Are there any NPC's available to hire to fill vacant ship seats?

[Nanulak]

I like to spend the off hours (when most people are offline) just out mining to earn some dough.  And if I decide to get a big cargo ship to go out mining and bring back the big haul, I need NPC's to man all the stations and help with ship defense. 

 

Is this going to be possible?  is it economical?  What do we know about this facet of the game?

[Firedancer]

yes. You'll either be able to recruit NPC's (likely for a small upkeep fee) or you can use spare characters of your own (which is supposedly charge-free)
For the later, one way to get them is pledge for a 2nd ship package, which will give you a spare character slot. There'll likely be other ways to get slots too - but not sure about that.

[Nanulak]

Cool.  Thanks.

 

So if I understand you correctly ATM, you get one character slot per ship purchased?

[Firedancer]

no.... afaik only packages (e.g. those with alpha/beta access) include character slots. You can also buy ships solo, without a character (and without alpha access)

 

The way I understand it, you can thus have multiple chars on one account (not sure if that will be possible otherwise). And you can choose for each of the ships that you bought, to which char it should go. From what I read, you'll not be able to transfer ships between chars easily.

[theJaeks]

Here's the easy way to grasp their system:

 

Each game "KEY" code gets 1 character slot.

 

For each "KEY" code on your one login, you'll get a character slot

 

a "KEY" code comes with any purchase which mentions "Star Citizen Digital Download". there are many pledge offerings which is purely the ship with no extra "KEY"

 

 

as for the NPCs, there will be 2 types, so far:

1 is the normal NPC you rent/pay to accompany you.

 

2 is to convert a character slot to a NPC Crewman slot. This allows you to customize this crewman's look, backstory, etc. Also, many expect to use this crewman as their "insurance beneficiary", so when the main character dies finally, if this crewman survives, you immediately take over control of this character and recieve the proceeds of the policy. then that character makes an NPC Crewman of the first slot etc., if that is your wish.

 

there hasn't been information on how the cost of this special crewman varies. so that is TBD at this time.

[Nanulak]

So it seems wise to have at least 2 character slots, one for your current main and the second for working NPC (slave) / insurance beneficiary.  Sounds good.

[theJaeks]

Yes, and since it's crazy to make people buy 2 copies of the game, they will be offering 'slots' for a small fee in Voyager Direct. So maybe it's $10 for a slot, and $35 for full game package.

 

the benefit of extra game packages would be gifting to friends you are trying to get to play the game

[Damis]

Multiple Package clarification.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13288-Multiple-Package-Clarification

 

Greetings Citizens,

 

 

There has been a lot of discussion on the RSI forums about how Star Citizen will handle multiple pledge packages on a single account. Today, we’d like to put that speculation to rest! To start, understand that every Star Citizen pledge package currently includes three essential parts:

1. Your Ship. Needed to travel the galaxy and play the game. Whether you’re exploring the stars yourself in a single-seat Aurora or captain of a Constellation crew raiding the space lanes, your character is going to need a spaceship to make a name for themselves in Star Citizen.
2. Some Credits. Every package has an allotment of starter UEC credits. They will be needed to do things like begin outfitting your ship, pay initial landing fees, buy fuel and munitions, purchase your first load of cargo. We don’t break these out onto your UEC ledger just yet as we may adjust the starting amounts for each package when we balance the persistent universe costs.
3. Game Character. This is “you.” Whether you choose to play a law-abiding merchant, a fearsome pirate or an intrepid explorer, you need a customized character who will inhabit your hangar and fly your ship.

 

 

What this means is that if you currently have four Star Citizen packages you will be able to play four different characters using one RSI account, each with their own ship and starting credit balance. You will also have the option of breaking up your pledge packages and reallocating these three elements as you deem fit. In addition, you will get to choose which characters receive your addon ships, Voyager Direct items and stretch goal rewards you have accumulated. In this example, someone with four packages could assign all of the ships and credits to one character and leave the three Game Characters for later use. Unused Game Character slots without an associated ship or credits have two roles. They can be used to create additional crewmen or they can be gifted to other players.

 

If you have purchased multiple packages with identical physical extras, such as ship models or star maps, you will receive multiple extras when the game ships. If your packages have digital extras, like the downloadable soundtrack, you will be given the option of gifting the duplicates to friends.

 

 

Creating Crewmen

 

Many of Star Citizen’s ships, such as the Freelancer or Constellation, feature positions for multiple crewmen. Players will always be able to hire NPC crewmen in the game, contracting computer-controlled crews to help man turrets, run consoles and fly escort. If you would like the option of customizing your crew, you can create your own NPCs by using a Game Character slot. You will go through the same character creation process as your player character but will then have the option of handing off control to an AI. As an additional bonus, friends can ‘drop in’ to take over these crewmen themselves and to help man your spacecraft when available.

Remember it is not necessary to use a Game Character for your NPC crew. You will be able to hire normal NPC crew with credits you’ve earned in-game. The difference between a Game Character slot converted into a NPC crew member and a regular NPC crew member is that you can customize the Game Character NPC’s look, name and backstory. There is an additional bonus of being able to specify one of your Game Character NPC crewmembers as your successor in the event of your main characters death (See Death of a Spaceman), at which point the Game Character NPC will become playable again, with the assets of your deceased old character conveying.

 

 

Gifting Game Characters

 

 

You will also have the option of gifting unused Game Characters to other players. Remember, in order to chart your own path in the Star Citizen universe, these characters will need a ship and some credits! Credits that you earn in the game can be transferred to your friends (minus UEE taxes!) or they will be able to purchase an allotment through the Voyager Direct store. We are also considering a system through which players with a Game Character slot but no ship can “work” for other characters (either real players or NPCs.)

 

Players who would like additional Game Character slots, either to create a second player character or to build a customized crew, but don’t have multiple packages will be have the option of a stand-alone Character Slot purchase from the pledge store without having to buy a full game package. This will also allow the small number of backers who only have an addon ship but not a game package to purchase a Game Character slot and a few credits and be able to head out into the big wide galaxy!

 

We hope this clarifies some of the confusion about Star Citizen packages.

 

 

The goal is to make the experience extremely customizable and give backers complete control over what they have pledged for. You should not have to split your ships into multiple accounts just to play multiple characters. Of course you will always have that option but this system allows you to keep all your items on one character, separate them out to play several alts, create a crew of highly customized NPCs or to share the Star Citizen experience with friends!