Re: [FT] Crew quality house rules

On 18 Dec 2004 at 23:00, The GZG Digest wrote:

> >I like the idea of doing crew quality stuff but what about the
> technology?  All things being equal would a poor crew really misread
> the dials and instruments so much to warrent a d10?

Yep. 

The issue is one of training. 

1) How well does the crew do their job under ideal circumstances? This 
would be the "reading the dials and instruments", and most navies in the

Tuffleyverse, I suspect, could manage this part at least more-or-less 
competently. But is that the case with all navies? Is there even the 
remote likelihood that a rookie scanner tech might yell, "Dummy salvo 
missiles inbound, range 10,000 kilometres!" during a training exercise 
when, in fact, he had the scanner scale wrong and the range is actually 
100,000 km, or 1,000 km? And how good is the user interface on these 
ships, anyway? I'm willing to bet that more than one Tuffleyverse nation

contracts out to the "lowest bidder".

2) How well does the crew do their job when things get hairy? This is 
where training and panic collide. Are the crew able to read "the dials 
and instruments" effectively when their scanners show a cloud of _real_ 
salvo missiles headed right at them? When the commander yells at them to

take evasive maneuvers, do they punch in the orders correctly and 
immediately, or do they sit stunned for a couple of seconds?

3) How well does the crew do the job of the guy next to him when there 
are combat losses? Are the crews cross trained? If so, how well are they

cross trained? Can a beam gunner take over p-torp control? Can a beam 
gunner pilot the ship? Does the technology allow the ship to be piloted 
from the forward gun turret in dire circumstances? Or can the ship only 
be piloted from the bridge or the combat bridge? 

4) How well does the crew handle combat losses from a psychological 
standpoint? Will crew members panic at the sight of the person next to 
them having the top half of his body vaporized by a penetrating beam 
shot? Or will they sit stoically at their post and do their job? Will 
they panic and head for the escape pods the moment the ship takes
damage, 
or will they stay at their posts when ordered even though they know one 
more hit will destroy the ship? If the crew panics, all the technology
in 
the world (except for sentient AI, and if you have that why have people 
in the ships?) can't save the ship.

5) How well does the commander and his immediate staff handle stress?
The 
crew can read their "dials and instruments" correctly and efficiently, 
but it means little if the commander himself panics, yells orders, and 
then changes his mind twenty seconds later.

I think crew quality is entirely valid, even in the Tuffleyverse where 
all the crew members have to do is read "dials and instruments". 

---

Allan Goodall	    http://www.hyperbear.com
agoodall@att.net   agoodall@hyperbear.com

"We come into the world and take our chances
 Fate is just the weight of circumstances
 That's the way that Lady Luck dances
 Roll the bones." - Neil Peart, Rush