EVE Crews: A lore-accurate* API-linked crew simulator

[Seismic_Stan]

Hi all,

EVE’s lore has always supported the concept of ship crews, but they’ve never been a gameplay feature. After years of writing about it, the AI-assisted coding era finally gave me a way to build it - so here’s EVE Crews.

EVE Crews is a browser-based companion minigame that runs alongside your EVE Online session. Your in-game activity generates narrative events aboard your ship, your officers develop over time, and decisions you make between sessions shape the culture and capability of your command.

It’s now at v1.69.x after roughly three months of active development and playtesting, with much of the recent work driven directly by playtester reports in this thread.

EVE Crews

What it does

• Crew management: Hire and develop a command crew with procedurally generated traits, backstories, and sub-faction affiliations. Officers progress through Command Rank, gain hull proficiencies, and get tetchy if you ignore their promotion prospects. Recruitment pools reflect where you’re docked — you’ll struggle to hire Minmatar Naval Enlisted from an Amarr station.
• Session events: Undock, do something in EVE for at least 10 minutes, and redock. EVE Crews analyses your ESI telemetry and generates an After-Action Report and a queue of shipboard narrative events requiring your decisions.
• Loadout Registration: Save your fit in the in-game fitting manager (or declare your tank on the Bridge) and the SCC registry certifies your loadout — the damage model then assesses combat against your actual defences rather than guessing from hull doctrine. A shield-boosted ship that reps through an engagement reads as hazard duty, not structural damage. Certification is per-hull and shown on the ship panel.
• Tactical Data Recorder: Submit your EVE client’s gamelog to the Command Centre for richer combat analysis — engagement-by-engagement severity, threat faction identification, resist-profile matchups, and crew/officer casualty assessment with an evidence trail showing how each conclusion was reached.
• Boarding & Ransacking: Weapon-fire and electronic-warfare interactions with site structures in your gamelog unlock Boarding Actions — real-time mini-operations led by your Security department, with timed decision points, leader trait overrides, and per-beat casualty risk. Ransack structures at mission and exploration sites for off-manifest loot and revenue. Difficulty scales by structure type: civilian silos are forgiving, military installations mean business, and rogue drone sites will eat an unprepared boarding party.
• Station Operations: When docked, dispatch away teams on multi-session missions via your XO — station contacts, deserter hunts, and Acquisition Details that source useful goods from the station’s grey economy into your ship’s off-manifest stores. Risk profiles vary by faction and security status; teams can return injured, detained, or not at all.
• Crew logistics: Officers can be billeted station-side and crew sent on shore leave, with retainers to pay and recall handled per station. Stranded personnel can be retrieved by chartered transport, or ferried in bulk by shuttle.
• EVE Colonies: A persistent colonial arc linked to your Planetary Interaction activity. Build a colony population, manage faction friction, and route commuter traffic between ship and surface. Your XO can administer colonies remotely by fluid-router relay — capacity scales with their Command Rating, and split focus carries a retention surcharge — or you can deploy dedicated administrators and division leads planetside.
• Captain’s Quarters Redux: A restored 2013 Twine adventure, playable while docked, accessible via the ⊕ DOCKED topbar pill.

What it reads from EVE (read-only, no writes)

Location, active ship, wallet journal, cargo, skills, saved fittings, killmails, standings, notifications, planetary colonies.

Getting started

1. Log in at eve-crews.com via EVE SSO (read-only PKCE flow).
2. Complete Command Commissioning - choose a starting grant tier and initial crew manifest.
3. Hire your line officers from the Recruitment Academy while docked.
4. Undock, fly for at least 10 minutes, redock.
5. Review your After-Action Report on the Bridge tab and respond to pending comms.

The in-game Commander’s Manual covers the rest.

Recovery URL: EVE Crews (clears local data and reloads from cloud save)

Based on lore research from EVE’s first decade, including the CCP t0nyG Fanfest 2011 crew chart and official chronicle sources. Some extrapolation required.

I hope you enjoy the experience. I’d love to get some feedback.

