POLL: Should ED have AI Co-Pilots when AI crew are introduced?

[VR Lucian Arkright]

Personally, I wouldn't be getting an Auto Pilot for the same reason I won't get a docking computer... You want me to give up module space? No thanks, I'll fly it my self (also, the fact that 6 year old me used to get called in by my 14 year old brother to dock for him on the speccy, 'cos he sucked at it, so matching rotation, I'm good thanks...).

However, if autopilot didn't take a slot (and if a Docking Computer does, then so would an AP), then I'd have one so that I can drop into the GalMap, or tinker with module settings or something, hell, even key bindings, without worrying about my ship whizzing past my destination, or spiralling off somewhere because I accidentally nudged the stick without realising...

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I'd be happy if there were just AI avatars on the ship. They don't need to actually do anything apart from look cool and sometimes say things like "She canna take any more Cap'n"

 

[Falcon_D]

We have presented valid arguments, the DDF the early design papers, and the fact that it will make the game more fun for those who would like such a feature.

The fact, and that is a fact, is that this will not in any way influence other players like the instant ship transfer, or the AI mechanics. Actually its just as the docking computer a tool that people can use or leave it. If i want to just sit and watch the screen while the ship travels 22.000 LY that is my decision, if that make me have more fun then that is how I feel about it.
The good thing here is that it will not take anything away from other players, not one bit, that is why I do not understand why people are so hostile against it.

As i said before, AP are very common in flight sims, not because they make it easier, but because they are there to remove a repetitive takes from the pilot.
That is how it is in real life and that is how it is in games, ED got enough repetitive tasks, we should all try to make the game more appealing to new players not chase them away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FThGAb11l8o

Who are these new player's you are trying to entice over?
If they don't have the patience to do some repetitive tasks, then what makes you think they would want to do mining, endless mission runs, fighting the same ships over and over again in a CZ?

I'm all for making the game a bit more playable but certain things such as actually flying the ship from point A to point B, being a core game mechanic (and to me this is the only Fact that matters,) should be left untouched. Heck it's like saying aiming my weapon at an enemy is too much of a repetitive hassle in COD so why can't I use an auto-aim mechanism. For that matter aiming my guns at an enemy is too much of a hassle in Elite, why can't I use an auto-aim function.

And yes in the Real World, pilot's use Auto-pilot most of the time during flights. An auto-pilot can even land a plane. One of the reasons my boss used to call them "glorified bus drivers" and used to say "anyone can do that job", when I worked in the airline industry. But guess what. Even with AP a pilot still has to be at the controls and monitoring the plane at all times while in-flight. If I'm not mistaken, nowadays AP is not allowed to land planes. In flight sims, there are AP functions to allow players to "simulate" flying an aircraft around the world. Flight sims try and get the fidelity of as accurate as they possibly can. The "game play" is in experiencing a simulation of real world flying or to help to do some training for a real world flight. I've noticed that a number of the simmers spend more time building cockpits than actually "playing" the sim.

When and if "legs" come to ED and I want to get out of my seat during a long in system flight, then I'll just point my ship at the distant target and let her fly. I haven't needed an auto-pilot to do that since I started playing, why would I need one now?

If FD does finally implement some form of AP, I really wish it would be as fun as the DC in all it's iterations. I really would be interested in reading all the "Look what my AP did today", threads for a good laugh.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

The good thing here is that it will not take anything away from other players, not one bit, that is why I do not understand why people are so hostile against it.

Not hostile. The one thing I don't understand is that I need to be affected by something in order to be allowed to have an opinion about something.

I are Ziggy, I has opinions. None of them are hostile. Some are grumpy or easily annoyed, but not hostile.

 

[K-Rose]

I put no as I kind of believe as CMDR's we're the only one's authorised to hyperspace jump in our ships.

But I'm open to it depending on implementation, though to be honest I think there are far more important things to work on if we do end up getting AI Co-Pilots & Crew, like the entire gameplay around them.

 

[Infidel Deity]

I'd be happy if there were just AI avatars on the ship. They don't need to actually do anything apart from look cool and sometimes say things like "She canna take any more Cap'n"

Yes! [yesnod]
Someone to fill those empty seats.
Give more life into the cockpit.

