Founding
With the beginning of the Stellar Expansion Age and the creation of the Stellar Fleet, existing training facilities couldn't keep up with the demand for new pilots to fill new roles. Several proposals were made, with the use of an entire, underutilised system winning out. The Delnar system was chosen due to it's lack of habitable planets and exploitable resources.
Construction began in 2118, with several components being made simultaneously. The central structure was built in-place while the housing modules were built elsewhere, ready to be attached once the main structure was completed. In-depth scans were conducted on the three bodies in the Delnar system to ensure no adverse reactions to the ordnance used in training exercises.
Late into 2118, the modules were shipped to the Delnar system and attached to the central spire, allowing the Academy staff to move in and begin preparing for the first wave of students.
Campus
Housed in the Delnar system, the Academy is almost entirely contained within a single large space station orbiting the single star of the system. The main structure is a single large spire with several smaller pillars attached to the upper sections, the majority of which are used for student and staff housing. The lower floors of the central spire contain the bays that house the fighters used in training exercises, while the very upper floors are home to the administration.
Facilities
As students are on campus for the entire duration of their education, all of their needs are met without having to leave the station. The middle-upper floors are home to recreational and dining areas, including various hydroponics which provide the dual benefit of having living plants on-board as well as providing food to be used in the kitchens.
The upper decks are home to staff housing, facility management and administration. Space Traffic Control occupies the very peak of the central spire, giving them the shortest connection possible to the system monitoring equipment mounted on the outside, allowing them to monitor every ship in the system with minimal delays.
Fighter Bays
The PTA operates 2000 of the
SC-AM Starblade-3 as their primary training fighter, rotating their usage between classes due to the ratio of students to fighters. Each fighter bay can store a hundred 100 fighters at a time. With 30 bays currently part of the central spire, additional craft can be stored and additional bays can be installed as new fighters are produced to meet to the growing demand of the Stellar Fleet recruitment system.
Education System
Every new student is required to take a three year foundational knowledge unit. Transfers from other military branches may skip the first three months as it covers military basics such as chain of command. The rest of the year is used for beginner fighter training and integration into the military setting of the Academy. The next two years are for intermediate fighter skills and reinforcing skills. Students may skip the last year if they show exceptional skill.
After the three years of foundational knowledge, students are allowed to pick a specialisation they'd like to study before their graduation. These can vary in duration and intensity, depending on the skills and availability of spaces. After finishing the specialist course, students may choose to graduate or pick another specialist course of their choice.
Upon graduation, students are provided with a list of fleets they are qualified for, taking into consideration their overall scoring and which specialist courses they have completed. General enlistment into the main force is always available and provides some of the most predictable operations, however many choose the specialist forces for various reasons. Graduates are expected to remain in the Stellar Fleet for a duration equal to their training length plus a year, although transfers to other branches of the military are accepted and do not impact this duration at all, outside of expectations from the branch they are transferring to.
Training Method
Combat scenarios, created by Game Masters, are loaded onto the trainer's ship at first, allowing them to choose the exact bounds of the simulation in coordination with Space Traffic Control to ensure no crossover with other training going on at the same time or regular space traffic.
Once the scenario is ready to begin, it is uploaded to the systems of all the fighters participating, where the data of enemy ships and other 'physical' objects are overlaid onto the windows and screens of the fighters, allowing them to simulate battles without physical objects in order to reduce risk of collisions and also reducing cost by not having to replace training dummies that are destroyed with each training scenario.
Civilian Training
When capacity allows, the PTA also allows civilians to enrol in fundamental, specialist and single-day courses. These are provided at a fee and do not come with the academy housing that military students get, meaning they must provide their own, either on board their own ship while docked or in a nearby system if they wish to travel in. Several shuttle services operate during civilian training times during the year, allowing inter-system travel to be more feasible for civilian students studying longer courses.
Available Courses
Click To Reveal
| Course Name |
Duration |
| Military Basics |
3 Months |
| Fighter Introduction |
6 Months |
| Squadron Fighting |
3 Months |
| Adapting To Failures |
6 Months |
| Adaptability In Combat |
6 Months |
| Fighter Refinement |
12 Months |
| Bombardment Specialist |
18 Months |
| Squadron Command |
24 Months |
| Ambush Tactics |
12 Months |
| Fighting When Outnumbered |
12 Months |
| Large-Scale Operations |
9 Months |
| Gravity Assist Maneuvers |
3 Days |
| Impact Deflection |
2 Weeks |
| Pushing The Limits |
3 Weeks |
Administration
Operating as part of the
Recruitment and Education Bureau, the PTA has no true singular authority. Rather, there are teams dedicated to each aspect of the facility, each of which is lead by an individual who is responsible for coordination of personnel and allocation of resources.
