Persistent NPC Pilots

[Cunabula]

Apologies if this has been asked before.

I wish there was a way to rehire the same NPC pilot if you lose your main ship. I'm currently trying to get better at combat but thought it would be fun with a ship launched fighter for a change, and to hire a Harmless rated pilot to come along for the ride so we can develop together.


Would be nice if you could find the same one again as they're not technically with you on your ship. It would add the the realism and would make them feel less of a randomly generated name with a set of stats that influence AI parameters. I already take less risks to try and protect them (and me) so the connection isn't lost, but if it does happen it would be nice to have the rehire option.


CR penalty to rehire + take them on at whatever the standard pay rate is for the level they've achieved so far + a few 100 ly trip to find where they're based now for a bit of balance.

 

[FrodoHobbits]

If I remember correctly your NPC hired pilot actually sits in a dark corner in the hold of your ship.
When your ship explodes your NPC pilot unfortunately dies as you only have one escape pod.

 

[DARGAN]

If I remember correctly your NPC hired pilot actually sits in a dark corner in the hold of your ship.
When your ship explodes your NPC pilot unfortunately dies as you only have one escape pod.

(translator)
it makes sense .. but it's an excuse no?

I wonder why then in multiple crew the other players do not lose their Frontier account (their commander it will be enough) when my ship is destroyed.

besides, if I go to the end of logic ... to find his ship after the destruction should make him lose all his engineering improvements.

 

[FrodoHobbits]

it makes sense .. but it's an excuse no?

Exactly. FDev logic
In Multipew you are projected into the seat of your hosts craft thus not really being there.
Your NPC pilot is projected into the seat of your fighter (why?)
Not sure what happens when you let the NPC pilot take control of your ship and you jump into the fighter as I've never been brave enough to try it. I guess I just don't trust my NPC pilot that much

 

[Misty_Dark]

I heard the devs have a talk about this and why the poor the hireling is dead upon ship destruction....

The short and very simplistic answer was this:
They transfer the hireling to your current ship, and when your ship get destroyed, they destroy the data for your current ship, this includes the record about your hireling. So when you end up at the rebuy screen, it has no knowledge about your hireling, ergo it is dead...


This was the super simplified version,


And if we want more immersive explanation, I think the above description about your hireling resides in the darkest corner your your ship and the refitting to have a single crew on our ships only included ONE escape pod, and we are not the kind of captains that goes down with our ships.... ergo the poor Hireling dies.... that explains their high pay rate despite if they work or not...And also explains why they are not on the bridge!
Then the Multicrew explanation and surviving a ship destruction is telepresence, they are not onboard your ship to begin with, still only you and perhaps your soon to be dead hireling.

 

[bicarbon8]

...And if we want more immersive explanation, I think the above description about your hireling resides in the darkest corner your your ship and the refitting to have a single crew on our ships only included ONE escape pod, and we are not the kind of captains that goes down with our ships.... ergo the poor Hireling dies.... that explains their high pay rate despite if they work or not...And also explains why they are not on the bridge!
Then the Multicrew explanation and surviving a ship destruction is telepresence, they are not onboard your ship to begin with, still only you and perhaps your soon to be dead hireling.

let's follow this line of thinking out a bit further, shall we; just for the craic?

I'll assume that the reason NPC crew can't just use telepresence is that you must own a ship to use telepresence and they either aren't qualified or permitted to own a ship. I see many of them, in their backstories, talking about how they used to fly some other ship or do trading runs at some location, but for whatever reason, I'll assume they lost their ship owners license so now they are the lowest tier of pilots and as such aren't even allowed an escape pod. This would make sense in a universe where slavery to pay of your debts is legalised by some of the superpowers.

Now, here's where this whole thing falls apart. Say I take my Keelback with my Active NPC crew on board to a station where I've stored my Asp Explorer and then I fly the Asp 20,000+ Light Years to Colonia (non-stop) where I have a Federal Gunship stashed (this is all just theoretical as I've never been to Colonia). Now, when I switch to my Gunship, I can make my NPC pilot active again and allow them to pilot my SLF, but how did they get to Colonia? If, I were to crash my Asp on the way to Colonia, I would not need to hire a new NPC crew as my existing, non-active, NPC crew would still remain and could immediately be set back to Active if I jumped back in to my Keelback after the rebuy screen for my destroyed Asp.

Possibly the truth is that NPC crew are all using telepresence to join you on your ship, but non-active NPC pilots aren't aware of what happens on your ship as they aren't connected to it at the time so if you destroy it they've no idea it happened. It is only when you destroy the ship with them activated that they realise it happened and they're so disappointed in you that they will never speak to or work with you again.

Sounds plausible right?