NPC crew remake needed

CMDR EDGEL0RD

CMDR EDGEL0RD
Despite myself having some spare cash, I just can't bring myself to hiring any NPC crew. Current waging model for them is just stupid. I can't even find any irl analogy for that one.

Paying some dude 20% of revenue to fly a 5k credit fighter he haven't even provided EVEN WHILE HE SITS IDLE SOMEWHERE... I fail to see the reasoning.

In current state, this mechanic is viable either as min/max pvp stuff or as a hardcore roleplay feature for some people.

I understand that simple one-time payment would be too immersion-breaking. In my opinion, NPC crewmates should be waged, for instance, 12 mil (one A4 plasma accelerator cost) per one week of play time for average skill pilot, half of that when they are idle. Profit (and not revenue, please) cut payment in lesser percentages could be left as an optional feature, provided that all income NPC gains gets converted into their experience (unrealistic, but at least as some incentive) and maybe make it so their rank will be locked at Deadly unless they get a cut from your profit on top of their salary. And please remove death mechanic.

Maybe this system is not perfect, but I'm sure this would be better than what we have now. If not, I'm fully open to working with you at Frontier Development as a janitor for 20% of revenue :).
 
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Chaparral

Chaparral
I think there is an apatite to cultivate an npc companion within game, even with the silly tax. The permadeath truly puts the stink on them though. That, and the redundant dialogue, and lack of presence on the bridge.

They truly are an undiscovered opportunity. They could be the source of chain missions. They could have specializations. Missed opportunity IMO.
 

EvoBeardy

EvoBeardy
Yeah I picked up a (2nd) Mostly Harmless and a (3rd) Harmless a few weeks ago, just because they didn't look like OAPs or like they'd bloated in space... They've earned a fair bit absolutely nothing.
Actually picked them up in the hopes that something would be done about their active/inactive status and payouts in that timeframe, no biggie.

Meanwhile my first one that I've actually ranked up from Harmless (whom I also picked up 'cos she looked half-decent) has earned so much, my casual ED playing brother was like "she's earned more than I have assets since 2015..." (like many others). It pays to be good looking! :D

I'd like to be able to take them out in my ships that have a seat, have them throw a pip into the distributor and man a turret or limpets or something, oh and not perma-die.

Until then, they're faithfully earning their millions by flying to the stations ahead of me, despite me trying to throw them off by planning to go somewhere and then randomly doing a u-turn! Alas, the stalker in them is Braben ranked.

Personally I think they need to re-work the system based on the pilot who's hiring them's attributes:

Does he/she/- get crew members killed off? Does he/she/- murder alot? Is he/she/- high ranked, low ranked? Worse pilots should have to pay more initially and really bad pilots will have to get seedy crew from pirate stations, who have quirky personalities and may or may not leave you during a fight if they don't like how it's going.

"Hey there's that pilot who keeps hiring people and they're never heard of again, unsure if I wanna fly with them".

I mean the whole hire and fire thing sucks, but I can understand why, given how much they absorb.

There's a massive thread regarding this very subject that's been talked about to death though, lots of creative ways of tackling the issue in there, plus Sandro has taken interest in the subject at least, even if his responses weren't what people wanted to hear, it shows they're listening. Which is never a bad thing. https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showt...ntier-ever-responded-to-killing-our-SLF-NPC-s

Time will tell! :)
 
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