Star Wars RPG

I've done two different things in these scenarios. When my players got a larger ship I had a trusted NPC who could captain it and manage the minutia of crew while the players did their own thing. They then could discuss with the NPC missions they wanted their crew to undertake that had the chance to bring in income or make progress towards upgrades. Or they could use the ship as support in whatever they were actively doing instead (though a big ship was often balanced out by big problems).

After they joined the rebellion, they had alliance crew, though they also ran missions near the end of the campaign to recruit crew members from allies they had encountered during the campaign by providing further assistance or favors.

Essentially I just tried to keep managing the crew narrative and didn't try to get too gritty with costs or numbers.