... why use recovery shuttles and blast doors when you can just buy new and just as efficient fodder [crews] at the nearest starport?
[In reference to the amount of crew loss] .... Recovery Shuttles are mandatory unless you like to bleed crew.
Without skills, Expanded Deck Crew is handy, and Recovery Shuttles is useful for not losing as much crew with Talon dominated wings.
... Crew losses are very severe when trying to employ this even with recovery shuttles, and that means sacrificing more performance for sake of economics of the tactic. Additionally, it's unlikely that you need to nerf fighter performance to make this tactic unviable. Future additions to the campaign layer probably will not let this sort of high crew loss rate be acceptable without say forcing you to go and get more too often or forcing you to keep your crew from committing mutiny for using them as fodder.
Doesn't need Surveying stuff as transports do that without having to sacrifice combat ability. I would instead use Recovery Shuttles to protect my precious crew.
As some folks already mentioned, we're talking about harsh, dystopian reality here, where people supposed to sell themselves for anything to get chunk of credits ... Well, they can even consider it lucky to serve under more or less caring space commander, as myself, since I tend to roll with Hardened Shields, Blast Doors and Recovery Shuttles whenever I can. ;)
For the AI... this hullmod is ultimately useless. If it ever gets an autofit of this hullmod, they are fighting at a 15 OP disadvantage. Most of the time when you encounter an AI fleet either you die or they die. Crew casualties become pointless.
If we add a new "pilot" crew type that levels up like marines do and improves strike craft effectiveness... maybe some pilot-related skills... then Recovery Shuttles would be useful.
I want all crew to have leveling, not pilots only, and maybe some punishment for losing crew (so they would feel like people, not just fuel you burn in combat). Who are all this people piloting enemy kites? Maybe some i-like-to-be-evaporized club members?If we add a new "pilot" crew type that levels up like marines do and improves strike craft effectiveness... maybe some pilot-related skills... then Recovery Shuttles would be useful.
This right here is gold and I love it. Please put that on the suggestion thread with a link here so I and people can support it.
Fighter pilots shouldn't really just be crew.
I want all crew to have leveling, not pilots only, and maybe some punishment for losing crew (so they would feel like people, not just fuel you burn in combat). Who are all this people piloting enemy kites? Maybe some i-like-to-be-evaporized club members?
I did not bother with crew reduction features (or bonus xp to crew) even when crew levels were a thing.It won't be something hard to manage in case of marine-like implementation and auto assignment (expirienced crew will automatically assigned to warships, no player control over it)
What I did not like about crew levels:
* Harder early game (crew was mostly green, with low CR)
* Meaningless late (more than enough elites to crew everything at the end, plus new to train replacements)
* Crew Tetris. Did not like the mini-game of crew management.
Crew of varying levels were separate items, unlike today's marines.
Good riddance to crew levels.
Good riddance to crew levels.100% this.
Am I the only one who uses it just because I don't want people to die?It's actually surprising how cheap human life is here, especially considering the demographic situation of the sector.
I think there's a decent case to be made for separating out pilots from generic crew, and perhaps letting them gain XP as well, in the same way that marines do.
One thing that I don't love about the Starsector setting is how disposable humans are. I get that life is cheap, but it's so ludicrously cheap that you have to be cold-blooded in your decision-making; it simply doesn't matter if hundreds of your crew members die, because you can just load up on more. Having them matter in some way would be nice (not that I want ship XP to be a thing, though).
The hillariouisly dumb practice of 'crew laundering'. (Hiring the worst cheap crew, fighting a few battles then selling the now more experienced and more expensive crew.)It actually sound really nice, rookie training could definitely be a viable mechanic, like that one MB quest.
I'm personally of the opinion that the hullmod should affect pilot losses for the entire fleet, not just the ship it's installed in. They should function more like salvage gantries and surveying equipment do, reduce pilot losses for the entire fleet by a % with diminishing returns.This might actually be a good solution.