On a related note, if there's multiple options for female Captain voices, I'd like a Katee Sackhoff option

That is unfortunate and while it is true that there are too many "younglings" in games, anime and manga which you apparently don't find in movies (except lately) the protagonist is chosen to appeal to the largest possible demographics. Games and anime usually consumed by young people and therefore characters are young.

Movies usually were more for older audiences and hence you had middle-aged characters like Captain Kirk or Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds or Indiana Jones.

You would also see movies and characters for younger audiences (mostly Disney stuff) but not many of those have sequels (except Home Alone). But compared to Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Batman, Superman.....

But that has changed in the past decade with focus on capturing the imagination of "younglings" so that they can create a fan base as early as possible (that is so that they can be milked in the future). Much like the Marvel and DC Comics franchise were the teenagers of the glory days of comics are now middle aged and enjoying the shit out of those movies.

You also see the transitioning of characters from old to new to extend the life of those franchises. We have seen how Star Wars went back to Episodes 1, 2, 3 bringing young characters (unavoidable). And now Disney with their new movie is paving the way for younger characters to carry the torch.

Indiana Jones franchise has attempted to extend the life of aging Harrison Ford by introducing his son by (Shia LaBeouf).

Star Trek has done its reboot to younger characters.

The same could be said for us and Star Control and why many of us do not see anything wrong with a middle-aged Captain. I sure wouldn't mind at all even if it were an old geezer.

But I am sure whatever the age of the character SD will do a good job in making it believable.

Taking a cue from the game Darklands experience can be used to tie in the age.

Its not possible to make a 20-year-old hero believable.

Completely disagree with you, can't recall the name of the anime off the top of my head (i watch a lot of movies and series and this one was a while back) but there was one where a war with an alien race was going on for years and all but a few of the old guard in the military had died, putting the task of defending what was left of humanity in the hands of teenagers and some rose to the occasion where others gave up hope and imo this was all very believable (this being a more serious/realistic anime and not of the "watch me turn super saiyan" kind).

Then there's Terry Pratchett's "Nation" in which a 13 year old kid has to survive alone when his entire tribe is wiped out when a tsunami hits their island and he only survived because he was away on his initiation rite from boyhood into manhood.

In a setting where these things have not occured it is indeed pretty hard to see a 20 year old rising to the top as quickly as, for instance, the Star Trek reboot, but simply stating "not possible to make a 20 year old hero believable" is just plain wrong imo.

I suppose what everyone is trying to say is that it is hard to create a green 20 year old hero when the world is populated with "older" people.

Unless the story revolves around kids (like Narnia, or the Wizard of Oz, Home alone, etc). It is quite unrealistic to expect a green horn surround by "older people" to be the hero when every year you add to that is one more year of experience and wisdom which would create a more believable hero.

In a manga like Naruto, Naruto already had the power of the 9 nine tailed thingy inside of him and that in itself makes him unique and therefore a candidate for a plausible hero as he learns to control and harness that power.

The Star Trek reboot was a little too forced... smelled a lot of deus ex machina..... with "being at the right place at the right time".

Young characters fit the role of unlikely and reluctant hero much better than as an "established" Hero. That is also kind of what was being tried for Star Trek turning the young Kirk into a reluctant hero, NOT, since we know that Kirk was very ambitious there is nothing reluctant about him becoming the hero...

The Mocking Jay is a good example of how the hero is not a special person but was thrust into the spotlight and became the reluctant hero.

Also the nature of the hunger games means that it will be "young people" participating, so Katniss turning into the hero of district 9 was inevitable.

Good stories are those that support the "why" that character is the protagonist and hero (unlikely, reluctant, or not).

Examples:

Fullmetal Alchemist starts in a very believable way with 2 kids messing with a greater power than they can handle (as kids do) and it turns into an adventure for the Elric brothers and quest for Edward to return a physical body to his younger brother. And the storyline transforms them into eventual heroes. But by no means are they the top of le creme. Talented yes but not the top when they start

Hunter X Hunter is also a good subject to study. There really isn't a "Hero" but a protagonist and he is Gon.

His quest is to find his father which sets him on a course to experience an adventure. In the same manner they are not the super heroes that suddenly exist to kick ass.

They develop into those characters.

Very believable story plots.

SC2 had something along those lines but it begged the question of why. A genius child born at the right time to figure out the Precursor tech? Did he win the cosmic lottery? Maybe the parents of the genius child had some Q time in a place where they should not have, hereby producing a genius child... but still too convenient for a genius child to be born to a small colony in the first generation..... that's stretching it a little bit. Maybe genetically engineered to be able to understand precursor tech and therefore born a genius would have been more... believable.

The fact is that age or gender does not matter so as long as the story-line supports it in a believable way.

