Need lots of input

[Tenacity]

Ok, I'm working on writing up an RP 'manual' for order pilots. One of the things i need to know (and there will likely be several posts similar to this before I'm done) is this:

How many crew members do you think each standard ship type has? Answer each poll accordingly, so I can include this data into my writeup of order ships. Yes, the poll options are a bit limited since I think that capships in freelancer are generally on the smaller side for crew members - unlike modern-day warships which require much larger numbers of people to operate, I'm of the mind that future ships (like those we fly here) are highly automated, at least in more advanced groups like the order or house militaries.

Now, Obviously for the last option its a bit skewed, battlecruisers and battleships need less crew than carriers because they dont often carry large fighter/bomber squadrons, so they dont need flight crew for those vessels. Just answer for the former two, I'll tack on 20 or so flight crew for mobile ships.

---

[jshkornmiller]

i voted 10-20 on gunboat. needs to have atleast 8 people manning the guns, a medic, targeter navigator, captain
40-60 on cruiser need atleast 20-24 on guns several in engine rooms, cook, medic, more personel on bridge
80-100 on battleships. Needs alot to man the turrets and alot in engine rooms, cook, medics, More skilled personel on the bridge. Techs. alot of things like that

[Virus]

All wrong, in my opinion... Here's how I've viewed it;

Gunboat: 20
Cruiser: 150
Battlecruiser: 500
Battleship: 1000+

---

Into the Maelstrom - A Measure of Salvation - Reaver Company Database

[Orin]

That's a tough one.

Gunships could be single pilot vessels. Seeing as Freelancers and Mercs have total access to them. The LHGS for example is a very small ship. A single pilot there wouldn't be ooRP. Gunboats are the same way, but could be RPed to have extra crew. I think it's up to you.

For my Liberty GB, I RP it that it is a multiple man crewed ship. BUT, can be flown by a single pilot at low effeciency. For example, Star Wars books mention undermanned ships all the time that lose proficency due to lack of crewers. In the Libertine, I have it RPed so that a Marauder slave hacked it to allow for a single pilot. I think it could work either way, but in response to the poll, I would say 1-10. For bigger GBs, by all means more.

Not much of an opinion on bigger ships here. Depends on RP.

[Seth Karlo]

GB: 15 min
Cruiser: 50 min
BC: 150
BS: 250/300

Is what I have on my ships.


Seth

---

Signature by Sleipnir.

[Tenacity]

All wrong, in my opinion... Here's how I've viewed it;

Gunboat: 20
Cruiser: 150
Battlecruiser: 500
Battleship: 1000+

That's more like how it is on modern day warships... but seriously, why would you need 1000+ people on a battleship in freelancer? Look at them... even if they were scaled up properly you could never fit that many people onboard one, and liberty would run out of population with all of the battleships plummeting into the atmosphere.

The way I see it, almost everything we have is automated now. You have a standard command crew (well, 2-3 command crews for shifts) on larger ships, then an engineering and repair team, launch deck team, flight crew for fighters/bombers, and some basic needs personnel - like cooks and janitors. Past that, I cant see where so many other people would come in, there'd be nothing for them to do. Turrets are aimed by a coordinated computer on the bridge, not by people sitting inside of them =P

Not discounting you, just curious why you think they take so many. The Order is a fairly small organization, numbering -maybe- in the tens of thousands, at most. There's no way we could field as many battleships and such as we do with those kinds of crew requirements. We already have 3 NPC battleships, that'd be 3000+ people there with your numbers, while we still have to put a couple thousand on each of our stations for construction and research, and more on toledo for shipyard work there.

Gunships could be single pilot vessels. Seeing as Freelancers and Mercs have total access to them. The LHGS for example is a very small ship. A single pilot there wouldn't be ooRP. Gunboats are the same way, but could be RPed to have extra crew. I think it's up to you.

I generally view 4 people as the minimum for a gunboat, because the orca gunboat shows 4 people in the cockpit. I would say most military gunboats have twice that many for double-shift work.

---

[pchwang]

Actually, I think that the spread of personnel on ships totally depends on what ships are being flown. Kane and I actually had a debate regarding this recently...

Rheinland
-Lacking in certain automation technologies, but possessing significant manpower
Gunboat: 25
Cruiser: 150-300
Battleship: 5000+
Carrier: 8000+

Liberty
-strong technologically and possessing adequate manpower
Gunboat: 20
Cruiser: 100-250
Battleship: 3000-5000
Carrier: 5000+

Bretonia
- Meager manpower, but an economic juggernaut(better paid, happier crews work longer shifts, thus less need for crew rotation, as a result, less crew total)
Gunboat: 15-20
Cruiser: 100-150
Battleship: 2500-4000
Carrier: 4000+

Kusari
- Somewhat lacking in manpower, but technologically superior(automation)
Gunboat: 10
Cruiser: 50-100
Battleship: 1000-2000
Carrier: 3000+

Zoners
-Significant automation
Gunboat: 2-5
Cruiser: 10-20
Battleship: 20-50
Carrier: 100-150

EDIT:

@ Tenacity: I would say that the reason automation would not always be used is because in a combat situation, you need to have crew members that can think and plan ahead. Yes human soldiers will require more maintenance in the short run, but you will also have a much more responsive crew that react to different situations. Also remember that the ships in discovery are not to scale.

The planets should really be 10-20x the diameter they are now, and the battleships need to be much larger if they are able to store several wings of fighters within.

---

[7:42:05 PM][6:51:36 PM] Igor (Smokey): btw terry
[6:51:48 PM] Terrance Cooper: Ye?
[6:52:00 PM] Igor (Smokey): nothin
[6:52:03 PM] Igor (Smokey): just sayin btw
[6:52:05 PM] Terrance Cooper: <_<

Johnny_Haas: you shot anti criuse speed rockets!!!
Johnny_Haas: but why????
Johnny_Haas: ??
Johnny_Haas: why you shoot criuse speed rockets?

[Tenacity]

so I suppose order would go along with junkers, we have some of the best technology and computer systems available but very little manpower, which would result in lower crew numbers...

---

[jshkornmiller]

Now that you mention it. i agree with you Virus, as i study some of my world war two books, the battleships and cruiser during the time had thousands on them, some cruisers had up to 1000 personnel while Battleships up to 2000 crew

[Tenacity]

Now that you mention it. i agree with you Virus, as i study some of my world war two books, the battleships and cruiser during the time had thousands on them, some cruisers had up to 1000 personnel while Battleships up to 2000 crew

that's because they needed thousands =P

Every gun had to be manned by at least one person, turrets were manned by 5-10. You had to have people constantly shifting off of "shoveling coal" duty in th engine room to keep things running as well. We dont need those things in freelancer. The ships run on fairly well automated engines/powercores and should only need a small engineering team for monitering and maintenance, and the guns are all linked to targeting systems on the bridge.

---