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[Lithium Flower]

Ships have crews.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2411396#post2411396

I prefer using crews. But CCP says that if someone wants to RP that their frigate is just the capsuleer then there is nothing wrong with them doing that.

Anything larger than a frigate though I'd have serious doubts on.

Ahh, this is good to know, since according to earlier guidelines I thought about it as a no-no.
Obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAt5JB96Cdk

However, I am still imagining crewless ship just like this ship from movie, basically, a flying hull, that can't fire guns and do other complex tasks of installed modules.

[Elmund Egivand]

Who hand-loads space guns anymore?

[Lithium Flower]

And then you ask, why we do have so many rogue drones 

[Ashley]

Ships have crews.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2411396#post2411396

I prefer using crews. But CCP says that if someone wants to RP that their frigate is just the capsuleer then there is nothing wrong with them doing that.

Anything larger than a frigate though I'd have serious doubts on.

Ahh, this is good to know, since according to earlier guidelines I thought about it as a no-no.
Obligatory: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAt5JB96Cdk

However, I am still imagining crewless ship just like this ship from movie, basically, a flying hull, that can't fire guns and do other complex tasks of installed modules.

Also
this:

In fact, many smaller frigates are designed to be flown by a solo capsuleer, with no crew support whatsoever. At most, a single assistant will aide in the event of emergencies.

and
this:

"in the same respect the Rifter is light, fast and simple enough to be flown solely by a capsuleer when he's plugged in." - CCP Falcon, https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=3414696#post3414696

"Keep in mind those are rough guidelines, not hard and fast numbers. An Atron is a smaller frigate than, say, an Incursus and might need less crew to pilot capably. If you want to RP that the capsuleer is the only person inside a frigate, no one should reasonably say you are wrong." - CCP Eterne, https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=2411396#post2411396

So just because set numbers are given on the articles, that doesn't mean it's a hard and fast thing that absolutely must be adhered to without question. It's a big universe.

So it is a bit messy, especially with frig size vessels. Long story short: you can in some cases, in some you can not, but if you really want to you should be able to. 

[Elmund Egivand]

And then you ask, why we do have so many rogue drones 

Modern naval turrets are automated. There's still somebody pulling that trigger remotely.

In Eve Online, I expect automated turrets that are designed to fire much more exotic ammunition. The person that pulls the trigger is the capsuleer. He will also do most of the triangulating subconsciously, aided by shipboard targeting computers, to attempt making accurate shots. What did you think our gunnery skills are for?

Also no reason to use manual labour for our reactors. We already automated our nuclear reactors these days, and it is simple enough to be done with subroutines. What guy you have there is to make sure nothing leaks or breaks or anything.

Also the internet of all things and RFID scanners means cargo sorting should be automatic unless we are taking cargo that has no tags at all. That's where you need manual labour. (Exception will be ores. I expect barges and mining vessels to have high-tech spectroscope that would determine mineral compositions and identify the ores almost automatically).

Seriously, most of the human labour invested on a ship is the repair crew and for redundancy purposes.

[Lithium Flower]

Agree with this.
But you definitely need someone to apply these extra ductape on loose armor plate, when you are happily swimming in the pod goo 
And the more diverse and advanced modules you have on your ship, the more tight your fit is, more CPU and PG it consumes, more specialists you need, for example, to watch for power misuse, to clean CPU from some residual procedures. Just notice, how ships operate without CPU/PG do not dropping over time, as it should be. There is definitely someone who maintain them in the shape. And that someone isn't just a drone with program, but someone with human brain, to be able to identify and solve problems

[Elmund Egivand]

Agree with this.
But you definitely need someone to apply these extra ductape on loose armor plate, when you are happily swimming in the pod goo 
And the more diverse and advanced modules you have on your ship, the more tight your fit is, more CPU and PG it consumes, more specialists you need, for example, to watch for power misuse, to clean CPU from some residual procedures. Just notice, how ships operate without CPU/PG do not dropping over time, as it should be. There is definitely someone who maintain them in the shape. And that someone isn't just a drone with program, but someone with human brain, to be able to identify and solve problems

I am sure there are programs that can identify power output and cpu usage discrepancies and automatically clear data caches and reroute power and shut down redundant processes. However, a human is needed to deal with more complicated issues that can't be solved with mere on/off switches. This is why Elmund is so hell bent in preserving his crew, the people who do all those complicated repairs are highly trained and experienced experts and who knows when he is going to run into another one of those?

If it were a frigate for one/two hours patrol/roam, he might get away with that since the systems aren't so complicated that issues crop up to the point of bogging down everything. However, he has no option but bring somebody for anything larger. As a result he gets significantly more prudent with larger ships.

