Elite dangerous is a great game, which is a shame that the NPC copilot mechanic such a pain to use.
TLDR: currently the best way to use NPC pilots is to hire an expert pilot before going on a mission, and then firing him just before you turn in any profit. Thus the system is completely broken and unfun, and I proposed a few ways this can be fixed.
Contents:
- Problem analysis
- Story 1
- Story 2
- Problem summary
- Quick solutions
- Design discussion
- Recommended solutions
Okay so here's a short version of my story. I built my first fighter-equipped ships and did a bit of bounty hunting. I've learned from the wiki and YouTube tutorials that the best way to do this is to hire a Harmless pilot and train him up the ranks so he'd have a smaller percentage profit share. So I hired a Harmless pilot and did a bunch of resource sites, by this point he had reach Competent rank, at which point he has a profit share of 5%. Then I decided I wanted get my own Fleet Carrier, so I had to focus more on money grinding and just left my pilot in the lounge for a bit.
Later, by chance, I read from somewhere (probably the wiki) that the copilot takes a share of ALL profits I earn regardless if they are active or not. I was like "oh ", because at that point I had already made 0.5 billion towards my target of 7 billion before I would buy the carrier. I went to check my copilot and guess what I saw.
View attachment 288659
I had paid this idiot 28 MILLION space-bucks, for doing absolutely jacksh*t, whilst being terrible at it too! (Obviously I fired him on the spot, literally as I was taking this screenshot, like, 0.5 seconds later)
And so I opened up my calculator, and calculated what I would've paid him had I reached my 7 billion savings target. I would have paid him 350 million by the time I got my own carrier. I would have paid a space idiot, whom I had to train from the ground up, 350 million space-bucks, for doing NOTHING. I would have had to spent an extra 5 hours (or more) at Robigo Mines, because a barely competent, not-even-sentient, NPC pilot was sitting in my lounge smoking space-meth.
HOW does any of this make sense?
But wait, the space- goes even deeper.
Some time later on I had got tired of the Robigo grind and decided to go and have some fun again at bounty sites. It happens I had just built my second fighter-capable ship and I wanted to test out the build, but none of my (non-existent) friends was available to help me out. So having learned from my experience, I went to the nearest spaceport to hire an Expert pilot, and was going to terminate him after I'm done hunting. After lots of heroism, dead pirates, 5 crashed fighters and 1 overheated plasma repeater that almost crashed the 6th (I know, this weapon sucks), I went to collect my vouchers. And guess what I saw.
View attachment 288661
Noticed the problem yet? Yeah you probably have. I haven't payed this space-lackey a single cent in dividends.
And so I fired her and collected the full amount of my 5 million bounty while doing the most evil space-capitalist laugh. In fact, by my calculations if your total profits for any operation (bounties, war contracts, trade, exploration etc.) is greater than 1.3 million then you profit more by hiring and then firing the Expert pilot instead of keeping her. This number halfs if you are hiring one of the non-Expert pilots. You probably know that getting 1.3 million at a piracy site is a piece of cake even in the early game, so this means you should probably always hire Expert pilots and firing them before they get paid. The downside is that you don't get to level up your pilots above Expert, which is yet another part of the problem as it puts players between a rock and a hard place.
So to sum up the problems with the current copilot system:
- Pilots get paid a ridiculous amount for doing absolutely nothing
- There's no point in keeping pilots and leveling them up because that becomes extremely costly extremely quickly.
In addition, players are forced to choose between:
- Hiring Expert pilots and then firing them before collecting profit, which is mathematically the most efficient way to play, plus you get a good pilot right off the bat. But you miss out on the chance to level up pilots above Expert
- Hiring Expert pilots and level them up. They will eat up a LOT of undeserved profits for a shorter time
- Hiring Harmless pilots and level them up. They will eat up a LOT of undeserved profits over a longer period of time.
Conclusion: there are no fun options. Nobody wins.
So how can we begin to solve this issue? There are a few quick fixes I can think of.
