What crewmember are and how to get them.

A small guide to describe What your crew is, what it can do and how to get it.

What is a crewmember ?

A crewmember is a permanent member working for you on your spaceship for about as long as you want him to. They will always have a special role depending on the conditions of their recruitment and former work (we'll see the types later). They are one of the most useful thing to get in the game most of the time.

Why would I need a crew ?

Here's the simple answer: Having a crew makes everything much easier, some roles will boost fuel capacity or efficiency, some might just fight with you or apply buffs to help you, and some may just be useless (We still love you, Janitor crew). A crew is always good to have, When your crew is big enough, you'll be given the option to upgrade your ship (unlike buying the fake licence, this one is ONLY using upgrade modules, not a single pixel is needed)

How can i get crewmembers ?

There are currently Three ways to get NPCs to join you, the first and easier one is to find a NPC giving quests anywhere, complete their quest(s), and with some luck, the NPC will ask to join the crew of your ship. The second option is to buy a colony deed at the outpost's furniture shop, build or find a suitable "house" (a closed room with a least one door and a light) and place the colony deed inside, a NPC will spawn (note that depending on the furniture, the type of NPC will change) you can then wait for his quests and complete them, and hope that he asks to join the crew. The third way only requires that you accept a "NPC fight mission" in wich you have to fight a warrior. After you take out most of their health, they will "surrender" and ask you to lower your weapons. Showing mercy to them can have either of two results. The first one being they betray your trust and attack you again, Or they thank you and ask to join your crew as an outlaw. You will easily see when a NPC wants to join you as his ouftit will change to your actual crew's ouftit when he's willing to join you.

What types of crewmembers can i get and what are their bonuses ?

I currently found:

Soldier:
Role: Assault
usefulness: Attacks your ennemies with you, useful for dungeons and missions.
Method of recruitment: Regular NPCs may transform into soldiers, NPC guards and convicts tend to become soldiers more often.
Color of armor: Red

Medic:
Role: Assault
usefulness: Heals the player when he's low on HP, can also attack when no one is injuried.
Method of recruitment: NPCs can become medics,Apex rebels have slightly more chances than regualar NPCs to become a medic.
Color of armor: White

Outlaw:
Role: Assault
usefulness: Same as soldier, may have a hidden role i didn't found out yet.
Method of recruitment: Unlike every other role, it seems that the only way to get this role is to take on a NPC mission to take someone special out. During the quest, if the player lowers the HP of the foe down enough, they will then surrender and ask the player to put their weapon away. If the player proceeds, the NPC either attacks him by surprise or ask to join their crew as an outlaw.
Color of armor: Black

Engineer:
Role: Support
usefulness: Increses travel speed by 10%
Method of recruitment: NPCs can become engineers, no preference of NPC types that becomes engineers.
Color of armor: Orange

Mechanic:
Role: Support
usefulness: Augments the fuel capacity of the ship by 100 periodically, poor fighters.
Method of recruitment: NPCs can become mechanics, no prefences of NPC types that becomes mechanics.
Color of armor: Blue

Chemist:
Role: Support
usefulness: Grants buffs to the player depending on the chemist type (yellow chemists gives glow buff, orange chemists give rage, blue chemists give jump buff and green chemists give speed buff)
Method of recruitment: NPCs can become chemists, miniknog scientists, hazmat NPCs and scientists NPCs will almost always become chemists.
Color of armor: Yellow

Tailor:
Role: Decoration
usefulness: Allow the captain to change the crew's uniform.
Method of recruitment: NPCs can become Tailors.
Color of armor: Purple

Janitor:
Role: Decoration
usefulness: Tries to look useful.
Method of recruitment: NPCs can become janitors.
Color of armor: Brown.

How powerful are crewmembers ? how can i get a stronger crew ?

Crewmembers power/strength is determined by their Rank. When you want to recruit someone, check their rank. SAIL will also tell you the rank of all recruited crew members you have. The higher the rank, the more powerful the crew member. Crew members ranks are determined at random, and as such, you can get a high rank crew member at a low tier planet at a low tier star. However, the reverse also applies, with a low rank crew member existing at a high tier planet orbiting a high tier star. While some crew members ranks are meaningless, like for the Janitor and Tailor, the others have small to massive effects based on rank. It is said that the player's power (wich increases with better armor) will increase crewmembers's power up to a maximum of 12.

Why can't i recruit more crewmembers ?

This is all for one good reason, each class of ship has a limited crew, if you can't get any more crewmembers, try upgrading your ship or sort out your crew and kick out the uneeded crew to get some new useful ones.

How do i get rid of a crewmember to make more room ?

This is a question you might find yourself asking when you like a NPC so much that you want to recruit him but you're crew's already full. If that's the case, the only way to get rid of a crewmember to get some room for new ones is to get inside your spaceship, talk to S.A.I.L., go to Crew, then select the crewmember you need to fire, and click on the DISMISS button on their portrait.

Notes

This guide was written to help everyone know what a crew is, what each crewmember will do, and how to get the special NPC you're all looking for. please keep in mind that it's not gonna be full from the get-go, so if you see any mistake or missed roles, please write it down in the comments for me to correct the guide, also please stay polite in the comments and note that i didn't count the pinguins as crewmembers since they are easy to get.

(Edited after vinchenzojackal&shoon's precision on crew ranking, starbounder for crewmember's power / Edited after seeing "updates" and seeing grammar errors all around the place, no idea if it's me or someone else who made 'em / Recent changes made on the text to make it clearer and add my arch-nemesis... CAPS... God why do i hate them so much)

[Northstar1989]

Janitors and Tailors can fight, just like Soldiers/Outlaws. They just aren't as strong in combat.

The first NPC I ever got was a Janitor. Used to take him on all my Away missions.

[Benjorsoph]

tailors take what you're wearing and make it the uniform... (my sister gave all her crewmates wings...)

[kaden0823]

also, outlaws are the strongest for combat. they are almost always better than normal npc soldiers

[kaden0823]

every two crewmembers give a liscence, which allows space for two more crewmembers after upgrade.

[chaoticGuide]

nvm, figured it out, gotta do crewmembertailor or crewmemberstailor

[Thexwhat]

The only specific role you can force to spawn to my knowledge would be the outlaws, as mentionned.

[chaoticGuide]

Is it possible to spawn a specific role npc?

[electric_vib]

@LeTraitreDuThexwhat thanks!! That's so helpful!!

[Thexwhat]

@painlordpeepa no, you need at least 2 crewmembers to get the 1st liscence that allows for the upgrade, if i rembember correctly

[electric_vib]

@LeTraitreDuThexwhat I only have one member, an outlaw. Where do you get the license? Is it in that spot next to penguin pete's? It hasn't opened for me yet but i've seen it on other guides.