Multicrew

Multicrew lets players serve as crewmembers on ships and vehicles. It instantly transfers them to a secondary bridge position via telepresence (drop-in matchmaking). It is accessed via a Social tab option in the Comms panel of the HUD and activates voice-chat.

Multicrew-compatible vehicles

• Ships with 2 or more seats - Gunner role (turreted weapons), Fighter Con role (SLFs)
• Ship-Launched Fighters - Up to two Multicrew controlled SLFs can be deployed per player ship
• Vehicles with 2 or more seats - currently only the Scorpion and Rhino

If the host is in a Team then multicrew is disabled. NPC Pilots can be hired to fly SLFs.

Fundamentals

Former Lead Designer Sandro Sammarco explained: "Fundamentally, Multicrew is about having fun with friends, so we want to make sure there are as few barriers to enjoying this feature as possible, starting with the crew formation process. We want to make it as easy as possible to start having fun on a multicrew ship."

As long as the ship has enough seats (different ships have different multicrew capabilities) a Commander can directly invite players or can set their vessel to allow multicrew access. Commanders who want to play as crew members can either accept direct invites or activate a new “looking for ship” feature which automatically places them as crew on a suitable vessel with multicrew access allowed.

When joining a crew, the Commander exits their current vessel and transfers to the multicrew vessel. The distance is irrelevant, because it uses Telepresence. They can leave at any time (or be evicted by the ship’s owner) at which point they'll return to their previous ship and location.

Roles

Multicrew menu

The Multicrew roles are Helm, Gunner, and Fighter Con.
The ship owner is always the Helm.
Other crew members have to chose and accept a role from available unoccupied ones. Crew members can dynamically switch roles, abandoning one and taking another unoccupied one.

Helm

The ship's owner is always the Helm. They always retain control over:

• maneuvering the ship
• selecting destinations and plotting routes
• use of FSD
• Modules control - changing power priority; turning them on or off. Including ones used by other roles
• fixed and gimballed weapons
• faction selection at Conflict zones. (Both for in-space CZs and planet surface outpost (on-foot) CZs.)
• Synthesis - including applying it to modules used by other roles
• Docking requests
• Accessing Startport services - some services (like Outfitting) are restricted during Multicrew session though
• NPC Fighter pilots (SLF)

Helm can not switch into a SLF during Multicrew session.

Gunner

Gunner's special outside view

Only available on a ship equipped with turreted or launched weapons. The Gunner allows a crewmember to take control of all those weapons, defensive modules and many scanners on the ship.
Gunner has access to:

• special third person view from outside the ship they can activate. This gives the Gunner:
  • easy control of all turreted weapons - a reticule is automatically followed by all turrets within their arc
  • three hundred and sixty degree tracking arcs for standard scanning, advanced scanners (such as the Kill Warrant Scanner, Manifest Scanner) and missile launchers
  • improved spatial awareness

• two additional “quick slot” fire buttons, in addition to normal fire groups. These are customizable with modules for more options to activate weapons and scanners.
• defensive modules like Chaff Launcher and ECM
• Full System Scanner and Detailed Surface Scanner for exploration

They have to set their own Fire groups for all weapons available to them that they want to use !

Fighter Con

Gives a crewmember control over one available Fighter Hangar. From it they can launch an SLF and subsequently control it.
This works even if the Helm already launched a fighter with an NPC crew, allows multicrew ships to simultaneously have two active fighters.
In addition, if the ship has enough fighters, both crew members can do the fighter con role. Thus three human-controlled ships can fly at the same time.

Exploration

Gunner role can use Detailed Surface Scanner.
Any crewmember has access to the Full System Scanner.

Additional benefits

Multicrew artwork

A big benefit is bundling the roles results in a higher success rate to complete tasks. An intangible benefit is the comradery of playing with crewmembers.

Every additional crewmember has access to 1 extra power distributor blue pip which they can assign dynamically where there is free pip slot in Power distributor. These pips are in addition to the standard (orange) pips that the Helm controls. This extra power distribution allows the ship to operate more effectively, increasing its capabilities in combat.

