NPC (IDEA POOL) Crew Overhaul

So there are quite a few "crew" threads floating around. Sadly, most of them are getting buried and are in of themselves rather incomplete. As such, I thought it'd be worth the while to coalesces these ideas into one big idea pool thread.

These are ideas I've had myself, ideas I've seen in other threads, and ideas I've seen in mods. If you have an idea, submit it and I'll add it to this post.

GENERAL
- Crew Outfit Management: This is the one that's requiested over and over and over. Add a button to SAIL that lets you manage each crew's outfit individually, similar to the Create-A-Friend mod. You would manage both the worn armor and the social armor, as well as giving them up to two weapons (A ranged and melee weapon specficially) as well as a specific job function for certain classes (located above their head. We'll call this the "class icon") as well as an instrument at the bottom left with a vehicle icon in the lower right.
- Ability to permanently fire/reject crew members: Maybe I don't want to have another chemist on board? Or simply don't want another glitch on board? You should have the ability to reject colonists/npcs permanently, instead of them constantly wearing the suits around my colonies. I want that islander NPC to go back to being an islander.
- Landing Crew Management Rather than having to track down every crew member, simply select followers from the crew menu.
- Choose what class you want an NPC to be when you recruit them: instead of leaving it to a dice-throw (or having to resort to using the "Job Offers" mod,) you instead can choose a small list of 3-9 possible choices of what you want this crew member to be, giving you a little more freedom in choosing what you want.
- 'Self' Recruit (SP only): If you go into the same place where you left another character (IE If you go to the Outpost) you can not only find that character but also recruit them. For balance reasons you can only have 1-3 of these characters at a time in your crew.


AI Changes:
- Quit following me around like lost puppies on the ship: even when they aren't supposed to be following me, I find they often do anyway. Since I ship-base, this also gets really irritating since they tend to get in my way when I'm trying to access my storage boxes and stations.
- Spread Out: Actually populate the whole ship instead of just the teleporter area.
- Crew Band: When you play an instrument, your entire crew whips out instruments and plays along.
- Crew Members Carpool: When you use a vehicle with multiple seats, crew members will attempt to fill those seats. If they cannot, they'll attempt to use their own vehicles if it concides with the type you currently have (IE if you have a hovercar out they'll attempt to use one too. They won't use a mech if you use a hovercar or vise-versa.)

CREW CLASS CHANGES:

- Chemist: Remove subtypes. Which chem is used is determined through the class icon. By default this is random, but you can assign it to others, including "random" or "custom" (IE something you made in FU).
On Ship change: No longer injects you with chems out of the blue, but instead gives you random stims.
Traveling Benefit: Same as default, but more often and injects all crew members not just you. Throws bombs and chemical beakers in combat.
Weapon Types: Bombs, Beakers, chemical squirt gun

- Engineer: Too similar to the Mechanic.
On Ship change: He'll randomly invent things. OR through the class icon you can activate a workbench that will let you deconstruct items (similar to the "Universal Uncrafter" mod).
Also, he will tinker with random crafting stations to increase their efficiency. By this I mean that they'll randomly refund certain components when crafting items. Further tinkerings will increase this chance. Beware though, removing the station will reset it.
Traveling Benefit: Comes with a walker mech by default. During combat he'll attempt to use it if he's not restricted by ceiling space. OR is constantly accompanied by a powerful drone that acts like a pet and assists him during combat.
Weapon Types: Magnaorb

- Janitor: Currently completely useless.
On Ship change: He'll randomly find items on the ship. Bits of ore, bits of creatures that somehow managed to latch on to the ship, etc.
Traveling Benefit: All crew members will glow. When you mine, you will randomly acquire two ores or blocks instead of just 1 (%1 chance per block, 4% chance per ore).
(survival mode only) If you die while on planet, The janitor will recover a portion of it.
Weapon Types: Daggers, Pistols

