What were the rationale for having varying number of skills to to represent moving space vehicles?Houston Mission Control: You are good to go Jupiter.
Major Don West: Thank you, Control.
Major Don West: And then the monkey flips the switch.
---Lost in Space, 1998
Back in the beginning (CT/MT) there were two: Pilot and Ship's Boat
Then it became one (TNE): Pilot (Interface/Grav)
Then it changed (MgT) to three: Pilot (Capital Ships), Pilot (Small Craft), Pilot (Spacecraft)
In OGL (Cepheus Engine) one is used : Pilot
Between games, sure publisher/version difference. It looks like they were broken down between:
Jump Drive - (Yes or No or Doesn't Matter)
Size - (Category or Doesn't Matter) Which intersects with Jump Drive (Yes or No) sometimes.
But what were the rationale within the versions? Ship design / positions / salaries are impacted by these breakdowns.
Is Jump Drive knowledge and procedures really that important to warrant a separate skill or is it as simple as "monkey flips the switch"?
The same with size breakdowns.
I use Wheeled Vehicle as a comparison. The are differences to be sure (sub-compact vs. 18 wheeler, stick vs. auto, deisel vs.std. gasoline), but are glossed over into one skill