Latest updates documented here: Ship Destruction update

[g0uda]

This is really cool thanks for sharing, I’ll check it out!

[Asveron_Durr]

does it follow this guide line posted originally by a dev years ago?

[g0uda]

Lore wise how does a crew play into a neural link guy in a capsule piloting the ship? The capsuleer even manages all the things a crew would like weapons, propulsion, power, defense, etc.

[Seismic_Stan]

does it follow this guide line posted originally by a dev years ago?

Yes, it follows that table with some licence. Those figures, originally shared by CCP t0nyG (author of EVE novels The Empyrean Age and Templar One) at Fanfest 2011, and other official sources were used as the starting point to determine crew numbers.

Other ship types have been extrapolated from the official numbers and, for variety, modifiers have been applied to those numbers to account for different racial crew doctrines (Gallente reliance on drone tech, Amarr enslavement etc).

I did quite a lot of research on it years ago on my blog.

The Ships Crew Debate: The Official Line

[Seismic_Stan]

@g0uda

Lore wise how does a crew play into a neural link guy in a capsule piloting the ship? The capsuleer even manages all the things a crew would like weapons, propulsion, power, defense, etc.

There is extensive reference in the lore to crew aboard capsuleer ships. Essentially, the capsuleer can take over command functions (ie. everything that would be undertaken by bridge officers), but they still couldn’t fix a broken power conduit or put out a fire on the lower decks.

The AI answer:

The crew numbers in EVE Crews are derived from a blend of official CCP lore, historical game data, and community research. The specific sources used to determine these headcounts include:

• CCP’s Official Fanfest 2011 Crew Chart: This presentation is treated as the primary canon for the application, locking in the baseline crew numbers and officially confirming that capsuleers operate with significantly smaller “skeleton” crews compared to standard naval vessels.

• The New Eden Crew Guidelines: Formerly hosted on the official Evelopedia, this document established the foundational “rules” for ship crewing, including the capsuleer-to-baseline crew ratios and the specific racial philosophies that dictate how the four empires man their ships.

• EVE Source & Official Novels: The definitive lore encyclopedia EVE Source, alongside official novels like The Empyrean Age and The Burning Life, provide the narrative scale of the vessels. These texts confirm operational details, such as crews spending most of their journeys in escape pods performing maintenance, and establish that thousands of baseline humans live inside capital-class ships.

• Official Chronicles: Short lore stories, such as Hands of a Killer, are referenced to establish the human cost of capsuleer combat and confirm the presence of hundreds of crew members even on nominally “solo-piloted” ships.

• The Original Ship Blueprints (2003–2004): Pre-beta and launch-era ship model data provided some of the earliest concrete, static attributes for crew and passenger capacities.

• The Freebooted Blog: Over a decade of community research and debate compiled on the developer’s Freebooted blog was used to gather and synthesise these disparate official sources into the working estimates used in the application.

• Technical Logic and Volume Scaling: For ships introduced later in EVE’s history (such as the Orca), numbers are extrapolated by comparing the ship’s volume, mass, and mechanical functions against established baselines. For example, applying a rule that 10% to 15% of a large ship’s crew must be dedicated to maintaining large drone and fighter bays

[DeMichael_Crimson]

Cool idea, a ‘behind the scene’ app tied in with actual game data…

Downloaded and installed…

Only downside I see right from the start is no option to view and select ‘Faction specific’ crew members… Meaning the available crew recruitment list is mixed Factions…

[Seismic_Stan]

Thanks for trying it out.

@DeMichael_Crimson

Only downside I see right from the start is no option to view and select ‘Faction specific’ crew members… Meaning the available crew recruitment list is mixed Factions…

Great idea! That’s certainly something I’d like to expand upon.

Currently, the recruitment algorithm is influenced mostly by location, with other factors like the racial affiliation of the station, ship, and recruiting officer race and traits (‘patriot’ and ‘racist’) also playing a part.

But it is all automatic at the moment. I agree it would be great to introduce some player agency to directly influence the crew recruitment process.

