. In some situations they could even work alone.

The small amount of combat training most pilots get would be expanded on and specialized for in ship warfare.  They would also be educated on how to undercrew a ship effectivly until the bridge crew arrived.  Stuff like that.

Obviously they wouldn't be taking over Imp Class Star Destroyers, but maybe some of the smaller ships.
 
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EXO/CWO Than Sion/Kaph 5/Wing 1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE(=A=)(=*SA*=)(=MA=)[LoM][VC:S][CBV][MC:1][SWC]{VB}

Never under estimate the power of stupid people in large numbers, unless you have a lot of cookies to throw in opposite corners to distract them.

How about separating sniper and communications into two different skills?
 
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FM/ESN Chipmunk Man/Nazgul 4/Phoenix/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)[LoC][MC:1]x3[LSM][VC:B]

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, 'Did he fire six shots, or only five?' Well to tell you the truth, I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off, you need to ask youself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya? Punk!"
-"Dirty" Harry Callahan

"Mr. Stratford, it's just a party..."
*wags finger* "...And Hell is just a sauna."

terrorist removal
firefighting
ship boarding tactics
political/strategic target sniping
computer programming
radar use
honor guard
shipboard gunner


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[Nazgul]
FM/SCRW Raigen/Nazgul 2-4/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=) [VC:B]

I would just like to point out that the more you do with weapons and such the more you are moving into Army territory. Especially with things like long ranger weapons with a sniper rifle, demolitions, etc. These things are what the army is for. You start doing "specialties" like that and you might as well have your character be dual division and just do a little training in the army, since technically that would be the only place in the VE Military that the person would receive the training. Think about it, Navy Academy's and such shouldn't deal with that kind of stuff to any real depth of usefulness. Any Naval training center should deal more with Flying tactics or mild training if they get shot down. We aren't superhuman.

Now that's not to say you can't have specialties dealing with firearms and such, but probably more in the sense of what you would need to survive if you got shot down or if you boarded an enemy ship. Demo, long range, chemical, those don't really work in those situations. In the case that a mission would need those things, you would probably know before hand that you did, and in which case Army forces would be called in for that situation. Anyways, that's my two bits.

I like the idea of it though. Just some of the logistics don't work out in my mind. I mean, if you guys start teaching yourselves how to basically fight a war on the ground (which are most of the skills I've seen people mention so far except for Art), the Army might as well teach its people to fly.

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NazgulSquadron
Senior Chief Petty Officer Hunter

FM/SCPO Hunter/Nazgul 6/Pheonix Wing/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE (=*A*=) (=*SA*=) (VC:B)

Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will be victorious in ten thousand battles.
You may forget the past, but it always has a way of haunting your future.
Men can die, but a symbol is eternal.

No, he's right, we can't verge too far into Army territory with these. We once discussed, a long time ago, the idea of starting a marine group, and it was shot down because we didn't want to step on the Army's toes. And, again with him being right, the Naval training facilities really wouldn't be equiped to do more than rudimentary training on anything but fighters.

Mechanics and such? Yeah, hell yeah, even. Knowing how your fighter works is a big plus if you get stranded out in space in the middle of a battle.

Ship boarding stuff? We're actually verging a bit into Army territory there. Its not the sort of mission the Navy would normally be handing out to a fighter squadron. In fact, they'd really only be carrying out that sort of mission on a fairly large scale (ie: an ISD disables a corvette or something and then sends a boarding party over to capture it). Not something a fighter is likely to be doing, esspecially during a battle when their hangers will likely be particle shielded (which means no physical objects are gonna get by there without disabling the shields).

Just keep in mind that we're not the whole military, merely a divison of it. In the event we really need a mission where we storm a ship with a bunch of commandos, we may want to consider a joint mission with an Army squad. Any sort of ground-bound planetary assault will almost certainly be carried out by the Army.

I'm not saying you all can't shoot guns - any soldier who's been through any sort of basic training can fire a gun with a moderate level of proficency. I'm just saying you're not going to be the same sort of highly trained marksman the Army is able to produce.
 
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Fleet Admiral Japheth Cappadocious, Krath Templar
Naval Commander in Chief, Captain of the mSSD Atrus
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Order Academy
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NCC/FAD Japheth Cappadocious/NHC-1/mSSD Atrus/DEF/VEN/VE/(=MA=)(=SCPA=)(=FCO=)[BRC][LSM][MC:1][KC:OC][IGCx2][MoHx2]
HM/KT Japheth Cappadocious/DC-3/Krath Order/Elite Griffen Sect/VEDJ/VE/[SoY][EoP]

Indeed- this is, currently, a collection of ideas: that's why I kind of wanted to combine communications with any long range weapons specialist, weeding down and whatnot.  Perhaps having the additional ability to use that type of weapon would be alright, but I wouldn't want to make it a primary- the combining form, for me, was meant to reflect 'communications' as a main unit.

