Hiring crew members

[chilong]

I have hired crew members a number of times, here and there, and have yet to gain anythying from doing so.

The 1st time, I hired 1 crew member, paid him above scale and he bailed the at the first station I docked at.

All the other times I paid substantionally more and at least 1 still quit after a short stay. This may be a moot point, however, because none of them have ever done anything of value. The weapons op did not improve the effectiveness of my weapons to any noticable degree, the navigation op seemed to do nothing, period. I still had the occasional difficulty when jumping to a station using the right click, no more or less often, and the science op consistently gave me useless information: "There may be valuable resouorces on the nearby planet (or asteroids)" for every planet I went to without any special coordinates. You don't need to play the game too long to realize that you can mine all the asteroids and planets. A number of times I was given coordinates to retrieve valuable cargo containers. I never once found one. If I have to travel any further than I did in search of one of these containers, it ain't gonna happen. How valuable could it be any way? Even if it's full of platinum, it isn't worth the hassle.

I recently gave it one more attempt. I flew all over until I had aquired a science op, navigator and engineer all with ratings from 88 to around 93, the science op having a high loyalty rating as well. I paid them all 3X the fair wage and set off for both Sol and Andromeda, thinking perhaps they might help me to unravel the mysteries they hold. Well, during both trips I recieved the same useless info as well as some new useless info, ie, the location of the wormholes that I had just used and were shown plainly on the map. I guess I got this additiional info because I was paying them so much; wow...what a bargain. In fact I got more messages notifying me that they had been paid than from from all of them combined. For the most part they remained silent except the occasional useless comment to annoy me.

Has anybody out there actually got any valuable info from any of these scam artists?

[Vice]

As posted previously, this information may help:

- Navigator = They don't merely guide you when making dangerous jumps. A skilled navigator can also significantly improve the detection range of your sensors. If you're out hunting for hidden items, this can come in handy as they can boost your sensor range by nearly double (depending on the item being scanned).

- Engineer = They assist your ship's repair system, which can be a major help for a civilian ship in battle when faster repairs are beneficial. Their benefits particular stand out if you sustain subsystem damage. For players interested in combat, this probably isn't a low priority... especially if they are taking a lot of combat contracts in a row.

- Weapons = If a 20% improvement in your weapon energy efficiency (how much it uses per shot) isn't apparent, then certainly bypass this crew member. But that benefit gives you 20% more shots compared to an opponent without such a crew member, which can make a big difference in a dogfight.

- Science = A useful crew member much of the time, depending on a player's interest in exploration and hunting for hidden items. They can also tweak your mining system for improved efficiency (roughly 50-200%, equating to significantly faster mining = faster credits... compare how much you pay them with how much more they can make you mining those planets and asteroids). If you can't find items based on the information they give you, then you need to triangulate the details to further pin down locations. You can search the forum for that word for details.

Depending on what you do in the game, the right crew member or members can easily pay for themselves and provide benefits that make a big difference in gameplay.

[chilong]

Thanks very much, Vice. I didn't realize that the weapons op gave you more shots. I was looking only for more powerful shots. The additional shots would certainly be a big advantage. I'll give it another try.

[Sinbad]

I thought you were describing Spanish civil servants.

(No offence to any such workers... it's only a cliché here in Spain!)

[Edited on 25-1-10 by MCCON]

[Ravenfeeder]

POSSISBLE SPOILER:



One way of training crew members up to 100 per cent loyalty, and efficience, is; once you have a full crew, head off to a war zone, and only use the military carrier whilst doing contracts/refueling etc. The crew members have to stay with you, as they have nowhere else to go, and no-one else to hire them. That way you get them up to 100 per cent loyalty/efficiencY without having to pay them a fortune.

[49rTbird]

POSSIBLE SPOILER:


You can save just before you dock and if a crew member leaves the ship you can load your save and try again.

[MMaggio]

ROFL... Now that's funny! But now you lose anything you picked up while in the dock, so what's the point?:P


D'OH! Now I get it! Been watching forrest gump again!

[Edited on 1-25-2010 by MMaggio]

[Maarschalk]

LOL.......The forrest gump part.....:P:P:P:P