Re: [FT] Crew quality house rules

On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 10:35:56 -0600, Doug Evans <devans@nebraska.edu>
wrote:
> >Look at the ship conditions of the navies of, say, Cote d'Ivoire or
> >Nigeria.  (in fact, this argues more for "poorer crew quality means
you
> >take irreparable thresholds before the game starts")
> 
> This almost suggests campaign differences, such as a lack of
infrastructure
> to maintain those ships. SFSFW's site has David Manley's rules for
> shipyards, and covers some of this. He mentioned crew quality, but I
seem
> to recall it was mostly folded into the above.

But,. as in all things military, that lack of infrastructure
translates directly into having bad crews.

The only way to get good at doing your job in the military is to go
out and do it in practice.  You only get good at driving tanks if you
go take your tanks and drive them around to get a feel for how they
handle.

Simillarly, you only become a good seaman (or starman) by getting in a
ship and going out and handling it in Real World seas with Real World
weather.  And running drills for contingencies and combat operations
requires a working ship in the first place.

Simulators are nice, but will never replace going and doing.  And
without the gear to go and do, the crews will be half-trained at best.

John
-- 
"Thousands of Sarmatians, Thousands of Franks, we've slain them again
and again.  We're looking for thousands of Persians."
--Vita Aureliani