baithammer said:
Professional doesn't mean your average crew in this context, they would be veterans in the capital scale and there aren't that many with skill 3 let alone 4.
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The system was designed around this basis and if you look at most npcs they don't have augmentations, when you do this at a large scale you end up with little room to grow for a game.
Skill-2 & charDM+1 isn't extreme, but a skilled professional.
Core said:
Each level represents several years of experience using that skill, and grants DM+1 per level to all skill checks using that skill. A Traveller with level 2-3 in a skill is a skilled professional in that field. A Traveller with level 4 or 5 is probably both well-respected and well-known in his field.
Each crew-member on a warship handles MCr 50-100 of equipment. I assume they are trained more like current fighter jocks than naval ratings. That would mean a term or so of intense training before being deployed on a warship.
baithammer said:
Only if your using veteran level skills, augmentations and a fighter with more than thrust 12.
Two single turrets are as effective as a single triple turret even with skill-2, and more effective with higher skill.
Thrust 12 is not necessary to dodge a single salvo.
In the general case a fighter would use Evade software and dodge to avoid getting hit. Depending on fighter it might add PD, EW, or even Dampers to avoid damage. Note that small salvoes, one for each fighter, are very sensitive to EW.
Even if it only takes one or two missiles to kill a fighter, we may have to launch 10-20 missiles in a salvo to get a good chance of hitting with a few and killing the fighter. Increasing skill in dodging, PD, and EW of course makes the target more elusive, making it necessary to launch more missiles to kill it. Hence it is cost effective to augment crew.
To take a concrete example: Take a fighter with a 5 Dt weapon module containing 2 single laser turrets, Enh Signal Processor, and a workstation for a single sensor operator giving a sensor DM of +2. Assume skill 5 (with augments).
EW kills average 4 missiles.
PD kills average 4 missiles each, for a total of 8 missiles.
So, 12 missiles are removed from the salvo before the attack roll.
Attack: 2D +#Missiles +1[smart] -2[Evade] -5[dodge] -8[difficulty] = 2D +#Missiles - 15 => 9 missiles needed to get a 50% chance of killing the fighter or 14 missiles for a very good chance.
In total we need to launch 12 + 14 = 26 missiles to get a good chance of killing a single fighter. Some will still have luck with the rolls and survive.
If the fighters have supporting ships with good EW many more missiles would be required.