Newcomer / Intro New to SLF - is NPC needed?

Bantha · Jul 18, 2020

Hi all

I’m about to get myself one of the big three, and I’m looking forward to trying an SLF for the first time.

My question:-
Do I need to hire NPC Crew to fly the fighter / main ship?
Or can I just fly the fighter myself anyway, and if so what happens to my main ship when I do? Alternatively if I stay in the ship and launch the fighter without any NPC Crew, what happens?

Thanks

Chris Simon · Jul 18, 2020

Hi.

1) Yes. Kinda. See below.
2) You can fly the fighter, but if you don't have crew to fly your mothership, the autopilot can only follow or wait in place. If you want the mothership to help you in fight it has to be crewed. You can't launch an empty fighter.

So if you don't have a crew, you can fly either/or, but won't be able to use both in fights. With crew, you can choose whichever you want and the crew will take the other.

Just a word or warning - the NPCs tend to be extremely incompetent at first. don't let them fly your mothership. But once they've "leveled up" they are quite awesome.
Which leads to the second word of warning - they are taking a cut from your money AND experience. So if you're working on your combat rank, it's better to do it alone.

Bantha · Jul 18, 2020

Great reply, thank you.

Definitely need a crew member then. Although I did not know that they took a cut of your experience! I assume that’s at the same rate as the cash?

Do people take someone on for the long term and train them up, or generally hire and fire as they see fit? I would like to train someone up, but I love my mid size ships so much I’ll still spend a lot of time in them, and I don’t want my crew taking x% of my cash (and experience?) whilst they’re sat on their backside in a space station somewhere downing Lavian Brandy at my expense...

metatheurgist · Jul 18, 2020

They always take the cash, but only take XP when active. Always train from Harmless, it takes little effort to get them to Expert. It's the ranks after that take time.

Krieger · Jul 18, 2020

An NPC pilot takes 50% of your experience when activated. If you hire a harmless NPC they take 2% of you earnings and when you've leveled them to Elite they take 10% of earnings. Beware though, if you level one up from say Expert to Elite they take a lot more in the end.

I have one NPC pilot leveled up to Elite. I hired her a few months after the feature was introduced and she now sits on a pile of credits of 2+ billion (most of it "earned" doing stupid drinking games with her friends in the bar at Glashow City btw). I used to hire and fire red shirt pilots for really dangerous missions but not anymore since we can now rescue our crew as part of a rebuy.

--edit: I don't want to sound whiney: she's worth it. It's a joy to jump in a fighter and see her fly my Krait or Corvette and finish off a Pirate Lord or clear out a RES site with me just pointing her at the targets.

Bantha · Jul 18, 2020

Yep well I like the concept of hiring from Harmless and working through to Elite. But 50% of my experience? I’m only Master myself.... might need to rethink my strategy...

Chris Simon · Jul 18, 2020

Bantha said:
Yep well I like the concept of hiring from Harmless and working through to Elite. But 50% of my experience? I’m only Master myself.... might need to rethink my strategy...

Leveling up NPCs is MUCH faster than leveling your own rank. If you do a couple hours of combat a day, they will be Elite in no time (just a few days). Then they'll stop stealing your XP. Or if you want to expedite your own rank in the meantime, just leave them at home for a bit.
You will have to pay them on AND off duty, though, as Metatheurgist said, though. But credits are easy to come by, to be honest. It's not that much money lost.

Hooplah · Jul 18, 2020

Here's a Guide to Ship Launched Fighters.

Bantha · Jul 18, 2020

Hooplah said:
Here's a Guide to Ship Launched Fighters.

Most useful. Thank you

foxwalker · Jul 19, 2020

Besides the Docking Assist the Crew pilot is possibly one of the best additions. New pilots for sure have trouble turning to keep enemies in your sights. Your SLF crewman will keep them busy and give you the time to get them in your crosshairs.

