1.5: Discretionary Action

With the sheer number of actions required for the command personnel, it may seem likely for departments to be routinely left without a command action. This is true. The problem only gets worse once command actions are necessary to stay in coordination with the rest of the line or squadron. There are ways to get around this without having your ship suffer -1D penalties constantly.

A Captain may give one of the departments he or she is currently commanding 'Full Discretionary Authority.' This means that they get to work on their own without direct supervision, beginning on the next turn. This also means that instead of the Captain spending an action to keep them coordinated with the rest of the ship, the department chief has to spend an action to remain coordinated with the rest of the vessel. On the turn that discretionary action is given to a department, they may not be engaged in a coordinated action of any sort.

This might seem like a perfect way for a captain to let his ship run itself while he goes back into his ready room and has a cup of tea. The problem is that some departments cannot be given discretionary authority. Piloting, communications, and engineering must be commanded by one of the command officers each turn. This might seem like a wonderful way to let the captain spend all his actions deceiving the enemy or lending bonuses to subordinates so that each shot hits that vital location. The only problem is that if a department is not commanded by an officer, it cannot receive any bonuses, not even by the bridge officer heading the department as they are now having to pay closer attention to the tactical situation. Additionally, if the Chief Gunnery Officer is given full discretion in target selection, coordination with more than one ship becomes impossible as target selection is not made by the Captain or First Officer. Not a huge problem, but against Star Destroyers coordination is a must. Wing Commanders may not engage in fighter screens if they are given full discretion as they are no longer in perfect coordination with piloting (while the Wing Commander can spend an action to avoid the -1D penalty, there is still a slight lag in orders filtering to him from other departments as they are heard from the departments rather than the captain).

To Capital Ship Combat?.
To Advanced Targeting Rules.
To Coordination.