Multiple Player *Characters* per account

Hey all,

So, we can have multiple accounts - I have two myself, thanks to Epic - which are totally independent of each other. They're friends, but that's it, I can't play both at once really. However, how about allowing us to have multiple characters on a single account?

For example, I have my main, grizzled Commander, with all his Ship assets, cash, materials, permits, ranks etc. But, with this Commander, I can only do ONE thing at a time, despite all those assets. Imagine I could add a second Character to my account. So, while Commander Scoob is off flying his Anaconda exploring the depths of space, Commander Scoob Jnr is "borrowing dad's old Cobra Mk III" practising his Combat abilities etc.

We still have ONE account, no multiple log-ins here. However, when we fire up the game, I log in as me (Scoob) BUT I could choose to select my primary Character Commander Scoob, and continue with some exploration gameplay OR, select Commander Scoob Jnr and do a little pew pew.

Each Character would have access to ALL the Primary Commanders assets, and contribute to the "organization" as a whole, but would have a wider variety of activities to pick on. For example, if one commander is enjoying long-term exploration activities, far outside the bubble, or are perhaps currently operating out in Colonia. Being so far away, engaging in what might be a fun CG (for example) back in the bubble is a no go, without excessive effort spent getting back. With a second Character, the player could choose to play as them for the sake of that CG - or other activity - without having to relocate. As part of the same "organisation", other Characters would benefit from the Primary Commanders, ranks and standings too - they are a representative of the Primary after all.

Speaking personally, I have a vast pool of ships, materials etc. but I can only do one thing at a time. I've often fancied partaking in a certain activity, only to be too far away and simply not wanting to fly all the way back, only to head all the way back out again after whatever "event" is over. For "me" Scoob, to be out playing in Colonia, and having Scoob Jnr, keeping an eye on things back in the bubble would be dead cool. I can literally pick my activity based on a whim or event (CG). Perhaps some friends have arranged an event or activity for us to do, but some of us are too far away. In that case, we send one of our "associates" aka other Characters, who are close-by, to engage on behalf of our organizations.

I don't know how practical this is but, for me, many a time I've ignored a fun activity, simply because it involves pulling my Commander back thousands of ly to enage with it, then fly all the way back to resume my primary, long-term activity.

To be clear, this would very much be "one Character at a time" type thing, but it'd allow us to switch our gameplay a little. I know I'd be more active in the game if I could do such things.

While we, the player, are still ultimately just one person, that becomes one person at a time, allowing us to flit between various activities. I might have my long-term explorer Character, regularly out in the middle of no where. I might have my Colonia-based character, partaking in activities there. Perhaps yet another character, who does nothing but mining or trading etc. Each character would persist in their location with their ship. No playing bubble-based Scoob Jnr, in place of Scoob who's in Colonia for example. Consider it like the Player being able to "teleport" between ships and locations if you will, based on which of their characters they select.

How might this be handled in-game? Should the Player have the ability to add new Characters at will? Should there be a limit on how many characters they can set up? Should player achievements - so rank, money etc. - influence their ability to add a new character slot? Should ARX be involved here (no, they should not lol). For me, I just want a way to be able to mix up my activties a bit more between play sessions, without compromising a longer-term mission or goal.

What do people think, does this sound like something that can practically be in the game? Our other Characters are simply (lore) other members of our small, personal organisations. We pick ONE of them to play/control/be each time we log in as our Primary Commanders.

I can see this increasing enagement and play time, with players creating additional Characters to fill certain roles in the game. The dedicated explorer Character, the Miner, the trader, the combat pilot etc. etc. Basically all the player's assets available to several Characters and the player picks which one they want to play today. I'd love that.
 
I don't know how practical this is but, for me, many a time I've ignored a fun activity, simply because it involves pulling my Commander back thousands of ly to enage with it, then fly all the way back to resume my primary, long-term activity.

Yup. Always wanted to go to Colonia, but community goals with missable modules and Thargoid stuff kind of keeps me in the bubble.

Would be great if we could assign characters not being used as ship crew as well. Big ships should require crew to even operate, and being able to make extra characters would essentially give us crew customization.
 
Yup. Always wanted to go to Colonia, but community goals with missable modules and Thargoid stuff kind of keeps me in the bubble.

Would be great if we could assign characters not being used as ship crew as well. Big ships should require crew to even operate, and being able to make extra characters would essentially give us crew customization.

Same.

I did think of that too, but wanted to keep the idea as a "Player-only Character" thing for now, keep it simple (relatively) and all that.

Been asked for since release. Fairly sure it isn't going to happen. Daft decision IMO

I recall reading lots of posts about allowing the player to create many distinct Commanders under one account, but all those Commanders were separate, just like buying multiple copies of the game. I don't recall any with multiple player Characters per account though, where they all have access to the same stuff, but perhaps I simply missed them.

I think having additional Characters would be good for FDev, they might claim they "lose a sale" due to this, but I don't think that's true at all. Having a new Character that has access to all the primary Commander's stuff would be a huge draw for me. I can see my self having so many things going on, with various Characters throughout the bubble and beyond. No more flying back to my carrier to swap ship load-outs just for one session to two, but rather Characters where they need to be in the ships they want.

