Non-player Character

A Non-player Character (NPC) is an entity within Star Citizen that is not controlled by a player in real-time. Star Citizen uses 5 different types of NPCs to populate the Persistent Universe.

Types of NPCs

 * Character - Character NPCs are Real NPCs that are critical to the storyline or mission, many using A-list actors. Most of the character NPCs were completed fully by CIG using motion capture acting with professional actors. The Squadron 42 portion of Star Citizen uses Character NPCs to script the story.


 * Simulated - Simulated NPCs make up the background of the Persistent Universe. They are endowed with basic personality traits, utilize resources from the economy and react as a mass population would to help simulate the masses of the cities, planets, systems, and universe. Simulated NPCs are not visually represented in Persistent Universe, however the greater the simulated NPC population, the greater the represented population by Real NPCs at places like the landing zone or shops.


 * Probabilistic - Probabilistic NPCs are basic algorithms that are basic back-end NPCs that are less NPC and more probabilities. These NPCs will not have direct interaction with the player character.


 * Virtual - Virtual NPCs or "spoofed" NPCs are non-existent in the PU until required for the Dynamic Mission System. When a mission is created, a virtual NPC is created. Once a mission is accepted, the Virtual NPC is converted into a Real NPC for the duration of its interaction with the player character.


 * Real - Real NPCs are NPCs that are fully simulated within the Persistent Universe, to include a visual representation. All Character NPCs are real NPCs. These types of NPCs are very resource-intensive which is why simulated, probabilistic and virtual NPCs are required. Real NPCs have a series of subroutines that define their behaviors, like the engineer, hygiene, hawker, and tourist behaviors. The first pass on the engineer handles maintenance operations for wall panels inside ships and hangars, including inspecting internal fuses and replacing them if damaged. The initial implementation of the hygiene behavior gives NPCs the ability to use toilets, sinks, and showers, while the Hawker is a generic activity that handles various street vendors and speakers. For example, NPCs manning hotdog or taco stands. The first pass on the tourist behavior deals with characters going to and traveling around areas to look at points of interest.