I believe this was the old mechanic, but was changed.
You do not lose the pilot anymore if you get blown up, but will have to pay an extra fee to retrieve its escape pod.
I have never tried though.
Efficient build to fly yourself an SLF?
- Thread starter geoffrey.hdt
- Start date
You do not lose the pilot anymore if you get blown up, but will have to pay an extra fee to retrieve its escape pod.
I have never tried though.
Oh my ...I had to hire/fire a few dozens NPC to renew the lounge, so that I could finally find a not too ugly one! :'-)
Holly Santos is here name.
And here I am yelling "Holly sh*t, Santos! Come right here, already!"
I tested it out. New Harmless crew is on bullseye with fixed beams, while old Elite is missing by 20 yards every time.
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Thanks, I'm aware that was the old mechanic. However, that old mechanic was what was in play when I lost both.
I wasn't aware the lobby refreshed after a new hire. I've just routinely checked the lobbies as I've traveled. And for the last few years, nothing but uglies.Oh my ...I had to hire/fire a few dozens NPC to renew the lounge, so that I could finally find a not too ugly one! :'-)
Holly Santos is here name.
And here I am yelling "Holly sh*t, Santos! Come right here, already!"
Of course, that's half the problem. I want one that looks nice as has the voice I want.
Seriously, how could they fix the AI for new pilots but the old ones are still gimped? I can't wrap my head around how you would code something like that (without malicious intent).
Oh my...I should have kept rolling for a few more dozen timesFriday night so o7 CMDRs!
Never in a billion years would I have thought I could ever replace my beautiful Roselyn.
But lo and behold, after 5 rolls, I think I found her. Harmless to boot! The cute freckles
and no nose ring are a bonus. Thoughts me maties?
Time to test out the "hire new Crew" for broken fixed weapon aiming theory.
If my new Precious can ride the fixed gun like Roselyn did, she's got the job!
The 2.4 billion in Ms. Maier's account should be enough for a cozy retirement.
View attachment 416589View attachment 416590
Let's Rock!
That's what I was doing...until I gave up, hired an ugly, then noticed somebody else took the spot in the lobby...
I'm about to build a T-10 to let my NPC crew assist while I fly and SLF.
Should I go full gimballed Burst Laser + efficient + inertial impact? Maybe turreted versions for the hardpoints at the back (I have not studied the hardpoints placement yet)?
Should I go full gimballed Burst Laser + efficient + inertial impact? Maybe turreted versions for the hardpoints at the back (I have not studied the hardpoints placement yet)?
Today, hiring my first crew ever, i had the same experience as everyone else for the last half decade; surprised and disappointed to discover that you can never actually see your crew-member in any of the extra chairs or in the cockpit with you. The two still images are all there is.
The RNG spirits apparently had fun with my superficiality today: everyone in the crew lounge (man or woman, reroll after reroll) was a big bag of ugly, while everyone in the pilot lounge was such hotness that I would have had a hard time narrowing it down.
Of course we can't hire from the pilot lounge... we're looking for crew pilots not pilot pilots
Maybe that's the distinction: if you're handsome/pretty enough you get to be admitted to the Pilot's Federation. If you're ugly then your career is likely limited to crew. Such harsh realism there, FDev! This space-capitalism simulator is hitting a little too close to home!
The RNG spirits apparently had fun with my superficiality today: everyone in the crew lounge (man or woman, reroll after reroll) was a big bag of ugly, while everyone in the pilot lounge was such hotness that I would have had a hard time narrowing it down.
Of course we can't hire from the pilot lounge... we're looking for crew pilots not pilot pilots
Maybe that's the distinction: if you're handsome/pretty enough you get to be admitted to the Pilot's Federation. If you're ugly then your career is likely limited to crew. Such harsh realism there, FDev! This space-capitalism simulator is hitting a little too close to home!
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It's fine.
I normally stash mine at the edge of the area, close enough to be within telepresence range, but far enough away that no other CMDRs are likely to spot it before I spot them.
Of course, a decent loadout and a high rank NPC is fully capable of handling NPC threats on it's own:
Videos are a bit old at this point (I dramatically scaled back my use of SLFs after 3.4 when they introduced the instance-breaking rubberbanding bug), but, despite anecdotal complaints and generally short lived bugs, I haven't noticed significant changes in NPC performance
Is there an open issue about this? I've had a search and cant find anything.
