Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Ship Crews

The point of all this text: The rich lore in EVE always suggests that though capsuleers have the ability to pilot starships with their minds, all of these have a crew onboard. However, ship crews have never seen an incarnation in the game itself. Below, I describe with some detail how ship crews could be implemented into EVE as a new 'item'. These are designed to spur the economy as well as set new long term goals for pilots. Yes its a little long, but how could I propose something for EVE that would not be complicated ;)

*** The text is so long, the forums dont accommodate it... Full idea available here

Crew item characteristics: Crews would be like any item in EVE, tradable, lootable, etc.
Acquiring crew: Crews would be purchased in select stations across New Eden and could drop from NPC's as well as player characters just like regular items. For example, on destruction, perhaps only 12 units from the crew of 200 of a BS would drop.

Fitting: A new 'crew' slot would be created. So this changes nothing to the current hi-mid-low slot balance of ships. Not having a crew fitted would be the baseline stats we all know today. Multiple crew units would be required for larger ships. For example, Frigates would require 1 unit of crew, where Cruisers would require 25, BS's 200, 500 for Carriers and so on. Or whatever permutation works with the real lore.

Crew characteristics: Race Specific: Crews would be race specific to all 12 factions (4 main factions (high sec) as well as all pirate factions (low/null sec) as well as ORE) and this would determine where they would drop from NPC's and where they can be purchased in stations from NPC's. Each race will have race specific bonuses. For example, Gallente and Amarr crew get a bonus to armor tanking. This dynamic promotes a healthy trade network across New Eden. Finally, only crews from one race can be working on one ship. This simplifies how bonuses are calculated. And could you imagine a ship half crewed by Minmatar and the other half Amarr? Likely not a recipe for efficiency.

Crew characteristics: Crew Skill requirements: Crews would be required to train to fly ships just like capsuleers. They would have the same skill requirements as capsuleers (i.e Frigate and Destroyer lvl 3 to fly in a Cruiser crew). Any faction crews could train to operate any starship from any faction, however their base bonuses would remain unchanged.

Crew characteristics: Gaining crew Skill Points: This would take on two dimensions. First, crews could gain SP if they are signed up in an Academy (more on this later). Second, crews would gain SP when aboard a ship while a player is actively online. A crew in a Cruiser only gains Cruiser SP. You could not train a crew for Frigate lvl 5 in a Cruiser. All SP gain would be passive as it is in EVE but a varying rates depending on the academy quality with "hands on in space" being the fastest way to earn SP. Also, SP gain is again race/faction specific as it is for Capsuleers.

Crew characteristics: Crew Bonuses: How crews affect ship statistics could take on numerous permutations. Here is one that provides some depth, but is manageable with the scaling mechanic and existing gaming mechanics. Crews, from the start, could boost any statistic that is currently in the Leadership skill tree. For example, all crews could boost armor similarly to the Armored Warfare skill. The pilot would pick 1 active boosts at a time, but all would be available to chose from. This number could scale up with ship size as well. Selecting one boost over another would have a longish cool down to avoid switching constantly for the situation and getting the crew really confused ;). The race specific bonuses would be reflected in their expected areas. For example, Caldari crew would have a flat 5% bonus to shield hit points that would add to the base % increase due to Crew skill level. The base % boost would increase with skill level in the specific ship class from 1 to 5 just like everything else in EVE.

Crew scaling mechanic: Once a crew has the base requirements to fly a ship, lets use the previous example of a crew with Frigate and Destroyer lvl 3. This crew can be joined up with others to fly in a Cruiser. This specific crew would have 0 SP in cruisers. Each crew aboard a ship earns SP independently from the others on the ship. With regards to how bonuses would be calculated, a simple average over the crews individual bonuses could be applied to measure the bonus the total crew provides to the ship. Remember, they are all of the same faction, so the faction specific bonus is always the same.

New station services and player structures: A new faction specific training academy service would be available in their respective stations. Here, a player can send crew to be trained just as we currently set an order for manufacturing. Also, new faction specific modules for POS's could be Crew Academies where crews would be trained as they are in stations. These services could also be rented out. They would come in varying sizes (S/M/L) to accommodate varying numbers of crew.

Here are the other subjects i discuss in greater detail in the google doc here
Isk sinks:
New skills:
Long term goals:
New voice sounds:
Thanks for reading and I hope this stirs up some interest
o7
Mathegar

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I think it's a good concept but I believe the implants that you can use are crew, as you describe it. Your mind is altered to know everything that the crew would know.

Doing something aviation related in the real world, I will say that even though the crew is game logic... it would give you an artificial sense of responsibility to someone other than yourself if they gained experience as you progress.

no

none of my ships have a crew, there is only me and my pod AI doing it all.

i do get paying passengers but they are confined to the cargo hold inside a jettison container fitted out for survival.

having a crew on your ship is like having a dog and barking yourself.

personally i think all those pod pilots who insist on having a crew on their ships are just serial killers and mass murderers.

my 2 isk worth

That's a totally pointless limitation to inject into the system and penalizes people in leadership positions. Even a single account player can make a 3 man corp, so it's easy to bypass anyway. Larger corps have more funds to waste, so they have a natural advantage in your system anyway. If a one man crop can outbid all the real corps, it should be able enjoy the benefits without jumping through some unnecessary hoops just for your amusement.

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