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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Blackadder''': I was under the impression that it was common maritime practice for a ship to have a crew.
'''[[Cloudcuckoolander|Redbeard Rum]]''': Opinion is divided on the subject: All the other captains say it is, I say it isn't!
|''[[Blackadder]]''}}
Several kinds of vehicles are so complex and require such multitasking that they cannot be operated by a single person: tanks, trains, certain airplanes, etc.
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This can be justified in certain [[Speculative Fiction]] settings by omnipresent computers and simple AI. One might say the ideal number of people for any given vehicle is ''one'': one human to handle the tactics and the moral decisions, and computers to handle the rest of the more mechanical tasks like navigation. The limiting factors, of course, are the amount of multitasking still left to the pilot, and how long the pilot can function at that level.
It can also be justified in emergency situations, at least in aviation. In the case of the death or incapacitation of one member of the flight crew, for instance, the other pilot is always able to fly the aircraft. In fact, it's a requirement that all aircraft be flyable by a single pilot for this very reason. And it's not that rare a circumstance; dozens of pilots have died during flight.<ref>Technically, this counts as [[Playing with a Trope]], in that the navigation duties shift from the on-board crew (who are no longer able to do that work) to Air Traffic Control (on the ground)... but the situation looks enough like this trope for Hollywood's purposes.</ref>
Compare [[Guy in Back]] and how they are often treated in video games.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Naval Vehicles ==
=== [[Film]] ===
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=== Literature ===
* In [[Alastair Reynolds]] [[Revelation Space]] 'verse, the extreme size of the lighthuggers (around 4 kilometres long in most cases) are often contrasted with their relatively tiny crews; in Galactic North, the story revolves around two such ships that are crewed by single people. In his unconnected story ''[[House of Suns]]'', each [[Send in the Clones|shatterling]] is given his or her own starship and expected to go it alone, minus the odd passenger.
* Any brainship in [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s ''[[The Ship Who...]]'' series could technically run with just the shellperson controlling
** The Brawn is there for maintenance, cargo handling, company, and remote operations.
* A ''[[Star Trek]]'' novel has Scotty control an entire starship himself by basically rigging a shuttlecraft's controls into it, so that the ship basically does whatever you tell the shuttle to do. Of course, he ''is'' Scotty.
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** In ''X2: The Threat'', this is very obvious by the lack of crewmen at your bridge's seats.
** At the same time, Not only is the player controlling their ''own'' ship, but also the many many ships of their empire at the same time. (Although these too are computer controlled, the "living" NPC pilots aren't much smarter than your AI-controlled ships.)
** General fan consensus is that the ships ''are'' manned, just by invisible [[Player
* The cargo freighters in ''[[Freelancer]]''. Partly justified because they come across as trailer trucks {{smallcaps|[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]]}}
** Also, although capital ships are implied to have a full crew, there's several third party mod where you can pilot one of these by yourself.
