Telepresence (not ED lore?). . . Here is a Lore Friendly Alternative Method for ship launched NPC fighter crew?

[Perkel]

Eliminate the anti-LORE "Telepresence Method"?:
Proposal for a safe Lore-Friendly alternative method for (NPC) "Hired Fighter Crew":

I thought that "Telepresence" was not a part of ED LORE. But perhaps it is currently being used for extreme long distance remote control of (ship launched) fighters, so that your hired NPC crew don't have to die if your ship got destroyed with them onboard (which can be emotional).

Could I suggest something like...

1. When you hire crew members they actually come on board your ship and stay in a new updated fighter-bay which now incorporates a small room with bunk-beds, food & drink.
The bay also has a 'fighter control booth' from which the pilots establish a remote-control link with the ship launched fighter that is prepared and launched from your ship.
So when a fighter craft is lost the pilot is still safe onboard your ship unharmed.

2. If your ship is about to be destroyed then COVAS will inform you that "Your crew members have all safely ejected, commander!", just before COVAS tells you to "Eject, eject!"

3. When you re-spawn at whatever base port or prison you end up, you immediately get a comms message from each of your crew members telling you that they were safely rescued by a passing "Local Authorites" ship and that they were dropped off at the nearest station port to where they ejected.

4. When you go to recruit crew again, then you will be shown all the old crew members and given the chance to rehire them, all together, or one at time, along with a fresh choice of new pilots in case you want an all new crew lineup.
If you rehire any old crew members you will have to pay for them to be transferred to your current port location if their port location is not the same as where you re-spawned/or where you currently are.

I love Elite Dangerous, and where the LORE and game immersivity is concerned this could help.
As far as ED LORE is concerned, I think (and hope) there could be "operational problems" with "Telepresence" thus necessitating the need for a new more reliable way of remote control piloting ship launched fighters (something similar to the above), whilst NPC hired pilot crew safety is preserved

Thanks.

 

[Maolagin]

Just to note, until recently you did lose your NPC crew if they were active when your ship was destroyed. Now you at least have the option to re-hire them. I read that to mean that they've been riding in your ship the whole time, and have finally been given an escape pod of their own.

If you're concerned about long-range telepresence, multicrew is probably what you meant to complain about.

 

[Speedcuffs]

I kinda thought that is how telepresence works. Like donning a HMD.
(If something in game doesn't make sense I tend to ignore it to be honest).

 

[Exeider]

Just to note, until recently you did lose your NPC crew if they were active when your ship was destroyed. Now you at least have the option to re-hire them. I read that to mean that they've been riding in your ship the whole time, and have finally been given an escape pod of their own.

If you're concerned about long-range telepresence, multicrew is probably what you meant to complain about.

Yeah, I always interpreted the NPC crew memebers on the ship, and you blowing up, they died, which sucked. I'm glad they added it to the rebuy menu which means they get their own escape pod.


Long range telepresence operates on whatever the same principle that the Comms menu operates on. Which I've always thought it some quantum entanglement internet of some sort, which is why you can talk to your friends even on the other side of the galaxy, or use multicrew or how you can get galnet out of the bubble.

 

[CMDR X]

I kinda thought that is how telepresence works. Like donning a HMD..

Yeah, I always interpreted the NPC crew members on the ship..

If this were the case, why is my crew member not sitting in that empty chair next to me??
X.

 

[Speedcuffs]

If this were the case, why is my crew member not sitting in that empty chair next to me??
X.

They are in the telepresence cubicle.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I just ignore telepresence as much as possible. I prefer handwavium.

 

[RamirezKurita]

I think it's all but established that your crew are onboard your ships even when they use telepresence as they used to die when you lost your ship. That's also why I don't consider telepresence in its original implementation to be particularly lore-breaking; although it's a zero-latency high-bandwidth connection, it has the limitations of both requiring extensive hardware (even a class 7 hangar bay only has a single telepresence suite onboard!) and having just a few km of range. These limitations explain why it isn't widely used except in the deployment of fighters, although it is possible that some station security vessels might also use telepresence to control them.

That all being said, I'd prefer it if the telepresence was more obviously remote control combined with holograms. If the telepresence avatars were a ghostly translucent, potentially with the colour even being customisable, it would really help to drive home the point that they are only there to make the operator more comfortable when doing their remote operation.

The real lore breaking aspect of telepresence comes from the 2nd wave of implementation of it that came with multicrew. This brought out highly affordable equipment that comes stock with every sidewinder, fits into every ship and offers galaxy-wide high-bandwidth and zero-latency connections. Such a technology should utterly revolutionise the galaxy of ED, as one of the great limits humanity is facing in the ED galaxy is difficulty communicating over long distances.

Which is exactly why I say that multicrew shouldn't even be telepresence, but instead require going back to the main menu and be wholly disconnected from your actual in-game character. Just make multicrew a gameplay gimmick about possessing a pre-existing NPC crew member and then there'll be no problems with regards to lore, with the added benefit of preventing some AFK credit/rank exploiting.

 

[Sylow]

If this were the case, why is my crew member not sitting in that empty chair next to me??
X.

The fighter hangar comes with an integrated remote control cockpit. That's where the NPCs like to hang out. They spend most of the money they earn from you on highest quality coffee and store it in that place. That's why they neither like to come to your cockpit nor want you to visit their place.

 

[CMDR X]

The fighter hangar comes with an integrated remote control cockpit. That's where the NPCs like to hang out. They spend most of the money they earn from you on highest quality coffee and store it in that place. That's why they neither like to come to your cockpit nor want you to visit their place.

That's the most ridiculous yet likeable explanation.

 

[Exeider]

If this were the case, why is my crew member not sitting in that empty chair next to me??
X.

Oh that's easy, because Fdev are a bunch of lazy developers and just didn't include it. I mean some of my multicrew experiences, my friend who as ACTIVELY connected, didn't appear in my cockpit. So it's because they either didn't include that or it's straight up broken, either way not a lore reason but a game one.

Those crew members SHOULD be displayed and it's flabbergasting they aren't. For that matter you should be able to have multiple crew members on board if your ship supports it.