3.1 teamwork is developing

[albert]

As Smilo says, CIG haven't actually fleshed out the logout mechanic yet, but I believe in the scenario where the ship owner logs out (or disconnects), the owner's avatar will be taken control of by AI, which will attempt to fly the ship to the last safe harbour.  AFAIK there' won't be any despawning of the ship until it reaches safe harbour or one of the remaining humans puts the ship into hibernation mode (if they've been given the permissions to do so).  Alternatively, one of the humans with sufficient privileges can maybe ask to take control of the ship (if they aren't already in control: it doesn't have to be the owner piloting the ship) and carry on with the mission or take the ship somewhere else.

I'm interested to see how they actually do this to be honest, as it's going to make group missions - especially those over several days/sessions - quite interesting.

They're going to have to battle game disconnects due to network problems and I'd like to see what they intend to do if a member of the group disconnects during a mission or a jump, does AI take over and follow the group or do they get lost somewhere in the verse. I think it's going to be very difficult to have AI takeover and try and get a ship back to base. What if someone is out exploring and is days of real time from their base? Every time we logout the ship starts to backtrack. I think we need to have a mechanism where a ship can achieve a location either in space or planetside that is deemed a safe logoff spot. Somewhere players on long trips can seek out to logoff safely. I pondered this for a while and really think even if they buff the AFK (AFShip) defences on an unmanned landed craft there is nothing a ship can do against another that is much larger or a small wing of pirates. There will be groups of pirates just going around destroying or EMPing AI manned logoff ships or ships that are landed doing research.

It's a difficult choice. I find the logoff timer when under threat and complete disappear from the game to be the best option to keep people sane.

[Obsydian]

They're going to have to battle game disconnects due to network problems and I'd like to see what they intend to do if a member of the group disconnects during a mission or a jump, does AI take over and follow the group or do they get lost somewhere in the verse. I think it's going to be very difficult to have AI takeover and try and get a ship back to base.

Having an AI take over and attempt to navigate back to the last planet/station docked at is confirmed functionality.  If the player who gets disconnected is engaged in combat, the AI will try to disengage (run away!) before then plotting a course for 'home', all the while whoever they were fighting with will have the chance to attack whilst still in range.  The intention behind this is to stop people from attempting to escape from losing a fight by simply closing the client.  As the ship will travel through the physical game world (bit of an oxymoron there), until the ship is in safe space, it can still be attacked.

What if someone is out exploring and is days of real time from their base? Every time we logout the ship starts to backtrack. I think we need to have a mechanism where a ship can achieve a location either in space or planetside that is deemed a safe logoff spot. Somewhere players on long trips can seek out to logoff safely. I pondered this for a while and really think even if they buff the AFK (AFShip) defences on an unmanned landed craft there is nothing a ship can do against another that is much larger or a small wing of pirates. There will be groups of pirates just going around destroying or EMPing AI manned logoff ships or ships that are landed doing research.

It's a difficult choice. I find the logoff timer when under threat and complete disappear from the game to be the best option to keep people sane.

Ah, no, there's already a mechanic defined for this scenario!  If you want to log off, you can find an appropriate space, power down the ship, if you're the last player on the ship you can engage hibernation mode, lie down in a bunk (this is what they're really for) and then log off.  This will then remove the ship from the game world.  When you (or presumably one of your hibernating crew mates) logs back on, the ship is respawned where it last was, in a powered down state, with you lying in your bunk, ready to resume your quest.

The automatic navigation home is only for unplanned disconnects.