Edit: I've got to pop away for a bit, but will be sure to check on this thread later. Interested to hear people's thoughts, even if it never garners any interest from FDev themselves. Perhaps I'm in a minority thinking this would be a great idea for players and FDev alike...we shall see.
 
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I think having additional Characters would be good for FDev, they might claim they "lose a sale" due to this, but I don't think that's true at all.
Agree. I think when people make new accounts, they don't go buying skins and ship kits they have already, they want to try new stuff, new ships etc. So removing a hurdle to having a second character makes it easier for players to spend money imo.

The thing to factor in is the price of Odyssey. FD can practically give the base game away because it's currently so cheap, but Odyssey is still £30. So FD have to consider if multiple characters will result in more than £30 (or £35 if you factor in the base game) being spent by every player, because every new account is a guaranteed £35.
 
Personally not keen on having multiple characters or accounts as the last time I tried that in a game I failed to keep either of them working properly, obviously I don't multi task well.

I am not sure the difference between what is being asked for and what was asked for since the start is big enough to give the suggestion much hope.
 
Personally not keen on having multiple characters or accounts as the last time I tried that in a game I failed to keep either of them working properly, obviously I don't multi task well.

I am not sure the difference between what is being asked for and what was asked for since the start is big enough to give the suggestion much hope.

That's the key to this approach though, there's ONE account still, you can play unchanged if you wish. However, if you wanted to have a permanent presence in Colonia for example, while still able to undertake CG's or other events in the bubble, you could have a commander for that too. You could literally partake in a CG for a couple of hours, switch to your Colonia Character and player there for a bit, as you wish. One Account, two characters.
 
That's the key to this approach though, there's ONE account still, you can play unchanged if you wish. However, if you wanted to have a permanent presence in Colonia for example, while still able to undertake CG's or other events in the bubble, you could have a commander for that too. You could literally partake in a CG for a couple of hours, switch to your Colonia Character and player there for a bit, as you wish. One Account, two characters.
To be honest it was the multiple characters I was having more trouble with than the accounts.
 
Agree. I think when people make new accounts, they don't go buying skins and ship kits they have already, they want to try new stuff, new ships etc. So removing a hurdle to having a second character makes it easier for players to spend money imo.

The thing to factor in is the price of Odyssey. FD can practically give the base game away because it's currently so cheap, but Odyssey is still £30. So FD have to consider if multiple characters will result in more than £30 (or £35 if you factor in the base game) being spent by every player, because every new account is a guaranteed £35.
FWIW, I've spent ARX on my alt to buy paintjobs, kits, and on foot customization that the main already has.. :)
 
That said I've often wished that I didn't have to buy bling that I've already bought.

What for me would be a great improvement, would be if the launcher could remember multiple accounts (email and password).
 
I am ok with multiple commanders with one account, just not multiple carriers. Limitations like that though make the 2nd character concept not as desirable. Imagine you have 2 accounts that have 2 characters each. Now you have 4 carriers, 3 of them probably idle. The main account keeps the others bankrolled so the carriers never go away.
 
No more than you can just replicate my ships on your account each account is an independent “entity”.
In essence I did wind up replicating a number of my main's ships and suits on my alt accounts as they are fitted in a manner that suits the way I play. I actually improved the designs as my main's ships were built as I went along and now I'm refitting my main's ships to take advantage of the improvments.
 
I'd be quite happy if I could choose which of my (Frontier launcher) accounts I could play, selected from a drop down, rather than having multiple copies of the launcher, and their corresponding shortcuts on my desktop.
I'm waiting for another sale by Frontier so I can get rid of the Epic launcher (and extra copy of ED/O that goes with it!)
 
Still thinking about how this would affect cargo and carrier jumps.

Not thought out yet.

Steve
Multiple Cmdrs using the same carrier doesn't really work, even when all Cmdrs are the same player as they inevitably have interests in different directions. Thus each of my Cmdrs wound up with their own carrier.
The carriers don't normally stay in the same system except during a cargo transfer.
 
FWIW, I've spent ARX on my alt to buy paintjobs, kits, and on foot customization that the main already has.. :)
My accounts have some purchasing overlap, but only for on foot customization since the selection there is a bit limited. Hard to know what other people are doing and in what kind of numbers, but my assumption is still that people mostly are doing some light roleplaying, or have characters limited to one superpower per account or something like that. Could be completely off base, but that's my guess based on the kind of players in the Elite community compared to other similar communities.
 
My main has multiples of each suit type with different enhancements. The suit names are nonsensical to anyone but me and reflect the roles the suit plays. I even have mutliple Artemis suits, because they are good for more than just exobiology due to the 3rd power cell storage, although the scanner is as worthless as the cutter would be 5000LY outside the bubble. I have a lot of ships, including 4 or 5 T10s on that account (for parts).

The 2nd account has a carrier also but only about 10 ships currently. I've had that account since before carriers so it took a while for me to get enough credits to get a carrier or find the use for one, but since I now have 2 carriers I have the ability to store ships from either commander on each carrier. That's a bonus.
 
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I have two accounts and frankly, I find it hard enough keeping up with four characters: two in Legacy Horizons and two in Odyssey.
 
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