General Why Are Limpets Not Reusable?

[Uthael]

Made this topic on the Steam forums, got instructed to re-do it here. So, here's a copy-paste from https://steamcommunity.com/app/359320/discussions/0/523083237290939105/

What was the reason behind making them non-reusable? It's very annoying having to leave them and very strange that such useful machinery suddenly evaporates.

I'm aware that some of them have to be limited in duration for common sense balancing purposes. Just make them run out of fuel and turn off (not self-destruct). If you want to you could scoop and reuse them, but it costs 100 credits worth of fuel.

They're easily synthesized and very cheap, I'm aware of that. That's not a solution. Heck, I'd be happy if the reusable one costed 100,000 and took 2 units of space.

 

[aRJay]

They are basically ammunition.

Yes it is extremely wasteful that they are so shoddily built that they last next to no time, but at 100 credits for a new limpet or a bit of synthesis for 4 what would you expect.

 

[Dillon Fallon]

They are basically ammunition.

Yes it is extremely wasteful that they are so shoddily built that they last next to no time, but at 100 credits for a new limpet or a bit of synthesis for 4 what would you expect.

Does seem reasonable for a twisted union of an aerial drone and an arcade claw machine.

 

[Freyar]

Every limpet has its lifecycle. they start out as a shell, then as they mature into adult limpets, gain circuitry. The best time of their lives are during operation, happy little chirps, manic you might even say as they smack into another object. They die, and eventually become base materials again, making the rings pristine over time.

 

[Kira Goto]

Yes it is extremely wasteful that they are so shoddily built that they last next to no time, but at 100 credits for a new limpet or a bit of synthesis for 4 what would you expect.

Worse yet, I think it is just a limit purposely built into the limpet controller firmware or software (whichever of the two it would be). There is really no reason an E rated controller's limpet would somehow burn out faster than one controlled by an A rated, well, controller, assuming both limpets are built to the same standard.

Of course, gameplay has the priority here. I still don't like being a space litterer or to abandon them to the vacuum. Someone some day is also going to hit that dead limpet at a fraction of light speed and wonder why their ship is suddenly half wrecked (if it even survives the impact).

 

[GloatingSwine]

It'd be fine if they just turned into untargeted limpets after collecting if you accidentally launched one with a collectible target selected instead of bringing back only that one thing then unexisting themselves.

 

[Fixitman]

The controller programs the limpets it launches. Limpets are universally devoid of programming up to that point. Different modules provide for different levels of efficiency in the programming they can provide in the moment just before launch (bandwidth and/or computing limits).

That's how I see it anyhow.

 

[Uthael]

It's planned obsolescence. They're definitely well engineered. I'm an engineer IRL and can honestly say that those things are VERY impressive work. Like those Japanese-style sci-fi giant humanoid robots running around or swinging stuff. Can't imagine the materials in their joints. Like... Why not make shields out of that?

It's a shame EU customer protection regulations are no more in that time. I wonder why no in-game engineers have tried hacking one and selling reusable ones. Even on the black market. I also wonder why Pilots' Federation doesn't push for such a nice QoL addition. I smell a conspiracy theory.

 

[Tifu]

People were getting too attached to their limpets. It was heartbreaking to watch them chase after you once you hit the FSD button

 

[Jmanis]

I wonder why no in-game engineers have tried hacking one and selling reusable ones. Even on the black market. I also wonder why Pilots' Federation doesn't push for such a nice QoL addition. I smell a conspiracy theory.

You thought Big Pharma was the problem... really, it's Big Limpet that's behind it all XD

To the OP though... I personally think resuable limpets would be a complete PITA. In most cases I'm forever losing limpets to collisions, PD turrets and other hazards. So i need to pack lots, regardless of their reusability. My builds depend on losing at least one per unit of cargo, because space is tight... again, not due to them being disposable, but due to losses in hazardous environments.

So, it would be a complete PITA to have a lucky run, limpets get back an OOPS! no room for the cargo +limpets... I'd be forever jetting them everywhere.

It's also worth noting, for collectors they are reusable if you launch untargeted, within their lifespan. If you use a collector as a single-target, it's much faster, presumably self-destructively so.

More broadly, I just always presumed limpets necessarily consumed their components in undertaking whatever task they were doing... e.g maybe they're loaded up with a small amount of fuel to:

• Burn through the hatch in the case of hatch breakers.
• Operate electronics for survey/maniuplation/extraction for ones like recon, prospector and limpets.
• Propel for a duration for collectors (efficiently for reusable untargeted, inefficiently for targeted expendable)

etc

 

[nemolomen]

It'd be fine if they just turned into untargeted limpets after collecting if you accidentally launched one with a collectible target selected instead of bringing back only that one thing then unexisting themselves.

Imagine if Limpets were persistent...dropping into an instance from supercruise and making your way through all of the limpets others have left behind...

 

[Kira Goto]

I'd be forever jetting them everywhere.

