Sure, you have to (as I said) make sure the coast is clear. Especially if it has any armament you don't send it flying away if you think that there is going to be trouble.
If you've only got 1 fighter to convoy with, you can't afford to "let it run off" and do other work for you (such as a FAST dispatch to deliver a load of mail).
But if you've got 2 of them ...
... you can keep 1 and dispatch 1.
Additionally, if you've got 2 fighters available, you can do duty rotations (12 hours on, 12 hours off) when making longer hauls across normal space (such as interplanetary transfers).
The downside to that approach is that you basically double the tonnage devoted to the small craft.
It's not just the tonnage for the small craft themselves, but also the crew (and the skills they'll need).
There are ways to ...
finesse ... the crew issue, such as moving from a Pilot, Gunner arrangement with 2 crew members into a Pilot/Gunner single crew member setup. Game mechanically, there's nothing "preventing" such a change from being "rules legal" but you basically exchange one problem for another by doing that, namely one of recruitment (which I've talked about before).
While cross-training in different specialty skills IS possible with chargen (easier with the basic chargen in LBB1 and LBB S4 than it is with the extended chargen of LBB4-7, unfortunately), it's actually somewhat rare.
Pilot-1 (or Ship's Boat-1) requires only a single skill roll (obviously).
Gunnery-1, likewise, requires only a single skill roll.
But getting a combination of Pilot-2/Gunnery-2 (or Ship's Boat-2/Gunnery-2) requires FOUR skill rolls (minimum) to yield that result.
And reaching for Pilot-3/Gunnery-2 (to pilot an unarmed starship OR armed small craft, on a crew rotation) requires FIVE skill rolls (minimum) to yield that result.
Now, in a Traveller Universe with TRILLIONS of people in it going through chargen (in some form or fashion), those cross-discipline skill sets WILL HAPPEN ... but they're "unlikely" compared to the single skill alternative. Not IMPOSSIBLE, but definitely a smaller pool of people with the necessary skill requirements. The flipside, of course, is that people WITH that mix of skills draw "better salaries" than people with only the
bare minimum Skill-1 requirements, so those (fewer) qualified cross-trained applicants ARE being compensated for their broader skillset.
This is something I've thought about before in relation to this little "research project" I've been running. The typical choice (in terms of flight crew) is to reach for the following skills:
- Pilot-1 = Cr6000
- Navigator-1 = Cr5000
- Ship's Boat-1 = Cr6000
- Gunnery-1 = Cr1000
That's 4 people, no "special" skill levels required, absolute bare minimum qualifications are all you need.
4 people = Cr18,000 in monthly salaries ... and in commercial service, requires 4 single occupancy staterooms.
If you "crunch" the fighter crew down from 2 people to 1, you get this:
- Pilot-1 = Cr6000
- Navigator-1 = Cr5000
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunnery-2 = (6000*1.1)+(1000*1.1) = 7700*0.75 = Cr5775
You basically need a "turn & burn" small craft fighter pilot, who can get "too close for missiles, switching to guns" when they fly.
3 people = Cr16,775 in monthly salaries ... and in commercial service, requires 3 single occupancy staterooms.
All else being equal, that basically means +1 high passenger (because -1 crew member) AND a lower monthly crew salary expense.
2x high passenger tickets per 4 weeks = Cr20,000 gained in revenue ... while simultaneously saving Cr1225 in crew salary overhead expenses, relative to the Skill-1 baseline. So basically, Win/Win/Win, relative to the alternative ... but only
*IF* you can "find the right people, with the right skills" for the job.
Extend that slightly further such that you want "both pilots" to be skilled enough to fly either the starship OR the small craft fighter on a crew rotation basis (so mix 'n' match, interchangeable pilots) and you get this:
- Pilot-3/Gunnery-2 (chief) = (6000*1.2)+(1000*1.1) = 8300*0.75*1.1 = Cr6847.5 ≈ Cr6848
- Pilot-3/Gunnery-2 = (6000*1.2)+(1000*1.1) = 8300*0.75 = Cr6225
- Navigator-1 = Cr5000
Now you need 2x "turn & burn" big craft "fighter" pilots, who can get "too close for missiles, switching to guns" when they fly.
3 people = Cr18,073 in monthly salaries ... and in commercial service, requires 3 single occupancy staterooms.
All else being equal, that basically means +1 high passenger (because -1 crew member) AND a lower monthly crew salary expense.
