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Thread: "Average" Crew Size

  1. #1
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    Post "Average" Crew Size

    Not really an error, but I thought I should let other folks know: the "average" crew sizes listed in the table on page 23 DO NOT work terrably well for very small ships.

    They work just fine down to Size 3, but below that things can get weird. For instance, the largest size of shuttle (which will be the size of a small rent-a-truck) will have a recommended crew of 9. And If one were silly enough to designate it as a medical, rather than transport, ship, it would now have about 3 crew per cubic meter, which I think cannot be achieved without a food processor.

    I encountered this while trying to build a Size 2 Science ship: I was aiming for a crew around 12, and found a "surveyor" about 50m long will have a crew of about 180, by the table. Reducing it to 6m long puts it closer to 90 crew.

    Needless to say, I'm going to be fudging some numbers.

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  2. #2
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    Many things definitely have to sort of change for very small ships. We see few of them on Trek, so the numbers don't always jigger out right for 'em.

    By all means, readers should fiddle around with any stuff in the book that doesn't make sense to them.

    Steve Long

  3. #3
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    Hell I'd think a Oberth would be pushing to have 100 crew maybe even half that and its what size 3?

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  4. #4
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    To be fair, it is made pretty clear that ships like Explorers and Medical ships are not supposed to be really small, so the truly weird numbers there aren't an issue.

    Oberth Class? Hmm.

    My best sources put it at 120m long, which is Technically Size 4. However, the ship is small and uses space inefficiently, so let's call it Size 3.
    Size 4 covers 800-1300 SU, Size 3 covers 600-1000. I'd guess off hand that an Oberth runs 600-800 somewhere. Call it 700.
    An Oberth Class Escort, Courier, or Transport would have a crew of 21. An Oberth Class Scout would have a crew of 42. As a Research/Labratory ship, it would have a crew of 56.
    The TNG Rulebook says the Oberth has a crew of 80, but then it also says it's 160m long and calls it a Surveyor.
    If it were a 1300 SU Scout, the crew numbers match perfectly. A 1000 SU Labratory Ship matches even better.

    Now, let's get silly.
    As a Frigate, it would have a crew of 161. As a Cruiser, 175. As a Surveyor, 210. As an Explorer, 252. Lastly, as a Medical Ship, it would have a crew of 294. Mighty crowded in there.

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    You're a Starfleet Officer. "Weird" is part of the job.

    [This message has been edited by spyone (edited 12-04-2000).]

  5. #5
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    Thats some extensive data SpyOne
    But i'll keep my Oberth to a Surveyor/Science ship

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  6. #6
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    Funny you guys should be talking about the Oberth. I'm currently working on deck plans for it. Both TV and gaming ship sizes tend to be arbitrary, until you actually get down to deck plans. That's when you find out how big a ship really has to be...

    In order to put a single deck height in the aft platform, I had to make it almost 150m long. This also just gives enough room for 2 decks in the saucer, and a central Bridge deck. BTW, there isn't room for Turbolift access to the lower pod unless you make it something like 300m long, so I put in Jefferies tubes and a single maintenance space running the length of the pod. The pod houses all the matter/antimatter tanks, main sensor and deflector, probe launcher, etc...

    BTW, STIII quite firmly establishes the Oberth Class as a Scout.
    Chekov: "It looked like a scout-class wessel."
    Kirk: "The Grissom?"

  7. #7
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    Originally posted by Owen E Oulton:
    Funny you guys should be talking about the Oberth. I'm currently working on deck plans for it.
    Bless you and you descendants for generations on!

  8. #8
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    Although it became the Science ship of the Line in TNG times. Not saying there arent other types of course, just what you see.
    Now if Oberth in TOS was a Scout, what was the Science/Surveyor? Miranda?

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  9. #9
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    In other sillyness, Size Classes of ships are given (guideline) outer dimensions, and Cargo Bays are given a stated volume.

    The sillyness comes in when you realize that a Size 1 ship can have (theoretically) up to 325 cargo bays, each of which is about 1000 times larger than a Size 1 ship.
    TARDIS, anyone?

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    You're a Starfleet Officer. "Weird" is part of the job.

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