I also have two Endeavors with all the trimmings (One set of trimmings...) so there'll be more than just a pool table being used as a pose stand for a NPC doctor. But also you know that a human playing doctor is going to get a phone call from his bank or mother during an emergency surgery. Heh, Shit happens eh.
How much is an NPC slot really worth?
- Thread starter Brictoria
- Start date
Same, I have all the mods for the Endeavour. But at least a human player having to leave for a phone call wont leave the character in a doorway blocking access/egress.
Or maybe they will
All ship captains should carry at least a pistol for summary NPC executions. If I end up in prison for that, so be it... the last time I thought taking a nap wasn't a good idea I think I was 5.Same, I have all the mods for the Endeavour. But at least a human player having to leave for a phone call wont leave the character in a doorway blocking access/egress.
Or maybe they will
I realize I have a lot of game packages. I still debate the number and I have the ability to trim it down to 3-4 without a big impact on my limited fleet.
Part of the reason I trimmed my fleet so much this year is because the game is a MMO. I think it will be immensely fun to join a random TEST Squadron group of players to man their ships. I don't have to be the captain all the time. Actually, to organize any group of people requires effort (herding cats) that I tend to avoid in my personal time. I lead in real life and games are a form of escape!
Take the next part with a grain of skepticism. The below is from the leaks discord and references NPC play. From earlier this week.
It doesn't get into the topic of multiple game packages on a single account. It does discuss CIG's potential NPC thoughts for large to capital ships.
Part of the reason I trimmed my fleet so much this year is because the game is a MMO. I think it will be immensely fun to join a random TEST Squadron group of players to man their ships. I don't have to be the captain all the time. Actually, to organize any group of people requires effort (herding cats) that I tend to avoid in my personal time. I lead in real life and games are a form of escape!
Take the next part with a grain of skepticism. The below is from the leaks discord and references NPC play. From earlier this week.
It doesn't get into the topic of multiple game packages on a single account. It does discuss CIG's potential NPC thoughts for large to capital ships.
Standard load out on the bridge! If that means we end up in the brig then a TEST Brig breakout is on.
And then she goes and does what ever she wants in game ignoring your commands.
Your right in its being designed as a multi-player game and the multi crew ships are to that goal.
But as others have rightly mentioned it can also not be expected that a crew will play together for an extended session let alone multiple sessions. I agree with you that the npcs will be a poor substitute for having players on mission with you if nothing else then the shenanigans.
The answer really lies with agent Smith which originally CIG was against but seems to be embracing the idea. Given the huge time synch in getting around the verse and death of a spaceman will not allow you the freedom to die and teleport around the Galaxy.
I have a feeling we will see a mix of solutions with player events known days and weeks in advance allowing them to move themselves and their ships to a staging place. Day events with friends in the same area would work easy enough. Some groups like the unicorn dnd group that always have a weekly game session could crew a ship long term. But for the most part game time events and missions need a way to allow players to quickly join up across the verse and that would be best achieved by taking over a npc on their ship.
For the other solution like wow has done with quick travel and instant raid groups just doesn't work in an environment where distant is a needed time synch for gameplay reasons
That's some great info there.
"Sweetspot of fifteen players per capital ship" with 3:1 NPC:player ratio, so 60 crewmembers total and "limit of 1 capital ship per server raised to 4 per server"
Kinda getting the feeling they're not referring to 'capital' ships like Hull D (crew: 5), Kraken (crew: 10) or even Polaris (crew: 14), but rather 'Capital' ships like Javelin (crew: 80) and Bengal (crew: yes).
I mean, I'm not entirely sure where I would put 15 players on a Hull D, let alone 15 players and 45 NPCs. Might have to store them in those 32 SCU containers and just haul them.
NPC smuggling is a thing now? I'm in.That's some great info there.
"Sweetspot of fifteen players per capital ship" with 3:1 NPC:player ratio, so 60 crewmembers total and "limit of 1 capital ship per server raised to 4 per server"
Kinda getting the feeling they're not referring to 'capital' ships like Hull D (crew: 5), Kraken (crew: 10) or even Polaris (crew: 14), but rather 'Capital' ships like Javelin (crew: 80) and Bengal (crew: yes).
I mean, I'm not entirely sure where I would put 15 players on a Hull D, let alone 15 players and 45 NPCs. Might have to store them in those 32 SCU containers and just haul them.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
Very coincidentally, this 3:1 ratio (which I had never heard of) is pretty much what I was planning on. As a general rule of thumb, my expectation has been that the Polaris would be crewed by 5 bridge officers with no NPCs aboard, 5 turret gunners that also serve as marine squad leaders who each have 3 NPC marines to provide security and boarding actions, and an engineer with 3 NPCs. That's 29 characters. Add 9 Arrow pilots and you're stuck with hot cotton for the bunks, but there's no reason yet to believe you can't do this. So I'm encouraged. If you think the bridge crew is freeloading by not keeping NPCs aboard, you can always use them in the hanger bay, but I think 20 players and 38 characters total is enough.
As to the sentiment "it can also not be expected that a crew will play together for an extended session let alone multiple sessions", sorry, but I take exception. Serving aboard my Polaris will be an honor that the whole 'verse envies. Players who do not treat it as such will be ejected. They either treat everyone around them with respect and faithfully carry their part of the load, or they will be replaced. Team members absolutely do have the right to expect others to keep their commitments. If you can't make that sort of commitment, you do not belong on a long duration platform. We're only talking about 11 players and 9 close affiliates. Most baseball teams have that many players and they bench people who aren't reliable. In team efforts, you absolutely need to be able to trust your team members. There is no substitute for reliability. The team as a whole needs to commit to certain hours, say 3 hours twice per week or some such. A Captain can add an alternate or two to be safe, but players who are unreliable will soon find themselves on that list rather than sitting a real position. I want to recommend what seems some people don't like. My contention is, without this kind of understanding you simply cannot field effective duration teams.
