As we can see in the forums, NPC crew is something the community is desperately demanding. To avoid complicated balancing of possible benefits of NPC crew members, here's my suggestion to getting things started:
1. Add NPC crewmembers just for the sake of being there, sitting in their chairs and pretending to do something without any benefits
2. Make a basic crew of NPCs mandatory for being able to operate the bigger ships to their full potential, i.e.:
- Without crew, you can launch and fly let's say a Cutter but with greatly reduced performance, like reduced sensor range, reduced jumprange, maybe render certain modules defunct. Once you have the minimum crew in place, everything works as usual but you have to pay your crew a daily or weekly salary to stop them from deserting.
It would add a lot of life to the game without offering any benefits which would require balancing.
1. Add NPC crewmembers just for the sake of being there, sitting in their chairs and pretending to do something without any benefits
2. Make a basic crew of NPCs mandatory for being able to operate the bigger ships to their full potential, i.e.:
- Without crew, you can launch and fly let's say a Cutter but with greatly reduced performance, like reduced sensor range, reduced jumprange, maybe render certain modules defunct. Once you have the minimum crew in place, everything works as usual but you have to pay your crew a daily or weekly salary to stop them from deserting.
It would add a lot of life to the game without offering any benefits which would require balancing.