Ship rebuy premiums are reduced for each crewmember. The purpose is to lower the access bar and ease of use, especially when dealing with vessels that cost much credits.

All bounties and vouchers that the Helm (ship owner) receives are duplicated for each crewmember. This makes multicrew fun with friends without missing out on money-making opportunities.

However, sharing benefits includes shared punishment. Any crime that the ship suffers is equally applied to all crewmembers.

At the end of multicrew session (or when crewmember leaves the session), each Commander gets to a Session report screen, where they can chose to either accept all rewards and penalties or decline, lose all and avoid the crimes.

Technology

Pilots use telepresence to appear in other people's ships as Holo-Me holograms.

Ships

The ideal ships for multicrew have 2 or more seats and Ship-Launched Fighters. These are the: Federal Gunship, Keelback, Krait Mk II, Alliance Crusader, Anaconda, Beluga Liner, Federal Corvette, Imperial Cutter, Type-9 Heavy, Type-10 Defender. The Beluga Liner is designed for passenger carrier missions, and worse in other roles.

Seats and SLF

These ships have 2 or more seats for multicrew. The larger ships are SLF capable.

Ship	Seats	Multicrew	SLF	Manufacturer
Adder	2	Yes	No	Zorgon Peterson
Alliance Challenger	2	Yes	No	Lakon Spaceways
Alliance Chieftain	2	Yes	No	Lakon Spaceways
Asp Explorer	2	Yes	No	Lakon Spaceways
Asp Scout	2	Yes	No	Lakon Spaceways
Cobra Mk III	2	Yes	No	Faulcon DeLacy
Cobra Mk IV	2	Yes	No	Faulcon DeLacy
Federal Assault Ship	2	Yes	No	Core Dynamics
Federal Dropship	2	Yes	No	Core Dynamics
Mandalay	2	Yes	No	Zorgon Peterson
Fer-de-Lance	2	Yes	No	Zorgon Peterson
Imperial Clipper	2	Yes	No	Gutamaya
Krait Phantom	2	Yes	No	Faulcon DeLacy
Mamba	2	Yes	No	Zorgon Peterson
Orca	2	Yes	No	Saud Kruger
Python	2	Yes	No	Faulcon DeLacy
Python Mk II	2	Yes	No	Faulcon DeLacy
Vulture	2	Yes	No	Core Dynamics
Federal Gunship	2	Yes	Yes	Core Dynamics
Keelback	2	Yes	Yes	Lakon Spaceways
Cobra Mk V	3	Yes	No	Faulcon DeLacy
Krait Mk II	3	Yes	Yes	Faulcon DeLacy
Alliance Crusader	4	Yes	Yes	Lakon Spaceways
Anaconda	4	Yes	Yes	Faulcon DeLacy
Beluga Liner	4	Yes	Yes	Saud Kruger
Federal Corvette	4	Yes	Yes	Core Dynamics
Imperial Cutter	4	Yes	Yes	Gutamaya
Type-9 Heavy	4	Yes	Yes	Lakon Spaceways
Type-10 Defender	4	Yes	Yes	Lakon Spaceways
Panther Clipper Mk II	4	Yes	Yes	Zorgon Peterson
Caspian Explorer	4	Yes	Yes	Zorgon Peterson

Vehicle cabin seats

These vehicles have 2 or more seats for multicrew.

SRV	Seats	Multicrew	Manufacturer
Scorpion	2	Yes	Vodel
Rhino	3	Yes	Vodel

Development

Multicrew was introduced in the ED: Horizons The Commanders v2.3 update.

ED: Odyssey Update 8 increased the Multicrew limit from 3 to 4, and added a fourth pilot seat to all existing 3-seat ships except the Krait MkII.

ED: Odyssey Update 9 added the first Multicrew-capable SRV, the Scorpion in 2021. The Rhino was added on 2 September 2026.

Videos

• File:Pilot Training - Multicrew - Elite Dangerous Horizons
• File:Multi-crew Vulture Cinematic (GONE VIOLENT)

Gallery

• 
  Multicrew in a Corvette
• 
  Multicrew Women