Crew
Crew are specialized NPCs that reside on the player's ship and generally provide passive benefits. Up to two crew members per ship level can reside on the ship at a time, to a maximum of twelve.
Up to two crew members at a time can follow the player to any place in the universe, giving short buffs and assisting in combat.
Acquiring Crew Members
Crew members of most races can be obtained by gaining favor with friendly, non-merchant NPCs through quests. When an NPC decides that they want to join the player's crew, they will change into a Protectorate uniform colored according to their prospective job, and can be added to the crew by interacting with them and clicking "Hire", assuming the player has room in both their landing party and on their ship roster. Note that some NPC types, such as merchants, give quests but they never become crew.
Not all kinds of NPCs can become all kinds of crew. Depending on their type, their crew type chances are as follows:
- Generic non-Merchant NPC: 14.3% Soldier, 3.6% Blue (Jump) Chemist, 3.6% Green (Run) Chemist, 3.6% Yellow (Glow) Chemist, 3.6% Orange (Rage) Chemist, 14.3% Engineer, 14.3% Mechanic, 14.3% Medic, 14.3% Janitor, 14.3% Tailor
- Generic Guard, Convict Tenant: 50% Soldier, 25% Engineer, 25% Mechanic
- Miniknog Researcher, Hazmat Scientist and Scientist Tenants: 25% Blue Chemist, 25% Green Chemist, 25% Yellow Chemist, 25% Orange Chemist
- Electrician: 50% Engineer, 50% Mechanic
- Philanthropist and Socialite: 100% Tailor
- Apex Rebel: 25% Soldier, 25% Engineer, 25% Mechanic, 25% Medic
In addition, there are two other ways to acquire crew members:
- Penguin crew members can be hired with dubloons from the Beakeasy once the Dreadwing the Penguin encounter has been completed in the current universe. All penguin mercenaries have the job Soldier.
- When on a quest to kill a hostile NPC, that NPC, once brought down to low health, sometimes decides to surrender and requests that the player lower their weapon, done by switching to a non-weapon item or emptying their hands {Z key by default}). If the NPC does not betray the player's trust, doing so will allow the player to recruit them. They will always have the job Outlaw.
On-Ship Effects
Crew members who provide ship effects will either improve the ship's engine performance and efficiency, or will provide a passive effect to the player and all crew members on board. When they aren't following the player, crew members will act like regular NPCs, interacting with other objects on the ship and one another.
Every two ship members recruited will unlock a new ship upgrade quest just outside the Outpost in the shipyard. Penguin Pete will increase ship size provided players have both the crew and the correct number of upgrade modules. The player's initial ship can hold 2 crew members, and each of five ship upgrades increases crew capacity by 2; therefore, a maximum-size ship can hold 12 crew members.
Party
Players can talk to crew members on their ship to add them to their party. When in a party, crew members follow the player. A maximum of two crew members can join the player's party at once, however, with two crew members in a party, the player will be unable to recruit additional crew members.
The party will accompany the player to planets, the outpost, and missions, and will fight hostile entities alongside the player. If a crew member is unable to follow the player, for example, if the player uses multi-jump to leap to a high ledge, they will teleport to the player's location. Likewise, crew members will not follow players into any liquids. Instead, they will wait until the player reemerges onto dry land, possibly teleporting to the player's position.
| Known Bug | |
|---|---|
 |
Crew members do not consider a one-block high pool of liquid to be "in liquid". Thus, they will happily stand in a such a pool of lava until they die. Environments featuring lava may not be the best place to bring crew members. |
Crew members will respawn on the ship when killed, and will return to the ship if the player does, even if the player is killed. If the player beams back to the ship, crew members remain in their party, but if a crew member respawns on the ship because they died, or teleports back to the ship because the player died, they will leave the party until asked to rejoin.
If the player interacts with a following crew member off ship, the crew member will stop following the player. To make them follow the player again, the player must find and interact with them again. Non-following crew members are still crew members, and will still return to the ship on death, or when the player does.
Crew Stat Leveling
Unlike most other NPCs, crew members' stats do not depend on their place of origin. Instead, crew members' health, defense, and combat power scale with the player's armor. These stats are updated every other second, and so will scale quickly if the player changes armor. Note that all types of crew members scale at the same rate, regardless of role.
Crew members start with 270 health, and gain a health bonus equal to the player's currently-equipped armor's health bonus. They regenerate 2 health per second. Likewise, the crew member's defense is equal to the player's currently-equipped armor's defense rating.
Crew member combat power is significantly lower than player or other NPC combat power. For players and other NPCs, combat power is determined by the equation:
power = weaponBasePower * weaponLevelMultiplier * (powerMultiplierBaseValue * armorLevelMultiplier)
In the above equation, for NPCs, the weaponLevelMultiplier and armorLevelMultiplier are always equal to the multipliers appropriate for the NPC's threat level. For players, powerMultiplierBaseValue is 1.0; for NPCs, it varies between 0.5 and 1.0 depending on the NPC type.
