Multicrew ships! But what does your co-pilot do?

[Red Fox Four]

Multicrew ships sound like a lot of fun right?

While it seems charming to have other players onboard your ship I don't really understand what they are going to do on the ship?

I've done co-piloting in games like FSX / P3D, and there is often plenty to do for a co-pilot there (depending on size of plane you fly) because FSX / P3D is a straight-up simulator with a lot of things going on from manually plotting the flight plan into an FMC, going through the startup procedures, monitoring instruments during flight and so on.

However, Elite is far from a simulator and already we can handle all the ships essentials such as power settings, weapons, maneuvering, plotting course and all that jazz by ourselves and/or through the use of voice macros such as voice attack.

The workload is not really excessive to the point where it justifies having two pilots in one ship. And noone wants to be a co-pilot and simply sit idle in the chair and look through the glass as their friend is having the time of their life blasting away at things.

So what exactly would the duties of a co-pilot be? Or in the case of there being even more than just a co-pilot but additional crew... what are they supposed to do ?

Now, I know there are some simple go-to answers.

"The co-pilot and other crew operate the manual turrets, like on the Millenium Falcon in Star Wars !!!"

We already have turrets in the game though... and they are fully automated, so no need for extra manpower to keep those operational.

So again, I propose the challenge to you all.... what kind of duties is everyone who is not the pilot supposed to have in a multi-crew ship?

 

[DNA-Decay]

I think I will be needing:

Fully qualified masseuse.

Pedicurist.

Barista.

Semolier.

 

[Whiterose]

Make the tea and empty the toilet.

 

[Red Fox Four]

I doubt Frontier is going to bother putting in the programming time in their budget for multicrew ships if the only thing accomplished by doing so is people roleplaying Sims inside a spaceship.

 

[Conch]

serve me a drink!

 

[Varrag]

what kind of duties is everyone who is not the pilot supposed to have in a multi-crew ship?

Absolutely no idea.

 

[Luniticisi]

novelty ... CMDR FlashInThePan

 

[Tinman]

Two roles are already clear.

1. The ability to manually control the ship launched fighters.
2. The ability to manually control and fire the turrets.

Other things like setting nav targets and checking information in the system map while the main pilot is in control are pretty obvious (and has also been mentioned). There has also been (vague) talks about having more fine control over subsystems and shields. An obvious thing to do IMO is to give the ability to redistribute shield strength in certain direction manually to deflect incoming fire better.

Another idea (that has not been mentioned) is that several people could mine together more effectively. While someone is mining one asteroid their co-pilot could send of prospector drones towards other asteroids to find the next target. Someone else could monitor the refinery (maybe giving that some more in depth gameplay). If a pirate comes along someone could send out a fighter to lure that ship away or take them out.

 

[CMDR Ash]

Enough said

[video=youtube_share;eT_Q_iAnmys]https://youtu.be/eT_Q_iAnmys[/video]

 

[Kicks]

We already have turrets in the game though... and they are fully automated, so no need for extra manpower to keep those operational.

Which, I think, would be nowhere near as effective as turrets manned by a human player.

But, I get your point - other than that what's things to do? I had a bit of a think.

* Pilot the ship-launched fighter.

* Plot the course on the Galaxy Map. (Pilot can do, but would speed up travel times - co-pilot can ensure routes have scoopable stars etc).

* Module/Power management (Again, pilot can do - ship might be more effective in battle with 2 pairs of hands)

* Targeting (Pilot can do, but pilot can concentrate on flying/forward firing weapons - co-pilot can be accessing contacts, assessing biggest threat).

* Turreted weapons firing (Probably way more effective than automatic turrets - allows for target prioritization).


I admit, these wouldn't be a game-changer or a reason to buy "Season 3: Get with your co-pilot by the fireside", and so I think Frontier will need to introduce additional mechanics and/or incentives to make people want to fly together in the same ship rather than separate ships.

 

[Luniticisi]

An obvious thing to do IMO is to give the ability to redistribute shield strength in certain direction manually to deflect incoming fire better.

If that is something that gets added to multi-crew, i wouldn't be too pleased if solo pilots couldn't do the same.

 

[ilo]

Two roles are already clear.
1. The ability to manually control the ship launched fighters.
2. The ability to manually control and fire the turrets.

Add the option to shift shields to different parts of the ship, and the most important one, do nothing (as a lazy commander I really appreciate it)

 

[Caramel Clown]

Could totally use somebody to dust the dashboard, and wash windows.

 

[Tinman]

If that is something that gets added to multi-crew, i wouldn't be too pleased if solo pilots couldn't do the same.

Who knows, but I suspect doing that while at the same time flying around, firing at enemies and controlling pips on your own would be rather hectic. Could be done of course (and has been done on other games), but having someone focus on that would probably be more effective.

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Which, I think, would be nowhere near as effective as turrets manned by a human player.

