How crew classes change action times
Facts checked 1 Nov 2026
By now your crew has extracted, sampled, and refined. Each job went faster or slower depending on who was in the crew. Here's how the five classes divide the work, which is worth knowing before you choose a crew of your own.
Who does what
- Miner: Core sampling speed and quality, and extraction speed.
- Engineer: Refining, manufacturing, construction, and fitting out ships.
- Scientist: The share of by-products from refining, and the speed of bioreactors.
- Merchant: Lower marketplace fees, and moving goods further across an asteroid at no extra cost.
- Pilot: Ship engines: how much push each tonne of propellant gives, and how fast it burns.
How much difference a class makes
| Crewmates of the right class | Speed |
|---|---|
| None | Half speed |
| One | Normal |
| Two | 25% faster |
| Three | 37.5% faster |
| Four | About 44% faster |
| Five | About 47% faster |
The jump from none to one is the biggest of all: a crew missing a class takes twice as long at that work. After the second, each extra crewmate of the same class adds less. Traits and, for Arvad crewmates, their old jobs add a few per cent more on top.
See it for yourself
Your tutor crew has at least one Miner, one Engineer, and one Scientist, so none of its work is ever at half speed. If it has a second Miner, like Academy Teachers, sampling and extraction run 25% faster; if it has a Merchant, it pays normal marketplace fees instead of double. Open My Crews and look at its Good at list: anything there is a bonus on top, from a trait or an Arvad job. In the game, the times on every action screen already include those bonuses.
Planning your own crew
Think about the work you'll do most, and make sure the crew has at least one crewmate of each class it needs. A crew of five Pilots can't mine at full speed, however good their traits. Our guide Starter packs and your first crewmates suggests some good starting mixes.