Air force vs Navy ranking

http://www.artemis.eochu.com/?page_id=28#/20120828/new-uniform-1871124/

So instead of a link you could have just said you like naval ranking. I already know the rankings of each branch.

I'm most familiar with US Army rank designations, however most of the Space Opera genre uses Naval ranks.
Given that we're on a (virtual) starship, it does stand to reason to use Naval rank structure, and many of the Naval traditions work out well for ship-board protocol.

True but you are doing things and thinking in away more like how you need to as an air force. The vacuum you are moving through is much more like the sky then the sea. Hell if Thom has the time we'll see Shuttle/Fighter console for V2.0

isn't it called the Terran Stellar Navy anyway?

True but we aren't all running our crews like they are part of the Terran Stellar Navy.

I think players will run their crews as they like. Most players I have seen use only the stations and don't refer to any rank other than captain, a position often held by a rank lower than captain even in the US Navy.

But by and large I agree with JamesDunnem --- most players will make believe that they are part of a naval-style crew. Perhaps this is because Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Mass Effect, all use naval ranks. This may, in turn, be because original Star Trek took its inspiration from CS Forester's Horation Hornblower adventures.

If anyone wants to discuss the canonical rank structure in the TSN feel free to start a thread under The Artemis Universe. I'd love to know your thoughts.

I'm with James and Mike on this-- I think the natural reaction is to run sci-fi starships as naval vessels and therefore incorporate naval ranks. However, you paid for the product-- play it however you like.

Here's my personal rank structure (I stick to Roddenberry's original idea that everyone on a ship is an officer):

Grade - Rank
O1 Expendable
O2 Somewhat Less Expendable
O3 Kinda Useful
O4 Useful
O5 Sorta Need That Guy
O6 Captain
O7+ Plot Device

I think Tre has had the best reply so far.

If we go with a logical flow of how the world is currently progressing then it'll probably end up being Air Force ranks until the Space Force can break away on its own ... although being a Captain in the AF/AF Space Command has me horribly biased. Navy ppl usually give me a double check when I tell them I'm a Captain. I'm okay with the instant promotion in their eyes.

I'm always confused how a captain can be a rank AND a position and are not mutually exclusive

In the navy the person in charge of the ship is called captain. However you may not have enough captains to captain the vessels. So senior officers may take charge. Ones that aren't captain. Does that make sense?

We at Artemis SBS Polska use a ranking system based on Star Trek, we keep track of advancements of all the people who sign in with our events (and want to be tracked ofc ;).

Cadet - Until your first successful skirmish
Ensign - The first 20 successful skirmishes and one distinction (recomendation from a command level officer)
Lieutenant - The first 50 successful skirmishes after ensign, one distinction
Lieutenant-commander - The first 80 succesful skirmishes after lieutenant, multiple commendations
Commander - The first 100 successful skirmishes after LC, multiple commendations, recomended by at least two captains or higher
Captain - Advanced by consensus, after multiple successful skirmishes while being the commanding officer of a starship.
Fleet Admiral - Elected and advanced by the captains board (currently consisting of 2 captains) - no one bears this rank at the moment, we're waiting for more ships from more cities to join us, so naming an Admiral makes sense

For the RP we currently use navy ranks as well.

Officer cadet-new recruits that need to finish basic training.
Ensign-your average officer.
Lieutenant-Junior-Elected by officer for promotion based on skill level. Must pass inspection by board of captains.
Lieutenant-promoted by captain after provining skills.
Lieutenant-Commander-elected by captain requires command level skills.
Commander-promoted by captain after probing they have command level skills in missions.
Captain-promoted by captains board.

Currently that's all the ranks. More info is in the handbooks on the RP pages of the wiki.