Please can we have NPC crew to replace modules

[Ben Ryder]

Some of us have got fancy ships with spare seats that are not occupied by players in multi-crew.

Can we have some NPC crew please that can do stuff

Instead of having a AI turret, I'd liek to be able to hand over the firing of weapons to a gunner

and instead of a docking computer can the SLF pilot dock my ship for me while I have a stretch?

A science officer that performs the same function as discovery scanners but targets the neares unknow star space rock without having to point the ship at it.

Nothing over the top, just a little more life in the game. They'd get a cut of profits as usual and a nice perk woudl be that I could free up a small module slot or two.

I'd really like that, oh yes indeed.

Cor my imagination is starting to take hold... they could chatter, a bit like the station staff do but they'd be talking about the latest galnet news. Even if it were as simple as saying 'Commander there's a new article on Galnet worth taking a look at'

 

[shadragon]

Nothing over the top, just a little more life in the game. They'd get a cut of profits as usual and a nice perk woudl be that I could free up a small module slot or two.

At least the layabouts would earn their own crust instead of just taking a % of mine by sitting there doing nothing.

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

All good things come to those who wait...

But come on Frontier, this is not exactly rocket science. In fact this is just about the most requested feature I can think of yet you don't seem to be able to understand this and keep giving us mechanics nobody asked for.

Personally I find this to be quite tragic on your behalf.

 

[Iskariot]

I wrote the same in other threads:

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.
I just want them on board. I don't want special advantages and I don't want control taken away from me as a cmdr anyway.

Perhaps having an engineer might enable 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.
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.
Perhaps having an npc weapons officer would simply improve turret targeting speed by 5%, or let weapons run 3% cooler.
In the future we might hire a science officer and have a scientific module on board (cool for explorers).
etc.

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.
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.

 

[Colonial Air Force]

I don't care about actual crew doing things (aside from hiring a fighter pilot), but I'd like holo-mes in the other seats on my ship as an option just for my immersion.


​It's weird being in a Cutter by myself.

 

[PiLhEaD]

Having NPC crew that can do things seems eminently sensible, and I'm in agreement with Bran.

So get a move on!

Please. And very we'll done on 2.4, by the way.

 

[Ben Ryder]

Having NPC crew that can do things seems eminently sensible, and I'm in agreement with Bran.

So get a move on!

Please. And very we'll done on 2.4, by the way.

It's all about the fiber! A healthy balanced release.

 

[Manticore]

I would like to see NPC crew mates actually in seats available when there is no human multi-crew on board.

 

[sutex]

Yes.. well what can I say, "More gameplay depth, more choices for players",

Been a rebel and into more of everything , I vote +1, for NPC in my ship's spare seat.

 

[Gunnet]

I really just want them to be able to sit in my spare seats even if they don't do anything, and have escape pods. Actual mechanics for flying with a proper NPC crew would be amazing though.

 

[kofeyh]

I would like to see NPC crew mates actually in seats available when there is no human multi-crew on board.

Where do the NPC crew go, when commanders tele-presence in; and please let's not have AI are 'taken over' by commanders, because please no. If frontier add NPCs as crew, then I think this has to follow the basic rules of commander multi-crew. No wings. And if you have NPC crew on board, then player's can't tele-presence in.

You can have one, or the other. Seems a reasonable compromise; I think frontier are concerned this would just become the defacto outcome for large ships though - which of course for a lot of people automatically would, because extra pips and so on.

It's a thing where if you can defacto have 3 crew on board, pretty much all the time, then why wouldn't you? I probably would. Because it'd be stupid not to.

 

[Marklar_]

I'd settle for just having useless NPC dummies in those extra seats, being the only crew member on a bridge with multiple seats makes me feel like I'm on a suicide mission and about to scuttle the ship. Also...it feels so lonely

 

[Ben Ryder]

Where do the NPC crew go, when commanders tele-presence in; and please let's not have AI are 'taken over' by commanders, because please no. If frontier add NPCs as crew, then I think this has to follow the basic rules of commander multi-crew. No wings. And if you have NPC crew on board, then player's can't tele-presence in.

