the shape of things to come

Crew: Though Total Warfare standard rules play does not track
crew sizes and such, their impact on Support Vehicle design
(as noted above) requires Support Vehicle designers to resolve
the number during the design process. To determine the basic
crew needs for each vehicle type, consult the Support Vehicle
Minimum Crew Table below. A Support Vehicle’s crew must be
equal to (or, at the designer’s option, greater than) the sum of its
minimum crew requirements (including any supplemental crew
such as offi cers and those needed to man special equipment such
as weapons, communications, kitchens and MASH theaters). Bay
personnel—for vehicle bays, and such—are not listed (the bays
themselves incorporate a limited amount of bunk space for such
personnel). Note that the additional crew needs for the specifi c
items listed do not have to be met unless and until the items are
mounted, and that any offi cer requirements must be computed
after all crew is assigned.
Note that gunners are required only for any items that require
a Gunnery Skill roll to use in combat, and which have a range of
more than 1 hex. (Thus, automatic defensive armaments like Anti-
Missile Systems, A-Pods, and the like require no gunners, nor do
non-weapon items listed on the Weapons and Equipment Tables,
such as Active Probes and ECM gear.)
Crew Accommodations: For Small Support Vehicles, the
designer must allocate weight to seating (standard, pillion or
ejection-capable) or to appropriate infantry compartment/bays
for all crew and passengers, including their minimum personnel.
All Support Vehicles 5 tons and over integrate seating automatically
for the minimum required crewmen, but will still require
appropriate compartments/bays (or even quarters) for passengers
such as infantry, or for any crew added beyond the minimum.
Bay personnel—those required for vehicle bays, ’Mech bays, and
so forth—incorporate a limited amount of seating and/or bunk
space into their design, and so need not be counted toward
required accommodations.
Support Vehicles that are particularly large or which are
designed to spend days of operation away from any ports
of call should invest in quarters, rather than seating, when
weight permits.
CONTROL AND CREW SYSTEMS SPACE TABLE
Control/Crew System
Equipment Space
Required (slots)
Fire Control (Basic or Advanced) 0
Seating (Standard, Pillion, Ejection) 0
Infantry Bay/Compartment
1 (per 28-man
capacity)*
Quarters, Steerage 1 (per 50 quarters)*
Quarters, Crew/2nd Class 1 (per 20 quarters)*
Quarters, Offi cer/1st Class 1 (per 5 quarters)*
*Round all fractions up; Accommodations for Minimum Crew Needs require no slots
Fire Control Systems: In addition, designers of armed Support
Vehicles may wish to allocate weight for fi re-control systems to
reduce the crew’s need for all mounted weapons. The impact
on crew requirements for installing such fire-control systems
is also shown on the Support Vehicle Crew Requirements Table,
but these need not apply unless the designer chooses to mount
weaponry. Because fi re-control system weights are directly related
to the weight of the weaponry mounted on a Support Vehicle,
the designer may feel free to determine the weight of fi re-control
systems after installing any mounted weapons and ammunition,
though in some cases—such as the design of support OmniVehicles—it
may be important to establish that the vehicle will be
using such systems fi rst.
Space: Seating, whether it needs to be installed (as for Small
vehicles) or is considered part of the chassis (as for the minimum
crew needs of Support Vehicles 5 tons and up), and fi re-control
systems of any kind do not aff ect the amount of internal equipment
space available in a Support Vehicle design. However, if the
Support Vehicle installs additional quarters or compartment/bays
for passengers and crew, these items do count toward the unit’s
equipment space, as shown in the Control and Crew Systems
Space Table below.
Support OmniVehicles: The minimum seating and fi re-control
systems, once established for the Support OmniVehicle’s base
confi guration, may not change between its base, Primary or Alternate
confi gurations. Because the weight of any fi re-control system
is directly tied to the weight of the weapons mounted on the Support
Vehicle, this weight determines how much pod space may be
devoted to weaponry.
According to the Support Vehicle Crew
Requirements Table, Simon’s Simca—as a
Small wheeled vehicle—has a Minimum
Crew Requirement of 1. But because he
plans this vehicle to serve as an ambulance,
he adds 2 more crewmen to refl ect stations
for additional paramedics. All three crewmen receive
seating at 75 kilograms per crewman, for a total of 225
kilograms spent (3 seats x 75 kg per seat = 225 kg). The
Simca has 1,436 kilograms of unspent weight remaining
(1,661 kg – 225 kg = 1,436 kg).
Todd’s Swiftran—a Medium VTOL Support
Vehicle—has a Minimum Crew
Requirement of 2. Because it is not a Small
vehicle, additional weight need not be
assigned for these crewmen (as they are
considered intrinsic to the unit’s chassis and control systems).
However, as the Swiftran is a medivac unit, Todd
adds 10 more seats for medics. For these crew alone, the
seating will weigh 750 kilograms (10 seats x 75 kg per seat
= 750 kg), or 0.75 tons. Todd decides to double this amount
of seats to make room for passengers as well, bringing the