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== Other ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* The titular [[Humongous Mecha]] in ''[[Metal Armor Dragonar]]'' require high-powered AI to aid in operation in order to keep the crew size down to a single person.▼
* In the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series, when you choose any aircraft with a crew of 2 or more (F-15E, F/A-18F, F-14, etc...), you still control all of its functions yourself as if it only needed one person...however, when you look at the actual plane's MODEL, you can see a guy in the back seat, presumably doing his job alongside the pilot.▼
=== Film ===
* ''[[Airplane!]]!'': Ted Striker flies a modern jet airliner by himself, a task that normally takes a crew of three (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer).▼
** The film sort of [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on this with what confronts Striker when he first enters the cockpit: a slow pan across a literally endless array of dials, levers, switches and knobs. The Boeing 707 seen ([[Just Plane Wrong|but not heard]]) in the movie can be flown for a short time with a crew of one (the pilot). For longer flights, you need a flight engineer to keep an eye on the airplane's mechanical systems, and if you want to reach your destination, you add a third: the navigator. Modern jetliners only need a crew of two, the flight engineer's position having been given to computers.▼
** It's long been a standing joke in the airline industry that the flight crew will soon be reduced to just a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog, and the dog will be there to bite the man if he tries to touch the controls (though [[Fridge Logic|one has to ask what kind of dog would (literally) bite the hand that feeds it]]).▼
=== Literature ===
* [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''[[Competitors]]'' novel mentions this absurdity several times in relation to starships. Humans on the Platform build these ships using matter synthesizers (i.e. replicators) based on plans in the station's database and available raw resources. While there are plenty of small fighter-type ships, even the giant ships have only one standard control console. Also, the entire thing has controls similar to a car, including ''pedals'' for acceleration and braking, in order to allow any human to use them. This is justified in that the station and the plans were created by aliens to be reminiscent of a web-based space exploration game (the game actually exists in [[Real Life]]). Later on, though, a group of rebels modify a large ship to function as a command ship of sorts with multiple consoles jury-rigged so that the ship would have an actual crew.▼
=== Live-Action TV ===
* Inverted on ''[[Top Gear]]'': In a crossover challenge with German motoring show ''D Motor'', the presenters had to drive double-decker cars, with one person on top steering and a second person on the bottom operating the pedals and gearshift, thus turning a vehicle that normally is Crew
=== Video Games ===
* Adverted in the MMO-FPS ''[[World War Two Online]]''. More of a Simulator than a true FPS, driving tanks and boats required multiple crew members for multiple respective positions; The driver is, in fact, unable to shoot, has poor viability, etc. The player can swap between positions easy, however, but that doesn't lend much good in battle when one well-aimed shell can take you out.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Armored Core]]'': For Answer. The megacorporations in the game world used to rely on [[Humongous Mecha]] which played this trope straight, until they figured out that [[Phlebotinum Rebel|it was too dangerous to leave that kind of firepower in the hands of a single pilot]]. Consequently they started building [[Military Mashup Machine]]s with hundreds of crew instead.
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* Several vehicles in the ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' games have multiple crew slots. The Assault Gunship has five: pilot, copilot, left, right & tail gunners. Only a pilot is required to drive and fire the main weapons, but a solo operator can switch rapidly from slot to slot if he wants to.
** Taken to an extreme with the snowspeeders from the [[The Empire Strikes Back|Hoth map]]: in the first ''Battlefront'', a single player can fly one towards the Empire's AT-AT's, switch to the rear turret, fire the cable at its legs, then ''immediately'' switch back to the pilot's seat and tie it up. [[Game Breaker|Quite understandably]], ''Battlefront II'' added a forced delay between firing the cable and switching seats, making it nearly impossible to take an AT-AT down that way without two people.
▲* ''[[Airplane!]]!'': Ted Striker flies a modern jet airliner by himself, a task that normally takes a crew of three (pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer).
▲** The film sort of [[Lampshade Hanging|hangs a lampshade]] on this with what confronts Striker when he first enters the cockpit: a slow pan across a literally endless array of dials, levers, switches and knobs. The Boeing 707 seen ([[Just Plane Wrong|but not heard]]) in the movie can be flown for a short time with a crew of one (the pilot). For longer flights, you need a flight engineer to keep an eye on the airplane's mechanical systems, and if you want to reach your destination, you add a third: the navigator. Modern jetliners only need a crew of two, the flight engineer's position having been given to computers.
▲** It's long been a standing joke in the airline industry that the flight crew will soon be reduced to just a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog, and the dog will be there to bite the man if he tries to touch the controls (though [[Fridge Logic|one has to ask what kind of dog would (literally) bite the hand that feeds it]]).
