2 dismissals Command advisor role

[Dreamix]

What:
- A backseat kind of role.
- Expectation that they provide advice to the rest of command, and other crew, and help with whatever command matters there might be.
- No authority. Can't order anyone around. Answers to any and all heads.
- Only actual active heads of staff can be this role. But maybe could also allow retired heads or the like. Not sure about this one.
- Needs a command whitelist.
- No uniform. No office.
- Single slot.
- Maybe the slot would be unlocked only if there is at least one head on shift.

 

Why:
I've noticed that heads of staff are sort of a "binary" thing. You are either on-duty and fully in command and in the center of everything, or off-duty and no one cares about you. You can't really be somewhere in the middle, or switch between command and non-command if you want a calmer shift. Can't really be invited into the bridge, because you are off-duty like anyone else.

That's in contrast to non-command roles. An engineer or a security officer can sprint first to every callout, and be in the center of every situation, or they can take it slow and sit it out, and let someone else handle it.

A role like this would allow command chars to be in that middle point, between off-duty and on-duty command. It would also allow heads in the same job to meet each other and share thoughts or observe how they work. Like an XO meeting another XO who is an advisor.

 

The purpose of this thread is to gather thoughts and opinions, as I am not sure myself if this is a good idea, or a solution to a problem that needs to be fixed.

Edited October 12, 2022 by Dreamix

[Faye <3]

would rather die than have someone backseating me yelling in my ear

[Lucaken]

In my personal exprience, Consulars and Corporate Representatives generally fulfill the role you're describing. Certainly that is not their intended use, but if anyone wanted to be an advisor to Command, they are the closest to them while having no actual power. You also get the added benefit of, well, the rest of the role - representing and generally engaging with crew of the same or different faction. In comparison, I don't think a fulltime command advisor would see as much gameplay.

[KingOfThePing]

I am not sure if a role like this is actually needed or would fit well but I kind of like it for no specific reason. 

[Toast]

I agree with Lucaken entirely, Consulars and Reps more or less provide a (slightly biased) advisement to Command which honestly I love because it gives them some form of extra duties that help advance their own agenda. Hell a Bridge Crewman can be an advisor and nothing stops an off-duty crewmember from being one as well, it just depends on who you are playing with (Because I am pretty sure I seen off-duty Heads of Staff be consulted before). What I think the type of characters an Advisor role would attract is essentially people wanting power but none of the responsibility, who may very well cryo thirty minutes into the shift after realizing its extended and there is nothing to advise about. Besides, SCC Liaisons are that exact role anyhow but with the capability to snitch on you to Central Command.

[Dreamix]

45 minutes ago, Lucaken said:

In my personal exprience, Consulars and Corporate Representatives generally fulfill the role you're describing. 

3 minutes ago, Toast said:

I agree with Lucaken entirely, Consulars and Reps more or less provide a (slightly biased) advisement to Command which honestly I love because it gives them some form of extra duties that help advance their own agenda.

The point of the suggested Advisor role, is that they could be played by heads as well. So a captain character could be a Captain one shift, and then go Advisor the next one, to help a different captain with things.

Consulars and Representatives cannot be be heads, or switch to other jobs. You can't be a CMO one shift, and a Zeng  or NT representative another.

Also, Consulars do not even get bridge access, and I've seen people say they should not, because they are not trusted to work in the interest of SCC, but rather in whatever nation they are a consular of. Representatives might also possibly be aligned to their own corp, and not SCC. I've seen captains or heads of staff just outright kick consulars and representatives out of meetings and the like, or not be allowed to attend in the first place.

 

4 minutes ago, Toast said:

What I think the type of characters an Advisor role would attract is essentially people wanting power but none of the responsibility, who may very well cryo thirty minutes into the shift after realizing its extended and there is nothing to advise about.

That is indeed potential problem that I don't really have any solution to. Hopefully the command whitelist would filter out such people. And like as I wrote above in the first post, Advisor would get no authority, and no access beyond basic bridge access, so like the potential of powertripping is pretty small I think.
 

[CampinKiller]

1 hour ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

would rather die than have someone backseating me yelling in my ear

Yeah, it happens enough already from time to time where other command try and backseat other command. Adding this would just make it official

[Lucaken]

28 minutes ago, Dreamix said:

Also, Consulars do not even get bridge access, and I've seen people say they should not, because they are not trusted to work in the interest of SCC, but rather in whatever nation they are a consular of. Representatives might also possibly be aligned to their own corp, and not SCC. I've seen captains or heads of staff just outright kick consulars and representatives out of meetings and the like, or not be allowed to attend in the first place.

Apart from not having bridge access (very weird) I think all of these are fair. You should be able to kick out any advisor as Captain - it's your ship for the shift, you choose who to listen to and when. In this sense, Consulars and Reps fulfill the middle role between off duty Command and actual Command. A role that demans any more backseating, even if it can be ignored, will very quickly become hated - as the initial reactions to this thread are showing.

Using that argument, I think more could be done to make Reps and Consulars be closer to this advisory role, and that would achieve most of what you're suggesting without upsetting too many people. How to do that development-wise is beyond me - I just know an entirely new role wouldn't be well recieved. 

[Carver]

Nothing really stops you from inviting off-duties onto the bridge in casual situations, or turning to them for advice. They're not really working or being promoted into work when you merely ask them for input. Sure, there's no pre-existing expectation that an off-duty will provide any kind of advice and they can easily refuse to if they don't want to, but there's nothing stopping you from engaging with them as-is - this suggested role already seems to have the same expected limitations of 'don't promote them unless it's an absolute emergency' and having 0 authority.

[MattAtlas]

Voting for dismissal. I don't want to legitimize backseating as an uninvolved character. If you want to command, play Command and bear the responsibility - no in-betweens.

[Dreamix]

Well, that's fair I guess. Primarily wanted to hear other people's thoughts, and like maybe it's not a good idea after all. Maybe it'd be better received if we had like, ten times the pop. 

[Arrow768]

Seconding the vote for dismissal.

We already have issues with backseat command in the form of off-duty crew.

Adding the role would just formalise that.

[Gem]

locking and archiving as this suggestion has been dismissed.