Do you think FDEVs has full, rigged and textured 3D models of all of those NPCs? I don't think so
That is a lot, a lot of work.
NPC Crew visible and working in our ship proposal
- Thread starter VR SenseiMatty
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Do you think FDEVs has full, rigged and textured 3D models of all of those NPCs? I don't think so
That is a lot, a lot of work.
Seem a bit over the top on every function.
For example, the Mechanic reparing stuff? Nah, more in line would be a 10-30% increased repair efficiency for your AFMU. No AFMU? No repairs
Same for Engineer. Even a single point extra in PIPS seems sightly OP. 4-2-1 PIPS anyone? or 2-4-1?
Also keep in mind that at the moment you can equip a crew only in ships that can employ a SLF.
I take it you want this to be expanded to all ships supporting multicrew, but even so it will leave out most of the small ships
For example, the Mechanic reparing stuff? Nah, more in line would be a 10-30% increased repair efficiency for your AFMU. No AFMU? No repairs
Same for Engineer. Even a single point extra in PIPS seems sightly OP. 4-2-1 PIPS anyone? or 2-4-1?
Also keep in mind that at the moment you can equip a crew only in ships that can employ a SLF.
I take it you want this to be expanded to all ships supporting multicrew, but even so it will leave out most of the small ships
No, I think the charachters were generated by a macro in the holo-me software according to specific instructions and then saved as jpegs to be re-used in the game assets.Do you think FDEVs has full, rigged and textured 3D models of all of those NPCs? I don't think so
You can be right!
If yes, I want my Madalynn (Mackenzie) in my ship, making coffee for me!
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This is another option, but I don't see people very motivated to give 5% of their income just for this. So it's more a matter of balancing.
I see nothing bad with it, 1 pip is not making a huge difference in any activity. But if you feel the game unbalanced we can think about something else. For me the point is having someone on board that I can see and as long as I pay them they should bring some benefit.
Exactly, no change to that, as I explain this idea is to see people on board so no extra seat, no need for it. That's why I set the passengers and cargo limits.
I wouldn't have a problem with just saying that the crew need to be there doing, erm, something on the larger ships (maybe make some optional - the Cobra Mk III was always a one or two person ship), with no additional functionality. I just want a ship that looks more lived-in. You can temporarily kick them out for multicrew if you want (pretend they're sulking in the back somewhere).
There are people that pay 10% of their income to a SLF Crew that does nothing, because the CMDR is flying a ship without SLF
There are people that are paying 20 or even 30% of their income only to have a backup of their Elite SLF crew
Oh but it does make quite a difference
There’s one of the stories that came with Frontier Elite 2 about a Cmdr who buys single female Imperial slaves to accompany him on long exploration trips - he frees them from their indentured servitude and trains them to be self sufficient. At the story start he’s had to kill one who had become greedy and was going to kill him for the exploration haul. That’s the kind of personality I hope ED will have.
It wouldn’t have to be Mass Effect fidelity for ED, something more like Sid Meier’s Pirates would be what I’d aim for.
I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but having crew morale gameplay could be interesting stuff - do well at your game and develop a loyal bunch good at their jobs, waste their time and they might just mutiny and nick your ship (tracking down the mutinous dogs could be a follow-up mission for you).
It wouldn’t have to be Mass Effect fidelity for ED, something more like Sid Meier’s Pirates would be what I’d aim for.
I’ve mentioned this in another thread, but having crew morale gameplay could be interesting stuff - do well at your game and develop a loyal bunch good at their jobs, waste their time and they might just mutiny and nick your ship (tracking down the mutinous dogs could be a follow-up mission for you).
I proposed a rather simple form of npc crew, because I think the mechanic might get implemented sooner that way.
I think NPC crew should be a priority so people can get used to the fact that flying a Python or a Conda on your own is not possible anymore. The longer FDev takes to get this going, the more difficult it will be to implement a fundamental change like this.
These are just some outlines:
As far as having NPC crew is concerned I would already be happy if they were just a basic requirement for certain ships to be able to fly. A minimal sceleton crew to get certain ships of the ground and more crew for certain functions if you want/need them.
I just want them on board. I don't want huge special advantages and I don't want control taken away from me as a cmdr anyway.
- Perhaps having an ENGINEER might enable a slow auto repair for internal modules, or perhaps the use of fuel might be reduced with 5% Percent. Or perhaps you get a 5% better jump range. Or shields might reboot just a little bit faster.
- Perhaps having a MEDIC might come in handy when first person action (FPA) is introduced and cmdrs can get wounded. Or perhaps your life support systems function 10% better.
- Perhaps having a CO PILOT would be required to fly SLF yourself (just like it is now) and the copilot might also enable auto jumping when you have plotted a jump route, and auto approach to a station in a system, and also auto docking.
- Perhaps having an npc WEAPONS OFFICER would simply improve turret targeting speed by 5%, and/or let weapons run 3% cooler and give you a 5% faster Kill Warrant scanner.
- Perhaps a MINING SUPERVISOR might increase your ore yields by 20% and increase limpet lifetime.
- In the future we might hire a SCIENCE OFFICER and have a scientific module on board (cool for explorers). A science officer might improve your speed of system and planetary scans etc.and we might take soil, flora and fauna samples and analyze them and sell the data for money.
As I said nothing fancy or complicated, or overpowered.
I don't need my ship to become a powerhouse.
Most important thing is that I just would like to have npc crew.
Being a soloist at heart I will never play ED with others. I just do not want the social interaction.
PAYMENT
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Of course the current percentages crew get wouldn't work that well as they would eat into our profits far too much.
