Ships & Modules

The exploit you mentioned could exist depending how much demand there are for crews which will be very dependent on how useful crews are for PvP. If the benefits are lower than the cost, then people won't do it. If the benefits exceed the costs, then people will do it. I don't actually see a problem with players training crews. It's not an endeavor free of cost. My guess is that there will be a small profit margin, but if it gets to be very profitable, then more people will enter the market (or just train their own crews) and bring the price down.

Now where it gets weird is that it the whole crew notion is already very gray in terms of lore. If you're allowed to train crews by pitting them against each other (or just have one side get slaughtered), it starts looking more like a gladiatorial bloodbath.

I think crews should just be somekind of module you attach to your ship that gets better over time. To hire a crew, the player should pay via contracts. So you could hire a crew for 3 months for whatever the price is and at the end of the 3 months, the crew will automatically leave and join the market. You can always extend the contract by paying the crew ahead of time. To make it fair for the player, this contract time will freeze if the player's account is also frozen. Obviously battleship crews will cost more than frigate crews and etc. There should also be a level cap. So something like a month old crew should be the maximum. They could improve faster during combat to promote PvP. Subsequently, there will probably be a new set of skills such as training rate or lowered wages.

Also, the Amarr crews should totally be slaves; it's thematic.

Got a point there with the slaves issue. That said though, even if crews are assumed to be highly trained elites from top institutes, experience should still be a factor. There are only so many crack crews available so not everyone will have the luxury of a fully veteran crew. Contract terms could vary. I could imagine very short contracts such as a day or even an hour for the purpose of PvP battles. Since no one actually collects the revenue of the crews, it could serve as an isk sink while still being supplied by players.

Amarrians would not use slaves to crew ships. Serving aboard an engine of retribution for the God Empress would be a great honor that only true amarrians would be allowed. Slaves would be reserved for planetary construction and menial tasks on stations.

Crews serve purpose in the fluff, but would have no real effect on the efficiency of a capsule piloted ship. Even if they did, it would be in the fraction of a percent range. The lives of normal people in eve are insignificant, on a given day we throw away millions of lives for amusement.

crews, if released, would just be a cleverly named new 'rig' slot. apart from with this one, you can remove without destroying it.

Honestly this is the reason I would not want to see Crews.

You know that like faction ammo and rigs they will become "required". Rigs pretty much amounted to a tank buff in 90% of all PvP just like ammo became a dmg buff. All it does is drag the cost and SP of PvP up higher and higher with each change like this.

T1 Cruiser Hull 7 Mil, Rigs 9 Mil, T2 Fit 10 Mil, Ammo and Drones 2.5 Mil, Crew... Say 10 Mil.

For a T1 Cruiser... Your already around 20-25mil, no need to make it 30-40.

That and like Rigs, Ammo and most of the fit, Crews will cost the same as with Battlecruisers further driving down the inferior T1 Cruiser and about 6 of the HAC's / Non Cynibals out in favor of more Drakes and Canes.

Honestly I think I have had my fill of costs I "need" to pay before to go shoot people.

So we talking World of Tanks here then? Get my Maelstrom's crew to 100% and start training them on firefighting?

A couple of no skill alts in rookie ships and the right player corp (or low/null) and a ship with a couple of smartbombs on it...
Killmail, podmail, rinse and repeat... totally elite crew in hours.

No, IMHO the crews abilities are inconsequential compared to the benefits yielded by commanding the ship from a capsule and therefore should not be differentiated. Crews should remain a matter of lore rather than mechanics.

Why not just have crews that have "traits" (small bonuses or reductions) that appear either randomly or as a result of your actions. E.g. You could have a crew for 6 months that has all perfect traits (1% bonus to firing rate, rep rate etc) which is very rare and therefore valuable.. Only to keep it for another month to have it decrease in value for having a flaw (e.g. -1.5% to max velocity.) This way crews will constantly be replaced (fuelling the economy) - perfect crews will be worth a lot (by having a new trait only occuring every month or so).. Would be a nice RP addition and an interesting addition to the economy.

Personally I think traits should be built up randomly every month, no player choice in the matter. That way eventually crews will need to be replaced when the flaws outway the benefits. It also gives the player the option to completely opt out of crews (unless they want to pay hundreds of millions of ISK for a small bonus that could dissapear any time soon.)

But I think a lot of players wouldn't like the idea.. I'm fairly neutral, I would like it if it was implemented well but I also don't feel the need to have it added to current gameplay mechanics.

Edit: Also doesn't the lore state that capsuleers control ships single-handedly? I've also read in another thread that capsuleers reduce the amount of crew members rather than remove them all together. So I'm not sure.. I don't really read lore but from what I gather it's a little vague and unknown.