I think that a lot of problems with B7 viewed as an ongoing series (rather than separate episodes) could have been reduced by thinking of things on a smaller scale. If, for instance, there were only a dozen habitable planets, it would be less surprising that they all have quarries and only one building (an underground bunker) per planet, and it would be possible to follow the political currents of their relationship with the Federation.
If the Liberator were an astonishingly advanced--but tiny--ship (as if Scorpio weren't an interstellar Yugo, for example) then it would make perfect sense that Blake couldn't accommodate a larger crew and had to be critically understaffed all the time.
-(Y)