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[SafariJohn]

I would like to see management of all personnel united on one screen. It’s rather scattered about at the moment. This would have obvious presentation benefits to the player, and I think it would benefit development by unifying how the game handles personnel.


While treating crew like cargo has unfortunate implications, I believe the standard cargo grid UI can be used on a dedicated personnel screen to astounding effect. I would modify it as follows:

- The faction flag is replaced by the player character’s portrait. Clicking on this portrait takes the player to the character/level-up screen.
- All other personnel go in the grid interface.
- Officers and other named characters are represented by their portrait enclosed in an icon. You can right click on their icon to talk with them.


There’s still one more matter: unifying where personnel are hired. I suggest the comm directory, but not the current one. I think making it like the market screen, with a few distinctions, would work perfectly:

- The faction flag is, again, replaced with the player character’s portrait.
- The market conditions are removed, and the sub-market buttons moved to the top like the fleet buy/sell screen.
- There’s no need to worry about the missions window since it will be merged into the intel screen in 0.9.
- The red background used for items that can’t be purchased is used for NPCs that can only be talked to.
- No more "selling" personnel. You're just kicking them off your ship/fleet.

[Megas]

While treating crew like cargo has unfortunate implications...

Perfect for someone who wants to play a callous or evil overlord.  I have spaced crew with glee during the days of Starfarer.  Perfect theme song for this is Metallica's Disposable Heroes.

Must admit that buying crew or marines as cargo dehumanizes them (as if they were human to begin with), but it is convenient.  That said, when I go to market, all I buy are supplies, fuel, and crew.  Of course, that will probably change next release.  Crew and marines seem like everymen or mooks who have nothing that distinguishes them from each other.  (If they were villains, they would be hero fodder who die in one hit.)

No comment on the actual suggestions.

[Ranakastrasz]

While treating crew like cargo has unfortunate implications...

Perfect for someone who wants to play a callous or evil overlord.  I have spaced crew with glee during the days of Starfarer.  Perfect theme song for this is Metallica's Disposable Heroes.

Must admit that buying crew or marines as cargo dehumanizes them (as if they were human to begin with), but it is convenient.  That said, when I go to market, all I buy are supplies, fuel, and crew.  Of course, that will probably change next release.  Crew and marines seem like everymen or mooks who have nothing that distinguishes them from each other.  (If they were villains, they would be hero fodder who die in one hit.)

No comment on the actual suggestions.

Heh. Reminds me of SPAZ. Goons are needed to man your ships, and Rez to build them. On destruction ships explode into a pile of res and escape pods. You can grab enemy goons, but if they didn't agree to work with you, out the airlock. Or if you have no room for goons.

They were slightly more interesting with recruit to elite versions. Moreso in vacuum mod where there were engineers, pilots, gunners, and flux technicians. Giving bonuses based on the ratio.

We need person shipment missions.

[ANGRYABOUTELVES]

While treating crew like cargo has unfortunate implications

Yes it does. That is the point. The sector is a *** place; human lives are cheap and disposable.

[Inventor Raccoon]

I don't really see the point in terms of gameplay. Officers are exactly where they should be, in the refit and fleet views where you'll see all your ships and assigned officers very clearly and can easily swap them around. Crew are effectively a resource similar to fuel and supplies so they go in the cargo view and are hired in the same place as supplies are bought, and probably at the same times (returning from a bounty hunting or exploring excursion or after purchasing a new ship).

An entirely different screen just for personnel is clunky and unnecessary. If I want to buy a ship and get it fully functioning, the current process has 3 steps. Buy a ship in the fleet menu. Go to the refit screen and make the loadout. Go to cargo and buy supplies, fuel and crew.

With your proposition there's an extra step of going to the personnel screen for no additional benefit because I can't buy crew in the cargo screen now.

Officers and crew don't need to be on the same screen because mechanically they are nothing alike. Crew are a resource used to keep ships operational and are all faceless and identical. Officers are unique NPCs who grant bonuses to ships they are assigned to, gain XP and grow, and have different personalities. I hire crew while resupplying or when buying a new ship. I hire officers whenever I stop by a planet.

[Ranakastrasz]

Eh, weapons, fuel,crew,supplies,and cargo all go on the same screen. So that argument doesnt really work.

I do think crew neess to be fleshed out somewhat. It is too abstract and easy to interpret as slavery or something.

[Alex]

Yeah, this is I think a case of organizing by thing type vs organizing by what the player needs to do. You pretty much never think "I need to go manage my personnel" - crew, officers, and colony admins aren't tied together like that, there's no "if I'm managing one, I need to manage the other".

I do think crew neess to be fleshed out somewhat. It is too abstract and easy to interpret as slavery or something.

The way I see it is they're under contract and there's a severance penalty, which whoever is re-hiring them (since there's demand wherever you're offloading them) pays. There are also possibly equipment costs involved. Not entirely opposed to, say, reducing the "sell" price of crew to 0, though - it requires a bit less in the way of mental gymnastics but it's also adds a special case mechanics-wise.

[SafariJohn]

Yeah, this is I think a case of organizing by thing type vs organizing by what the player needs to do. You pretty much never think "I need to go manage my personnel" - crew, officers, and colony admins aren't tied together like that, there's no "if I'm managing one, I need to manage the other".

I guess that's fair.

It would be nice to be able to open the comm directory from any other market screen without having to escape back to the dialogue.