Rancke pointed out something interesting yesterday: High Guard crew rules seem to assume you're dealing with a Navy ship. There's a command section with CO and XO drawn from Naval Line branch and others from other branches, with no less than 10 members even for a ship of 1000 dTons. There's a flight section with officers drawn from Flight branch and P.O.s and ratings from Technical Services and Crew, requiring a flight control officer for the section and a maintenance tech for each ship even if it's just a couple of cutters. There's a Services section drawn from Crew branch, with a security detachment (if there are no ship's troops) and an assortment of others doing duties from food service to maintenance and ship's stores. There's an engineering section drawn from Engineering and Technical Services branch, and a gunnery section drawn from the Gunnery branch.
Our detailed description of the Merchant service, Merchant Prince, offers five departments - equivalent to the Naval branches: Deck, Engineering, Purser, Administration, and Sales. From the skills offered, Sales is devoted to brokerage and trade, while Administration is focused on administration and dealing with authorities. The actual operation of the ship devolves to Deck, Engineering and Purser. Deck seems to be a catchall for most shipboard duties except engineering and gunnery; gunnery appears to be learned while operating under the Purser's department, where you also learn steward and medical.
It is possible and easy to apply the Book-5 crew rules to a civilian merchant, but it is also arguable that they deserve special consideration. When not in jumpspace, a warship spends much of its time in space, often coordinating with other warships, putting a heavy demand on its command and communication staff; a merchant, on the other hand, spends much of its time in port, unloading passengers and cargo and taking on the next set of passengers and cargo for the next jump. A warship may have a kitchen and kitchen staff but unless you eat in the officer's mess you'll be expected to fetch your own food from the serving line and clear your own table afterward; a merchant may have waiters to lend elegance to your dining experience. A warship's entertainment may consist of little more than a room with available activities and an occasional movie night in the mess hall; a merchant might provide live entertainment or other amenities.
So, how might we modify Book 5 to suit the merchant experience?
Let's start with command. The Book 5 naval ship starts with 10 for anything from a thousand tonner on up to 20,000 dTons and goes up from there: minimum is a CO, XO, 2 navigators, commo officer, computer officer, and chief medical officer, plus three ratings. Book 2, where we'd be in a 900 dTon ship, wants a pilot and a navigator - that's it.
Option: we create new rules. A ship that communicates with no one but local space traffic control for two days out of every two weeks doesn't need a communications officer. A ship that does not coordinate its jump with an accompanying squadron nor plot its jump for odd special tactical maneuvers does not need two navigators backing each other up. A ship whose computer is primarily operating the drives and some entertainment does not need a computer officer1. In a Merchant ship, the medical officer is technically part of the Purser's department rather than Deck; we'll move him over there. We will further save payroll by declaring that the CO serves as pilot and the XO as navigator for ships of under 20,000 dTons. Ratings: the larger the crew, the more administrative work the CO and XO have. We've cut command to the bone; let's have one "rating" sitting the bridge night watch and helping with administrative details.
Net result:
Below 1000 dTons, the ship has a pilot and navigator.
1000 dTons and above, the ship has a bridge crew of 3: pilot, navigator, and one enlisted/trainee, drawn from Deck department. Say 3 for ships under 10,000 dTons, +3 for every 10,000 dTons from that point up (6 at 10,000, 9 at 20,000, etc, with the CO and XO at some point stepping back from piloting/navigation to focus on managing the crew).
Engineering: an engine is an engine; let's use the same rules.
Gunnery: Gunnery is under the Purser's department. We'll move it over there. We'll give the merchant line the choice of hiring dedicated gunners or drawing gunners when needed from among the Purser crew2; they'll get a -1 to skill, but depending on the size of the ship and the nature of the opponent that may not be a problem, especially if the ship rarely ventures into risky territory.
Flight: Flight is under the Deck department. The typical merchant ship spends a week in jump space and a week in port with only a couple of days in flight. Boats can receive preventive maintenance when in port; we'll eliminate the maintenance crew requirement except for ships routinely trafficking with D and E starports. We'll eliminate the flight officer unless the ship carries 5 or more boats. Pilots, like gunners, are optional; the merchant line has the choice of hiring dedicated pilots or drawing pilots when needed from among the Deck crew2, provided there are enough. Again, this means -1 to skill.
Services: Hmmm ...
Book 5: "The ship itself may have a requirement for other sections which provide basic services, including shops and storage, security (especially if there are no ship's troops aboard), maintenance, food service, and other operations. Such personnel are drawn from the crew branch if no other appears appropriate. Allow two crew per 1000 tons of ship; three per 1000 tons if there are no ship's troops."
Basic catch-all: security, maintenance, food service, stores. Stores would include cargo. Cargo handling, if I recall, is a deckhand kind of thing. Security is probably under the Pursers inasmuch as they would be expected to have a degree of skill in interacting with passengers. Food service could be under the Pursers.
1: At >10,000 dTons, we can say the Model 4 in a ship that large needs a dedicated computer officer, part of the reason for the larger crew.
2: Drawing crew from other duties means they are at a -1 skill for both duties. I don't see why that would apply when there is no opportunity to do the second job, as when in jump space with no opportunity to crew guns or fly boats; it might be best to apply that rule only on those days where both skills might be used. In some cases the crewman may have only a basic knowledge of the needed skill - Gunnery-0 or Pilot-0 - and may effectively be acting at a negative skill; this. Note also that if dedicated gunners or boat pilots are not hired, there need to be enough folk in the department to meet both needs. If there are more batteries than there are pursers, then the line must either hire gunners for the extra guns or decide which batteries aren't going to be crewed prior to combat. The ship must have one command person at the helm, so if boat pilots are not hired, it can only fly as many boats as it has total deck crew minus one.
