Ship-launched fighters: main ship auto-pilot vs. NPC

[Kay Thaxby]

I use an SLF with my Type-9, so I hire an NPC co-pilot whenever I take the ol' space cow out for a spin. When going into combat, I alway fly the SLF and the NPC takes the main ship. However, I've just read on the Wiki that if you don't have an NPC pilot in this situation, the ship will just fly itself on autopilot anyway, following the SLF, defending itself and attacking any ship targeted by the SLF. With this in mind, have I been wasting money on NPC pilots this whole time? It seems like the only advantage of having an NPC pilot is that you can give him orders, but I never use those anyway. I always hire an Expert pilot; does anyone know what the equivalent rank of the autopilot AI is? (If it's higher than Mostly Harmless and you hire an NPC with a lower rank, you'd be hiring someone to fly the ship worse than it can fly itself...)

In short: if you're flying the SLF rather than the main ship, is there any advantage to using an NPC instead of the autopilot for the main ship (possibly in terms of better AI rank), or is the former just a waste of money?

 

[Trollymctrollerson]

The ships default pilotless mode is worthless. It just sits there and shoots turrets but doesn't so much else. In your case, what you are doing will be more effective considering how cheap pilots are to hire. Costs what? 1 painite lump? Alternatively you could hire a harmless ranked pilot and keep it until its ranked high. A dangerous/deadly/ elite NPC is no joke flying a ship with railguns and engineered plasma, even a T9.

 

[Gun Star]

I dont know what level the ships AI is, but the couple of times I've taken the SLF out on my own my ship just sat there. It didnt do anything.

I prefer to hire NPC's and only let them fly the fighter for 3 reasons.

1.They suck at flying big ships.
2.I prefer to be held liable for my ships rebuy then letting numskull doing something stupid and costing me 10/40/50 mil rebuy.
3.The NPC pilots in fighters even at lower levels have a better shot/hit ratio with fixed weapons fighters then I do.

My Deadly SLF pilot I've trained since being a pup can take out ships on her own and can cover my *** like no other.

I never hire anyone over mostly harmless and train them up. Their profit sharing for their level is too high for my liking. My Deadly pilot takes as much as a hired Expert.

 

[Kamiyoda]

I dont know what level the ships AI is, but the couple of times I've taken the SLF out on my own my ship just sat there. It didnt do anything.

I prefer to hire NPC's and only let them fly the fighter for 3 reasons.

1.They suck at flying big ships.
2.I prefer to be held liable for my ships rebuy then letting numskull doing something stupid and costing me 10/40/50 mil rebuy.
3.The NPC pilots in fighters even at lower levels have a better shot/hit ratio with fixed weapons fighters then I do.

My Deadly SLF pilot I've trained since being a pup can take out ships on her own and can cover my *** like no other.

I never hire anyone over mostly harmless and train them up. Their profit sharing for their level is too high for my liking. My Deadly pilot takes as much as a hired Expert.

Right? My Elite SLF pilot nearly killed a Deadly Anaconda while I killed the other one.

 

[Ashy Raven]

The ship AI(or say autopilot) can only do a few things when you are in SLF:
1. set pip to 4-2-0 (or 4-1-1 when the wep cap run out).
2. enable all turret in to "fire at will" mode.
3. try to follow you if you flight about 5km away, then sit there.
4. hold position if you ordered it to do so.

Surprisingly, due to the 4-2-0 pip, the ship AI can tank more hit on shield then a Novice NPC. But since it will use only turret weapons, do not do any evasive maneuver, and do not use SCBs, you will need a passive shield full turret setup for your ship if you really want it help you out when you are in your SLF.

But anyway, since NPC pirates are always chasing the tail of my SLF, I do not hire NPC crew for my T9.

 

[pzykozomatik]

I never hire anyone over mostly harmless and train them up. Their profit sharing for their level is too high for my liking. My Deadly pilot takes as much as a hired Expert.

Even then the pay is a bit high for mostly just sitting in some starport drinking cocktails while I haul cargo. I'm expecting my pilot to approach me any day now to tell me she's leaving and buying her own A-rated Anaconda from her share of the profits.