I introduced this idea on anoter thread, and it recieved good praise so I am giving it it's own thread. I know it requires rebuilding crew from the ground up, so please don't reply about it taking too long or too much programing.


We can have ranks for the ship (decks and cargo only) and then crew can have their own XP chart for upgrading abilities, (like Castle Age has for generals, but instead of equiping individual NPCs, give each crew type 3 abilities to rank) Because of this, crew can have their own tab in the game.

We can keep the 5 rank points per level, converting current points spent in crew into the rank pool. Ships will have more deck space when those points are spent, but that will make more module space for more variable ships.

Crew gain XP by actions of the player:
Engineers by mission completions and comunications sent/recieved
Tactical Officers by attacking combat and raiding
Helmsmen by defending combat and hacking
Scientists by scanning planets and completing new research. (each module/building unlocked)

Daily rewards can be added that give bonus xp to a crew type. Android artifacts give bonus crew XP instead of crew numbers. (this makes sense in-character as a new android introduces more skill into the workforce)

This also can spark new missions that deal with crew: some giving a crew XP bonus and some requiring a minimum crew level. And for current effects that result in crew death, instead give penalty to that crew type's xp. (this makes sense in-character as a crew member is killed, they are replaced by an unskilled newbie) This still results in a significant setback, but one that is not as devistating)

Crew skills to rank should be simple, in fact the first skill should be how crew give bonuses already (engineers to max energy for example). Also, race/class choices can start with a bonus rank in a specific crew skill (biologists give a bonus scientist rank for example) I welcome any ideas of other skills.

Any feedback?

I also posted in that same thread with a suggestion for this, I really like the idea, it is similar to Star Trek Online's Bridge Officers. Yes, it would take a while, but its worth the time for programming.

A simpler fix would be to require modules to have a requirement of so many crew. Forcing a balance between crew and deck space.

So an Autocannon (The smallest weapon we have) would require 1 tactical officer to use, etc.

While that's a good idea, the problem is in the implementation. How many players would have a balance? As soon as this was implemented, most ships would stop working due to lack of crew. Great idea if the game hadn't already started/was reset though.

i suggested this earlier and to combat this i also added that a new type of module be added, quarters. These would hold crew members and use up deck space but they wouldnt be efficient i.e. tactical officer commons increase tactical officers by 15 for 10 decks (30 attack for what would be 40 if the deck space was invested in tactical officers)

Well to be honest, if this system was used, we probably wouldn't need deck space at all. So those points could be refunded to be allocated into crew, or automatically allocated so all modules worked, and the remaining balance so they could allocate however they like.

I was trying to just point out that it would be easier tackling the deck usage, than it would be to change the crew usage. Deck points would be a lot easier to refund, since its just one field, instead of 4. If it really even needs fixing.

Another option would be to scale the amount of crew you can recruit off of one point as you level. So 1 point could get you 4 tactical officers at level 100, or whatever ratio would be closer in line with the weapons the average person would be using at that time. That way you could concentrate on building up crew in certain parts instead of your deck. Which would also play into the the new damage cap system that was just implemented, because you would maintain a smaller size ship, while still packing the punch of a bigger ship.

Yes but the game dosnt keep track of how many points are spent when

This was designed to redo crew, not fix it. By removing it from rank points, it becomes it's own seperate system. So, no one has to worry about it being weaker than decks, because 'crew skills' can be redone more easily.


It's not that the crew are gone. It's just that you control the general skill of all crew of that type, and that the actual crew count is out of the equation (and allows the asumption that in-character the crew count just increases with the size of the ship).


In my overhaul, crew would just be designated by crew type, and as I said here crew count would be out of the equation.


Again, crew count doesn't matter. and because in my system the crew types gain xp, they automatically scale to level. And what do you mean not use deck space? decks will continue off of rank points like always. It's not a matter of usage because a player will not have to gain crew at the cost of not gaining decks.

@Zopah

My point, while not stated directly, was that a change like this would negate a lot of the building process a lot of us took to get here. I'm sorry but if they dumped crew, especially with all the artifacts that I've had over the last 6 months, I'd straight quit. It has already been stated by Dan that to refund our points, we'd lose any points that were added into our ship through artifacts. (I did mention dumping deck space, but again if I lost all the Ship Bots and Rescued Prisoners I've had, I'd quit) My post was that there would have to be a simpler fix or a different usage, or you'd lose a lot of people in the process.

Just take a look at Age of Champions for example, they overhauled their whole combat system (they used armies that you had to buy gear for) and outdated all current strategies. I think 90% of my alliance quit, which is roughly 200 people, and those are just the ones I know about. I stopped playing, because all the time and money I put into building up my army just got outdated, and it would take way more time to fix it, than to start all over.

only rank points spent in crew will be reset, because only those ranks would become obsolete in my system. Otherwise no change to rank points.

