chromeada
Consul
[ Heroes of Steel Supporter ]
Posts: 96
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Post by chromeada on Jul 19, 2012 11:53:57 GMT -5
I was playing as a military officer if respectable rank the other day and my crew was getting a bit thin so I went on a brief recruiting tour around several friendly faction spice halls. It got me thinking that with my rank, I should not be hiring bounty hunters, thugs, and mercenaries from a bar where sometimes I ask myself "but can they be trusted?"
I would like to be able to recruit my soldiers and crew directly from the military base. Of course I'm thinking strictly from a role playing perspective. I'm not sure how or if it should affect the game (though I'd pay a small fee for pro soldiers if there was any minor combat or morale boost without a ship upgrade).
While on this subject, could anyone elucidate the difference between recruits that have the "can we trust them" warning and the ones who come without it (edit: oh and conscripted/enslaved crew as well)?
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2012 17:01:44 GMT -5
Conscripted and enslaved crew are not as effective as recruited crew. If you want specialized crew with combat bonuses, get the mercanaries upgrade. It transforms 15 of your crew into fearless, loyal, combat monsters.
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chromeada
Consul
[ Heroes of Steel Supporter ]
Posts: 96
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Post by chromeada on Jul 19, 2012 18:42:58 GMT -5
Yeah I know about the upgrade(s). What I am talking about would be a more temporary and perhaps variable bonus.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 19, 2012 19:34:21 GMT -5
I guess it would depend on your rank. If your a level 1 low-raking officer your not gonna get more than a few military personel on board, but at a level 21 tian military officer, your bound to get militar personell willing to be on board with you. Then again, this is a whole other universe, so its unclear if they do it the same here as in the ST universe. Plus the jobs of your crew aren't exactly military related. When they're not fightn, tier working the engines, woking the reactor cores, putting the water fuel into the ship for fuel, a lot of manual labor. And you can recruit officers, which are military related, sotra
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 20, 2012 14:26:05 GMT -5
Military Rank does drive additional Crew being available at the spice hall. The idea of adding a "Recruit" button to the Military Base is one worth looking at.
I'm not sure, might be on our list but I will look into it. The recruit code is fairly complex and is tied to a number of Spice Hall features that don't exist in the Military Base, which is probably what blocked this additional feature in the past.
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shallowthought
Exemplar
[ Patreon & Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Posts: 382
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Post by shallowthought on Jul 20, 2012 14:57:37 GMT -5
Surely you would then have to keep track of where crew were recruited, or do you already keep separate stats for each crew member? Would it be easier to add some sort of bonus to anything crew-based related to current military rank?
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Post by xdesperado on Sept 14, 2012 15:54:19 GMT -5
Surely you would then have to keep track of where crew were recruited, or do you already keep separate stats for each crew member? Would it be easier to add some sort of bonus to anything crew-based related to current military rank? Been wondering about this myself. Does the game keep track separately of all crew members and how they became members of the ships compliment? I know enslaving crew reduces the ship moral temporarily which will effect performance but once that is brought back up to higher levels do the enslaved crew still have a functional difference from crew recruited from the spice hall? Also does the Shalun mercenary upgrade add 15 separate crew that are tracked independent of the rest of the crew or does it simply raise the crew complement by 15 and provide all crew members with extra combat ability? Again if all crew are tracked separately then knowing how the game determines which members are lost in combat accidents could be important for maximizing effectiveness of your ship. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2012 16:16:47 GMT -5
Cory said that crew from indy planets are better than from faction planets f certainF operations (see help section for more) so I'm pretty sure that the game keeps track of the independent crew on your ship.
It says for enslaving crew that they're less effective AND morale may drop. So if I had to guess, I'd say the game keeps track of the enslaved crew on your ship, and they are not as good as regular crew.
For mercanries, what you said first is correct. Cory stated that eac mercanary = 2.65 normal crew + is unaffected by damage and morale. Not really sure of all the details about how the upgrade works, but based on what Cory said I'm guessing mercenary crew are tracked inependent of the other crew, and they provide more combat bonuses. Another thing about mercanaries: Battleship architecture could potentially help boarding more than mercanaries, depending on the number of ship engines and max crew size.
