Update the ranking system!

**Mos Deaf** · 04-10-2015, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Sicarioano

Though I don't participate or won't for a while at least until I get off base, but I do like the suggestion at updating the ranks. But lol at making E-7 Chief Petty Officer in the middle of a bunch of marine ranks. Looks funny since I'm in the Navy

I tried

**Mythonian** · 04-20-2015, 02:26 AM

Sorry for the delay, I meant to reply to this thread quite awhile ago.

First of all, thank you for the good suggestions, Mos Deaf. It's always nice to see people take interest in improving the place. It's quite obvious you did some research on the issue.

If you haven't already, I highly encourage you to read through the FC Lore, which explains the transition from the UNSC during the Human-Covenant War into the current situation with REDD vs BLUE:

Forerunner Conflict: A History of War

That will do a good bit of explaining the "origin story" of FC, and will help the below information make sense.

REDD and BLUE are effectively separate branches of the militaries for each faction. The factions also have navies, marine corps, etc., but REDD and BLUE are specifically meant for the Spartan forces of the factions.

Under the UNSC, Spartans were included within the Navy for practical reasons during that time, and nearly all information of them was kept top-secret. Currently, within FC lore, they're not nearly as secret (barring the heavily controlled Imperial news) and have become a separate branch, albeit a much smaller branch then the other ones.

The current rank structure we're using this war is based nearly entirely off of the US Marines, with no influence from the Navy. The exception is Field Marshal, which the US doesn't use. IRL it's a rank that some countries use as the ultimate rank within an army, above the generals. We haven't always used it (In H2 we used Five-Star General) but it has a unique ring to it that helps to distinguish the FM from the other High Command positions.

Lore-wise, it makes sense for our ranks to be heavily marine-based. We are another type of land expeditionary force, and we also work in conjunction with the navy. This is why we have used this ranking system for the last few years. Before that, it was a more sporadic and mixed ranking system.

However, we call ourselves Armies. This is, at least from my explanation, a partial reference or deference to ancient Sparta. Their force is referred to as the "Spartan army" as they had no alternative branches (aside from a rather minor navy that only came into importance during the war with Athens).

In the Warsim, we act as the Spartan forces for our factions and compete on maps each week. However, we do not control fleets and ships, merely our own Spartan self-representations that we fight with on battles. Officers handle squads of Spartans, and as Field Marshal I control a Spartan army.

Bringing in naval ranks and such would indeed bring it more in-line with the original UNSC ranks, but it has other consequences for the Warsim. The naval and marine forces play parts in this war between factions, but we do not act in that part. In every battle for control of a planet, Spartans cut great swaths in Marine forces, and could infiltrate and destroy enemy naval vessels (Six and Jorge take down a supercarrier in Reach), so final control of a planet is decided by which Spartan army defeats the other and forces the enemy to retreat.

We can only play as Spartans (aside from playing as Elites which a few people do), so our ranks should reflect us being separate and distinct from the other branches.

With this in mind, we also need a structure that works for our purposes as an internet community. I totally agree with you that improvements can and should be made to it, and certainly will be done.

Unfortunately, I have no idea of the specifics yet. It won't happen in the middle of a war, but be looking out for improvements during the next peacetime. The WC will be discussing the issue and deciding on the changes, but I foresee us sticking with a marine-centric rankings structure, for the reasons explained above and in the lore.