The alt character would just be "eye candy". They don't need to do anything but sit there. One of the reasons I'm hesitating to buy an Anaconda is that a ship like that needs a proper crew - at least one other person on the bridge. It just doesn't "feel right" being in such a huge ship all alone.
Someday Frontier will give us NPC crew, but until then, I'm thinking outside the box.
There are a few other benefits - the alt character will earn credits / experience, and I get a free pip (which makes no sense at all). I'd create a private group for this, so it would effectively be Solo play, thus I'll not be "cheating" in a PvP sense.
I also could set the alt character's view to something different, so that second monitor (I use computer monitors on my consoles, not huge TVs) could be a dedicated rear-view mirror, for example.
My electricity is free, as long as the sun is shining (hence my OP ending)
On NPC crews, indeed i hope we get them sooner rather than later...
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And that's the least i want, i want to be able to order all my ships around to do things under computer control, like has been a standard thing in the X series since at least X2, rather than having all but the ship i'm currently flying, sitting idle in a shipyard*.
As for the rest of you post, you certainly sound to have it all worked out (though aside from a bit of extra XP and the extra pip the second crew member gets, it sounds like a
bit of a waste of having them there...)
Lastly, on the extra pip of energy they get, i'd say that's to reflect the better power management having a second crew member on board a ship would surely give you...
Though MAYBE it's to reflect the fact that they wear portable generators which plug into the ship to give it extra power - i'm mostly joking with this one, mostly... (they COULD be like Iron Man and have Arc reactors in their chests, though probably not)
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(*In the X series you can give your ships simple commands which they'll carry out, then they ask you what to do next, or just continue on doing as instructed 'til you tell them to do something else.
For example, you might tell a trading ship to fly to another station, which they'll do then ask for more instructions.
If they're attacked on route, they'll shoot at their attackers, mostly with turrets and launch any defensive missiles or fighter drones they may have and call for help, but mostly they'll just try to fly wherever you sent them, while still under fire (unless you give them new orders).
(IF you can't get to them quickly enough or you're busy, you can try sending combat ships to hopefully deal with whatever's attacking them.)
If you tell a combat ship to attack all enemies in its' current sector, it'll go around looking for targets or if you tell it to protect a particular ship or station, it'll do so 'til you tell it to stop.
If you tell any ship with explorer software to fly though an unexplored gate or to fly around a particular area of a large sector to search around, mostly to look for hard to find gates or bases, it'll do so.
While you can also send ships to remotely mine asteroids and collect items left behind after battles with the right software and equipment on board most ships also...
The above tasks only need easy to find and cheap software on board the particular ships, to follow such orders.
But for more complex commands and more advanced responses from ships, you need more expensive and less common software.
In particular, trade command software mark iii, costs about 500,000 (vs the normally hundreds to about 10,000 credits at the most it costs for most ships software) and is only available from Teladi equipment docks and handful of other special stations.
It puts a named NPC pilot in the particular ship, normally a freighter, it's installed in, who levels up over time.
At first the pilot can only work in one sector, but it'll fly around looking for things to buy and sell for the best profit and will continue 'til they run out of profitable deals, or they have a load of cargo they can't sell, which might never happen in certain sectors.
After a few levels the pilot can be promoted to sector trader status in which they'll search up to four neighbouring sectors for items to buy and sell.
But the fun really starts when the pilot has ranked up high enough to be a Universal Trader, they'll start to search around the whole (known to you at this time) in game Universe, MOSTLY avoiding dangerous sectors, though they still like to look for good deals in pirate sectors...
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They'll be smart enough to at least try to jump away from any aggressive ships, go to shipyards to repair themselves and buy fighter drones and energy cells whenever they need them and eventually give up on a particular dangerous trade route, if they keep getting attacked (they'll even buy upgrades for themselves overtime if you send them out in a less than stellar ship)
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Lastly combat ships can be commanded to patrol multiple sectors with the right software installed...
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