[Silas Vitalia]

I don't think there's anything wrong with RPing a modified frigate to be crew-less. Especially the t2 or newer frigates that are capsuleer focused.

I don't think you can make that argument as well for say, a cruiser, but frigates have always been good for RP solo mobiles

[Jikahr]

I have always thought that the ship's crews were an ill defined element in EVE.

I have argued on the 'Features and Suggestions' section in the EVE forums that ship's crew should be a feature within the game. There should be a separate cargo slot where you can stick crew and passengers, just as drone bays have their own slots. These crew might have an effect on your ship, providing bonuses in the same way that rigs have.

The responses I got were "I don't want another thing to micro manage."

Now with the latest patch, Industrialists are able to buy 'teams'. These teams are NPC experts who can make your ship building faster, cheaper and so on.

Could something similar be done with ship's crews? A pilot uses the same interface as the manufacturing 'teams', but can tweak their ship's performance by spending their ISK on better engineers and other crewmen? 

I have heard that according to Burning Life, the crew on board are 'unessential', just there for cleaning and maintenance. However the EVE site says that the ships' crew includes more essential jobs such as Engineers and dockworkers to load/unload cargo. It makes sense that a better crew would make for better ship function.

Personally, I imagine that when I am doing my skill training I am training not just myself, but my crew as well. My skills in Engineering are not MY skills, but the skills of the Engineer in my crew. The skill points I have in gunnery are not MY gunnery skills, but the skills of the Gunner I have as part of my crew. This is a lot more believable to me than thinking I am the capsuleer with the 'omni' brain, who just carts around a bunch of janitors and mechanics through space.

I also believe that the higher prices of clones has nothing to do with my clone body being more 'omni' than my last body. The higher prices of clones reflects the fact that I am paying for the clones of my crew as well.

Why should clones increase in price as skill points increase? The clone of a low skilled pilot is not physically/ biologically different than the clone of a highly skilled pilot. It isn't any cheaper or more difficult to perform brain surgery on Forrest Gump than it would be on Albert Einstein.

I am not suggesting that we should be able to use ISK to directly buy more gunnery skill points in the form of a skilled gunner crewman, or that they should be swappable. Nor am I suggesting that when your ship gets demolished, a dozen escape pods emerge. What I am saying is that my own RP definition of my own ship's crew is useful in plugging up what I consider to be plot holes in the idea of capsuleers.

[Esna Pitoojee]

I will add that I've always thought the addition of crews could open up an entirely new and valuable option for PvEers to fit into the New Eden dynamic: Crew Training. Literally, taking crews out on missions or stuff, training them up, auctioning off their services to whomever, buying a new set and starting over.

[Jace]

A lot of the Burning Life stuff is taken horribly out of context. In nobody's mind could that frigate be considered to have been flown at full capacity or even remotely successfully.

[Lithium Flower]

https://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Assault_Frigates_(lore)#Crews
This is what I have found on assault frigate crews.

Assault Frigates unsurprisingly require less crew than that of their less advanced counterparts. Anywhere from two to five crew members are required on the typical capsule fitted variant.

And, taking into account earlier discussion that frigates can actually be used without crew, I can interpret it this way:

Assault frigates are mostly fitted for intense combat, there are rare cases of AF with very bad fitting, and most of them are suitable for capsuleer vs capsuleer action. While majority of frigates in eve... You can imagine, I don't think I need to explain this.

As a summary, I can suggest this:
* Top edge PvP frigates - have almost maximum crew
* Top edge assault frigates - have less crew than PvP frigates, but still many
* Loosely fitted assault frigates or empty hulls - have less crew than PvP assault frigates, but more than one
* Generic frigates (PvE, mining, hauling, plexing, scanning, maybe even PvP-ing, but without any success), empty hulls or very loosely fitted - this class of vessels can be operated without crew at all

[Anyanka Funk]

I also want to point out that Cross-capsule variant ships do in fact exist in prime fiction. Which would allow capsuleers to also be a part of the crew. While it wouldn't be the best idea, it is possible and the capsuleer would generally remain safe even as the ship is destroyed as they have a guaranteed escape pod.

[Katrina Oniseki]

I also want to point out that Cross-capsule variant ships do in fact exist in prime fiction. Which would allow capsuleers to also be a part of the crew. While it wouldn't be the best idea, it is possible and the capsuleer would generally remain safe even as the ship is destroyed as they have a guaranteed escape pod.

Yup. I fully support this usage in RP. Even on frigates, it's possible if you sacrifice a bit of space.

[Jace]

I've been thinking (and dreaming - nerd alert) about this thread. I think part of what irks me the most is the lack of IC elements people use with their crew. People either don't care, it is what it is - or they have their character be utterly paranoid and existentially tormented at every turn because of their crew. I have seen little balancing of the perspective.