Purchasable NPC multicrew members

[Gunnet]

As you probably know, using multicrew will come come with inherent advantages in the form of extra pips and lower rebuy. What you may not yet have heard is how Frontier recently confirmed (separately by Sandro and Brett C) that they are fine with players running multiple instances of the game locally to receive those advantages while playing alone. In both cases they mentioned how players would be buying more copies of the game to do that.

If this is the route Frontier wants to take, I would rather see it brought out of the shadows of multiboxing and properly integrated into the game in the form of purchasable NPCs. Let us buy a blank NPC from the store, name it and customise its appearance, then put it in one of the chairs on our bridge where it will provide the same benefits as an AFK human crewmember.

In particular I would be interested to hear the PvP community's views. PvE players such as myself will never be forced to multibox since we aren't bound to a meta. But if multiboxing becomes the norm in PvP, you will have no choice but to join in if you want to fight without a disadvantage. NPC crew would make it more likely to become a part of the meta, but if it becomes part of the meta without NPC crew then anybody who can't/won't multibox will be left out in the cold.

Just to be clear; this isn't about supporting purchasable ingame advantages. I would much rather see that situation avoided entirely. But it seems to be inevitable now, so we might as well discuss how it will work and how to improve it.

 

[Cwini]

If this is the route Frontier wants to take, I would rather see it brought out of the shadows of multiboxing and properly integrated into the game in the form of purchasable NPCs. Let us buy a blank NPC from the store, name it and customise its appearance, then put it in one of the chairs on our bridge where it will provide the same benefits as an AFK human crewmember.

Frontier can do nothing about multiboxing - it can't be detected; it can't be prevented; it can't be stopped .. so why waste time and effort over it ?

ED isn't an eSport where it's critical that everything be balanced down to the Nth degree including the option for people to "buy" a 2nd commander NPC ... Granted some players enjoy the competitiveness of the game and do PvP-Combat competitions but generally ED isn't (IMO at least) supposed to be like that. The very design of the game (modes & lack of choke points to name a few aspects) scream to me "casual"

 

[Armia]

Hey, even in beta it takes no more than 30 seconds for the seats to be filled with human crew members who can actually man the turrets and fly the fighters for you. (Which obviously your second account can't do, unless you happen to have four sets of arms and two extra sets of eyes... duh)

I honestly can't imagine why people would ever need/want to buy another copy of the game to get the extra pips, especially when real human multi crew is so easily available - unless they have some real problem socializing with real people.

 

[Buliel]

Hey, even in beta it takes no more than 30 seconds for the seats to be filled with human crew members who can actually man the turrets and fly the fighters for you. (Which obviously your second account can't do, unless you happen to have four sets of arms and two extra sets of eyes... duh)

I honestly can't imagine why people would ever need/want to buy another copy of the game to get the extra pips, especially when real human multi crew is so easily available - unless they have some real problem socializing with real people.

That's the main reason I'll be outfitting a fighter bay in my corvette from now on. It'll give the 2 crews something to do, and I won't require turrets.

 

[DeathStroke]

Hey, even in beta it takes no more than 30 seconds for the seats to be filled with human crew members who can actually man the turrets and fly the fighters for you. (Which obviously your second account can't do, unless you happen to have four sets of arms and two extra sets of eyes... duh)

I honestly can't imagine why people would ever need/want to buy another copy of the game to get the extra pips, especially when real human multi crew is so easily available - unless they have some real problem socializing with real people.

FDEV! Dr. Octopus has an unfair advantage! Please nerf immediately!

 

[Lobstris]

TBH. If purchasable crew actually gets NPC crew implemented then I'd be cautiously for this. Sad sate of affairs, but that seems to be the way of the world now.

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would ever need/want to buy another copy of the game to get the extra pips, especially when real human multi crew is so easily available - unless they have some real problem socializing with real people.

Nothing to do with socialising - just that NPC crew were implemented in the previous 2 Elite games, albeit in a 'bare-bones' form, and were on the wish list for this iteration. Requiring NPC crew for larger ships, and managing NPC crew could add another layer of depth to the game. But would also add some potential barriers to play, and Frontier seem reluctant to add further barriers at present.

