Morning from WA kaladorn,
On June 9, 2020 at 7:42 PM xxxxxx@gmail.com wrote:
My point is the value is in being able to have either:
A) The same sized crew with redundancies and backups from other crew that share overlapping skills
OR
B) You can run with a shorter crew because someone could fill two slots (if the law allowed that... some combos might not be permitted) and thus run lighter on crew space, life support, and on salary
Yes, you have less crew space requirements, life support and saving money balanced against the safety of the ship. The smaller the crew the fewer the hands to fight an onboard casualty situation.
If I'm saving all that, 5% does not seem enough. And if both of your jobs as a crewmember with two hats involve things you are legally responsible for (and for a Steward or Supercargo, that could include passengers/cargo with which there are likely to be some legal issues of handling and safety), you probably would seek a much higher salary than +5% due to the extra training and certifications. I'd expect at least +20% for key skills. If ship #1 would only offer +5%, ship #2 probably would offer a fair bit more to see the savings or to have the added capability and redundancy.
My feeling is the +5% was pulled out of the ether.
If you happen to know a lawyer who is also an engineer, as I know several, they charge a lot more money for the additional skill they spent time and money to develop (or another way to say that is they work in more complex technical areas of law and technology that those without both qualifications would be hard pressed to handle as well).
I don't know any lawyers who are also engineers. How much more do they charge over an engineer that has been doing the job for the same number of years?
A pilot and a navigator are two key flight roles on a ship. Both are pricey skills and you want certification and competence. If you find one person that can do both, pay him +50% and be happy with saving +50% plus life support! He (or she) is worth it.
The COs of my four boats and the tender could pilot and navigate the ship if they had too. They did not get extra pay for being able to do both jobs. Looking at the licensing and pay-scales for the Merchant Marine I don't think that the Ship's Master is getting additional pay because the person has qualified to do all of the skills working up to commanding the ship.
I doubt you could fill pilot and engineer billets though as the engines and power plant need oversight that would be distracting to the pilot on the bridge (like having to run down to Engineering or having to troubleshoot a plant glitch while they need to be watching scans, talking to traffic control, and laying out a course and flying it).
Per details a Scout/Courier can have a crew of 1 which means that crew member has the skills of ship handling (pilot), navigation (navigator), and engineering (engineer).
+5% to add a non-required Steward skill or some other such nice to have but not critical (assuming no passengers embarked) would be probably okay. Like having 'team leader' training as a software developer. It's worth something and opens options, but it isn't going to add +50% to what you make.
If the Traveller party owns a ship then a body with Steward skill is required. If the party are passengers by the rules the ship has to have a body with the Steward skill. In the RCN series by David Drake onboard military vessels when passengers are onboard enlisted personnel use the Steward skill and get paid by the passenger. The better the pay the better the service but the skill is not part of the crew member's pay/salary.
So as I say, I don't feel like +5% is a very sufficient value for a lot of the more desirable cross overs. People with those complimentary skills will be rare and worth more than +5%.
What good is a pilot that can not navigate between two destination when the navigator is incapacitated and the original course has been thrown out the window?
Tom Rux