Assigning an NPC pilot to a fighter.
- Thread starter Ipecac
- Start date
Deleted member 38366
D
Make sure you take your NPC Pilot onboard while docked. Menu "Crew Lounge", the same place where you can hire or fire NPCs.
I agree it's a poor mechanic that's a bolt on, not an integrated part of the game, there's so much about npcs that don't make any sense. I don't bother with them myself as they cost too much money and get paid even when they are not working.
It's OK. When you need an NPC pilot, miraculously they'll find you. 
For some inexplicable reason your crew member will be at the Crew Lounge at any station you dock at. You'll need to set them to active if you want them on board ready to pilot the SLF. In the meantime they will siphon your earnings. You could either train up a Harmless with a lower royalty rate, or just hire and fire an Expert when you need them. I usually go with the later, but I forgot to fire one before a core mining venture and ended up setting them up for retirement... doh!.
Yeah, NPC pilots keep the same royalty rate that you hired them on, even after they level up.
The NPC is not actually in the fighter (SLF), but controlling it by "telepresence" (ie remote control). Same if you fly the fighter. If the fighter is destroyed the pilot/you are still safe in the ship and just need to wait for a replacement fighter to be synthesised in your hanger before pilot/you take off again in the SLF. Higher class fighter hangers have more synthesis iterations.
If your ship (ie mothership) is destroyed, you automatically jump in an escape pod, are mysteriously rescued and ready to rebuy your exact same ship, engineering and all (you lose cargo, exploration data).
However, your poor hapless NPC crew member is not so lucky. They have no escape pod and are consigned to the cold black void. Now you have to hire & train a new one.
Twisted mechanics right?
If you intend on getting blown up a lot, just hire an expert NPC rather than investing the time in training one. Chances are they will die just as they become useful (ie expert).
The NPC is not actually in the fighter (SLF), but controlling it by "telepresence" (ie remote control). Same if you fly the fighter. If the fighter is destroyed the pilot/you are still safe in the ship and just need to wait for a replacement fighter to be synthesised in your hanger before pilot/you take off again in the SLF. Higher class fighter hangers have more synthesis iterations.
If your ship (ie mothership) is destroyed, you automatically jump in an escape pod, are mysteriously rescued and ready to rebuy your exact same ship, engineering and all (you lose cargo, exploration data).
However, your poor hapless NPC crew member is not so lucky. They have no escape pod and are consigned to the cold black void. Now you have to hire & train a new one.
Twisted mechanics right?
If you intend on getting blown up a lot, just hire an expert NPC rather than investing the time in training one. Chances are they will die just as they become useful (ie expert).
Not true, as they level up they're at a lower level than one if you hired them at expert but it does level up. A Harmless to Elite pilot goes from 2% to 9%. An Expert to Elite pilot goes from 9% to 15% I believe.
True, their royalties go up but buch less if you hire them at harmless.
Learn something new every day. Thanks!
My crew tend to have a high attrition rate, so they don't get a chance to keep ratcheting up their royalties..
![[VR] scipio_77](https://forums-cdn.zaonce.net/data/avatars/m/62/62064.jpg?1621626354){kind=avatar}
Obviously he is moonlighting on a bigger, better and cleaner ship than our tin-cans. So there you are, sweating it into port after a hard day of hauling
I'm just saying that I know someone who isn't going to the safari on Beta Hydri with me.
If you take one on at Harmless, he/she will only take 10% when they rank up to Elite. If you take on an Elite one, they take 17% IIRC. They're not really much use until you have made Elite combat status and got all the money you need, then you can train one up and have a friend for life where the deduction from your earnings doesn't matter. To be honest, I can't think of many circumstances when one gives you a significant advantage, apart from Thargoids and PvP, though they can be a lot of fun.