Exactly, I have at least 1k crew from artifacts alone. That is a lot of artifact points.

I thought you were speaking of ranks, not artifacts.
I did not think of that. However, in my overhaul the crew artifacts change to grant bonus crew xp, so all previously spent crew artifacts should retroactively grant the bonus xp.

Now here are some ideas for crew skills to put crew ability points into. Each crew type has 3 skills: Efficiency, Training, and Special. The Efficiency and Training skills can be ranked continually while the third skill is invested ability points, and turns on when completed (like investing research points into a tree). The Efficiency skill is based on the original bonus that crew give, but changed to scale with the player's rank.
The third skill can change as new ideas are added (as a Special skill is completed, the next one unlocks) for future updates in this overhaul.

Engineer skills:
Reactor Efficiency- Your engineers have learned to squeze more energy from reactors.
Benifit: a percentage increase to max energy given by reactors
Equipment Training- Your engineers have been trained to handle modules with care when taking them offline.
Benifit: a percentage decease to the amount of value lost when unequiping modules.
Comunications Upgrade- Your engineers have rewired your ship's comunications to opperate perfectly.
Benifit: the energy cost of posting on a comm is reduced to 1.

Tactical Officers:
Combat Efficiency- Your tactical officers have developed your weapon systems to create more output.
Benifit: a percentage increase to attack given by cannons
Close Combat Training- Your tactical officers have been trained to deal with enemies during on-ship combat.
Benifit: incease to chances of a successful raid and to counteract raids.
Counter-Outlaw Strategy- Your tactical officers created a strategy to deal with organizations outside of the common government.
Benifit: attack bonus against NPCs.

Helmsmen:
Manuvering Efficiency- Your helmsmen have realigned thrusters and dampeners to maximize precise handling.
Benifit: a percentage increase to defense given by thrusters and dampeners
Computer Training- Your helmsmen have been trained in the workings of digital security programing.
Benifit: incease to chances of a successful hack and to counteract hacks.
Trapsmith- Your helmsmen can maintain unactivated countermeasures for longer periods of time.
Benifit: traps set on your ship last for 10 days before failling. (instead of the usual 1 week)

Scientists:
Development Efficiency- your scientists have created faster methods to study and experament.
Benifit: reduction to research timer
Memory Training- your scientists have been trained in effective data storage and mental techniques.
Benifit: percent increase in max research points
Planetary Medical Network- your scientists found a breakthrough in medical technology to prolong population lifespan.
Benifit: 10% increase in max population on planets you control

Some more crew special skills:

Engineers:
Bomb Squad- Your engineers have assembled a team for better handling explosive situations.
Benefit: Decreased chance of mission failure on missions related to explosives.

Tactical Officers:
Predator Upgrade- Your tactical officers adapted scanners to more easily identify enemy signatures.
Benefit: increased scan score against other players
Trap Detection- Your tactical officers adapted scanners to identify possible defense mechanisims.
Benefit: chance of seeing active traps on enemy player.

Helmsmen:
Personel Safety Precautions- Your helmsmen organized safety training combined with radiation, poison, and other procedures.
Benifit: decreased chance of crew death

Scientists:
Geology and Archeology- Your scientists have improved the knowlege on planets to speed up discovery time.
Benefit: small decrease to mineral and artifact timer
Library Blueprints- Your scientists have laid plans for building a galactic library on your planets.
Benefit: the blueprints allow you to build a Galactic Library (1 size, +1 research production, 1 per planet) (although it is not as good as artifacts, it is still better than normal buildings)

Some of your ideas sound like they would be better one time benefits given as bonus for a new research category I was thinking about.

For lack of a better term, "Efficiency"

Like research, you could only get each bonus once but they would stack and for the most part, wouldn't take up space.

Cargo:
-Anti-Grav upgrade: Upgrade in anti-grav has allowed you to store things higher and move them around better: +1 cargo space.
-Efficient Loading: Interning at the largest supply depot in the quadrant, your quartermaster can instruct your crew on the best logistics when it come to storing materials: +1 Cargo Space

Weapons
-Improved Targeting Sensors: Your sensors have been calibrated to 105% specs allowing you to do more damage by hitting specific spots more often: +1 attack
-Advanced Weapons Control: Relays of a new material allow your weapons to sync up better: +1 attack for every weapon installed

Engineering:
-Advanced Lubrication: A special lubricant of XTS-9 has just come on the market allowing for modules to be installed and uninstalled without damaging them as much: -1% to deterioration of modules on uninstall.
-Advanced Shield Routing: By cycling energy use from unused areas of the ship to the shield, you have reduced shield recharge time by 1 second.

And so on...

While I like the crew idea, I think it does add a lot of recoding where as a new area of research with specific buffs and bonuses like you have on your list and I have on mine would give us bonuses with minimal coding changes.