What Good Does Hiring Officers Do?

[ciberratt]

So a mechanic offerd to hire on for around $365,000. Is she worth her weight in gold?

What am I getting for that much that I can't just get at a stardock?

[rich]

365K is crazy high. The most I've ever had to pay was 30k. They're definitely worth buying (not at $365k), because they seem to do repairs on your ship quite frequently.

[gandalf]

Wow, I wish my officers were 365K. The cheapest I got was 1.2 million and the most expensive, was 1.9 million!

Still, she is a pretty little political officer

[rich]

Jan 27, 2011 8:17:33 GMT -5 gandalf said:

Wow, I wish my officers were 365K. The cheapest I got was 1.2 million and the most expensive, was 1.9 million!

Still, she is a pretty little political officer

Wow, really? I've yet to see an Officer cost a lot. I'm not entirely sure why..

[gandalf]

Quite possibly level related. So base officer cost x captain level

[militantofficial]

another q, how many of the bonus items do we need? 1 enough?
i.e. for military officer we need weapons. do we have a target number or is 1 enough?

[couscous]

It must be level related, I hired a mechanic one recently and just paid a thousand credits. Besides, 1.9 million? What level are you?
From my point of view mechanics are quite useful, I usually do long bounty hunting contracts and that repaired solar sail might keep fuel usage to minimum. Political ones help noticing trading embargos before it's too late, and given that they like to pop just before landing on a planet it helps avoid the rep lose.

On a side note, what do millitary officers do? I'm confused how they work.

[Cory Trese]

hey look at that it's another part of Star Traders that doesn't have proper documentation!

While I work on updating the manual, I will post the basic ideas here:

* Officers hire on for a % of your money based on your level, class and faction. I'm terrified to learn that there are Star Traders out there that are charged 1.9million for an officer.

* All officers grant some skill bonuses:
- First Mate: Intimidation (Double for Captain, Star Trader)
- Military: Warrior (Double for Military Officer, Bounty Hunter, Pirate)
- Political Officer: Negotiation (Double for Smuggler, Merchant, Spy)
- Mechanic: Pilot
- Smuggler: Explorer (Double for Explorer, Inquisitor)

All officers provide additional bonuses for special actions:
- First Mate: Mutiny, Spice Hall Ops
- Warrior: Boarding, Mutiny
- Smuggler: Exploring
- Political Officer: Conscription, Exchange
- Mechanic: Repair Camp, Deep Space

It is roughly balanced so that each officer adds about 30 points of stats and skills. I have tried to design them around giving advice -- and we have 24 additional advice types to finish

[gandalf]

Jan 27, 2011 9:55:03 GMT -5 couscous said:

It must be level related, I hired a mechanic one recently and just paid a thousand credits. Besides, 1.9 million? What level are you?

Currently level 103 and had over 10 million in credits (until I hired three officers!)

It's on normal difficulty, but it was my first ever captain so there is quite a bit of emotional attachment to him.

I do have another captain on challenging difficulty but don't play him as often.

[brent]

I paid a huge amount for my officers also.

After putting up with him for way longer than I could stand, I fired my First Officer.

He kept telling me to buy fuel and water when I had what I needed. I know where I am going and how much I need. I also obtain water en-route from the ships that cross my path.

I also got tired of him telling me MY crew had spent enough time in the Spice Hall after only one round. If I want to buy my crew rounds until the hall is out of spice, I will.

He would even tell me to leave the Spice Hall when the crew needed a moral boost, which was one of his job duties. He should have been encouraging the Spice Hall visits. I kill thousands of people in space, but I keep my crew happy. The are nearly always 10/10.

He also had the gall to tell me the crew did not like fighting Independents. Oh really? They seem pretty happy to me.

Any member of my crew that has a problem with who we fight, or how I command, are free to come to me, one on one, and we can discuss it next to the airlock door.

The best thing an enemy crew could wish for is to meet me in space after a prolonged exploration of a planet. They will be welcomed aboard, as long as room permits, right before I destroy their ship.

I wasted about 500 grand on that pest, but I'm glad I'm rid of him.

So far I've only been presented with three officers, Political, Mechanic, and First Officer. For my play style, my officers should be Military, Mechanic, Smuggler.

A few suggestions concerning officers. In addition to using my high level and my fat bank account to determine the incredibly high cost of the officers, shouldn't my equally high charisma, negotiate, and intimidation count for something? I should be able to get officers for less if I have high numbers in those stats vs someone with low ones, all else being equal.

What about my faction score? I would think that if the Royal Court had a high opinion of me, then the officers they present me in The Palace should hold me in the same high regard and be willing to work for less. Wouldn't they jump at the chance to serve a Hyperion Star Hero?

Also, I wouldn't mind more female officers. I'm rich and powerful and I would like my officers to be eye candy.

[wormholewillie]

Great stuff, Brent! I feel the same way on many points.

I would love to be able to have a First Officer other than old turdlip.

[ehkamp]

+1 on more female officers. Because I like strong female characters, not eye candy.

[Cory Trese]

Charisma, Negotiate, Intimidation all factor in.

However, from the sounds of this Captain, he may be carrying the following flags:

+ Murderous
+ Psychotic
+ Suicidal Squad
+ Prison Ship

Those are all flags that might discourage the officer from joining and counter the charisma. The Military Officer gets cheaper, tho, the crazier you are.

Do you perchance send huge loads of people to die and destroy every ship you meet like some Narvidian cultist?

[ehkamp]

How do I know if my Captain has these flags?

As an explorer, I routinely kill off most of my crew (through explore/harvest, not battle). And because I didn't want (and couldn't afford the fuel) to go to every planet in the universe to recruit <10 crew at a time, I would Conscript every Independent crew I came across (and destroy their ship more than half the time).

Thanks to recent changes that have much improved the number of recruits available, I not doing this AS often. But my favorite Captain may still have these Dark Marks.

How do you get these flags? (So I can avoid them with other Captains.) And perhaps more importantly, how do get rid of the ones I've got?

[Cory Trese]

I'm afraid that your Captain is a slaver -- conscripting crews for deadly exploration missions is considered to be uncool by the piles of dead Independents.

- Pass Turns
- Keep morale high (Crew doesn't talk)
- Recruit minimal (No new Crew)
- Conscript without Destroy


PS: Forget I mentioned the flags. Officers cost is random.

You do not want additional documentation. These are not the droids you are installing on.