Our ships are pretty empty inside, why not fill them up with crew members to make it more lively?
Let's get into it with what a crew is:
A crew would consist of officers and crew members. The position of the officers determines the roles of the crew allocated to them, as well as the ships' limiting factors. Multi-crew can be worked in to be fillers for NPC Officers, but I think it would be necessary for the larger ships (Corvette/Anaconda/Type-9/Cutter) to get an extra seat in the bridge to make multi-crew more balanced with wings.
Officers
Each officer/MC can take up 1 of 3 roles, these are: Fighter Con and Gunner Con (Already implemented with MC) as well as Engineering Con (Would hopefully be added along with a 3rd seat.
Crew Members
Crew members are invisible NPC-only, when a large ship is fully crewed, the maximum amount of crew should be 10 including officers.
The Fighter Crew (FC) would be similar to how our current system works, albeit that the Fighter Con gives the orders to the FC. There should be a max of 2 FC, making the total launch able fighters 3. (A size 6 SRV bay can hold 4 SRV's, yet a size 7 Hangar bay can only hold 2? It really should be 3)
The Gunner Crew (GC) would take up control of any turrets on the ship, up to a max of 4. If there are no turrets, then no crew can be assigned to GC.
The Engineering Crew (EC) would have much more utilitarian roles, but would be useful in every situation. There would be a limit of 3 including the Con.
What do they do? How would the hierarchy work?
The FC/Fighter Con would be essentially identical to how SLF's currently work, though the Fighter Con acts more independently.
The Command hierarchy would be: CMDR (pilot) -> Fighter Con/MC -> FC
In solo, the CMDR would have a similar menu to what we have now, but there would be additional options, such as:
Break Off - Fighters will fly out of formation with the mothership, staying within 30 km of the MS, but not following the flight path exactly.
Patrol - Similar to Break Off, but the fighter(s) will follow one another in formation, flying out to 30 km in random patterns.
The Fighter Con, when controlled by an MC would have similar orders to what we have and what has been suggested.
The GC/Gunner Con would behave similarly to how our current MC Gunner works, but with some alterations.
The Command hierarchy would be: CMDR (pilot) -> Gunner Con/MC -> GC
In solo, the CMDR would have orders to give to the Gunner Con such as:
Attack Target (Focusing fire)
Fire At Will (Turrets fire at hostile targets of opportunity)
Defend (only retaliate against aggressors)
Now, I know that GC wouldn't really add much to turrets, seeing as they're already automated, but I think that because they're limited to 4 maximum turrets, a slight increase in accuracy/fire rate would not break balance.
The Gunner Con, when controlled by an MC would behave similarly to how it works now, but with the ability to give orders to gunners to use unused turrets/switch targets or just simply having an increase in accuracy.
The EC/Engineering Con would be less combat-oriented, but still useful.
The Command hierarchy would be: CMDR (pilot) -> Engineering Con/MC -> EC
In solo, the CMDR could give the Con orders such as:
Scan (Each EC can scan separate targets, both in normal space and supercruise, making it very viable for explorers)
Damage Control (Would act as reboot/repair, repairs quicker)
Focus Shields (Essentially would allow the ship to focus shields in a certain direction, increasing shield health in said direction at the cost of all other directions)
The Engineering Con, when controlled by an MC would be similar to the MC Gunner Con when Scanning, but with Focus Shield or Damage Control, would have an overview of the ship and would allocate where the focus should be.
How would you get a crew? Upkeep?
Getting a crew would be similar to SLF's, where you can get Federal/Imperial/Alliance/Independent crew in their respective stations. Because of the benefits and versatility of a larger crew, I think it would make sense to use a similar purchasing system that we currently have. Harmless crew would be the cheapest, and expert crew would be the most expensive. They level up through any actions they're involved with, so fighters gain XP from fighting, same for gunners, and engineers gain XP from scanning objects/ships, doing DC. Personally, I find the fact that I'm paying someone to fly around in an SLF a pretty huge percentage of my income to be a bit ridiculous. I think if we used a flat rate instead, it'd make more sense. A harmless crew would cost 10k per person, and increasing in pay for each level, up to say 70k at Elite. They'd be paid once every week of play. So, if I were to hire a harmless crew of 10, I'd pay the initial 100k, then if I logged in for the next 6 days, but not the 7th, I wouldn't be charged the weekly pay until I logged in on the 7th day.
That's my suggestion. If you have any suggestions to add on, or just some criticisms for my idea, please feel free to comment. Any idea is better than no idea.
