Intergalactic Summit

Try to use a decent memory implant, though.

There's nothing that makes an awkward situation even more awkward than saying "So..." followed by a very obvious archive retrieval delay followed by their name in surname, given name order in a flat monotone.

"[ERROR: RANK NOT FOUND]... [ERROR: SUBJECT NOT FOUND], so how is your [ERROR: RELATIONSHIP HONORIFIC NOT FOUND] [ERROR: SUBJECT_RELATION NOT FOUND]? [ERROR: PREPREPARED_SITUATIONALLY_APPROPRIATE_COMMENT NOT FOUND], am I right? [DATABASE INTEGRITY ERROR COUNT ABOVE WARNING THRESHOLD - COMMENCE FILE SYSTEM INTEGRITY CHECK]"

And that was when I stopped buying from Inherent Implants.

Hand-picking crew helps, but when you start ending up in capital ships, welll....

Sounds like so many buzzwords, so little substance to me. I'm more from the "You know what your damn job is, so go do it: Try not to f**k up." school of management.

Thanks for the well meaning advice. However I do believe I've digested it well over my 8 + years as a capsuleer, even though I was not always active and elected at times to live amongst the baseliners.

My advice was intended to be well meaning, and to show that there is more to Command than demanding blind obedience or forcefully enslaving those who work for you.

In my experience, some factors that affect your crews morale and dedication are inherent to what you do. If you frequently lose ships and crew, you've established a precident of low odds for them, and that presents a major factor for anyone, whether they fully accept it or not.

My current crew is due to stand down and go home in about eighteen days, with just over half being the same people who flew into combat with me during my first real sorties. As it is, I've gotten pretty close to them. Most other capsuleers would suggest I'm a fool to do so, but the value of making your appreciation of the risk they take cannot be overstated. I live among them, rather than locked up in my quarters, as often as I can. We eat together, talk, laugh, and share burdens as soldiers should, not as me lording over people as a "demi-god" (what a crock).

Aside from paying them well, I put forth a not insignificant effort towards ensuring that they have the best training available, particularly in terms of emergency survival, and put down a little extra ISK for proper equipment. Beyond that, if the worst comes to pass, I offer them the peace of mind of knowing their families will be taken care of. It's a pittance for a capsuleer to offer up sustenance funds, health care, and education grants. I don't even see the "drain" on my accounts. But you'd be surprised how far that pittance goes with your crew.

I'm much the same with my marines. Their weapons, armor, gear and training is all paid for out of pocket, without regard to brand name loyalty, to ensure they have the best I can get for them. They're crew too, and at even greater risk of injury or death with the job they do... Which brings me to my final point...

When they do die, honor their sacrifice. We come back. They don't. Nothing else can make up for the utter contempt that using and discarding the dead as if they were automatons shows.

You're so dead. Oh wow.

That's kind of the funny thing: you CAN count oncapsuleers to help. We can be among the nicest and most inclusive people in all of New Eden towards our newest graduates and even to our senior veterans if there's a gap in their knowledge.

you just can't trust capsuleers not to exploit you.

You know with the right tweaks to some Trans Cranial Microcontrollers, you could probably shave some time off of that twenty minutes.

It is always imperative that one has only the most talented and trustworthy of chefs aboard, ideally one who is also well versed in fine wines. Likewise, a good steward to properly handle the dry cleaning is required, as is bringing at least one household chambermaid to supervise the others whilst traveling. Of course one must be practical as well, so I usually forgo bringing a butler along on anything smaller than a cruiser. For journey's taking longer than a few hours a stylist can certainly prove useful so as to still be properly presentable upon arrival. Regardless of the ship one should always bring one's Kameria bodyguards, even on something as small as a shuttle... correction, especially on something as small as a shuttle.