Well I gave up and went through the multiple hire/fires until I got a decently looking slf pilot with a voice I liked. This one is female and I prefer the hot looking male pilots with California accent (not sure what to actually call it). Fired the current Elite one I had, which has been with me for 3+ years. He made over 2.5 billion, so he'll be fine.
Now the long climb to get this one back to Elite. sigh
Now the long climb to get this one back to Elite. sigh
When I swapped mine last year I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly ranking up went.
I'm surprised that my now novice level SLF pilot is consistently tearing enemy ships to pieces (Imp SLF with fixed plasmas) whereas my old Elite SLF pilot used to constantly fire a trail behind the target. In more then on case, I was swinging around to finish the enemy off and BOOM... they finished the job.
I'm not going to focus on leveling her quickly any more. She's doing a good enough job and the lower percentage cut means more credits for me - especially nice since my favorite ship to fly for combat right now is a Python MKII with frags. Less money going to the idle SLF pilot!
I'm not going to focus on leveling her quickly any more. She's doing a good enough job and the lower percentage cut means more credits for me - especially nice since my favorite ship to fly for combat right now is a Python MKII with frags. Less money going to the idle SLF pilot!
Doesn't your NPC crew get a cut only if set as active?
As soon as you board your Python II (not possible to outfit a hangar, as you know), it should go back to sit on a bench and earn nothing?
No they get a cut of all credits you make all the time, they only get a cut of your combat XP if you deploy them though.
It has been suggested since they introduced them that inactive SLF pilots should be on half pay or other lower value but nothing has changed yet.
I see...(Wiping a bit of sweat on my forehead with some stratum tectonitas banknotes)...I have actually never noticed that...
The logic behind this is that the percentage they earn is their salary. If you continue to retain their services, they continue to take their cut whether actively used or not. This was easier to calculate then having a salary deducted periodically, like they now do for carrier maintenance.
Why there is some immersion/realism behind them implementing this system, I personally think the main reason they did it was to introduce a credit sink. If so, that was a "too little, too late" solution.
While I'm not going to lobby for them to change this system (bigger issues need the devs focus), the current system irritates me because:
- The percentage cut also affects your contributions to CGs that are based on bounties or trade revenue. So with one or more pilots on retainer, you could be hindering your competitiveness in gaining ranks in a CG. If they let they calculated the CG ranking amount before the pilots took their cut, this issue would be bypassed. For whatever reason, they haven't done that. You should notice that on all CGs this affects, they will issue a disclaimer about SLF pilots affecting your contributions.
- The constant retainer percentage is a direct disincentive to maintaining more than one pilot. You have three slots. I used to have two or three, so I could switch when I dock and have different pilot voices (male/female, different accents) when using pilots. However, I got tired of the 20% or more being cut from everything I earned because I had 2 elite pilots and/or a third on the way up. So now I only keep one pilot on retainer.
- It encourages some people to hire the highest level pilots available - expert - and then fire them before turning in bounties to avoid the cut. Then they hire a new expert and repeat the process.
- If you want to minimize the pain of the cut, you need to hire a harmless pilot (2% cut) and level them up to elite. Each rank they level up, the cost goes up 1%. However, when hiring, the jump is higher (2% per level). So if I hire an expert, the initial cut is 12%, and will go up from there. An elite pilot leveled up from harmless will only cost you 10%. This can be especially aggravating when the only non-ugly/repulsive pilot to hire is the ones near the top of the pay scale.
I'm curious how much the new colonization system is going to cost. I have a feeling that I'm either not going to be able to afford it, or not want to pay for it. For reference, I have 14 billion credits in my active account and another 6-7 billion banked in my carrier. If colonization allows you to earn passive income when not playing (once the system is complete), I'll be interested. If all it lets me do is decide what settlements go where, and what factions are present, in a system I pay for... screw it.
Can you confirm that a new pilot doesn’t suffer from the aiming bug? I saw a hint of this posted above. If this is true, I would have no issues with leveling another crew member from scratch. Maybe I could just hire another crew member and see for myself, but I thought I’d ask anyway.
Yes, I can confirm this. I saw the bug, then (a little while ago) levelled up a new pilot who is now deadly and almost never misses with fixed beams.