I would just like a more personable experience that included more than just static portraits of high level politicians or diplomats.

I was wondering if training crews would still be something that should be needed from the planets you build up, but would more depend on ship crew training depots being built and training the crew. Once the crew is trained, unlike research depots, they go forth and do not need their base again. The base is then free to train new crew. In essense crew becomes an income just like crystal or metal.

Crew should need to be replaced after battle from training depots with excess production if losses have been taken. To do this you need to visit a planet with a depot of have crew transfer transports that act like trading ships despatched and actually reach the ship in need of crew.