Keeping the crew busy on a long journey and the like

Multiplayer, co-op and NPCharacters creates new game play, but not everyone has something to do on a long journey across space leaving them spare with idle hands.

Considerations for not letting your crew get bored - for the 'are we there yet' journeys.

Contributing factors

Size of crew

Size of vessel

Predicted journey time

Task intensities

Continuous, regular, intermittent, unique.

Task areas

Hibernation/sleep - afk

Piloting and lookout scanning

Vessel repair and improvements + cleaning and painting

Small vessel creation

'Hide and seek' or 'Shoot the captain' or 'Find the warhead'

Sports and target practice

Training simulator

Resourcing

Investigating anomalies - away team

Quartermaster inventory management

In a multiplayer situation where players, that are part of a ships crew, may find themselves with not much to do, keeping them active and engaged is the correct solution. This is an important factor to address so that players always feel useful and enjoy their time in the game.

Why make this post ?

People come up with many ideas on the support forum, they may not always be a priority or appear to be relevant, but they could contribute to a game that becomes distinct and pleasing with idiosyncrasies that give the game character.

Attention should be paid to life aboard ship as players may spend a lot of time there.

Ideas that make the players time on a vessel a good experience need to come forward.

Parting question :

How do you stop a member of your crew from planting warheads on your ship?