But the ships are a mobile extension of that network - added in by necessity due to the Vasari advance.

Not all of those ships were added in because of the Vasari. Its already known that there was some kindof Defensive Force that protected individual worlds from Pirates. 

Also If your going to use Network........Then why use the word Fleet?  Fleets imply a Navy not a Network. Why not Task Force? or Strike Force?........which actually would go along better (in my opinion) with a Network. A Fleet goes with the idea of a Navy. 

Division is a Army term....... Strike Force..........not saying it doesnt exist outside the US Military Structuring..........but it sounds made up..but thats ok cause this game has a lot of stuff made up..so im not gonna argue that.

Task Force would probably be the closest to a term used by Navies. Ill break down the US Navy Structuring.

FLEET ( Commanded by Four Star Admirals)

Atlantic Fleet (LANTFLT)

Pacific Fleet (PACFLT)

These two Main Fleets are in charge of Five subordinate Fleets. Even Numbered Fleets answering to Atlantic Fleet, and Odd Numbered Fleets answering to Pacific Fleet

They are as follows.

SUBORDINATE FLEET(s)

Second Fleet - Atlantic

Third Fleet - Eastern Pacific

Fifth Fleet - Arabian Gulf and Indian

Sixth Fleet - Mediterranean

Seventh Fleet - Western Pacific

These smaller Fleets are organized into Task Forces also known as Task Groups commanded by Rear Admirals (one or two stars)

TASK GROUP

Also known as a Battle Group they are composed of a Carrier and all of their escort ships (usually named after the Carrier they are assigned to) Commanded by a Rear Admiral.

TASK UNIT

A typical Task Unit is a squadron of Destroyers assigned to protect the Carriers, Commanding Officer is usually a senior Captain but referred to as Commodore.

TASK ELEMENT

Usually a single ship or squadron of aircraft. Commanding Officer is often referred to as "Captain" even though the individuals rank may only be Commander.

I know some of this has nothing to do with the debate....but I think understanding how a Standing Navy is structured may help us understand why TDN may or may not be an acryonym for Navy.

technically..........ships in space dont fly..that requires atmosphere

I was just adding the U.S. military structuring so we had something to relate to.

If you want to bring in the US Military, you'd better hit up the Air Force - they're who we use for space last I checked.

And, woot! Ryat caved.

-Itharus the apparently Tree Hugging Vasari Overlord of a thousand leaves, and a hundred branches.

Hhm, nah, Vasari need better terms CI MOO3 has a pretty cool little naming convention of different sizes of ship groups if you guys need inspiration.

How about this: Time to Destroy all into Nothing. ?

C.I. -- No. Just ... no.

Traditionally referring to anything in space that operates in a mobile manner is called a ship, groups of these things are called a fleet and are part of a navy. Presently the only things that go into space are the equivalent of rafts.

regardless the people who have the best grasp of space/vacuum/microgravity warfare are submariners. Division is a groundpounder term which describes a group of soldiers. Were this game to have marines for either boarding actions or invasion, or army units to occupy enemy planets, then the term division would be used, as well we could use, platoon, battallion, squad, or even legion.

the present naveis in the world have aircraft carriers, which carry navy pilots in navy planes. or marines... who are technically a sub group of the office of the navy (in the US), as much as that irritates the jarheads.

using the present definitions as they exist, and as the game, and the military, and leading science fiction writers(even the peaceniks) we avoid a lot of confusion. Even commercial companies refer to their ships as "fleets" or "navies" or "merchant marines"

A network implies (and if it isnt the real definitions, its certainly how it is being used) to define a system that interlocks and operates together. generally this is information, or a defensive netork... but even that suggests a stationary series of defensive emplacements, mines and probably a mobile picket force or squadron.

In my mind, Navy is the only applicable term for a space based group of people and material carrying things. the TD in TDN is something we can assume, but we dont know. if the acronym refers to the fleet, it means navy.

as for vasari being plant related. no, we are not some sissy plants. we could be: knife, sword, hammer, fleet... maybe... maaaaaaaybe.

advent...ifyou relaly want to use the ... arm thing, a fist is smaller than an arm... at least on my body. knuckle, fist, arm, fleet

for TEC be consistent: squadron, task unit, task group, fleet

ryat, you wuss. dont give in. fight it! and if they are rebuilding it from scratch they wouldnt have terms like "fighters, battleships, fleet, carriers," etc. it would be something stupid like "type A armed sports craft 'the swift'" or whatever the marketing directors came up with.

whew, i feel like i just ran a bunch.

they don't have terms like battleship and carrier. they have fleet because thats what a group of spaceships with weapons have always been called. they're called fighters because they are exactly like fighters that we have today, they just work in space.

that doesn't mean we have to stick with the navy. that just means we have to stick to those two terms. why restrict ourselves? unless you have a reason....besides the one above.

why isnt squadron an option? in the modern navy/airforce, squadrons refer to both fighers and groups of ships (wings also refer to fighters, but that doesnt seem applicable here; unless you want to say a carrier cap carries a wing of fighters/bombers). also, a large number of planes are are also referred to as a fleet - it is not merely a naval term anymore.

i tend to agree with CI. the names of the different groups of advent and vasari ships sound really weird and stupid, but i'm fairly certain they are supposed to. also, remember they are actually translations from whatever language they speak

could be, but the marza would be a bit redundant, dont you think?

i would think that any army/airforce/marine/naval (sea) force would be combined under one unbrella in a future with space travel, and that only a space navy would be separate, if not the leader of the whole military itself. names would be mixed, forgotten, remember, changed some more. just think about battleships. the term has only been in use for about 100 years, and already it is outdated and no longer in use.

you are right, network doesnt make much logical sense, but there is a little there, and it just sounds better than navy

because there are already fighter and bomber squadrons. there's already a set amount of unit for squadron, and that's however many fighters and bombers you have in it. the term can't be applied to larger ships, its already taken.

just to make it more confusing, commodore is also a rank in the british navy, it is the equivalent of our rear admiral lower half (1-star admiral)

squad/squadron is a generic term for a group of things (soldiers/ships/fighters) as well as a specific unit within the military structure

i know, i was just adding more useless information unrelated to the topic