Crew Quality

Most starships are considered to have Excellent crews. This reflects the high quality of training required before an individual is allowed to serve on a starship.

Sometimes, the crew of a starship gets to know their ship (and each other) so well they function almost as a single entity. No one is ever in anyone else's way, and the ship constantly operates at maximum efficiency. Such Outstanding crews gain certain bonuses for their performance. Tactical bonuses are listed in (G21.2), and strategic bonuses are as follows:

• The ship's maximum strategic speed is increased by 1.
• The ship becomes Unsupplied at the end of the turn following the turn it runs out of supplies.
• The ship has a weapons status one level higher than it normally would at the start of any scenario. Even at WS-I, it always has phaser capacitors charged by 50%.
• At the end of a scenario, all burned-out UIMs are replaced and all shock points are repaired at no cost.
• PPTs are automatically replaced at the end of each campaign turn whether or not the ship resupplied.

On the other end of the spectrum, some crews simply do not stand up to the performance level set by those on other ships. This is fairly rare, and will only occur under specific circumstances. Ships with Poor crews gain the following strategic penalties in addition to the tactical penalties in (G21.1):

• The ships maximum strategic speed is decreased by 1.
• If the ship becomes Unsupplied, it immediately heads to the nearest allied base at half its maximum strategic speed. If it does not reach such a base in two turns, the crew abandons ship and it is left to drift.
• The ship has a weapons status one level lower than it normally would at the start of any scenario. Even at WS-II, it only has phaser capacitors charged by 50%.

Outstanding crews lose their status if transferred to another ship unless the entire crew is transferred to another ship of the same class. They don't consider themselves any better than other crews; they simply work extremely well together. They lose their status if half or more of the crew is replaced within a period of two turns.

Poor crews may not be transferred (no captain will accept them under his command). They may be discharged from service with a pension of 2EP per Crew Unit and 1EP per boarding party, but only if the entire crew is discharged. They lose their status if less than 25% of the crew is comprised of Poor units (ignore BPs for this purpose), and they fully integrate with the new crew.

If a ship has only 50% or less of its crew requirement, it acquires all the strategic penalties of having a Poor crew until it recrews. The loss of strategic speed is cumulative if it is originally a Poor crew. If it continues as such for more than two full turns, the crew actually becomes Poor due to stress.