Suggestion Thread Crew Ideas

[The Black Pearl]

So far crew only have 1 job, pilot your fighters, or take your place at the helm while you pilot a fighter.

You can have 3 crew at a time, and only one active, even with a size 6 hanger, that has two ports for fighters.

The December '19 update supposedly allow changing of the livery while not docked and not in supercruise.
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· Crew should have multiple jobs, specifically in ships with multiple seats.
· controlling the AFMU
the auto field maintenance unit is NOT automatic and if you try to use it in combat it takes up valueable time on console as there is not assignable hot key for it

· launching counter measures
Counter measures can be assigned to a fire group and a hotkey, but it would be a huge release of burden if the crew did it

· Crew that is assigned for ship launched fighters should auto deploy a fighter in the case the one they are telepresence piloting gets destroyed

·Along with the customizable livery out-of -station, we should be able to carry and install backup modules.
·Crew should be required to operate the livery out-of- station

·A new special cargo rack should be implemented to allow the carry and installation of modules as well as require crew
(The only modules that should be allowed to be changed out-of-station should be hard points and
Utility)

·The inactive crew slots should be changed to specific job slots for crew and not require a hanger to be installed except for one.
· Fighter Slot
The crew should only pilot fighters when initially ordered and auto launch after a fighter is destroyed.

· Maintenance Slot
The crew will auto fire AFMU when a specific module is at X%
(A new page in the options would allow you to set at which % a module needs to be at before the crew fires AFMU)
The crew will auto fire counter measures when targeted by a specific weapon type
COVAS already informs you when you are targeted by certain weapons
The rank of the crew will determine the efficiency of the counter measures fire time
The crew will "oversee" Livery changes and Module Installation out-of-station

• Gunner: Turrets track faster and with more intelligence. Automatically targets subsystems for you in an order set to your preferences.
• Navigator: More jump range is the common suggestion, but I think that would be a bit OP. I'd go for sligtly lower fuel usage instead and highlighting interesting targets in the system and galaxy map.
• Engineer: Lowers the malfunction chance of damaged systems and makes AFMU faster
• Steward: Keeps the passengers happy and stops them from demanding things.

·Crew wages should vary depending on job
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Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?

 

[The Black Pearl]

Anyone?

 

[Buck Cheeseman]

I guess. I am concerned about wage rates though. I mean, should an AFMU'er get paid the same as a pilot? What about the Countermeasureman?

 

[Osbo89]

First is the mechanics their for ship crew to work and if it is why have they not given us NPCs crews?

 

[The Black Pearl]

I guess. I am concerned about wage rates though. I mean, should an AFMU'er get paid the same as a pilot? What about the Countermeasureman?

I'll update my thread

 

[The Black Pearl]

First is the mechanics their for ship crew to work and if it is why have they not given us NPCs crews?

Wouldn't be that difficult to I implement actually.

No need to adjust the current crew setting. Just release a "NEW" mechanic altogether, with new crew maintenance and countermeasure.

There are already mechanics that allow you to hot key countermeasures with out adding them to a fire group. Why not macro that into an automated system, tied into crew.

AFMU does not have the hit key option. Why not? It should. And sane with countermeasures macro an automated system, tied to the crew.

 

[Relvor]

· controlling the AFMU
the auto field maintenance unit is NOT automatic and if you try to use it in combat it takes up valueable time on console as there is not assignable hot key for it

Careful what you wish for.

The moment a npc turns off my thrusters, shieldgenerator or even my heatsink launcher in mid combat because he thinks they need to be repaired is the moment I press the "jettison all npcs"-button. Custom thresholds don't solve that. If my thrusters barely work at 51% and my npc turns them off at 50% just because that's the threshold I WILL murder him in a very graphic way. If you set your threshold too low modules will start malfunctioning before the npc repairs them (meaning you still have to manually repair them), if you set it too high he will seriously endanger your ship by turning off modules.
Or imagine neutron star jet scooping, your fsd takes a bit damage and hits the threshold and your npc turns off your fsd to repair it, dropping you out of supercruise inside the cone. A bit later he will have many more modules to repair, if you know what I mean.

Autorepairing MRPs or the canopy (or non critical systems while not in combat or supercruise) would be ok however. But then again, that's only like a 2 seconds distraction, plus you also get a quick glance at your overall system integrity, which you always should be aware of.
Plus you also have to manually decide on the repair priority, like: No, don't continue repairing my xeno scanner from 0% to 100%, my canopy just hit 30% integrity, my thrusters are down to 60%!

