Admiral or General?

[Martok]

Which do you think is more difficult to command, an army or a fleet? I'm not referring to just in combat -- I'm also thinking of things like supply, logistics, etc.

This has been one of those "in the back of my mind" questions that I've been mulling for a while, and I'm no closer to a conclusion now than when I first began contemplating it. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are.

[Adrian II]

Which do you think is more difficult to command, an army or a fleet? I'm not referring to just in combat -- I'm also thinking of things like supply, logistics, etc.

This has been one of those "in the back of my mind" questions that I've been mulling for a while, and I'm no closer to a conclusion now than when I first began contemplating it. I'm curious as to what your thoughts are.

I never gave it a thought. I know for a fact that in the 17th and 18th centuries the Navy was generally regarded as a wastebin for less talented (to put it mildly) sons of well-to-do families. Epitomized by Admiral Sir George Rodney telling his officers: "Gentlemen, the painful task of thinking belongs to me."

[CountArach]

I would say an Admiral because once things start going wrong, it is much harder to get them to start going your way again.

[Warmaster Horus]

I voted gah! simply because someone has to, and because I think their jobs are relatively equally difficult. Both have different things to overcome: an admiral has more difficulty changing things to his advantage and has to adapt to a dangerous battlefield (if there's a storm and a ship's out...), whereas the general has maybe more things to consider in an operation: civilian population, must sometimes adapt to guerrilla warfare (especially these days).

[KrooK]

Depends what kind of admiral or whats kind of general it is. I voted on general because he had more units to command. Admiral has some ships - usually few teens. General has some thousands of soldiers.

[Quintus.JC]

I voted Gah. Its an interesting topic though, I always had this discussion with my graphics teacher about this, my graphic teacher is a rather patriotic British guy and a huge fan of Admiral Nelson. As a player of TW I'm not much into naval warfare (not yet, at least) and generally I prefered Napoleon and Wellington. I have no idea about the responsiblilties of an admiral though.

[Emperor Mithdrates]

compared to generals who command a man to move around (which is quite simple) Admirals have to try and gety huge and unmanoverable warships into battle formations in limited time while trying not to collide with other ships. Also communication is done by small flags and can take a while for orders to get across.

[Prince Cobra]

I think the Amdiral. In the past, a single storm could ruin your plans...

Yet most of the battles are on land and unless you are fortunate enough to live on island, you should rely on your generals. But that's another story. Voted admiral.

[Mangudai]

The General has the harder job. The general has to manage the morale of his men in a thousand different ways. He has to BE a man who inspires confidence in everyone around him. If the troops begin to loose confidence in their general, disaster is right around the corner. The general also has to understand and manage the attitudes of civilians.

The Admiral can do a good job with analysis and good judgement. He has less impact on morale than the captains under him, and in any case morale is less important because a sailors' duty is more straitforward.

Many of us computer nerds are good at tactics, but unless you were the most popular guy in high school you probably wouldn't make a great general.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

The General has the harder job. The general has to manage the morale of his men in a thousand different ways. He has to BE a man who inspires confidence in everyone around him. If the troops begin to loose confidence in their general, disaster is right around the corner. The general also has to understand and manage the attitudes of civilians.

The Admiral can do a good job with analysis and good judgement. He has less impact on morale than the captains under him, and in any case morale is less important because a sailors' duty is more straitforward.

Many of us computer nerds are good at tactics, but unless you were the most popular guy in high school you probably wouldn't make a great general.

I agree with some of your points here, but navies have been crippled by morale issues simply because ships cannot move without the sailors, and the sailors don't usually like being on the ships for extremely long periods of time without a chance to rip loose in a city. Just a thought.

[Wasp]

I voted for the Admiral, but mainly because of logistics. It requires a lot of thinking ahead. A General has to do that as well, of course, but can make last-minute decisions.