I had Mercinary Commanders (which were components) in the 'D-Mod' awhile back, with pictures and a seperate 'Technology' to research for hiring them. The modd (non-gold, in process of conVersion as we speak) is in the modding folders. Unique heroes I found you could not do (as the AI would ignore 'one per ship' rule at a whim and everyone could have a 'Kirk' component) so I made 'hirelings'. Things like engeneering teams, boarding parties (Ork Boarding Parties!
) etc. Take a look if you want some ideas of what they could do.
Example:
Name := Dulaann Acadamy Bridge Officer Team
Description := The Elite graduates of the Dulaann Acadamy for Ship to Ship combat. Ship gets Experience equal to best ship in fleet.
Pic Num := 283
Tonnage Space Taken := 5
Tonnage Structure := 15
Cost Minerals := 4000
Cost Organics := 100
Cost Radioactives := 0
Vehicle Type := Ship\Base\Sat
Supply Amount Used := 0
Restrictions := One Per Vehicle
General Group := Sensors
Family := 9962
Roman Numeral := 0
Custom Group := 0
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Mercinary Tech
Tech Level Req 1 := 4
Number of Abilities := 4
Ability 1 Type := Combat Best Experience
Ability 1 Descr := This ship gets an experience level as high as any of your other ships in combat.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 0
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Combat To Hit Defense Plus
Ability 2 Descr := Gives a 5% defense bonus in combat (only 1 component per ship effective).
Ability 2 Val 1 := 5
Ability 2 Val 2 := 0
Ability 3 Type := Combat To Hit Offense Plus
Ability 3 Descr := Gives a 5% offense bonus in combat (only 1 component per ship effective).
Ability 3 Val 1 := 5
Ability 3 Val 2 := 0
Ability 4 Type := Boarding Defense
Ability 4 Descr := Mercinary will defend also {Value:15}(all stations on ship will be used for defense).
Ability 4 Val 1 := 15
Ability 4 Val 2 := 0
Weapon Type := None
[ June 05, 2002, 01:43: Message edited by: Deathstalker ]