Let's get into it with what a crew is:
A crew would consist of officers and crew members. The position of the officers determines the roles of the crew allocated to them, as well as the ships' limiting factors. Multi-crew can be worked in to be fillers for NPC Officers, but I think it would be necessary for the larger ships (Corvette/Anaconda/Type-9/Cutter) to get an extra seat in the bridge to make multi-crew more balanced with wings.
Officers
Each officer/MC can take up 1 of 3 roles, these are: Fighter Con and Gunner Con (Already implemented with MC) as well as Engineering Con (Would hopefully be added along with a 3rd seat.
Crew Members
Crew members are invisible NPC-only, when a large ship is fully crewed, the maximum amount of crew should be 10 including officers.
The Fighter Crew (FC) would be similar to how our current system works, albeit that the Fighter Con gives the orders to the FC. There should be a max of 2 FC, making the total launch able fighters 3. (A size 6 SRV bay can hold 4 SRV's, yet a size 7 Hangar bay can only hold 2? It really should be 3)
The Gunner Crew (GC) would take up control of any turrets on the ship, up to a max of 4. If there are no turrets, then no crew can be assigned to GC.
The Engineering Crew (EC) would have much more utilitarian roles, but would be useful in every situation. There would be a limit of 3 including the Con.
What do they do? How would the hierarchy work?
The FC/Fighter Con would be essentially identical to how SLF's currently work, though the Fighter Con acts more independently.
The Command hierarchy would be: CMDR (pilot) -> Fighter Con/MC -> FC
In solo, the CMDR would have a similar menu to what we have now, but there would be additional options, such as:
Break Off - Fighters will fly out of formation with the mothership, staying within 30 km of the MS, but not following the flight path exactly.
Patrol - Similar to Break Off, but the fighter(s) will follow one another in formation, flying out to 30 km in random patterns.
The Fighter Con, when controlled by an MC would have similar orders to what we have and what has been suggested.
The GC/Gunner Con would behave similarly to how our current MC Gunner works, but with some alterations.
The Command hierarchy would be: CMDR (pilot) -> Gunner Con/MC -> GC
In solo, the CMDR would have orders to give to the Gunner Con such as:
Attack Target (Focusing fire)
Fire At Will (Turrets fire at hostile targets of opportunity)
Defend (only retaliate against aggressors)
Now, I know that GC wouldn't really add much to turrets, seeing as they're already automated, but I think that because they're limited to 4 maximum turrets, a slight increase in accuracy/fire rate would not break balance.
The Gunner Con, when controlled by an MC would behave similarly to how it works now, but with the ability to give orders to gunners to use unused turrets/switch targets or just simply having an increase in accuracy.
The EC/Engineering Con would be less combat-oriented, but still useful.
The Command hierarchy would be: CMDR (pilot) -> Engineering Con/MC -> EC
In solo, the CMDR could give the Con orders such as:
Scan (Each EC can scan separate targets, both in normal space and supercruise, making it very viable for explorers)
Damage Control (Would act as reboot/repair, repairs quicker)
Focus Shields (Essentially would allow the ship to focus shields in a certain direction, increasing shield health in said direction at the cost of all other directions)
The Engineering Con, when controlled by an MC would be similar to the MC Gunner Con when Scanning, but with Focus Shield or Damage Control, would have an overview of the ship and would allocate where the focus should be.
How would you get a crew? Upkeep?
Getting a crew would be similar to SLF's, where you can get Federal/Imperial/Alliance/Independent crew in their respective stations. Because of the benefits and versatility of a larger crew, I think it would make sense to use a similar purchasing system that we currently have. Harmless crew would be the cheapest, and expert crew would be the most expensive. They level up through any actions they're involved with, so fighters gain XP from fighting, same for gunners, and engineers gain XP from scanning objects/ships, doing DC. Personally, I find the fact that I'm paying someone to fly around in an SLF a pretty huge percentage of my income to be a bit ridiculous. I think if we used a flat rate instead, it'd make more sense. A harmless crew would cost 10k per person, and increasing in pay for each level, up to say 70k at Elite. They'd be paid once every week of play. So, if I were to hire a harmless crew of 10, I'd pay the initial 100k, then if I logged in for the next 6 days, but not the 7th, I wouldn't be charged the weekly pay until I logged in on the 7th day.
That's my suggestion. If you have any suggestions to add on, or just some criticisms for my idea, please feel free to comment. Any idea is better than no idea.
