Player Stations and the NPCs they generate

[Strategist]

I've noticed a significant oddity when it comes to player stations.

The NPC that are generated aren't reflective of its actual workforce or the faction controling the sector it's in. For example, I have a station in argon or Antigone Republic space, with workforce that is entirely Argon. However, you wouldn't know if you were to just walk around the station, as the majority of the NPCs are a mix Split, Taladi and Paranid. Which, makes no sense given that entirety of the workforce is Argon.

So I'm curious to know what exactly controls NPC generation on stations? Cause I'm not certain if this a bug or just something the Devs didn't really take into serious consideration, and just lazy add to give player stations some life.

[LameFox]

I don't normally look at them, but I think all the ones I've seen on my stations are employees from my ships. Not sure which ships they come from, though, as they're still around when very few are landed there.

[dtpsprt]

Whether we like it or not the "player faction" (this is how the game sees us) is inclusive of all races with all it's pros and cons. Like, you don't have to think what kind of food production you'll put or what kind of medicines. On the other hand it's "killing" roleplaying. Personally I avoid as much as I can putting personnel on my stations, except for shipyards/wharfs who "need" them to provide crews for the ships. You'll notice that when you order a ship from a faction it comes with personnel of this faction, except for ALI which is also inclusive of all factions by lore...

As far as the station NPC's that you see in all stations, they are "predominaly" of the faction that owns the station but there are also lots of others, not to mention the "copy - paste" so that only Argons appear to be giving landing instructions, whic is not a bug per se but I do hope it will be fixed at some point.

[Strategist]

Whether we like it or not the "player faction" (this is how the game sees us) is inclusive of all races with all it's pros and cons. Like, you don't have to think what kind of food production you'll put or what kind of medicines. On the other hand it's "killing" roleplaying. Personally I avoid as much as I can putting personnel on my stations, except for shipyards/wharfs who "need" them to provide crews for the ships. You'll notice that when you order a ship from a faction it comes with personnel of this faction, except for ALI which is also inclusive of all factions by lore...

As far as the station NPC's that you see in all stations, they are "predominaly" of the faction that owns the station but there are also lots of others, not to mention the "copy - paste" so that only Argons appear to be giving landing instructions, whic is not a bug per se but I do hope it will be fixed at some point.

I'm hoping it's fixed by the time they release Credle of Humanity. Because, unless the Terrans have under a significant ideology change, it would make no sense for Stations, in Terran space to have a majority non-terran/non-human population, if the workforce is majority human.

[atavistuk]

As far as the station NPC's that you see in all stations, they are "predominaly" of the faction that owns the station but there are also lots of others, not to mention the "copy - paste" so that only Argons appear to be giving landing instructions, whic is not a bug per se but I do hope it will be fixed at some point.

Actually, I've heard plenty of Paranid, Teladi and Split giving out Landing Instructions. All my stations except the HQ have a female Split Manager, (the HQ has a female Argon) and if I hang around one I can hear a female split giving folks docking permission, except my HQ, where it is a female argon. It's usually the case where, in faction space, 9 times out of ten it's a member of the faction giving out docking permission, only with the rare case of some other race giving them out.

[jlehtone]

only Argons appear to be giving landing instructions

Actually, I've heard plenty of Paranid, Teladi and Split giving out Landing Instructions.

Are you talking about the same thing?

On landing pad, in front of the ship, there is control panel (where you can access info of the ship, repaint, etc). If there is a person flinging its hands (most of the time there is not), that person is practically always a human.

Radio chatter (that you overhear) uses many voice actors.

[dtpsprt]

Actually, I've heard plenty of Paranid, Teladi and Split giving out Landing Instructions. All my stations except the HQ have a female Split Manager, (the HQ has a female Argon) and if I hang around one I can hear a female split giving folks docking permission, except my HQ, where it is a female argon. It's usually the case where, in faction space, 9 times out of ten it's a member of the faction giving out docking permission, only with the rare case of some other race giving them out.