- Mechanic:
On Ship: Same as default. But also randomly generates auto-cores.
Also, will tinker with random workbenches, giving them a chance to randomly produce two items instead of one when you craft something with them. . Further tinkerings will increase this chance. Beware though, removing the station will reset it.
Traveling Benefit: Gives vehicles that you and your crew possess a sort of "repair-regeneration", repairing vehicles when they're not in use.
Weapon Types: Daggers, Pistols

- Medic: Not much to change here.
On Ship: No change.
Traveling Benefit: Regen is automatic for all crew members after they fall below 50% health. Otherwise no real changes.
Weapon Types: Daggers, Pistols

- Outlaw: Quartermaster: Too similar to the soldier. Also, why would you keep an "outlaw" on your ship?
On Ship: Is your crew's quatermaster. Using the class icon will open up a trade menu.
Traveling Benefit:
Weapon Types: Any (default shortsword and shotgun)

- Soldier:
On Ship: By default however comes with better gear than most other NPCs.
On top of this, when on ship he will randomly upgrade his (and the other crew member's) gear. Note this only applies to crew members with default gear.
Traveling Benefit: Crew members 25% deal more damage to enemies. Soldiers deal 100% more damage than other crew members.
Weapon Types: Broadswords, Hammers, Spears, Heavy Weapons, Grenade Launchers, Rocket Launchers

- Tailor:
On Ship: Current job will be the "default" suit. Using him will only change people wearing the default vanity (social) clothing, and not their underarmors or anyone with customized social armors. Will randomly supply you with leather, string, woven fabric, canvas, or synthetic materials. Will also sell clothes (See below)
Off Ship: If you interact or scan NPCs, the Tailor will then sell whatever they were wearing back on the ship. They have to be with you for this to happen though.
Weapon Types: Whip (default), pistol, dagger.

New Crew Types:

- Chef:
On Ship: Will randomly give you a meal when on ship. Can purchase meals from him.
Traveling Benefit: Anything he kills will yield meat, bacon, fish, or alien tentacles. Enemies are more likely to drop these things when killed by you or your other crew members.
Weapon Types: Butcher Knife, Hunting Bow.

- Bard:
On Ship: Will randomly play music.
Traveling Benefit: Better prices with merchants of all kinds. Certain enemies that would be normally hostile may ignore you.

- Wizard: Only NPC that cannot use weapons or vehicles.
On Ship: Casts random spells on player and crewmembers. (somewhat like the Chemist)
Off Ship: Attacks with spells. Summons monsters, uses staffs, causes frenzy on certain enemies, causes certain enemies to flee in terror, etc. If the player uses a hovercar, they will summon a flying monster and ride that.
Weapon Types: Staffs, Spells.

 

The Tailor could sell clothes to the player which would be copies of what spotted NPCs were wearing. It would only include cosmetic items and armor beneath the tier of the armor worn by the player. This would even allow players to obtain vanity sets which aren't available otherwise, such as the Cultist set.

 

Maybe they can acquire outfits that from NPCs you interact with while they are with you, and ones they randomly interact with.

 

New minor idea.

 

I like some of those Ideas.
But i think my main problem with the crew is also that they don't seem to do anything.
When i thought about Crew i thought adding placable items (furniture) that they use to do something usefull on the ship.
For example a "Medbay" just for the medic that is used for the health buff or a Target Dummy for Soldiers that makes them stronger and stuff like that.
A Furniture Item that resembles a extra Engine for a mechanic to work on, instead just the mechanic saying "well i improved somethin".

I just would like to see them do something related to the job they have ...

Also i would like to see my Crew getting more expirienced every time we go on a mission together (just because they are still extremly weak imho).
Gaining Levels every time we spend like 90min. on the planets surface, with the timer decreasing with the danger of a planet increasing.

 

I could see that getting very annoying very fast. Especially among us that like to nomad.

"Oh hey I just built this FU power plant that takes up a lot of space. But my 10 crew members are constantly filling up my ship with medbays and target dummies. And when I remove them they get cranky. Ugh, yet another reason to not include crew members."

It's one thing to have colony tenants self-decorate (which I think should be a thing). Crew on the other hand? Not so much.

