MultiCrew is a really massively under-used feature that could be so great with just a little bit of fixing. Here are my ideas for what could be done. Now the Devs are fully into maintenance mode pending 2020's spacelegs, this could be an area of the game that could do with some love.
1. FIX THE HUGE NUMBER OF BUGS! First thing on the list. These are famous and need fixing, I wont go into them here.
2. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR CMDRS TO OPEN THEIR SHIP TO MULTICREW. There are few crew slots available, it is very hit-or-miss whether you can join a MultiCrew session at all. Mostly a miss. There needs to be more incentives. Could be extra Arx. Better rewards for CMDRs who open MultiCrew slots. The corollary of this is also true and it would be very nice for MultiCrew crew memebers to get some extra rewards, example maybe some of the materials CMDR gets. While on a surface, one CMDR goes in a fighter to scout metallic asteroids, other gathers, both profit. Many ways to do this. Many ideas.
3. MAKE IT OBVIOUS HOW TO INVITE SOMEONE TO A MULTICREW SESSION. I have seen a lot of CMDRs complaining they could not get people they wanted in their crew and it turns out they were just relying on the automatic instancing to do it. Could me MUCH more clear. Make some kind of easy, explicit way to invite friends to a MultiCrew session.
4. CREW SLOTS TO BE SET AS OPEN BY DEFAULT. One big thing that would massively help make MultiCrew more popular. Allow the crew slots to be set to "automatically open" as an option. People are so lazy to open up a crew slot and many times would not object to the company/help. I know I would be happy to take someone around with my adventures. But hardly ever/never do I open a slot. Having an option to automatically open a slot when I leave a station would be grand. The open slot icons can also be quite intrusive and there has to be something more subtle if there is an automatic option. Might actually be a good idea to make this a lot more subtle when searching for a crew member also, with the full icon only appearing when someone joins your ship.
5. WINGS WITH MULTICREW! What a massive oversight. So many people would love to have crew+wings but it just cant be done atm.
6. OPTION TO OPEN 1 SEAT ONLY + other fine-grain control options. In 3 seat ships both seats open up and there is not much control over things. There aught be more fine-grained control over who can sit on your ship, and also what they can do while sat there.
7. OTHER CMDRS TO CONTROL YOUR SHIP while you go in a fighter. Or go to the loo. Or watch TV on a long voyage you are doing together. For explorers especially I could see how this would be great and am surprised it was not done. Could have been done really nice with expeditions and 2 CMDRs name being on things(as an option for primary CMDR to toggle on). Its a great way for friends to journey together, esp if 1 can control navigation (galaxy map etc) and other flying the ship.
8. MULTICREW AVAILABLE IN SOLO. Open MultiCrew for solo players. There is no risk of ship loss as a MultiCrew crew member. No reason why a solo player aught not to be able to join an open MultiCrew session, and it can also be a nice stepping stone into open play. Open players searching for a crew slot slot can see if its an open/solo and choose "include solo" if they wish. Right now solo players are completely cut off from MultiCrew. One of the big reasons why people play Solo is fear of ship loss, NOT because they dont want to play with others. No good reason/objection why MultiCrew aught not be an option for them. Any opinions on MultiCrew being opened to solo from the solo community @Mad Mike ?
9. MORE SHIP CONTROLS AVAILABLE TO CREW. This has to tie in with more fine-grained control of what/who is allowed to sit in the crew seat. Right now MultiCrew is useful only for combat, and perhaps(one could argue) mining. It has so much more potential. Exploration was mentioned above, galaxy map access would be needed for a navigator to plot the course, pilot to fly the ship/do the scooping. Srv control by crew member. Fighter to scout planet + Srv. Many things would be great to do with friend.
10. PUNISHMENTS FOR 5th COLUMNISTS/TROLLS. Opening ship to someone is an act of trust and deliberate sabotage is not an acceptable form of gameplay. I have no idea how this could be done. But I dont accept MultiCrew treachery as something that is valid gameplay. People know me I am pretty liberal what I find acceptable but this is not.
So, these are my ideas, I think fixing/improving MultiCrew would be a valuable use of Dev time until we get next update.
