Ostranauts Crew AI and Docking Fees Fix

Update v0.15.1.16 — More Fixes for Crew AI, Docking Fees, and Other Issues — sits on the Across the System milestone between Workshop support and the later PASS and Gigs Rebalance. It targets two captain nightmares: docking fees that keep billing after you leave, and crew AI stuck in impossible social actions across unloaded maps.

Blue Bottle Games listed saves from v0.15.0.0+ as compatible. If your Funds ledger still shows ghost berth lines after this patch, undock once from any berth — recurring fees on that ship now clear on undock.

Docking fee fixes captains feel

Headline fee changes:

• Docking a ship with a crew pilot in a different region than the captain no longer charges fees at the wrong station.
• All recurring docking fees on a ship stop repeating once that ship undocks anywhere.
• Multi-select drag boxes no longer silently reselect the captain (a related cause of weird fee locations and off-screen control).

Before this patch, captains who left the hull, flew a hire to another region, then docked could mix station fee owners. Ghost charges stacked across shifts and looked like a mortgage bug. Pair this page with the player guide Docking Fees for facilities vs length-over-all berth math that is still intended.

Recovery checklist for old saves:

1. Load on v0.15.1.16 or newer.
2. Undock the affected ship once.
3. Open Funds and confirm recurring dock lines stopped.
4. Re-dock only when you mean to pay facilities + dockage again.

Crew AI paralysis and teleport sits

AI fixes in the same drop:

• AIs no longer freeze trying to insult sworn enemies on unloaded distant maps (the asteroid-stand-still loop).
• AIs no longer play interdimensional musical chairs by treating sit-teleport mid-moves as free mood openers.
• AIs skip interactions whose use coordinates sit inside forbidden zones — relevant to Zones and Hauling.
• Derelicts no longer chat like humans on COMMS while docking.
• Dock attempts from too far away return clearer replies.

If crew still idle after the patch, verify Work shifts and destination zones before blaming AI — most freeze reports remain incomplete hauls.

QoL that shipped alongside

• Quick Action Bar pin position now saves with the save file (community request).
• Rotated item lighting/shading corrected.
• Bartenders take need breaks more often instead of endless counter wiping.
• NAV station null spam reduced when changing ship line art.
• Log spam around viz block nulls reduced.

How this fits the 1.0 timeline

Read order for post-launch polish:

1. Version 1.0 Launch — release day scope
2. This page — fee and AI hotfix wave
3. PASS and Gigs Rebalance — ferry clock and gig fairness
4. Fire in the Hold — combat foundation if you skipped it

Gameplay follow-ups: Crew AI, Hire Crew, How to Fly and Dock, and Ship Mortgage for shift-end pay pressure that is not a bug.

Official raw notes remain on Steam news for AppID 1022980. This page turns them into captain actions: undock to clear ghosts, stop micromanaging insult loops, and pin the QAB where your hands expect it.