Ranks

N

Napoleon

Spaceman
I just noticed something while looking over victory streak, in WC a Lt. General is ranked Lower than a Major General yet in the US army/airforce/marines it is the exact opposite, not that it matters just a funny little meaningless difference.

And one more thing, a while back somebody said that a Commodore is a low ranking Admiral. that is wrong, a Commodore is a Captain who commands more than one ship, or a person who is the lowest rank possible for a flag officer, while admirals are the higher flag officer ranks from Rear-Full.
 
A Commodore in WC is a low raking Admiral (and when that rank was still used in the real navy, I belive it was also the lowest ranking admiral), and isn't necessarly in command of more than one capship, he doesn't have to be in command of a capship at all (just look at Blair).

And the highest ranking flag officer is a Space Marshal.
 
Originally posted by Napoleon

And one more thing, a while back somebody said that a Commodore is a low ranking Admiral. that is wrong, a Commodore is a Captain who commands more than one ship, or a person who is the lowest rank possible for a flag officer, while admirals are the higher flag officer ranks from Rear-Full.
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Actually if you want to get technical, the lowest flag rank in WC and in the US Navy is a Commander. This is why the rank of O-5 and higher have a reef (or scrambled eggs) on the visor of their cover. Since our navy ranks are based off Britain's who still use the rank of Commodore, you can see where Commodore would fit in, i.e. in the British Navy he would have one star on his working uniform, or one 3/4 in. stripe on his Service Dress Blues, which is a one star admiral rank in today's US Navy.

I do have one question about ranks though. From the WC manuals from the games we are given the rank structure as in names. But in terms of what they actually look like on a WC uniform does anyone know where this is? My meaning is that since WC1 which used conventional ranking insignia, we do not really know what the ranks look like. I am aware that the ranks used in CIC are actually fan based insignia, but where in WC does it show what the real insignia look like?
 
Originally posted by JazzMan
Actually if you want to get technical, the lowest flag rank in WC and in the US Navy is a Commander.
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Nope, in WCU, Commander is the second highest officer rank, behind Captain.
I am aware that the ranks used in CIC are actually fan based insignia
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Actually, they're not...:)

[Edited by Earthworm on 01-30-2001 at 14:28]
 
The insignia can be a bit misleading, since they change it from WC II to WC III...

And I am not going to enter the war about ranks since diferent countrys use diferent ranks.....
 
The ranks next to our names are from the Wing Commander universe. These are the ones that were used in and after Wing Commander III.

The ranks in the original Wing Commander and in Wing Commander II are very different. This image from TC's Claw Marks is what they looked like.

Ranks.gif


Clockwise from upper left, they are:

2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel.
 
Originally posted by JazzMan

where in WC does it show what the real insignia look like?
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If you look in the left breast of at least the WC4 uniforms, the insignia is there. I don't know what that triangular neck insignia is, as EVERYONE has it. Must be like the insignia for the Navy (I assume everyone in WC4 works for the navy...)

Some officers have another gold triangular device under their name tag. I know Maniac has it, I think Blair does, Eisen, Paulson, Tolwyn (I think). I know Catsratch doesn't have it. So the triangular thing is probably some type of officers insignia.

Other than that, still sticking with WC4 rank system, Flag officers have a slighty different uniform. On Maniac, Blair etc, the uniforms are blue with black stripes. For Eisen, Tolywn, Paulson they are blue with white stripes.

That's all i've noticed really, there may be something else I missed.
 
Actually Eisen/Paulsen are only captains and are thus normal ranks (BLair and Eisen are equivenent in rank) The pilots are space force and thus they have the black stripes and the other guys are navy and thus they have white stripes.

AGAIN a Commodore in WC is the lowest ranking FLAG OFFICER not lowest ranking admiral, the lowest ranking admiral is a Rear Admiral. If anybody doesn't understand the fact that Flag officer is anybody with the rank higher than Captain and Admiral is anybody with the rank Rear ADMIRAL or above before space marshal, you need to serriously learn how to tell the difference between words
 
RANKS

NAVY

Lt.
Lt. Commander
Commander
Captian
Commodore
Rear Admiral
Admiral (1-4 star)
Space Marshal

SPACE FORCE

2nd Lt.
1st Lt.
Captain
Major
Lt. Colonel
Colonel
General (1-4 star)
 
He forgets many things... taking a look at the rank chart in the KSaga/WC3 manual would be one of them. He invented two additional Admiral ranks in the Navy list :).
 
Quite right there is rear vice and full admiral exists in Confed. While in the US navy there is rear, vice, full, and Fleet/Admiral of the fleets. That is where he got confused.
 
What's all the fuss about ? They have other ranks, so who cares ? You don't die about it. Like someone said before: that's the diffirence between "our" and the WC universe. And we live in 2001, and they live between 2600 and 2700.
 
I believe the intention of the designers was to have a ranking system that mirrored the militaries today. In the Australian, British and American militaries a Lieutenant General is ALWAYS higher than a Major General. I am quite certain they would be in other nations a well.

It is more likely that the designers made a mistake and thus we have the present conundrum. If Origin were really hell bent on changing the ranks of the WC military, they might as well be using the made up Kilrathi ranks!

By the way, a Commodore is NOT an Admiral. Commodores are more like senior captains. This would be a rank given to show seniority to other Captains who may be 'rookies'. Alternatively, a Commodore is in charge of a few ships, but certainly not a fleet.

However, a Commodore is the lowest flag officer.
 
True a Commodore is not an "Admiral" rank, but he has the same pay grade as Rear Admiral lower-half in the US Navy. In our current US Navy, a Rear Admiral (O-7) will often command a small battlegroup (but not always) like a carrier and all her escorts. However, a Captain will still command the carrier itself. On this note, Commodores though technically not an Admiral rank in the WC Navy, are definitely not senior captains. Instead they hold the position a one star Admiral today would hold.
 
Originally posted by JazzMan
True a Commodore is not an "Admiral" rank, but he has the same pay grade as Rear Admiral lower-half in the US Navy. In our current US Navy, a Rear Admiral (O-7) will often command a small battlegroup (but not always) like a carrier and all her escorts. However, a Captain will still command the carrier itself. On this note, Commodores though technically not an Admiral rank in the WC Navy, are definitely not senior captains. Instead they hold the position a one star Admiral today would hold.
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Does the USN still have a Commodore rank? Or was it
replaced by lower-half Rear Admiral?

Respectfully,

Brian P.
 
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