Transparency in Recruiting Mechanics, Plz

[Mister Waffles]

With the advent of Jyeeta crew combat, having a smokin' hawt away team is more important than ever before. I've perused a number of prior forum threads regarding how to get good recruits, and have amassed a fair amount of anecdotal data on the topic. At a basic level, as was stated by the Devs in this thread back on Nov 20, 2017 (https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/discussions/0/3183345176718002757/):

"Traits & Attributes of newly recruited crew are set by the zone, planet and faction you are recruiting from --
- Planet Danger
- Zone Military
- Zone Economy
- Zone Trade Law
- Zone Government"

To which, of course, are added other factors. According to a poster on this thread from 2018 (https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/discussions/0/1734336452574286081/):

"High Military and worlds with either very low atmo or very high atmo get Fortitude boosts. Ice worlds are BAD for quickness. Radiation worlds have good Resilience. Ocean worlds tend to have low combat stats but good Charisma. High Econ worlds also have good Charisma. Bigger sized planets have higher Strength." This was not confirmed by the Devs, though.

Likewise, this thread (https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/discussions/0/1727575977521175913/) had good insights on Faction effects.

And, of course, we all know about the importance of using Contacts, favorable Rumors (if you have 'em), and Talents like Discerning Glance.

Being interested in assembling a good away team, and also being the nerd I am, I then built a spreadsheet of every system in the standard map, capturing all of the system variables. (And if anybody wants it, I'm happy to share... as long as they error check and let me know of mistakes). I then built a rough index of which systems theoretically might be better for recruiting. We all understand that when it comes to systems, more is generally better: more Economy, more Military, more Danger = Better Recruits. And that was the recruiting Index I built in my spreadsheet: basically add up all the numbers. But that's about the crudest modeling job imaginable. Because the magnitude of those various effects are completely unknown, as well as the individual recruit attributes they affect. So, for instance, is the difference between an 18 Economy and a 23 Economy more or less important than the difference between a 9 Military or a 10 Military? Likewise, the majority of high Economy planets (which are Good(tm) for recruiting) tend to have more breathable Atmospheres and lower Danger (which are Bad(tm) for recruiting). Does a 23 Economy offset a Benign Danger level? Is a 23 Economy on a Small world better than an 18 Economy on a Huge World? Answer to all the above: who the hell knows?

I politely note that in that very same Nov. 2017 thread, our fearless and much-beloved Developers stated:

"We'll work on improving the visibility of these impacts..."

Well, ummm, all I can say is, "Gents, we're at 844 days now (not that anybody's counting, mind you!), and the ST:F community has precisely zero additional insights into these matters now than we did back then."

Combat is transparent. Ship combat is transparent. Lots of things in ST:F are pretty darned transparent. Indeed, it is that transparency around mechanics that allows people to utilize the richness of the game system to develop their own unique strategies for playing the game. And in that spirit, it would be lovely if the Devs would finally explicate, and quantify, which variables affect recruiting, in which ways, and by how much. That would help us understand what we're likely to get when we set down on this world or that, and also what planets to recruit from to build combat teams with the characteristics we're looking for. I don't want to grind recruits any more than the next guy. So please help me go to the right worlds to start with.

Thanks much in advance for your help.

[Tuidjy]

I do not bother with the planet attributes.

I recruit from contacts for my marines. Getting the level 23 or level 26 attribute bonuses seems to completely obliterate the planet's effects. Furthermore, I have chosen to believe that Steel Song recruits are great soldiers with initiative perks, and that Javat are likely to be device freaks.

Is that true? I can't hear you, la-la-la!

So I look for promising contacts, raise their influence together with my rank with their faction, and hire as many swordsmen, and soldiers as it takes to get someone who makes my jaw drop.
- Soldiers turn into riflemen.
- Swordsmen turn into blade users .
- Military Officers turn into medics, and I have oodles, due to recruiting them for ship combat

Why military officers, swordsmen and soldiers? Because they get higher bonus levels from rank.

-------------

But you are right that some transparency, or at least better feedback would be welcome.

[Mister Waffles]

And all of that *may* well be true. But I'd like to actually *know* that it's true, rather than just a "seems to." Our collective anecdotal experiences are all well and good. But as my teachers used to say, "Show your work."

[darion-neclador]

Well not to validate Tuidjy's religion, but Song recruits do tend to have combat related traits :D .

[Trese Brothers]

To come back to this 849 days later, we decided at the time not to move forward with exposing the full mechanic. It would lead further into the micromanagement aspect of crew recruting, which we don't intend to promote as one of the core aspects of the game.

There is a great wiki page about it thanks to the community:
https://startraders.gamepedia.com/Crew_Recruiting

[Mister Waffles]

Originally posted by Trese Brothers:

To come back to this 849 days later, we decided at the time not to move forward with exposing the full mechanic.

Boooooooo... ;-) I get what you're saying, though. Because spreadsheet weenies like me ruin all the fun...

While I've got you on the phone, though, did you ever move ahead with changing the way starting contacts are seeded in the starting quadrant, so that they go on better planets?

Thanks! And happy St. Patty's Day!

[Trese Brothers]

It is still on the long list to improve the location for starting Contacts, to ensure that they land on zones where all their services can be used as well.

[Mister Waffles]

Thank you! ;-) (Having worked in software development for many years, I know how long those lists can be...)

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by jonp:

Thank you! ;-) (Having worked in software development for many years, I know how long those lists can be...)

Well good news, it got added on Cory's Twitch stream today and in for next update.

[Mister Waffles]

Super cool! Thank you!