2x high passenger tickets per 4 weeks = Cr20,000 gained in revenue ... while simultaneously adding only Cr73 in crew salary overhead expenses, relative to the Skill-1 baseline.
The beauty of THIS setup is that when one of those pilots is flying the (unarmed) starship, there's no Gunnery tasks to divide their workload into ... so they get to apply their full (undivided) Pilot-3 skill to flying the starship, meaning +1 Agility to the starship's performance (LBB5.80, p44). However, when flying the fighter ... their skills are -1 to Pilot for flying a small craft (to default to Ship's Boat skill) and -1 to Pilot AND Gunnery for filling 2 crew positions with 1 person, so their "net throughput" in terms of skill equivalency becomes Ship's Boat-1 and Gunnery-1 ... which meets minimum qualification requirements.
If you then add a second fighter craft into the mix and want to be able to crew it independently (so you can do 1 convoy and 1 dispatch/reserve fighter), you wind up with this:
- Pilot-1 = Cr6000
- Navigator-1 = Cr5000
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunnery-2 (chief) = (6000*1.1)+(1000*1.1) = 7700*0.75*1.1 = Cr6352.5 ≈ Cr6353
- Ship's Boat-2/Gunnery-2 = (6000*1.1)+(1000*1.1) = 7700*0.75 = Cr5775
4 people = Cr23,128 in monthly salaries ... and in commercial service requires 4 single occupancy staterooms.
- OR -
- Pilot-3/Gunnery-2 (chief) = (6000*1.2)+(1000*1.1) = 8300*0.75*1.1 = Cr6847.5 ≈ Cr6848
- Pilot-3/Gunnery-2 = (6000*1.2)+(1000*1.1) = 8300*0.75 = Cr6225
- Pilot-3/Gunnery-2 = (6000*1.2)+(1000*1.1) = 8300*0.75 = Cr6225
- Navigator-1 = Cr5000
4 people = Cr24,298 in monthly salaries ... and in commercial service requires 4 single occupancy staterooms.
... or any kind of intermediate combination of those 2 variations on the theme.
All of which then begs the (logistics/recruiting/retention) question ... is your starship class going to have the "necessary prestige" to be able to attract
that kind of talent on the regular such that it's not going to be a tremendous problem keeping crew on payroll? Does your starship class (design) offer ... amenities/quality of life ... above the "base minimum standards" required (by RAW) that will allow owners/operators/crews to draw and retain the highly skilled people necessary to make such assumptions in recruitment of personnel something of a "non-issue" for routine tramp merchant operations?
As you can see from the above "show your work" in crew salaries, any crew recruit with Pilot-2 skill and a single crew position tasking would be drawing a monthly salary of 6000*1.1=Cr6600 per month AND be doing less work to earn that salary than a dual role of the pilot/gunner will earn. However, a pilot (only) will have a "less exciting" line of duties and expectations than a pilot/gunner would, especially if the pilot/gunner gets to rotate duty cycles between a(n unarmed) starship and a high performance small craft fighter. After all, not all compensation is monetary ... sometimes compensation can be the "thrill" of simply doing the job (and knowing that you're
doing it well, and that not everyone can do it). That "exclusive club" of pilot/gunners with SKILL who can move back and forth between "big iron" and "nimble fighter" craft like that will have bragging rights all of its own, which lesser skilled crews will only be able to ENVY
(and aspire to someday join?
).
I'd like to think that the
Regenerative Biome Life Support (Type V-c), which in turn requires a full time Service Crew (even on starships under 1000 tons!) and a Medical Doctor (Medical-3 skill, minimum) on board the starship ought to be sufficient "draw" for those types of highly skilled personnel. It ought to make the class of starships (and their fighters) "prestigious enough" to be able to attract and retain that kind of talent in crews, who want to live a better life than just the "bare minimum required by regulations" in order to make use of their skills as spacers ... to the benefit of themselves, and their shipmates.
After all, what makes for a "good ship" is a GOOD CREW.
Anyway, all of that is a rather long winded way of saying that with the current designs I've worked up, I could theoretically exchange 1x Cargo/Environment Box for 1x Fighter and not have to change the crew size (8 stays 8) ... but the construction cost would go up for the entire completed assembly and the crew salary overhead would need to increase. However, it COULD BE DONE ... and it would enable a variety of "2 fighter rotations" in terms of maneuvers, tasking and even operational roles.
So definitely worth thinking about.