How would you teach them to make decisions? Let's say you are fighting a npc enemy and things go sour. You have set your repair threshold to let's say 50%. Your weapons are between 40 and 60%, your shields offline with the generator at 10%, your thrusters at 70%, your canopy at 25%, your fsd at 70% and your 2 MRPs at 0%. Your Armour HP is at 80%, and falling.(sounds like an average day for me when fighting a basilisk, but nervermind ) What would you repair first? What should the npc repair first?

Answer:

Spoiler

It depends.
+Do you still have a realistic chance of winning this fight? Go for the canopy, then MRPs or maybe one of your malfunctioning weapons.
+Can you outrun and kite the enemy? Then do that, repair your shield generator, get your shields online first and wait for them to recharge while repairing the weapons. (and everything else if you have the time.)
+Do you need to high wake because you have no chance of winning? Try to keep your thrusters and fsd away from him and repair your fsd up to 80 or 85 (but not more!). You can't afford a fsd failure when trying for a highwake. Boost away from him, turn FA off and keep your nose pointed at him, while repairing your fsd. Your canopy will get shot out, but if you get the fsd online in time you should live.

Now tell me, how would you teach a npc to do exactly that, depending on your situation and decision? You can't. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

 

[Kissamies]

Looks like this is one of those NPC crew specialists suggestion threads that pop up once in a while. Two or three times in the last couple of months, IIRC. Here's a few more NPC crew roles off the top of my head:

• Gunner: Turrets track faster and with more intelligence. Automatically targets subsystems for you in an order set to your preferences.
• Navigator: More jump range is the common suggestion, but I think that would be a bit OP. I'd go for sligtly lower fuel usage instead and highlighting interesting targets in the system and galaxy map.
• Engineer: Lowers the malfunction chance of damaged systems and makes AFMU faster
• Steward: Keeps the passengers happy and stops them from demanding things.

I also think there should be "generic" crew for the bigger ships. They wouldn't do much, except maybe keep the hull from deteriorating when they are happy.

 

[The Black Pearl]

Careful what you wish for.

The moment a npc turns off my thrusters, shieldgenerator or even my heatsink launcher in mid combat because he thinks they need to be repaired is the moment I press the "jettison all npcs"-button. Custom thresholds don't solve that. If my thrusters barely work at 51% and my npc turns them off at 50% just because that's the threshold I WILL murder him in a very graphic way. If you set your threshold too low modules will start malfunctioning before the npc repairs them (meaning you still have to manually repair them), if you set it too high he will seriously endanger your ship by turning off modules.
Or imagine neutron star jet scooping, your fsd takes a bit damage and hits the threshold and your npc turns off your fsd to repair it, dropping you out of supercruise inside the cone. A bit later he will have many more modules to repair, if you know what I mean.

Autorepairing MRPs or the canopy (or non critical systems while not in combat or supercruise) would be ok however. But then again, that's only like a 2 seconds distraction, plus you also get a quick glance at your overall system integrity, which you always should be aware of.
Plus you also have to manually decide on the repair priority, like: No, don't continue repairing my xeno scanner from 0% to 100%, my canopy just hit 30% integrity, my thrusters are down to 60%!

How would you teach them to make decisions? Let's say you are fighting a npc enemy and things go sour. You have set your repair threshold to let's say 50%. Your weapons are between 40 and 60%, your shields offline with the generator at 10%, your thrusters at 70%, your canopy at 25%, your fsd at 70% and your 2 MRPs at 0%. Your Armour HP is at 80%, and falling.(sounds like an average day for me when fighting a basilisk, but nervermind) What would you repair first? What should the npc repair first?

Answer:

Spoiler

It depends.
+Do you still have a realistic chance of winning this fight? Go for the canopy, then MRPs or maybe one of your malfunctioning weapons.
+Can you outrun and kite the enemy? Then do that, repair your shield generator, get your shields online first and wait for them to recharge while repairing the weapons. (and everything else if you have the time.)
+Do you need to high wake because you have no chance of winning? Try to keep your thrusters and fsd away from him and repair your fsd up to 80 or 85 (but not more!). You can't afford a fsd failure when trying for a highwake. Boost away from him, turn FA off and keep your nose pointed at him, while repairing your fsd. Your canopy will get shot out, but if you get the fsd online in time you should live.