For crew members, the equation is different:
crewPower = weaponBasePower * weaponLevelMultiplier * (powerMultiplierBaseValue * playerArmorLevelMultiplier2)
Note that weaponLevelMultiplier is always 1.0 and powerMultiplierBaseValue is always 0.25 for crew members. The following table demonstrates powerMultiplier for players with a given tier of weapon and armor, the cultist NPC (as an example NPC), and crew members. powerMultiplier is the product of weaponLevelMultiplier, powerMultiplierBaseValue, and armorLevelMultiplier, or in the case of crew members, playerArmorLevelMultiplier2. It does not include the weaponBasePower, because that value may change from weapon to weapon, even within a tier.
| Tier | Player Power | Cultist Power | Crew Member Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1.0 | 1.15 | 0.25 |
| 1 | 1.5 | 1.15 | 0.5625 |
| 2 | 3.0 | 2.475 | 1.0 |
| 3 | 5.0 | 4.3 | 1.5625 |
| 4 | 7.5 | 6.625 | 2.25 |
| 5 | 10.5 | 9.45 | 3.0625 |
| 5(m) | 12.0 | 9.45 | 4.0 |
| 6 | 14.0 | 12.775 | 4.0 |
| 6(m) | 16.1 | 12.775 | 5.29 |
For tier 0, assume the player has a tier 1 weapon and no armor. The tiers marked (m) indicate the player using Manipulator armor, which has an enhanced power bonus. As the table demonstrates, crew members always strike with substantially weaker power than either players or other NPCs at any given level.
Crew Roles
Each crew member has a role assigned. Each role provides a benefit to the player or the ship. The color of each crew member's uniform corresponds to the role they have. Roles can be reviewed in the 'Crew' tab in SAIL on the ship.
| Color | Name | Sub Roles | Ship Benefit | Travelling Benefit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Chemist |  Blue Chemist
|
 Jump Boost (persistent)
|
Jump Boost (temporary - 30 seconds)
|
 Green Chemist
|
 Run Boost (persistent)
|
Run Boost (temporary - 30 seconds)
| ||
 Orange Chemist
|
 Rage (persistent)
|
Rage (temporary - 30 seconds)
| ||
 Yellow Chemist
|
 Glow (persistent)
|
Glow (temporary - 90 seconds)
| ||
 |
Engineer | None | Increases ship travel speed by 10%. 2nd crew member adds 5%, 3rd 2.5%, etc. | None |
 |
Janitor | None | Tries to appear useful. | None |
 |
Mechanic | None | Increases ship fuel efficency by 10%. 2nd crew member adds 5%, 3rd 2.5%, etc. | None |
 |
Medic | None |  Regeneration (persistent)
|
Regeneration (temporary)
|
 |
Outlaw | None | None | Combat support |
 |
Soldier | None | None | Combat support |
 |
Tailor | None | Change uniforms of NPC crew and available crew NPC awaiting recruit | None |
Tailor
Tailor crew members can change crew uniforms, swapping between the default Protectorate uniform and a custom uniform based on what the player is wearing when interacting with the tailor. Crew members will wear colorized versions of the assigned uniform to indicate their roles aboard the ship.
The tailor is the only type of crew member that cannot join the player's party or leave the ship. Tailors are armed, however, and if a hostile entity somehow boards the player's ship, the tailor will defend it alongside the player and other crew members.
Dismissal
Crew members can be dismissed from duty via SAIL's "Crew" tab. This can be used to make space for more crew members to be recruited, or to otherwise get rid of unwanted crew members.
Dismissal is irrevocable and dismissed crew members are removed from the game. If a crew member cost something to recruit, e.g., a dubloon to recruit a penguin mercenary, that cost is not refunded upon dismissal.
Achievements
Several achievements require the user to perform tasks related to ship crew.
| Name | Description | Requirements | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
First Mate | Recruit your first crew member. Captain! |
Recruit a crew member to your ship. |
|
Captain of the Year | Recruit at least 12 crew members. Consider starting a pension plan. |
Recruit 12 crew members to your ship. |
|
A Motley Crew | Recruit one crew member from every race. It's like a teeny tiny protectorate. |
Recruit a crew member from each race. |
|
Feathered Friend | Recruit a penguin mercenary from the Beakeasy. | Recruit a penguin crew member using a dubloon at the Beakeasy. |
Trivia
The icon of the "Captain of the Year" achievement appears to indicate that green uniforms, unused by any vanilla crew member types, is reserved for ship Captains such as the player.