Still, I like the idea of crew members doing stuff instead of just playing animations, and gives me a few ideas of my own. Will have to include that.

I think this doesn't make much sense for NPCs since the player doesn't level themselves, instead relying on armor and weapons to scale to planet damage, something that giving the player the ability to arm and armor each crew member individually.

 

(Moved from Dev Blog 1.1 Changelog)
Currently, the tailor only sets the crew's legs, chest, and back item appearance to match your current outfit. I hope at some point they will also include the head item.

I get that the crew members may possibly be wearing a headgear that was crafted for them during a quest and they want to show it off, but that is not fair. If my employer asked me to wear a company hat with the company logo on it and I decided to wear my own, personal hat because I went through a lot of trouble to have it signed by a famous celebrity, I would be fired.

There can be some middle ground here. If the player's current outfit is not selected and the crew is milling about in their standard Protectorate uniform then by all means let them wear their custom headgear. However, if the player is requesting their current outfit be used then that should include the head item (or lack thereof if the player is not wearing a hat and does not want their crew wearing one either).

 

Suggestion: Following NPCs should show up in your Party bar, or perhaps in a separate bar on the bottom right. This will let you know how many NPCs you have following you and who they are, instead of having to run back and forth to guess at who's mimicking your moves the most. Right clicking on them should give you order options:

Follow/Stop Following - As normal, follow me around or don't
Stay/Wander - Staying NPC stands in one place unless attacked at which point they will defend themselves and return to that place once the attack is over. (This is needed because too often I tell my NPCs to stay in a safe spot while I clear hazards ahead, only for them to immediately run straight into those hazards) Wandering NPCs act as normal.
Passive/Aggressive - A Passive NPC does not engage in combat even if you do, and runs away when hurt. Useful for when you want to capture critters in capture pods without your buddies killing them first. Aggressive NPCs act as normal.

Pressing 'action' near the NPC should only talk to them, not tell them to follow/stop following. (This is very annoying when trying to access crates and items behind NPCs)

You should be able to command your following crew NPCs no matter where they are - on screen or off. I mean, are we to believe we live in a Universe with close-range-personal-teleportation, but no radios or cell phones?

 

Yeah, especially with the ex-protectorate plot lady chiming in every time you scan something for the quest.

Also, I just came to the crushing realization of how much I need that bard crew before I came here. After all what else am I going to do with the instruments I collect?
Ideally you could set it to choose from a set of songs when in and out of combat. Since NPCs can detect hostiles, it should be possible for them to switch to a different set of songs for combat music.
I want some minstrels playing "Brave Sir Robin" as I explore so much.

 

I would like to see the bartender at the Beakeasy allow for the full customization over hired crew. Just build up a new member from the ground up, such as player creation, under the guise of "hiring mercenary types". Penguins would still be possible.

 

I think you can do that with Job Offers + Create-a-friend

 

Something from a very old game Fantasy Empires, you could send your heroes (Crew in this case) off on missions and they would be gone for a random ammount of time and if they succeed they bring back random loot.

You could pick the danger level for different level of rewards and a greater chance the crew member would "die" on the mission and you would lose them for good.

 

suggestion on the janitor, percentage chance of not losing your stuff after death if they're in your party ( like they cleaned up your exploded remains and brought your items back with them.)

 

The ability to have a landing crew that will always follows down to the surface, possibly a limit of two or three, that way there wouldn't be any hassle tracking down crew in the ship. This could be handled in a separate menu.
Formations and line orders would be a nice touch as well.

 

Nice added managed equipment Crew weapons, armor, tech pet vehicles.
to be able to do everything with cerw

 

The main thing Crew needs to do is GET OUT OF YOUR WAY when you're trying to craft stuff. There should be a crew management mode up above like there's a wiring/color/matter manipulator mode that allows you to toggle which rooms crew are even allowed inside of, so that you can designate certain areas as off limits to your crew.

 

Yeah, hi. I am posting in this thread because I am utterly frustrated with my crew. I keep getting the powerful urge to throw lava balloons at them.