Though, the thought of chemical warfare has brought up an additional section we have yet to discuss: further Naval skills while flying.  While most TIE-Class fighters are very similar, which is the nice thing, perhaps we should consider skills like stealth for spying missions, specific bombing skills that only someone who's studied in-depth would be able to perform, or perhaps zero-g repair workers.  Off the top of my head, there aren't too many different types of fighters, but perhaps we could also give ratings for pilots?  Dunno- another good thought though.  I mean, making specific skills that go beyond the range of an average pilots knowledge doesn't make them super-human, just more specialized.  In fact, we could use this information and these ratings to build more suitable teams: every flight could have a medic, engineer, surveyor and com technician.  Perhaps we could delve a little more Rogue Squadron as well, not necessarily making stories specifically for the ground or that type of combat, but taking us out of fighters and putting us into new environments that require specific skills.  Any other thoughts?  I'm going to try and get a basic list up by this weekend.

OH- and ship jobs are kind of up to Art: those need to be discussed in greater detail though: perhaps we should get those cleared up   Let's discuss those here as well!


 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

Again- we could use a rating scale to have people to take that specialty, should it show up in their bio, and just make them more proficient then others where as any secondary would be something they wanted to learn. 
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

I'm kind of attached to the ratings idea, but perhaps there could be a certain boundary that sets the classes apart- 75 percent and above Class 1?  Either way- I'm hoping to get this done by the end of the weekend, so get your ideas in or I'm going to have to take off without ya.
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

Work got canceled again, so assuming the power doesn't go out- I should be here for the meeting and throughout the day.
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

Fighter Skills and Professions

At this point in time, we can't reasonably make someone only one of the below options.  However, hopefully by the time they are able to become them, it will be a viable option: number of members kind of makes it difficult.  Never the less, it would probably be good if we could distinguish certain capabilities between members.  Earlier I noted how we could build teams based on these ground skills, this time I'm talking about air proficiencies.  For each of the skills below, bombing, escort, recon or attack, there is a kind of rating.  It's going to be on a percent basis, but basically, upon passing a certain percent (perhaps when its deemed by a higher up or a promotion is received), they are able to become more than just a pilot.  Rather, say they really like the art of reconnaissance: who doesn't!?  At that point, thier character would begin attending special assemblies for pilots- kind of like Top Gun, but for reconassaince.  They'd go through a kind of crash course that teaches you a whole lot about equipment and how to run them, but don't give you a whole lot of experience. 

At that point in time, they become a certified Assisted Recon Pilot (ARP): lol.  Good stuff.  Anywho, they're assisted in one of a couple of ways- either they go on patrols or missions with a superior officer or they can only be given authorization to work by a superior officer.  As you can see: they're not entirely trusted and have to be watched- mistakes will probably occur.

For a tree of similar properties:

Recon:

Assisted Recon Pilot (ARP)
                  |
Recon Pilot (Probably an officer by this point)
                  |
Officer of Reconnaissance (I'm not sure exactly how this one is going to work out, but it involve multiple ships in outer space.)

=Somewhere in here it's intended that, as a mixed profile, a pilot would be able to land and perform intelligence operations.  Specializing as a pilot will not take away from the 'Primary' and 'Secondary' skills- so that person can still posses them while being an experienced and specialized pilot.

Bomber:

Bombadeer (goes through time in either a two man fighter/bomber or goes to a performance school like the ARP.)
                  |
-> Precision (Can be from any altitude- pin-point bombing.)

-> WOMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction anyone?  This name can be changed eventually   For especially big 'bangs.')

-> Speed (One pass bombers.)

-> Chemical (Those that unleash more than a bang: have to know what they're carrying and what happens if they drop it before they get to their bomber.)

-> Extra-cellular (the bomber actually leaves his craft to plant weapons in a specific area that can not be struck from the surface.)

Attack:

Put simply, depending on what it is the person intends on targeting, the type of skill becomes a variable.  Any person who is able to 'waver' in their preference, that's the initial "I think I'll study this today", can become an attacker.  All that needs to be done is enter a kind of 'Top Gun' except this time they really are attacking things. 

