Newcomer / Intro SLF PROCEDURE(s)

[Thwarptide]

--INCOMING TRANSMISSION--

Howdy Cmdrs,
Getting used to SLF work, training an NPC, flying it myself.
I understand that if the NPC gets 26km away, she can't stand the loneliness and self destructs.
What if I want to take the SLF down to a planet for a cruise?
Do I have the mother ship follow? I don't know if the npc can use my ship below 1.5km.

I'm not certain of the operating procedures in this instance.
Please advise.

::END TRANSMISSION::

 

[Chris Simon]

--INCOMING TRANSMISSION--

Howdy Cmdrs,
Getting used to SLF work, training an NPC, flying it myself.
I understand that if the NPC gets 26km away, she can't stand the loneliness and self destructs.
What if I want to take the SLF down to a planet for a cruise?
Do I have the mother ship follow? I don't know if the npc can use my ship below 1.5km.

I'm not certain of the operating procedures in this instance.
Please advise.

::END TRANSMISSION::

It's not loneliness it's connection issue.
Neither your NPC pilot nor you, when you are piloting the SLF, are actually IN the SLF. Both you and your pilot are safely onboard the mothership all the time and one of you is simply piloting the SLF remotely. Like those VR racing drones one can buy, nowadays. That's why you can easily switch places without docking the SLF first.
So the 26km is simply a distance your transmitter can safely control the SLF. It can never fly further away.

That being said, if you are after some shenanigans over planets, you can always fly down with your ship, order it to wait and then you have a free playground with a 26km radius. Or you can order your ship to follow of course, but then you have to be sure your pilot can handle the gravity and won't faceplant your ship into some mountain while you're messing around in the canyons below.
Generally I wouldn't recommend giving your NPC a free reign over the mothership until they're at least a Master rank. Or Dangerous, to be safe.

 

[Thwarptide]

*IMPORTANT SAFETY MESSAGE *

Generally I wouldn't recommend giving your NPC a free reign over the mothership until they're at least a Master rank. Or Dangerous, to be safe.

Brought to you by : The Cmdr Simon Investment Group & Safety Council

 

[Chris Simon]

*IMPORTANT SAFETY MESSAGE *

Brought to you by : The Cmdr Simon Investment Group & Safety Council

LOL

Seriously though. I can't count the number of times my stupid pilot in training bumped into an asteroid during a fight or smashed into the ground when trying follow me through a tight canyon in a Cutter.
Always keep one eye on your mothership's condition and be prepared to jump back into the pilot seat when things start to look dicey.

 

[Thwarptide]

LOL

Seriously though. I can't count the number of times my stupid pilot in training bumped into an asteroid during a fight or smashed into the ground when trying follow me through a tight canyon in a Cutter.
Always keep one eye on your mothership's condition and be prepared to jump back into the pilot seat when things start to look dicey.

I prefer not to let her fly the big boys ship until she can handle her own.
Though I took the SLF for as spin out it the middle of nowhere (man they sure scoot) as she held position. I ordered her to get in formation from a couple km away. When she arrived in the krait mk2, she flipped the ship on a dime. My jaw was on the floor. Apparently, for a "novice she handled it krait like Elit Dangerous. No doubt FA off.

But during PVE I'm sitting back watching her rank up and she can't fly the SLF worth beans or shoot strait.
Trust that in tricky situations? I THINK NOT!

As usual, you're always first in line to offer expert guidance. Thank you very much

 

[Chris Simon]

I prefer not to let her fly the big boys ship until she can handle her own.
Though I took the SLF for as spin out it the middle of nowhere (man they sure scoot) as she held position. I ordered her to get in formation from a couple km away. When she arrived in the krait mk2, she flipped the ship on a dime. My jaw was on the floor. Apparently, for a "novice she handled it krait like Elit Dangerous. No doubt FA off.

But during PVE I'm sitting back watching her rank up and she can't fly the SLF worth beans or shoot strait.
Trust that in tricky situations? I THINK NOT!

As usual, you're always first in line to offer expert guidance. Thank you very much

Thank you. It's just that nobody's usually here at 3am

Anyway - one more point you've reminded me of: SLF selection!
Important thing, actually.

When I'm training a rookie, I usually give them something easy to fight in. Usually a Taipan with gimballed pulse lasers or something of that sort. They do alright in that thing and Taipan is slightly harder to one-shot.
Once they're deadly, they receive a fixed beam GU-97. At that point they are great at avoiding damage and the beams can melt any shield in the matter of seconds, which makes fights laughably swift.

