NPC Wingmen (Sandro)

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

Hello Commander Lobstris!

Fundamentally, if we simply allowed NPC wingmen without restraint, it might very well make the situation worse *and* make having wingmen more mandatory, which is not something we really want.

I'm not saying we've dropped the idea, just that it has a lot of ramifications that we don't want to take lightly.

Having NPC wingmen would make the game so much more fun. It would open up so many possibilities. Also, it's more realistic. Fighter pilots don't fly alone. And in a dangerous universe trade ships and mining vessels would have escort.

As it is right now there's no challenge in the game. All interdictions are avoidable. There is no danger in any mission. It can't get any worse. Maybe with wigmen players wouldn't complain so much if the AI was hard or aggressive. Players could choose to fly alone (maximum difficulty) or have a bunch of wingmen (easy mode). Now we're talking.

 

[Cageman]

Sandro, I can totally see your concerns here... Engineers made Open almost Engineer mandatory, in a way.

I wonder if this could be introduced to Solo play first though, and maybe migrated to Open/PG later? But first and foremost a Solo play unique feature?

 

[Trafalgar Law]

Hmm... How about we set up a rule list to see what others think?

I'll start!

• 1 NPC Wingman per CMDR.
• Can be mixed with NPC crew.
• Can NOT be mixed with CMDR wings.
• Can NOT be mixed with Multicrew.
• Wingmen Have Ethical Codes and could have Major Faction/PowerPlay loyalties. Pirate Wingmen are rare, and always Wanted, and will attract NPC bounty hunters and security. Clean Wingmen are common, but won't attack clean ships, will KWS in anarchy, no bounties found, no kill.
• Wingman are lost on ship destruction, but will attempt to flee if heavily damaged.
• CMDR probably needs to pay *something* when wingman dies. Otherwise you'd kill them at the end of their shift to avoid paying them. Lol
• NPC Wingmen come with a ship, not one of yours. More money they earn, the better they, and their ship becomes.

Thoughts?

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

I like it.

I would really like to see npc wingmen in some form, yes they will affect the current game balance, but I think their advantages will outweigh the issues as it will allow you to increase the difficulty in places (missions that recommend wingmen, greater likelihood of being interdicted by wings, better equipped NPCs, nightmare level RES/CZ etc.) and will open the door to more complex missions (such as escort missions).

 

[Mengy]

Hello Commanders!

This is something we still haven't reached a decision on.

The idea of NPC wingmen is totally cool, but there are some interesting issues, mainly revolving around balance. What we'd prefer to avoid is a wingman being a "no-brainer" in terms of effectiveness.

In my opinion, don't worry too much about the balance. Engineering already makes many encounters unbalanced, as do ship sizes. In reality being able to hire wings might do a lot to improve the balance, as NPC wings for singular players could even the odds versus player wings to a large degree, or even allow a non-engineered player to effectively stand up to a single engineered player aggressor. I feel like the added gameplay possibilities would outweigh the balance concerns. Traders and Miners could hire guards to protect them. Explorers could hire NPC wingmates to fly with them and (with a little bit of development by Frontier ) even help explorers scan systems quicker by giving NPC wings orders to "go and scan my target". Exploring with a wing of three NPC pilots could be cool honestly, turning a single explorer into a small fleet of explorers working together!!!!

I think it would be a lovely feature personally.

 

[Connolly91]

Hello Commanders!

This is something we still haven't reached a decision on.

The idea of NPC wingmen is totally cool, but there are some interesting issues, mainly revolving around balance. What we'd prefer to avoid is a wingman being a "no-brainer" in terms of effectiveness.

Then maybe you should remove the tutorial which features wingmen.

Other games with a fraction of your funding (Evochron series comes to mind) manages NPC wingmen in balanced ways.

 

[Phosfurious]

Would it be worth considering having wingmen restricted to during certain missions?

