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[Gaslamp-Daniel]

The military unit organization is not really fleshed out yet.  There will be some hierarchical structure to it, with leaders of squads of units, and they will of course carry their own histories which affect their decisions to some degree.  The player should be able to promote units as command positions are needed, but I don't think they'll become inherently more powerful as this happens beyond perhaps being preferentially assigned gear if they're combat officers.

Now, if a unit happens to have some horrible accident that makes them incredibly powerful, you could promote that guy, but you might wish you hadn't.

A lot of these decisions necessitate that we have our AI agent systems in a more polished state than they currently are, so I can't really say much with certainty until we test these things.

[ScriptWolf]

i don't mean power as in arhhaa punch a cultists face inside out. sort of like bureaucratic power

[Criptfeind]

What sort of bureaucratic power would any of the peons have this game anyway? I mean. We, the players, have that power. Not the plebs.

[Geen]

when crimes are committed by science criminals only science criminals can bring them to justice

So much win.

All of the win. All of it. I demand that "For Science!" be a legal excuse for everything and thus scientists having full diplomatic and legal immunity.

Anyways, yay! I can't wait to open up the Cthulhu Plumbing Company. Keep up the awesomesauce!
...Oh god, if we dig too deep we end up in Diggle Hell, don't we...

[EnigmaticHat]

If I get this game (read: if I end up with a computer that can play it) I'm probably going to make each colony specialized.  This colony is going to focus on building a single giant factory that produces a ton of batteries, this colony I'm going to try and keep everyone alive, this colony is going to be based on the Dishonored city, this colony is going to have a ton of zeppelins, this colony I'm not going to take any actions to preserve my citizen's sanity, ect.

[alway]

What sort of bureaucratic power would any of the peons have this game anyway? I mean. We, the players, have that power. Not the plebs.

Sergeant Genre Savvy receives an order to clear out an infestation of shoggoth in the Grand Clockwork Horror. Having been promoted for being the only survivor of the last cleansing of the Grand Clockwork Horror, Sergeant Genre Savvy decides "You know what? I think I'll send some of the new recruits under my command, rather than head out there myself. Maybe that new Jenkins guy who talks too loud, is always smelly, and insulted my gentlemanly mustache."

Because let's face it: being a military higher-up in a Victorian Lovecraftian setting is all about figuring out when to stride valiantly into battle against a foe weaker than it appears... and when to send out legions of poor schmucks to jam the portals of hell shut under the weight of their own corpses.

[Oliolli]

NO! Jenkins has his whole life ahead of him! Sergeant Genre Savvy will die of mercury poisoning within six months anyway! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!

[Urist McSpike]

The military unit organization is not really fleshed out yet.  There will be some hierarchical structure to it, with leaders of squads of units, and they will of course carry their own histories which affect their decisions to some degree.  The player should be able to promote units as command positions are needed, but I don't think they'll become inherently more powerful as this happens beyond perhaps being preferentially assigned gear if they're combat officers.

Actually, I think this is something that shouldn't be overdone.  Jerry Pournelle (sci-fi author, Falkenberg's Legion and There Will Be War series) wrote an essay about the modern US military, sometime in the 80's I think.  He talked about how about 20% of the force is made up of officers, and in his fiction, had a pretty simplified command structure.  My google-fu is failing me this early, and I don't have time before work to dig through the books, but it was pretty light on the command structure.

Eh.  My point, I guess, is that while the multiple ranks were fun in a story, I think it might be more of a pain in the game, for both the players and the devs.

[ScriptWolf]

I disagree I think military ranks would be a good thing because its not just your army it's the great cogs army!

That general you have been cultivating for the last 4 hours has finally made it to that rank and you have been eyeing those arc throwers for a while now, but the main empire won't give them to you just yet but with your new general he signs for them and gets them just as quick. As well as organising your army better and providing a huge moral boost and helps those operating deep in cultist territory to that bit smoother, maybe once your guys achive a higher rank from the cog empire it opens up a few more options.

So you get your first major this opens up camping map showing all battles you have your forces and man power as well as last known positions on enemy's, easily send scouts out to search for nasties and other stuff as well.

[Zangi]

If you are gonna have generals moving up.... they should have a political score too.  So you can also get incompetent Generals who muscle their way above Generals that better deserve the position.  (Just like Aurora.)

[Urist McSpike]

No, I didn't mean that there should be no ranks - just that there shouldn't be too many.

For example... the US Army has nine enlisted ranks and eleven officer ranks.  Private (E-1), Private (E-2), Private First Class (E-3) are kind of redundant, and have no functional difference other than pay grade, usually reflecting time in service.  Likewise, Specialist (E-4) and Corporal (E-4) have slight differences, going back to a split in technical & combat specialties; also the Corporal is a non-commissioned officer, while the Specialist is not.  Also, at some time between WW II and the 80's, there were Technical Sergeant ranks with the same equivalence to the E-5 through E-7 (or E-8) NCO ranks, with the split between technicians & combat arms.  Overall, a lot of complicated stuff.

In the sci-fi books I mentioned, I believe Pournelle had his mercenary legion (with the historical lineage of coming from a joint US-USSR combined force, with heavy leanings from the Foreign Legion) simplified down.  I think it went something like Recruit (raw rookie, no combat experience), Veteren (recruit after 1 battle), Corporal, Sergeant, etc.  As I had said, he also did an essay at one time, about how the current (circa 1980's) US Army had about 20% leadership positions, which he felt was too many.

So what I originally meant was that multiple ranks would be good, just follow the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid).  I actually like the idea of having soldiers with the ability to 'level up' as they gain experience; just don't make it too confusing.

[lordcooper]

http://www.gaslampgames.com/2012/11/07/putting-people-together/

[forsaken1111]

The people look.. well.. blocky. I hope we'll be seeing them from far away? Reminds me a bit of how Morrowind looked back in 2002.

[Oliolli]

Steampunk Darwin. So much win.

[Jarod Cain]

Everything I've been reading about in this thread so far has sold me on this game. It sounds hilarious and well worth my money.
-J-