20-year-old heros only exist in movies.  In the real world, there is no such thing as a 20-year-old leader.  The adults will not only not follow a child, they would actually laugh at the child if the kid thought he should be in charge.  40-year-old men are not going to follow the lead of a 20-year-old kid.

On top of that, we are talking about a military navy handing over command of a starship to a child, which is even more ridiculous.  This one thing completely ruined the Star Trek re-boot, it's unwatchable too me because of the sheer stupidity of handing over command of a starship to a 20-year-old who has not even graduated the academy yet.

I really hope SC has a believable adult hero and not a child hero who could never possibly do such a thing in real life.

I brought up Star Trek as an example of a sympathetic character with something to prove being thrown into extraordinary circumstances, not an example of what age a character needs to be to make a story work. It wasn't a perfect film but it did at least have strongly defined character arcs, which is something I can't say for a LOT of movies and games.

Nobody suggested making the hero a certain age, although since someone continues to want to argue against a 20-something protagonist, it probably bears pointing out that the colony of survivors on Unzervalt were stranded for 20+ years and your character basically grew up there because there weren't likely to be any children on the expedition. That basically places your character in their early twenties, so maybe we can drop this stupid topic and move on?

20-year-old heroes have become the norm in movies, and it is often laughably silly... like making an academy cadet a captain and giving him command of a starship before he has even graduated the academy.  It's so ridiculous that it ruins any story you try and tell from that point forward.  Even you would not choose the child...

An alien force has invaded the galaxy and you must choose who will lead the fleet to save the Earth and all of humanity from extinction.  Here are your choices.

1) General Smith, The Hero of Cygnus Prime.  48 years old.  Life-long military career, graduated the academy at the top of his class.  Has lead dozens of successful military operations during his career.  Lead your forces to victory in the last war.  The greatest living hero your people have.

2) Admiral Jones, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Fleets.  52 years old.  Has commanded 5 different ships during his career, including the flagship of the fleet.  Commanding officer of the 5th fleet during the last war.  Considered to be the greatest naval tactician your people have.

3) Little Billy Milligan.  Academy Cadet.  21 years old.  Graduated high school with a 3.55 grade average.  Captain of the football team.  Exceptional progress as a cadet.

Ok... you choose.  Who do you pick to save the Earth and all of humanity from extinction?  There is only one canditate that you aren't even considering, right?  I bet I can guess which one.

This is why the idea of a child hero is so silly.  The kid would never be given the chance to try in the first place.

Why are you applying how the real world works to movies or, since we're on a SC forum, in a science fiction game?

In the real world there is no evidence of alien life, so let's remove aliens.

Also we're not sure if intergalactic travel will ever become a possibility so let's remove space exploration.

People are suggesting why a young character in a story/movie/game could certainly work if implemented right and you just stubbornly say it would't work because it wouldn't in real life? We're not talking about real life, we're talking about fictional universes with monsters/aliens/space battles/etc.

Meanwhile, on the topic of planets that look like they come out of a cartoon for children ages 6 - 12, you like them.....

Anyway that's the last i'll say on the matter, you can stick to the "real life" argument which apparently only applies to 20 year old heroes and i'll just wait and see if we even see (or get to know the age of) the captain we'll be playing in this game

True in a military setting having a 20's in command is unrealistic. But SC2 had circumstances that could only make it so.

Mainly that it is not a military base and small population (literally a small village of scientists).

It always happens with the advent of disruptive tech or disruptive sequence of events. Where the old school is too old to utilise the new tech, or there are huge changes in the world.

Let's say the world has seen peace for centuries but then a alien threat has arrived and new weapons are being created to fight the alien threat.

New weapons that no one has any experience with.

It would make sense to train a new young generation of soldiers to learn to utilise the new weapons and the best in that group would become the leader and hero.

It is not so far fetched.

In fact we have such young heroes in human history.

Joan of Arc comes to mind, and a female at that!

Also in case anyone here is only familiar with American history then you can check out this link:

http://militaryhistorynow.com/2013/08/23/the-young-and-the-restless-the-astonishing-ages-of-the-revolutions-key-figures/

How to create a teen hero in fiction:

Ender's Game is a rather good example of how to do it and I won't say more because I do not want to create a spoiler.

And it is a perfect example of how a 20's could become a hero.

Harry Potter is so-so. Circumstances of his parent's death and his survival has made him a target of evil forces.

And rather than being the hero he is being protected most of the time.

But hey it is believable that shit would happen to him because he is who he is, Harry Potter.

There is no situation in which 40-year-old men would follow a 20-year-old kid as their leader.  A 20-year-old leader is not believable to the point of being silly.  When you start talking about commanding a starship in an effort to save all of humanity... there are simply no words to fully describe how impossible that is.  It can't happen, and any story that revolves around a20-year-old starship commander on a mission to save all of humanity is not a story worth reading.

