Defining ACS Crews

[agorski]

Unlike High Guard where crew sections and total crew were defined by the rules, T5 leaves this totally undefined. This kind of makes sense as crewing is totally different for merchants and fighting ships.

Do you define crew sections similar to the hierarchical chart in T5? Other than the top-level names like Command, Engineering, etc. do you define subsections like 1st Watch, Missiles, Meson Screen? Do you give your crew members rank and title like R3 Sensor Specialist?

Pointers to examples are appreciated.

 

[pendragonman]

ACS vessels-Adventure Class Ships-are normally small enough that each crew person likely wears several hats. So such definitions would likely apply in multiple to each crew person.

For an adventure class ship, the only title that really matters is Captain. Normal ops the engineer is the engineer but in combat ops they may be a gunner or sensor ops, or in charge of damage control.

The steward during combat ops would also be a gunner or sensops or damage control or boarding party.

etc.

 

[flykiller]

been reading the horatio hornblower series. it relates how the merchant marine was reluctant to hire former naval officers or crew because they weren't sufficiently experienced. "where the navy had a hundred men standing by to perform any task, the merchantmen had to make do with six."

 

[Ulsyus]

I always thought the rules for determining crew numbers in TNE's FF&S were pretty good. I recommend them as a default.

That said, the T5 rules in Starship Construction Stage 17: Controls, does list

Every ship mechanism (and function) has a Control Panel. Each is monitored by a Console under the supervision of a crew member.

...which helps, but doesn't appear definitive. I'd go back to FF&S if in doubt

 

[flykiller]

Other than the top-level names like Command, Engineering, etc. do you define subsections like 1st Watch, Missiles, Meson Screen?

I figure one commander or lt. commander and one senior chief per department, one lieutenant and chief per division, standard hg2 crew manning plus 10% or plus 1 whichever is greater, for engineering systems minimum of two crew per component (including fuel systems, bridge, and computer).

 

[Major B]

Unlike High Guard where crew sections and total crew were defined by the rules, T5 leaves this totally undefined. This kind of makes sense as crewing is totally different for merchants and fighting ships.

Do you define crew sections similar to the hierarchical chart in T5? Other than the top-level names like Command, Engineering, etc. do you define subsections like 1st Watch, Missiles, Meson Screen? Do you give your crew members rank and title like R3 Sensor Specialist?

Pointers to examples are appreciated.

In some current projects I've been figuring out crew structure and ranks by first figuring out how many consoles and how able the computers are to cover tasks while the consoles are unmanned. From there I figure out shifts and numbers by console. I try to keep crews as small as possible so for many shifts one or two crewmembers will stand watch over a few or several consoles depending on the situation.

For example, on a Navy ship I am working on the bridge has 9 consoles. When at "battle stations" each console is manned but when on routine patrol in a "safe" location the crew will pull watches by shifts with an officer, and NCO, and a rating on duty for each shift.

Once I have that I try to overlay the T5 crew hierarchy chart. This is easier for larger ships and harder for smaller. The smaller the ship the more extra hats each crewmember wears and as you mentioned civilian crewing will be different from navy crews.

The last step for me is to think out as many "other requirements" as I can - meaning things that need to be done but not on a console. Sometimes those things require extra crew and other times it means more additional duties or extra hats for the crew I already noted.

I also try to keep ranks closer to the lower end as much as possible but this gets harder for smaller ships too.

Hope this helps.

 

[agorski]

Thanks, everybody. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do this for an app I'm writing. From your replies, it's clear I need a general solution that allows flexibility. So here's the direction I'm taking:

Crew members are handled as individuals, with optional user-defined rank and job description. I'm not going to try to link crew to consoles, that's up to you since the staffing level can vary so much.

Crew must be assigned to either a department or a division within a department. So a Type-S would require a single department with a single crew member.

Departments are top-level sections of crew organization. Each will have a user-defined name (merchant departments have different names than naval departments), the ability to add crew directly to the department (ship's captain added to the Command department), and as many Divisions you want under that Department.

Divisions have a parent Department, a user-defined name, and the ability to add crew directly to the Division.

In the interest of preserving my sanity I'm not going to define any other levels of crew organization. This is probable good enough for ACS ships.

 

[flykiller]

don't understand what you're doing, but you may want to add "work center", if your ships (and crews) are large. e.g. weapons department, laser batteries division, batteries 1-6 work center.

 

[Major B]

don't understand what you're doing, but you may want to add "work center", if your ships (and crews) are large. e.g. weapons department, laser batteries division, batteries 1-6 work center.

I agree and use centers even on small ships to help group terminals together when figuring out who covers what on a watch shift.

Examples:
Flight and Astrogation Center (FAC) includes the command, astrogation, and pilot stations.
Combat Operations Center has all of the screens and weapons stations.
Others are the Sensors and Communication Center (SCC) and Engineering Operations Center.
Other stations are standalone (like medic, steward, and counselor) and they are manned when needed.

 

[flykiller]

counselor

? what does the "counselor" do?

 

[OjnoTheRed]

The T5 rules are far more flexible but contain devil-in-the-detail.

It comes down to what tasks the crew need to achieve and what workstations are needed to achieve them. The workstation and computer rules clearly outline how a crew member or a ship's computer can divide their time. The primary question the designer needs to ask is: will the ship perform well for its intended mission? So naval ships need to assign 24-hour rostered crews to all work stations and preferably have one workstation per weapon placement and engineering workstation. That's the pressure of combat.

The designer is free to design a one-person crewed ship, dividing their time among various consoles but how well will it operate in its intended environment and mission?

 

[agorski]

I agree and use centers even on small ships to help group terminals together when figuring out who covers what on a watch shift.

Examples:
Flight and Astrogation Center (FAC) includes the command, astrogation, and pilot stations.
Combat Operations Center has all of the screens and weapons stations.
Others are the Sensors and Communication Center (SCC) and Engineering Operations Center.
Other stations are standalone (like medic, steward, and counselor) and they are manned when needed.

Yes, these are physical locations, what T5 calls compartments. Sadly, there're no guidelines for tonnage and cost, so I guess I'll base it on the cost of staterooms.

My departments and divisions are not physical locations, just org chart niceties.

 

[Timerover51]

ACS vessels-Adventure Class Ships-are normally small enough that each crew person likely wears several hats. So such definitions would likely apply in multiple to each crew person.

For an adventure class ship, the only title that really matters is Captain. Normal ops the engineer is the engineer but in combat ops they may be a gunner or sensor ops, or in charge of damage control.

The steward during combat ops would also be a gunner or sensops or damage control or boarding party.

etc.

Thank you for the explanation of the acronym "ACS".