In general I agree with the exception that I think the rank cap should be Commodore. In the series (especially TOS) there were Commodores in command of individual "wessels". Commodore Decker comes to mind. As pointed out in an earlier post Commodore's (an old rank little used today but once considered quite a proud career accomplishment) can command individual ships but, in the event of a fleet action, they command a squadron of ships. Bring back Commodore and let's give Admiral rank over to a fleet command deignator.

I think what you're referring to as "ranks" are actually "levels". We need to stop hard-linking ranks with levels. We can potentially expand into infinity levels beyond 50, but this game is a game of Captains, from levels 1-whatever, not Flag Officers.

It would make much more sense with the way that the game is structured to have new players start out from the tutorial as one of their starting ship's senior officers at a Commander rank (NOTE: not level), that leads some effort to assist the Khitomer, only to come back and find that the CO and XO have been killed... which leaves you to take command of your ship, return to ESD and get officially promoted to "Captain". A Level 1 Captain (or whatever level you leave the tutorial at).

From there, the game progresses as normal (which means **no extra work is needed to restructure the entire game**). Players unlock ships and powers at the various player levels the same way they do now.

Save the Flag Officer ranks for NPCs or at least hold off on them until we get some sort of separate (and optional) gameplay function that puts players into roles appropriate to Flag Officer duties, such as managing resources (ships, materials, personnel) over a theater of operations, or assigning objectives (for their fleet or for the public) that player Captains can take up.

• Ex: Admiral V'lur posts 3 missions to the public Mission Board... a patrol of the Orion Sector, patrol of the Aldebaren Sector, and a round of Ker'rat PvP. Captains that complete these specific missions get some sort of reward that benefits what they're doing as Captains, and the Flag Officer that posted those assignments gets something that benefits their roles as Flag Officers.

10 levels of LOL ground?

The other option, ensigns commanding ships, is even more laughable.

The problem with your system is you cannot unring a bell, the game starts with having command of a ship and what is worst, Vice Admirals commanding ships or Ensigns commanding ships?

That means 20 levels of content would had to be added, worst 20 levels of GROUND content and of course the entire ship tier system having to be adjusted.

Same effort could be spend of Klingon content.

Kirk was admiral and he still captained a starship in the films

That wasn't exactly standard procedure though. In fact, it ended up getting him demoted back to captain anyway.

He took command from Decker in STTMP, he was also demoted back to Captain at the end of ST IV.

i've never understood why it became "Rear Admiral, Lower Half". US Navy ranks suck for that reason. the first flag officer rank should be commodore. Incidentally Commodore should also be the rank cap, WHY you can become a Vice Admiral is beyond me.

As i believe even the US navy had a rank of commodore before the 1980's, when it changed to Commodore Admiral and then just "Rear Admiral, Lower Half". :|

You'll note that in TMP, when he took command of the Enterprise from Decker, he also went back to wearing Captain's stripes on his sleeves.

Also, in ST:II, he was an "observer" for the Enterprise's cadet cruise. Captain Spock was the actual Captain, he just deferred back to Kirk.

In ST:III, "Admiral" Kirk steals the Enterprise, and acting against the authority of Starfleet, and becomes a fugitive. His actions mark him as a fugitive, wanted for treason against the Federation of Planets. If caught, he could be executed. He has no authority, no rank, and only the loyalty of his friends.

In ST:IV, Kirk bringing back the whales to save Earth convinces Starfleet not to execute him on the spot, despite his crimes. He is allowed to maintain a position in Starfleet, but as a Captain.

No, he usurped command from Decker in ST:TMP, and Captain Spock insisted he take command after the Training Cruise was cancelled in ST:TWOK, he stole the Enterprise in ST:TSFS, and was demoted to Captain and given command of the Enterprise-A in ST:TVH, and he was still a Captain in ST:TFF and ST:TUD.

And besides, Kirk is actually a bad example (ignores regulations and gets demoted) of how to do things, remember?

Well to be fair, Kirk taken command of the Enterprise to deal with V'Ger, them Spock had command of the Enterprise and relinquished to him in Wrath of Khan, Kirk ceased to be a Admiral after he stolen the Enterprise and was demoted to Captain.

Decker was the Captain of the Enterprise after Kirk was promoted to Admiral at Krik's recommendation for 3 years, Also Pike was Captain of the Enterprise for about 11 years before being promoted with Kirk replacing him as Captain.

I am a very fair person.

Of course nothing says Starfleet Admirals dont have personal flagships, Alternative Future Riker saved the Enterprise-D from being scrapped to serve as his flagship.