Increasing the sense of the universe/ships being more alive - some might be simple to implement

[GraphicEqualizer]

Ideas based on 2000+ hrs in game

• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC Engineers (aka "Scotty") could be hired (similar to mechanics for NPC fighter pilots) for larger ships who can help maintain module health even without an AFM (but better with AFM) and hull damage (if repair limpets are installed). The NPC engineer would occasionally send messages to commander asking to take modules offline for repair or deploy repair limpets. Commander can decline request, accept request, or postpone request e.g. "ok", "no" or "ask again later" via message reply.
• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC fighter pilots could message commanders suggesting they deploy their fighters, as above with ability to decline, accept or postpone via message reply
• Increased "life" on board ships - occasional random banter messages from onboard NPC. Commander could increase/decrease banter messages via replies, e.g. "less chatter" or "keep up the good work". At the moment it feels like any hired personnel are slaves who aren't allowed to interact onboard the ship.
• Increased "life" in deep space exploration - e.g. RNG one-in-50 jumps, NPCs could spawn, these would be fellow deep space explorers that have gone a little crazy after too long in the deep. They could interdict just because they are desperately seeking some human company for a while, e.g. just wanting a few banter messages to and fro, but will fire upon you if you do not make some effort to send messages of moral support. Others might just be desperate for some materials to synth essential supplies and we'll fire upon if they don't get them - nb, this would require allowing jettisoning/scooping materials similar to cargo.

 

[varonica]

Ideas based on 2000+ hrs in game

• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC Engineers (aka "Scotty") could be hired (similar to mechanics for NPC fighter pilots) for larger ships who can help maintain module health even without an AFM (but better with AFM) and hull damage (if repair limpets are installed). The NPC engineer would occasionally send messages to commander asking to take modules offline for repair or deploy repair limpets. Commander can decline request, accept request, or postpone request e.g. "ok", "no" or "ask again later" via message reply.
• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC fighter pilots could message commanders suggesting they deploy their fighters, as above with ability to decline, accept or postpone via message reply
• Increased "life" on board ships - occasional random banter messages from onboard NPC. Commander could increase/decrease banter messages via replies, e.g. "less chatter" or "keep up the good work". At the moment it feels like any hired personnel are slaves who aren't allowed to interact onboard the ship.
• Increased "life" in deep space exploration - e.g. RNG one-in-50 jumps, NPCs could spawn, these would be fellow deep space explorers that have gone a little crazy after too long in the deep. They could interdict just because they are desperately seeking some human company for a while, e.g. just wanting a few banter messages to and fro, but will fire upon you if you do not make some effort to send messages of moral support. Others might just be desperate for some materials to synth essential supplies and we'll fire upon if they don't get them - nb, this would require allowing jettisoning/scooping materials similar to cargo.

I fly a singleship, 1 person alone against the dark universe, I wouldn't want engineers and co-pilots and all sorts messaging me all the time, that would just be...irritiating. If it's optional fine, and I don't want to be fighting my way through every 50th system thank you very much. I have no guns, I run from everything, that's the singleship life! That would be more than irritating, it would be exploration killing. Again if you want to have it as an option fine, but not compulsory. Say an option where you select to have "random encounters" you just go ahead, I'll skip that option.

 

[disorganise]

If you are able to get windows to consistently understand you, then your request is pretty much already met by voice attacks and HCS voice packs.
They're awesome if you can them to work (I can't, my accent seems to confuse my computer)

 

[GraphicEqualizer]

I fly a singleship, 1 person alone against the dark universe, I wouldn't want engineers and co-pilots and all sorts messaging me all the time, that would just be...irritiating. If it's optional fine, and I don't want to be fighting my way through every 50th system thank you very much. I have no guns, I run from everything, that's the singleship life! That would be more than irritating, it would be exploration killing. Again if you want to have it as an option fine, but not compulsory. Say an option where you select to have "random encounters" you just go ahead, I'll skip that option.

For a small ship without possibility of crew then you wouldn't be bothered by on ship banter (which would be just a toggle off switch anyway - like the in-system comms chatter). And the once in 1500 LY NPC would not be really something to fear, more meant as an added flavour, I've been out far beyond the rift for a week to see how far the outer rim reaches... there must have been plenty of real players out this far because I still find prior-discovered worlds out here... so by that metric there should be an occassional lost soul also going a little mad (like me), desperate just to chat to a fellow human, and only pathetically getting shirty (they'd be small ships with complete noob NPCs that have lost any ability to function like an effective fighter pilot, they might not even have enough power left to run their weapons modules - they could be that desperate) when you have had enough of them and want to be on your way... again, not meant as something that could ruin your 10000LY+ trek and have you need to respawn in the bubble.