[DeMichael_Crimson]

@Seismic_Stan

Currently, the recruitment algorithm is influenced mostly by location,

Yeah, I noticed that very quickly after docking at various stations, went through 3 XO’s and 2 CE’s just to get a halfway decent crew…

Would docking at a FW Corp station present an entire Faction specific crew recruitment list?

Anyway, just had my first ‘Official’ Eve Crews narrative event happen with 3 choices to resolve it…

XO report crew complaining of strange smell from cargohold…

SESSION 0 · THE SMELL OF IT

Resolved: Seal hold and post a guard

Hold sealed. Guard posted. Engineering mutters. Security approves. The ship runs cleaner for it.

That spawned another event with 3 choices to resolve it - XO report crew complaints due to Quafe in cargohold…

SESSION 0 · THE QUAFE+ INCIDENT

Resolved: Medical intervention. Document everything.

Full medical screening ordered for all crew who had access to the cargo. Quafe supply destroyed under hazardous materials protocol. Two hundred thousand ISK in medical costs. Your Medical Officer filed a commendation request on your behalf. Medical Officer Loyalty +10, ISK -200k.

So yeah, pretty cool ‘behind the scene’ mini game app…

[Seismic_Stan]

Would docking at a FW Corp station present an entire Faction specific crew recruitment list?

I like this idea. In conjunction with your thoughts on demographic selection above, it’s feeling like some work around crew quality and variety is in order.

[Seismic_Stan]

Hey DeMichael, based on your input, I’ve implemented update v1.31.27, which introduces Enhanced Crew Lineages and Recruitment Directives.

Players can now select specific recruitment modes (Standard, Targeted, or Specialist), which are constrained by location, scarcity, and faction standings.

The update adds diverse crew lineages - such as Empire Conscripts, Faction Warfare Veterans, major pirate cartels, Mordu’s Legion, and Deep Space Enclaves - each featuring unique mechanical effects and officer trait synergies.

Departments now track lineage composition with proportional attrition.

Finally, it adds a “Department Culture” UI and a “Fractured” morale penalty for overly mixed crews.

Let me know how you get on with it, and thanks again for the input.

[Thomaas_Daeron]

Hi there!

I was playing this yesterday on my alt and I’m really really liking this the whole idea of being able to get even deeper into the lore and how the crew impacts the game is fascinating, I’ve always been interested in the behind the scenes of what happens through those tiny windows in the ship.

I made a bit of a mess setting up my crew and then struggled to understand how to get more money, so I’d really welcome the ability to hit a reset button that clears my crew and resets my funds so I can start again.

The biggest thing for me though is my eyesight. I have poor vision so have to have the browser full screen and zoomed in and squint close at the screen and it’s purely because I can’t see the text very well - it’s too feint on the screen and the contrast is bad. Any change you could change that so the text is brighter?

I’ll keep playing over the weekend but great work. Thanks

[DeMichael_Crimson]

@Thomaas_Daeron

The biggest thing for me though is my eyesight. I have poor vision so have to have the browser full screen and zoomed in and squint close at the screen and it’s purely because I can’t see the text very well - it’s too feint on the screen and the contrast is bad. Any change you could change that so the text is brighter?

I agree on the text, it’s definitely hard to read, larger and brighter text would help a lot..

@Thomaas_Daeron

how to get more money

Very good question…

Also how does the Sessions count actually work? Is it based on Eve Crews app log-in or Eve Online client log-in?

The reason I ask is because mine still shows ‘Session 0’ after doing a couple of Eve Crews app log-in and multiple Eve Online client log-in’s…

Also is it ok to keep the app logged in?

[Seismic_Stan]

Hi Thomaas, thanks for the encouraging feedback.

I hear you on the issue with unbalanced ISK flow - plenty of ways to spend it, few ways to earn it.

The development roadmap is built around the idea that you’ll be able to transfer in-game ISK from EVE Online, but that’s something I need to look into further regarding CCP’s rules on this.

There is already a test suite menu where you can inject more ISK into the system to simulate this. Click the (almost invisible) star icon to the far right of the bottom button panel and scroll down to the ‘ISK Override’ section.

