I'm a big fan of using SLFs and they're one of my favourite additions to the game since I started 4 years ago, even with losing them permanently when our ship blows up and how much we eventually pay them (I can live both of those even if I'd prefer other solutions).
However, I've often wished I could issue them additional basic commands beyond the current few we can do, such as having them target a specific subsystem, or even just to open the cargo scoop (in my experience while mining, if I hop into the SLF while limpets are working my ship and/or NPC crew member close the cargo scoop) and possibly stuff like ordering them to engage silent running, or when to use other tools such as shield cells and heat sinks.
Being able to have my NPC target the cargo scoop and send out limpets would be a great help for piracy, as an example, or just for gathering materials and clearing out a CZ. It'd increase their usefulness and give us more interactions with our crew, and help them be less limited in their gameplay.
If I'm getting greedy with my suggestions, I'd also love if we could set "rules" for them to follow, such as only using certain weapons while shields are up or down, or something like "when shields drop, target thrusters", what percentage of shields/hull remaining should make them flee or use a shield cell and whatnot, they could share our block list for cargo and materials and we could order them to "collect all" within a certain range or to only collect something if told to (even if they could only use limpets and not scoop manually), etc etc.
Basically, just additions that enable them to be much more functional, remove some of the sometimes poorly timed decision making from their AI, and even provide players with some non-combat utility as far as mining goes. Plus it gives even more of a reason to bring the lil' buddies along, taking up an important optional internal.
However, I've often wished I could issue them additional basic commands beyond the current few we can do, such as having them target a specific subsystem, or even just to open the cargo scoop (in my experience while mining, if I hop into the SLF while limpets are working my ship and/or NPC crew member close the cargo scoop) and possibly stuff like ordering them to engage silent running, or when to use other tools such as shield cells and heat sinks.
Being able to have my NPC target the cargo scoop and send out limpets would be a great help for piracy, as an example, or just for gathering materials and clearing out a CZ. It'd increase their usefulness and give us more interactions with our crew, and help them be less limited in their gameplay.
If I'm getting greedy with my suggestions, I'd also love if we could set "rules" for them to follow, such as only using certain weapons while shields are up or down, or something like "when shields drop, target thrusters", what percentage of shields/hull remaining should make them flee or use a shield cell and whatnot, they could share our block list for cargo and materials and we could order them to "collect all" within a certain range or to only collect something if told to (even if they could only use limpets and not scoop manually), etc etc.
Basically, just additions that enable them to be much more functional, remove some of the sometimes poorly timed decision making from their AI, and even provide players with some non-combat utility as far as mining goes. Plus it gives even more of a reason to bring the lil' buddies along, taking up an important optional internal.