 

[Weps]

How about NPC crew members with pips and all (if other features aren't available at this time) being available for free? As part of the season if you like? After all, NPCs were part of the original DDF proposition, not some MTX.

 

[Eminor]

... I would rather see it brought out of the shadows of multiboxing and properly integrated into the game in the form of purchasable NPCs. Let us buy a blank NPC from the store, name it and customise its appearance, then put it in one of the chairs on our bridge where it will provide the same benefits as an AFK human crewmember.

Interesting idea - would also allow Solo / PVE players to try out the Multi-crew gameplay - and have NPC crew that don't die (presumably). Yeah, I'd be in favour of this...

 

[Lobstris]

How about NPC crew members with pips and all (if other features aren't available at this time) being available for free? As part of the season if you like? After all, NPCs were part of the original DDF proposition, not some MTX.

To be fair, NPC crewmembers (+skills, and ship buffs) were on the 'wish list' of future stuff in the DDF, but it was also clearly stated that all ships would be solo crewable, and designed as such, in the initial release. The mistake people like me made was in thinking "yeah, those are obviously going to get added as a priority, soon after release, as they were in the previous games.".

 

[Wolf Starslayer]

Frontier can do nothing about multiboxing - it can't be detected; it can't be prevented; it can't be stopped .. so why waste time and effort over it ?

ED isn't an eSport where it's critical that everything be balanced down to the Nth degree including the option for people to "buy" a 2nd commander NPC ... Granted some players enjoy the competitiveness of the game and do PvP-Combat competitions but generally ED isn't (IMO at least) supposed to be like that. The very design of the game (modes & lack of choke points to name a few aspects) scream to me "casual"

They could do something, like only giving the extra pip if the 'crew' is active in the role but they are happy to allow pay-2-win; I'm very disappointed.

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

i could not care any less about any of this - EXCEPT IF FD START BALANCING THE GAME ASSUMING EVERYONE IS DOING IT. because i cant. my internet couldnt handle it, nor could my gaming laptop run more than one. besides which, what if you alt tab into the wrong client at the wrong time? alt tab into a turret and before you can leave again realise with horror you are about to crash into a bigger ship and die or something.

 

[zarking]

It wasn't that they were supporting the idea of using multiple accounts for a ghost multi crew seat filler, more along the lines of... If people are going to be crazy enough to buy an extra account, run two pc's or two clients on one pc and impact performance for the slim advantage that extra pip gives then there's not a lot they can do about it.

On the npc side, I can't agree with paying for them, but the npc crew needs to be developed. I want them sitting on the bridge, I want to assign them tasks (auto launch themselves into the fighter if I'm under attack, do a discovery scan every time I enter a system, maybe manage my heat sink use), little things to make them feel part of the crew. I was hoping to see them in seats on this update but apparently they live in the fighter hanger

Thing is.. Multi crew is a lot of fun, and I can see myself using it a lot to jump onto other players ships, earn some quick bucks and have some multi player interaction. But here's the killer.. I'm not sure I'm going to be inviting a lot of people onto my ship lol. I'll probably setup a separate "multi crew ship", with loads of turrets and fighters, one that has a much cheaper rebuy (even with a 50% discount I'm looking at a 30 million rebuy on the cutter), and I'll use it purely for CZ and haz res fun, most of the time though it's still going to be just me and my npc crew. I'd be happy to invite people onboard when I'm out exploring but at the moment there's no reason to do so.

So please give us proper npc crew Let me holo me them and outfit them, stick them on a seat next to me (think of the extra revenue potential in buying separate outfits and assets just for my npc guys) and introduce a cost to buy them back if they die. If for no other reason than role play and cool camera shots with all the seats occupied.

 

[Ziljan]

Forget the extra pips. I would settle for being able to purchase slots for my NPC SLF pilots to sit up front in the cockpit, granting no extra pips and just being RolePlaying Eye Candy. To me that would be the best benefit of MC and HoloMe. Having to buy a whole 2nd computer and run 2 energy hungry rigs just for a graphical effect is utterly silly.