But it would be great if they could co-pilot the ship as well.
Nice to have someone at the helm, while I'm doing inventory. [yesnod]

Doing inventory is boring work! [blah]

 

[Jex =TE=]

Well between this poll and the AutoPilot poll I think the results speak for themselves. Thanks everyone for participating!

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Again?

Ai crew for other tasks. Never for hyperjumping or supercruising.
Ill welcome them for turrets, engineering, passenger ctrl, marines, navigation, science. Or somekind of commercial agent wich you can drop at stations and make the best trade deals for you.

Whats up with the focus on auto piloting.
OP do you have no imagination?

Could you possibly explain how I would have no imagination for posing a question? Would you care to tell me why the simplest and most boring task in the game is fun for you? If by imagination you mean acting like a child then no - I grew up years ago and I like that when I pay money for something, that I'm seeing the benefit of other people's imagination so I don't need to use my own.

ED is immersion unfriendly.

 

[Jex =TE=]

I don't get this voting, first you vote against autopilot then you vote for an AI. Aren't they the same thing?

And the prize goes too.....

Apparently it's not immersive enough but neither is not having one as they already exist in real life. Not only that, they're there for a reason, part of the lore so they are dead on balls immersive.

Some people here though never played the original 3 games and have absolutely no clue what they're talking about. They should have been excluded from the poll TBH.

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Yeah, I thought 2.3 was multiple human commanders, nothing about AI co-pilots?

where did OP get the info about AI co-pilots?????

What information about AI co-pilots? It's a poll asking YOU a question - did you not even bother to read it properly?

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

And the prize goes too.....

Apparently it's not immersive enough [...]

See kids, this is what happens when you ignore other people's post and go "Apparently". You start talking ballcocks.

did you not even bother to read it properly?

Sweet, sweet irony

 

[Jex =TE=]

Originally Posted by Ziggy Stardust View Post (Source)
Nope. The auto pilot is a module you slot in, end of gameplay. If an NPC pilot just means hiring and of you go, I'm also opposed to that.

If however the NPC has adequate gameplay involved, that makes all the difference. Want a skillful pilot pilotting your ship, that pilot will charge you proportionally. But good pilots are also a rare commodity, so some crew statistics like loyalty, chemistry with other on board NPCs need to be taken into account. Probably not a good idea to have a Federation pilot and an Imperial gunner in the same boat. Longer serving NPCs loyalty will increase over time. You could also hire a cheap rookie and invest time in training him so you'll end up with a cheap loyal pilot. Stuff like that.

I don't see the possibilities in gameplay with regard to an auto pilot.

And I answered you because you asked. Other people just state: it's the same thing.

And the nays still don't have an argument against it nada!

"I don't see the possibilities in gameplay with regard to an auto pilot."

That right there shows you no imagination, no thought to be able to work out how it could possibly work in the game even though it's been in the last 3 games.

The "nay" side simply do not have an argument why it hasn't been included in this version yet other than "immersion" and that's be proven wrong.

It's part of Elite lore so anyone using "immersion" as an argument should go and pick up the FE2 handbook.

Anyone saying that it's "Flying" when you're SC'ing to a station could perhaps offer how exactly moving your stick every 30 seconds is flying?

They would also have to explain why we can have a DC that can perform complex maneuvers and then say it's not capable of holding a straight line - does anybody here actually have a seriously compelling argument against this or is this just a case of "I hate the idea so NOBODY else can have it!"??

This isn't a very adult stance to take, especially when it's not affecting anyone else. We know it's part of the lore which makes it immersive right there and we're not talking something that is going to take over any skillful flying. The fact that AI crew are fine doing it but an AI AP isn't....I just dunno what to say except LOL here. "I'm fine with AI doing it but not fine with AI doing it unless it totally and absolutely fits in with my Elite Fantasy".

Well, we're not here to cater to your fantasies, we're here to make a fun and compelling (and challenging) game

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

"I don't see the possibilities in gameplay with regard to an auto pilot."

I'm on your ignore list. Sod off.

edit: And learn to read.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Voted yes on this one even though I think the OP is nuts for thinking there is no real difference between a NPC crew member and an AP computer.

Because when you look at the code they're exactly the same thing - they're both AI - it's not a real person at FDev joining your ship to help you out.