Our detailed description of the Merchant service, Merchant Prince, offers five departments - equivalent to the Naval branches: Deck, Engineering, Purser, Administration, and Sales. From the skills offered, Sales is devoted to brokerage and trade, while Administration is focused on administration and dealing with authorities. The actual operation of the ship devolves to Deck, Engineering and Purser. Deck seems to be a catchall for most shipboard duties except engineering and gunnery; gunnery appears to be learned while operating under the Purser's department, where you also learn steward and medical.
It is possible and easy to apply the Book-5 crew rules to a civilian merchant, but it is also arguable that they deserve special consideration. When not in jumpspace, a warship spends much of its time in space, often coordinating with other warships, putting a heavy demand on its command and communication staff; a merchant, on the other hand, spends much of its time in port, unloading passengers and cargo and taking on the next set of passengers and cargo for the next jump. A warship may have a kitchen and kitchen staff but unless you eat in the officer's mess you'll be expected to fetch your own food from the serving line and clear your own table afterward; a merchant may have waiters to lend elegance to your dining experience. A warship's entertainment may consist of little more than a room with available activities and an occasional movie night in the mess hall; a merchant might provide live entertainment or other amenities.
So, how might we modify Book 5 to suit the merchant experience?
Let's start with command. The Book 5 naval ship starts with 10 for anything from a thousand tonner on up to 20,000 dTons and goes up from there: minimum is a CO, XO, 2 navigators, commo officer, computer officer, and chief medical officer, plus three ratings. Book 2, where we'd be in a 900 dTon ship, wants a pilot and a navigator - that's it.
Option: we create new rules. A ship that communicates with no one but local space traffic control for two days out of every two weeks doesn't need a communications officer. A ship that does not coordinate its jump with an accompanying squadron nor plot its jump for odd special tactical maneuvers does not need two navigators backing each other up. A ship whose computer is primarily operating the drives and some entertainment does not need a computer officer1. In a Merchant ship, the medical officer is technically part of the Purser's department rather than Deck; we'll move him over there. We will further save payroll by declaring that the CO serves as pilot and the XO as navigator for ships of under 20,000 dTons. Ratings: the larger the crew, the more administrative work the CO and XO have. We've cut command to the bone; let's have one "rating" sitting the bridge night watch and helping with administrative details.
Net result:
Below 1000 dTons, the ship has a pilot and navigator.
1000 dTons and above, the ship has a bridge crew of 3: pilot, navigator, and one enlisted/trainee, drawn from Deck department. Say 3 for ships under 10,000 dTons, +3 for every 10,000 dTons from that point up (6 at 10,000, 9 at 20,000, etc, with the CO and XO at some point stepping back from piloting/navigation to focus on managing the crew).
Engineering: an engine is an engine; let's use the same rules.
Gunnery: Gunnery is under the Purser's department. We'll move it over there. We'll give the merchant line the choice of hiring dedicated gunners or drawing gunners when needed from among the Purser crew2; they'll get a -1 to skill, but depending on the size of the ship and the nature of the opponent that may not be a problem, especially if the ship rarely ventures into risky territory.
Flight: Flight is under the Deck department. The typical merchant ship spends a week in jump space and a week in port with only a couple of days in flight. Boats can receive preventive maintenance when in port; we'll eliminate the maintenance crew requirement except for ships routinely trafficking with D and E starports. We'll eliminate the flight officer unless the ship carries 5 or more boats. Pilots, like gunners, are optional; the merchant line has the choice of hiring dedicated pilots or drawing pilots when needed from among the Deck crew2, provided there are enough. Again, this means -1 to skill.
Services: Hmmm ...
Book 5: "The ship itself may have a requirement for other sections which provide basic services, including shops and storage, security (especially if there are no ship's troops aboard), maintenance, food service, and other operations. Such personnel are drawn from the crew branch if no other appears appropriate. Allow two crew per 1000 tons of ship; three per 1000 tons if there are no ship's troops."
Basic catch-all: security, maintenance, food service, stores. Stores would include cargo. Cargo handling, if I recall, is a deckhand kind of thing. Security is probably under the Pursers inasmuch as they would be expected to have a degree of skill in interacting with passengers. Food service could be under the Pursers.
1: At >10,000 dTons, we can say the Model 4 in a ship that large needs a dedicated computer officer, part of the reason for the larger crew.
2: Drawing crew from other duties means they are at a -1 skill for both duties. I don't see why that would apply when there is no opportunity to do the second job, as when in jump space with no opportunity to crew guns or fly boats; it might be best to apply that rule only on those days where both skills might be used. In some cases the crewman may have only a basic knowledge of the needed skill - Gunnery-0 or Pilot-0 - and may effectively be acting at a negative skill; this. Note also that if dedicated gunners or boat pilots are not hired, there need to be enough folk in the department to meet both needs. If there are more batteries than there are pursers, then the line must either hire gunners for the extra guns or decide which batteries aren't going to be crewed prior to combat. The ship must have one command person at the helm, so if boat pilots are not hired, it can only fly as many boats as it has total deck crew minus one.