* There were real-life attempts to create one-man armored fighting vehicles back during the 1920s and 1930s; they belonged to a class of vehicles known as "tankettes." The French, for example, wanted to create a sort of infantry replacement; one man would drive the vehicle and take care of everything, and he'd also be armed with a machine gun. In practice, it was unworkable, and the concept was abandoned. To be perfectly fair, during the past century there has been a significant trend towards smaller crew sizes, due primarily to automation.▼
** However, the minimum crew size in a turreted vehicle is still three, because the only crewman who can realistically be replaced is the loader. And most western armies have avoided autoloaders because a good human loader is much more reliable, faster and more flexible. An autoloader can't help change a track, pull maintenance, stand guard, or sub for another crewman, either. He also serves as an extra pair of eyes to watch your back when he isn't loading.▼
** Furthermore, reducing the crew to just one is probably inadvisable simply for morale reasons.▼
▲* The titular [[Humongous Mecha]] in ''Metal Armor Dragonar'' require high-powered AI to aid in operation in order to keep the crew size down to a single person.
▲* In the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series, when you choose any aircraft with a crew of 2 or more (F-15E, F/A-18F, F-14, etc...), you still control all of its functions yourself as if it only needed one person...however, when you look at the actual plane's MODEL, you can see a guy in the back seat, presumably doing his job alongside the pilot.
* ''[[Airforce Delta]] Strike'' does this for its 2-man fighters as well.
* As does ''[[
* In [[World of Warcraft]] the [[Fragile Speedster|Catapults]] used during [[Player Versus Player|Wintergrasp]] fights have space for only one driver/gunner. The [[Jack of All Stats|Demolishers]] also has a driver/gunner but have space for two passengers who can fire their own ranged weapons (bows, guns, etc.) from their seats. The [[Mighty Glacier|Siege Engines]] have a ram controlled by the driver, a turret-mounted cannon that requires a separate gunner and two passenger spots. Similar vehicles exist on the Isle of Conquest, Ulduar and other in-game locations.
* ''[[Prototype (video game)|Prototype]]''. While Alex has learned how to pilot [[APCs]], tanks and helicopters by consuming people trained to do so, he can somehow operate them all by himself.
** Maybe with his tentacles?
** Come to think of it, this guy has the ability to shapeshift into basically anything...it is not a far stretch to assume he just fills the entire vehicle with himself and can then easily operate all the switches, buttons and levers as he pleases.
* Both used and averted in ''[[Assassin's Creed:
▲* Inverted on ''[[Top Gear]]'': In a crossover challenge with German motoring show ''D Motor'', the presenters had to drive double-decker cars, with one person on top steering and a second person on the bottom operating the pedals and gearshift, thus turning a vehicle that normally is Crew Of One into Crew Of Two.
* Can be seen in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' with both dune buggy and air boat. Being piloted by one fellow is reasonable enough, but that same fellow being a simultaneous driver and gunner? Not so much. Multitasking capabilities aside, there is a certain minimum of available arms required to preform both tasks, which can lead to only one conclusion :[[Player Character|Gordon Freeman]] has an extra set of invisible hands. This would also explain how he can [[Ladder Physics|climb a ladder while fully operating a gun]]. Then again, maybe he has three sets of hands, two of which invisible, as his arms aren't visible while driving either vehicle.▼
** [http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-05-10 Well, he can pick up objects without using his hands.]▼
* Averted by
=== Real Life ===
▲* There were real-life attempts to create one-man armored fighting vehicles back during the 1920s and 1930s; they belonged to a class of vehicles known as "tankettes." The French, for example, wanted to create a sort of infantry replacement; one man would drive the vehicle and take care of everything, and he'd also be armed with a machine gun. In practice, it was unworkable, and the concept was abandoned. To be perfectly fair, during the past century there has been a significant trend towards smaller crew sizes, due primarily to automation.
▲** However, the minimum crew size in a turreted vehicle is still three, because the only crewman who can realistically be replaced is the loader. And most western armies have avoided autoloaders because a good human loader is much more reliable, faster and more flexible. An autoloader can't help change a track, pull maintenance, stand guard, or sub for another crewman, either. He also serves as an extra pair of eyes to watch your back when he isn't loading.
