I agree, and that 70 is for full operations meaning to do every little thing, and NPCs can do most tasks. These would be like a hub for all test members letting them have a safe place out in space to dock, refuel, rest, socialize and log off. In the things they have told us about exploring they said to log out safely you have to use a bed. I do not think it would be hard at all to have people on one all the time just hanging out.I think people are forgetting that, those 700 slots for players is bed spots too. So if your docked on a bengal and logoff on the bengal bed spot bed bevause your in a carrier based ship (ie fighters) that you cant sleep on or docked up there with a multi crew ship. You are taking up a slot on that ship. Lets say we have 10 shifts of peopke each on ~2-3 hour bases, that means only 70 people are online manning that ship. Everyone else will be in bunk and standing by.
There is no way you can maintain a fully loaded bengal 24/7. You would need 7000 players playing everyday and have to get off board the ship and find somewhere new to dock and rest. They said that manning a bengal would be realistic with shifts and rest cycles. If a 6000 member squadron cant man a single carrier then we need an alliance. It was also discusses that of those 700 charactera that some might be NPCs fulfilling immersion roles that have no human role like a chef or custodians.