Frontier, Please Don't Kill Our Crew! Part Deux

[VR] Bac Ho

[VR] Bac Ho
Signed.

As other have mentioned here there are some great gameplay potential. Only if FDev would give it some love it could add more depth to this feature.

CMDR_Cosmicspacehead said:
My $0.02.

Crew should potentially be rescue-able after death. Either from signal sources, surface POIs, or station contacts.
Total loss should occur if you ignored or failed the method of rescue you were given.
For example, if you're blown up by a pirate, there's a chance you either a) simply go collect their pod, with a time limit. b) go rescue them from said pirate (NPC only).
If you're blown up by security, you need to bail them out of jail.
If you blow up on a surface, you need to go find their escape pod in your SRV. Or go find a medical centre and pay their bills.
If you ignore it too long, they do eventually die/go missing/go to jail forever.

For pay, they should only get 1-5% pay when inactive. If that.
And shouldn't "steal" experience, but simply earn their own. And never while inactive.
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Nadreck

N
Also, the argument that "you pay a price for the extra power they provide, so that's balanced" doesn't really hold up.

If you didn't have an SLF, you'd have an extra slot to fit something else instead. You might also be using a different ship. IIRC, the FDL is considered to be the best PvP combat ship, and that doesn't have SLF capability. The Chieftain and Challenger are popular, but the Crusader not so much. The FGS holds up due to sheer firepower, but is less agile than the FAS. And so on.

Only the biggest ships can take a SLF without making compromises, and these all have limited agility and/or speed. And the big warships have enough firepower to ensure that the SLF''s contribution is limited.
 

Komemiute

Komemiute
First- thank you all for the clarification.

Secondly... Well I honestly think that what kills you... Kills you. So yeah, I admit permadeath is harsh but... Maybe if there was a specific "cabin" like fitting for the ship to act like an extra set if escape pods it would be an acceptable tradeoff?
 

Artie

Artie
Komemiute said:
First- thank you all for the clarification.

Secondly... Well I honestly think that what kills you... Kills you. So yeah, I admit permadeath is harsh but... Maybe if there was a specific "cabin" like fitting for the ship to act like an extra set if escape pods it would be an acceptable tradeoff?
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I think there is no need for that, it's just another punishment for using NPC crew a different way. Crew at high rank isn't actually cheap and the financial costs seems to be high enough (maybe too high) for the benefit they may provide. I see no reason why player should be discouraged from using NPC crew even more. There is no significant change to the current crew system needed - just the NPC should become a part of rebuy costs (rescue fee) which will prevent its perma-death and that's it.
 

Joghiarus

Joghiarus
Signed.

From a roleplay point of view its barbaric and looking at it from a gameplay perspective its a useless mechanic. There are dozens of better and engaging ways to implement sense of loss with ship destruction and rescuing (or not!) your crew member can easily be made into a fun activity.
 

Nadreck

N
I wonder how many cases of "combat-logging" are actually caused by players desperately trying to save their copilots?

I've used the 15-second exit to menu for precisely this reason. If she hadn't been onboard, I'd have fought to the end.
 

Stanis

Stanis
NPC Crew Permadeath.. No please, Don't touch this. It makes fight much more exciting, and it's too rare in this game. So… Forbidden to touch that! :D​
 

insanephoton

insanephoton
Stanis said:
NPC Crew Permadeath.. No please, Don't touch this. It makes fight much more exciting, and it's too rare in this game. So… Forbidden to touch that! :D​
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It's not exciting, it's mildly annoying, especially with non combat deaths like getting wedged in the slot but some numpty NPC Beluga driver. It just leads to using disposable experts and hiring and firing in such a way to avoid most of the costs.
 

StiTch

StiTch
IndigoWyrd said:
Part Deux? More like part 14.

This has come up since the first NPC was lost.
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I think you're missing a zero on the end of that figure.

Glad to see the FD forum still falls back on "complain until we get our way", even if that means complaining about a (non)issue ad infinitum.
 

CMDR Mayhem

CMDR Mayhem
Yep, we definitely need this. I remember my first & last crew member, his name was Walter. He was cheap and wasn't very useful. When I realized the scam about taking pay even when not active, I fired him. Wonder where he ended up?
 

Kaybe

Kaybe
Shaamaan said:
Wait, NPCs take their cut even when not active?! I'm sooooo firing my guy as soon as I log back in... :/
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Yup. I use NPC crew regularly when I go bounty hunting. I grab the best one I can find in at station, go pew pew for a few hours, and then fire him right away when I'm back and before I cash in my rewards.

The only cost effective way to keep a really good NPC crew is to rank them up from Harmless. But given they insist on going down with the ship currently, it's really not worth it at all.

"NPC Guy, the ship is doomed, get into the escape pod!"
"No! I must stay with the ship and fly to eternity!"
"What the hell is wrong with you ... there's plenty of space in here! Get in!"
"I. AM. ONE. WITH. THE. UNIVERRRRRRSSSSE!"
"Oh for frak's sakes. Close the hatch and jettison. This guy is a lost cause."
 

DWorth

D
It's only a minor thing, but I wish the game would remember crew assignments when switching ships. Currently if you switch from a ship with an SLF to one without, it forgets the crew you assigned to fly the SLF (causing forgetful me to launch into combat after switching back to my SLF carrying ships, try to undock the SLF and oh... no-one to fly it). it does remember, however, if you switch to and from ships that both have SLFs.
 

Darth Ender

D
Can crew members get bounties on their head? Because if I was Fdev, I'd put bounties on Kaybe's crew just for caring about his crew "dying" (or quitting) when Fdev has done everything to make players not care about crew as if they were a permanent acquisition. They make them expensive, they make them incompetent, they make them very easily replaceable and they make them infinitely available.


And even if they weren't ever intended to be temporary and replaceable (they are), if you are incompetent enough to get them killed, why should you be allowed to keep them? That makes less sense than the current mechanic. By far.
 
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