It's just not nice to look at empty seats all the time when you look around your cockpit. I don't even know what the explanation is why the crew is not visible. Maybe its an oversight by Frontier or a long existing bug? I don't see any negative effects of making them visible, so please do it Frontier.
Make the NPC Crew visible!
- Thread starter Solvyn
- Start date
If we all keep making posts maybe we'll eventually be heard?
Yes!
If you have multicrew player on board they take priority, but if there is a spare seat let an NPC crew sit there.
Yes!
If you have multicrew player on board they take priority, but if there is a spare seat let an NPC crew sit there.
Personally I hope so. I was really pleased when they introduced possibility to save our hired crew in case of ship destruction. So there may be chance that next step may be allow them to be visible in cockpit. They said (hope I remember it right that it was official message) that possibility to walk in ships will be added at later date ... so maybe then will be solved also this.
I believe that is where they are. But if we can pilot an SLF from the bridge why couldn't an SLF pilot?
They could but if they were working from the bridge we would see them, we don’t therefore they are somewhere else.
Besides if they were on the bridge they could probably do something useful as well like multi crew players are supposed to be able to do.
I'm not disagreeing that the pilots are somewhere else. It is definitely assumed that they have their own little desk in the hangar bay. With bobbleheads probably.
If they were on the bridge though they would still be performing the fighter pilot role, as a multicrew pilot does. Isn't their fighter pilot role technically useful? With the added bonus of making that bridge a little less lonely.
Now if you're speculating that you could bring more than one NPC crew to the bridge and there were multiple roles they could perform... oh I'm listening. An NPC Crew system is what I would adore. Fighter role, NPC gunners, some other multicrew role that could possibly be introduced if Frontier gave a damn about updating it...
It would also be TRIVIAL to do, especially now that Odyssey generates full 3D NPCs. A dev could probably code this in a day or two. Why they don't is beyond me. I finally gave up waiting for Frontier to get off their butt, so I implemented (something like) this myself; these days my copilot seat is almost always occupied.
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Alt account multicrew session? Hehe.
Exactly! It's kinda lame that I had to do this to put a person in the chair, but it proves the technology is there already. I run my alt copy on an older laptop with minimum graphic settings specifically for this purpose, though I have found some extra gameplay in ranking CMDR Jenny and building her credit balance solely through multicrew - it kinda makes her feel like a proper crewmate.
Could it be pilots are only portraits and the code to auto generate 3D models for pilots is lost in the mists of time and spaghetti code?
Perhaps, but we're about to enter an expansion that allows auto generated 3D character models across stations and surfaces across the galaxy. If that was a reason, it doesn't seem to be a valid excuse any more.
No, all portraits are generated from 3D models, even people in stations. I can prove it by turning off the shader that renders my pilot in the chair:
Apparently the fancy clothes that some NPCs wear are rendered using a different shader.
Seconded.
And long time waited.
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I also voice my support of this idea, if only to bump the thread and get it more notice.
We're a bunch to feel the same : https://forums.frontier.co.uk/threads/apex-style-copilot.583936/
About NPC crew or copilots in the cockpit, we've been trying to get the attention of the devs (thread). You can vote here :
https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/42241
About NPC crew or copilots in the cockpit, we've been trying to get the attention of the devs (thread). You can vote here :
https://issues.frontierstore.net/issue-detail/42241
Empty seats, especially on large ships, slightly interfere with the immersion in the game. Therefore, I would not refuse such an opportunity, even if the crew will not bring any benefit. It will be enough to be able to customize the appearance of the NPC.
I voted for your wonderful suggestion. I really like the idea of taking a crew member with me on a deep space exploration mission. It would also be great if there was also a Holo-Crew version of Holo-Me, so we may design our own crew member(s). And then there could be crew character customization options in the store, so we may buy special outfits and other stuff for our crew. o7 CMDR!
Thanks a lot. I think there are many players who feel the same ; if only they could all vote, we would definitely get the devs attention.