▲** Furthermore, reducing the crew to just one is probably inadvisable simply for morale reasons.
* Trains can run with a Crew of One, it's called DOO (Driver Only Operation).
** Real Life Subversion: [http://tfl.gov.uk/dlr Docklands Light Railway] runs trains with a crew of nought.
*** Though the on-board Passenger Service Agent is trained to become the Crew of One and drive the train if computer operation fails.
▲* Both used and averted in ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood|Assassin's Creed Brotherhood]]''. The {{spoiler|Bomber}} is justified as only having enough space for one man. The {{spoiler|Tank}} needs three people to run it, though gameplay usage does not act as such. The {{spoiler|Machine Gun}} is clearly meant to have a driver and gunner, but you get separate parts of the mission for using both and during the latter the thing is on autopilot or something. The {{spoiler|Naval Weapon}} clearly is meant to have a gunner and driver too and this time Ezio has to switch between the two positions as necessary.
* Almost all fighter aircraft have a one-man crew, who both flies the aircraft and operates the weapons.
** Many exceptions to this are electronic-warfare variants of what are otherwise single-seat fighters (themselves often based on a two-seat trainer variant). The second person runs the (much more extensive) electronic warfare equipment. There are also fighters that only exist in two-seat configurations, which often carry much more elaborate electronics packages than single-seat aircraft do (since there's another person there to operate the more complex systems), such as the F-14 and A-6.
*
▲* Can be seen in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' with both dune buggy and air boat. Being piloted by one fellow is reasonable enough, but that same fellow being a simultaneous driver and gunner? Not so much. Multitasking capabilities aside, there is a certain minimum of available arms required to preform both tasks, which can lead to only one conclusion :[[Player Character|Gordon Freeman]] has an extra set of invisible hands. This would also explain how he can [[Ladder Physics|climb a ladder while fully operating a gun]]. Then again, maybe he has three sets of hands, two of which invisible, as his arms aren't visible while driving either vehicle.
▲** [http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-05-10 Well, he can pick up objects without using his hands.]
▲* Averted by ALL multi-crew vehicles in the ''Tribes'' games, Even the [[Hover Tank]] has a driver and gunner, to say nothing of the larger aircraft where there is always a pilot who only handles flight and a tailgunner whose main duty is chucking flares at incoming missiles. Bombers have a weapons officer to handle the onboard ordnance and gunships have four passenger slots whose occupants can use their own infantry weapons to rain [[Death From Above]]; a single-man gunship is just a big fat target but a fully loaded one with everyone sans the pilot wielding mortars and missile launchers is a flying fortress. If you want to switch positions, you have to physically disembark the vehicle first.
▲* An example from [[Real Life]]. Sterling Marlin became one of these during the 2002 Daytona 500 NASCAR race, climbing out of his car during a red flag stoppage to look at his right front fender. Unfortunately, according to NASCAR rules, this is illegal, and he was sent to the back of the lead lap when the green flag came back out. The worst part is that [[What an Idiot!|he was leading the race when that happened!]]
▲* [[Sergey Lukyanenko]]'s ''Competitors'' novel mentions this absurdity several times in relation to starships. Humans on the Platform build these ships using matter synthesizers (i.e. replicators) based on plans in the station's database and available raw resources. While there are plenty of small fighter-type ships, even the giant ships have only one standard control console. Also, the entire thing has controls similar to a car, including ''pedals'' for acceleration and braking, in order to allow any human to use them. This is justified in that the station and the plans were created by aliens to be reminiscent of a web-based space exploration game (the game actually exists in [[Real Life]]). Later on, though, a group of rebels modify a large ship to function as a command ship of sorts with multiple consoles jury-rigged so that the ship would have an actual crew.
{{reflist}}
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