 

[Lestat]

If you feel alone but want someone that you can talk to. Use Voice Attack. You can ask the question about the galaxy.

This game is not Star Trek. It one person controlling a ship. We do fly Large Ships. I have a Type 10 and an Anaconda. I don't fly Sidewinders.

 

[ilo]

or maybe calling your friends if you feel that lonely..

 

[Iskariot]

Ideas based on 2000+ hrs in game

• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC Engineers (aka "Scotty") could be hired (similar to mechanics for NPC fighter pilots) for larger ships who can help maintain module health even without an AFM (but better with AFM) and hull damage (if repair limpets are installed). The NPC engineer would occasionally send messages to commander asking to take modules offline for repair or deploy repair limpets. Commander can decline request, accept request, or postpone request e.g. "ok", "no" or "ask again later" via message reply.
• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC fighter pilots could message commanders suggesting they deploy their fighters, as above with ability to decline, accept or postpone via message reply
• Increased "life" on board ships - occasional random banter messages from onboard NPC. Commander could increase/decrease banter messages via replies, e.g. "less chatter" or "keep up the good work". At the moment it feels like any hired personnel are slaves who aren't allowed to interact onboard the ship.
• Increased "life" in deep space exploration - e.g. RNG one-in-50 jumps, NPCs could spawn, these would be fellow deep space explorers that have gone a little crazy after too long in the deep. They could interdict just because they are desperately seeking some human company for a while, e.g. just wanting a few banter messages to and fro, but will fire upon you if you do not make some effort to send messages of moral support. Others might just be desperate for some materials to synth essential supplies and we'll fire upon if they don't get them - nb, this would require allowing jettisoning/scooping materials similar to cargo.

I would hate being bothered all the time by crew and passengers for no good reason.
Pre-programmed banter will become repetitive very, very quickly. There is no way around that.
I do not wish my fighter pilots to suggest anything to me, I do not wish them to try to be funny.
So I would only be for your suggestion if it can be switched off completely.

I do want a fully developed crew system and I do want to see npc crewmen on my bridge.
I made proposal for that elsewhere.

 

[varonica]

For a small ship without possibility of crew then you wouldn't be bothered by on ship banter (which would be just a toggle off switch anyway - like the in-system comms chatter). And the once in 1500 LY NPC would not be really something to fear, more meant as an added flavour, I've been out far beyond the rift for a week to see how far the outer rim reaches... there must have been plenty of real players out this far because I still find prior-discovered worlds out here... so by that metric there should be an occassional lost soul also going a little mad (like me), desperate just to chat to a fellow human, and only pathetically getting shirty (they'd be small ships with complete noob NPCs that have lost any ability to function like an effective fighter pilot, they might not even have enough power left to run their weapons modules - they could be that desperate) when you have had enough of them and want to be on your way... again, not meant as something that could ruin your 10000LY+ trek and have you need to respawn in the bubble.

Lets be clear here, the appearance of POI's out in the deep black was reduced because they were unrealistic, there just wouldn't be that many little bases and crashed ships scattered across every little planet in the entire galaxy. The same applies to bumping into a lone raving mad pilot. Occasional lost soul? There are 400b star systems, you want an interdiction or random encounter every 50 jumps, so by my calculations that makes about 8 billion lone wandering lunatics ready to interdict us everywhere we go? Apart from the stark unrealism of it, many explorers go exploring because they like the vast black empty spaces out there, not to bump into deranged attackers.

The answer is no, just no, never, not a chance. I have worries enough flying into the bubble with 60kly of exploration data so I do it solo or private group, so I certainly don't want to be harassed all across the galaxy by an impossibly huge number of deranged NPC's. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for a little bit of excitement, but that should be consistent with environmental threats. A bit of danger, fine, a cautious pilot like myself should have learnt how to take care of those sorts of things, if not I am not going to get very far, as it is I am down to 92% hull from a bad landing in the dark, that sort of thing is fine. Forgot to throttle down entering a black hole system? Got to close and overheated fuel scooping? Killed by my own carelessness? Not a problem, I'll suck it up and go on and be more careful next time, but ground down like a meat grinder by many thousands and thousands of randomly generated insane lone pilots because you want to add a bit of, unrealistic and entirely inconsistent with the galaxy as we know it, life? Forget it!

Look I would even be happy with the occasional hostile weird alien life and things like that. It's not that I want a sterile galaxy, I just don't want one filled from one side to the other with RNG encounters, that's not at all what it should be like.

