Intergalactic Summit

That's what Executive Officers are for. Find a good one and delegate crew management to them, and you're sitting pretty.

I was lucky. I managed to recruit an old friend of mine who served as a battleship captain in the Caldari Navy. When it comes to organising people, she's about the most competent person I have ever met. Not to mention we get along well both professionally and personally, which is important.

Really, the only people you need to be involved with personally are your chief of security, quartermaster, executive officers and frigate flight engineers if you have them.

Forget what Dea here is saying, competence counts. They're not just pushing buttons in there. Sure, the ship's core functions are all directly under your thumb and nobody else's, but an experienced and talented crewman who knows their job is a damnsight better to have on deck than some greenhorn on the SCC program. The ship just runs smoother, interfaces better, reacts more cleanly. It's a small difference, but well worth the expense in my book.

Especially seeing as that expense comes out of my investment funds and baseline-world business roots, rather than my capsuleer ISK wallet. I barely notice it.

I fly small ships, biggest crew I have is that of my transport ship, and even that is mostly automated so I get to know them a bit. I handled my own recruitment to a point and now I gave that to someone I trust quite well. Besides, getting crew while in anoikis is difficult at best.

Main thing is that everyone has fun while flying with me. If people are grumpy things just don't fly as smooth.

Gwen if you want I can send Suscha your way, she can handle some recruitment for you if you really need it.

I use drones and nanobots for onboard maintenance and tasks. Humans cost more in the long term and I'm not comfortable with bringing them along for high-risk operations; the risk of death by human error is too great. However, I have made exceptions in the past.

Let's consider what our crews do. What are their duties? How are they trained? Most of you are employing crew involved in support of combat operations. The skills and mentality of such a crew is one thing. The crews aboard our rescue ships are another matter. We considered, for example, the use of Ameds on board our rescue boats, but found that they were not as effective as trained human Med techs, EMT's and Paramedics under a doctor's supervision. Our engineering crews are focused on CPU operation, cloaking system maintenance, and defensive systems but also have to double up with medical crews depending on the particular rescue operation. Every crew member assists in disembarkment duties, especially if the number rescued is large. All crew members have psychological training to handle the human element inherent in rescue work.

I don't know if the chaos of battle is comparable to the chaos of transporting a hundred or so panicked, injured or confused people on board and getting them safely to a station, but in our case the human element of crew management cannot be ignored. If my crew does not buy in to what we are doing and why we are doing it, they cannot be an effective crew. Creating a cohesive rescue crew may not be the same as creating a cohesive fighting crew; I cannot say for sure. Perhaps some elements are shared.

My memory is such that I do not always remember names. However, the janitor that mops the treatment bay floor aboard the DSS Mayflower knows my name. If ignore him, his duties become just mopping up blood and vomit. If I put my hand on his shoulder and say, "You are a good man doing a good job. Thanks for helping to get this ship ready for the next rescue..." then his job becomes something more. He may also stay on long enough to train to do other work aboard and we have a crew member who knows the ship and grows in experience and knowledge over time.

Apart from the fact that I am a bleeding heart, treating my crew with humanity and kindness while maintaining high expectations and discipline, creates a cohesive, effective and loyal crew. Now that seems practical to me.

Riot control work is similar to battle but, actually, requires more focus in many ways. Usually the gloves are on when you're dealing with rioting civilians, so you have to make sure that you keep your head and react proportionately. Even when orders come down to take the gloves off, you still have to consider every action before you take it.



You and I are about as different in outlook as two human beings can be, but we agree on the above. Treat your crew as if you expect only the best from them and show that you're willing to give the best to them and they will seldom disapoint you.

I keep my relations to my crews formal and I do not allow kinsmen on board. I cannot be effective in a fight if I have emotional concerns to the people who might die as a result of my decisions. They are well taken care of, though.

Elsebeth

If my ship goes down, my crew dies and I live. We all know they're taking risks I'm not. Way I see it, there's three things I have to do to make that worthwhile.

First, they shouldn't ever have to worry about their families. Health care, life insurance, paid vacation, bunch of other benefits. Least I can do is ensure I don't leave any homeless orphans down planetside because I couldn't keep my ship together in space.

Second, no unnecessary risks. You fight when you have to and run when you have to, but you don't play around with other people's lives. If I do have to risk their lives, I make damn sure it's for a good cause. Their lives are in my hands, and I have to earn their trust.

