Wow. I like this, very much, I mean, giving NPC crew actual function? I'm all in.
HOW to do it, is the big question. Also, what exactly could the crew help with?
Well. Maybe a lot. But how do you easily control them?
Here's what I thought about.
First, I thought about 5 new blocks added.
The first would be the Captain's Chair. Can be a fancy looking chair or a simple block, I'm sure players can build a nice looking chair around one. This would serve as a command interface for all positioned crew on the ship, and its interface would not just list all manned systems, but also allow the Captain to issue commands to the crewmembers (provided they have the necessary levels to unlock them) and the experience level of the assigned crew in the corresponding skill.
The Captain's Chair would allow the same control as the ship core, however, no access to Build Mode - instead, pressing Spacebar would enter Commander mode, where the player can still use the free-floating viewpoint, activate shipboard logic and access the Advanced Commands interface by holding Control (just like Advanced Build Mode). In Command Mode, the player would still be able to access the ship's quickbar and fire weapons (only straight forward and dumbfiring missiles though), or activate systems (scanner, jammer, effects, inner ship remotes etc.)
Crew-operated movement commands would be instantly cancelled if any of the thrust controls (WASD, Q, E, shift) are pressed, and give the player back full control. Jump commands would be instantly cancelled if the player attempted to manually charge a jump drive.
The Crew Interface blocks would allow crew to be assigned to positions. There would be the following 4 types:
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Tactical: connect weapon systems to this block, assigned NPC bonuses and abilities apply to these systems
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Navigation: allows access to thrust and jump drives(the latter needs to be connected)
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Engineering: allows access to power, shields and defensive effect systems
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Medical: allows access to medical supplies, assigned NPC also equips a healing beam as main weapon.
(Optional: Security - NPCs assigned to security will attack any hostiles that enter the ship's collision detection box)
Assignment: by issuing a move command and getting the selected NPC into the 1 block vicinity of the interface and removing them from active team, they would automatically align to ship and stand in front of the interface, giving a status message saying "npcname successfully assigned to interfacetype" and then they will show up on the Captain's Chair interface and add their bonus to the manned system. Only one crew can be assigned to every Crew Interface block.
Skills:
NPC skills would have 5 levels, each level adding a bonus to whatever the NPC does, or unlocks a new Command accessible from the Captain's Chair. Bonus values listed are subject to balancing, and do not add up with previous ranks. NPCs can only gain 10 levels altogether, although in any combination. After that, they no longer gain experience. (So, you can max 2 skills, or max 1 and then get 3 levels in a second, and 2 in a third etc.)
(Optional: NPC skins vary, always displaying highest level skill. Soldier's uniform(blue and silver) for Tactical, Soldier's uniform(blue and black) for Navigation, Haz-Mat suit(yellow and white) for Engineering, medic's uniform (white-red) for Medical crew.)
Skills follow as:
- Tactical: gains experience when hitting hostile ships with weapons. Crew access and bonus only applies to weapon systems connected to this block. You can have multiple Tactical Crew Interface blocks, but you can only connect a weapon system to one at the same time.
- Level 1: allows "Fire at will" and "Fire at target" commands from the Captain's Chair, will automatically fire all weapon systems connected to the Tactical Crew Interface block at nearest hostile in firing arc("Fire at will") or selected target ("Fire at target")
1% reload time reduction, 1% energy cost reduction to all connected weapon systems, Easy level accuracy when firing weapons
Missile lock takes 120% of normal time
- Level 2: 2% reload time reduction, 2% energy cost reduction, increased firing arc, Medium level accuracy, missile lock takes as much as for the player.
- Level 3: 3% reload time reduction and energy cost reduction, Hard level accuracy, missile lock takes 80% of normal time
- Level 4: 4% reload time and energy cost reduction, Mean level accuracy, missile lock takes 50% of normal time
- Level 5: 5% reload time and energy cost reduction, Marksman(1.5xMean) level accuracy, 5% damage bonus, can lock and launch missiles in free look mode. (just like a long time ago the player could)
- Navigation: gains experience over time as the ship moves, fixed experience every time connected jump drive is activated - does not need to be in combat to gain experience. Only 1 Navigation Crew Interface can be placed per ship.
- Level 1: Sublight navigation. Command "Fly to waypoint" available on Captain's Chair - ship will automatically fly to target coordinates in a straight path at maximum speed. 1% bonus to Thrust
- Level 2: FTL navigation. Command "Jump to waypoint" available on Captain's Chair - will perform one jump in target coordinates' direction, cannot recharge jump drives on its own. 2% bonus to Thrust
- Level 3: Advanced sublight navigation. 5% bonus to turning speed. 3% bonus to Thrust. "Follow target" command available on Captain's Chair: ship will automatically attempt to maintain 500 m(default sector size, scales up with sector size) distance from selected target and attempt to always face it (great to combo with "fire at target" with a manned Tactical position)
- Level 4: Advanced FTL navigation. 5% bonus to jump drive recharge time, "Jump to waypoint" command will cause crewman to recharge jump drives and attempt a new jump until arrival to destination. 4% bonus to Thrust, 5% bonus to turning speed.
- Level 5: 10% turning speed bonus, 10% jump drive recharge time bonus, 5% Thrust bonus, 5% Top Speed bonus
- Engineering: gains experience over time as ship systems are used, double during combat. Multiple Engineering Crew Interfaces can be placed on a ship, but only the highest level crewmember's abilities and bonuses are applied.
- Level 1: 1% bonus to power generation and capacity
- Level 2: 2% bonus to power generation and capacity, 1% bonus to shield recharge and capacity, 5% bonus to defensive effect system efficiency
- Level 3: 3% bonus to power generation and capacity, 1% bonus to shield recharge and efficiency, 5% bonus to effect system efficiency, 10% resistance vs jump drive inhibitors, "Combat Reboot" command available at Captain's Chair: reboots ship 50% faster.
- Level 4: 4% bonus to power generation and capacity, 2% bonus to shield recharge and capacity, 10% bonus to effect system efficiency, 10% resistance vs jump drive inhibitors
- Level 5: 5% bonus to power generation and capacity, 3% bonus to shield recharge and capacity, 10% bonus to effect system efficiency, 10% resistance vs jump drive inhibitors, "Override" command available at Captain's Chair: ignore system HP damage effects for 15 seconds
- Medical: gains experience based on healing done.
Medical crew will equip a healing beam as their primary weapon and attempt to approach and heal any injured players or NPCs aligned to the ship or station they are assigned to, and return to the vicinity of their crew interface after they are done. Multiple Medical Crew Interface blocks can be placed on a ship, allowing to have more than one NPC medic on board.
- Level 1: heal 10 HP/s
- Level 2: heal 20 HP/s
- Level 3: heal 30 HP/sec, movement speed increased by 50%
- Level 4: heal 40 HP/sec, movement speed increased by 50%
- Level 5: heal 50 HP/sec, movement speed increased by 50%, "Revive" command available in Captain's Chair: respawn last died crewmember aligned to ship at the Medical Crew Interface
Command skill: Since commanding is the player's task, this is rather a player skill instead of an NPC skill. The player gains Command experience every time an NPC assigned to the ship they control levels up any of their skills. A skilled Commander doesn't only motivate his crew to strive to become better, but also inspire them to endure more pain if needed.
- Level 1: no bonuses
- Level 2: 5% bonus experience to crew
- Level 3: 10% bonus experience to crew, +30 crew HP
- Level 4: 15% bonus crew experience, +30 crew HP
- Level 5: 20% bonus crew experience, +60 crew HP
Damn, I wrote a lot.
