Important!

As of version 1.20, I will not longer develop this mod. The reason is that a much more interesting mod has recently been published. I strongly recommend that you check $300's Faster Crew Leveling!

1. Description

Do you find it illogical to give command of a fully armed destroyer to a toddler? Do you wish your newly recruited traders were able to understand the very concept of trading on their own? Well, look no further!

This mod enables recruiting of professional crew on any ship you buy.

Service crew and marines will be more costly (between 10 000 and 30 000 credits, depending on your standing with the related faction) to compensate a little (nothing I can do for captains as they don't seem to have any recruitment fee).

I've also boosted NPC stats, to hopefully reduce AI issues, as low skill pilots get a worse AI according to X4 scripts.

The mod comes in two flavours:

• The "Mild" version with crew ranging from 2 1/3 to 4 stars in their related skill and morale;
• The "Employee of the jazura" version with crew ranging from 3 to 4 2/3 stars in their related skill and morale.
  

Compatible with an existing save, but may require time before the boosted crew are available.

Split Vendetta is supported.


2. Purpose of the mod

Let's face it, this mod is a crude cheat in order to bypass this tedious and IMO illogical game mechanic. I hope Egosoft will turn the HR aspect of the game into something engaging, and that my mod will no longer be necessary in the future.
 
I will think about ways to make this mod less cheaty and more interesting, but as i am far from being a great coder, I don't want to make promises I can't keep.


3. Installation

• CREATE A BACKUP OF YOUR SAVES (Just in case...)
• Extract the files from the archive
• Copy the "professional_crew" folder in the "extensions" repertory located in the main game directory (where the game executable is). For example : C:\Program Files (x86)\GOG Galaxy\Games\X4 Foundations\extensions or C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\X4 Foundations\extensions. You'll have to create the extensions folder if you do not have one already. 
• The mod should now appear in the extensions menu of your game.
  

4. Uninstallation

Delete the "professional_crew" folder from your "extensions" repertory.