Thanks for the Development Update.
For the most part, the overall setup described works for me. I am satisfied with the instant-join feature in this case (and I vote YES to ship transfer delays), due to the realities of getting players together for a multiplayer session.
The primary crew roles described are almost exactly as I had imagined, turrets and SLF piloting.
But I would like to ask whether there is any chance of seeing non-combat roles introduced, such as:
Mining:
-Introduce a miner SLF equipped with mining lasers, which can be multi-crew staffed. Now I can helm my Anaconda, managing the prospector/collector limpets and refinery, while two friends fly SLF and lase the asteroids.
-Introduce turret mining lasers and turret prospector limpet aiming, for even more flexibility in how to mine. A CMDR crew in the mothership fires prospectors from a turret, and upon seeing solid results, jumps to the miner SLF to head out and being lasing the asteroid. The helm CMDR can manage limpets and even perhaps man a prospector turret in the mean time.
If you have reservations about duplicating the profits off sale of the mined cargo, consider:
-Split mined cargo profits from Commodity Market sale evenly between crew.
-Mining mission rewards could offer: Market value of mined goods shared between crew, PLUS a duplicated reward for any CDMR crew who assist in completing the mission.
I have other player friends who'd jump on that play in a second, whereas combat will not be likely as interesting for us.
Furthermore, SOLO players will get some added love with this system, as they can do all the roles themselves if they wish. Using turret prospector limpets and flying the mining SLF to lase asteroids, while their autopilot mother ship follows and collector limpets do their job.
Exploration:
A new variant of the Detailed Surface Scanner: It mounts in a hardpoint, instead of a module slot. It is turret mounted, and features an extended scanning range. The Class 2 size offers some range increase (maybe 2X), and Class 3 and Class 4 sizes each offers a bit longer range.
Now exploration multicrew can drop into a system and head toward a group of planets, maybe with quite a few moons in the group. Drop to normal space (or maybe not?) and use the turret DSS to quickly sweep the scanner to each each celestial body at longer range, without having to fly nearly as close, or steer the whole ship to point at every single object.
Duplicate the rewards for this. Put all CMDR crew names as shared credit on any first discovered objects.
And again, SOLO players get some love, getting A) the chance to put the DSS into a hardpoint, saving module space and B) the chance to operate the DSS turret themselves for the same quicker scan speed, or in "Fixed Forward" mode, offering the current method of operation by pointing the ship nose at the object.
EDIT: And in support of the above mentioned SRV working like the SLF. Let CMDR crew use them the same, for surface exploration teams in SRV groups.
A few other non-combat ideas that could fall under "Flight Engineer" role:
Fuel Scoop: When the fuel scoop is deployed, a small central GUI appears for CMDR crew, which shows a horizontal bar with an "Optimal Intake" band, and a CMDR controlled marker, both of which slide along the horizontal bar.
Each scoopable star type has a different width of "Optimal Intake" on the display, and the CMDR crew needs to move their marker left/right to center it within the "Optimal Intake" range. Keeping it in the band offers slightly quicker onset of peak scooping, and at a slightly reduced thermal load.
Cargo Master: when the ship is under pirate attack, and the cargo hatch is being hit with fire or limpets, the CMDR crew can assign 1 or 2 PIPs to help resist. The small central GUI would show 3 points of failure for the Cargo Hatch:
1) Electrical System
2) Mechanical System
3) Structure Damage
Each would have a little slider bar indicating filling up, which shows how each aspect is under attack, and these would vary a bit as the attack progressed. The CMDR crew Cargo Master could allocate 1 or 2 PIPs to spread between these 3 points of failure. Once any one of the 3 aspects is fully attacked, the Cargo Hatch is breached and cargo loss begins!
Damage Control: An extension of the AFMU, but instead of disabling a module to repair it, the CMDR crew can put up to 2 PIPs beside any damaged module. That module will be repaired while still functional, but at a slower rate than if disabled. Putting 2 PIPs is twice as fast repair as 1 PIP, but if several modules are damaged, then spreading out the PIPs may make sense.
Anyway, a few ideas for non-combat play. And all things that wouldn't really give a serious advantage for those not in a multi-crew game. Plus with all the above that involve CMDR crew placing PIPs, those would be unavailable for the rest of ship systems, offering some potential drawbacks for use of these roles.
I'm looking forward to more updates. Thanks again.
or there are five friends, who we can give names to if we want, but only four positions in Bob's cutter