Mixed race crews

[Vladika]

I started thinking about an Hiver crew member as a navigator/computer expert in an otherwise human crew. What do others think of this combination?

Also, what combinations are feasible/possible/probable?

What combinations would simply not work (and why)?

What special ship needs would be required to accommodate differing combinations?

Then the idea expanded rapidly.

I'm working up the idea of a 2-5000dton merchant trading/exploration vessel and looking for the "best" crew and positions a savvy group would bring together. Basic assumption is 1+ crew member per 100dtons.

 

[rancke]

For the purser you'd want a Bwap. There's a Vargr for every occasion. An Aslan female for your XO. For security personnel any of the numerous Proud Warrior Races. A Virushi Medic. Or Cook. Or Cook/Medic. Droyne krinaytsoyni can fill any slot.


Hans

 

[Jame]

My Traveller group has 3 humans (pilot, purser and hired gun), a vargr (gunner/general wiseguy) and a virushi (engineer). So it shouldn't be a problem unless it's a player/GM one.

 

[McPerth]

Off course that would depend on the affected races. A Varg (or Aslan, though distance makes it even more difficult) and K'Kree crew would be quite funny, to say the least...

Dophins would also make things interesting, due to their confort needs (low to zero grav, high humidity, etc...) and their communal psycology.

 

[robject]

I find Hivers to be insufferably Munchkin-like characters. Therefore, the best place for them on my ships is in the freezer, divided up and pre-packaged into patties for grilling.

Preferably served to the K'kree diplomatic entourage, assuming I have battle dress, an escape pod, and a foolproof escape plan.

 

[Vladika]

I find Hivers to be insufferably Munchkin-like characters. Therefore, the best place for them on my ships is in the freezer, divided up and pre-packaged into patties for grilling.

Preferably served to the K'kree diplomatic entourage, assuming I have battle dress, an escape pod, and a foolproof escape plan.

:nonono:Bad Rob...very bad Rob...sounds like a B grade movie Scifi adventure coming up.

 

[Tobias]

I started thinking about an Hiver crew member as a navigator/computer expert in an otherwise human crew. What do others think of this combination?

Hivers are a little more problematic that other major races, mostly because they can't speak. Also their aversion to physical danger may become a problem in a rough free trader campaign. Might be a good idea to have the Hiver character own one or more robots to compensate for these problems.

What combinations would simply not work (and why)?

K'Kree on a non-K'Kree ship because a) K'Kree need the company of others of their kind, b) K'Kree require a lot of space due to their claustrophobia and c) K'Kree cannot tolerate meat-eating sophonts because of the smell alone.

Non-sport Droyne basically need to work with other Droyne, so they'd only work as a whole Droyne group.

Zhodani work only if the (presumably Imperial) crew accepts them and if the Zhodani can tolerant working in what by her standards is an asylum for the criminally insanse run by the inmates.

 

[rancke]

Non-sport Droyne basically need to work with other Droyne, so they'd only work as a whole Droyne group.

Or, as I suggested, krinaytsoyni Droyne. They can be any number and caste, though usually they are solitary and Leaders have the best chance of becoming one.


Hans

 

[GypsyComet]

Still social Droyne are really unlikely to be out alone and at loose ends. A solitary Sport is probably going somewhere specific on a timeframe set by his Leader. if you encounter a solitary Droyne with no schedule or agenda, the only two options are 1) that you simply don't know that agenda and he won't be sharing it, or 2) he's Deathless (krinaytsoyni).

 

[Patron Zero]

I'll throw a wild card out on the table and suggest the inclusion of an android-AI if your TU allows for such.

IMTU, my party of PCs had a ship that came with an NPC android (he preferred the label artificial person) that acted as the ship's steward and medical officer. Churchill, or Church to his friends, was proven an valued asset aboard on more than one occasion.

 

[Jeff M. Hopper]

I started thinking about an Hiver crew member as a navigator/computer expert in an otherwise human crew. What do others think of this combination?

Also, what combinations are feasible/possible/probable?

What combinations would simply not work (and why)?

What special ship needs would be required to accommodate differing combinations?

Then the idea expanded rapidly.

I'm working up the idea of a 2-5000dton merchant trading/exploration vessel and looking for the "best" crew and positions a savvy group would bring together. Basic assumption is 1+ crew member per 100dtons.

This is one I've thought about uniquely for exploration missions. Socially, most of the problems are self-evident (no K'Kree with Vargr or Aslan). but I don't think that the biological angle gets thought of enough.

If your ship has closed loop life support (which most of my explorers do), then mixed species crew becomes a plumbing nightmare. The mechanism you have to take in waste and turn it into useful food/water/air will most likely have a biological component, so each species on the crew must have their own seperate life support system in the machinery. Each species evolved or was uplifted on a different world with a different ecosystem and thus different microrganisms which tend to be world/species specific. You can mix Humans and Vargr, because they both came from Earth, but adding other sophonts into the mix adds cross-contamination.

Now, admittedly, this could just be a problem IMTU. But think about the problems that would go along with a life support system waste digesting bacteria that found a home in another sophont species intestinal flora.

 

[Vladika]

This is one I've thought about uniquely for exploration missions. Socially, most of the problems are self-evident (no K'Kree with Vargr or Aslan). but I don't think that the biological angle gets thought of enough.

