how do you transfer crew from existing ship without buying new crew for a new ship you are purchasing?

[ColStuckInMyTeeth]

I'm trying to buy a second ship. The game had originally had a 'guidance' mission for me to hire a captain. So I did. I didn't realize I wouldn't need the captain, so he's been on the only ship I've owned since I started playing.

Now I'm buying a new ship, but the game won't let me complete the purchase without a crew member. I want to hire the guy from my ship since he's not doing anything on my ship anyway.

I don't see a way to unassign the crew from my ship though, or a way to transfer crew from existing ship in the purchase menu for the new ship. Does anyone know how to do this?

[martingolding96]

Just buy the new ship then transfer the Crew that you want.

[ColStuckInMyTeeth]

yea but I dont want to buy a new captain is what I'm saying. I dont have tons of money to spare, so I'm trying to avoid hiring new personel.

[martingolding96]

Sell the new captain afterwards

[ColStuckInMyTeeth]

how do you sell them? I just see an option to fire them.

[Kalisa]

when buying a ship you always need at least a captain, however the moment u buy said ship u can move the crew member u have in mind over as captain and fire the original if u want, not sure why this is forced but easy enough to work around.
you cant sell crew, just fire.
I usually just have the captain on board and then mass transfer crew from my builders who are trained to the new ship, and appoint a captain i want.

[martingolding96]

Originally posted by GDICommand:

how do you sell them? I just see an option to fire them.

To sell the captain or any crew go to modify your ship then remove the captain like you would any of the ships equipment

[Oddible]

A few things... First, you WANT service crew on your ships, they speed things up. They also train up and you can use them as captains later. There are several ways to do what you want to do though. First, you can right click the captain's name in the ship info personnel tab and say Work somewhere else. Then right click the ship and select captain. You can also click one ship then right click another ship and say transfer crew. Then promote to captain. You can also just talk to him if you're on the ship.

I often order my ships with one less crew than I need so i can assign a captain from another ship.