[Spaceships] Crew traits...

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by GoblynByte

I'm trying to build a crew for a fairly straightforward "starter" tramp freighter. SM +7, TL 10^, standard reactionless drives (only 1G), hyperdrive, a single major weapon battery (beam), and an antimatter power plant with sufficient output to run everything. It is primarily a cargo vessel, but would be able to accommodate 2 passengers if needed.

The crew compliment is a total of six: 4 control stations, 1 technician, and 1 gunner. I'm thinking about breaking the bridge crew into 1 captain, 1 pilot, 1 navigator/comm/sensor operator, 1 chief engineer.

So, what traits do you think would be required for each of these crew members to perform their duties? Here's what I'm thinking. Tell me if you think this covers the basics.

Note: this disregards some rather obvious traits that might be shared by all the crew (e.g. Spacer, Vacc Suit, etc) and focuses on what the character in that role would need to perform their specific duties.

• Captain: Merchant Rank 2; Diplomacy; Leadership; Merchant
• Pilot: Merchant Rank 1; Piloting (High Performance Spacecraft)
• Navigator: Navigation (Space); Navigation (Hyperspace); various Electronic Operations skills.
• Chief Engineer: Various tecnical skills appropriate to the ship components (e.g. Mechanic; Electrician; Electronics Repair; etc).
• Technician: Similar to Chief Engineer, though probably not as skilled or broadly trained.
• Gunner: Gunner (Beams)

What do you think? What would you absolutely make sure you include? Anything you'd take away from what I listed? What are your thoughts?

I'd swap out most of the repair skills you've given the Chief Engineer for the design versions (box B190), eg. Engineer (Electronics), Engineer (Vehicle), Engineer (Electrical) and give him Machinist to build what he designs. I'd keep the repair skills with the Technician. The Engineer oversees the Technician but the main reason for having him is for those occasions when things really go belly-up, i.e. the problem goes from repair to replace and there is no spare.

OTOH, you need at least some skill redundancy. From a practical standpoint, on a six-man ship, the only reason for giving the Pilot Merchant Rank 1 is because you have the crews organized into two shifts*, with the Captain in charge of one and the Pilot in charge of the second. In the absence of a chain of command, it can be assumed that persons of equal rank are equals in authority. This can be good or bad, depending on whether equality is equated with individualism or collegiality. In the absence of a chain of command, someone with rank is going to have to decide whether to do things the Engineer's way or the Technician's way when there's a disagreement on the course of action to take, so you may want to consider putting a chain of command with who reports to whom in place.

As a minor note, absent retitling the positions after putting in redundant skills, I'd drop the Chief from the Engineer's title. With only one engineer aboard, there's no danger of confusing which engineer you mean when you say, "Engineer to the bridge."

* It's probably a bad idea to let the ship travel any distance without at least someone watching the helm for possible dangers and the crew can't do a full six-man manning 24/7.