 

[I PORKCH0P I]

In my opinion, don't worry too much about the balance. Engineering already makes many encounters unbalanced, as do ship sizes. In reality being able to hire wings might do a lot to improve the balance, as NPC wings for singular players could even the odds versus player wings to a large degree, or even allow a non-engineered player to effectively stand up to a single engineered player aggressor. I feel like the added gameplay possibilities would outweigh the balance concerns. Traders and Miners could hire guards to protect them. Explorers could hire NPC wingmates to fly with them and (with a little bit of development by Frontier ) even help explorers scan systems quicker by giving NPC wings orders to "go and scan my target". Exploring with a wing of three NPC pilots could be cool honestly, turning a single explorer into a small fleet of explorers working together!!!!

I think it would be a lovely feature personally.

Some great points here.
Although personally NPC crew would be higher up my wish list.

 

[Erimus Kamzel]

In my opinion, don't worry too much about the balance. Engineering already makes many encounters unbalanced, as do ship sizes. In reality being able to hire wings might do a lot to improve the balance, as NPC wings for singular players could even the odds versus player wings to a large degree, or even allow a non-engineered player to effectively stand up to a single engineered player aggressor. I feel like the added gameplay possibilities would outweigh the balance concerns. Traders and Miners could hire guards to protect them. Explorers could hire NPC wingmates to fly with them and (with a little bit of development by Frontier ) even help explorers scan systems quicker by giving NPC wings orders to "go and scan my target". Exploring with a wing of three NPC pilots could be cool honestly, turning a single explorer into a small fleet of explorers working together!!!!

I think it would be a lovely feature personally.

+1

The fun gameplay possibilities that lone wolf players, traders, miners, and explorers can gain by hiring wingmen to run escort, patrol, and exploration related tasks surely outweigh the combat balance issues in a game where combat balance died forever when engineers were added.

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

In my opinion, don't worry too much about the balance. Engineering already makes many encounters unbalanced, as do ship sizes. In reality being able to hire wings might do a lot to improve the balance, as NPC wings for singular players could even the odds versus player wings to a large degree, or even allow a non-engineered player to effectively stand up to a single engineered player aggressor. I feel like the added gameplay possibilities would outweigh the balance concerns. Traders and Miners could hire guards to protect them. Explorers could hire NPC wingmates to fly with them and (with a little bit of development by Frontier ) even help explorers scan systems quicker by giving NPC wings orders to "go and scan my target". Exploring with a wing of three NPC pilots could be cool honestly, turning a single explorer into a small fleet of explorers working together!!!!

I think it would be a lovely feature personally.

+1

Also, it would make you feel more like you're interacting with the galaxy. As it is, there is very little interaction with NPCs which is unusual for any game.

Imagine getting attached to your wingman pilot. The two of you have survived many adventures these past few months. Then one day....Noooooooo! It would really hurt to lose your wingman buddy.

 

[VR jefranklin18]

Hello Commanders!

This is something we still haven't reached a decision on.

The idea of NPC wingmen is totally cool, but there are some interesting issues, mainly revolving around balance. What we'd prefer to avoid is a wingman being a "no-brainer" in terms of effectiveness.

How about linking it to the karma system? If you have a poor rating, no NPC wing men for you.

 

[Osbo89]

Hmm... How about we set up a rule list to see what others think?

I'll start!

• 1 NPC Wingman per CMDR.
• Can be mixed with NPC crew.
• Can NOT be mixed with CMDR wings.
• Can NOT be mixed with Multicrew.
• Wingmen Have Ethical Codes and could have Major Faction/PowerPlay loyalties. Pirate Wingmen are rare, and always Wanted, and will attract NPC bounty hunters and security. Clean Wingmen are common, but won't attack clean ships, will KWS in anarchy, no bounties found, no kill.
• Wingman are lost on ship destruction, but will attempt to flee if heavily damaged.
• CMDR probably needs to pay *something* when wingman dies. Otherwise you'd kill them at the end of their shift to avoid paying them. Lol
• NPC Wingmen come with a ship, not one of yours. More money they earn, the better they, and their ship becomes.

