Can we sort out some SLF crew QoL issues and inconsistencies pls.

[GunnerBill]

Pilots die when your ship is destroyed as if they are on-board. Yet you can travel to a different system without a pilot on-board but activate them immediately from the local crew lounge.

So where are they? :S

Annoyance 1. If you have used a ship that doesn't support SLF your pilot is returned to the crew lounge and set inactive. Then when you switch back to a SLF capable ship the pilot does not reset as active. Often I forget to do this and arrive ready to fight but with no pilot. Clearly my own fault but... if you can activate a pilot immediately from an entirely different system why can't I activate them in my ship immediately wherever I am?

Solution 1. Either your default pilot automatically deploys every time you leave dock in a SLF capable ship or you are given the opportunity on launching (without an active pilot) to return to the crew lounge and set one active. Or pilots are active in any ship that is SLF capable all the time because as above it appears they may not even be in your ship...

Annoyance 2. Your SLF pilot suffers perma-death when your ship is destroyed. This does not appear to be consistent with the opening statement unless the world of SLF piloting is as brutal as the Matrix!

Solution 2. Your pilot is either on-board your ship and ejects in an escape pod as your Cmdr does or the pilot is not on-board (telepresence) and is available in your crew lounge as normal when you redeploy.

 

[andrak]

Pilots die when your ship is destroyed as if they are on-board. Yet you can travel to a different system without a pilot on-board but activate them immediately from the local crew lounge.

So where are they? :S

Annoyance 1. If you have used a ship that doesn't support SLF your pilot is returned to the crew lounge and set inactive. Then when you switch back to a SLF capable ship the pilot does not reset as active. Often I forget to do this and arrive ready to fight but with no pilot. Clearly my own fault but... if you can activate a pilot immediately from an entirely different system why can't I activate them in my ship immediately wherever I am?

Solution 1. Either your default pilot automatically deploys every time you leave dock in a SLF capable ship or you are given the opportunity on launching (without an active pilot) to return to the crew lounge and set one active. Or pilots are active in any ship that is SLF capable all the time because as above it appears they may not even be in your ship...

Annoyance 2. Your SLF pilot suffers perma-death when your ship is destroyed. This does not appear to be consistent with the opening statement unless the world of SLF piloting is as brutal as the Matrix!

Solution 2. Your pilot is either on-board your ship and ejects in an escape pod as your Cmdr does or the pilot is not on-board (telepresence) and is available in your crew lounge as normal when you redeploy.

Agree, but if it's pick holes in inconsistencies time it's gonna be a long post.

NPC crew death and them taking a cut even when inactive are the reasons I don't use crew and won't ever if they stay the way they are.

 

[Codger]

I attempted to ask if there were any changes related to NPC crew coming. At least, I posted the question for the Livestream.

I got a bunch of Reps for that post. Sandro did not mention the question, however, so I guess there was nothing to say.

I'd love to have NPC companions available similar to other games that offer them. I'd like to see the following:

* No perma death -- there should be some way to save or retrieve them.
* No payouts when inactive -- this part is just silly in my opinion. They cost way too much, especially if most of what you do isn't combat.
* No reduction of combat experience -- currently they take about 1/2 your combat experience, which is just a weird design.
* Make them visible in my ship. Even if I have no SLF bay, just show them sitting in the seat.

I actually don't care how effective they are in combat -- most 'followers' in games are pretty lame, they are just there for flavor and to keep you company.

That's all I want from them here, too. But, it doesn't appear that FD is moving in that direction

 

[Exigeous]

Of course, I mean there shouldn't be any consequences to losing your ship right! While they're at it why can't we get rid of the damn rebuy, it's so expensive when I lose my ship that I shouldn't have to pay that. I shouldn't have to, you know, wake out of a fight or equip my ship properly to make sure I don't die. It's not like I can pick a low intensity conflict zone or a non-haz res so that the cops help me in my fight. They also need to get rid of interdiction all together, this is a video game, there shouldn't be any risks at all as those pirates start shooting right away. I shouldn't have to put shields on my trading ship, that's cargo space I'm wasting after all.