Those you refer to are giving landing permission (like a Control Tower on an Airfield) are not the ones giving (supposedly) the landing instructions that stand in front of the landing pad, unless they are people desperate to leave the place but still, they are all Argons...

[dtpsprt]

On landing pad, in front of the ship, there is control panel (where you can access info of the ship, repaint, etc). If there is a person flinging its hands (most of the time there is not), that person is practically always a human.

Not practically I'm afraid... always... as I said in my post a bad case of copy paste, just like Argon Marines providing security in all the landings in X Rebirth Argon (Understandably, even though there should be some differentiation between Plutarch and Argon, not to mention Terracorp... not much... just a badge, the logos were all there) Teladi and Terran alike (!!!) Even though the Teladi sectors and Cantera were not "known" to the Argons (Both Plurarch and Federation ones)...

EDIT: History does repeat itself... like to make X4 really enjoyable one has to use Mods just like Rebirth again (IMHO)...

[Falcrack]

I really would like the vast majority of NPCs (~90%) on stations to match the habitation modules on the station. Maybe a small chance for another species that represent a pilot who has landed for a brief trade or pit stop. If more than one species is present as workforce, then the ratios of the different species would be dependent on the ratios of those species in the workforce.

If I have a shipyard that only has Argon habitation modules, then I want to see primarily (>90%) Argon NPCs as the crew that gets added from that station.

[Strategist]

I really would like the vast majority of NPCs (~90%) on stations to match the habitation modules on the station. Maybe a small chance for another species that represent a pilot who has landed for a brief trade or pit stop. If more than one species is present as workforce, then the ratios of the different species would be dependent on the ratios of those species in the workforce.

If I have a shipyard that only has Argon habitation modules, then I want to see primarily (>90%) Argon NPCs as the crew that gets added from that station.

This is something I also love to have be add in the upcoming update and expansion, and I really hope to see done.

[aard00]

Yup, totally agree habs shoud dictate inhabitants. So a station with 1 small Teladi dome and 1 large Argon hab should exhibit a population representative of that; mostly Argon with some Teladi.

If there's a game reason where that wouldn't work, say a case where station X must have a population consisting mostly of Y even though the habs don't match, then I don't think you could do it that way and it would probably need to be a new property on each station.

The other way to look at it might be by sector/faction ownwership; if the station is in sector A, then the population would consist of a mix B that's based on the owning faction.


The really crappy thing is that when I first bought the game, think it was v3.0 or 3.1, Argon stations definitely had mostly Argon inhabitants. The spawn lists got nerfed since. Not sure if it's by accident or by design. But the result, where every single station in every single sector has practically the same mix of inhabitants, is nothing short of crap IMHO. It's immersion breaking, and just plain not logical.

[jlehtone]

Stations have staff and visitors. Staff (except manager) lives in habs.
Station can run without staff and hence without habs.

The visitors can come from anywhere. You can climb to NPC ships and travel to other stations.
No ticket fee. No passport control. No button with "Don't Panic!" written on it.

Where does the staff come from? Some visitors could take a job. Some workers could travel from far away sectors.
Most likely source is traffic from nearby stations and planets. (Planet is that boogie monster that you probably see only once.)

It would make sense that habs for race Y fill with race Y and that they fill quicker, if Y live in the system.

Furthermore, the diplomatic status of the factions could/should affect too. If, let say that the Teladi would be in war with Kha'ak. It should take long for a Teladi hab to fill in Kha'ak sector because Kha'ak Customs are very thorough about emigrants. A Kha'ak hive, on the other hand, should thrive. Add a possibility to deploy a Colony ship to fast-track staff to your stations; Fresh eggs from Ianamus Zura on Pier 2!


So whom are you likely to meet at the Docking Bay? Member of the staff? Visitor? Race of staff you could guess from the habs. Visitor's could be anyone, although a large group of Fallen Split in stylish, yet warm C4 waistcoats in Humanitarian Argon Wharf should raise some questions.
Can anyone become a security guard? How long is the tea-time? Is arrow-in-knee covered in health plan?

[mchan7]

You cannot control your HR department. They hire whoever they want and never ask for your permission...