Hello, this is John Bogan posting from a friend's account.
As it stands now in BL, controls have no actual effect other than the
cost and power requirements of workstations. They have no effect on
the actual crewing levels/number of workstations themselves.
This is a change from MegaT, and, I suspect an error, since it's
perfectly within the rules (as they stand) to build a TL-15 ship with
tech-5 controls. (imagine adjusting the throttle on the attitude
control thrusters with wires and pulleys connected directly to the
pilot's joystick :-).
The fix that seems most apparent to me is to add an additional multiplier
in the crew requirements section wherever "Cp", the computer multiplier,
appears.
I'm trying (but haven't had time to extensively test yet) a multiplier
that is : 1/(CP value in MegaT)
This gives multipliers of:
TL5 Basic Mechanical = 5
TL6 Enhanced Mechanic = 2.5
TL7 Electronic = 2
TL8 Electronic Linked= 1.43
TL9 Computer Linked = 1.25
TL10 Dynamic Linked = 1
TL13 Holographic Link= 0.67
The rules already state that the controls may not be from a greater TL
than the computer, but controls from a lower TL would degrade the
ability to actually USE the computer's capacity, and require more
things to be done manually, thus higher crew requirements.
I'll test this out when I have more time to do so, but if anyone wants
to beat me to the punch, feel free.
Also, this brings up the difference in crewing requirements in pre- and
post-Virus ships, since post-Virus ships keep their systems isolated from
each other and use manual code input to prevent infections from
spreading.
What, if any over a 30-minute turn timeframe, effect does this have on
performance?
Should this be considered a crew quality issue, since for highly trained
and coordinated crews, this may not degrade performance noticeably, but
for poorer-grade crews, this could slow them down quite a bit, perhaps?
Also a bit of errata:
Rules book pg 31: Lackland Sons scenario under "Aslan Ihatei Squadron"
The _Ships_ line lists "Crews crack and at battlestations"
the _Vector_ line lists "Crews Line"
Since no other scenario has crew quality listed in the _Vector_ line,
I assume it is the one in error, and should be deleted.
John H Bogan