And we also need the ability to put our crew on hold when we want to fly smaller ships for a while. Because if you want to fly an Eagle for a few weeks and do a bit of fighter combat then you can't have 4 crew members eating into your profits for doing nothing at all.
Otherwise we would either get bankrupt very soon, or we would have to fire them all the time (which is already happening now with the hireable pilots).
CREW SURVIVAL
----------------
Also: Give crew the same survival option as the humans.
Possible alternatives to killing them off:
Perhaps if your ship is blown up you can not use your crew member for 3 days, because he is on sick leave, or perhaps you need to pay medical costs, or perhaps there is a 10% chance he dies, but... do not kill him off by default. That makes no sense at all and is counter productive. People do get attached to crew. Use that to enhance the game. Work with that. Build mechanics around that.
I think NPC crew should be a priority so people can get used to the fact that flying a Python or a Conda on your own is not possible anymore. The longer FDev takes to get this going, the more difficult it will be to implement a fundamental change like this.
These are just some outlines:
As far as having NPC crew is concerned I would already be happy if they were just a basic requirement for certain ships to be able to fly. A minimal sceleton crew to get certain ships of the ground and more crew for certain functions if you want/need them.
I just want them on board. I don't want huge special advantages and I don't want control taken away from me as a cmdr anyway.
- Perhaps having an ENGINEER might enable a slow auto repair for internal modules, or perhaps the use of fuel might be reduced with 5% Percent. Or perhaps you get a 5% better jump range. Or shields might reboot just a little bit faster.
- Perhaps having a MEDIC might come in handy when first person action (FPA) is introduced and cmdrs can get wounded. Or perhaps your life support systems function 10% better.
- Perhaps having a CO PILOT would be required to fly SLF yourself (just like it is now) and the copilot might also enable auto jumping when you have plotted a jump route, and auto approach to a station in a system, and also auto docking.
- Perhaps having an npc WEAPONS OFFICER would simply improve turret targeting speed by 5%, and/or let weapons run 3% cooler and give you a 5% faster Kill Warrant scanner.
- Perhaps a MINING SUPERVISOR might increase your ore yields by 20% and increase limpet lifetime.
- In the future we might hire a SCIENCE OFFICER and have a scientific module on board (cool for explorers). A science officer might improve your speed of system and planetary scans etc.and we might take soil, flora and fauna samples and analyze them and sell the data for money.
As I said nothing fancy or complicated, or overpowered.
I don't need my ship to become a powerhouse.
Most important thing is that I just would like to have npc crew.
Being a soloist at heart I will never play ED with others. I just do not want the social interaction.
PAYMENT
---------
Of course the current percentages crew get wouldn't work that well as they would eat into our profits far too much.
And we also need the ability to put our crew on hold when we want to fly smaller ships for a while. Because if you want to fly an Eagle for a few weeks and do a bit of fighter combat then you can't have 4 crew members eating into your profits for doing nothing at all.
Otherwise we would either get bankrupt very soon, or we would have to fire them all the time (which is already happening now with the hireable pilots).
CREW SURVIVAL
----------------
Also: Give crew the same survival option as the humans.
Possible alternatives to killing them off:
Perhaps if your ship is blown up you can not use your crew member for 3 days, because he is on sick leave, or perhaps you need to pay medical costs, or perhaps there is a 10% chance he dies, but... do not kill him off by default. That makes no sense at all and is counter productive. People do get attached to crew. Use that to enhance the game. Work with that. Build mechanics around that.
But what's your proposal exactly? This is a thread open to discussion and alternatives... you know I'm not FDEV so what I propose is not written on the stone.
How would you do it?
Dayum son, I'd give her 20% of my cut.
I would keep the current fees as they are now. Seems fine to me
Higher the rank, higher the fee.
As for benefits - the biggest one would be seeing those seats occupied
But, for Engineer i would propose a better efficiency on AFMU repairs, in line with Crew rank. How better? no idea - it has to be balanced. 10%? 20% better efficiency? 30?
Or maybe other benefit.
A Navigator could help with FSS and or DSS. No idea how but maybe:
- (as you said) resolve all satellites when fss-ing the main body? Maybe also allow FSS to be used on the go (remove the requirements for throttle to zero)
- and/or Some increase in DSS Probe Coverage? Or increase maximum number of probes (3 currently)
Anyway, whatever improvements the crew might add - it should be small enough so it does not become something really unbalancing.
The first thing I did when I hired an SLF pilot was to check the spare seat. Needless to say I was disappointed when it was still empty. I definitely think that crew needs to be a consideration in the future. It'd certainly make long distance exploration slightly less bleak if you've got some crew along for the ride. I guess the trick is going to be making then feel present, but not distracting or annoying. Maybe extra callouts beyond what the COVAS would normally put out or something.
I would not use ranks for the crew that I listed. I would keep them for the combat pilot used with the SLF only.
I mean, can you imagine a deadly Flight Attendant?
smells like a suggestion
All too easily!I mean, can you imagine a deadly Flight Attendant?
I would not use ranks for the crew that I listed. I would keep them for the combat pilot used with the SLF only.
I mean, can you imagine a deadly Flight Attendant?
I really like the ideas put forth in this thread and would very much enjoy if this was implemented in the future.
I would however still like to see some sort of ranking system for all crew with benefits that increase with rank. Lets just say that what gives experience to the crew is dependent on their role. The flight attendant and exploring assistant could have an exploration rank instead of combat rank. The cargo assistant would be based on trade rank. Just base the rank of the crew on what makes sense with their given roles. We have 3 different ranks we can become Elite in so give the crew whatever makes sense.