 

[Yaffle]

Forget the extra pips. I would settle for being able to purchase slots for my NPC SLF pilots to sit up front in the cockpit, granting no extra pips and just being RolePlaying Eye Candy. To me that would be the best benefit of MC and HoloMe. Having to buy a whole 2nd computer and run 2 energy hungry rigs just for a graphical effect is utterly silly.

This I would like. Any 'empty' avatar in the seat next to me, doing nothing at all except being there, would be excellent. No extra pips, no input, no effect at all, just an avatar sitting in the seat like the pilot. I can't believe there's a technical limitation around that, but I do know nothing about coding.

 

[BaronDeKalb]

Forget the extra pips. I would settle for being able to purchase slots for my NPC SLF pilots to sit up front in the cockpit, granting no extra pips and just being RolePlaying Eye Candy. To me that would be the best benefit of MC and HoloMe. Having to buy a whole 2nd computer and run 2 energy hungry rigs just for a graphical effect is utterly silly.

I was waiting for you in chime in (hehe) i totally agree but yeah i'm not paying for something that should already be in game and working, as in SLF pliot in cockpit.
I feel like there is a 12000 pound elephant in the room that is NOT getting talked about here, and that is open Multi-Crew may get the same amount of love as PP especially if
there are unfix-able connection issues. Just give us our npc crew for God's Sake.

If this was already in game i think it would have been a much better PAX subject than rolling with a bug ridden Beta, just my 02.

 

[Gunnet]

Forget the extra pips. I would settle for being able to purchase slots for my NPC SLF pilots to sit up front in the cockpit, granting no extra pips and just being RolePlaying Eye Candy. To me that would be the best benefit of MC and HoloMe. Having to buy a whole 2nd computer and run 2 energy hungry rigs just for a graphical effect is utterly silly.

That would be the main feature for me as well. Empty seats just look so wrong.

 

[Osbo89]

Hell l have more then one computer laying around the house that I can use and I have a second account and will be using it just to get the extra pips but I don't do pvp and won't have any cmdr in my ship but I would rather ed gave us npc to fill our seats and train which would be of much better use for a lot of players.

 

[yodajedifishmaster]

Forget the extra pips. I would settle for being able to purchase slots for my NPC SLF pilots to sit up front in the cockpit, granting no extra pips and just being RolePlaying Eye Candy. To me that would be the best benefit of MC and HoloMe. Having to buy a whole 2nd computer and run 2 energy hungry rigs just for a graphical effect is utterly silly.

yes that would make me happier when i have a seat next to me. some npc doing miscellaneous stuff like leaning forward and hitting buttons in a purposeful manner. or looking over scan results just after the disco returns them. i dont want statues just sitting there.

 

[Cwini]

They could do something, like only giving the extra pip if the 'crew' is active in the role but they are happy to allow pay-2-win; I'm very disappointed.

How do you define "active" ? Input from the mouse/KB/Joystick ? (which is easy to script btw)

 

[ShimEnki]

As you probably know, using multicrew will come come with inherent advantages in the form of extra pips and lower rebuy. What you may not yet have heard is how Frontier recently confirmed (separately by Sandro and Brett C) that they are fine with players running multiple instances of the game locally to receive those advantages while playing alone. In both cases they mentioned how players would be buying more copies of the game to do that.

If this is the route Frontier wants to take, I would rather see it brought out of the shadows of multiboxing and properly integrated into the game in the form of purchasable NPCs. Let us buy a blank NPC from the store, name it and customise its appearance, then put it in one of the chairs on our bridge where it will provide the same benefits as an AFK human crewmember.

In particular I would be interested to hear the PvP community's views. PvE players such as myself will never be forced to multibox since we aren't bound to a meta. But if multiboxing becomes the norm in PvP, you will have no choice but to join in if you want to fight without a disadvantage. NPC crew would make it more likely to become a part of the meta, but if it becomes part of the meta without NPC crew then anybody who can't/won't multibox will be left out in the cold.

Just to be clear; this isn't about supporting purchasable ingame advantages. I would much rather see that situation avoided entirely. But it seems to be inevitable now, so we might as well discuss how it will work and how to improve it.

I agree, let us finally buy what we want that brings functionality and ease from the cosmetics counter/ FD store.

Hold your breath though, the perfume that lingers there is very intense.