We know there are lots of standard squadron orders, most notably in the EY period the Feds had SOPs that are noted in the R section.

But there should be a number of other SOP squadron orders. the goal is three fold:
1 is compression of the orders
2 is eliminating misunderstanding
3 is to let squadron commanders give orders without making all the darn "undercaptains" be nothing more than robots executing the commmodores micromanaging orders. As the FOG battles have shown, orders must be given and executed, but if you let commodores give orders of unlimited length you get micromanagement, so why bother with anyone besides the commodore being a captain?

I'd suggest starting with:

*01Ax is "ship A move in direction x"

*02Y is "fire direct fire weapons at enemy designated Y" with variants of
02Ya fire only long range weapons
02Yb fire long range weapons and heavier phasers
02Yc fire ALL bearing weapons
02Yd fire weapons sequentially onto down shield (mizia)

*03Z is "fire seeking weapons at enemy designated z"

*04A is close up formation on ship a"

*05B is engage ship b more closely"

*06QH is ship Q is to commit to defense of consort h"

Of course these might be cloaked in more exotic terms in my stories:

And then Kmikey (this is me of course) pressed the squadron comm key "Ketrick, execute Firehose 4 alpha." This was a few syllables in the battle language any warrior learned. Ketricks comm officer acknowledged as his ship banked to port to close with the hapless Alpha Centauran Cruiser "My Pink Unicorn Pony." Ketrick never wasted words when he could let his actions demonstrate. After a few seconds, when he was certain the enemy wasn't going to be able to evade his overrun he committed the power to overload the disruptors."

a few asides:

Capital letters should be order modifyers calling out units/ targets while lower case letters would be modifyiers to the basic orders (like to only fire defensively, form up on which side, which direction???)

I would guess that a couple or three dozen would cover 99% of squadron orders...

So suggest away!

By Terence Sean Terry O'Carroll (Terryoc) on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - 03:46 pm: Edit

Is this intended to be an actual rule proposal? It seems more like a fiction thing.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 09:51 am: Edit

More like a fiction thing with a bit of perhaps an optional rule for limited intel/ comm situations for multiplayer scenarios.

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Thursday, November 19, 2009 - 09:54 am: Edit

Apologies to Ketrick.

We all know he'd never vaporize any ship called "My Pink Unicorn Pony" even if it had a whiney womens libber from Alpha Centauri in command.

By Mike Strain (Evilmike) on Monday, November 23, 2009 - 07:22 pm: Edit

I, on the other hand, have given my gunnery crews standing orders to obliterate any ship named 'My Pink Unicorn Pony', even if it's on my side.

ESPECIALLY if it's on my side.....

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, November 23, 2009 - 07:56 pm: Edit

There can be fairly simple standardized orders for some things, but combat is chaos, and while orders like "Right Wheel" were fine in the days of Column, Line, and Square, Space combat comes closer to a dogfight than to a line of battle.

Star Trek: TNG did a great deal of harm by inventing the whole concept of "Riker 1", "Picard 9" for maneuvers. Requiring a helmsman and weapons officer to memorize a whole series of different commands that might come from Riker, or from Picard, depending on which was in command at the time. It was utterly unworkable, and utterly falacious that the possible maneuvers of an opposing force were so restricted that a handful of specific maneuvers would always suffice.

There are always going to be variables. I can tell Mike Strain to concentrate on Michael Grafton's "My Pink Unicorn Pony" and order Terrence Sean Terry O'Carroll to support Mike Strain, but if Michael Grafton suddenly turns his "My Pink Unicorn Pony" to link up with some unnamed supporting ship, suddenly the battle has changed and I need to issue new orders which are going to be a lot more complex than "Cole 7, Petrick 12".

By Michael C. Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 - 03:10 pm: Edit

I agree.

While I would not consider them to be absolutes, they should be general orders that a captain has to obey in the larger context of things.

And I still believe that Ketrick would go to the mat to destroy "My Pink Unicorn Pony"