Third, when someone does die, I owe up to it. I'd never distance myself from my crew to avoid being hurt when they die. I got them killed, so the least I can do is to pay for it by remembering who they were.

Other than that, I try to get along with my crew. We get together sometimes in the hangar, watch the game, have a few beers. When I've got planetary currency over from some trip to Caille I join in on the skyball betting pools. We're all together on a ship, and I fight harder for things I care about. So do they.

My crewing needs are outsourced, usually to Megacorporate dockyards with a surplus of civilian crewmen signed on to local employment agencies. As I primarily fly industrial vessels of varying size, and the infrequent frigate purely for travel, the work is largely low-grade maintenance and stock-taking in-flight.

For what little combat I am called to participate in, I employ consultants from the Peace and Order Unit naval wing to advise and organise non-commissioned officers and ratings, while I work with fellow capsuleers with naval combat experience to ensure that my officer cadre is up to par.

I respect the bravery of these individuals, but lacking the time nor inclination to get to know them, I consider what safety measures are required of my vessels to be contractual and sufficient for purpose. As the safety of my vessel is usually of paramount importance to the profitability of my business, my personal needs and desires align with the appearance of care for my crew. I like to think I genuinely care for the lives of those contracted to my vessels, short-term or long, but the very fact that what keeps them alive keeps me in business, will always call such assertions into question.

Pretty much the reason I outsource my crewing needs to reputable employment agencies in the first place...

Hon, every life does count, for something, and there's nothing wrong with trying to preserve those lives, especially when, as you say, we're "immortal" and have far less to lose in taking some time to extend the lives of mortals.

And if you think I'm one of those capsuleers who never leaves high security space, you're sorely mistaken. I'm quite familiar with the amount of life lost, in all regions of space. This just makes the numbers one can save more important.

Life in space is not without risk. The baseliners who come out here are well aware of that, but that does not mean we should take them for granted. We may have a longer potential lifespan, but we're still mortals ourselves, and we're still humans.



That said, I try to minimized the amount of crew required for my ships, augmenting with automation as much as possible. For those ships where I must have crew, I've a system setup so that they receive bonuses for each fight we win as well as raises for every month the ship remains intact. The latter is something I instituted while I was still regularly taking concord contracts to fight Sansha's Nation. There are, of course, also policies in place to assist the beneficiaries of any crew members who die, as well as sending such beneficiaries whatever salary had not yet been paid out to the lost crewman.

I do not hesitate to interact with my crews, though this is often through a holographic representation aboard ship while I am in the pod. On my larger ships, this is typically only with senior officers, department heads, etc.





Perhaps the problem is not with baseliners, but where you, yourself, choose to go. I spend a lot of time planetside, I rarely have need to bring any guards with me. In fact, having no guards with me when among baseliners has often been more practical as it is easier to disappear into a crowd if I'm alone. Being surrounded by guards tends to make one stand out. Rarely, however, has my need to disappear into a crowd or have bodyguards been the result of my being a capsuleer. More often than not, it's the result of some stubborn ass who's had a few too many drinks getting indignant when I turn down his request to "get to know me better."



You're quick to make a lot of assumptions about how we handle crew recruitment. Yes, some capsuleers prefer a more hands-off approach and don't care who is crewing their ships, but many of us prefer a hands-on approach, at most delegating such a thing to a competent and trusted Executive Officer as Stitcher said. I can never be sure of when I might lose a ship and need to purchase a new one right away. As such, I keep a large number of potential crew on retainer and on call to go to work on a new ship at any time when I am in the pod.

You can be damned sure that not one person aboard any of my ships is anything remotely like a slave or has ever been recruited into my employ at gunpoint.

I have one crew that I favor above all others. This crew has survived several engagements with capsuleers in the past. Today I never use them when engaging other capsuleers though there have been some close calls. I have come across Militia gate camps on several occasions on the route to Dodixie.

When I am in the warzone I pilot frigates and on rare occasions a destroyer or cruiser. My frigates are unmanned and I run skeleton crews on the others. I know that when fighting other capsuleers I will lose the ship eventually. I never speak to those crews. It is sad, and I often wonder why anyone would sign on to such a crew. I can only imagine the desperation they must be going through in life to take such risk.