The nameless men and women on a captain’s ship are represented with the Crew statistic. They’re the “red shirts” that take care of the litany of tasks captains and Bridge Officers don’t have time or will to do, like repairing your hull, or damaged subsystems. Your crew also affect certain Bridge Officer abilities, such as Boarding Parties, Security Teams, Engineering Team, Science Team, and so on. . Players won’t be able to interact with their crew on a daily basis, but their status will be visible, so captains won’t have to worry about getting caught off-guard if their crew isn’t in tip-top shape.
The crew can be injured and incapacitated during a battle. Typically, torpedoes or other violent explosions can impact your crew. Injured crewmen go to a ship’s sick bay, where they’re healed and sent back into commission. The speed at which they’re healed is dependent on the player’s medical equipment and items, and his Science Officers’ skills. Injured crewmen don’t contribute to a crew’s overall readiness. And if a crewman is incapacitated, he can only only be restored slowly out of combat.
The size of a crew is dependent on the ship. Small ships can have as few as 35 crewmen, whereas large Cruisers can boast a crew complement of 1,000 or more. Since crew repair damaged subsystems and hulls as well as affect other areas of gameplay, ships with larger crews can repair themselves much faster and more confidently launch boarding parties than ships with a smaller complement.
