If the randomness of open crew isn't for you the best way is to choose your ship size and start a game on closed crew gather some resources and begin whatever it is you want to do then open the crew. You get to set the path that way and people are more likely to stay if you have something going on
Open crew is one of those things you could go hours finding nothing then spawn in some big alliance server where it's very profitable.
Something I like about open crew other than getting to observe pirates in their natural habitat is that very often (this applies most to open crew brig) my spot is given to me because people are leaving the game due to some sort of chaos whether it be pvp or skelly ships or an event gone horribly awry and I like getting thrown into that action especially when it's some crew spawn killing my crew of new pirates then I get to go into boondock saints mode
Open crew isn't for everyone but I like it from time to time. People can get a lot done working together which does happen on open crew it's just the luck of the draw not all days are profitable
Mics make it easier but I've yet to play on a server where they didn't annoy me even with a decent crew. People with their non stop yapping and personal life background noise and their chewing and everything in between is distracting to me so I don't mind if people don't use mics. and I don't really care if they type I'd rather them be focused on game play both for the experience and performance. Some of the best crews I've had in open crew we pretty much never communicated we just quietly coordinated well and performed efficiently