And of course I shouldn't have to remember to set my crew member as active, that's absurd! And why would they get paid when we're not using them, I mean I know they are on instant standby for us so they can't work another job but if I don't need them they should just starve, it's not like Elite is trying to be a simulation or anything. I mean lately it's been really hard to make money, the last time I needed some I could only make $150M or so an hour, that 12% they take just breaks the bank doesn't it?!?

 

[GunnerBill]

* No payouts when inactive -- this part is just silly in my opinion. They cost way too much, especially if most of what you do isn't combat.

Agree with what you say although with respect to the above - contractually it's not sensible for a person to be sitting around at your beck and call earning nothing, especially if they are not able to earn elsewhere. However, yes, the standby rate is far too much and should perhaps be a flat rate per day similar to the hire rate. If you don't utilise them for a certain length of time they could become "unhappy" and eventually quit in the way passengers do.

----------------

Of course, I mean there shouldn't be any consequences to losing your ship right! While they're at it why can't we get rid of the damn rebuy, it's so expensive when I lose my ship that I shouldn't have to pay that. I shouldn't have to, you know, wake out of a fight or equip my ship properly to make sure I don't die. It's not like I can pick a low intensity conflict zone or a non-haz res so that the cops help me in my fight. They also need to get rid of interdiction all together, this is a video game, there shouldn't be any risks at all as those pirates start shooting right away. I shouldn't have to put shields on my trading ship, that's cargo space I'm wasting after all.

And of course I shouldn't have to remember to set my crew member as active, that's absurd! And why would they get paid when we're not using them, I mean I know they are on instant standby for us so they can't work another job but if I don't need them they should just starve, it's not like Elite is trying to be a simulation or anything. I mean lately it's been really hard to make money, the last time I needed some I could only make $150M or so an hour, that 12% they take just breaks the bank doesn't it?!?

OK I dunno where you got all that from, stuff been getting on top of you recently? :O

Hey-ho!

But your first point, no consequence? Fine then everybody should die. But please make it consistent & plausible, why should the CMDR be able to eject but the SLF pilot be stranded and doomed to die? Do you really think a SLF pilot would join a ship up knowing there was no "parachute" for them?

How do you feel about the fire group reminder: Git rid, Y/N?

 

[Tobasco da Gama]

When your ship is destroyed, your NPC crew should survive but charge you a "hazard pay" fee that gets added to your rebuy. If you can't afford it or don't want to pay it, they leave your employment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[MickyG1982]

Consider it this way,

Part of your contract with the crew you have hired is to provide them with basic protection, if you lose your ship with them in it you have broken that contract agreement (even if they escape) so they will no longer work for you & they are free to seek other employment.

Perma death gone, just with a little wording

 

[Frenotx]

When your ship is destroyed, your NPC crew should survive but charge you a "hazard pay" fee that gets added to your rebuy. If you can't afford it or don't want to pay it, they leave your employment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Works for me. Very simple, and doesn't need any new UI elements. I'd love rescue missions, but your idea would be a great stop-gap.

 

[GunnerBill]

When your ship is destroyed, your NPC crew should survive but charge you a "hazard pay" fee that gets added to your rebuy. If you can't afford it or don't want to pay it, they leave your employment. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I quite like that. +1

Consider it this way,

Part of your contract with the crew you have hired is to provide them with basic protection, if you lose your ship with them in it you have broken that contract agreement (even if they escape) so they will no longer work for you & they are free to seek other employment.

Perma death gone, just with a little wording

I would have thought that complicit in any contract to serve on a combat ship would be the understanding that it might be dangerous, even resulting in having to abandon ship.

As above I agree that if the ship is destroyed the SLF Pilot could be given a bonus/get out clause but to simply leave every time?

 

[Exigeous]

....stuff been getting on top of you recently? :O

Not at all, life's great thanks. I absolutely love posts like these, you wouldn't believe the smile on my face. Do I think posts like these are beyond moronic, yep. Do they upset me, nope, not possible. See I realize this is a video game and forum idiocy, as such it's not possible for it to upset me in the slightest.

