Alright, all the posts I found by searching the forum for this topic was from before the final release. Any words from the devs on that? Having to recruit a crew (larger for bigger ships) has always been a great part of original Frontier, and although I know this is supposed to return in ED, do we have any more specific intel on when and how?
Ship crews
- Thread starter di6turbed
- Start date
The only-ish way crews could work in Eddy is if it all worked a bit like FTL.
When operated by a crewmember, stations would grant stat bonuses/remove handicaps on specific values, for example, enlisting someone to run propulsion - the ship would get extra thrust force, capacitor size, recharge and so on. Someone on weapons? More power-efficiency and accuracy on gimballs and turrets.
It'd still need a very streamlined crew management interface - so far having a deck view with dragging/dropping crew between rooms, where they'd start doing their thing automatically is the best system invented.
When operated by a crewmember, stations would grant stat bonuses/remove handicaps on specific values, for example, enlisting someone to run propulsion - the ship would get extra thrust force, capacitor size, recharge and so on. Someone on weapons? More power-efficiency and accuracy on gimballs and turrets.
It'd still need a very streamlined crew management interface - so far having a deck view with dragging/dropping crew between rooms, where they'd start doing their thing automatically is the best system invented.
That is how I see it - crew granting various bonuses / boosts or just reducing minuses of not having them (which should be in place as well). Also, I'd love to see some personalisation of crew members - some would be against say pirating and would be willing to leave, others would get bored by just doing trading runs (iirc it was to some extent modelled in original Frontier). Also, a big question would be how they would be paid - in daily basis? for each jump made? % of profits made?
I'd go with a low-input/worry model. Kinda like equipment.
Point is that people should want to employ crew in most circumstances, much like they upgrade the ship's internals - with a considerable initial investment followed by negligible upkeep costs in exchange for tangible benefits henceforth. So, with crew members potentially costing a lot to employ initially, (relative to the scale of benefits they'd potentially provide, much like equipment rating), keeping them shouldn't require chaining the player to the game.
Point is that people should want to employ crew in most circumstances, much like they upgrade the ship's internals - with a considerable initial investment followed by negligible upkeep costs in exchange for tangible benefits henceforth. So, with crew members potentially costing a lot to employ initially, (relative to the scale of benefits they'd potentially provide, much like equipment rating), keeping them shouldn't require chaining the player to the game.
I used to love finding crew in Frontier who wanted hardly any pay (5 credits was the cheapest IIRC)
often they had enemies - sometimes even someone looking for them on the same billboard. you'd then get attacked by their enemy as you left the station
You'd sack your most expensive crew member - they'd always say YOU'LL REGRET THIS or something...
often they had enemies - sometimes even someone looking for them on the same billboard. you'd then get attacked by their enemy as you left the station
You'd sack your most expensive crew member - they'd always say YOU'LL REGRET THIS or something...
I have a strange recollection of doing this playing Frontier as a kid, as I got older I became more loyal to my crew.
My problem is that I can't find the prison planet Cygnus Alpha. Need to get there to rescue Gan and Villa so they can join my crew, hopefully before Avon stabs me in the back and steals my Clipper.
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Personally, I don't want crewmembers to be nothing but additional equipment.
Hiring breathing, learning and maybe even emotional creatures (currently: humans) to work on your ship should be something different than just installing a more expensive (and better) technical device!
Especially the "learning" aspect could be emphasized, IMO:
Crewmembers could adopt to their task, if they work the same station over a long enough time. They could accumulate a sort of "experience points", that could be spent to "level them up" in some way. If this should happen with or without direct player intervention could be disputed.
I know that this forum is very opposed to "skill trees" and everything else that smells too much like a RPG.
Nevertheless I think that the game would lose quite a bit of its potential, if crewmembers would be nothing but another equipment upgrade.
Hiring breathing, learning and maybe even emotional creatures (currently: humans) to work on your ship should be something different than just installing a more expensive (and better) technical device!
Especially the "learning" aspect could be emphasized, IMO:
Crewmembers could adopt to their task, if they work the same station over a long enough time. They could accumulate a sort of "experience points", that could be spent to "level them up" in some way. If this should happen with or without direct player intervention could be disputed.
I know that this forum is very opposed to "skill trees" and everything else that smells too much like a RPG.
Nevertheless I think that the game would lose quite a bit of its potential, if crewmembers would be nothing but another equipment upgrade.
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that's basically how FTL works.
you assign crew to jobs on a spaceship, over time they become better at their jobs (levelling up) meaning increased sheild charge / dodge / weapon fire / FTL drive chargeup /repair etc. They can learn multiple skills, different species have different aptitudes. there are also unskilled jobs, like manning door control / sensors
if you haven't played it I advise giving it a go, great little indie game. it's very VERY hard though.
Oh, I have played it and I truely loved it!
Indeed, the FTL mechanic could be used as a basic learning model and if we don't get anything further than this, I would still be satisfied.
However, it could be possible to wander a little bit more into the RPG world. Some time ago, I posted this suggestion. Meanwhile, I think that some of the ideas could be handeled differently, but the basic principle still stands.
By all means, an effective and intuitive UI will be needed to manage your employees.
Cept FTL doesn't have an economic model that would involve crew beyond the entirely optional part where you pay to enlist them. Once enlisted, crewmembers stick around until lost or the game's end. Still, FTL is probably the way to go as far as crew management basics are concerned. No better model that i know of.
Crews were an integral part of Elite II - Frontier.
I can't remember if they actually added bonuses or not, but I seem to remember ships of certain sizes requiring a minimum number of crew before you could even launch. And it wasn't just like a bit of equipment that once purchased that's it - they had salaries that you had to pay, and could get annoyed and quit your crew.
I remember having to regularly search for new crews at one point because I'd purchased a military grade hyper engine which generates hazardous waste when jumping, and so kept getting fines for dumping waste before landing, which seemed to upset the crew.
I can't remember if they actually added bonuses or not, but I seem to remember ships of certain sizes requiring a minimum number of crew before you could even launch. And it wasn't just like a bit of equipment that once purchased that's it - they had salaries that you had to pay, and could get annoyed and quit your crew.
I remember having to regularly search for new crews at one point because I'd purchased a military grade hyper engine which generates hazardous waste when jumping, and so kept getting fines for dumping waste before landing, which seemed to upset the crew.
For bigger ships like Anacondas and T9s, Id love a Mount and Blade stile morale dynamic, influenced by recent events and food variety, obviously "leadership skill" and "charisma" wouldnt be in here because that game is a hardcore rpg (imo) but still realistic mechanics could be used to simulate how large crews would behave.
But on smaller ships it should be less about the whole crew and more about individual crew members problems and needs. Would love to be a smuggler and scavenger with a tight knit crew Id have to argue with all the time...threatening to eject them through the cargo hatch as we leave atmo and the like..
But on smaller ships it should be less about the whole crew and more about individual crew members problems and needs. Would love to be a smuggler and scavenger with a tight knit crew Id have to argue with all the time...threatening to eject them through the cargo hatch as we leave atmo and the like..
This. I would really like to see this kind of realism in ED - you'd need to hire minimum number of crew members for larger ships or you are not going anywhere.
And yeah, enemies of crew members, now I remember
a brilliant idea, again, hope this returns to ED!