If your ship has closed loop life support (which most of my explorers do), then mixed species crew becomes a plumbing nightmare. The mechanism you have to take in waste and turn it into useful food/water/air will most likely have a biological component, so each species on the crew must have their own seperate life support system in the machinery. Each species evolved or was uplifted on a different world with a different ecosystem and thus different microrganisms which tend to be world/species specific. You can mix Humans and Vargr, because they both came from Earth, but adding other sophonts into the mix adds cross-contamination.

Now, admittedly, this could just be a problem IMTU. But think about the problems that would go along with a life support system waste digesting bacteria that found a home in another sophont species intestinal flora.

That is pretty well though out.

A plausible method would be irradiating, or heating (plenty of "waste" heat, pun intended, from the power plant) waste until ALL intestinal organisms were dead. Next it goes into a "seeded" digestion vat. Now we are back to organic compost, or raw material building blocks.

 

[rancke]

This is one I've thought about uniquely for exploration missions. Socially, most of the problems are self-evident (no K'Kree with Vargr or Aslan). but I don't think that the biological angle gets thought of enough.

Lack of thought may be the meta-reason, but the setting implication is that these problems have been worked out and are so easy to solve that they don't rate a mention.

If you want to preclude mixed crews, biological problems is an excellent excuse; but I, for one, want to facilitate mixed crews. In the end it boils down to what kind of science fiction you're interested in. To me Traveller isn't hard science, it is a hard, crunchy shell with a soft gooey center.


Hans

 

[Vladika]

So let's get an exotic crew together here!

K'Kree obviously aren't a viable choice for anything but a vegetarian crew.

How about Vargr, with their greater reaction times, for either turret gunners or pilot?

(I'm going to work Rob in for shipboard maintenance as he seems to know more about T5 ships than anyone. He does get a Hiver assistant though to carry his tools around...)

 

[aramis]

Jeff's analysis is wonderful for stations, or ships with Long-Term life support - but there's no indications of long-term life support in CT. The system explicitly is purchased food, and appears to be a scrubber-based CO2 removal with oxygen supplementation. MT is the same.

Even water need not be recycled for the 2-week endurance. Assuming 2 toilet flushes a day, 12L each, 2L for other "splash and dash" bathing per day, and 4L per day for consumption, that's 30L per day, 14 days - 420L, or under 0.5 kL per two weeks. So, as long as the feces don't interact to result in toxic emissions, and they all are CO2 releasing oxygen breathers*, and eating roughly the same amount per day, on a starship, as implied by the resupply rules, it's not much of an issue. You need to keep the food supplies discrete, but that's not that much of an issue. You have to do that for certain religious groups on present day earth... and the airlines have no issue doing so.

*Not all races in Traveller are oxygen breathers - we're presented with one that's a methane breather in TTA.

 

[Chuck Anumia]

Bad Rob!

I find Hivers to be insufferably Munchkin-like characters. Therefore, the best place for them on my ships is in the freezer, divided up and pre-packaged into patties for grilling.

Preferably served to the K'kree diplomatic entourage, assuming I have battle dress, an escape pod, and a foolproof escape plan.

Having an Aslan and a Vargar on the same crew is a wild idea but impractical so pays your money and makes your choices.
I could see a Hiver (Bob) sitting on his acceleration couch as a navigator or better yet, down in Engineering.
Vargar = Gunner/security/Pilot
Aslan = Security/Navigator
Human = Any fill in the blank crewman
Krinaytsoyni Dyrone = Steward/standard crew
Virushi = Engineer
Android = Steward/cargo broker

Hiver meat is too stringy and has a tendency to dissolve when heated.
K’Kree fingers, while tasty when deep fried, lack enough meat for the effort of harvesting them.
(Though Trader Jim did find a way to make K’Kree burgers and tacos from other parts of their anatomy)

 

[mike wightman]

How about dropping the alien stereotyping and accepting that individuals of any race may find a reason to be crewing a ship - yes, even a solitary K'kree.

There are umpteen billions of K'kree, yet not one of them can stand to be solitary and part of a crew with meat eaters.

Absolute tosh, there is more variety in humans here on Earth today than in the stereotyped aliens of the OTU.

 

[Vladika]

How about dropping the alien stereotyping and accepting that individuals of any race may find a reason to be crewing a ship - yes, even a solitary K'kree.

There are umpteen billions of K'kree, yet not one of them can stand to be solitary and part of a crew with meat eaters.

Absolute tosh, there is more variety in humans here on Earth today than in the stereotyped aliens of the OTU.

You do have a good point here, so long as we moderate, but not entirely do away with the canon racial traits.

My original reason for this as to have the "best" crew, composed of those races most ideally suited to a job function by temperament or aptitude.

While this crew would be chosen for those individuals most able to subordinate their personal bias for the mission, certain social tensions would inevitably exist, and make for an interesting game dynamic.

We'll just have to wait and see if Rob can refrain from eating his Hiver assistant...

 

[mike wightman]

I think the most common mixed race crew within the Imperium is likely to be human, vargr, aslan and then whatever minor races happen to exist within the sub sector the adventure begins.

If you want a really mixed race crew look to the Hive federation... hiver, robot, ithklur, robot human, robot, gurvin, robot, za'tachk, robot...

 

[rancke]

Having an Aslan and a Vargar on the same crew is a wild idea but impractical so pays your money and makes your choices.

I don't follow you. Why should it be impractical to have both Aslans and Vargr on the same crew?It's not like they got along like cats and dogs. AFAIK there is no inherent antipathy between the two races.

(Though Trader Jim did find a way to make K’Kree burgers and tacos from other parts of their anatomy)

That's tasteless.


Hans