But your first point, no consequence? Fine then everybody should die. But please make it consistent & plausible, why should the CMDR be able to eject but the SLF pilot be stranded and doomed to die? Do you really think a SLF pilot would join a ship up knowing there was no "parachute" for them?

Uh, okay, sure I'd be down for an iron man mode - but do you really think that would even remotely fly? See there are things you have to do in a video game that are called game mechanics. They have to be this way to make a game playable. Should our ships be able to be repaired from 1% to 100% in 1 second, of course not. Do you think that should take the hundreds of hours it would actually take? Should refueling take the same time it would take with a fuel scoop? (actually that's not a bad idea but I digress). As there needs to be consequences in a game, despite what the snowflakes will cry about, this is a very good one as its so very minor. If you're going to fall in love with and get all attached to your fake NPC SLF pilot then you need to learn how to keep them alive. If you play in solo there should be ZERO reason to ever die. Let me say that again - ZERO REASON to die. Any ship that can carry a SLF, including the Keelback, can easily survive any situation in the game. Now if say the commander sucks to the point that they can't survive during NPC combat, well then they deserve to lose something as inconsequential as an NPC pilot. I mean if someone is going to cry about that I suggest they have something "on top of them" as you so, uh, oddly put it.

How do you feel about the fire group reminder: Git rid, Y/N?

ABSOLUTELY yes, 100% that should be removed and is beyond moronic. As should the landing gear reminder and any "you're clearly a baby snowflake here's a crutch" reminder. Maybe once the first time you outfit or in a training mission. Just like the "flight checks" shouldn't need to be disabled but rather just only shown once, although I suppose you could argue that adds some tiny level of immersion.

 

[piercehead]

As far as automatically setting NPCs active - only if there's an option to NOT have that. Say I switch from my battleship to my exploration ship (with SLF for personal use) I don't want to risk losing my Elite NPC if it's all the same.

As far as losing them on ship destruction, I'd rather have the penalty be a slight loss of NPC experience and maybe a temporary loss of NPC while they get drunk and deal with the trauma of near-death.

 

[Demascus]

Your asking these questions in a game that allows you telepresence your brain across the galaxy in under a minute yet fails to allow escape pods to anyone else but the pilot to have an escape pod.

 

[ZeroAi]

Pilots die when your ship is destroyed as if they are on-board. Yet you can travel to a different system without a pilot on-board but activate them immediately from the local crew lounge.

So where are they? :S

Annoyance 1. If you have used a ship that doesn't support SLF your pilot is returned to the crew lounge and set inactive. Then when you switch back to a SLF capable ship the pilot does not reset as active. Often I forget to do this and arrive ready to fight but with no pilot. Clearly my own fault but... if you can activate a pilot immediately from an entirely different system why can't I activate them in my ship immediately wherever I am?

Solution 1. Either your default pilot automatically deploys every time you leave dock in a SLF capable ship or you are given the opportunity on launching (without an active pilot) to return to the crew lounge and set one active. Or pilots are active in any ship that is SLF capable all the time because as above it appears they may not even be in your ship...

Annoyance 2. Your SLF pilot suffers perma-death when your ship is destroyed. This does not appear to be consistent with the opening statement unless the world of SLF piloting is as brutal as the Matrix!

Solution 2. Your pilot is either on-board your ship and ejects in an escape pod as your Cmdr does or the pilot is not on-board (telepresence) and is available in your crew lounge as normal when you redeploy.

+Rep

Good points!

 

[Quantis Trap]

While we're at it. Why are you still there as a tele-presence in your SRV after your ship explodes!

 

[GunnerBill]

As far as automatically setting NPCs active - only if there's an option to NOT have that. Say I switch from my battleship to my exploration ship (with SLF for personal use) I don't want to risk losing my Elite NPC if it's all the same.

As far as losing them on ship destruction, I'd rather have the penalty be a slight loss of NPC experience and maybe a temporary loss of NPC while they get drunk and deal with the trauma of near-death.

