Hi all. It seems to me that multi-crew, on its face, sounds like a really cool concept just for the sheer novelty of the thing. And though in practice it can be pretty fun, its also very limited. Just a few minor additions would add some substance to what is currently an intriguing outline that is yet unfinished. Here are some of my personal suggestions.
1. Add a new role: Co-Pilot. Currently there isn't an awful lot for multicrew members to do, especially on ships that can't fit SLFs. This is a shame because many ships, such as the Cobra or Adder, are multi-crew capable, but there's no real point to having multiple crew members on those ships. My suggestion for a co-pilot role would allow crew members to take more control of their host's ship. Permission to use this role would have to be granted to individual CMDRs by the host, as a guard against internal sabotage. Co-Pilots would not be able to directly pilot the ship, but could perform operations within the ship to make piloting the ship easier for the helmsman. Co-Pilots could manage pips, access the galaxy map to plot routes, access the target panel to select a target's modules, access the modules and ship tabs to keep the ship from running out of power... basically they could control left and right hand panels while the Helmsman actually flew the ship.
2. Allow multiple Gunner roles: If I'm understanding correctly, currently there can only be one gunner on any given ship, even if that ship can support three crew members. The Helmsman ought to be able to create more Gunner roles and assign fire groups to them, that way one CMDR could control the guns on one side of the ship, and the other could control the guns on the other side.
3. Allow the use of muticrew and wings at the same time: Place a cap on the number of CMDRs that can be in a wing, maybe 6-8, that way the instancing issues that might come from having 12 players in one wing might cause could be avoided. It would still be possible to have four ships with two crew members each, or more likely one big ship with a full crew of three members and three small single pilot ships following.
4. Allow Crew-Mates to take control of SRVs: I understand this one is probably highly requested, and I understand it is probably a lot harder to implement than it sounds. SRVs work differently than SLFs, I'm sure, and it seems that telepresence cannot be used to control and SRV. But at the very least, a CMDR should be able to control the turret on the SRV while the other one drives? Perhaps this is a feature that is better off waiting until when/if space legs are added, and we can have an actual physical presence on other CMDR's ships or within their SRV. But still, it wouldn't be impossible to add into the game now, even if it makes little sense and is immersion breaking. After all, mutli-crew isn't supposed to make sense, its supposed to let you have fun with friends. And every game, no matter how realistic, needs some nonsensical elements, otherwise it isn't a fun game. (for instance, how do our escape pods always work 100% of the time and always take us to the nearest station immediately even if we are lightyears away?)
Those are just some of my ideas. Thanks for reading.
1. Add a new role: Co-Pilot. Currently there isn't an awful lot for multicrew members to do, especially on ships that can't fit SLFs. This is a shame because many ships, such as the Cobra or Adder, are multi-crew capable, but there's no real point to having multiple crew members on those ships. My suggestion for a co-pilot role would allow crew members to take more control of their host's ship. Permission to use this role would have to be granted to individual CMDRs by the host, as a guard against internal sabotage. Co-Pilots would not be able to directly pilot the ship, but could perform operations within the ship to make piloting the ship easier for the helmsman. Co-Pilots could manage pips, access the galaxy map to plot routes, access the target panel to select a target's modules, access the modules and ship tabs to keep the ship from running out of power... basically they could control left and right hand panels while the Helmsman actually flew the ship.
2. Allow multiple Gunner roles: If I'm understanding correctly, currently there can only be one gunner on any given ship, even if that ship can support three crew members. The Helmsman ought to be able to create more Gunner roles and assign fire groups to them, that way one CMDR could control the guns on one side of the ship, and the other could control the guns on the other side.
3. Allow the use of muticrew and wings at the same time: Place a cap on the number of CMDRs that can be in a wing, maybe 6-8, that way the instancing issues that might come from having 12 players in one wing might cause could be avoided. It would still be possible to have four ships with two crew members each, or more likely one big ship with a full crew of three members and three small single pilot ships following.
4. Allow Crew-Mates to take control of SRVs: I understand this one is probably highly requested, and I understand it is probably a lot harder to implement than it sounds. SRVs work differently than SLFs, I'm sure, and it seems that telepresence cannot be used to control and SRV. But at the very least, a CMDR should be able to control the turret on the SRV while the other one drives? Perhaps this is a feature that is better off waiting until when/if space legs are added, and we can have an actual physical presence on other CMDR's ships or within their SRV. But still, it wouldn't be impossible to add into the game now, even if it makes little sense and is immersion breaking. After all, mutli-crew isn't supposed to make sense, its supposed to let you have fun with friends. And every game, no matter how realistic, needs some nonsensical elements, otherwise it isn't a fun game. (for instance, how do our escape pods always work 100% of the time and always take us to the nearest station immediately even if we are lightyears away?)
Those are just some of my ideas. Thanks for reading.
