Ships SLF and Seeker Missiles worth it?

schlowi123

S
Hello

I'm flying an Anaconda and am not much of a pilot.
My shields lazors and multi cannon(s) are taken care of.

Now I'm thinking about getting a SLF (with NPC pilot) and a seeker missile rack.

It is intended JUST for PvE (combat zones). The questions are now:
Are these two modules worth it?
How should I engineer the missiles?
Can the SLF be engineered?
How useful is a fresh NPC SLF pilot? (I know she will get some of my money)
Will NPC SLF pilot survive in High Intensity Combat Zones?
How can I tell the NPC pilot to come back to the ship because I want to leave?

As usual: thank you for the answers.
 

whothe

W
The SLF is worth it? Well the npc crew will syphon a % of your credits from ALL earnings, whether they are aboard your ship or not, so there is that to consider. Once ranked up they are suprisingly effective. I find mine useful enough to keep him around. You only need 1 now that they have life insurance, higher rank cost more to revive.
SLF cannot be engineered
Fresh pilot is best pilot, if you plan on keeping them around. In the long run they will take a lower % cut than starting with a higher rank. It doesn't take them too long to rank up the first couple ranks anyhow. If you plan on ditching them to save $$ when not using them, then maybe you want to hire and fire.
The SLF pilot will survive as long as you do. They don't die when a fighter is destroyed. They die if YOU die.
There is a command menu for the SLF in your #4 panel that appears in your lap. Once the fighter is launched you should see a 'commands' bar under the SLF menu. You can also set these commands in the bindings menu to buttons/keys.
When your SLF crew is lower ranked, go with gimballed lasers. Once theyre ranked up you can switch them over to fixed weapons for more dps.

Seeker missiles: Probably high capacity for more ammo, and drag or emmisive effect. But... depends on your ship. If you have power issues, lightweight also reduces power draw. Heat issues? Sturdy.
 

Viscera

Viscera
For crew..

If you dont want to pay out lots, hire the best you can get credit wise.

Do the thing... Shoot whomever you are shooting.

Sack the crew member.

Collect the reward.

They do not get paid then, so instead just have a flat fee (150,000 is the figure in my head.).

You do not get an uber pilot eventually, but tbey are cheap and more than capable for npc bashing used that way.
 

schlowi123

S
Thank you for the information on the pilots. I may keep one around for a while. She's now a novice. And the 10% it will cost me in the end I don't mind.

But are they also getting some of the EXP? I'm still not Combat elite.

The Seeker missiles I like. They don't make much of a difference, well three exceptions:
  • re-supply is considerably more expensive (Not so much more that I would mind)
  • they mix up the "pew pew" a bit (that is what I wanted)
  • these pesky pilots with their chaff are less of a nuisance :)
 

Nadreck

N
Active SLF pilots take 50% of your combat experience. Could be an issue if you're trying to reach Combat Elite, or trying to reach a specific rank to unlock an Engineer who requires that. Otherwise it could be regarded as an advantage, as some of your enemies scale with your combat rank.

IIRC, an "active" copilot is one you've loaded onto an SLF-equipped ship with the Crew Lounge. Inactive copilots don't take experience, but still take a share of your cash.
 

Darkman Returns

Darkman Returns
My Elite crew member did remarkably well in the last CZ in High Intensity zones against all but the Spec Ops fighters... in a 15 armour / 15 shield GU-97 Imperial Fighter. I lost maybe 6 SLFs (and probably the same again against Spec Ops who take out the SLF instantly) and handed in well over 30 million in combat bonds (after the crew member had taken her cut).

I don't always send her out to play if I'm winged up, or unless I get set upon by 3 or more enemy ships and need the distraction she creates. I generally leave her in the default Defend state; indeed the times I did lose a SLF in the CZ were usually when I specifically targeted her and she got taken out by the ship she had been engaging prior to my order as she turned away.

By the time the crew member gets to Dangerous (which doesn't take long) you'll notice they have become much better at dishing out damage... and avoiding it. My Elite pilot will only get taken out if she is engaged by 2 or 3 high ranked NPCs at once. 1 v 1 and high ranked FDLs or Pythons are in for a beating, even in a CZ. She is so reliable that I only fitted a Size 6 Hangar for the CG CZ, usually I'll run with the single fighter hangar to save weight as I usually get the fighter back.

With a GELID F fighter it's like having 2 more large beam lasers on your ship, melting shields and annoying the hell out of any NPCs that get in the way. Obviously good human commanders will ignore the SLF and focus on you, but it's still a force multiplier and fun to watch her circle the enemy ship like a mosquito.

Credits are not difficult to come by in Elite these days so I don't really understand the hire and fire mentality. If you launch the SLF it's because you need to (once you've ranked the crew member up), for extra firepower or a distraction. I'd sooner have an Elite out there protecting my ship than some Expert I've just hired at the local job centre. Crew will take a cut of any kill they are involved in for combat rank, but if you're killing more ships faster with them it's not such a big deal.
 

Viscera

Viscera
Darkman Returns said:
Credits are not difficult to come by in Elite these days so I don't really understand the hire and fire mentality. If you launch the SLF it's because you need to (once you've ranked the crew member up), for extra firepower or a distraction. I'd sooner have an Elite out there protecting my ship than some Expert I've just hired at the local job centre. Crew will take a cut of any kill they are involved in for combat rank, but if you're killing more ships faster with them it's not such a big deal.
Click to expand...

I do it (hire and fire) as I do not run a SLF often. I had a pilot and she got to elite, but the 1/2 billion I had paid her was not worth it for the amount of use she got.

But its a free world, and all options are worth mentioning to be considered.
 

Ydiss

Ydiss
The SLF is basically like adding a large weapon to your ship that can also distract your opponents and will hit when you're not aiming (like a turret that's useful and does nice damage). I use the fixed mcs condor. She's elite now and I almost always laugh as I watch my target's armour dropping as I'm turning and not even looking their way; it's extremely gratifying and very fun. She's worth every credit.

There are certain scenarios where you'll almost guarantee the loss of the fighter (like engaging 3x elite vipers seems to do it most times) but that's irrelevant if you have a size 6 or 7 (I use size 7), just launch another one.

I was hesitant for some time but glad I went for it. If only you could launch two... (did that with a friend and it was so much fun).
 
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