How do you even get these games? I'm on my 4th ship now and on each of them at least half the crew was completely useless (more like 80% on the current). The Mush don't need to do anything to make the humans fail. Only few are talking at all. This might be my last try, barely fun...
You teach these newbies. You guide, gift, show, instruct, encourage. It uplifts you too. You let 'the right one(s)' come to you, be thankful for them, and uplift and empower their play - which I ensure you, makes your own play a huge amount better.
If you don't talk to them, even if they don't talk to you first or even after, there's almost 0 chance they'll start talking.
Read the forums and the wiki, learn your role and everyone else's as best you can. Accept that -this- ship is going to fail, but that you are going to use it to teach people how to play, so that the nexus of taught players can go forth and land on other ships, teaching others.... eventually the seeds of this will grow so far, that your ships will be filled with educated actives, descendant students of students of students of your students - not that you'll ever know for sure. So just trust, and do. It's rewarding
I've had only 2 ships since we parted, Kolbur. Both have ended in a human loss, but at least I died -human- on each of them this time ;p.
And I made these ship-deaths slow. As slow as I could while I lived.
More time is the most chance to get into the game, for me and the newbies with me. Most chance to learn teamwork, how to use skills, how to track events and people, how to make sure others are doing their jobs or not... even to tell if things are going good or bad.
Oh, and we -almost- won, it ends D8 C7, next cycle. I almost got people researching the cure, we had just gotten the final ingredient, the disk, to start it at last. And Pilgred was around 60% repaired. And we did that with just 6 players really active at all... well, active and not mush. I'm sure I'm the most experienced player on the ship, and it's my 4th ship too.
In cases like that, I recalculate the odds. I stop expecting to 'win', and start measuring how good each moment is, and if it's possible to make the next moment better than this one.
It's a better game to play like that
. Even when the win is unbelievably unlikely.