OBT Forum

Thanks anyway.   

Reading up on the Naval C3 and the Naval Comm-Scanner Suite, they are both.... almost but not quite what I was looking for. (Also, as regards the former, it only seems to work when every ship in the battlegroup has the requisite equipment, which can't always be counted on, unless you're the Coordinator with the DCA in your pocket).  I suppose what I'm after is some kind of aerospace equivalent of the Mobile HQ or the Cyclops's Tacticon B-2000 (if that makes any sense).

I'd look towards Blacknova's suggestion.

If you're looking for some more fluff details in that vein, you could also glance over the Bugeye's description in TRO 2750.

General space opera fluff, well, it gets a bit more complicated there when you consider the BT setting. Carriers in BT suffer from the general lack of attention that aerospace has always received (compared to other branches of service). Try looking for a reliable fighter/small craft towing or SAR craft in BT. If you find one, let me know. Part of this stems from the nature of orbital engagements. Unlike what you might see in other space opera, they don't really have something resembling...say nuBSG's Raptor, which can serve as everything from a shuttle to reliable SAR craft. The speeds at which fighters engage in orbit will make recovery of a pilot problematic enough, let alone any kind of salvage of damaged craft. This leads to the impression that fighter service may very well be a very high mortality rate service. If you can't get picked up out in the black...

I'll have to look over recovery rules in StratOps to see if they mention anything about the carriers themselves picking up damaged craft. If that's the case, I'd guess they have something resembling lift hoists as found on ground salvage vehicles. Lift hoists in Techmanual might be another place to start, along with possible salvage arms (not sure if that is TacOps or Techmanual).

If you want to fluff a more traditional space opera naval bridge, those are issues you'll need to look at addressing. A flagship's CIC would also likely be dealing with a great deal of data regarding capital missile launch paths and bearing only attacks, along with general maneuvering and disposition of the fleet.

Thanks all, for the good suggestions.  I think that "set aside X tonnes and designate it "Flag Bridge" is what I'll probably end up doing (probably combining it with a NCSS; that seems pretty useful and applicable).