However, if your preference is to not cheat/stay within the wonky balance of EVE crews, there are a few ways you can generate ISK.

• Submitting your Tactical Data Recorder (TDR) log to enhance the after action reports now generates a ‘bounty’ from the local authority depending on the level of activity the session involved. [I’ll grab a screenshot of this panel when I can]
• Carrying around tourists generates a small passive income.
• Some events lead to significant ISK rewards.

Noted on the visibility issue. I’ll see if I can build in a brightness option.

[Seismic_Stan]

@DeMichael_Crimson

Also how does the Sessions count actually work? Is it based on Eve Crews app log-in or Eve Online client log-in?

A valid session in EVE Crews is measured by the Session Loop, which is strictly defined as an Undock → 10 Minute Minimum Time-in-Space → Redock cycle.

To successfully register a session, you must undock your vessel and maintain a presence in space for at least 10 minutes to establish the primary data set.

If you undock and redock before this 10-minute threshold (MIN_SESSION_MS) is reached, the application logs a “Short dock”. When a short dock occurs, a ship log entry is written noting that the minimum time requirement was not met, and neither the After-Action Report nor the Tactical Data Recorder (TDR) upload panel will trigger.

Once you successfully complete a valid session by redocking, all ESI-detected telemetry events and significant command decisions from your deployment are finalised and recorded in the ship’s Operational Log (the “Ticker Tape”) for your review.

@DeMichael_Crimson

Also is it ok to keep the app logged in?

I’m sure it’s fine, it just sits in your browser and stores information locally, occasionally polling CCP’s API output (which is entirely normal for 3rd-party apps and within CCP’s rules).

But let me ask my NotebookLM session for a more technical explanation.

"Yes, it is completely safe to keep the EVE Crews application logged in.

"The application operates using a secure, read-only ESI PKCE authentication flow. It only reads data such as your ship’s location, active hull, and cargo manifest. It will never write to your EVE Online account or access your wallet.

"Authentication tokens are stored safely within your browser’s local storage to maintain your session. Keeping the application logged in is actually required for its core mechanics, as it maintains live telemetry by polling the ESI every 30 seconds to track your undock and dock transitions, alongside a broader data synchronization every 5 minutes.

"If you ever wish to sever the connection, you can revoke the application’s access at any time directly via the official EVE Online website.

"The EVE Crews always-on connection stays completely within CCP’s rules. The application operates using a secure, read-only ESI PKCE authentication flow. This ensures it only requests permission to read data—such as your ship’s location, active hull, and cargo manifest—and cannot write to your EVE Online account or access your wallet.

"Furthermore, the application’s polling rates (checking location and ship endpoints every 30 seconds, and performing broader data synchronizations every 5 minutes) are standard for third-party companion tools utilizing the EVE Swagger Interface (ESI). Any advanced data parsing, such as the Tactical Data Recorder (TDR), is also entirely EULA-compliant because it processes your local gamelog files directly within your browser without ever uploading the data to a server.

“You maintain absolute control over your data and can sever the connection by revoking the application’s access at any time via the official EVE Online website.”

So there you have it. Verbose as that answer was, it’s definitely ok to stay logged in.

[Seismic_Stan]

As we’re discussing the ESI traffic, here’s a quick visual explainer of what the blinking ‘telemetry’ bars in the header mean - they’re more than just flavour and can help as a broad indicator of when the next packet is available for a particular EVE Crews game feature.

[DeMichael_Crimson]

Ahh, thanks for the explanation…

That helped a lot, I completed a session and received a TDR with AAR…

[Seismic_Stan]

@DeMichael_Crimson

I agree on the text, it’s definitely hard to read, larger and brighter text would help a lot..

High contrast text and UI scaling options now available in the settings found in the top bar.

[Thomaas_Daeron]

Wow that was quick! Back on it now. Will let you know

[Seismic_Stan]

@Thomaas_Daeron

Wow that was quick!

One of the advantages of vibe-coding.

Of course, now something else has broken (authentification), so there’s also a downside. Working on a fix though.