NPC paints - lets add some variety

[AdmiralXanos]

...I was going to necro a post...

But...
I had some big ideas not only to allow NPC to use paintjobs but also detail how would they be applied. SO I'll start my own very fresh NPC paint job post!

For the past year Fdev has been releasing paint jobs pretty regularly with a mix of high end looks and some more utilitarian designs. Today I saw the new Sheer Line for the type 7 and thought that looks very clean & commercial.

Spoiler: sheer line

Anyway it would be nice to have more NPC ship variety. I was also thinking their paint jobs could be limited to categories for different jobs/professions. So it doesn't get too whacky not every ship would have a custom paint job on it.

All ships:
Can use the default paintjob or the Military, Tactical, and Vibrant paints to get a broad spectrum of color.

Transports & Cruise Liners:
Would use paint jobs that are simple, clean lines, maybe some brighter colors but none of the metallic or camo designs.

Pirates:
Often use the raider paints that look rusted. Have some of the elite ranked pirates use the Pirate Faction paint job or the Shattered one. I think the pirate ships could draw from any paint job available just at 10th of a percent, so not every pirate ship looks like it came from MTV's Pimp My Ride.

Warzone Combatants:
Will always use a paint job, something military themed and maybe with the paint worn down. They should draw from a design in a specific color assigned to their faction. Factions aligned with a Power would use:

• Federation - Red
• Imperial - Blue
• Alliance - Green

If both factions are aligned with the same Power then they'll be assigned at random, like non Power aligned factions. Anarchist factions won't use a faction color and instead would follow the same guidelines as the pirate paint jobs. The special forces could use rarer paints like the Operator or Razor, something to make it standout against the standard forces. Alright thanks for reading! o7

 

[Iskariot]

It would be most welcome to see more NPCs using different paint jobs.

 

[metatheurgist]

The strange thing is, NPCs used to sport many and varied skins, even ones we couldn't access and many of them were better than what's in the stores. Which is probably why they got their colors nixed.

 

[Riverside]

The strange thing is, NPCs used to sport many and varied skins, even ones we couldn't access and many of them were better than what's in the stores. Which is probably why they got their colors nixed.

This is a screenshot of a parked NPC from late 2016. Note that the skin is quite low res. And awesome

 

[metatheurgist]

Yep, I wish I'd taken some screenshots of some of the awesome NPC skins I've seen in the past, but then I didn't expect them to disappear.

 

[Para Handy]

Yes I agree that the removal of NPC repaints was a disappointment. I wonder if it was to accommodate console capabilities?

 

[Old Duck]

I had some big ideas not only to allow NPC to use paintjobs

NPCs used to sometimes fly with store paint jobs. I don't know what Frontier changed this. I always thought it a good advert for a nice paint. Perhaps some player got mad and complained (just bring up the CMIV if you want to hear their logic).

Yes I agree that the removal of NPC repaints was a disappointment. I wonder if it was to accommodate console capabilities?

Nope, we had these on PS4 in the early days, no problems at all!

 

[K M Butler]

yes please