Bantha · Jul 19, 2020

foxwalker said:
Besides the Docking Assist the Crew pilot is possibly one of the best additions. New pilots for sure have trouble turning to keep enemies in your sights. Your SLF crewman will keep them busy and give you the time to get them in your crosshairs.

Doubt I’ll be getting a docking computer. I have never had a problem docking, ever. I get that it’s more challenging in a large ship, but honestly I won’t be needing one, and that space can be put to better use with something more useful to me...

Para Handy · Jul 19, 2020

... (content deleted by me) ...

Bantha · Jul 19, 2020

Para Handy said:
That's fine but try not to become one of those DC nazis who disparage people that use one.

I don’t have to try - I’m not!

People can do whatever they want in this game and play it however they want.

I appreciate everyone’s help on this thread, but I won’t be using that particular item.

Simon Templar · Jul 20, 2020

Chris Simon said:
Leveling up NPCs is MUCH faster than leveling your own rank. If you do a couple hours of combat a day, they will be Elite in no time (just a few days). Then they'll stop stealing your XP. Or if you want to expedite your own rank in the meantime, just leave them at home for a bit.
You will have to pay them on AND off duty, though, as Metatheurgist said, though. But credits are easy to come by, to be honest. It's not that much money lost.

I'd never thought of that - so does the pilot stop reducing your own combat experience once they have reached Elite??? Mine is just 2% off Elite, brought her up from Harmless, so that's a gold dust revelation. Had never occurred to me that you get full experience once your pilot doesn't need it.

o7

badibeat · Jul 20, 2020

Chris Simon said:
If you do a couple hours of combat a day, they will be Elite in no time (just a few days). Then they'll stop stealing your XP.

That's very good news for me. Thanks.

aRJay · Jul 20, 2020

Simon Templar said:
I'd never thought of that - so does the pilot stop reducing your own combat experience once they have reached Elite??? Mine is just 2% off Elite, brought her up from Harmless, so that's a gold dust revelation. Had never occurred to me that you get full experience once your pilot doesn't need it.

o7

I don't think they steal XP once they have reached Elite but I can't prove it as I reached combat Elite before starting to rank my NPC rather than firing them all the time.

Mr T · Jul 20, 2020

Chris Simon said:
Just a word or warning - the NPCs tend to be extremely incompetent at first. don't let them fly your mothership. But once they've "leveled up" they are quite awesome.

I find even at Elite my NPC crew member isn't that great at combat and even now I would never leave her with my mothership. Maybe I just have trust issues? However, where I find the NPC crew flying a SLF really great is serving as a distraction. For example, if the shields in my main ship are down I can pull away and recharge and then come back again to the fight when they're back. You can't do that just on your own as the other party will be on your tail the whole time.

Zincfinger · Jul 21, 2020

Ooh, I had a question [after learning much here]...

When someone says the NPC pilot is off duty but still taking cash and exp [until Elite], do they take this pay if I have swapped to a ship without SLF bay entirely [ie not SLF-capable]?
Or merely if I switch off or switch out the fighter bay off the SLF equipped ship but still fly it?

Can someone specify?

Northpin · Jul 21, 2020

Zincfinger said:
Ooh, I had a question [after learning much here]...

When someone says the NPC pilot is off duty but still taking cash and exp [until Elite], do they take this pay if I have swapped to a ship without SLF bay entirely [ie not SLF-capable]?
Or merely if I switch off or switch out the fighter bay off the SLF equipped ship but still fly it?

Can someone specify?

They take their wage no matter if you fly with them or if you forget them on some beach planet and let them sip margaritas all day long

Bantha · Jul 21, 2020

Zincfinger said:
Ooh, I had a question [after learning much here]...

When someone says the NPC pilot is off duty but still taking cash and exp [until Elite], do they take this pay if I have swapped to a ship without SLF bay entirely [ie not SLF-capable]?
Or merely if I switch off or switch out the fighter bay off the SLF equipped ship but still fly it?

Can someone specify?

This was answered in this thread.

The NPC takes cash no matter what you fly, whether it has SLF or not.
They earn XP only when flying with you.