Hello,
Would be great to allow us to hire NPC crew, in ships that have slots for said crew, to perform the same roles as some modules and human crew players. A list of 'crew roles' can be created that specifies the role of each crewman and which you can just select and assign said NPC crewman to do. Some crewman position can also assist the player and be a shortcut to a lot of menu juggling or alt-tab to use 3rd party sites.
For example:
Role : What NPC does
Copilot : Replaces Docking Computers and Supercruise Assist modules. You can enable or disable the NPC doing any of those 2 actions the same way you do now.. just go to ship tab and 'CREW' is added to the list of options related to this.
Fighter Pilot : Role remains the same as it is now. Difference is that it is now a role you can allocate a crewman to in whatever new 'crewman' tab is created.
Combat Gunner : Replaces human gunner requirement. That is, for those Guardian turrets that require a human player crewman to shoot? Now they can.. but you need to pay an NPC for it.
Engineer: Activates AFMU, Repair Limpets and Shield Banks when shield/hull/modules reach 50% condition.
Miner: Takes control of Mining Turrets and will fire only at active prospected asteroids that contain resources you have not added to ignore list which are within range of your limpets.
ExoPilot : A fighter pilot subtype focused on exobio/geological. When fighter is launched, it will seek bio/geo locations matching the type you have filtered down the 'heat map' view of the planetary surface scanner view. Aka if you set it to show only Bacteria then when you launch the fighter inside atmo this pilot will fly inside X km of your ship 'sniffing' out bacteria locations. When it finds it, it will hover near it and signal your ship. Note: This pilot will only launch fighter after you finish Orbital Glide down to planet. It will not deploy in space.
Navigator: Using the filters you have selected on your left side panel for navigation, this crewman will auto generate new destination targets based on proximity. That is, if you select 'landfall planets and moons' it will generate a list of landable planets based on distance and as you visit them, it removes visited planets and selects the next one on the list. You can shift up and down this list with existing keybinds. This crewman is useful for explorers mapping system and for those visiting signal sources or points or interest, etc. As an added bonus, it should also notify you upon entering a new system if there are any neutron stars or white dwarfs (or whatever star type can allow you to overcharge FSD) within 4 jumps of your ship's location.
Biologist: Upon entering an explored system or after you have finished probing a world, this NPC will add additional information to the map view outlining you the likely biological types and profits they'd bring if you sample them. There are several 3rd party programs that do this but there is no reason at all why this should not be in game at least in the most basic form of the info being added to the planetary info view tabs (opposed to these third party programs which use voice and other such things).
Merchant : Upon landing at a station with a trade terminal, this NPC will automatically add 'compare market' targets with whatever item you have highlighted, showing you only the highest profit for said item within the systems whose markets you have previously visited. So it is not giving you info you as a player cannot find out within the game by using the compare markets... it just doesn't force you to check every single system you've visited, every market in every single station in said systems.... and it saves you an alt-tab to Inara or such websites. After all, you ARE paying the NPC a % of your profits to do this!
Would be great to allow us to hire NPC crew, in ships that have slots for said crew, to perform the same roles as some modules and human crew players. A list of 'crew roles' can be created that specifies the role of each crewman and which you can just select and assign said NPC crewman to do. Some crewman position can also assist the player and be a shortcut to a lot of menu juggling or alt-tab to use 3rd party sites.
For example:
Role : What NPC does
Copilot : Replaces Docking Computers and Supercruise Assist modules. You can enable or disable the NPC doing any of those 2 actions the same way you do now.. just go to ship tab and 'CREW' is added to the list of options related to this.
Fighter Pilot : Role remains the same as it is now. Difference is that it is now a role you can allocate a crewman to in whatever new 'crewman' tab is created.
Combat Gunner : Replaces human gunner requirement. That is, for those Guardian turrets that require a human player crewman to shoot? Now they can.. but you need to pay an NPC for it.
Engineer: Activates AFMU, Repair Limpets and Shield Banks when shield/hull/modules reach 50% condition.
Miner: Takes control of Mining Turrets and will fire only at active prospected asteroids that contain resources you have not added to ignore list which are within range of your limpets.
ExoPilot : A fighter pilot subtype focused on exobio/geological. When fighter is launched, it will seek bio/geo locations matching the type you have filtered down the 'heat map' view of the planetary surface scanner view. Aka if you set it to show only Bacteria then when you launch the fighter inside atmo this pilot will fly inside X km of your ship 'sniffing' out bacteria locations. When it finds it, it will hover near it and signal your ship. Note: This pilot will only launch fighter after you finish Orbital Glide down to planet. It will not deploy in space.
Navigator: Using the filters you have selected on your left side panel for navigation, this crewman will auto generate new destination targets based on proximity. That is, if you select 'landfall planets and moons' it will generate a list of landable planets based on distance and as you visit them, it removes visited planets and selects the next one on the list. You can shift up and down this list with existing keybinds. This crewman is useful for explorers mapping system and for those visiting signal sources or points or interest, etc. As an added bonus, it should also notify you upon entering a new system if there are any neutron stars or white dwarfs (or whatever star type can allow you to overcharge FSD) within 4 jumps of your ship's location.
Biologist: Upon entering an explored system or after you have finished probing a world, this NPC will add additional information to the map view outlining you the likely biological types and profits they'd bring if you sample them. There are several 3rd party programs that do this but there is no reason at all why this should not be in game at least in the most basic form of the info being added to the planetary info view tabs (opposed to these third party programs which use voice and other such things).
Merchant : Upon landing at a station with a trade terminal, this NPC will automatically add 'compare market' targets with whatever item you have highlighted, showing you only the highest profit for said item within the systems whose markets you have previously visited. So it is not giving you info you as a player cannot find out within the game by using the compare markets... it just doesn't force you to check every single system you've visited, every market in every single station in said systems.... and it saves you an alt-tab to Inara or such websites. After all, you ARE paying the NPC a % of your profits to do this!