->Fighter vs Fighter (Very strong emphasis on dogfighting)

->Fighter vs Ship or Platform (Emphasis on avoiding turret fire, locating super structures and performing effective missile launches against said structures).

Escort:

For fighters this is pretty much defensive positioning to limit the amount of damage done to a package, such as a ship or caravan.  That seems pretty linked in with 'Attack' but really its about manipulating the enemy in such a way that hinders them and allows the package to escape- less about destroying the other fighters.  This isn't meant to be separated out too much because there are not all that many things that would be escorted by the Imperial Navy.  However, based on proficiency, or rating in this category, they are given different status.

Scout (Really only effective in spotting the enemy before they attack because they aren't good enough to get in the fight all that fast...)
                  |
Escort (You can finally hold your weight against someone with fangs)
                  |
Royal Guard (You could take on an ISD without breaking a sweat.)

Well...  Not really.  But hopefully I'll be able to add to this and get the ratings up real soon like.  Comments?
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer

As far as I know this was a wing level (read Shazam and myself) decision based upon a trend of support for the idea of professions and skills.

Shazam, that's not a bad list but I think it can be modified a bit to a list of 7 or 8 skills with different proficiency levels like the weapons and leadership proficiencies I posted earlier.  It is difficult to make a type of flying a "profession" but it can be a skill (it might even be more useful story-wise as such).  If you want to think up a scale I'll list some possibilities:

Reconnaissance
Space Bombadeer (skill at making bombing runs while under attack)
Ground Bombadeer
Dogfight
Elemental (pertaining to elements of fighters and not chemistry or magic :P)
Escort
Infiltration

Perhaps a scale such as:

Trainee - Novice - Pilot - Veteran - Expert

and for the combat ones:

Trainee - Novice - Veteran - Ace - First Ace
 
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WADJ, SPAC/1LT Corran "Arturus" Hargraves/SCR Doashim/VE/VEN/(=A=)(=SA=)(=*MA*=)(=JCPA=)(=SCPA=)[MC:1](x2)[SV][BRC][VC:B][CBV][LSM][LoC][BWC][SWC][GWC]


"The way of war is a way of deception. When able, feign inability; when deploying troops, appear not to be. When near, appear far; when far, appear near. Lure with bait; strike with chaos. If the enemy is full, be prepared. If strong, avoid him. If he is angry, disconcert him. If he is weak, stir him to pride. If he is relaxed, harry him; if his men are harmonious, split them. Attack where he is unprepared; appear where you are unexpected. This is victory in warfare; it cannot be divulged in advance. Victory belongs to the side that scores most in the temple calculations before battle. Most spells victory; least spells defeat; none, surer defeat. I see it in this way, and the outcome is apparent." -- Sun Tzu

"Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting." -- Sun Tzu

Alright, I've come to a decision on all of this!  For the following: Recon and Escort- their pattern for performance will go as such: Trainee - Novice - Pilot - Veteran - Expert.  For the Attacker: Trainee - Novice - Veteran - Ace - First Ace.  For the bomber: Trainee -  Novice- Bomber - Veteran. 

Now, I'm going to say that as soon as pages are created for each one of those positions- we'll start them up in training.  We'll ask people if they'd like to lean their character a little toward one of the above, and from their, as soon they pass through BT, they have surpassed the Trainee portion of that particular skill.  So- I decide that I'm going to be an escort pilot: in BT I'm considered a Trainee Pilot overall, Trainee in terms of Escort.  As soon as I leave BT, I automatically become a novice in both overall Pilot performance and that Escort duty.  Now, if I want to go any further, i have to do missions that specifically deal with escorting- that's the only way to move up on that scale.  To become a guard (these will be far better flushed out on the pages), you'll do roughly five missions involving your escort duty.  To become better than that- ten...  So on and so forth.  I can't be terribly detailed without confusing you, so I'll just wait until I get those pages up.

As for overall piloting: I'm going to create a proficiency scale to indicate the overall capability of your character.  Furthermore, their will be smaller scales or details beneath that indicate your specialty or best skill.  I'm just trying to say I've got it worked out in my head and will begin construction immediately.  For reward details- be patient
 
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*Flash Was Here...*

WC|TO/CMD Shazam/Phoenix 1-1/Phoenix Wing/mSSD Atrus/1VENF/VEN (=A=) (=*SA*=) (=MA=) (=*FOCE*=) [CBV*] [LoM] [LSM] [MC2] [VC:S] [SV*] [DSM] {Platinum Writing Medal}

Phoenix Wing Commander and Training Officer