But, I get your point - other than that what's things to do? I had a bit of a think.

* Pilot the ship-launched fighter.

* Plot the course on the Galaxy Map. (Pilot can do, but would speed up travel times - co-pilot can ensure routes have scoopable stars etc).

* Module/Power management (Again, pilot can do - ship might be more effective in battle with 2 pairs of hands)

* Targeting (Pilot can do, but pilot can concentrate on flying/forward firing weapons - co-pilot can be accessing contacts, assessing biggest threat).

* Turreted weapons firing (Probably way more effective than automatic turrets - allows for target prioritization).


I admit, these wouldn't be a game-changer or a reason to buy "Season 3: Get with your co-pilot by the fireside", and so I think Frontier will need to introduce additional mechanics and/or incentives to make people want to fly together in the same ship rather than separate ships.

As for your last point...multi crew is coming as part of Season 2 already...not Season 3.

 

[VR Murgle]

Make coffee, do the dishes, pour a drink, warm the bed or, if they want to be particularly useful, read the map...

 

[Red Fox Four]

Well, the Cobra and Clipper have visible co-pilot seats... but I struggle to see what a Cobra co-pilot would be doing.

Sure, larger vessels with separate small fighter and possibly large, manually controlled turrets is one thing, a Cobra or Clipper entirely different.

As for directional shields that might be something for larger ships... while small ships have a shield that is just equally strong on all sides a large ship requires you to angle your shield.

I dunno... but that is why I made this thread... cause I am a bit at a loss on how to add multicrew in a game that is not a hardcore simulator. Unless it goes the entire opposite way like some Guns of Icarus thing where an engineer runs around and beats up things with a wrench.

 

[Vorxian]

For it to work, we'd absolutely need space legs.

Otherwise, no one in their right mind would choose to be a passenger.

Now if they did do legs with multicrew..

You could use something large aka 'conda / clipper / cutter to effectively be a 'base of ops'. If you can chuck eagles / winders, non jump capable short range science / mining vehicles etc in a bay; then super, you have yourselves a mobile station, and activities for everyone one to take part in.

I don't wish ED to be SC, but SC do have some interesting ideas of what multicrew co-operation can do to achieve really effective / efficient tasking.

OP has some extremely valid concerns, but hopefully if done right and with space legs it will be extremely good.

 

[Tinman]

For it to work, we'd absolutely need space legs.

Otherwise, no one in their right mind would choose to be a passenger.

Now if they did do legs with multicrew..

You could use something large aka 'conda / clipper / cutter to effectively be a 'base of ops'. If you can chuck eagles / winders, non jump capable short range science / mining vehicles etc in a bay; then super, you have yourselves a mobile station, and activities for everyone one to take part in.

I don't wish ED to be SC, but SC do have some interesting ideas of what multicrew co-operation can do to achieve really effective / efficient tasking.

OP has some extremely valid concerns, but hopefully if done right and with space legs it will be extremely good.

We already know it won't be with space legs since "space legs" are not gonna happen this season but multi crew is.

Nor does it need space legs (we will be able to switch roles on the fly anyway)...space legs actually creates some issues in regards to consistency due to the fact that there is no magical "antigravity" in ED like there is in SC. It will be interesting to see how FD tackles this when space legs comes along though (probably next season). Personally I really hope they try to find solutions that does not involve antigravity even if doing it that way is a much bigger challenge.

 

[VR Murgle]

Well, the Cobra and Clipper have visible co-pilot seats... but I struggle to see what a Cobra co-pilot would be doing.

Sure, larger vessels with separate small fighter and possibly large, manually controlled turrets is one thing, a Cobra or Clipper entirely different.

As for directional shields that might be something for larger ships... while small ships have a shield that is just equally strong on all sides a large ship requires you to angle your shield.

I dunno... but that is why I made this thread... cause I am a bit at a loss on how to add multicrew in a game that is not a hardcore simulator. Unless it goes the entire opposite way like some Guns of Icarus thing where an engineer runs around and beats up things with a wrench.

Have you ever sat in a Cobra, looked to the side and thought: "Wouldn't it be nice if someone sat in that chair?" Space is a lonley place an the chair's there to remind you.

 

[Kicks]

Have you ever sat in a Cobra, looked to the side and thought: "Wouldn't it be nice if someone sat in that chair?" Space is a lonley place an the chair's there to remind you.

Slightly off-topic and probably will come across weird. Elite Dangerous is the first game that makes me not want to do a particular thing - not out of fault of the game - but myself. I enjoy driving the SRV, except I hardly do it when I'm out in the black on my own because I feel so goddamn lonely. It's a really weird feeling and I wonder if anyone else experiences it. Frontier have done such a good job of building this galaxy - I feel instant relief getting back in to the comfort of my ship. Less vulnerable. Warmer.

Weird huh?