Would be nice if you can actually see them sitting next to you
NPC Crew Cost Overhaul Needed
- Thread starter TGDarius
- Start date
Here’s a guess based on nothing more than having observed FDev for a while: they were worried that people would cheat the system by setting the pilot to inactive before handing in the combat bonds.
Yes, yes, you’re about to propose an easy way around this. Don’t bother. I can think of ways around it too. What I’m saying is that I think FDev took the easy way out - they shrugged and said “give them a cut of everything, all the time.
Again, just a guess.
Killer feature right there.
I’ve often proposed letting freighters have some kind of non-destructive defense against interdictions - decoys you could launch in supercruise, or something that would look like a bright beam of light to the pirate- basically a jammer.
An npc that either fly the ship or operate defenses would be awesome
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I figure mine hasn't bought their own fleet carrier yet because they're such good friends with the FC officers. Which makes sense, given that she's spent the past year just sitting on my carrier, I assume playing Galaga, while I've been off bringing glory to mankind as best I could.
I'm not even annoyed, though, because there is currently no practical difference between 88B and 80B credits. Until recently the only currency that mattered to get to do fun things was engineering materials. Now the only currency that matters is PP 2.0 merits. (Or will matter, when it becomes possible to earn them fast enough for it to matter at all.)
That said, it would still be nice if they could do more for their money. Having the ability to visibly sit in the cockpit and do something like take the controls on command, especially for navigation, would be well worth the billions. The code already exists for Apex. Or sending them off in a different ship on Tritium pickup runs, offscreen, would be something. Make them more like a copilot or business partner to justify the incredibly high wages they earn, rather than a (poorly aimed) hired gun.
But does your OG NPC do fixed beams okay?
Trying to confirm if hiring a new one fixes the issue.
I have absolutely no issue with how much the NPCs cost. No matter what i do, they only take a part of my profit. So, when i read the numbers they earned i know that for every million she has earned, i have earned over 10.1 millions. (At 9% rate. )
My issues with SLFs rather is the reduction other players get. For me the big advantage of the SLF was (when my friends still played) that it allowed us to play together quickly. But we quickly also learned this way, that the game actively punishes cooperative play. Punishing my friends with a 95% payout reduction because my combat rank is too high is very toxic. This is what actually should be fixed.
My issues with SLFs rather is the reduction other players get. For me the big advantage of the SLF was (when my friends still played) that it allowed us to play together quickly. But we quickly also learned this way, that the game actively punishes cooperative play. Punishing my friends with a 95% payout reduction because my combat rank is too high is very toxic. This is what actually should be fixed.
So a percentage wage suddenly becomes "prohibitively expensive" when the number gets big? Did you guys not learn in school how percentages work? And bagging 91% of the earnings is certainly not "prohibitively expensive". This is silly.
I have done very little non-AX combat for the past year, except for occasional CG's but recently did some bounty hunting as a PP 2.0 test.But does your OG NPC do fixed beams okay?
Trying to confirm if hiring a new one fixes the issue.
In that I found she seemed to hit moderately well with a fixed beam gu-97. Against condas she was consistently on target for most of each pass, against more agile ships less so but wasn't always missing. (That is, she had a lot less time on target, but nonzero.) Thing is, it had been so long that I'm not sure I remember well enough to say how much worse it was than performance back before the NPC pilot bugs.
We have NPC mission givers in the terminals.
As an RP / Functional role, it would be nice if we could meet our NPC SLF pilot in the bar and have them provide scaled reward missions related to their functionality (bounty hunting / assassinations/ massacres etc.).
As a side note - no one is really using the AX Guardian fighters (at least when I visit AX combat locations they are not used, in fact many players will shoot them down on purpose to stop rubber banding), it would be nice if the human damage penalty were removed from those fighters so that they could be employed in basic combat roles.
As an RP / Functional role, it would be nice if we could meet our NPC SLF pilot in the bar and have them provide scaled reward missions related to their functionality (bounty hunting / assassinations/ massacres etc.).
As a side note - no one is really using the AX Guardian fighters (at least when I visit AX combat locations they are not used, in fact many players will shoot them down on purpose to stop rubber banding), it would be nice if the human damage penalty were removed from those fighters so that they could be employed in basic combat roles.
Hmmm.... i've had 3 NPCs for a long time. Main one was trained up from basic to Elite and she's still with me. She's earned somewhere north of a billion credits.
I don't think she could afford a fleet carrier yet.
I don't know what you think your "friends" (LOL) are saying, because they are not expensive at all. Unlike FCs they don't take money from you regardless of what you do. They do take a cut of what you earn. But when you are earning millions or billions, you barely notice it. At one point i had 3 NPCs, taking around 20% of my income, didn't even notice it.
I don't think she could afford a fleet carrier yet.
I don't know what you think your "friends" (LOL) are saying, because they are not expensive at all. Unlike FCs they don't take money from you regardless of what you do. They do take a cut of what you earn. But when you are earning millions or billions, you barely notice it. At one point i had 3 NPCs, taking around 20% of my income, didn't even notice it.
This. If only I could actually assign my NPC(s) to spare seats in my ships, it would already be a lovely QoL addition.
The point would be, the number of activities in which they earn that 20% is very limited, and it isn't like it's the only drawback from having them.
Not a massive deal with the Large ships, but Medium ships will be somewhat compromised in the first place from having the SLF bay installed given they need a Size 5.
My understanding is that the Pilots don't just take a share of credits, they take a proportionate share of Elite Rank experience, slowing down the road to Elite even further.
I can't remember if I tested this before I stopped using them, but I would also assume that they reduce your contributions to Community Goals in kind too. Would be interesting to hear if any one has checked this out with the PP2.0 merit system.
I briefly really enjoyed using SLFs until I realised how much they were slowing down my progress.
Recent history demonstrated that many people really don't understand %s.
That is actually a scary thought.Recent history demonstrated that many people really don't understand %s.
Yes they take approximately half your combat XP while they are ranking up but unlike their credits take the XP is only taken when you use them in a fight. Which is why I tended to only carry them on my non combat ships to be used as a defence when I wasn’t interested in fights.
“Make your mother sigh”
I so wish we could get earth-like planets with old-west aesthetics
On AX Fighters, the Trident is actually a viable choice as it does absolute damage, only one of its kind, rather than the standard plasma fighters which are 50/50 thermal and kinetic.
Am I reading this table wrong? It looks like only 54% is damage against human ships. I hope I'm reading it wrong.
https://canonn.science/codex/slf-damage-partition-analysis/
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