If I'm wrong about any f this I hope Cory corrects me.
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Post by xdesperado on Sept 14, 2012 16:51:22 GMT -5
Thanks starfixer.
Just a bit curious how it all works as I look for maximum efficiency.
Haven't tried the mercenaries yet, generally go for either battleship architecture or the water tank, though some of the other upgrades have been used at times as well.
Just curious how it all works, since if I take 20 casualties in my first boarding action would that kill all the mercs or are they last 15 crew to die or some mix. Also if my crew is severely depleted and then I enslave my way back up to max crew where would the replacement mercs come from?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2012 22:52:42 GMT -5
I don't know about the first mercanary question. If you already have a lot of crew though, and you don't want that much more crew, that's where mercanaries come in.
The merc upgrade provides housing and training, so it transforms 15 of your current crew into mercanaries. All mercanaries are probably the same. I don't know exactly how it works. I've asked cory before, but he doesn't like when I push for details, and I don't blame him because he has to look at the rediculously long code of ST and find it.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 15, 2012 0:28:17 GMT -5
I don't mind when people ask about details at all. I do my best to answer.
Mercenaries is a bonus based on 15 additional Crew who are more effective and receive a double bonus for Weapons. In terms of Weapon carrying, they are like you had +15 extra Crew w/ Weapons.
It's a fairly crude addition to the math (it was added late after balancing) so the rule can be simply stated as:
"15 of your Crew fight like they are 30 Crew"
Which is to say, your Mercenaries are 200% as effective as a regular Crew would be.
In the game also, if you have 15 or less they're all considered mercenaries. This can make a small Crew ship very dangerous.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2012 0:49:58 GMT -5
Wait, you said each mercanary was 2.65 crew + unaffected by damage and morale. Now your saying that they equal 30 crew, and with a double weapons bonus? That means if you have 20 weapons, you'd get a +35 warrior boost, not +20? Or are you saying with the mercanaries its like you already have 15 weapons on board so even with no weapons, you get a bonus when boarding equal to 15 weapons?
Having 15 crew w/ weapons is A LOT better than just 30 plain crew. Its a big difference. I've taken out narv hives and tey outnumbered me 5:1. But I killed them because I had 225 crew with 60 weapons, and they had 1000 crew all unarmed.
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Post by Cory Trese on Sept 15, 2012 1:06:07 GMT -5
Yes I agree with your post. I also agree with my post ... the details are there!
1 Crew Member = 1.00 Crew Value
1 Crew Member w/ Weapon = 1.325 Crew Value
1 Mercenary = 2.00 Crew Value
1 Mercenary w/ Weapon = 2.65 Crew Value
The numerical bonus from the Weapons is determined in another phase of the Combat, Weapons generate both a Crew Value bonus and a Combat Result bonus.
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Post by xdesperado on Sept 15, 2012 1:14:11 GMT -5
Yes I agree with your post. I also agree with my post ... the details are there! 1 Crew Member = 1.00 Crew Value 1 Crew Member w/ Weapon = 1.325 Crew Value 1 Mercenary = 2.00 Crew Value 1 Mercenary w/ Weapon = 2.65 Crew Value The numerical bonus from the Weapons is determined in another phase of the Combat, Weapons generate both a Crew Value bonus and a Combat Result bonus. Okay think I get the mercenary thing now and sounds like they will always be the last crew left standing. Regarding the differences in other crew, are they all kept track of separately depending on how you acquire them or are the penalties to enslaved crew temporary modifiers that go away after a bit? Example I enslave 30 crew after a battle, moral drops to 7 from 8 I take and complete a contract with no crew losses and my morale goes to 9. Do I still have 30 somehow substandard crew with 9 morales or do I have a full complement of crew that all function identically? |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2012 1:49:03 GMT -5
To be safe, I wouldn't enslave crew if you want the most effective crew. I've enslaves crew before and I hadn't noticed a difference, but I can't imagine the ONLY disadvantage to esnlaved crew is a possible -1 morale.
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