Signing off,
CMDR Gavin786
1. FIX THE HUGE NUMBER OF BUGS! First thing on the list. These are famous and need fixing, I wont go into them here.
2. ENCOURAGEMENT FOR CMDRS TO OPEN THEIR SHIP TO MULTICREW. There are few crew slots available, it is very hit-or-miss whether you can join a MultiCrew session at all. Mostly a miss. There needs to be more incentives. Could be extra Arx. Better rewards for CMDRs who open MultiCrew slots. The corollary of this is also true and it would be very nice for MultiCrew crew memebers to get some extra rewards, example maybe some of the materials CMDR gets. While on a surface, one CMDR goes in a fighter to scout metallic asteroids, other gathers, both profit. Many ways to do this. Many ideas.
3. MAKE IT OBVIOUS HOW TO INVITE SOMEONE TO A MULTICREW SESSION. I have seen a lot of CMDRs complaining they could not get people they wanted in their crew and it turns out they were just relying on the automatic instancing to do it. Could me MUCH more clear. Make some kind of easy, explicit way to invite friends to a MultiCrew session.
4. CREW SLOTS TO BE SET AS OPEN BY DEFAULT. One big thing that would massively help make MultiCrew more popular. Allow the crew slots to be set to "automatically open" as an option. People are so lazy to open up a crew slot and many times would not object to the company/help. I know I would be happy to take someone around with my adventures. But hardly ever/never do I open a slot. Having an option to automatically open a slot when I leave a station would be grand. The open slot icons can also be quite intrusive and there has to be something more subtle if there is an automatic option. Might actually be a good idea to make this a lot more subtle when searching for a crew member also, with the full icon only appearing when someone joins your ship.
5. WINGS WITH MULTICREW! What a massive oversight. So many people would love to have crew+wings but it just cant be done atm.
6. OPTION TO OPEN 1 SEAT ONLY + other fine-grain control options. In 3 seat ships both seats open up and there is not much control over things. There aught be more fine-grained control over who can sit on your ship, and also what they can do while sat there.
7. OTHER CMDRS TO CONTROL YOUR SHIP while you go in a fighter. Or go to the loo. Or watch TV on a long voyage you are doing together. For explorers especially I could see how this would be great and am surprised it was not done. Could have been done really nice with expeditions and 2 CMDRs name being on things(as an option for primary CMDR to toggle on). Its a great way for friends to journey together, esp if 1 can control navigation (galaxy map etc) and other flying the ship.
8. MULTICREW AVAILABLE IN SOLO. Open MultiCrew for solo players. There is no risk of ship loss as a MultiCrew crew member. No reason why a solo player aught not to be able to join an open MultiCrew session, and it can also be a nice stepping stone into open play. Open players searching for a crew slot slot can see if its an open/solo and choose "include solo" if they wish. Right now solo players are completely cut off from MultiCrew. One of the big reasons why people play Solo is fear of ship loss, NOT because they dont want to play with others. No good reason/objection why MultiCrew aught not be an option for them. Any opinions on MultiCrew being opened to solo from the solo community @Mad Mike ?
9. MORE SHIP CONTROLS AVAILABLE TO CREW. This has to tie in with more fine-grained control of what/who is allowed to sit in the crew seat. Right now MultiCrew is useful only for combat, and perhaps(one could argue) mining. It has so much more potential. Exploration was mentioned above, galaxy map access would be needed for a navigator to plot the course, pilot to fly the ship/do the scooping. Srv control by crew member. Fighter to scout planet + Srv. Many things would be great to do with friend.
10. PUNISHMENTS FOR 5th COLUMNISTS/TROLLS. Opening ship to someone is an act of trust and deliberate sabotage is not an acceptable form of gameplay. I have no idea how this could be done. But I dont accept MultiCrew treachery as something that is valid gameplay. People know me I am pretty liberal what I find acceptable but this is not.
So, these are my ideas, I think fixing/improving MultiCrew would be a valuable use of Dev time until we get next update.
Signing off,
CMDR Gavin786
![[VR] Mad Mike](https://d2aefvhu2f0gi9.cloudfront.net/data/avatars/m/27/27910.jpg?1553527108){kind=avatar}
