[Author's Note: This article was written as an email response to the DGMA.com article "How many personnel... Part 1." This article does not use the terminology of the article it is based on {twart, base, etc.}, but I recommended that the first article be taken into consideration while reading this one.]

Star Trek Second Edition designers obviously intended for the optimal crew to be 9 personnel. Players wish to attempt missions with the greatest number of personnel they require to do the mission. This has led to the creation of dilemmas such as Limited Welcome, Pinned Down, Pursuit Just Behind, an Explosve Decompression, that "cap" the number you can safely attempt missions at 9. Or does it? Consider the following away teams...

Assume the dilemma draw for each of these crews included Pursuit Just Behind (PJB) at a planet mission.

A 9 person crew...
Would encounter PJB at 4 cost to kill one personnel. This means 8 personnel would have to face 5 points worth of dilemmas.

A 10 person crew...
Would encounter PJB at 4 cost, killing 2 personnel. This means 8 personnel would have to face 6 points worth of dilemmas.

A 11 person crew...
Would encounter PJB at 4 cost, killing 2 personnel. This means 9 personnel would face 7 points worth of dilemmas.

A 12 person crew...
Would encounter PJB at 4 cost, killing 3 personnel. This means 9 personnel would face 8 points worth of dilemmas.

I'll stop my comparisons at that number, because then a player leaves himself open to getting hit my a second such card (such as Pinned Down), and the numbers turn to his disadvantage.

A quick example of this:
13 personnel face PJB, killing 3. Then face Pinned Down, stopping 2. 8 personnel now face 7 points of dilemmas. Compare that to the numbers above, and the curve continues steadily downward, especially once Limited Welcome is considered.

Now based on these numbers, it would appear that 9 is obviously a better number than 10, and 11 better than 12. The question then becomes which is better 9 or 11? I think the answer is 11, as a mission attempt can often require 6 personnel to complete it, at 5 points, two to three dilemmas can come down to stop 2 to 3 personnel. At 7 points, 3 dilemmas will come down, stopping 3 personnel (this is based on an average ratio of "1 dilemma stops 1 personnel" which is usually rather accurate. "All or nothing" dilemmas, such as Chula: Echoes or Murder Investigation can be off-set and obey this figure if you calculate that sometimes they will stop 0 personnel). Each senerio leaves you with 5 to 6 personnel left to complete the mission. The 11 personnel crew, however, has another dilemma under the mission, meaning the second attempt can use fewer personnel and have a greater advantage than a 9 personnel team.

The card Limited Welcome must be considered as well.

A 9 person team will not face Limited Welcome, unless the opponent is unaware of how the card works, meaning 9 personnel will hve to face 9 points of dilemmas, with an effective draw a 8 minus the number of cards that can't be played at the mission.

An 11 person team will face Limited Welcome, and it will stop 2 personnel.
This means 9 personnel will face 9 points of dilemmas with an effective dilemma draw of 8 minus the number of dilemmas that can't be played at the mission. Yes, that's exactly what it is for 9 personnel.

The risks of attemtping missions with more than 9 personnel must be carefully consider, and calculated. A player must be comfortable with having personnel get killed or stopped, but be confident enough in his or her deckbulding and skill base to know it may positively affect the mission attempt. 9 is a safe number, and many players will feel more comfortable with it for that reason, however, there is some mathematical advantage to larger teams.

Thanks,
Joshua Carey
capbarclay@yahoo.com