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 damaged subsystems or hull damage, repelling boarding parties, joining on boarding parties (which, if successful, damage an opponent’s subsystems), 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 killed during a battle. 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 killed, he can only be permanently replaced by visiting a starbase and requisitioning replacement crew.
The size of a crew is dependent on the ship. Small ships can have as few as 50 crewmen, whereas large Cruisers can boast a crew complement of 1,000. 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.