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You want them (FD) to handle that?

I refer you to the AI debacles. One can only IMAGINE the rivers of tears that would ensue when the borked AI started doing banzai runs with a few mil of cargo onboard................

Just like real airplanes today, you wouldn't leave the cockpit and let the AI fly it. If you did leave the cockpit, it would be your fault if you then died. Considering there's nothing in space to hit anyway, there won't even be a puddle of tears and we already have a DOCKING COMPUTER lol - where's the river of tears over that? It pilots your ship better than you do!

 

[Infidel Deity]

Again?

Ai crew for other tasks. Never for hyperjumping or supercruising.
Ill welcome them for turrets, engineering, passenger ctrl, marines, navigation, science. Or somekind of commercial agent wich you can drop at stations and make the best trade deals for you.

Whats up with the focus on auto piloting.
OP do you have no imagination?

To me it seems that you are the one with a lack of imagination. [yesnod]

 

[Jex =TE=]

I think that comes down to the 'realism' aspect. It's one thing to ask a Co-Pilot to take the controls, and another to have a computer do your chores.

You mean like we've been doing since the 50's?

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And how exactly does watching the ship travelling by itself makes the game "more FUN!"?

I can answer this.

I'd rather be camming around my ship in 3rd person than taking the time to do the insanely boring task of steering it.

OK now it's your turn.

Explain how a half hour journey to a space station is fun in SC......go!

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Because it would free you from the need to constantly make small inputs and thus able to do things that were more interesting like plotting your course, reading the gal net, admiring the ship in debug cam mode, chatting with nearby commanders and pretty much everything else.

Oh!

This answers it too!

 

[Robert Maynard]

I don't get this voting, first you vote against autopilot then you vote for an AI. Aren't they the same thing?

Not really, in my opinion - an autopilot would be a module that would be installed on the ship whereas an NPC co-pilot would be recruited and developed and, and this is the crux for me, cost the CMDR a share of their profits, just like NPC Fighter pilots.

 

[Rob At Work]

I Voted yes, because I voted No in the last 3 polls, and I thought a bit of balance was in order.

 

[Jex =TE=]

Yes.. if we can then have an auto-combat module, an auto-mining module, an auto-exploration module.
heck no, lets just have an auto-play module, you install it and select what you want it to do and then you sit back and purely watch. that's what so many seem to want.

Did you even bother to read the OP? It was about 3 lines and unlike everyone else here who DID read the text, somehow, you failed to do so - Could you please explain to everyone here why you're late to class?

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Which are all things you can not do while the ship is jumping from system to system, as all input is frozen and all interface windows closed due to the instance switch.

So you actually can not do any of those things, except only on long supercruise trips. But wait, what's stopping anyone from doing any of those things on long supercruise trips right now without an autopilot?

Unless of course we come down to the actual reason why people want an autopilot, which is to put ED on background while on AP and do other things, which is why its ludicrous that FD would spend development time supporting such a "feature" instead of making travel more interesting and adding more player agency into it. FD should invest time in improving the game, not facilitating not playing it.

Wow does anybody here have an actual argument? This one is so bad it's almost AVGN bad!!

So people watching netflicks is......?

How is steering your ship "playing the game"?

 

[lysan]

Not really, in my opinion - an autopilot would be a module that would be installed on the ship whereas an NPC co-pilot would be recruited and developed and, and this is the crux for me, cost the CMDR a share of their profits, just like NPC Fighter pilots.

And that I 100% agree with, the mechanics are the same, however the trade off is not. A module will take up a slot, a NPC crewman will need a salary of your profit. I'm ok with whatever fits the narrative, to me both ways will do just fine.

The larger ship in ED need a crew, I find it very weird that you can pilot a Cutter or Corvet all by yourself. I know why it is like that, but now that we do have this discussion it should go into the equation.

 

[drzdeano]

Isn't this an autopilot poll in disguise?

Autopilots......robots in disguise

 

[Jex =TE=]

Naa i will just use this and then say LMAO hasta la vista baby ....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huEXWsRptGY

Yep I'll ber grabbing this AP and using myself too. People already are using it as it goes so it's all a little moot I suppose since we already have it.