Patch 3.2 Copilots? :)

[Quester91]

- manage landing gear after take off
- fire heat sink at a defined amount of heat
- fire a chaff when shields are down and under fire
- scan system after jump
- target enemy if you are being interdicted
- maybe some power management tasks
- 360° scans for pirates while bounty hunting
- some protocols (kind of macros) Escape protocol for example: fire chaff/heat sink, power to engines(4)/shields(2), boost, start low wake or select nearest star for emergency high wake, ...
- target specific subsystems
- simple autopilot tasks like jump until reaching the next fuel star or supercruise station approaches

So you want them to stretch even thinner the already extremely basic exploration and travel gameplay we have now?

At least with voice attack you have to say something and there's some immersion in doing so, but automatize something as trivial as raising the landing gear, using heat sinks and honks is just ridiculous.

What you're proposing is basically a bot to play the game for you. As if we're so overwhelmed by things to manage that we need an assistant that pushes a button every 2 minutes for us, right?

 

[lemny]

- my absolute favourite wet dream: exploration!
Anaconda + full sidewinder in the bay (supercruise but without hyperspace capability). I'd like to go prospect a planet for POIs and/or down to a surface for mats during my pilot does the detailed scans of the other bodies. Than we meet somewhere in space again to dock and going somewhere else.

That's a very nice Idea and would make Exploration much less dull.

At least with voice attack you have to say something and there's some immersion in doing so, but automatize something as trivial as raising the landing gear, using heat sinks and honks is just ridiculous.
What you're proposing is basically a bot to play the game for you. As if we're so overwhelmed by things to manage that we need an assistant that pushes a button every 2 minutes for us, right?

These are only suggestions what a copilot could do. And you would be totally free to use it or not. The docking computer must be horrible for you, because it automates a totally fun part of the game compared to other suggest tasks here.

 

[Ralph Vargr]

Wouldn't it be cool if our high payed copilots could work for their money?
The rank could result in the kind and number of tasks they are able to manage.
And they should be visible... I am bored flying alone. :-/

Jobs could be managed by rules (orders) where the player could define special behaviour for the tasks
Some Ideas: (I know, many of the stuff is already managed by external tools like voice attack)

- manage landing gear after take off
- fire heat sink at a defined amount of heat
- fire a chaff when shields are down and under fire
- scan system after jump
- target enemy if you are being interdicted
- maybe some power management tasks
- 360° scans for pirates while bounty hunting
- some protocols (kind of macros) Escape protocol for example: fire chaff/heat sink, power to engines(4)/shields(2), boost, start low wake or select nearest star for emergency high wake, ...
- target specific subsystems
- simple autopilot tasks like jump until reaching the next fuel star or supercruise station approaches

Edit:
- request docking after approaching a station

These are only a few ideas to discuss. Many of you may not like some of the task to be automated, but you don't have to use it.
I would love to see useful copilots. It would add so much life to our ships and could remove some annoying tasks without breaking immersion.

Real NPC crew have been requested from Elvis Knows When.

 

[Chris Simon]

Wouldn't it be cool if our high payed copilots could work for their money?
The rank could result in the kind and number of tasks they are able to manage.
And they should be visible... I am bored flying alone. :-/

Jobs could be managed by rules (orders) where the player could define special behaviour for the tasks
Some Ideas: (I know, many of the stuff is already managed by external tools like voice attack)

- manage landing gear after take off
- fire heat sink at a defined amount of heat
- fire a chaff when shields are down and under fire
- scan system after jump
- target enemy if you are being interdicted
- maybe some power management tasks
- 360° scans for pirates while bounty hunting
- some protocols (kind of macros) Escape protocol for example: fire chaff/heat sink, power to engines(4)/shields(2), boost, start low wake or select nearest star for emergency high wake, ...
- target specific subsystems
- simple autopilot tasks like jump until reaching the next fuel star or supercruise station approaches

Edit:
- request docking after approaching a station

These are only a few ideas to discuss. Many of you may not like some of the task to be automated, but you don't have to use it.
I would love to see useful copilots. It would add so much life to our ships and could remove some annoying tasks without breaking immersion.

Love it.
How little would be needed to make us lone wolves happy.

Someone at Frontier would deserve a firm tie-grab.

 

[Talon180]

I’d be satisfied if they made your pilot only take a cut of your profits if they were actually in the ship when you made them. Seems like common sense to me.

 

[Brian of Ardagh]

It's still totally your choice... like using a docking computer.
But I find docking much more exciting than multiple jumps and station approaches and nobody whines because it's optionally automated.

The only choice is FDev's. The developers have been on record, a few years ago if I recall, that they are against making too many things optional. A lot of that comes down to resources and developer time, they have to decide what they want out of the game. Now, I'll admit their choices haven't always been popular, PP, CQC, Wings, etc. with many players but the decision is ultimately up to FDev to make. If we can't get a 3rd fire button after all this time I highly doubt they will automate the "boring" parts of the game, especially if it goes against their own design philosophy.

 

[VR Jay Le Chardon]

FD is more focused in to turning ED in to open only pvp/mmo it seems.

So I'm not the only one who thinks that...

 

[Chris Simon]

So I'm not the only one who thinks that...

As of now, I still consider this a bit of a knee-jerk reaction from us. It's just the PP becoming Open-exclusive.
But if it's an indication of a trend, I'll be really worried.

That's why I said they should really get the exploration and mining right, this year. If they show they do care about people who play this game alone, I can forgive a couple of multiplayer-y features.

 

[psefergr]

So I'm not the only one who thinks that...

No you are not!