Also some tactical points:
1) at first (when they're not gud) don't start the fight by ordering them to attack. The'll draw aggro and die. Shoot first and have them in "defend" mode. That way they will only shoot your highest threat enemy and you can tank the damage. When their better, the exact opposite. Let them attack first and join in once they've aggro'd the enemy. Easier win.
2) When an enemy launches an SLF - make it THEIR priority to kill it while you're focusing their own mothership.
3) Don't use the lap screen - bind shortcuts to the figher commands. It makes ordering them around a lot easier and you can actually use it tactically.

 

[Thwarptide]

[

When I'm training a rookie, I usually give them something easy to fight in. Usually a Taipan with gimballed pulse lasers or something of that sort. They do alright in that thing and Taipan is slightly harder to one-shot.
Once they're deadly, they receive a fixed beam GU-97. At that point they are great at avoiding damage and the beams can melt in any shield in the matter of seconds, which makes fights laughably swift

I was slightly ahead of yer advice.
1, she's already in a Taipan w/gimbaled and eyeballed the GU-97 for future reference.

1) at first (when they're not gud) don't start the fight by ordering them to attack.

Learned that the hard way. The Krait mk2 is woefully hull tanked and has some powerful sheilds. Nothing so far has made a dent into the hull to test the tank. Shoot first, sic the dog on em!

3) Don't use the lap screen - bind shortcuts to the figher commands. It makes ordering them around a lot easier and you can actually use it tactically.

I'm on PS4, the lap panel (which I hate) is all I have.

It's just that nobody's usually here at 3am

You must be half a world away from the US.

 

[withnail67]

[
I'm on PS4, the lap panel (which I hate) is all I have.

You can still set key bindings on the PS4 although, with most button combinations already assigned, you have to decide which you don't use and so can swap out.

I've found that reassigning O+R1 & O+L1 to "set throttle to 75%" and "target next system on route" have really helped when out exploring. Plus, changing fire group can be done with upper left and right on the touch pad, so you could remap square + R1/L1, which do the same thing.

ADDITIONAL QUESTION (if I may) Does the NPC crew mate level up at the same rate as a player, in terms of number of kills?

 

[Chris Simon]

ADDITIONAL QUESTION (if I may) Does the NPC crew mate level up at the same rate as a player, in terms of number of kills?

No. Much faster.

 

[Thwarptide]

ADDITIONAL QUESTION (if I may) Does the NPC crew mate level up at the same rate as a player, in terms of number of kills?

As Chris said, plus 1 caveat...... 20X FASTER.
My rank is Expert. I was 2% into it when I took on the NPC crewmember.
She's already moved up 3 ranks and is 83% through competent
I on the other hand, have only moved 11% Expert.
THAT'S MIND BOGGLING FAST.

I'll play with the ps4 controller mapping since there is a key combo I don't use. But I still think it will merely Pull up the lap panel for access to the commands. It would take an entirely different controller just to map SLF commands. I don't see either happening. But if I could get one command keyed, ATTACK MY TARGET would be premium.

 

[Vetinari]

Shouldnt bring up the lap panel if button mapped. If theres a comboyou havent mapped youre probably missing something more valuable somewhere though, as you point out options are vey limited.

NEVER use Defend with turreted unless its CZ or Comp Nav Beacon or Haz res. The police will get hit and will turn red but you can scoot away....unless your fighter opens up on them and then you get a lovely bounty.

 

[withnail67]

As Chris said, plus 1 caveat...... 20X FASTER.
My rank is Expert. I was 2% into it when I took on the NPC crewmember.
She's already moved up 3 ranks and is 83% through competent
I on the other hand, have only moved 11% Expert.
THAT'S MIND BOGGLING FAST.

I'll play with the ps4 controller mapping since there is a key combo I don't use. But I still think it will merely Pull up the lap panel for access to the commands. It would take an entirely different controller just to map SLF commands. I don't see either happening. But if I could get one command keyed, ATTACK MY TARGET would be premium.

Wow, that does seem fast. I might consider employing a SLF pilot.

If you can get used to cycling back and forward through your fire groups by pressing upper right/left on the controller touch pad, you'd have two "free" spots with Square +R1/L1 (not circle as I previously thought), one of which could be set to "Attack My Target". You don't need to reassign all the lap panel options, just any essential orders you need.

If you want to give it a try, you press "Options" on the controller then, scroll down and select "options", then "controls" and scroll down to "fighter orders" to expand the list. There you can assign a button combo for any one of the orders. Click on apply and you're done.

