Been pondering this one for a bit as crew interactions are a big part of the fun in sf. Having multiple crew-beings gives you a name to shout at when things go wrong
The problem as I see it with a simplified version of crews is that it just turns into a big ship tax. It won't really add much depth to the gameplay, and the crew just act as an arbitratry list of names (where the system fell short in Frontier IMO).
As a starting point (so it wouldn't just be a handicapping OXP) every ship can be flown solo - automated systems "man" the crew positions. Adding crew gives bonuses to a ship to offset the fact you have to pay for them. This way you don't need hundreds of potential crewmembers littering up spaceports - you can gradually build up a crew with the automated systems filling in the blanks. Also, as the auto systems take up the slack you can always launch regardless of the numbers of crew hired.
A ship has a maximum number of crew equal to 10% of its (unexpanded - cargo bays are just a rejig) cargo capacity - rounding up. I'd suggest that adding an organic crewmember takes up 1 ton of cargo space - they have enough room to perform their duties in the default ship but need somewhere to bunk down. When accessing the crew screen, they can be allocated to various roles within the ship to confer differing bonuses (a few ideas of roles & effects are below). It would be more flexible to have crewmembers with skill points across the various roles - this would determine the salary. So an uber crewmember would be skilled in all aspects of ship operation - so could navigate, repair, shoot effectively - but would cost lots to hire whereas a specialist would cost significantly less (depending on skills within speciality).
Suggested roles are:
Co-pilot - max 3/ship: Allocated to pitch, roll or yaw, these folk increase the speed of their respective motions. Unnecessary on light, maneuverable craft, on large ships they can operate the attitude thrusters more intelligently than the default systems so making them less wallowy.
Navigator - max 2/ship(?): Monitor the currents within witchspace for more efficient travel. They can't get a ship to exceed the 7LY jump, but instead reduce the
effective jump distance. So a jump would use less fuel & time with them plotting the course. The greater their skills, the greater the reducing effect.
Tactician - max 2/ship(?): Have 2 duties during in-system travel. Firstly they can identify the bounty on ships within scanner range - the least skilled can only identify those with the largest bounties, the most skilled identify every ship with a price on its head (borrowing Screet's scanner recolouring idea there - but also feeds into gunner operation). Secondly they can identify vessels in system by their role - pirates, traders, hunters, police etc - and add markers to the advanced space compass for these. Greater skill increases the range applicable (numpties only within scanner range - the best system wide).
Loadmasters - max unlimited: With their
cargo lifters they can load up the cargo bay a lot more intelligently than the automated systems. They confer an increase in cargo capacity depending on skill level (note: if one is injured so cargo capacity drops below the amount loaded, excess isn't lost but no more can be added).
Engineers - max unlimited: These can make repairs to damaged equipment - same principle as the Caduceus's Damage Control Node. More skill means more likelyhood of repairs being successful and higher tech level equpment that they can repair. Their presence also extends time between servicing as they perform routine maintenance.
Medic - max 2/ship(?): Same idea as for engineers, but can repair damaged crewmembers. Their presence also reduces any illness problems among crew.
Service beings - max unlimited,
min 10% of crew (rounded down): Small crews can look after themselves, when there are more folk onboard then cooks, cleaners etc are needed. Although as a side benefit they also extend the time between servicings (cleaning stuff keeps it working) and reduce crew illness problems. If injury means that the ship has fallen short of the minimum then there is a dramatic increase in crew illness problems (attack of the killer Pot Noodles). Extra crew (other than service beings) cannot be hired if this will lead to the number of service beings becoming less than the minimum (i.e. after hiring 9 regular crew, a service being
must be hired).
Armourers - max unlimited: These add extra missile capacity to a ship (the extra per armourer varies with skill level) as they can reload the firing tubes from stores in the hold. They can also manufacture missiles - regular missile requiring 1 ton of machinery to make, ECM hardened needing 1 ton of computers as well as a ton of machinery. Rate of manufacture (and ability to make ECM hardened) affected by skill level. Making missiles does take time, so loading up with ingredients to make & resell should be a slowish process.
Gunners - max 1 per gun mount/turret: When allocated to a turret, they use their skill to determine the accuracy of its fire (although their targetting protocol can be adjusted). When assigned to one of the fixed points, these function as turrets unless you are using the corresponding view. In the latter case the weapon reverts to the usual direct fire for as long as you are using that particular view. For targetting their shots, they'd choose the nearest target satisfying the criteria you had set - true/false from the list:
Current Target; Hostile; Has Bounty (determined by either previous targetting by self, or by tactician);
System Vessel. So it should be possible to set them up for everything from only shooting at your current, criminal target to taking potshots at anything that ambles into range (no point being a pirate if your crew won't shoot the traders
).
Really just a collection of ideas here - whether or not it could even be implemented in this form I have no idea. But with the allocation of crew it could permit even greater customisation of a ship's role. Hopefully it wouldn't need excessive micro-management unless desired by the pilot either.
