In FTL, you can place crew members in various subsystems to gain bonuses. However, I don't know how to actually quantify those bonuses. The two that are least clear to me are:
- Manning shields increases shield recharge speed.
- Manning weapons increases weapon recharge speed.
While I understand the general effect, I'm not sure how much of an actual increase I'm actually getting from these.
Also, in FTL: Advanced Edition, it looks like you can man the sensors and doors.
Finally, does manning it with multiple crew members give a larger bonus?
Best Answer
Some subsystems have a small "head" icon above their power levels. These systems are:
By staffing these systems with a crew member, you increase the abilities of that system. When you send a crew member into an unstaffed room, you can see them head straight for the console and start working there.
From my observations:
The amount of the benefit you receive is based on the crew member's system skill level, which you can see by going to Ship --> Crew, and hovering over the crew member. They will gain experience by working on the system, increasing the bonus they provide to the relevant system. You can occasionally see your crew gain experience by seeing yellow icons appear above them. These icons will match the system they are currently working on.
Note that it doesn't seem like crew gain experience when the ship is not in danger, so staying in a system doing nothing is unlikely to help your crew gain experience.
The exception to this, as @Halfwarr noted, is asteroid fields. Since your ship is continually in danger and the asteroid damage can be mitigated, this is probably an excellent way to gain skill.This is no longer valid with the full release.Also, there is only a single console per system, no multiple crew members do not provide any bonus beyond faster repair speed in the event the system becomes damaged. This is easily testable by sending another crew member to the cockpit; the first one will provide a bonus to dodging when he reaches the console. The second will not increase your ability to dodge.
I have not unlocked all ships, however, so it may be possible that some of the later ships have multiple consoles for some or all systems, in which case, multiple crew members would provide a greater bonus.