- Pilots don't get profit share when they are not active. I'm sure most players don't mind paying their pilots so long as they actually earn their salary.
- A salary system, pilots get paid a weekly check like the carrier crews. Obvious solution.
- Pilots get trade dividends when they are switched from active to inactive. Sounds familiar? Yes this is the mechanism used for multicrew which by the way, already exist in the game! WHY are we not using the same mechanism for the same function which is already. in. the. game.??
- Just remove the copilot payment. Like, literally why does this payment have to exist? What purpose does it even serve? What benefit does it bring? What does it bring to the gaming experience? NOTHING. So why shouldn't it simply be removed?
Speaking of which, I want to go a bit deeper into the design and reasoning behind this copilot system. I'll start by asking the elephant's question in the room: Why do we need to pay our copilots in the first place?
Well, my dear space-elephant, my guess would be that the game designers wanted to somehow distinguish the different copilot options available, but they chose to do it in the dumbest way possible (no offense). I'm trying my best to imagine a group of game designers sitting around a table, one designer asks:
"How do we differentiate between the copilot options?"
And another designer says:
"I know! Let's PUNISH the player for hiring a copilot, and PUNISH them even more for keeping the pilot around to level them up! Moreover, we'll offer different forms of PUNISHMENT should the player choose to keep an inexperienced pilot vs. an experienced one!"
And everyone at the table claps because this is such a good idea, and they ended up putting this into the game.
... Yeah, no, none of this makes sense to me either.
But! If the problem is indeed "how to distinguish between copilot options", I have a bunch of proposals.
Solution 1: Unique piloting styles
Different copilots are more proficient at certain types of tasks and are more inclined to do things a certain way.
- Preference: small ship -- this pilot fights better in a small size ship, making full use of its agility
- Nimble -- good at dodging attacks and avoiding enemy's line of fire, this pilot will use boost more frequently.
- Steady -- this pilot is accurate with fixed weapons, and can keep them on target more frequently
- Accurate -- this pilot tries to line up shots on enemy power plant, but will fire less frequently
- Sneaky -- this pilot makes good use of stealth mode and heat sinks to get the advantage.
- Crippling -- this pilot prefers to focus on enemy defensive utilities such as point defenses, as well as enemy thrusters.
- Observant -- this pilot will scan neutral ships when possible, and alert you of any dangers or opportunities
Solution 2: Unique stat buffs
Every copilot comes with a buff to the ship they're in
- Electrician -- 1 extra power pip
- Lens specialist -- +20% scanner range
- Gold digger -- +50% chance to find rare asteroid deposits (or +50% range to PWA and prospector limpets)
- Field engineer -- AFMS and repair limpet repair rate +50%
- Blood hound -- K-W scanner and wake scanner time - 50%, interdiction angle +50%
- Engine master -- ship top speed and boost speed +10%
- Trickster -- ship maneuverability +20%
- Well-connected -- black market sell price +50%
- Family ties -- bounties and fines incurred -50%
- Scientist -- surface scanner radius +20%
- Xenologist -- damage against non-human vessels +10%
- Mechanist -- FSD optimal mass +10%
- Fuel rat -- fuel consumption -20%, fuel scoop rate +50%
- Imperial noble -- damage to shields +10%
- Federal officer -- damage to armor +10%
- Renegade -- damage against authority vessels and bounty hunters +20%
Solution 3: Mix and match
Every copilot gets one trait from solution 1 and one trait from solution 2. Hunting around for the rare traits and suitable combinations should be fun.
Solution 4: Mentoring
Harmless pilots come with no traits. As you level him up you get to select new traits for him or replace old traits.
Seriously guys, you don't need a doctorate in game design to think of unique, fun, and engaging ways of distinguishing between different NPC pilot options. Which really casts doubt on what the current Frontier game design team is doing and where they are putting their energy. I can't say I'm surprised though, the quality of design for the NPC copilot mechanic seems consistent with the remarks about "ship interiors are boring" (which is a whole new rabbit hole that I won't elaborate here).
Frontier, please fix.
