Newcomer / Intro Activating second crew member

[Trevor L]

Firstly, thanks to those who helped me clear a little rust from my head on returning to the game. I can now at least fly around without getting killed........although manually navigating a Federal Corvette out of a Star Port without it getting jammed is still 'interesting'.

I have had a second crew member for some time and am re-learning how to use him effectively in dog fights. Wanting to go further I bought a second hanger and a second fighter. I just assumed that all I then needed was a second crew member. Feeling brave I tackled some bad guys but could only launch one fighter as my new crew member was not shown. Back at a Star Point he is there in the crew lounge and I cannot set him to 'Active'. Any advice?

 

[Factabulous]

You can only have one active crew member at a time. You can hire three crew, but there is little point.

The second SLF is so you can re-launch one immediately when the first is destroyed, not to have two active at the same time.

 

[Jack Winter]

IIRC you can have a crewmember in an SLF, and then take another one out yourself too. But that will leave the main ship without a pilot..

 

[aRJay]

The main purpose of second or third crew members is to reduce the amount of money you keep out of what you earn, as all crew get paid whether they are active or not.

The good news is that only the active crew member can take half your combat experience points earned while they are active.

As has been said the second hanger is so you can launch your pilot immediately after the loss of a Ship Launched Fighter without the delay while it’s replacement is printed.

How effective the SLF pilot is depends on his rank, obviously, also on the fighter selected. It used to be claimed that the fighter in the background of their mugshot was the best one to put them in.
I do know that switching from the plasma armed Federal fighter to the beam laser armed Imperial one made my pilot much more useful.

 

[Trevor L]

Thanks for explaining that guys.

So, #factabulous, you are saying that if my first FLS is lost during combat, the pilot isn't?

 

[Factabulous]

So, #factabulous, you are saying that if my first FLS is lost during combat, the pilot isn't?

Nope - they are remote controlled. So if the NPC (or you) lose the SLF you can just print another and carry on.

Edit: The printing is automatic, but if you only have one then you will have a wait for the printing to complete.

 

[Ned Flandalorian]

If you can get other people to play the game with you / join you in your ship, they can use the multiple fighter bays to fly SLFs at the same time. For some reason there's a restriction that prevents using NPC crew to do the same thing.

 

[aRJay]

Thanks for explaining that guys.

So, #factabulous, you are saying that if my first FLS is lost during combat, the pilot isn't?

Yes the pilot sits at a video games console in your ships bar, the only to loose them is if your ship is destroyed while they are on board and you opt not to get them back during the rebuy phase.

You can of course fire them at a station but if you do that be sure to do so before doing anything else at that station otherwise they will take their usual cut.

 

[IstvaanDCIV]

IIRC you can have a crewmember in an SLF, and then take another one out yourself too. But that will leave the main ship without a pilot..

From what I understand the ship can fire back if it has turrets deployed and you're out in a fighter. This seems like something worth testing once I finish work later...