Now tell me, how would you teach a npc to do exactly that, depending on your situation and decision? You can't. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.

You do have a fair point, however I have two simple solutions in the options tabe to set the percentage of when a crew would shut off and repair a module, you'd also have to option to un target a module.

Could work.

Also, you have the option of not hiring that crew. Since you and many others are experienced and skilled enough to "do it yourself" some of us, myself included are not.
With or without these additions, EVERYTHING in ED is contextual, and you have to make a choice, that may be a sacrifice. These may not help you but could potentially considerably help others

Besides your concerns, did you not have a problem with my other suggestions?

 

[The Black Pearl]

Looks like this is one of those NPC crew specialists suggestion threads that pop up once in a while. Two or three times in the last couple of months, IIRC. Here's a few more NPC crew roles off the top of my head:

• Gunner: Turrets track faster and with more intelligence. Automatically targets subsystems for you in an order set to your preferences.
• Navigator: More jump range is the common suggestion, but I think that would be a bit OP. I'd go for sligtly lower fuel usage instead and highlighting interesting targets in the system and galaxy map.
• Engineer: Lowers the malfunction chance of damaged systems and makes AFMU faster
• Steward: Keeps the passengers happy and stops them from demanding things.

I also think there should be "generic" crew for the bigger ships. They wouldn't do much, except maybe keep the hull from deteriorating when they are happy.

I had not* actually taken the time to look at those other threads, let alone know the existed. But I stole your ideas and added them to the op.

 

[Relvor]

Besides your concerns, did you not have a problem with my other suggestions?

In general your ideas seem to automate a few tiny areas of the game in order to make the game easier accessible to new players. This is a good thing, new players still have a lot of other things to learn in the first few dozen hours.
Under the assumption that all your propositions are COMPLETELY OPTIONAL for everyone I'm all for little helpers for new players OUTSIDE OF COMBAT. New players can automate a few areas, but I'm a 100% sure that for highest effectivity you want complete control for yourself. (See docking computers and supercruise assist. New players love them, but veterans are faster and more efficient when docking or cruising manually.)

Now a few thoughts on your OPTIONAL ideas:

automatic slf launch after destruction:
I don't mind that, but since the cursor remembers its position in the "down menu" it takes less than one second to launch a slf. Requesting docking takes longer for me than redeploying a slf. Plus you also get a quick glance at your exact shield percentage when using the "down menu". Also: Manual deployment forces you to watch your slf status or at least listen to your covas, helping against the dreaded tunnel vision in combat situations. But why not, auto-redeployment is ok.

automatic defenses:
I'm against auto-defenses. While they definitely do make sense from a lore point of view, it's part of a fight to study and observe your enemy. Auto-deploying chaff and ecm makes this observe part less important which hurts you in the long run. Also, you will run out of chaff pretty quickly if your npc uses it after every shot from a random hostile sidewinder. A new player should learn when to use chaff, and most of the time it is not "always and as soon as possible".
And a perfectly automated ecm would completely shut off all seeker missiles or torpedoes fired at you, making them utterly useless. Yes, you should be rewarded for manually using an ecm correctly, but becoming immune to seekers through auto-use is a no go.

I do agree with your general idea that in the future crew members should become more fleshed out and more useful. You also should be able to see them on your ship.
I also endorse easier access for new players, but too much handholding especially in combat situations is not the way to go.

 

[The Black Pearl]

In general your ideas seem to automate a few tiny areas of the game in order to make the game easier accessible to new players. This is a good thing, new players still have a lot of other things to learn in the first few dozen hours.
Under the assumption that all your propositions are COMPLETELY OPTIONAL for everyone I'm all for little helpers for new players OUTSIDE OF COMBAT. New players can automate a few areas, but I'm a 100% sure that for highest effectivity you want complete control for yourself. (See docking computers and supercruise assist. New players love them, but veterans are faster and more efficient when docking or cruising manually.)

