Nova Class Crew Complement

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I need to see if all of this looks right to you guys. I just need to know if the officer --> Enlisted amount is right in each department.

21/80 are officers...

http://www.ltcmdrmatt.com/Page.htm

[Lancer]

I would add a few more officers to the science department, making each of the persons listed as "Chief xxx" an officer.

Another possible change would be to add one officer to the engineering and medical departments, to have an officer on each shift in these two departments (not counting the head nurse in the medical dept.).


While you only asked about the officer/enlisted ratio I would like to add that your medical department looks a big overstaffed IMHO. As it is now you will have two medical officers and at least one nurse and one surgeon on each shift (assuming you use 3 shifts). Seems a bit much for a ship of 80 that is mainly intended for short missions in low-risk areas, IMO.

I have a breakdown for a Nova crew on my PC at home. I'll post it later today (or tomorrow at the latest) if you like to have a look.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I edited it and now have about 72 crewmen total instead of 80. I think I will add a few more here and there. There are about 26 officers I think.

[Phantom]

I would make the two enlisted surgeons medics. Surgeons are highly trained in my opinion and therefore would be officers. I would also lean toward the nurses being officers as well. Going on what I know of ranks for these professions Doctors usually start at Captain (Army) and Nurses at Lieutenants.

As example Nurse Ogawa started as an officer on the Enterprise (Below Decks.)

My opinion only of course.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I think that the chief nurse, Ogawa, is an officer. I don't believe that they all are though. Just not specialized enough. Now I do agree with the Surgeon thing. I am not sure that more then one would be carried on a ship at any given time, especially one this small.

My 900th post too. Been here for less than a year.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

I belive nurses m,ay be either enlisted or officers in our contemporary armed forces.

However, I would point out that nurses are highly trained, and often highly specialised practitioners. So beware of calling us "not specialised enough"

[Publius]

Looks pretty good, the crew numbers we use for the Nova is based on a throw away line from Captain Ransom, "I lost half my crew" and then we find out that it was 39 (lost I think) so by extrapolation 80 total. It is not an absolute figure, so 72 is fine. I like the enlisted-officer ratio, and might use it or a variation thereof for my upcoming game.

My thinking along these lines is to figure out how I am going to fill out the Alpha/Beta/Gamma watches on the ship for critical functions. If I think I need 3 Engineers/shift, I'll need 9 engineers total right? maybe. What about replacements? These guys work 8-hour shifts 7 days a week? Do some of the shifts (Gamma) have only 2, which allows one of the crewmembers to have a day off every nine days? Should I add an extra crewmember as a 'floater'? The answer to these questions might be "no", but go into it knowing that and figure out why ("Because it is a pseudo-military ship", "Because the Nova is expected to make shorter 1-2 month jaunts punctuated by long periods spent at a starbase" whatever).

Science (and to a lesser degree Medical) are special cases: what are the science branch guys doing all day? How many labs have I got? I usually have between 2-3 science people per lab on average, some are going to be single man operations, others have 1-2 per shift but the average comes out.