Professionalism and quality in FT ->Leaders

In response to Tony's nice piece on the application of professionalism
and
quality (P&Q, as in Watch your Ps and Qs), I think you need to consider
leadership applications in morale. There are any number of instances in
history, not to mention Honor Harrington, where a superb leader can get
150%
from his (or her) crew, and a dramatically poor leader can convince his
crew
to surrender (or shoot him) at the slightest opportunity.

Starfire touches on this point, first breaking crews into five grades
(poor,
green, average, crack and elite). Crews can be trained to average. Crack
and elite crews can only be achieved through actual combat experience.
Poor: Crews which have suffered heavy casualties in a prior engagement,
or
been disorganized by loss of command control. They have bad (-2)
initiative
and hit rolls, repair rolls, and state-of-readiness rolls. It takes
longer
to launch fighters from carriers. If they survive one engagement or
merely
stay in commission for 6 strategic turns, they automatically into Green.
Green: Limited experience and still shaking down. Also minus (-1) for
all
the same things as Poor, but less so. They become Average by surviving
one
engagement, or staying in commission for 18 strategic turns.
Average: Stats as per the book (+/-0). Average crews who survive five
engagements become Crack.
Crack: Stats are +1. If they survive five more engagements, they become
Elite.
Elite: Stats +2
Under the rules, an engagement is defined as a battle in which the
opposing
side's force point total is at least 25% of your own.

Each grade above Average adds 10% to rolling for surrender or breakoff,
and
below average subtracts 10%.

Initiative roll adjustments only apply to individual ships, not to
fleets,
unless the ship rolling for the fleet is the flagship.

Any unit which surrenders is automatically Poor. Damage can drop the
grade
of a unit.

Now the interesting point, which is an optional rule (Graded Admirals).
A crack ship captain may be promoted to admiral with Average grade, an
Elite
captain to a Crack admiral..
An admiral earns grade for battles in which his flagship makes an
initiative
roll (and survives, of course).
2 rolls: Green to average
4 rolls: Average to Crack
6 rolls: Crack to Elite
No graded admiral ever loses grade (ship captains, however, do).

For every 3 strategic turns a graded admiral is on a given flagship, the
ship's grade rises one (command staff competence), witha maximum of the
admiral's grade.
If he spends one month drilling a poor fleet, it becomes Green. (The
entire
fleet must be in one star system at Alert readiness).
If he spends two months drilling a green fleet (same conditions, it
becomes
Average.
An elite admiral can spend 6 months drilling an average fleet to raise
it to
Crack status.
No amount of drilling can raise fleet grade above Crack.

During breakoff and surrender rolls, a graded admiral can use his own
rolls
instead of the fleet's. In addition, admirals receive a 20% bonus for
each
grade above Average.

This last line is especially interesting, and I think it would be a nice
thing to add to Tony's suggestion. The role of ship command and high
command
is critical in determining fleet (crew) morale.

Edward Lipsett
Intercom, Ltd.
Fukuoka, Japan
elipsett@intercomltd.com