Now a few thoughts on your OPTIONAL ideas:

automatic slf launch after destruction:
I don't mind that, but since the cursor remembers its position in the "down menu" it takes less than one second to launch a slf. Requesting docking takes longer for me than redeploying a slf. Plus you also get a quick glance at your exact shield percentage when using the "down menu". Also: Manual deployment forces you to watch your slf status or at least listen to your covas, helping against the dreaded tunnel vision in combat situations. But why not, auto-redeployment is ok.

automatic defenses:
I'm against auto-defenses. While they definitely do make sense from a lore point of view, it's part of a fight to study and observe your enemy. Auto-deploying chaff and ecm makes this observe part less important which hurts you in the long run. Also, you will run out of chaff pretty quickly if your npc uses it after every shot from a random hostile sidewinder. A new player should learn when to use chaff, and most of the time it is not "always and as soon as possible".
And a perfectly automated ecm would completely shut off all seeker missiles or torpedoes fired at you, making them utterly useless. Yes, you should be rewarded for manually using an ecm correctly, but becoming immune to seekers through auto-use is a no go.

I do agree with your general idea that in the future crew members should become more fleshed out and more useful. You also should be able to see them on your ship.
I also endorse easier access for new players, but too much handholding especially in combat situations is not the way to go.

You have a very strong point towards what veterans prefer over how it would help new players, I hate SCA but I'm lazy enough to use ADC, I can dock manually, in stations and on planets, but meh like I said I'm lazy. And your point about auto defence, yea I hadn't thought about the ammo. As to your initial concern to the entire suggestion thread, yes everything would be optional, except of course what'd I'd suggested would REQUIRE crew.

 

[The Black Pearl]

And yea crew having a character model would be nice. When ever I'm in my all and I look in my pit all I see is myself... Granted we are telepresence controlling the slf, but it'd be nice to see the crew

 

[Lestat]

Crew should have multiple jobs, specifically in ships with multiple seats.
· controlling the AFMU the auto field maintenance unit is NOT automatic and if you try to use it in combat it takes up valueable time on console as there is not assignable hot key for it

I agree the Crew member should be able to do more. But you are asking for two actions being control by an NPC. Why are you trying to repair your ship while in combat? That something you should wait until the combat over. A lot of times players have their ship so finely tune some times they have to Turn off one part like shields or thrusters so they can run an AMFU. You want crew member to control this? I have to say NO to this idea.

launching counter measures
Countermeasures can be assigned to a fire group and a hotkey, but it would be a huge release of burden if the crew did it

Part of this game is trying to setup your fire group to handle this stress. IF that Crewmember in an SLF. He should not have access to your Countermeasures. If he was flying your ship and it has Countermeasures Ok I would be fine with that. Otherwise You control the Countermeasures.

Crew that is assigned for ship launched fighters should auto deploy a fighter in the case the one they are telepresence piloting gets destroyed

If you are trying to enter super cruse or high wake and you have Auto deploy crewmembers You lose a fighter. Bad idea.

[/QUOTE]

 

[dxm55]

The simplest ideas for multiseated ships would simply be to have it a requirement to have these NPC crews fill up the seats before you can even fly the ship.
Single seat ships will not be affected. Just the twin and triple seaters. Just make them available in the CREW LOUNGE, as SLF pilots are.

They will function simply as cosmetics and a money sink. Maybe give them rudimentary chatter functions while in normal flight and SC.
In battle, they can perhaps call out your enemy target position. May help some CMDRs, and not for others, but it is chatter. They can be the Goose to your Maverick.

Thats's the basic idea.


If you wanna go for more advanced ideas then, ok.

But I would simply go for ideas that build upon existing mechanics... because you know how slow FD is in making new stuff. Also, they seem to know how to stretch a certain game mechanic 1000 ways, and milk the cow to death, right? RIGHT?

- NPC crews will make your turreted weapons immune to Chaff. Your gimballed weapons are still affected, though.
Would make sense since they would be MANUALLY aiming the guns as opposed to having your ship's computer tracking it and being sensor blinded.
But add a response and accuacy penalty, since they're manually targetted. Put a hard cap on the tracking and swivel rate according to crew skill (if any)
You should be able to toggle the turret weapons in your menu... add one more option there.- "Crew Controlled" after the existing computer controlled: fire at will and fire at target.

- Also, your turreted mining tools, like the Seismic Charge launcher and abrasion blaster will ACTUALLY work as turrets
Right now, they're as good as fixed without Multicrew. Which dev dreamed this up? Needs a knock on the noggin. Really.

- With a crew member onboard, Ships can auto-dock/launch WITHOUT the ADC.
You save one Class 1 slot, but you pay more Credits over time, because the ADC is cheap, but your crew member will be paid a constant salary.