 

[Darkman Returns]

I found this post very helpful when I was getting my SLF wings: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/58q7cv/everything_you_need_to_know_about_ship_launched/
(how the hell can you include a hyperlink on this forum without it pasting the whole text in for you?)

Be aware that while they will rank up much quicker than a human CMDR you will actually combat rank up slower as they will get 50% of any combat kill they are involved in, as well as their cut of the money you make.

 

[Thwarptide]

Wow, that does seem fast. I might consider employing a SLF pilot.

If you can get used to cycling back and forward through your fire groups by pressing upper right/left on the controller touch pad, you'd have two "free" spots with Square +R1/L1 (not circle as I previously thought), one of which could be set to "Attack My Target". You don't need to reassign all the lap panel options, just any essential orders you need.

If you want to give it a try, you press "Options" on the controller then, scroll down and select "options", then "controls" and scroll down to "fighter orders" to expand the list. There you can assign a button combo for any one of the orders. Click on apply and you're done.

Well that does clear up any misgivings I may have had. I'm certainly gonna try it out.

When the NPC is flying, she's always under the "maintain formation" cmd. Don't need security forces getting the wrong idea.

 

[Chris Simon]

When the NPC is flying, she's always under the "maintain formation" cmd. Don't need security forces getting the wrong idea.

Unless you specifically order your pilot to attack an authority vessel, they won't get you into trouble. Just like when your automatic turret accidentally scratches a police ship flying through its line of fire, an accidental "friendly fire" from an SLF" also does not trigger any repercussions.

 

[Darkman Returns]

I issued commands until my NPC got to Dangerous level, but nowadays mostly leave it on the default 'Defend' setting allowing 'her' to help out as needed. Now she has reached Elite I'm only really sending her out to play if I'm taking on 3 or more Dangerous or above level NPCs simultaneously. She'll buy me enough time and distraction to dispatch the first NPC without taking much damage to my shield from the other two, before I move on to the next target. Unless they're medium combat ships she'll often have finished the 3rd by that point.

Vultures she can easily dispatch unaided, I've even seen her take on a FdL and win. Her only weakness is when 2 or more enemies target her at the same time, when her skill and agility can't handle the crossfire and the the paper hull and cling film shields of the GU-97 are exposed. Otherwise she dramatically shortens engagements with her shield melting beams and seems to utterly mesmerise NPCs who seem fixated on swatting the annoying fly circling them just out of reach.

 

[Morbad]

30km is the self destruct range, but they warn you at 25km and unless specifically ordered to do otherwise will try to stay within 25km to the exclusion of other activities.

Anyway, NPC crew ranks up quite fast, but I usually have them fly the mothership exclusively early on as they are pretty terrible with the SLFs until they get to Expert or Master rank. If you have a tough ship, you don't have much to worry about, as long as you pay attention.

 

[Thwarptide]

Unless you specifically order your pilot to attack an authority vessel, they won't get you into trouble. Just like when your automatic turret accidentally scratches a police ship flying through its line of fire, an accidental "friendly fire" from an SLF" also does not trigger any repercussions.

I'm feeling more emboldened now. But not completely.
I'm once bitten, twice shy around sec forces since they've tried to gang bang me twice in my home system for no reason. No other NPCS left to kill, they all turned red and tried having their way with me. However this can strongly be attributed to a known bug as other players have pointed out. Still, it leaves one shell shocked and always on guard around security forces. I suppose it adds a certain ADDED level of situational awareness to the theater of conflict, though hardly welcome.

 

[Thwarptide]

30km is the self destruct range, but they warn you at 25km and unless specifically ordered to do otherwise will try to stay within 25km to the exclusion of other activities.

Anyway, NPC crew ranks up quite fast, but I usually have them fly the mothership exclusively early on as they are pretty terrible with the SLFs until they get to Expert or Master rank. If you have a tough ship, you don't have much to worry about, as long as you pay attention.

PASS. Most (not all) players will disagree, especially if you're ins copay is 13 million.
They can barely fly their SLF let alone shoot straight. I for one am not going to trust em to learn behind the stick of my G5 engineered Krait mk2.
Replacing my ship 13 mill
Hiring an npc, 15,000
Replacing an SLF after the npc got killed.... Zero

She can fly it after she becomes an Elite

 

[Morbad]

13 million is nothing in the current state of the game, even if you've never touched mining, and even less in comparison to crew wages. Also, unless the ship you're using is a total lemon, it's very hard for any NPC crew to get it into serious trouble before being able to switch.