Alright. There seems to be some confusion.

As an officer you are perfectly capable of sending in an email, these emails are referred to as petitions. What you do is suggest movment of friendly NPC's, fleets, or even the formation of fleets from friendly bases. All those ships you see sitting on Fortresses aren't just there to be pretty.

Now, Test Pilots can be snagged up and tossed in attachment to a task force if the High Command wants them to do something specific or it's related to the overall plot of their test unit. The Test Pilot is capable of freely breaking away from these Task Forces at any time but it might be viewed negatively when it comes time to dull out funding.

What do you do?

Well basically you email an outline of what you want, what your plan is, and etc. If it's deemed viable vs the current standing of Faction Funds and if the faction does not have other plans, those forces will be committed. Now, if you create a fleet from an NPC fortress, it will show up as a Task Force. Once your state purpose is over, you will lose control of the task force. If the High Command thinks you are doing poorly you will lose control of the task force.

The other thing you can do is petition already existing fleets to take action. In that case you simply send in an email detailing what your plan is and how it involves them. If High Command agrees, those fleets will move and do what you laid out in a plan but they will not be directly in your control.


This gives Officers more power to actually do things and what not.

However, Task Forces can also be formed and given to Officers without the Officer even petitioning it if it is apart of an overarching operation which High Command has agreed to launch.