Non-player Characters (short: NPC) is an entity within Star Citizen that is not controlled by a player character in real-time. Star Citizen uses 5 different types of NPCs to populate the Persistent Universe.
Types of NPC's
- 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.