Entity role

An Entity role is an NPC’s specific job — pilot, engineer, marine, passenger, missionactor, etc. Roles define what an NPC does on board (gameplay-wise) and gate skill-tier displays / hireability.

Inheritance: dbdata → entityrole.

Properties

Property	Type	Description
`.name`	string	Display name
`.rawname`	string	Raw text entry reference
`.femalename`	string	Female variant
`.pluralname`	string	Plural form
`.description`	string	Description
`.tag`	tag	Defined tag for this role
`.type`	entitytype	Underlying entity type
`.hirable`	bool	Can be hired by player
`.isindependent`	bool	Ownership independent of host
`.tiers`	list	Tier level values (integers)
`.tier.{level}.name`	string	Tier display name
`.tier.{level}.rawname`	string	Raw text reference
`.tier.{level}.level`	int	Lower-bound level value
`.icon`	string	Icon id

Vanilla entity roles

Common examples:

entityrole.pilot
entityrole.aipilot
entityrole.captain
entityrole.engineer
entityrole.marine
entityrole.passenger
entityrole.missionactor
entityrole.shiptrader

Common patterns

”Read an NPC’s role"

<set_value name="$role" exact="$npc.role"/>

<do_if value="$role == entityrole.marine">
    <!-- this is a marine -->
</do_if>

"Filter ship’s people by role”

<set_value name="$Marines"
    exact="$ship.people.marine.list"/>

<set_value name="$Count"
    exact="$ship.people.marine.count"/>

.people.<role>.list / .count accessors on Controllable — vanilla shortcut syntax (.marine is the rolename).

”Hire from a role tier”

<do_if value="entityrole.engineer.hirable">
    <!-- can hire engineers -->
</do_if>

<do_for_each name="$tier"
    in="entityrole.marine.tiers">
    <write_to_logbook
        text="'Marine tier: '
            + entityrole.marine.tier.{$tier}.name"/>
</do_for_each>

Common gotchas

⚠ Role vs type vs control post — three distinct concepts. Role is the job (engineer / marine). Type is the archetype (military / civilian). Control post is the seat on the ship (controlpost.engineer is the post; entityrole.engineer is the role). Often parallel but conceptually distinct.
⚠ .hirable=false blocks player hiring. Missionactor roles are non-hirable; engineer roles are hirable.
⚠ .tiers are integer thresholds. Each tier defines a lower-bound; values between thresholds belong to the lower tier.
⚠ .people.<rolename> uses literal rolename, not {$role}. $ship.people.engineer.count works; $ship.people.{$myvar}.count requires {$myvar} style. Don’t mix.

NPC — .role accessor.
Entity type — .type points here.
Control post — often parallel concept.
Controllable — .people.<role>.X accessors.