There are few things that would make me ignore the single player game and just play the multiplayer, and this is one of them.  I would have no interest at all in the single player game if the story is about a 20-year-old leader of men (hahaha... can't even say it without laughing, haha.)

Like the example I gave above tried to convey, there is ALWAYS an adult who infinitely more qualified for the job.  The kid would never even be considered, let alone chosen, no matter what the circumstances are.

In an established military context with old and established tech yes, it is very unlikely for very old 4-star geezers to let a 20 year old green rookie command a starship as there will always be an older guy (even if it is by 1 year) who would be more qualified.

But it is not impossible. Improbable and Implausible yes but not really impossible.

Stephen Decatur became the youngest Captain of the US Navy at age 25. Also let us look at the greater picture that taking command of a starship or warship is different than being given command of a squadron of starships or warships. Actually being given command of a starship or warship is not really that hard to imagine depending on the size of the vessel.

Captain Kirk never did become anything greater Captain and in some story continuations nothing greater than rear-Admiral.

And Kirk's first Captaincy was a destroyer class starship, he didn't sail a cruiser fresh of the boat (sorry for the pun).

I started this with a short comment about how I was nsick of seeing 20 year old generals and senators on TV and in movies and it would be nice if characters in this game were an appropriate age for their position.  I still think this.

Yes, people in their 20's have held such positions in the past... when life expectancy was in the 40's, not the 60's.  In the civil war and all prior wars, young high ranking officers were actually common.  But then a 40-year-old man was a senior citizen and it was practially a miricale that he was still alive.

I used the wrong word in some earlier posts, anyone might be a "hero".  Anyone might perform a single heroic act.  Hero was the wrong word to be using.  By that I meant the star of the story.

And in this case, the story will be about a man who was chosed byt his people to attempt to save their planet and/orentire species.  Not simply making him a captain, but making him the last hiope for humanity's survival.  There is no chance what-so-ever of a 20-something being selected for this job.  None.

I understand that young people can achieve things normally reserved for older and more experienced people.  My father was the senior vice president of a multi-billion dollar civil engineering firm at the age of 25.  It wasn't until I got older that I realized what an amazing thing that was.  But this type of thing is exceptionally rare, and would NEVER happen when a people are choosing the man they will rest their hopes on to save the entire human race.

You wont find any 25 year old ship captains in 2015... not even in 1960.  It is a different world than the examples that have been given.  Su\ch a thing can happen in the modern world, like with my father, but it is exceptionally rare and never a situation where lives are at stake.

^ While I agree with your overall sentiment, there are two things I'd like to point out:

1. It's not established that humanity's existence is under question in the new story. Meaning - you're not necessary gonna play a role that requires a lifetime military experience.

2. It's not established that the new starship commander is elected. Meaning - you might get into possession of your starship any other unconventional ways. Like you're the last survivor of the failed expedition or you pick it up after aliens crashed it on the planet that your team happened to be on. It could be literally anything. It doesn't even have to be Earth ship (which would be the coolest thing since Lexx).

I am pretty confident that the new story will in some way revolve around saving the earth, or the human race, or both.  Although they are not using the original story, they will be trying to create their own that is just as epic.

Your second point is really part of the point I am making.  Yes, you can contrive a way to put a 20 year old in command of a starship, but why?  What is the point?  In only detracts from the story for no purpose.  The only reason to do this is if you are making a game that is targeted at kids.  Like a disney game for teens or something.  But when you also hope to capture an adult audience there is no reason to do it, and in the end it still doesn't make any sense.  It's still just a stupid contrived story to put a kid in command of a ship and everyone knows it.

It really would be nice to see adults in adult jobs for a change.  I am surprised this isn't a cliche type thing by now that everyone agrees with.  When I see a 20-something in a Generals uniform I don't see a general, I see a kid looking for a halloween party.

As soon as possible.

I would prefer it start with an Independence day type invasion.... we miraculously repel it, then first contact is made by a friendly but desperate alien race on the verge of extinction looking for our help and seek how it was possible that we could possibly have done such a thing.

We try to help them, but fail and the friendly aliens are wiped out and we find out that we only survived our own invasion because of a behind the scenes intervention of the Arilou who have their own morally ambiguous plans for us.

