I propose the formation of a three cap ship defender squadrons...yet to think of good names, maybe someone else can. There should be one for each nation/capship, and they would have the sole purpose of defending their mother ship. Now to make this idea really fun the devs would need to to make the cap ships more like a station eg. fighters docking with the cap ship get repaired, players can set the capship as their home base, and can equip, and rearm teir ships (from a limited armoury)
Cap ship defenders could get to fly a (free) special version of a high speed interceptor, either a vult or cent, or even some new type yet to be seen. ( a limited number available at any one time per capship)
* The ships should be fast, light, and armed with a weapons loadout of energy weapons, and/or light rockets/missiles, for use against attackers.
* They ships should be strictly for defense of the capship,and without wormhole capability to prevent players flying off in them.
* Anyone destroyed while flying an interceptor would respawn in the cap ship, as this would be their home base.
* A player who logs off , for whatever reason would restart on logging in, from the cap ship.
A naval career would be ideal for an alternative character who does nothing else, training missions could be available exclusively at the capships, eg escort the ship, attack the enemy ship, blockade a station, rescue prisoners etc

any comments ?

OK, some questions:
1. What happens if the capship warps to another system without you? Are you marooned?
2. Would the capship have to be ever-present? If it dies, these players would not be able to respawn until their capship did.
3. What if you want to LEAVE the service? Since you always respawn in the capship, you are locked into your "naval career" for life!

Oh, and we already get repaired once you dock with the ship.

Some good points Lebermac, I certainly don't claim to have thought of all the potential problems, but in response to the questions you have posed.

1. if the capship warps without you, you're in deep trouble, I would expect you'd be up on a charge of dereliction of duty (?XP loss) at the very least, or desertion at worst! Seriously though, adequate warnings could be given to ensure that all fighters return to base in time for the warp. Any stragglers would need to get to a station and await recovery. As only wormhole travel would be barred this should not be a problem for the luckless pilot. (I seem to temember the millenium falcon encountering a lone imperial fighter in Star wars, at first it was thought to be a straggler from an imperial battleship ..it turned out to be from "that small 'moon' over there" but thats another story.

2. If the capship dies (this IMHO should be a lot rarer than it is at present) escape pods would I hope allow all crew to be respawned at the fleet HQ (skycommand or whatever) the capship defending character would have to enjoy some forced r&r until the next ship is launched...players may wish to play their naval character as an alt to their main character, or play a trader/miner/pirate/bounty hunter as an alt to their main character, the navy pilot.

3. If you wish to leave the service, I would suggest a "/resign" command allowing a veteran to retire with a pension/bursary commensurate to length of service, decorations won, rank attained. A complimentary ship (special naval issue) and the right to continue to use the title of rank at time of leaving. special veterans discount at stations would be nice too!

Didn't know we get repaired at present...as usually I have been killed before I get to dock!

Alright, while I agree that this would be cool, I think that it will definitely have to wait a while, at least until the border war actually gets started. I would also give the ships wormhole jumping capacity, but if you are spotted more than 1 system away from the Cap ship, then you should definitely get a "black mark" of some sort on your record, unless of course, it's for a (scouting?) mission you get from your service on the cap ship.

The thing I think we're missing in this topic is the ability to join the military at all (which we should be able to do). What is being confused here is being in the military and being posted on a cap ship. As is in the Backstory:

The Serco still wield nearly eighty capital ships, their carriers allowing them to swap out exhausted pilots in the middle of battle. The Itani have never developed carriers, their pilots usually returning to their home planet after a day's work, but no such luxuries can be taken here.

I hardly think that being enlisted is synonomous with serving on the cap ship. As for the "respawning after cap ship dies", http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/10466 .

A note on joining and leaving the service: this should vary from faction to faction. Itani pilots tend to be more volunteer, "weekend warriors" if you will. Serco tend to be more strict about enlisting. While I don't mean to suggest that people should be free to come and go in the military, people ought to be able to take leave, as well as request transfer to other parts of the universe.

Also, leaving the service should not be a permanent kind of thing, after all we don't want dissatisfied players who get locked into service. While things like being able to buy a different ship once you leave the service would be nice, among other things, you should be able to have some freedom.

One more thing: the cap ships should have their own NPC fighter escorts, even if they are going to Sedina for now.

Well it was just an idea, for the moment we will have to be content to join up with the cap ships ad hoc, as part of a volunteer corps.
I am still seriously considering a character who does this sort of thing full time, and alternate between playing my regular character and the cap ship defender.

Maybe a guild would serve to give some identity to groups of likeminded players, and then the guild can issue ranks and medals etc to heroes of the fleet.

A proper military career path would obviously restrict a character's actions (as it does in real life) but it could offer opportunities for players to get access to weapons that they would not normally get until higher levels - this might be attractive for some players who arent turned on by relentless botting to get the levels required for cool weapons and ships.

Anyone interested in forming a guild?

i think everyone has missed the obvious way for this to work:

put a mission computer in the cap ship. this computer the issues a limited number of "capitle ship tour missions" these missions last a set amount of time say 1 month. and grant xp for every enemy kill you get as well as every sucessfull defence (completed patrole). also the character gets paied a small salary every day provided he logs at leat one kill that day.

if you cancel the mission prematurely the you get the AWOL badge, anyone who has this badge has a bounty placed on their head and is not allowed to buy nation ships and equipment from the nation they offeneded untill they complete another cap ship tour mission at which time the badge is removed.

these sugestiones could be modified but i think it adresses the main isues regarding restrictions of action