Overview
This is a Primer document for Ships Crew their function and Hiring at this present time. It is not a full guide but is meant to give a player an understanding of where the current system is at and how to best use it.
We have now released stage one of the Crew System. There will be a second stage which will relate to crew being used ‘on-board’ ship but this first stage relates to their use off ship. When further elements are added or amended this primer will be updated.
Ship Crew
The use of ship crew can only take place whilst flying / piloting a Player Made ship. Player made ships are obtained from a player who owns a Level Six Settlement that choose Starship Crafting as their speciality. Crew can be hired and will then move on-board your vessel. that will then become their main abode.
Should you change ships (to another PM ship) they will automatically come with you. Should you move back to a non PM ship they will complete any missions they might have been on then simply go on leave till you return to a PM ship.
You can only control / interact with your crew from on-board your Player Made Ship.
Crew Load-out
Like most things in Core-Exiles you start out small and grow over time. Initially you will have one free Vacant Crew Slot. Eventually you can unlock all Six crew slots (regardless of PM ship type), slots are opened automatically as you progress.
From the crew load-out screen (from bottom right View Assets pullout menu) you can review current crew. Look at their stats and either review the mission they are on or review missions offered by the Galactic Contracting Services. A crew member can only do one mission at a time and will automatically return and report the mission results. (They will find you and the ship regardless of where you go during that time).
Crew Hire
There is a new office available to Level Six settlements. The Galactic Crew Agency. This agency has currently over 5,000 crew members looking for work. Each office can access the G.C.A database (all of it) and a captain of a PM ship can hire crew IF they have a vacant berth on-board.
You will be expected to pay the G.C.A a years salary upfront for the crew member. So make sure you make the most of the crew member and get your value out of them 
Anyone may visit the G.C.A but only captains flying PM ships with vacant berths can hire.
Crew Have Primary Skills. This does not mean that is all they can do it simply means its what they are BEST at. You will see skills relating to ship based and activity based actions, it is up to you what type of crew you choose.
Currently the Galactic Contracting Services are offering the following types of missions :
The missions above are on offer at Level 1. This list of missions will grow as your crew level up. Please bear the list above as a guide when hiring your first crew member, but also remember that just because they have a primary skill does NOT mean they cannot do other tasks.
Once a crew member is hired they will automatically move on-board your ship. You will need to decide if you wish to renew their contract in a years time. (At this time the ‘Release Crew’ from contract option is off-line whilst I work on that section, I suspect it will be active within the week)
Galactic Contracting Services
This is a new ‘Service’ it does not currently have an office as missions offered through this service can be accessed by the Ships Crew Page. You will find that the G.C.S will offer you up to Five missions initially. These will always be for the Galaxy you are in.
The missions will time-out and be replaced after a period of time. they will also top up the list with new ones should you send crew out on existing missions from the list. As you and your crew level up and gain crew Points the G.C.S will determine a higher availability of missions. (as stated at the beginning you start small and grow).
READ THIS DISCLAIMER: Crew missions have an outlay cost and also require you to give your crew access to your Fuel depot Account. They will need to leave your ship and make their own way to the G.C.S rally point. The crew member may be offered a mission to carry out on their own or as part of a larger group mission, either way they have to get to the mission location.
The fuel shown will be taken from your fuel depot directly and you cannot accept a mission for your crew member if you do not have enough depot fuel. The outlay cost is a cost raised by the G.C.S to cover their mission end costs.
Missions vary in time scale but the shortest is 2 hours. Planning using your crew to his fullest is part of your daily tasks but you should find missions of a reasonable time frame to keep him busy whilst you are away from the desk or asleep.
Each Mission will have a Type. This relates closely to your crews primary skill. Now as mentioned earlier it does not mean a crew member cannot do a mission he does not have the primary skill for. At level one it means he stands a better chance of success if you assign him / her on a mission of their primary skill type.
Later as they level up it will become more important but initially at level one it will not make a vast amount of difference it will simply give them an edge.
Once assigned a mission they will leave the ship, catch a shuttle or hitch a ride (using your fuel depot account allowance you have signed off on and make their way to the mission.
Once a crew member is off on a mission you can review their status from the crew page.
Mission Completion
Once a crew member returns from a mission they will return to the ship and write up a log and send it to you via the ships Private Message system. They may well be tired and retire to their berth to catch some sleep. Any funds or items they may have returned with will have been already deposited directly to your ship.
Crew Progress Overview
Crew themselves earn ‘Crew Points’ these are awarded for mission outcomes. The better the outcome the greater the CP reward. You are also awarded Crew Points which go towards your Crew Points total. So if you have a crew member return earning him / herself 500 points you also get 500 points. These points both for the individual crew and your total crew points can be reviewed from the crew pages.
Crew will of course earn you credits (they may from time to time cost you credits) but you should overall be in profit and with careful selection of missions should make a tidy profit even taking in to account their yearly salary.
It should be noted that crew do NOT bring back resources to your ship. This is NOT what crew missions are about. Trying to create a mission system that balanced the wishes of all of CE’s players with a resource base in excess of 460 items would have been folly
However…
Crew Points can be spent in a new store.
Terran Crew Store
This store is a new addition to the Terran Traders outlets. Its a store set up to help support Crew and their captains. They have a private deal with Joe and TDK and other third party suppliers and deal only with captains who have Crew Points to spend.
Through their third party contacts they track the most sought after resources and trade them for Crew Points. Stuck for some of that latest rare ore or simply cant find anyone willing to part with a few resources you desperately require? Well the Terran Crew Store is for you.
These stores are under contract with any Level 5 of higher settlement and deal only in Crew Points. You will find the prices fluctuate depending on the general galactic index market values so keep an eye on things before purchasing.
They also keep a stock control so you will know if they have any in stock before you go looking to purchase.
Crew – Final Words
The new crew system is NOT a get rich quick scheme. Missions are in hourly chunks and investment in crew time and energy is not going to be cheap or quick. The system is designed so we can ‘bolt on’ add more and expand the newly added Galactic Contracting Services.
Stage two of the crew system will enable you to hire some of the ‘other crew types’ and use them ‘on-board’ to help boost your productivity. But whilst we ponder on the balancing act required for that we thought you’d like to get your feet wet with the crew system itself.
You will note this is a primer guide and NOT a full blown guide on how too. I will update as time goes on and new elements are added / amended.
Update : 20th Feb 2013
Crew can now be released from their contracts. You can only do this when they are back on-board and not out on a missions. They will return to the Galactic Crew Agency and begin looking for a new employer. Remember that you pay for crew member salaries a year in advance and there are no refunds so they have already been paid for the remainder of the year.
You should remember (as per above) that at this time the Galactic Contracting Services are offering the following types of missions:
Combat | Exploration | Salvage | Asteroid Mining | Nebula Mining
The Galactic Crew Agency has many varied crew members but you should choose their skill sets wisely if wishing to send them on Galactic Contracting Service missions. The other crew types are for the next release / update on ship crew.
Coops