In the course of attempting to help the alien race, we learn of their plans, make alliances, and gain tech and grow beyond the Arilou's control and strike out on our own to hunt down the aggressors and save the galaxy... was this the Arilou's plan all along?... wait for the DLC

Also, there is no one leader... you have a command team and can side with whichever one you want.... the 20 year old is intelligent but naïve, or the wise 52 year old veteran who has lost some of his skills, to the middle aged science officer who lost her husband and daughter in the invasion... and some others who have their own motivations.  They are all present and there is constant friction.  Your choices come in the form of siding with one of the core crew at key moments who all have their own opinions of the best course.  Ignore one of them too much, they may just turn on you or otherwise take their skills elsewhere.... but as presented in the game, it is a group decision and you are a silent compass that only effects the group dynamic and not a named character.  Communication to the planet is lost because reasons, and it is up to the few on the outside to become the Star Control council and choose how the race is to survive.  Do you sacrifice your homeworld to start anew?  Do you go into hiding?  Do you make a deal with the devil?  No perfect choices and the ones you make may not go as planned.... and perhaps, may not even matter after all

That dynamic and how you play effects everything from battle specs to away team choices... and having a team your attached to and reflects your own organically grown morality makeup, gives everything including PvP scenarios much more weight than a nose width slider will ever do.

As I stated before we can take inspiration from the game Darklands.....

And maybe the experienced "old" guys are all dead already from fighting the invasion.....

Leaving a rather small pool of fighters left over and who are already too busy fighting the aliens.

An experimental vessel is then left to the command of the most promising officer in the vicinity that can manage to arrive in time to fly it away before it is destroyed by alien forces. Circumstances dictate he/she take command of the vessel and fly it away.

However the vessel is ambushed and in trying to escape through a wormhole or warpdrive the vessel's engine is damaged and the vessel violently and randomly drops out of warp-space.

Usually a spaceship should breakdown and shatter when it drops in that manner out of warp-space but the experimental vessel is designed in such a way that it does not suffer from those effects.

The aliens thinking the vessel is destroyed go their way.

Now you (a young starfleet officer) is in command of a broken down almost dead spaceship, in unknown space.

With no old armchair geezer general to boss you around. And no other older or senior officer to take over command.

After all your mission was not to fight with it, but to escape with it. And so the longest escape journey begins.......

....... Where a young man/woman becomes the hero of mankind, bringing from the ashes the NEW UPGRADED with alien tech Experimental Ship renamed the USS NUES Phoenix.

And a NEW alliance of NEW alien races to fight the NEW growing menace.

I like "Phoenix" - reborn from ashes of wormhole singularity...

I'd like the story to avoid a notion where only humans could "save the galaxy" or galaxy could only be saved under human leadership. That's super stupid and lame.

I'd also like the story to avoid an idea of humans as "underdeveloped/space stupid" race, only then to have the most powerful Star Destroyer vessel in the Galaxy under their control. This would be just borderline inane.

Considering an "unhealthy" interest of Arilou/Greys in human race, I'd bring significance of human genome forward one way or the other (probably the most valuable trait/the most believable advantage human race has IMO).

I've always liked what Babylon 5 did...  put the humans on the side of the bad guys.  This also makes "traitors" to the current government the "good guys".  I always liked that idea. 

Hmmm human genome.... well in another post I said that in SC2 the genius should have been genetically engineered to understand better precursor tech. Since it is quite unlikely for a genius to be suddenly born just in time to understand precursor tech.

But this genome thing. It could go either way.

Humans are the base genome where a super-ancient and intelligent extinct alien race (abbreviated to SAIEAR), eg. Precursors) created all other alien races.

OR

Humans are an experiment by said super-ancient and intelligent extinct alien race (SAIEAR) and they are a culmination of the genetic material of numerous alien species known then by the SAIEAR

Either way humans have the ability to learn and understand all other tech and operate it.

OR

This could go the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" way........ humans are a super advanced biological computer designed to find the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything".

I always just assumed the Arilou were humans from the future that came back to correct paradoxes from another traveling race (orz) in a never ending battle to prevent their (our) own destruction in the past.

That's a pretty cool explanation for the "greys" that are in so many stories.  The best one I've seen was in a pencil and paper RPG that I can't remember the name of.  That game had the idea that the greys were earth dolphins from the future.  When you look at a grey and think about it... that really is an awesome explanation to think up.  If the new SC story has anything as cool as that in it I'll be a *happy camper*.

I think the fact that humans were sort of a side story in SC2 was what made the story so powerful.

It wasn't humans that were going to build up and free the galaxy from the Ur-quan.  It was the lost colony of humans sneaking around and forming Alliances/black market deals to free the Chenjesu who would come up with a plan to defeat the Ur-quan.

A few areas where the story lacked coherence was that as soon as the Ur-quan found you, they should have bee lined for Earth to destroy your support base. Earth should of been an achilles heel instead of the location of the rebel base.

Also the fact that the Ur-quan were fighting a battle to determine the fate of all life in the quadrant, the fallow slaves were too complacent and lacked any motivation with their own existence at stake.  We need dynamic races with some motivation this time around.