Thoughts?

CMDR Cosmic Spacehead

Now as a trader in open and non PvP player I like this and would welcome NPC wingman flying with me I want to be able to hire
my wingman from time to time, there are lots of systems around were I don't see another player for days and avoid the main PvP area's
a lot of the time and yes we would have to pay them for there services and as to what "Sandro Sammarco" has said about not letting it get unbalance this is something that will always happen in a large game like this.

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

Hello Commanders!

This is something we still haven't reached a decision on.

The idea of NPC wingmen is totally cool, but there are some interesting issues, mainly revolving around balance. What we'd prefer to avoid is a wingman being a "no-brainer" in terms of effectiveness.

its not brainless wingman npcs that worry me its the smart npcs.

 

[Leper Messiah]

In my opinion, don't worry too much about the balance. Engineering already makes many encounters unbalanced, as do ship sizes. In reality being able to hire wings might do a lot to improve the balance, as NPC wings for singular players could even the odds versus player wings to a large degree, or even allow a non-engineered player to effectively stand up to a single engineered player aggressor. I feel like the added gameplay possibilities would outweigh the balance concerns. Traders and Miners could hire guards to protect them. Explorers could hire NPC wingmates to fly with them and (with a little bit of development by Frontier ) even help explorers scan systems quicker by giving NPC wings orders to "go and scan my target". Exploring with a wing of three NPC pilots could be cool honestly, turning a single explorer into a small fleet of explorers working together!!!!

I think it would be a lovely feature personally.

Seriously I agree with so many of your suggestion....I wish you worked for FD!

I SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO want NPC wingmen. Been playing a lot of the Xwing series of games and even though the Ai is often as much use as a chocolate fire guard it's still fun to give out the orders, especially via Voice attack!

 

[Wyaston Hypatia]

As a solo player having NPC wingmen (and crew) would add to the richness of the gameplay.
I understand FD has to care about all types of play, but being selfish, I don't.
This would be a great step forward from my perspective.

 

[Lobstris]

How about linking it to the karma system? If you have a poor rating, no NPC wing men for you.

Or just really untrustworthy, back-stabby wingmen.

 

[Infidel Deity]

I just dont believe you have found a female pretty npc in this game. Not hurting eyes maybe. But pretty just no.

That's just envy, Commander. [yesnod]

 

[Colonel Kenney]

As a solo player - I couldn't care less about balance. I just want to have fun. If I want a challenge I go to a challenging situation. If I don't want one I stay in an easy situation. It should be my choice. Every once in a blue moon throw a player a curveball. But balance is for the PVP whiners.

Also as far as NPC's I'd prefer to have them out there already. Ship launched fighters are useless. By the time I get interdicted in my conda and get to the fighter and launch it, I'm almost already out of shields. If not specced for SCB's then I'm screwed. You need to run or take hull damage.

So having ships already launched and protecting you is much better for those of us willing to PAY for the protection.

 

[Runis]

Hello Commanders!

This is something we still haven't reached a decision on.

The idea of NPC wingmen is totally cool, but there are some interesting issues, mainly revolving around balance. What we'd prefer to avoid is a wingman being a "no-brainer" in terms of effectiveness.

Please don't. It would really undermine some parts of the game/gameplay such as real player wings/interaction, SLFs or PvP. Also the power creep / imbalance would be real.

 

[JimBadger]

Can we have our AI crew sit in spare seats on our bridge please? They don't even need to do anything. Just sit there. Anythings better than an empty chair.

If that seat is needed for MC, then the NPC can just magically disappear when another player connects... Holograms 'n wotnot.

 

[ozrix84]

Hello Commander Lobstris!

Fundamentally, if we simply allowed NPC wingmen without restraint, it might very well make the situation worse *and* make having wingmen more mandatory, which is not something we really want.

I'm not saying we've dropped the idea, just that it has a lot of ramifications that we don't want to take lightly.

how about making it disgustingly expensive to keep?