Now, everyone knows space is a pretty big and lonely place when you really think about it. The only constant companion you got is the stars....... and your ship-bound pet. Wait a sec, just because space is big and lonely doesn't mean it has to be! Stop by an outpost, and send out a recruitment call to bring your crew to you! Pick and choose up to five (or maybe more!) people from a pool of potential crewmembers, of all races and origins! Have them join your ship, and give some life to those silent metal halls! Don't like the available choices? Maybe you've got someone in particular you're looking for? Make that distinction! Find yourself by finding your perfect crew! Sail the stars with a real crew like a real captain! Creative text aside, I was thinking, if possible, to make a system to add some characterization and personality to the player's ship, by letting them have their own crew. The idea is like this: A 'Recruiter' NPC can be accessed after your first ship upgrade, letting you add additional crew members. The larger the ship, the more crew permitted to be hired. The recruitment pool is comprised of randomly generated characters pulled from the selectable races (modded ones too, if possible?), with a few, more expensive "premium" characters available depending on player progress, including major NPCs, even developers,. If the player doesn't want any of those characters, and instead wants their own, they could make their own crewmembers to add to the game, perhaps via an in-game character creator akin to the player one, or maybe an external program which would allow the players to edit their characters with more in-depth control, maybe even including what they can potentially say. These characters, as balance, would be given a premium price in pixels, not to mention a markup price depending on what they're given for equipment. If possible, they could be used in a four-man landing party, allowing them to accompany a player down to planets, teleporting to the player if he gets too far ahead. A crewman dying on planet is not gone for good, just for that landing. So? Is a neat idea? Probably going to be hell-and-a-half to even organize though...
Quitaren12 made a post about the same kind of thing already. NPC companions I get that there are always going to be more of these kinds of threads popping up until something is actually done rather than just said. However I would recommend to check if on the first page at least there is any similiar threads to what you are going to suggest and then maybe you can throw that suggestion onto that thread to gather most interest in the one spot. The more interest gathered in the single point the more likely devs are to see it than having lots of little ones.
My idea is that while exploring towns on planets you could have random generated named companions you can recruit giving them some pixels. They would respawn on your ship when killed. They also have random armor and weapons. You should also be able to equip them as your liking and tell them to follow on land or stay on the ship.
Definitely a neat idea and I know how many people would love for this general idea to come to life but I think we all need to join on one specific thread, make it big to draw in attention from everyone and make sure that it gets implemented as soon as possible, for further development and a better companion experience.
I don't know if this is still open for discussion but I wanted to comment on the guy who mentioned quest for NPC followers. I like the initial idea a long time ago about people some how sneaking on to your ship to escape (like one of the apex's in that village they are trapped in) and things like that happening dynamically through out the story if you lose one.
If you can give them orders (like a real spaceship captain), that would be even cooler. +1 for having Scotty.
say your brother used the same account you do, but a different character. it'd be really cool if it were possible to "call in" other players on your account. my brother is an apex, so it'd be really cool to have him hop on the ship every once in a while! or how about this: you defeat your opponent, right? (well, not a common mob, but an NPC like a bandit or guard of some kind and race) they have a small chance to ask if they can join you! say i killed a human guard, and he says "i give up!" and asks to join me. if he dies, he dies though. and vice versa: if your fighting that human, and u think you'll die, then u have the option to join that specific base!
