I was thinking about just scanning freeports to see how many people live on it and taking an average or so, since they're supposed to be "mobile freeports".
thats the freeports i have mapped with my zoner whale, i have the feeling that oner or two might be missing. and im quite stunned by the low population count except for freeport 1. i always thought there would be more people on the stations. this range gives you a pretty free hand for your rp as you have two extreme diffirent values with 80 on fp 11 and 2000 on fp 1 with no huge difference in the structure of the frepport. so i guess you can do what fits your rp best.
a reason FP11 has only a "skeletal" crew is, cause it was evacuated when the first keeper attacks occured. - so most of the habitants are withdrawn and moved to gran canaria ( where its much nicer anyway ) - and those that are on FP11 are mostly maintenance crews and traders.
anyway - after thinking about it again.... i d go for these numbers ( my own opinion ):
- Juggernaut:
maybe a crew of 300
a total "population" of 1000 - 1500 being totally self sufficient
capable of transporting up to 6000 for a short period of time ( evacuation )
* a few dozen civilian ships and shuttles
* one large docking bay and mooring points
- Aquilon:
maybe a crew of 1000 ( military crew [pilots, naval officers, technicians, scientists and possibly guests] )
no total population, cause its not a habitational ship - and it is not self sufficient, it needs frequent and large amounts of resupply
capable of transporting maybe 1200 people. ( its optimal crew already lives quite cramped )
* maybe a full regiment (120) fighters / bombers
* 15-20 small craft ( shuttles, civlian ships )
* 1 or 2 larger supply crafts ( small transports )
the main difference there is that the roughly 1.5k people on the juggernaut live in utter comfort, not luxory - but in a real home. - the biodomes are used for harvest, biological experiments, food production and relaxation. on the aquilon, each crew member has its place and its function. - there s no real room for relaxation - and a regular duty on a ship like the aquilon would probably be something like 2 or 3 years only.
the zoner gunboat is supposed to have a crew of 3 officers and 9 crew members ( total of 12 ) - the hathor would be similar but would probably need a few more to function in a really optimal way, cause its more used for military purpose.
anyway - a ship that is a real home for 1.5k people is a marvelous thing. - there might be juggernauts out there that are a home for 3.000 or 5.000 people even ( a permanent home ) - but those would need to be modified - slightly smaller quarters, less relaxation etc. - but people would easily keep up with that. humans are able to accomodate easily to most situations. - so the value of 1.500 people on a juggernaut is what one might call "optimal". juggernauts are meant to be different - each one of them. each of them is somewhat unique - customized for what its meant to do. - a guardship like the Persephone will have MUCH less crew than for example a colony ship. - and will make use of the extra space with backup systems, storage room or spare parts.