Posted by Admiral Joe P (Librarian / TECH Chairman / VCmdt) in Office of the President - Edict #5

Posted by Vice Admiral Lindsay Bayes (CMM) in Office of the President - Edict #5

Posted by Fleet Captain Adam W. (EGO) in Office of the President - Edict #5

I just have a question about this particular line of discussion.

SNIP

Each fleet needs to have at least one standard ship, which would still be the case in the Infinite Fleet. The imbalance problem you’re talking about was created by putting the Leviathan in the Foremost Fleet instead of the Infinite Fleet. The problem was created so it could be solved by this edict. Better would be to have four fleets with five ships and one fleet with four ships. As it is, what happens if we decide to add one more ship? I don’t think that’s very unlikely. And then we either would need to have seven ships in one fleet or undo this edict.

^^^ This. We now have no breathing room to consider adding another ship. And why would we block ourselves from doing that? If a group of members is feeling creative and wants to put together a ship and go through the commissioning process, why shouldn’t we let them? Leaving no where for the ship to go immediately stifles that idea unless we’re just going to undo all this shuffling. While it’s a seemingly arbitrary thing to decommission a fleet, moving ships about is not. I’d be pretty pissed off as a CO if people just up and decided to move my ship somewhere and then a little while later moved it again.

A command discussion would have allowed people to raise their concerns before this edict and for that reason alone I think it was a poor choice to just impose this plan on the club.

~Linds

I’m confused by this assertion that there are going to be new ships added any time soon. The thing I’ve been hearing as recently as two months ago was that there was a shortage of Gamemasters, to the point that as many as five ships might have been left without one. As a matter of fact, I believe 2 of those 5 ships ended up being decommissioned, and the Leviathan was only added because it did not need a gamemaster (I might have that incorrect; I honestly didn’t follow the discussion about it closely because I’ve been really busy in real life lately).

So, why is it being treated as likely at all that we’re going to be adding any more ships, any time soon, anywhere?

Joe

Why shouldn’t we assume that we could? No one is saying that today or tomorrow we’re going to commission a new ship. And the GM situation changes quickly (as it often does). GM shortages are usually specific things. Sometimes it’s a matter of having the right GM for the right ship (Alt-RPGs are a good example of this). While not impossible, it’s unlikely that a Standard ship would be newly commissioned, but I could see the potential for more Alts. Because often it’s a theme or specific idea that inspires people. I can’t speak for other GMs but I can’t run a sim if I’m not inspired. And sometimes that new shiny ship is something inspiring.

The Leviathan was not commissioned just because of not needing a GM. I pointed out in that discussion that if there is a GM willing to GM a ship that wants to be commissioned, the rest of the GM situation in the club is immaterial. Because we can suddenly have more GMTs starting, or GMTs pass their training. Or old members who are GMs come back and want to GM again. It’s always in flux. That five GM vacancy situation we had? It was mostly resolved in a week because different people stepped up to GM ships they were able to yes, but interested in particular ships. Those two ships that were decommissioned last term? GMs were not the (only) factor.

What I’m trying to say, perhaps badly, is that this isn’t the same situation we were in a few years ago where we got rid of the 4th fleet and merged things. Yes, we have a vacancy right now. And yes, they do require some prioritizing, but as vacancies on the board can and do change, I don’t see this as a valid reason to block ourselves entirely from the possibility of creating new ships. We’re here to create, are we not? If a bunch of people want the option to start a new ship in the Mainfleet, why would we make it harder for them to do so? Not having room for them is bad long-term planning.

~Linds