If its optional fine, you can do it, let me know how many thousand of interdictions it takes before you turn it off forever, but it will be off from the get go for me.

Oh yes, the outer rim? It goes all the way to t'other side!

 

[GraphicEqualizer]

or maybe calling your friends if you feel that lonely..

pfft, humans. lol

PS. Perhaps there could be an element to the algorithm that would only swawn occasional pathetic lost soul NPCs in areas that have had a higher ratio of previous 'foot traffic' - e.g. I'd expect to see some likelihood in the rift, some around major obvious nebula, some around engineer space, on the path to Colonia, some where lots of people have previously scanned and system stars and planets. That to me does not seem unrealistic at all. Players have clearly been there. How often have you been in the middle of nowhere and you find an earthlike that has already been discovered. Much less so out of the galactic plane and not in line of something obvious like a big nebula...

I reiterate I would only expect 1 encounter in many hours of jump honking, and they would not be in any fit state to take down anyone's ship. People that turn a blind eye to a previously discovered system in the middle of nowhere should have no qualms with an equally unlikely occassional contact with an NPC or commander

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

Ideas based on 2000+ hrs in game

• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC Engineers (aka "Scotty") could be hired (similar to mechanics for NPC fighter pilots) for larger ships who can help maintain module health even without an AFM (but better with AFM) and hull damage (if repair limpets are installed). The NPC engineer would occasionally send messages to commander asking to take modules offline for repair or deploy repair limpets. Commander can decline request, accept request, or postpone request e.g. "ok", "no" or "ask again later" via message reply.
• Increased "life" onboard ship - NPC fighter pilots could message commanders suggesting they deploy their fighters, as above with ability to decline, accept or postpone via message reply
• Increased "life" on board ships - occasional random banter messages from onboard NPC. Commander could increase/decrease banter messages via replies, e.g. "less chatter" or "keep up the good work". At the moment it feels like any hired personnel are slaves who aren't allowed to interact onboard the ship.
• Increased "life" in deep space exploration - e.g. RNG one-in-50 jumps, NPCs could spawn, these would be fellow deep space explorers that have gone a little crazy after too long in the deep. They could interdict just because they are desperately seeking some human company for a while, e.g. just wanting a few banter messages to and fro, but will fire upon you if you do not make some effort to send messages of moral support. Others might just be desperate for some materials to synth essential supplies and we'll fire upon if they don't get them - nb, this would require allowing jettisoning/scooping materials similar to cargo.

Don't listen to the naysayers, there have been many threads about adding life to the game and lots of players support these notions. The exact nature of your suggestions might not be perfect but hopefully FDEV will take such suggestions to heart in some form. The very fact that Voice Attack and HCS Voice Packs are available to talk to the CMDR is a sign that people appreciate some banter. It should of course be optional.

I would prefer external NPCs that produce some procedurally generated text or, preferably, voice that provides the player with in-game information, that alone would beat listening to the wedding barge, passenger liner's internal comms leaking out, or canned responses from system security ships or pirates over and over. For instance, imagine dropping into a system and finding out from an NPC that a system elsewhere nearby is on the brink of civil war or that the price of medical supplies are about to go up due to an outbreak. I can imagine that NPCs could also hint at things you'd have to read GalNet to find out about. There are a host of ways FDEV could use NPCs to make the galaxy, or at least the bubble, seem more alive.

For now though you might have a look at Voice Attack and the HCS Voice Packs, some of the celebrity voices and personalities are very engaging.

 

[alphakomodo]

I think the update (today- haven’t done it yet so this could be totally wrong lol) adds more voice feedback for certain features which I’m very excited about! On another note YES YES YES!!! I explored to X Carinae in my python and it was very lonely. Now that I have an anaconda (the echoing computer and massive bridge are great) I would love to have more crew other than fighters and I would love to even have voice feedback not just text banter! I think it certainly needs to be optional as many pilots might not be explorers and thus not want/understand the use of this feature, but apart from the toggle I think this is a fantastic idea and I hope FDEV includes it along with more NPC (and multi crew of course) ship positions I.e. engineer/engine room/passenger assistant/navigator copilot/fighter/srv crew/and more.

Also many might not agree but as a ff14 player I have one thing to say

FDEV! If ya need more money to pay more people to write banter scripts and voice them and everything I am NOT opposed to a subscription service in the future for more advanced features like increased voice feedback (please) and other more labor intensive features! I’m sure there are quite a few commanders out there who would happily pay a monthly fee of 5-15 usd or annual 50-60 usd (just throwin numbers) to support your amazing work and to help progress some sweet features like this. If the “premium content” ya mention occasionally is a subscription service that works too :/ lolol