Fair point

 

[GunnerBill]

Not at all, life's great thanks. I absolutely love posts like these, you wouldn't believe the smile on my face. Do I think posts like these are beyond moronic, yep. Do they upset me, nope, not possible. See I realize this is a video game and forum idiocy, as such it's not possible for it to upset me in the slightest.



Uh, okay, sure I'd be down for an iron man mode - but do you really think that would even remotely fly? See there are things you have to do in a video game that are called game mechanics. They have to be this way to make a game playable. Should our ships be able to be repaired from 1% to 100% in 1 second, of course not. Do you think that should take the hundreds of hours it would actually take? Should refueling take the same time it would take with a fuel scoop? (actually that's not a bad idea but I digress). As there needs to be consequences in a game, despite what the snowflakes will cry about, this is a very good one as its so very minor. If you're going to fall in love with and get all attached to your fake NPC SLF pilot then you need to learn how to keep them alive. If you play in solo there should be ZERO reason to ever die. Let me say that again - ZERO REASON to die. Any ship that can carry a SLF, including the Keelback, can easily survive any situation in the game. Now if say the commander sucks to the point that they can't survive during NPC combat, well then they deserve to lose something as inconsequential as an NPC pilot. I mean if someone is going to cry about that I suggest they have something "on top of them" as you so, uh, oddly put it.



ABSOLUTELY yes, 100% that should be removed and is beyond moronic. As should the landing gear reminder and any "you're clearly a baby snowflake here's a crutch" reminder. Maybe once the first time you outfit or in a training mission. Just like the "flight checks" shouldn't need to be disabled but rather just only shown once, although I suppose you could argue that adds some tiny level of immersion.

I am sorry but I really don't get where you are coming from.

I've made a post about a couple of QoL issues that I think are relevant to SLF pilots, these are far from controversial and yet you've launched into two tirades ultimately calling my posting "moronic"? Have I insulted you or made any suggestions that could be considered demeaning to you or anyone else?

You've also conflated a whole lot of other entirely separate issues into my post... rebuy, excessive hourly earnings, interdictions, fuel scooping, a zero consequence game & even flight checks??? And if that isn't bizarre enough you also imply that anyone who may want these SLF pilot issues to be resolved is a crying snowflake who can't win a fight against a NPC?

Wut? :S

 

[Cougar]

NPC crew death and them taking a cut even when inactive are the reasons I don't use crew and won't ever if they stay the way they are.

This. I'm fine with consequences, i.e. additional "crew rebuy", but this prevents me from ever using a feature I was really looking forward to. I like party-based RPGs and would have enjoyed "raising" a crew from harmless to elite, having them sit in the empty seats in my ship etc. The overly harsh punishments for having crew, in particular permanently crippling my CG contributions, in effect makes crew a non-feature.

 

[ebbrell]

My only grip is the fact they take money while inactive. Please stop paying them while inactive, only pay the crew member when active.

It would be nice to have two active slots on larger ships, and be able to launch two fighters at the same time using both Crewe members.

 

[Urbanski101]

I've just started using crew and SLF's and it's all a tiny bit annoying as the OP stated.

Some consistency would be nice.

Agree when not active they should receive a reduced payout, maybe half.

One question, does your crew die if you loose any ship or just if when the crew is active on your SLF carrier and you loose that? What if the crew is not active? I'm asking because I lost an SLF and thought the pilot would also die...apparently not, so I perhaps need some clarification.

Exigeous - you ever heard of a strawman argument....look it up, your first post was textbook.

 

[GunnerBill]

I've just started using crew and SLF's and it's all a tiny bit annoying as the OP stated.

Some consistency would be nice.

Agree when not active they should receive a reduced payout, maybe half.

One question, does your crew die if you loose any ship or just if when the crew is active on your SLF carrier and you loose that? What if the crew is not active? I'm asking because I lost an SLF and thought the pilot would also die...apparently not, so I perhaps need some clarification.

Exigeous - you ever heard of a strawman argument....look it up, your first post was textbook.

The SLF pilot dies if your ship is destroyed not the SLF itself. The SLF is piloted by telepresence (remote control) from your ship.

I am a victim of my own forgetfulness on countless occasions and maybe remember to activate my pilot half the time I leave port!