Traveller versions and Ship Crew differences

[jfetters]

I have my can opener here, with my handy can of worms.

I recently received Supplement 9 - "Fighting Ships", and was looking through it. Never having owned that before, I was surprised to see that many of the ships in that supplement are detailed in TNE, notably, there is the Midu Agashaam destroyer.

One of the biggest issues I had with the coversion to TNE was the new guidelines regarding the crew compliment of a ship. I know it was to compensate for the reduction of computer automation, but personally, I thought it went a little overboard, especially with regards to engineering.

The Midu Agashaam is the most glaring example of this. In S9, it lists the crew compliment of 33. In TNE, this jumps to 129!!!

So my main question is - if any of you tackled this issue, how did you do it? I have this amusing idea of a crew going into cold sleep when the collapse hits, then waking up in 1201 and suddenly not having enough crew to handle their own ship!

I guess the easiest change I would pursue (and I think I did at the time) is to simply reduce the crew calculation for engineering. Any others?

 

[far-trader]

Step away from the LBB and put down the can opener

I never was able to come up with the same crew levels shown in S9 (or elsewhere) based on the rules. Too much interpretation left wide open, and no matter which way I interpreted it things usually didn't add up. Not just for HG either as I recall.

Granted the differences in some systems ('specially TNE) is significant.

At least with TNE we have a reason. The computers, long trusted before Virus, were suddenly a threat. So they were lobotomized and thus required much more crew interaction with systems to monitor and adjust routine operations that would have previously been handled by the computer.

So the simplest is that pre-Virus crew levels are ok but the computer is going to be prime for Viral infection and then the crew is in trouble while post-Virus the crew levels are much larger but the computer is not open to Viral influence.

So your crew of 33 wakes up in TNE with a fully automated computer that allows them to fight as well as the same ship with a much larger crew, until they come across a Vampire ship...

My big problem with the conversions from HG to MT to TNE were the drive changes. And T20 continues that fine tradition of messing up previous versions with it's own drive tweaks.

 

[jfetters]

Oh, yeah, the Virus is definitely the reason for the increase in crew - no question there.

I think the main issue is that you need so much more crew. I mean, 100 more crew in a vessel? I have to go back and take a look, but it would be interesting to see where that space came from for all those staterooms.

I understand the need for less automation in the post-Virus environment. I am not sure it should be by such a huge factor.

The TNE FF&S spreadsheet is nice in that it has different options for that - high automation or low automation - depending on what you are looking for in a ship's crew compliment.

 

[Border Reiver]

Which spreadsheet is that Jim, [begs for link] I normally use FF&S1 for pen and paper work but use an excellent FF&S2 spreadsheet more often than not.

On the crew question I find any design conversion a complete nightmare and usually resort to a lot of fudging even when making a design in parallel.

 

[jfetters]

That would be the FF&S Ship Building Spreadsheet created by Yves Simon that is here.

( This is his main TNE web site.)

It has a few quirks, but overall, it is fantastic and matches up with some of the designs in the book, believe it or not.