Crew : What is the point

Northpin

Northpin
SFL can be pretty nasty when flown by deadly/elite npc crew.
I've seen an Elite SLF wasting a CMDR piloted iCourier torpedo boat twice in the same fight.

Usually in pvp the SLF (if used) is the first target.
In PVE, my SLF crew can handle basically anything 1vs1 (well, the SpecOps wing does not count) - that does not necessarily means that my Elite SLF can win any fight, but that it can survive a fight sometimes indefinitely

Having a wing of CMDR, each with 2 Elite SLF... would be just too much...
 

Zieman

Zieman
We should be able to put our hired crew on the vacant chair(s) in our ship's cockpit.
No extra pips or stuff like that, we should be able to just take them with us.
 

Eraden

E
Would it be feasable to simply have the working crew take a bigger chunk of pay (danger pay). Perhaps you could mow down NPCs more quickly but then you would need to earn more cash to make up for the extra crew. In the end you might not come out that much further ahead than if you had only one fighter but it would be fun to have your own mini carrier. For those willing to shell out the extra bucks just to have more action, this would be no problem. The only time I could see this becoming a problem would be perhaps in PvP. The big ships would become more advantageous. However, as a previous poster said, maybe it's time to put the big boys in a separate category with all the advantages AND limitations of being big.
 

mollymawk

mollymawk
You know those lone nps, mining slowly all alone with a single mining laser.. It would be nice if our idle minions had as much initiative. Especially as they are at the same station as my other ships.
"Welcome home boss, while you were out visiting the center of the galaxy, the boys and I have been out doing some light mining".
"cool, great idea, how did you get on?"
"Well, we are nowhere near as good as you, obviously, but we made enough to cover our wages, and here, take this 20mill for the loan of your equipment".


I've just realised - that is exactly what they do, only they play dumb when i get home and don't cut me in, Bar Studs
 
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Bottom Hat

Bottom Hat
I have an elite pilot who just made it there a few weeks ago. He's the first I hired, and only, until recently when I stumbled by chance across the funniest nearly-name pilot ever, so I had to hire him too.

He's called Micah Hunt, which may be puerile, but I wasn't going to miss this chance!

He is also not the fugliest one I've ever seen, and I suspect if I angled that way, I might indeed be running around chasing Micah Hunt....

....it's a paradigm for me now....
 

GloatingSwine

GloatingSwine
Crew should certainly do more. And they should do things outside of combat as well.

There should be multiple crew roles which interact with every possible thing a player could be doing. Ideally there would be at least 3 different crew "activities" per player goal, so that the player has to pick which ones they want and can never have all of them even on a 3 crew ship. As an example, passenger ships could have crew roles that buffer the journey against different things that upset passengers, make extra demands less likely, or allow passengers to be placed in cabins one tier lower than their preference at the cost of taking extra spaces.

That also opens up the possibility for having specialists for different roles in combat, like a WSO who improves the lock performance of guided and gimballed weapons, a gunner who operates turreted weapons with increased effectiveness, or a pilot that can fly the ship or SLF.

They generally shouldn't be attached to a direct income increase, they should feel like you're paying wages to get an additional effect.
 

smiths121

S
I hope one day - Multicrew is not Holo. There was talk of a starting option with no ship before launch, I hold out the smallest of hope. Paid passage manning SLF and/or turrets could be fun interaction for all.

Simon
 

sandkid

S
I think the main issue with crew is that its current implementation was supposed to incent buying a higher end pilot, use them as needed, then sack after changing ships or roles.

The investment mechanic (choosing to keep crew) makes sense, until the crew gets paid for sititng on the couch to do nothing while you explore in your DBX and rack of millions of credits in hazard pay...for a pilot not even there.

Literally the silver bullet, infallible, PERFECT solution...
NPCs don't get paid if they aren't onboard the ship.
Period.

Instantly erases this and hundreds of other threads. Plug and Play commanders can hire a dangerous pilot, at a higher rate, as needed then terminate when they change ships. Commanders that regularly rely on a SLF capable build have an incentive to 'raise up' a crew member, but aren't pigeon-holed into paying them for nothing if they swap to a different playstyle.

The really silly part is this: you can bring back crew death, too. No rebuy option. Because now, building up a bench makes sense without costing you a fully third of your income when not in use.

Absolutely the most idiotic design choice. No idea why it hasn't been fixed.
 

Darth Ender

D
it hasn't been fixed because income is laughable.

You dont have to put any effort to make billions. so why should there be effort to save money?

NPC's in your suggestion should just be ad-hoc hired like a mission. Then disbanded once you dock again. You dont hire anyone... you bring them along for a specific task and they go off and do something else as soon as that task is over. That's the only real logical way to justify having them available when not in use if you're not keeping them via retainer. But the per-mission ad-hoc hiring of npcs would work ...you would never rank any ..they would just be hired at the various ranks and costs would scale with skill and simulated attributes (fighters ...regardless of rank would be more than defensive npcs at those ranks). And those archetypes would impact their behavior in use.
 

Darth Ender

D
Bottom Hat said:
Sounds like you've been hiring noob miners...!
Click to expand...

I made a billion bounty hunting the first year of the game. They were very close to being billionaires before hauling diamonds. They're totally space mad though, i've taken them out for months in the black doing nothing but farting up their cabins at times over the years. I should have legal guardianship over them so I can manage their funds since they're not legally responsible for their own actions anymore.
 
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