Seconding the need for marking certain rooms, aboard ship or in one's base, off-limits to NPCs. Especially on the ship, the crew's constant, high-speed meandering absolutely chokes gameplay, and causes me to spend much time herding my crew into a box where they cannot reach me. It is sort of lonesome this way, but at least the medic and blue chemist are not constantly breathing down my neck. (Why do some NPCs get such a crush on the player?)

I am currently on my third play-through since SB's official launch, and after a couple runs, I have completely stopped taking crew with me on exploration runs. My tolerance for their stupidity is gone. They do little but cause trouble and hurt themselves. We need control over these morons.

Not sure I've much to add about how that has not already been covered, but I must revert to list format so I don't go on too much of a rant:

• I want control, like those for pets in other games: stay, follow, passive, aggressive, go home, etc. Long-range and short-range communication with crew, so I no longer have to hunt down each member as needed. Crew in your party should be visible in the party window, and clicking their portraits should bring up several options for directing them.

• On ships, perhaps build a shipwide comm system. I already have decorative speakers everywhere for that imaginary purpose. I'd like a smaller, sleeker design, though, and functionality: Engineer Stormrake to bridge. Thank you, you're dismissed. All combat personnel, stand by for beam-down. Medbay, we are sending you a patient. I just want to be able to tell these dorks what to do! I am ze captain!

• We should be able to assign crew to certain areas. Medic stays inside the freakin' medbay. Chemist hangs out in the science lab. Tailor surely shouldn't be wandering everywhere. Why do we even need a fashion officer? As someone else has posted, outfit options should be in the crew UI.

• Speaking of nigh-useless NPCs, why do we need four different chemists? Instead, the player should be able to upgrade crewmembers' abilities, gear, etc. through gameplay. ONE CHEMIST. Starts with Glow, levels up to get Jump Boost, then Run Speed, then Rage. Or whatever, idk. I am just so tired of all the chemists running around, or following me like needy children. I'd rather have more soldiers.

• As others have stated: I want a third option on potential crewmates, when they ask to join me, that turns them back into villagers. Do you know how bad it is for morale when you have quested for days in a camp, only to get virtually nothing but medics and tailors--and you already have those?

Crew, as it stands now, has great potential, but is currently a feature the player simply tolerates. Barely, in my case.

EDIT: Something, indeed, must be done about the crewmate 'class', or type, or job--whatever--when you're recruiting. Control is needed in this area as well. Observe:

Somehow, every single attractive NPC I quest for turns into a medic or a tailor. I already have these on my roster. I want pretty NPCs. I had to resort to an NPC spawner mod to get what I was after. The ugly townsfolk generally turn into other classes, but uggos are not allowed on my ship.

I wish I had taken screencaps as proof: entire villages filled with white, and the occasional purple, uniform!

 

Crew "Follow"/"Wait Here" interaction is awful! It shouldn't be just as simple as hitting "e" on them as they usually get left many screens behind before one realizes they were accidentally interacted with.

INSTEAD! I propose that "e" be repurposed into asking an NPC to use his/her ability preemptively . Going up to my chemist and asking them to buff me or the medic to heal me would be awesome and much more immersive. Even if they have a cooldown before they can use their ability it would be nice. (It would also be kind of funny if they said things like "I'm a medic! Not a magician!")

As for the follow/wait here. I think that would be taken care of by the Communication system mentioned above.

*Edit*

I just thought it would be kind of fun to hear a Floran Chemist say "I musst wait before I can stabss you with needless!" *cry emote*

 

On that note, I thought of another suggestion!

A "Move Out of the Way!" toggle button for Crew and Pets.

Basically if the feature is toggled on the Crew/Pet AI would try to get out of Matter Manipulator range (preferably moving behind the PC). This would allow for the PC to go into build/interact mode to build/interact with stuff without them getting in the way.

As an added thought this feature could/should ALWAYS be toggled on if the matter manipulator is equipped. At the moment I can't see any reason for an NPC to be standing near you while you are in construction mode.

 

nuca vi uma ideia melhor!