- Also have that co-pilot handle the Super-cruise control. And you can exclude the SC control module.
Just because.

- Have an option for the crewmember to deploy chaff or ECM when a missile launch at you is detected.
You can still activate chaff/ECM yourself. But at least this will make your co-pilot somewhat useful. Plus it won't really change the gameplay much.

- Option for Automatic deployment of landing gear once your ship goes below a certain altitude and speed near a planet's surface.
And also retract them once you've gone above the threshold. Because every good co-pilot knows when you intend to make landfall. Otherwise he needs to go back to the academy.


And give the crewmember some personality. Let it show in the cockpit banter and whatnot.
Make it random. And not bound to stats like.... Jovial 80%, Morose 20%, or some other bullcrap like that. And no... don't show the stats either!!
Let the personality show in the hiring screen, as in how the SLF pilots intro themselves. That way you can decide after 2 weeks if your co-pilot is a total bore, and fire him for another one that you think is more interesting.

But more importantly... quit with the 34th centure uglies already. Jesus Christ, some of these NPCs are so ugly, that I would rather stare at my pet cat's butt just for some visual relief.

Simple features for now. With the rate of updates and development, sometimes asking for simpler things might be the way to go.

 

[space voyager]

Whatever role we assign them, we need them to survive ship destruction! This is a must, otherwise all hard work put into their development is wasted in an instant.

Now a size 6 SLF module gets from a useful to useless on ship destruction, the only module to do so.

 

[Zeron85]

I have an idea for crew. This was just though up between myself and another member of a facebook group

Mining operations.

Surface mining

They could control prospector limpets. e.g. while your mining they can be launching prospectors looking for the next target. they could also control which prospector limpets to deactive to leave only ones that match a profile (>x% painite).

A new SLF that inclues mining lasers so they could actively help ming the current target or just edit the loadout of current SLF options. This would speed of the time it takes to deplete an astroid but not increase its yeld.

If you have multiple crew both of the above could be combined. The penalty would be cost. you'd be paying these crew so your overall profit would be less.

Crew ranks here wouldn't really change anything as its not a complicated process. As they rank up and thus cost more you could end their contract and they would go into the pool of experianced crew for others to hire. They could also have a minimum contract in either time or rank reached.

Deep core mining

Scan and mark potential cores for further investigation, possibly with a prospector limpet or some other marker, maybe even just a sensor mark on the hud on each pulse like " crew member thinks this one would be a good one". The higher the rank the better they are at spotting good targets.

Similar to above, SLF with abrasion blasters or sysmic charges that can help with the mining. Higher rank is better at getting the sysmic into the opmtimil range withough going over. Abrasion blaster is better / faster at manovering round the cracked astroid and blasting off the fragments.

Again muliple crew on a ship could perform mulitple of these roles, the more crew the lower your overall profit will be as your paying them.

It would be up to the player how many crew they wish to hire(ship permitting) as it will be a balancing act. You could hire a crew to do it all for you(apart from flying the ship) but your profits will be practically nothing.

Would bring some more lore into mining. A Mining ship and crew can mine more quickly than a lone pilot as multiple jobs can be completed at once but as each crew member takes a cut the profit scales down too. Could be worked to balance out, yes it takes you longer to solo but the profits are all yours and not split between NPC crew.

This could also work for a group of players. Same roles as above only its a player controlling the SLF / prospectors / etc. Profit is split automatically on the sale to a station. Profit split could be agreed and set between the players, any changes have to be agreed by all parties. Just log against each tonne of cargo who was on board when it was collected so there is no funny business from the pilot kicking others off before sale to steal all the profits. Or let that happen and either apply a bounty / fine or let reputation be the controlling factor, do it one too many times and people won't want to team up with you anymore.

NPC crew survive ship destruction. Put it down to the bridge works as an escape capsule and piloting a SLF is telepresance anyway. Same for players, its telepresance and your sent back to your own ship on destruction. If enroute to sell and you have a SLF for combat, one of the players can take over that role to help defend. If its only NPC crew you could have another crew thats either multi talented (thus costs more / takes a higher cut) or a separate crew member that is only there for protection(doesnt help with the mining as he isn't trained in that but can fly a fighter, rank here would help in combat effectiveness).

Any thoughts?