Military Academy and First Skills

[Shadowblayde99]

Hello all.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed..... but I can't find a thread so here goes:

My character attends military academy so gets all the service skills at 0. At graduation, the character gets to increase three skills to 1.

If the character didn't go to the academy, they would just get all service skills at 0. But what skills does the character get for the first term in their chosen military career if they'd gone to the academy?

 

[ottarrus]

To the OP: that's a good question and one that more than one person has asked.
I'm a tiny bit more liberal about Basic Training IMTU.
Enlisted characters gets one level 1 skill in Basic, rolled randomly on the appropriate table [whichever Skills Table your career derives Basic Training in].
It was my IRL experience that Basic/Boot Camp familiarized a trainee with a lot of things, but it seemed like every single recruit found 'that one thing' they were really good at.
As I understand the Military Academy process, a graduate gets Basic Training, +1 EDU, 3 Basic Training skills at lvl 1, and a commission as O1 in their service. Additional bonuses accrue Honors graduates.
They then enter their second term [Term one in their career for retirement purposes] normally.

 

[Saladman]

My character attends military academy so gets all the service skills at 0. At graduation, the character gets to increase three skills to 1.

Not quite, and that's exactly what's messing you up for your following question.

Your character attends military academy and gets all the service skills at 0. Done, that's all you get. Except for graduation benefits, which are +1 Edu, a chance of +1 Soc if graduating with honors, automatic entry into the service, and an early roll for commission at +2 so you can enter as an officer. So really that's still a decent first term overall, but for skills that's all you get.

... what skills does the character get for the first term in their chosen military career if they'd gone to the academy?

Now is when you get to select those three service skills at 0 and raise them to 1. Then you make a further roll for promotion, and may gain another roll if that's successful as normal.

If entering the same military career the academy is tied to, select any three Service Skills and increase them to level 1.

Emphasis mine, but the key here is just reading it literally. If you didn't enter the same military career the academy is tied to you wouldn't get them at all. Except it happens to appear in the list of Graduation Benefits rather than as a separate second step, which throws people off, but the plain reading is pretty clear.

Now whether everybody likes it this way or house rules it to work differently is another question, but this is the by the book answer.

I think it actually is more or less balanced. It comes out equal to rolling twice in your first term and once in your second, but taking all rolls on Service Skills and happening not to get any repeats. It's just that getting them all in one lump sum instead of spread out leaves people trying to shoehorn something else in where the individual rolls would have been.

 

[Vormaerin]

yeah, it's not as clear in the text as it could be, but Saladman's explanation is spot on.

 

[alex_greene]

If the character didn't go to the academy, they would just get all service skills at 0. But what skills does the character get for the first term in their chosen military career if they'd gone to the academy?

If you're thinking "do they roll on any appropriate skill table as if they've done Basic already" or will all their basic training from Military Academy be wasted because all they get is a bunch of skills at level 0 that they already got" ... assume the latter, just roll for survival, commission, promotion, and Events and move straight on to your character's second term, and if your character already graduated with honours they can go straight into term 1 as an officer.

 

[alex_greene]

If you want your Academy graduate to start their first career by choosing a table, such as Personal Development or an assignment table and rolling for a single skill to gain a level, as if they've already undergone boot, see how that flies past your referee.

 

[alex_greene]

So, I decided to go all the way back to the LBBs, before Book LBB 4: Mercenary. In the original RAW, once you enrolled in your first term, you were eligible for two skill rolls. If you got promotion, you were eligible for a further skill; if you received a commission in an armed Service, you got yet another skill roll.
So if you want to go with that option for your Term 1 proper after having graduated from the Academy, go with the LBB Book 1 option for your first term.
Just remember what happens if you fail your survival roll ...