Jump to content

Soldier Rank 7: Commodore or Commandant?


Should Rank 7 (Commander) be changed to Commodore or Commandant?  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Rank 7 (Commander) be changed to Commodore or Commandant?

    • Commandant
      2
    • Commodore
      0
    • No Change (Commander used twice in ranks)
      7


Recommended Posts

So, yeah, Ishantil suggested adding Squaddie back to the mix. I would definitely support this idea, but I think there's a logistical problem there, because Squaddie (to my knowledge) is not any kind of military rank, and thus the owners of X-COM's intellectual property (2K, I think?) may claim legal ownership of the term. (Yes, I am aware the term is used repeatedly on this very site, but I'm a mathematician, not a lawyer.)

I am kind of surprised that Commodore's not getting very much love from the crowd, but I do kind of understand the viewpoint that it's analogous to Admiral or General, which don't convey the appropriate amount of micromanaging and direct battle experience an X-COM/Xenonaut soldier could have.

The point of this thread is that politically, the things most likely to get done when encountering resistance are the things easiest to do. Commodore would change 5 letters of a single rank, and Commandant would change only 3 letters. That is why, respectfully, any other suggestions are merely a waste of your time because they will never actually be considered by the game designers.

And doing nothing doesn't really make you feel like you participated in a process greater than yourself, does it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you've mis-interpeted what I wrote. What I'm saying is that the TOP guy WOULD NOT be a COMMANDER he would be a Chairman or Secretary, etc...so there would be no confusion at all because there would be no duplicate ranks.

I'm not saying he would be called a Commander, I'm saying he is called a Commander. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It doesn't matter how many/few letters are going to be changed. 99% of the effort is to get the devs to make ANY change. Chris isn't going to read this thread and think "But adding Squaddie would take TWO WHOLE MINUTES while changing Commander to Commandant will take just ONE minute." Either way he's already opening that file and making changes, so the decision ought to be what the best change to make is, not the easiest.

XCOM/Xenonauts does seem to follow an unusual rank structure. The leader is called "Commander" which is usually a mid-command rank but he's got ultimate authority, therefore it must mean "(S)He who commands" not "O-5 Pay grade, ranking under a Captain but above a Lieutenant Commander." Similarly we've got the traditional inclusion of Squaddie which isn't a real rank at all. To top all this off, all our best troops are high-ranked officers, which don't usually have front-line assignments.*

So here's a few other suggestions to replace Commander: Warrant Officer between Sergeant and LT. Sergeant Major between Sergeant and LT. Brigadier after Colonel (Not a big fan of adding MORE commissioned ranks but it's an idea), 1st or 2nd Lieutenant respectively after or before LT.

*This bit might be better explained by the Cold War aspects of it. I think that in TODAY'S military you'd never see a combat Major, but in Cold War era highly skilled commandos would hold officer ranks. Of course that could just be media lying to me, I've not done real studies on rank structure in special forces during the Cold War.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would personally like for Chris to weigh in on the entire rank debate once and for all. We have had about 6 threads of some kind or another on rank and it seems like the only thing everyone agrees on is some kind of change should be made. Perhaps he should post a thread, give us some options and a place to vote on which option to go with, everyone has such differing opinions on this, give us some options to vote on that doesnt require more opinion posts and lets finally move on.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First off, squaddie is a rank used by commonwealth countries (as E4D said above).

Secondly, what I remember is that Chris said that changing the rank structure to implement a system like the OG (a certain number of lower ranks needed for higher ranks) wasn't going to happen because there wasn't a gameplay reason. I don't remember his opinion on the actual rank names.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...