Everyone is talking about multiple characters on multiple accounts. If players want to participate in long duration exploration, mining, combat, etc., then they can commit one of their characters to this. There is no excuse for players with multiple characters to need to leave in the middle of a mission, even when that mission is months long. Expecting this level of commitment is nothing outrageous for anyone past the age of 12. Did y'all play baseball? Anyone run track? Who here was a wrestler? I'm not asking about military service here. These are all GAMES.
Long duration exploits are essentially "stunts" players participate in for glory. It's my raison d'etre online. I've been doing this since the 90's and it's gratifying to me to pull off stunts that become legendary. I do not honesty think expecting players to make gaming sessions reliably is too much to ask for such an offer of glory. And in fact, this is what CIG has said they're after when they noted repeatedly that player actions against the Vanduul will have repercussions across the 'verse. If you want to be known as part of the legendary team that invaded Vanduul space and made them pay for what they did in Orion, then you need to play as a team member.
IMHO, we need to get past debating what level of reliability is enough and move on to discussing how captains manage their teams. Can a Captain delegate responsibility to recruit to a Morale Officer? I would say probably not. Can he delegate responsibility to manage the fighter pilots to a Commander Air Group the way this is done aboard aircraft carriers? I think so. Whatever the case, we can't even have these discussions if we can't agree teams need team commitments.
As to the sentiment "it can also not be expected that a crew will play together for an extended session let alone multiple sessions", sorry, but I take exception. Serving aboard my Polaris will be an honor that the whole 'verse envies. Players who do not treat it as such will be ejected. They either treat everyone around them with respect and faithfully carry their part of the load, or they will be replaced. Team members absolutely do have the right to expect others to keep their commitments. If you can't make that sort of commitment, you do not belong on a long duration platform. We're only talking about 11 players and 9 close affiliates. Most baseball teams have that many players and they bench people who aren't reliable. In team efforts, you absolutely need to be able to trust your team members. There is no substitute for reliability. The team as a whole needs to commit to certain hours, say 3 hours twice per week or some such. A Captain can add an alternate or two to be safe, but players who are unreliable will soon find themselves on that list rather than sitting a real position. I want to recommend what seems some people don't like. My contention is, without this kind of understanding you simply cannot field effective duration teams.
Everyone is talking about multiple characters on multiple accounts. If players want to participate in long duration exploration, mining, combat, etc., then they can commit one of their characters to this. There is no excuse for players with multiple characters to need to leave in the middle of a mission, even when that mission is months long. Expecting this level of commitment is nothing outrageous for anyone past the age of 12. Did y'all play baseball? Anyone run track? Who here was a wrestler? I'm not asking about military service here. These are all GAMES.
Long duration exploits are essentially "stunts" players participate in for glory. It's my raison d'etre online. I've been doing this since the 90's and it's gratifying to me to pull off stunts that become legendary. I do not honesty think expecting players to make gaming sessions reliably is too much to ask for such an offer of glory. And in fact, this is what CIG has said they're after when they noted repeatedly that player actions against the Vanduul will have repercussions across the 'verse. If you want to be known as part of the legendary team that invaded Vanduul space and made them pay for what they did in Orion, then you need to play as a team member.
IMHO, we need to get past debating what level of reliability is enough and move on to discussing how captains manage their teams. Can a Captain delegate responsibility to recruit to a Morale Officer? I would say probably not. Can he delegate responsibility to manage the fighter pilots to a Commander Air Group the way this is done aboard aircraft carriers? I think so. Whatever the case, we can't even have these discussions if we can't agree teams need team commitments.
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And so, by a winding path, we return to the question that started this: How much do people consider an additional NPC slot to be worth (and how many of these do people plan to have)?
Do people consider the added $2 (or $5 if the skin is unimportant to you) for an extra NPC with the discount Warbond Cutter starter pack a reasonable price, or do people tend to only acquire these extra NPC slots when there is no additional cost involved (C8X starter pack at Invictus which cost the same as the standalone ship, for example)?
As a side note, some clarification from CIG regarding the "customization" of these NPC's would be nice - Is this to be solely their appearance, or will we be able to set "specialties" for them (So I could "train" one to use the loading mechanism for the RAFT, for example, or to fit positions in a 600i given I believe that CIG have stated this is the largest ship intended to be able to be flown "solo"... Or have a trained\experienced flight attendant for the E1 or Genesis to look after the NPC cargo\passengers being transported)... Luckily outside my $0 Carrack, the only multi-crew ships I have at the moment are the RAFT and Freelancer MAX, neither of which lose too much if run solo, but the longer CIG sell multi crew ships without firm details of this, the worse the backlash will likely be from people who have bought ships based on vague statements from CIG in the past and rumours\opinions\assumptions that players individually and combined have come to regarding them.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
I personally want to be able to pop back and forth between two PCs, one for solo play and one for elaborate play, and each with three NPCs I can attach. It’s too early for me to say where to get the NPCs. If paying $5@ means I don’t need to pay an NPC a salary, that sounds good to me, but until CIG fleshes out the skills issue, I’m content to wait.
One thing that interests me is CIG has said NPCs will be trainable. If you can purchase an NPC and not have to pay its salary, then train it to a very high skill level in a task you know you need, that sounds optimal. They really haven’t said much yet though, so I can’t understand why they’re selling them.
One thing that interests me is CIG has said NPCs will be trainable. If you can purchase an NPC and not have to pay its salary, then train it to a very high skill level in a task you know you need, that sounds optimal. They really haven’t said much yet though, so I can’t understand why they’re selling them.