Star Wars: The Old Republic, Crew Skills Detailed

A new developer diary at the Star Wars: The Old Republic site goes more in-depth with details of crew skills and crafting.
This entry by game systems designer Patrick Malott essentially acts as an extended companion piece to the previously-released video on the subject. As that trailer made clear, players will be able to delegate tasks to companions and crew members. Malott explains that crafting orders can be issued to up to five crew members, and that said crew members can have up to five tasks in a queue.
Certain companions will be better suited to certain tasks (say, treasure hunting) and it’ll be important to maintain a friendly relationship with all crew members if you want them to do decent work for you. A tense relationship means low motivation at the crafting bench.
Special pieces of equipment, such as lightsabers, will still be the player’s responsibility to craft.
Malott also talks a little about Armstech – one of the six crafting skills available in the universe. Arsmtech allows the creation of blaster pistols, sniper rifles and other such shooty items.