SLFs are a lotta fun if ya ask me! I'll just add as general tips that while you can hire an Expert NPC and then fire them before turning in anything that makes ya money (missions, bounties) so you then avoid giving them a percentage, in the long run if ya wanna use SLFs a lot then ranking up a Harmless crew member up to a high rank is best (both in performance and in what percentage ya pay them, since they'll get less of a cut if ya hire them as Harmless and rank them up to Elite versus ranking up an Expert up to Elite).
And once they get Dangerous ranked and up, they get pretty dang good and are very nice with fixed weapons. I liked to use the size 6 hangar so I could have 2 SLFs onboard, and one would be gimbled to make sure the low ranked NPC could hit, and then a fixed one for me. If ya don't intend on flying either of them, then 2 gimbled works well also of course. And it'd often make good sense for the SLF's weapon to complement what ya got going on, like if you're mostly kinetic damage you use a thermal SLF and so on (that aspect is prolly obvious and you're already planning on doing it).
CZ's and Compromised Nav Beacons worked well as I ranked my main crew member up to Elite, but fighting Thargoid Scouts (the smaller ones, not the huge Thargoids) would likely be the best way now since they give the best rank. They weren't a thing when I was working on my crew, but it's what I'd use if I had to build another one up.
I've never had an issue when the NPC flew the mothership, but I had also made sure the ship was well protected and hard to mess up in. It can be pretty awesome watching them wail on other ships from the view of the SLF (obligatory "especially in VR").
While they can do some FA off moves and hit with fixed weapons and cheat with rails like other NPCs, they don't do things like manage heat appropriately or use the shield cells wisely (at least last I messed with them consistently; I've not been able to play the last few weeks regularly but I assume this hasn't changed). It never caused me a problem, but it's just something to keep in mind if your loadout could be mismanaged to a degree that it'd hurt your ship. They'll pop off shield cells without needing to, one after another, and ya come back to find your modules a bit cooked. Not the end of the world, but yeah, just keep an eye on it.
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