You can have one, or the other. Seems a reasonable compromise; I think frontier are concerned this would just become the defacto outcome for large ships though - which of course for a lot of people automatically would, because extra pips and so on.

It's a thing where if you can defacto have 3 crew on board, pretty much all the time, then why wouldn't you? I probably would. Because it'd be stupid not to.

Doesnt need to have more pips etc. Just a nice graphic will please a lot of people.

 

[Gunnet]

Where do the NPC crew go, when commanders tele-presence in; and please let's not have AI are 'taken over' by commanders, because please no. If frontier add NPCs as crew, then I think this has to follow the basic rules of commander multi-crew. No wings. And if you have NPC crew on board, then player's can't tele-presence in.

You can have one, or the other. Seems a reasonable compromise; I think frontier are concerned this would just become the defacto outcome for large ships though - which of course for a lot of people automatically would, because extra pips and so on.

It's a thing where if you can defacto have 3 crew on board, pretty much all the time, then why wouldn't you? I probably would. Because it'd be stupid not to.

If NPC crew were going to be properly functional, I'd rather they forgot multicrew mechanics entirely and implemented a separate system for it. Let the only interaction between multicrew and NPC crew be an NPC giving up their seat on the bridge when multicrew starts.

Frankly, large ships shouldn't even be able to get off the landing pad with only three people on board. Imagine part of flying a large ship being managing a modern (and sci-fi themed) version of this:

 

[Ben Ryder]

I guess imagination is not constrained by the the status quo. Perhaps its everything that the status quo or 'common sense' isn't. Dunno. Of to bed o7

Just think more folk would like to see those empty seats filled

 

[m1dane24]

If NPC crew came with certain benefits or features then there still has to be some kind distinction(?)/difference(?) from multicrew otherwise there'll be no benefit for multicrew and it will just potentially be another disregarded feature.

But hey, im all for NPC crew, they can just be statues made of plastic that sit in the vacant seats!

 

[Marklar_]

I think that they should make these NPCs very much not affect ship performance in any way, that way they can make it a cosmetic change and make money in the store, and maintain the advantages of multicrew. It would just be something extra in the holo-me thing (holo-them?).

 

[ElectricZ]

Looking at the Crew Lounge, you have to think this is what they originally had in mind seeing as how there are three crew slots. It makes no sense at all to hire multiple fighter pilots as you can only have one NPC fighter in the air at once, and it certainly makes no sense to keep multiple pilots "on retainer" as all they do is soak up money. Odds are the UI team was given the job to build the Crew Lounge screen when NPC crew for other positions was still on the table, but some point later the NPC crew the requirements got stripped down to "one NPC fighter pilot and that's it" but the UI was built so they left it in.

Either way, not having NPC crew that can perform shipboard taks is a missed opportunity to add a little gameplay, functionality and some badly needed personality to the game. I know I can't speak for everybody, but I get attached to NPC party members in games, including ED's fighter jocks, especially as I bring them up the ranks. I'm still annoyed my ship only has one ejection seat, apparently, and my main incentive in keeping the ship intact isn't avoiding the rebuy but keeping my crew member alive. Having a full crew, especially in one of the big ships, would give me even more emotional investment in their survival and the game in general.

 

[m1dane24]

Or if they do have positive effects on ship performance then it should be for a hefty price since in a sense they will be considered specialists that enhance ship performance?

 

[Arindor]

Can we have some NPC crew please that can do stuff

Instead of having a AI turret, I'd liek to be able to hand over the firing of weapons to a gunner

NPC crew to fill AI slots for turret control? Unless there are differences in the coding, I can't see the difference between AI and NPCs tbh, except immersion of course ... which is not a bad thing, is it?