Crew Sizes and the Exeter

Mace said:
As for maintenance staff, I would not find it odd if pilots would have to play janitor for a few duties a week, since it would save on taking on extra staff onboard, saving oxygen, recources and whatever else.
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AFAIK it is mostly enlisted personnel and lower-ranking NCO's who get assigned to the generic janitorial and kitchen duties. Pilots, being officers, appear in Wing Commander to be more involved in systems and equipment maintenance--we see Blair assisting Sparks in maintaining the fighters in WC2, for example.
 
As for crew quarters, all the pilots aboard the Tiger's claw seem to have their own quarters in other media(As seen in WCA, and the Movie), but they "bunk" together in the games. This would mean a huge difference.
 
I'm really impressed at the detail this thread has generated! Makes me sorry for my spelling critique at the beginning (I'm not really that bothered by it, I just can't pass up an opportunity to be a smartass).

Without going into detail on the numbers, has anyone considered future tech developments replacing crew? Thinking maintenance robots etc. etc. We know from Privateer that limited automatic repair systems are in existence, and from Righteous Fire do we dare suggest AI/Robotic assistance? (anyone else think Robocop 2 with that thing in the RF intro video?) Maybe I have missed a post about this already...

I know the games (and movie) were shooting for the whole WW2 in space thing, so I understand as part of that theme the idea of many crewmen (sorry, crewpersons) working closely together makes it all the more appealing. I just consider the sparseness of crew in the WC3/4 fmv transition sequences, and compare it to all the documentaries I have seen about warships & submarines.

Pilots as janitors: only when they're bad? Pretty sure Maniac would have done his share of scrubbing...
 
Though this wouldn't have an impact on crew size, do you suppose that deck crews/pilots/gunners have to check the flight deck for junk periodically. I would guess not given I think this wasn't a requirement until jet engines and obviously these wouldn't work in space to begin with.
 
We do see blast shields used in some hangar shots in WC3, and it's been implied that the main propulsion in fighters is some sort of fusion-powered ion drive (rocket-like at low speeds or with ramscoops closed and ramjet-like with ramscoops open). There will be superheated engine exhaust coming out of the rear of a launching craft if it uses engine thrust instead of antigrav/catapults for the launch.
 
Pretty odd since in WC2 we always see fighters leaving the ship with engines on full burn...
 
False Colors talks a fair amount about the blast doors on the Karga.

The novels (ER in particular) spend some time discuss carrier flight procedures in terms of powered launches.
 
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