Basically, my idea is that when killing an NPC you have a small chance to "capture" it. Captured NPCs can be posted on planets as guards with their usual stats, up to a max of 2 NPC guards. You cannot capture an elite/boss but you can capture a captured ship when disabling it and you can capture mission NPCs. Captured ships do not give drops.

If an NPC guard is disabled it is lost. Gone. You'll have to capture a new one.
If an NPC guard is warped it is returned to your cargo.
You can only capture 1 NPC per 4 ranks. (works like planet cap)

You can remove NPC guards if the planet is calm and repair them for a (cr) cost. Some powerful NPCs may require CTP and/or EM.

Removed NPC guards can not be used until repaired (if attacked). Once removed guards can be scrapped or added to a different planet.

Standard NPC example:

I kill a Dark Warper. I can then try to capture it. If I succeed I get a message: "Your crew manages to capture the Dark Warper!" and some XP. I can then go to any planet, and use the "Dark Warper R100" on the planet. The ship then appears under the guards section of a planet.

Matched NPC example:

Okay, so next I kill a Rogue Tech Collector and I am lucky enough to get 2 captures in a row. I go to the same planet and use the "Rogue Tech Collector R{player rank on disable}" The Rogue Tech Collector then appears on the planet with the stats it had when I disabled it.

UPDATES:

Screenshots now up.
Changed limit from 3 to 2.
Attempting capture is now an option, not an automatic thing.
Difficulty now varies depending on NPC strength. (Attack+Defense+(Hull+Shield)/2)?

I like it , but only if.

1)There was a limit of 1 per 100 ranks.

2)Only common ones with a set rank , so you would have to try to get new ones every now and then.

3)There destroyed when they get killed.

SCREENSHOTS:
(Was fun making these - you guys should try it.)

i like the idea it would help if you got loads of good planets you want to guard but you cant guard them all the time

They should have a limited lifetime, or you should only be allowed a limited number of them.

Nice pictures. Do dark runners really have 481 attack at 118? It seems a weird amount.

As for the idea - I like it, but isn't NPC already considered better than PvP? Can't we have something for PvP?

Isn't the CT lab 1%? Pretty sure that would limit people enough Spyder.

Nice idea and even better constructed screen shots.

i LOVE this 8idea, this would be real interesting to have!

?? you turned a dark runner into a dark warper ??

LOL!

Thanks for spotting that.

Also: can we remove the pics from the quotes please? It's making the pages really long.

done .

some people are never going to take the time to remove pics from quotes...

PHPBB (the forum software) probably needs to have a server-side setting to turn quoted inline images into links

Yup

Thanks.


That was the plan, although a limit on the total number of guards you can have active at one time sounds reasonable.

Your subtle way of bumping?

I like it. Fun for NPCing, and useful. Makes sense, why do we always blow up ships, when we could always capture them? This should be implemented.