Game Masters
To ensure students are prepared for any situation, however unexpected, fifty Game Masters work independently from the instructors, creating scenarios for instructors to guide their students through. Beginning from a blank slate, Game Masters are able to customise the enemy ship appearance, size, number, communications with pilots, coordination between each other and their individual tactics. After they are finished designing the scenario, it is sent to the Head Game Master for final review and approval. This process can take between a couple hours to multiple weeks, depending on the complexity and scale of the scenario being created. Upon approval, the scenario is added to the central database.
Instructors
Responsible for actually leading the programs and ensuring students are fulfilling their training obligations, Instructors generally specialists in the field they're teaching, although all of them are qualified to run the foundational course, allowing them to fill in for any other instructor when it comes to the introductory three years.
While they spend about half of their time teaching theory, the other half is taken up by various simulating training scenarios designed by the Game Masters. While they are not able to directly see the contents of the scenarios until they're actually being run, they are able to see the enemy count, type, expected pilot skill and other comments the Game Master responsible for creation decides to include.
Notable People
Eridan, Hotshot Pilot
Eridan is a 27 year old student, currently repeating her third year of Fundamental Training due to a lack of skill in multi-fighter combat. Her skill in one-on-one dogfighting, however, is among the top of all students who have passed through Fundamental Training so far.
Originally from
Rethria, Khalnar, Eridan spent her teenage years racing hovercars and engaging in small time gang battles. As the Stellar Expansion Age started and the need for combat pilots rapidly grew, recruitment drives targeting those with experience in vehicle combat were used to recruit the numbers needed. The response was overwhelming, and many prospective pilots, including Eridan, were put on hold until the PTA was finished. Once the PTA was finished, Eridan was among the second wave of those put on hold to join the ranks of the PTA's students.
Sezdal, Mechanic
Sezdal is a 36 year old mechanic, working in the upper five flight decks on the training fighters. Formerly working at the
Khalnar Spaceport, Sezdal's fine precision over his
Telekinesis made him well suited to working on smaller craft where available space made it difficult to use tools for maintenance.
Having transferred from the Khalnar Spaceport when the PTA's first made offers for staff, Sezdal has been working for the PTA as a mechanic since it first opened to students. Originally working in the primary hanger, Sezdal was transferred to the fighter bays once the academy was opened for students and remains stationed there today.
Rezdaln, REDD Liaison
Rezdaln is a 22 year old liaison for the
Royal Engineering and Development Division (REDD). Serving as the go-between for both staff and students of the PTA and the REDD, Rezdaln is responsible for ensuring smooth line of communication the two via sorting communication types, addressing complaints within her capabilities and recognising areas of improvement within the PTA that the REDD can assist with.
Previously working as a
Public Referral Officer within the Royal Engineering and Development Division, directing members of the general public towards the correct department for their inquiries as well as managing requested lines of study, Rezdaln's natural knowledge of the inner workings of the REDD made it easy to transfer to her current position at the PTA.
Eratryn, Head Game Master
Eratryn is the 45 year old Head Game Master, providing instruction and guidance to the other Game Masters that work within the PTA to create the various training exercises that students undertake. While not directly creating regular scenarios, the Head Game Master advises the other Game Masters, suggestions revisions to their work and gives the final approval for them to be entered into the pool of usable scenarios.
Starting during the early days of the Stellar Fleet, Eratryn was originally an instructor for medium-to-large scale fleet maneuvers to practice combat readiness. Results were favourable while the simulated enemy forces followed an established battle doctrine. However, the further enemies strayed from known tactics, the worse performance got, demonstrating a need to change the approach to training. Eratryn proposed the 'Game Master' method, where scenarios would be developed independently and both the instructor and pilots would need to adapt to the scenario laid out before them.
After test-runs of various new techniques, the Game Master method proved to have the most consistent improvements in performance against a wide variety of enemy doctrines. Having proposed the method, Eratryn was promoted to Head Game Master and transferred to the PTA upon its completion, allowing them to begin training the next generation of pilots.
