I would totally be up for an LP of that. Dibs on the helm.
* Scotty is A1-supar pilot, as the X-COM LPs no doubt prove.
Right, helm controls are a must. Under normal circumstances, you will want a crewmember at the bridge, one at weapons, one on shield, and one on the engines. You can manage to get a full complement of 8 crewmembers rather early on, and given some reasonably competent play you shouldn't ever lose a crewmember barring the most chaotic of circumstances. With a large crew, repairs and hand-to-hand combat becomes easier, and sending over boarding parties via teleporter is an option.
I could totally see a hostile boarding party causing deaths if the crew is composed mostly of races that are poor at combat, however. But I've noticed LPers tend to be too eager to sell that anti-personnel drone when they have a crew like that, and flushing enemies out the airlock while they try in vain to get through the fully-upgraded blast doors is always fun...