Hiring pilots to fly trade routes in ships you own?

Nacho2596 · Jun 23, 2015

While flying around trading and making tons of cash I always get the urge to expand my trading empire beyond my own personal labor. I always think of how cool it would be to be able to hire npc pilots to fly extra ships that I own doing trade routes that I've discovered. It would be a cool incentive to own multiple ships and would be a cool way to make some passive income, if you have the cash to spare for hiring pilots and buying multiple ships. =P

What do you guys think? Do you think it would be game breaking? Would people end up just having too much money? Or do you think it would add a little more depth and incentive to keep playing and expanding your own personal empire? (=

piugattuk · Jun 23, 2015

Sounds good to me.

dsagent · Jun 23, 2015

Won't happen. Having a fleet of spaceships was ruled out early in development. (Someone said it somewhere I think it was braben)

I prefer all the spaceships to be cheaper and more balanced.

Rauminen · Jun 23, 2015

Played a lot of the X series, have we?

It would be nice, yes. I would even hire beginner players to fly MY ships for a cut of the profit

But hey, this is not that game.

Jaeger · Jun 23, 2015

Nacho2596 said:
While flying around trading and making tons of cash I always get the urge to expand my trading empire beyond my own personal labor. I always think of how cool it would be to be able to hire npc pilots to fly extra ships that I own doing trade routes that I've discovered. It would be a cool incentive to own multiple ships and would be a cool way to make some passive income, if you have the cash to spare for hiring pilots and buying multiple ships. =P

What do you guys think? Do you think it would be game breaking? Would people end up just having too much money? Or do you think it would add a little more depth and incentive to keep playing and expanding your own personal empire? (=

This would be the most cost effective way to increase tonnage capacity.

4 X T6 instead of 1 T7 or 12 x T6 instead of a T9

It really highlights the stupid prices we are expected to pay for bigger ships too.

This kind of this would add a incredible level player interaction, it's a pity FD don't seem to have the chops.

Soon(TM) · Jun 23, 2015

Nope, FD won't do it, its not in the games heritage.

Your a lone pilot thrown into the galaxy on your own and left to find your own way in it, that doesn't mean recruiting NPCs to bot farm for you!

Owning multiple ships yes, having NPCs earn your credits for you No.

Its "Blaze your own trail" not "Let NPCs Farm Millions of credits for you" lol

Nacho2596 · Jun 23, 2015

I was thinking it would be a good feature to have as an end game. Make it available only after reaching elite as a trader or something along those lines, to keep people from advancing too quickly. hehe

I bought x rebirth back at release but only played about 2 hours of it due to the instability of the game, didn't even know you could have a fleet of traders in that game. =P
This idea sort of just came to me as I was doing my trade rout listening to some epic music on youtube.

blumhagen · Jun 23, 2015

Kind of like the end game of Euro Truck Simulator 2. You get to the point where you have a tonne of drivers with trucks & literally all you have to do is have the game open & you're making money.

Crash1099 · Jun 23, 2015

blumhagen said:
Kind of like the end game of Euro Truck Simulator 2. You get to the point where you have a tonne of drivers with trucks & literally all you have to do is have the game open & you're making money.

I would love that since i could buy the Anaconda faster.

Rauminen · Jun 23, 2015

Nacho2596 said:
I was thinking it would be a good feature to have as an end game. Make it available only after reaching elite as a trader or something along those lines, to keep people from advancing too quickly. hehe

I bought x rebirth back at release but only played about 2 hours of it due to the instability of the game, didn't even know you could have a fleet of traders in that game. =P
This idea sort of just came to me as I was doing my trade rout listening to some epic music on youtube.

Ah, no no no no no, not rebirth mate, anything before that. It's a long list. I've spent many hundreds of hours with those. Rebirth? Only a few. Not hundred

Stompmaster · Jun 23, 2015

Nacho2596 said:
While flying around trading and making tons of cash I always get the urge to expand my trading empire beyond my own personal labor. I always think of how cool it would be to be able to hire npc pilots to fly extra ships that I own doing trade routes that I've discovered. It would be a cool incentive to own multiple ships and would be a cool way to make some passive income, if you have the cash to spare for hiring pilots and buying multiple ships. =P

What do you guys think? Do you think it would be game breaking? Would people end up just having too much money? Or do you think it would add a little more depth and incentive to keep playing and expanding your own personal empire? (=

I would much rather the owing of space stations, this wouldn't break the lone wolf attitude but would also give you credits for landing taxes, market taxes etc.

Cheers

CMDR J Stompmaster

Armour · Jun 23, 2015

I would hate to think that FDEV would go to the trouble of implementing persistent NPCs, with all of the difficulty that would entail in a P2P architecture, only for players to see them as little more than passive credit generators.

Captain Willard · Jun 23, 2015

An absolute no to hiring npc pilots, Have the neighbor kid play your game for you and pay him. Owning stations will never happen.

Acteris · Jun 23, 2015

Nacho2596 said:
While flying around trading and making tons of cash I always get the urge to expand my trading empire beyond my own personal labor. I always think of how cool it would be to be able to hire npc pilots to fly extra ships that I own doing trade routes that I've discovered. It would be a cool incentive to own multiple ships and would be a cool way to make some passive income, if you have the cash to spare for hiring pilots and buying multiple ships. =P

What do you guys think? Do you think it would be game breaking? Would people end up just having too much money? Or do you think it would add a little more depth and incentive to keep playing and expanding your own personal empire? (=

Damn brilliant idea!

Gully Foyle · Jun 23, 2015

Nacho:
Why don't you form a trading wing and do it that way?
Share the profits and hire a wing of fighters to protect you.

I don't think there would be any fun in passive income, IMO
o7 CMDR

Armour · Jun 23, 2015

Stompmaster said:
I would much rather the owing of space stations, this wouldn't break the lone wolf attitude but would also give you credits for landing taxes, market taxes etc.

I'd prefer being able to own shares in companies that construct, administer, and run security services for stations (as well as ship manufacturers, mining companies, manufacturers of terraforming tech, biotech firms, and any other businesses that might span the galaxy). Having to scour newsfeeds, analyse trends, and evaluate tips from NPCs (or other players) to pick winners - or potentially lose your shirt - would involve gameplay with consequences, rather than an endless credit source. You might still become some kind of Space Tycoon, but at least you would have to work for it beyond collecting endless streams of cash and buying a new credit farmbot every so often.