"It's the little things, Cap'n." Making your crew feel welcome.

[James T. Kirk]

"It is better to be feared than loved"
-Niccolo Machiavelli

Seeing as it's near impossible to make one genuinely fear for his or her life on the internet, I try my hardest to make my crew love me.

Other than the obvious things, (don't curse out your crew too badly; if the loss was your fault, hold up to it; crack a joke every now and again; etc.) what do you other Captains like to do to make your crew feel welcome?

If you don't Captain often, what would make you feel more at home with a Captain that's either new or new to you?


For example, I always welcome new crewmen to the Enterprise.

While I realize a lot of you more experienced Captains can get crew to stay with sheer Piloting or tactical skill alone, some of us newer guys gotta rely on some good 'ol manners.

I look forward to picking up a few new tricks of the trade!

[Surette]

Basically what you said--be humble; if something was genuinely your fault you should own up to it. If something was genuinely a crew member's fault, let them know what they did wrong and what they can do differently, but don't make them feel like shit. People make mistakes, and some people are new.

I also always try to explain what I'm doing as I'm doing it, which helps a lot in getting your crew to trust you. If you're flying around silently, they might think you have no idea what you're doing. And perhaps you don't have any idea what you're doing, but if you at least say something like "okay I know you have no shot with the guns right now, but I'm flying around this rock to avoid being killed and to get into a better position," etc., then your crew is aware of what's going on and at least feels like you know what you're doing.

[Gentlemanriot]

"Welcome to the Smirking Revenge. Remember if we die, it's your fault. No really, I can't fix anything!"

- Standard greeting aboard my ship.  (Seems to make people welcome and it's all in good fun.)

[Lord Dick Tim]

I'm communicative to a fault, I'm always talking to my crew and encouraging them to type something or say something back, even providing instructions on how to do both if I get no response.  If I never get a response, it's usually a language barrier, no worries there, just try to keep the ship piloted correctly and do what I can with what I have.

A lot of what Surrette said is dead on what I do as well.  I find it huge to explain tactics to the people I'm playing with and to admit my mistakes after I made them so everyone knows hey, the captain screwed the pooch that time.
I also inform them what my ally captain is doing, or intends to do, and encourage they apply any wisdom they may have to the situation, though I do draw the line when suggestions become demands.  Ultimately, I'm flying this boat, I'll make the final say, though I hope that decision is informed with good advice.

[Mill Wilkinson]

If it isn't done in the lobby, at the start of the game I feel welcome when the captain takes time to greet the crew and then proceed to tell the armaments and where the gunner should be for maximum effect and whether the captain takes care of something himself (Like with Spire's Balloon).
Also what has been said above, it is fantastic when the captain tells me what he is doing.

[HamsterIV]

I let members of my crew who are not obeying orders know I will have them tied to the mast and flogged at the earliest opportunity. If they don't fall in line I start adding lashes to their punishment. "Not on at your post again? That is going to be another 5 lashes, what are we at now 35? You will be sleeping on your belly for a month."

I have never been able to follow through on my threats, but I like to think one day some 8 year old kid will be playing on his older brother's account, when the older brother walks in to find the kid totally butchering his good name and reputation. If the older brother happens to think my corporeal punishment suggestions are worth implementing, who am I to stop him?

[Serenum]

Being humble always works, encourage your crew when they do something right, give advice if they do something wrong and always, always be optimistic, nothing worst then a captain that doesn't think he can win.
And if everything goes wrong just take the defeat with dignity instead of trying to put the blame on your crew.

I always frown when certain captains write in chat about how their crew sucks even during the game when they are losing.

[Echoez]

I believe that my slightly broken accent here and there with english and my impatience with people that respond slowly will usually not make me the most pleasant of captains to people that do not respond to me.

Although, as long as the crewmembers are responsive, even in text chat, I'll make sure they are rewarded for what they do, even if they don't get it to the moment we need it, I just want to know that they are trying and listening to what I'm saying, if they do, they are a good crew in my eyes even if we lose and deserve all the praise they can get.

People that do not communicate better not hop on my ship at all, they will get yelled at and will be made to walk on the plank.

[Cheesy Crackers]

Well when I used to fly my spire (Not so often anymore, but used to fly it a lot) a friend and I would usually RP some star wars stormtrooper orders because my spire's called the Death Star on a Stick.
*ahem*
ALRIGHT STORM TROOPERS TO BATTLE STATIONS! MAKE SURE YOU ACTUALLY REMEMBER TO CLOSE THE EXHAUST PORT THIS TIME BECAUSE THOSE DAMN REBELS HAVE ALREADY DESTROYED IT TWICE AND WE REALLY DON'T NEED A THIRD TIME UNLESS YOU WANT THE EMPEROR ON YOUR ASSES

Yeah it's such a friendly welcome

[Cheesy Crackers]

But on a more serious note I just congratulate them if we kill the enemy or blow something important up. You tend to get those engineers who are like "Oh I'm sorry i couldn't keep the hull up I'm really sorry etc..." and I just go dude it's fine, you did a great job keeping the hull up that long.
If the crew asks you for something, like yesterday I had a gunner asking if he could go on the flamer cuz he needed progress I told him sure, would disable the enemy ship and if we happened to be going alongside them and had the opportunity I'd turn it for him to flame them a bit.
But yeah basically what the others said, be humble, don't rage at your crew, if some mistake was made make a joke about it etc..