Ostranauts Handbook

Ostranauts Crew Guide — Hiring, Roster and Crew AI in 1.0

✔ Last checked: 2026-08-04

Hiring in Ostranauts is a social minigame: befriend a jobless spacer, get their mood into the green, then negotiate wages upward until they sign — and managing them afterward is all Roster permissions and autotask. The 1.0-era crew AI is dramatically better than what EA veterans remember, though it still has moods of its own.

Hiring, step by step

  1. Pick a candidate without a job. The Fixer, bartenders and cops are unhireable (community-confirmed). Contacts from character creation give you warm leads.
  2. Chat first. Use friendly social moves to raise acquaintance and both parties’ moods — this is a Gambit-style negotiation, and walking in cold fails.
  3. Open the green hire option once it appears, then negotiate: raise pay toward what they like but within what you can afford. Lowballs get declined, but you can re-try — escalate gradually.
  4. Budget for them. Wages join your mortgage and docking fees on the money ledger.

Making them useful: the Roster app

The Roster (via PDA) is mission control for crew: work schedules by hour (the UI underlines the current hour since v0.15.1.17), airlock permissions, battery recharge/replace permissions (default ON for new captains since v0.15.1.14), and the auto-helmet-removal toggle added by popular demand. Haul and install work flows through Orders plus zones.

What the AI now does by itself

The June–July 2026 patch series taught crew to: gather nearby items before hauling trips, recharge and replace dead batteries in tools and EVA suits, swap empty O2 bottles in worn suits, manage their own hygiene, remove helmets in good atmosphere, and stop several flavors of standing-around-confused. If your crew predates these behaviors, you’re on an old build — see the patch tracker.

Honest note: launch reviews still call crew AI the game’s jankiest system, and we agree it’s the most patch-sensitive one. When a crew member seems broken, run the errors checklist before firing them out the airlock — it’s usually permissions, power or a fixed-last-month bug. Usually.

FAQ

How do you hire crew in Ostranauts?

Befriend a candidate with social moves until moods are high, then take the green hiring conversation option. It becomes a negotiation — raise pay and terms until they accept. Declined offers can be retried, so don't max your first bid.

Who can't be hired?

Community-confirmed: anyone who already has a job — the Fixer, bartenders, cops. Look for unemployed spacers around the station instead.

Why does my crew just stand around?

Check the Roster app: schedules, permissions and autotask. Since v0.15.1.17, crew deliberately stand still during free time with autotask off. Also update — July 2026 patches fixed many idle-AI bugs.

Can crew fly the ship?

Yes — crew pilots exist, and 2026 patches improved their collision avoidance and fixed docking-fee bugs from crew-piloted ships. Trusting them with your only airlock is a personal growth exercise.