Intergalactic Summit

I have lost two vessels of which I did not pilot by myself. First was the Tarrasque (Drake) that was destroyed in a zero space mining operation I was assigned to run security for. Second was the Ancalagon (Raven) that was destroyed by pirates after the systems on the ship had failed unexpectedly.

It occured to me recently that I had only had a working military relationship with the crews of the ships. I had barely even remembered their names. I must wonder if it is better not knowing. So the question I pose to you: Is it better to know the people on your crew on a personal level or is it better to remain seperated? How well do you Capsuleers know the crews of your ships?

By all means get to know them. I do with all of my crews. They are all Matari, and they are all of the faith. I know every single one of them as if they were family, and if a new hire isn't of the faith, or doesn't know what he or she is in for, I let them know first thing they can go find another job.

Aside from the crews that serve on my ships in Stain where I will do agent work for the Nation, I don't really get to know my other crews much. The main reason is, I just don't have time to get to know them before they die. The Nature of Agent work is significantly safer, even in nullsec than my activities in highsec.

In Fact, signing up as a crew member for a pilot who is actively flying in Red Federation is more or less tantamount to suicide. The way I see it, I am basically helping them along anyway, since they have to know that they will probably die being a member of my crew. For what it is worth though, the Gallente vessels I prefer tend to limit the loss of life.

So, one pilot to another, if you are doing anything more than agent or industrial work, do yourself a favor and don't get attached. Especially since deliberate suicide tactics can be so effective.

Disciples of Ston rescue vessels are crewed by carefully selected and trained individuals known both by us as pilots and by the Elders of our Matriculation Centers. Our technical crews are focused on defenses such as shields and escape as we install no weapons. Our medical crews consisting of doctors and nurses are also selected according to their ability to work with the traumatized and distressed. To do our job effectively, we have to know our crews. Many of those whom we rescue, train to eventually become part of our rescue crews.

Our covert transport crews take the most risk. We have yet to lose any such crews and we are thankful for that. These crews are a mix of hired professionals and hired volunteers from our Centers who have trained expertise. Since these engineering crews have extensive computer and technology skill, they are personally briefed before each mission. Thus, we have close personal knowledge of each crew person.

Unfortunately, when one becomes a veteran combat pilot (as I am), one often finds oneself building up a large store of 'ready to use' combat vessels, including crew. It thus becomes impossible for you to entirely know all of your crew, simply because the numbers for many hulls stretch into the hundreds or even thousands - I have well over fifty thousand persons aboard various hulls, with a good portion of those aboard my twin carrier hulls.

Nonetheless, I do at the very least try to make some connections with my various crew chiefs, perhaps personally congratulate the crew of a given craft after a particularly good performance in a battle, and otherwise show that I do actually care for the people who assist me in my combat - I would not be able to do nearly as much as I do without them. Of course, this come with the flip side as well - recognizing the loss of persons as well as asset when a ship is shot down.

I see, so perhaps a certain amount of detachment is healthy for all. Yet I still wonder exactly how many people I lost in the course of my career. Am I to blame for their deaths?

Bit of an awkward miniature crisis if you will. I've never really thought about it until recently.

As others have said, aboard larger ships there's not a great deal to be gained within a paramilitary outfit from getting to know the rank and file on a personal level. As their pilot there are better ways to utilise your time and focus. Where getting to know crew is of some worth, it's in identifying threats to ship and operational security and stability. For the most part, I can get that done through review of SYNE personnel files and their psych profiling.

I ensure maintenance of escape pods and personnel trained in first aid/field medicine to maximise survivor rates when a ship burns. I do what I can to prevent their deaths, but on a ship built for operations in hazardous situations a mortality rate is inevitable. I know it and I expect them to know it - if uncomfortable with that knowledge they can consider another career path.

Tl;dr - Standard safety precautions precludes the need to fill my immortal memory with avoidable regrets and needless angst.

I tried learning more about my crew before, but it makes doing what I need to do more difficult knowing that these mortals are holding me back from taking the risk I must take. For this reason I generally avoid learning who my crew is and I assume they will perish under my command eventually. I honestly treat my crew like cannon fodder from time to time.

However this does not mean I don't care for them. I have the policy where the men can only bail out once the ship is on fire. This allows my crew to get a fair chance to find safety, however letting them escape on their own can cause a battle to be lost before it is actually lost.

My crew is well aware what they are getting into, stepping on board a ship being piloted by a careless nullsec capsuleer? Suicide at best. I don't know why I haven't had a shortage of crew members yet. Perhaps they want to die or perhaps some of them are foolish to believe that reloading my guns and turning modules on and enough will give them some kind of status.

My personal opinion is they signed up to be a crew member, nothing else.

I'm not as apt to lose vessels as I used to be, but I still insulate myself from the non-commanding crew as much as possible. My flight manager is in charge of finding interested individuals and I never see or hear of most of them. I don't want to see their faces or know their names until after they have retired from my fleet. This allows me to treat them more fairly and work with less of the fatal hesitation I'm prone to.

Though I must speak directly to my commanding crew, everything is strictly business. I do not try to get personally interested in them and I discourage that they try to get personally interested in me. This relationship is generally well-understood and I feel the more I've held to this policy the more efficient I've become. This means I both have fewer losses and the losses I do have aren't as devastating to me.

As for the actual influence I have during flight and combat, I only set objectives and handle low-level abstraction. I'm typically asleep or in a low state of consciousness and I leave it to the bridge to wake me as needed. While I reserve the position of final judgement, I have very little involvement with the activities of my crew and leave it up to them to handle politics.

The funny thing it, while I'm responsible for the vast majority of performance and efficiency, I'm hardly the one in control. I leave it up to others and only twice since I started working in this fashion have I needed to take full control. I simply can't handle it.

I make it a goal to sit down with all my crew for at least one dinner a month, not all of them at once but different groups and teams. It's good for me to get their opinion on things, and to keep a sense of realism as opposed to wandering off into delusions of grandeur. What I do can't be done without them all doing their jobs too after all.

I've met families briefly during shore leave, seen the photos as their children grow up over time. I can't claim to remember every detail, but I try.

I'll sit with the officers once a week over lunch to discuss things, it's mostly informal unless there are any pressing matters, and my XO and I eat together regularly. I'm a firm believer that all of us are equal, and the only difference is I sign their paychecks and make the final decisions. I value my team's input, and the fact they know that keeps morale and productivity high.

That and having a Captain that throws the odd staff party for various events at his own expense can't hurt.