Can we revisit this topic? There's a little mixed information out there and it would be great if we could get a little clarity. This is especially true for citizens that have bought multiple gamepacks on the thought they could crew up their ships with them. What I'm hoping for in this thread is some solid: "This is our plan" information. Some of the information we've received to this point has been a little contradictory in some very important ways. First, about why someone might want to play with NPCs, especially "special" gamepack NPCs. In my case, I'm old. My friends are old. We have full-time careers, families, and other obligations. When we play together, it's awesome and amazing, but the times our schedules line up is fairly rare. Add to this we each have multicrew ships, which are different roles, and we'd each like to stay in our own ships. Given the horrors of EVE, it's pretty well known that spies and saboteurs will be a thing. While there are people in our Org we trust, we certainly don't know them in person and...there's limits. Especially when my Merchantman, for example, will probably be filled with cargo that it took me hours and days to fill up. So NPC crews are preferable in a lot of ways. Not every time - I'm sure I'd rather have a human scanner or whatever, but I doubt I'll be able to find a player who just wants to cart around cargo in the cargo bay, for example. Early on, in a few shows, it was mentioned that GamePack NPCs would represent an NPC that we would have some control over. But how much? Just appearance, or can we define roles we'd rather have for them (bodyguard, medic, engineer, cargo operator, etc) that would define what they're good at? There was talk that we could control some aspects of GamePack NPCs. Initially, this was stated as maybe having a little more control over their progression. While they'd still have hard (still random? Right?) caps on their skills, if we wanted a GamePack NPC to a be a medic, for example, even a bad one, we could push their progression in that direction. Is this still the case? Will this be a point system or will it be random or based on the actual work you assign them (so you jam an NPC in a turret for hours at a time, they'll "rank up" in turret operation to their preset cap)? Initially, it was said that ideally NPCs would be indistinguishable from human players, but it's also been stated that NPC crew will be inferior to human players. Which is it? I'm guessing the latter, but... There was a time that it was mentioned that GamePack NPCs could be used by other players to "Agent Smith" into, but it's also been mentioned that this might be immersion-breaking or even unbalancing. In my case, I'm fine if it's dumped, but some friends and org mates have mentioned they're building strategies around this (ie. having ships around the 'Verse that are crewed with comparably inferior NPCs that could suddenly become filled with more dangerous human players - without having to travel across the 'Verse in real-time). Some clarity or a firm yes/no would be rad. If we don't have control over a GamePack NPCs progression, will we have some clue over what they're good at, or will it be pure trial and error? It was mentioned that NPCs would be able to crew other ships that you own, but this has seemed to be reeled in a bit. Can an NPC, especially a GamePack NPC, pilot or crew a ship that the player isn't on? Is there a limit on how many ships can be crewed in this way? Is there a limit on the distance they can be from the player? What happens if a GamePack NPC dies? Do THEY have a heir? What happens if you can't pay a GamePack NPC? Do they leave? Go into stasis until you have money again? Curse your name? I would expect they'd be a little more loyal than standard NPCs, but how loyal? If a GamePack NPC hops in a snub to fight an attacker, and I jump out and leave them, will they try to find me again? Be perma-killed? Go to the nearest bar and drown their abandonment issues? Try to get passage on some ship to my location? Wait for me to return? Is there a limit to the number of GamePack NPCs we can have? Or have active at any one time? It seems, lately, that this might be limited to ONLY an heir, which would change my own plans, and the plans of my friends, and likely the plans of a significant percentage of the community, if that were the case, but knowing it now would be preferable to when the mechanics drop. Can we have this fleshed out a little? Or at least some solid ideas of where CIG plans to go with this? Thanks much!