Conflict mediation and counselling - even in weeks rather than months some issues are bound to crop up and in a limited space those can be catastrophic.
Sure! Or a Shepherd Book. Thinking about it you may also need a captain, or at least someone with final authority on making decisions in a crisis with responsibility to keep up with what everybody else is doing.
My reasoning is that it takes very, very sophisticated automation to be able to tell if the water/air/recombined myco proteins smell/taste funny. They may be safe, completely within tolerances, but still taste/smell awful. You would need a human to do some critical evaluation and figure out the cheapest/easiest ways to get things right.
William Nichols: yes. The warm bodies for insurance reasons is a real world thing, and even when shit goes wrong, they still don't have anything to do, because they're inadequately trained. They're basically told to phone-in the issue and wait for a crisis team to arrive.
Because people are going to get bored and go stir-crazy. Those two roles are the best equipped to keep them happy and distracted. Give people something to look forward to, commune over, and talk about after.
William Nichols Well, the "commercial spaceship" made me think 5,000+ passengers in order to get economy of scale. And then I thought about the minimum number of operations engineers to keep that many people alive. Other crew - meh. Captain. Co-pilot. Navigator. Probably those can be automated, but people like to know (or think) there's a person making the final calls. Support staff and security personnel highly variable depending on the level of service the passengers receive.
I suppose if you're on a well traveled route where a rescue vessel could get to you w/in 24 hours, and you could supply 24 hours worth of emergency life support items (including air), you could probably knock the operational engineers down to 2.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that the operational engineering staff level depends on what the emergency contingency plan is. A timely rescue? Emergency life support? Escape pods or the equivalent of life boats? With adequate emergency measures, you could reduce staffing.
For ships with a small number of passengers and crew, emergency life support pods are probably the more economical option.
Sure, though abandoning ship is expensive, too. Avoiding that seems like a good thing. If the Space Lanes are nice and generous, you maybe get folk to stop by and help if your systems start going hay wire. Maybe there are taxes and boats that help with that.
Some possible thing missing: A. Weapons? Giving space over to weapons is expensive. B. Pilots? Is that handle by bridge and Cap? C. Science officers? D. a trade officer to figure out cargoes and decide on pax? Does the Cap do cargo and head steward decide on pax?
Conflict mediation and counselling - even in weeks rather than months some issues are bound to crop up and in a limited space those can be catastrophic.
ReplyDeleteeyes-on inspection of air and water systems
ReplyDeletegolf pro
ReplyDeleteJames Iles Legit. So, someone on the crew must be trained in counseling. A sort of deana troy?
ReplyDeleteDerrick Sanders A mechanic? Check.
Sure! Or a Shepherd Book. Thinking about it you may also need a captain, or at least someone with final authority on making decisions in a crisis with responsibility to keep up with what everybody else is doing.
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols I was thinking more of a tradecraft version of a biological engineer.
ReplyDeleteSecurity? Piracy is a real world problem, and ship automation will only make it worse. Hard to say what that's going to be like in space.
ReplyDeleteHuman backup? Lots of people do jobs where the primary duty is to keep insurance rates down.
Legal presence? When a truck drives through an inspection station, there needs to be a human on it to sign the paperwork.
My reasoning is that it takes very, very sophisticated automation to be able to tell if the water/air/recombined myco proteins smell/taste funny. They may be safe, completely within tolerances, but still taste/smell awful. You would need a human to do some critical evaluation and figure out the cheapest/easiest ways to get things right.
ReplyDeleteGame Master.
ReplyDeleteJonathan BeverleyHuh.
ReplyDeleteSo, lots of people whose job is to just be there for backup reasons and who, when the ship is functioning correctly, have nothing to do?
William Nichols: yes. The warm bodies for insurance reasons is a real world thing, and even when shit goes wrong, they still don't have anything to do, because they're inadequately trained. They're basically told to phone-in the issue and wait for a crisis team to arrive.
ReplyDeleteEntertainer.
ReplyDeleteCook.
ReplyDeleteWhy those, Jay Treat?
ReplyDeleteBecause people are going to get bored and go stir-crazy. Those two roles
ReplyDeleteare the best equipped to keep them happy and distracted. Give people
something to look forward to, commune over, and talk about after.
Jay Treat Both, or at least one?
ReplyDeleteIn this scenario, both, absolutely.
ReplyDeleteFor an abstraction like a game, one can suffice.
Derrick Sanders probably at least 6 operations engineers so that at least two are on duty 24/7
ReplyDeleteKaren Steele What size crew are you thinking?
ReplyDeleteWilliam Nichols Well, the "commercial spaceship" made me think 5,000+ passengers in order to get economy of scale. And then I thought about the minimum number of operations engineers to keep that many people alive. Other crew - meh. Captain. Co-pilot. Navigator. Probably those can be automated, but people like to know (or think) there's a person making the final calls. Support staff and security personnel highly variable depending on the level of service the passengers receive.
ReplyDeleteI suppose if you're on a well traveled route where a rescue vessel could get to you w/in 24 hours, and you could supply 24 hours worth of emergency life support items (including air), you could probably knock the operational engineers down to 2.
Ah, if you're running a big cruise liner, then sure 5k+ pax.
ReplyDeleteWhat if its a freighter? Or a luxurious, small ship running a few fancy passengers?
Or a small, fast courier?
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, the more I realize that the operational engineering staff level depends on what the emergency contingency plan is. A timely rescue? Emergency life support? Escape pods or the equivalent of life boats? With adequate emergency measures, you could reduce staffing.
ReplyDeleteFor ships with a small number of passengers and crew, emergency life support pods are probably the more economical option.
Sure, though abandoning ship is expensive, too. Avoiding that seems like a good thing. If the Space Lanes are nice and generous, you maybe get folk to stop by and help if your systems start going hay wire. Maybe there are taxes and boats that help with that.
ReplyDeleteHere's a sample small crew:
ReplyDeleteEnlisted:
3 bridge watch standers
3 Engineering watch standers
3 Steward
Officers:
1 Chief Engineer
1 Chief Steward
1 Captain
Some possible thing missing:
A. Weapons? Giving space over to weapons is expensive.
B. Pilots? Is that handle by bridge and Cap?
C. Science officers?
D. a trade officer to figure out cargoes and decide on pax? Does the Cap do cargo and head steward decide on pax?
Whatcha think?