[PR] Complete Crew Guide: Part 2
[PR] Complete Crew Guide: Part 2
Crewmate Classes and Subclasses
Hello and welcome; I’m Parthalon. Today we are talking about the Crewmates you could add to you Crew, and what kinds of skills to look for when you do.
Miners
It all starts with Miners. If it didn’t come from the shipbreaking of the Arvad, then it came from an Extractor (hopefully) run by a miner. The do the (literally) dirty work of taking core samples, starting the extractors up, and pointing the hoppers at the destination warehouse.
Prospectors - Any miner can take a core sample, but prospectors are just plain better at it. They will tend to find more of a deposit with every sampling or improvement. Bigger samples hold more, last longer, and mine faster. Look, the whole idea is to turn “outside rock” into “inside rock”, and you need good prospectors to do that. A Recommended trait.
Surveyors - These are more big picture thinkers that like to look twice, dig once. You would think that miners that spend longer looking above the regolith would be slower, but finding a good spot first and going right for it turns out to be faster. A Decent trait; good, but saving a few a bit of time on a deposit that will have to wait to be started and take days to complete once started isn’t as good as finding better deposits.
Recycler - More of a vestige of the shipbreaker days, these old hands are more practiced with “re-mining” old buildings than the “first mining” in the regolith. At this early age of the growing colony, there’s just not a lot of things to tear down right now, so not many younger miners are picking up this specialty. A Conditional trait, only really the best choice for highly specialized salvaging crews.
Engineers
The workhorses of the colony. They build the buildings, run the refineries and factories and shipyards, and even crew ships. If you want to do anything more than throw up the occasional extractor from time to time, you’ll need at least one. Probably more. Probably a lot more.
Builder - Right now, with so many empty asteroids and nothing built, this is the top engineer specialty. They are just as good as their peers at most of the engineering jobs out there, but clearly the best at building new buildings. A highly Recommended trait.
Refiner - The favourite subclass of industrialists at the lower levels of the production chains, these engineers are all-around great and exemplary at turning rocks and ices into SWAY, or at least higher grade, more refined materials for other processes. A Decent trait.
Mechanics - Look, the fact is that most of us don’t have ships. (I know I certainly don’t). And if you are one of those insanely lucky few to have one (and the Prime Council is only pretending that is “luck”; we all know that power likes to keep power for themselves), then your ship is brand new. It’s still under warranty, man. If that’s you, you still don’t need a mechanic. Yet. Not Useful At This Time.
Merchants
You say “oh, I’ll just build everything for myself,” but you won’t. “Oh, the Prime Council doesn’t charge market fees,” but everyone else will. “Oh, I’ll just use regular shipping,” but are you really that patient? No, you're gonna need at least one merchant at some point. Maybe it’s not today…but other crews are running merchants. You gonna fall behind?
Logistician - Yeah, you look like the sort of person that wants to save themselves a lot of unnecessary fees and also get express shipping for free. Honestly, that’s everyone, really. Yeah, hire a logistician. A Recommended trait.
Mogul - The merchant’s merchant. These guys can talk circles around other merchants, and suddenly fees just drop away, or the other party suddenly ends up owing you extra. If you like playing a game of percentages on every deal, get a mogul. A Decent skill, especially if you find yourself doing so much trading that you own your own marketplace.
Hauler - What do you call an introverted merchant? A hauler. Look, it’s nice to be able to fit more mass into your storage spaces and also a Tetris grandmaster, but surface warehouses aren’t mass constrained. This is a skill for ship owners, and that ain’t me. A Conditional skill.
Scientists
Look, as a Scientist myself, I have to admit that it’s not a great time to be a scientist. The Arvad was always a bit of a luddite ship to begin with, which is why our science is mostly pretty TwenCen, and things have become a lot more desperate recently. It’s the age of the miner and the engineer right now; practical occupations solving very practical problems. The only lab work going on right now is growing food in the bioreactors, and the only specialty in demand is the dietician. One day, it will be the age of the scientist; but not today.
Dietician - Look, none of us want to starve; none of us want to get scurvy. We need to make enough food and get it in to all the people of Adalia, hopefully in the correct proportions. The only Recommended skill.
Experimenter and Scholar - There is no time for science right now. Not Useful At This Time.
Pilots
If the answer to the question “you got somewhere else to be?” is “yes”, then you are going to need a pilot. But you’ll also need another rock to fly to (expensive) and a ship to fly there in (also expensive). But somebody is going to have to fly somewhere else, because Adaila Prime is only a C-type and that’s not going to have everything we need to live.
Navigator and Buster - Basically comes down to the classic “do you want to work harder or smarter?” Busters use raw power, while Navigators favour careful planning. The end result is more or less the same, though. Highly Recommended skills, both.
Operator - Like the Mechanic specialty for Engineers, this skill will come in hand one day, but all the ships are brand new at the moment. Not Useful At This Time.
Parthalon, over and out.