I mean, that’s kind of what we’re doing already anyway. The only time we might have littered responsibly (a strange opposition) was when limpets were dumped into space around Titans in meltdown to rescue more human captives. They would have been obliterated along with the Titan in the end.

The hundreds of thousands that are surely littering ring systems of gas giants and other planets right now, though?

As a more serious reply, if there were reusable limpets, simply prioritize the [held] cargo over the limpet(s?) in such a case. If we trust the code to hold up over several of them… eg if you have multiple limpets collecting none would return to the hold until everything they are gathering is turned in. Probably sounds simpler in my head than it is in reality. If there’s no space afterward anyway, the kill switch option (turning controller off) is always there.

 

[Uthael]

To the OP though... I personally think resuable limpets would be a complete PITA. In most cases I'm forever losing limpets to collisions, PD turrets and other hazards. So i need to pack lots, regardless of their reusability. My builds depend on losing at least one per unit of cargo, because space is tight... again, not due to them being disposable, but due to losses in hazardous environments.

In the OP, I said "Heck, I'd be happy if the reusable one costed 100,000 and took 2 units of space.", implying we keep the disposable ones available, too.

As a more serious reply, if there were reusable limpets, simply prioritize the [held] cargo over the limpet(s?) in such a case. If we trust the code to hold up over several of them… eg if you have multiple limpets collecting none would return to the hold until everything they are gathering is turned in. Probably sounds simpler in my head than it is in reality. If there’s no space afterward anyway, the kill switch option (turning controller off) is always there.

If the current ones just get upgraded to being persistent, this is a good idea.

Imagine if Limpets were persistent...dropping into an instance from supercruise and making your way through all of the limpets others have left behind...

They would simply despawn after a while. Let's call it an NPC scavenger finds them. ... Unless another player finds them first.

Destroying them could drop 1-3 Iron and Nickel. That would be another way of recycling. Better than littering in space at least.

 

[varonica]

Recycling is still not popular in 34th Century.

I look at it as just being entirely unnecessary. We have to do it because we live on a planet with finite resources, but out in the galaxy at large resources are all but unlimited and cheap to gather, throwing stuff away costs nothing, but bringing it in, taking it apart and separating out the raw materials is a much more energy and time consuming operation than just picking up new raw materials. As for rubbish floating around, the same happens to it as happens to everything else floating around out there, eventually turns into star stuff or sucked into black holes or crashes on planets like meteorites, a dead limpet is just the same as a small rock floating around out there, not worth bothering with and will eventually be used by the universe to make more stars.

 

[BL1P]

Trillions have been discarded over the years and we dont see them anywhere.
Where have they all gone ?
I say the discraded and used limpets will one day Have gain/ed awerness and will Soon™ return to destroy Humankind.
I wouldnt be supprised if it was some rouge Achilies mission board software infecting the Manticore Limpet blueprints, which caused this.

 

[varonica]

Trillions have been discarded over the years and we dont see them anywhere.
Where have they all gone ?

You know nothing us motionless in space right, everything has a velocity, even if it's only due to the expansion of the Universe, all motion is relative, I wouldn't expect to see any.

 

[metatheurgist]

Reusable is a strange request. I don't know why you'd want to spend time scooping 'dead' drones. If you get drones to collect drones is that some kind of taboo?

I preferred permanent drones that I could name that return to your module after deployment that you'd have to maintain and repair. But you can see why they didn't go that way since the AI for drones is terrible, you'd just spend endless time and cost repairing them and wasting time with them not getting the job done. If they can't even stop collectibles being stuck inside objects this was just not a viable option. What they have done is a trade-off for playability.

Imagine if Limpets were persistent...dropping into an instance from supercruise and making your way through all of the limpets others have left behind...

Someone made a cute vid about that. Sorry, I'm too lazy to find it.

 

[Uthael]

As for rubbish floating around, the same happens to it as happens to everything else floating around out there, eventually turns into star stuff or sucked into black holes or crashes on planets like meteorites, a dead limpet is just the same as a small rock floating around out there, not worth bothering with and will eventually be used by the universe to make more stars.

Fun related fact: Small trash floating around is becoming an increasingly serious problem around Earth. The stuff doesn't go away. It gets trapped in orbit, endlessly circling at crazy speeds. If you just leave it up there, it's more likely to keep orbiting forever than to actually fall. Very dangerous stuff.

In Elite, if limpets didn't pop out of existence, they'd eventually clutter up every spot around planets and interfere with supercruise. Wherever people use them to refuel, repair, scavenge or pirate.

 

[varonica]

Fun related fact: Small trash floating around is becoming an increasingly serious problem around Earth.

Yeah but we aren't talking about "around the earth" here are we, see my previous comment about living in an environment with finite resources and not being able to get out into the solar system and galaxy, the low earth orbit of most of this junk is still part of the "earth" where we should be disposing of this stuff and not leaving it there, not the solar system or galaxy.

 

[nemolomen]

Someone made a cute vid about that. Sorry, I'm too lazy to find it.

Probably the High Wake...