Roger M.,
> I would rule that if the ship are of such a small size a lone bridgecrew
> would manage the ship far as it is unarmed. Soon as you put on a weapon
> there should be either a gunner or a second bridge crew. Unless you rule
> that another crewmember are not needed in a position during a fight, and
> can man the turret then. Stewards and maintenance crew fits in here. The
> main thing is what do you find most appropriate for your campaign?
> I would rule that if the ship are of such a small size a lone bridgecrew
> would manage the ship far as it is unarmed. Soon as you put on a weapon
> there should be either a gunner or a second bridge crew. Unless you rule
> that another crewmember are not needed in a position during a fight, and
> can man the turret then. Stewards and maintenance crew fits in here. The
> main thing is what do you find most appropriate for your campaign?
The only problem I have with this ruling is that if I decide to have a
minimum bridge crew of 2 then I will be unable to use any ships made by
someone who decided that the minimum should be 1. Many of the ships in the
encyclopedia have a bridge crew of 1 and many ships that I have downloaded
have bridge crews of 1. These facts pretty much force me to reduce the
minimum bridge crew.
Originally, before I had the Encyclopedia, I rationalized that the minimum
bridge crew should be 2 because the station had to be maned 24 hours per
day, much like a modern jet or ship. It assumes that someone should be awake
and on the bridge at all times, incase there is an emergency of some sort. I
like this concept and want to keep it but again I run into the problem
stated above. It would mean that I have to redesign several of the ships in
the Encyclopedia and that I couldn't use many of the ships I have downloaded
(unless I redesign those as well).
Since the average travel time from planet to 100 diameters is 85 hours
(assumes 1G acceleration and a 13000 km diameter world), making the minimum
bridge crew 1 must mean that the ship can fly itself for the most part. So
what happens if something unexpected comes up while the pilot is asleep?
I would like to know the thoughts of other MegaTraveller Referees about
this. How did you resolve this problem?
==Daniel T.