As CMDR Normandy suggested in this thread, I am posting a suggestion thread about multicrew exploration.
Before I start making any actual suggestions I will explain what is it that I have done as a crew-member on board The Silver serpant, CMDR Deathbanes ship on the Mercury 7 expedition. I joined the Mercury 7 expedition in April in order to spend time with a good friend. Since he is based in Colonia while I am based in the main bubble the multi-crew allows us to actually spend time together and experience the game even though our goals and interests mean that we are (at our closest) 22 000 light years away from each other. While we were exploring together my job was to look at the system map after it was scanned and point out any interesting planets (earth-likes, high metal content ones with lakes, ocean planets, record braking planets), which tremendously sped up the exploration as it allowed Deathbane to fuel-scoop and plot the main route while I was looking at the system map. Another thing I would do is I would help him with picking out the systems that might be interesting or hold high-value scan targets (like white dwarves, proto-stars, neutron stars, black holes, planetary nebulae etc). I would also help him by visually looking for things like geysers or interesting planet topography and teling him of the gravitational conditions planet-side. Finally I would read the statistics and identify planets after they have been scanned by a surface scanner cutting down on time spent lingering in a system as he could immediately continue to the next planet while I spent my tame in the system map. The final bit of help I offered was the usual additional power pip management.
Sadly there is little incentive currently on multicrew exploring apart from spending time with a good friend. As a member of the multicrew you cannot scan objects in supercruise. If I understood correctly, the reason is to prevent abuse of the multicrew feature, where people who never left the bubble could be named discoverers of systems thousands of light years away without any effort. After some consideration I think this is actually a good idea. One problem is that the things I did when multicrewing cannot be quantified by some automated system. Another problem is that currently there is very little the co-pilot can do while multicrewing. The third problem whrn exploration multicrewing is SRV lockdown. In order to make multicrewing more attractive these three problems must be addressed.
The problem of supercruise idleness:
Currently the help a second crew member can provide is mostly qualitative. This problem isn't limited to exploration. Even combat multicrewing has extended downtime while the owner is travelling in supercruise. Thus I think every crew position should be able to enter gunner cam and scan objects in supercruise. The discoverer of planets should, however, always be the owner of the ship. For exploration, the problem with this is the distance between bodies as there usually is only one body to scan. I think that the range of the detailed surface scan should be significantly increased for crew members, but scanning time should also be a lot longer, to offset this advantage. Crew members should also be able to scan ships for bounty or use wake scanners in supercruise.
The problem of SRV lockdown:
The solution here is simple: Add 2-crewmember SRVS (or make the current one 2 player). That way both players can deploy on the planet. Additionally extend the fighter code to the SRV. The owner of the ship should be able to drop a crew member on a planet or a moon to search for geysers* and materials, while the pilot fly around and scan the system (I can already hear you laughing Deahtbane, as you drop me off a planet to mine while you fly around and have all the fun
). Any materials used for SRV repairs, refuelling and upgrades should come out of the crewman's pocket, in order to avoid grieving. Additionally if helm leaves the system, the SRV should explode.
The problem of rewards:
In the current state of multicrew does not leave a lot of non-exploitable options for exploration rewards. Here I recommend a similar system to the one combat bonds/bounties/trade rewards. Every time a body is scanned the crewman gets a monetary reward and experience equal to the price of a surface scan offset by the exploration rank difference. If the problems to SRV lockdown are addressed in the manner suggested, then the crewman in the SRV should also get 1/3 of the materials collected (instead of getting 3 per unit, he gets 1) and money gained from intelligence packages offset by combat rank differences.
*Geysers currently cannot be seen by crew members (visual bug).
Before I start making any actual suggestions I will explain what is it that I have done as a crew-member on board The Silver serpant, CMDR Deathbanes ship on the Mercury 7 expedition. I joined the Mercury 7 expedition in April in order to spend time with a good friend. Since he is based in Colonia while I am based in the main bubble the multi-crew allows us to actually spend time together and experience the game even though our goals and interests mean that we are (at our closest) 22 000 light years away from each other. While we were exploring together my job was to look at the system map after it was scanned and point out any interesting planets (earth-likes, high metal content ones with lakes, ocean planets, record braking planets), which tremendously sped up the exploration as it allowed Deathbane to fuel-scoop and plot the main route while I was looking at the system map. Another thing I would do is I would help him with picking out the systems that might be interesting or hold high-value scan targets (like white dwarves, proto-stars, neutron stars, black holes, planetary nebulae etc). I would also help him by visually looking for things like geysers or interesting planet topography and teling him of the gravitational conditions planet-side. Finally I would read the statistics and identify planets after they have been scanned by a surface scanner cutting down on time spent lingering in a system as he could immediately continue to the next planet while I spent my tame in the system map. The final bit of help I offered was the usual additional power pip management.
Sadly there is little incentive currently on multicrew exploring apart from spending time with a good friend. As a member of the multicrew you cannot scan objects in supercruise. If I understood correctly, the reason is to prevent abuse of the multicrew feature, where people who never left the bubble could be named discoverers of systems thousands of light years away without any effort. After some consideration I think this is actually a good idea. One problem is that the things I did when multicrewing cannot be quantified by some automated system. Another problem is that currently there is very little the co-pilot can do while multicrewing. The third problem whrn exploration multicrewing is SRV lockdown. In order to make multicrewing more attractive these three problems must be addressed.
The problem of supercruise idleness:
Currently the help a second crew member can provide is mostly qualitative. This problem isn't limited to exploration. Even combat multicrewing has extended downtime while the owner is travelling in supercruise. Thus I think every crew position should be able to enter gunner cam and scan objects in supercruise. The discoverer of planets should, however, always be the owner of the ship. For exploration, the problem with this is the distance between bodies as there usually is only one body to scan. I think that the range of the detailed surface scan should be significantly increased for crew members, but scanning time should also be a lot longer, to offset this advantage. Crew members should also be able to scan ships for bounty or use wake scanners in supercruise.
The problem of SRV lockdown:
The solution here is simple: Add 2-crewmember SRVS (or make the current one 2 player). That way both players can deploy on the planet. Additionally extend the fighter code to the SRV. The owner of the ship should be able to drop a crew member on a planet or a moon to search for geysers* and materials, while the pilot fly around and scan the system (I can already hear you laughing Deahtbane, as you drop me off a planet to mine while you fly around and have all the fun
). Any materials used for SRV repairs, refuelling and upgrades should come out of the crewman's pocket, in order to avoid grieving. Additionally if helm leaves the system, the SRV should explode.The problem of rewards:
In the current state of multicrew does not leave a lot of non-exploitable options for exploration rewards. Here I recommend a similar system to the one combat bonds/bounties/trade rewards. Every time a body is scanned the crewman gets a monetary reward and experience equal to the price of a surface scan offset by the exploration rank difference. If the problems to SRV lockdown are addressed in the manner suggested, then the crewman in the SRV should also get 1/3 of the materials collected (instead of getting 3 per unit, he gets 1) and money gained from intelligence packages offset by combat rank differences.
*Geysers currently cannot be seen by crew members (visual bug).