A bit of history: What was the Fleet Carriers update like?

[Rat Catcher]

I disagree that it was any kind of movement by "gatekeepers"

I recall that was one of the comments made around the time of the 'open letter' - did you fail to notice I never mentioned such today?

The bugs they wanted fixing were long standing ones and that was a fact regardless of any other factor or agenda you think they had.

Again, I didn't mention 'agenda', although, curiously, that was another term used at the time...

So we did lose a couple of long-standing bugs, but plenty were left if memory serves, and remain to this day.

... but, I will agree, it was the perfect excuse for FD to put the game into maintenence mode for 6 months, "on request of the community".

That's interesting because I was asked to sign it if I agreed with it

Were you a regular viewer of one of the Influencers / Content Creators etc. responsible for the creation of the 'open letter'?
I certainly don't recall the 'petition' appearing on the official forum beforehand. And I was certainly quite active here in those days!

 

[Reggit]

I remember the Low-Temperature Diamond craze in Borann before carriers launched When they did, ³H hotspots were added to icy rings and all the hotspots were re-shuffled, and Borann triple spot was no more.

Oh the good old days!

 

[Knuttin Atoll]

The Borann days were when the game peaked for me, certainly in terms of Open play. The sheer variety in shenanigans to choose from in a single system was something else. There was never a shortage of players all with different motivations.

Pirating miners within the ring after spotting their lasers in the distance dozens of km away (sometimes even getting ganked by someone else while at it), successfully protecting miners from gankers (in wings in all sides), stealing mining fragments from hapless T9 pilots in a Courier right underneath them without them noticing, ferrying players in your FC (with departure announcements in chat) who were grinding credits towards their own FC, trying to dodge gankers en route from FC to the rings in SC. Or you know, just mining, while hiding from gankers following into your instance.

Odyssey never managed to replicate that, in part because it split the player base too much, as in players are much more spread out in different locations now (on foot, at settlements, on their FCs, in their Colonisation systems, etc etc etc), as well as preventing Horizons and Odyssey players from instancing together.

 

[Kamiyoda]

Elite Dangerous introduced fleet carriers in 2020. Back then I didn't even know this game existed, much less did I play it, so I didn't see first-hand what the community response and reaction to this was.

Could someone who lived that time retell a bit about what kind of response it got, particularly in these forums? I would assume that this was probably one of the least-controversial and most well-received updates to the game ever. But knowing the ED community... who knows.

Well the first thing I did was fly straight up to rescue someone who got their carrier stuck so that was fun.

I think the thread is still around but im too lazy to find it.

 

[Phill P]

I recall that was one of the comments made around the time of the 'open letter' - did you fail to notice I never mentioned such today?

Ah, I see, well then apologies for the misunderstanding. Yeah, somebody always says something like that.

Again, I didn't mention 'agenda', although, curiously, that was another term used at the time...

For sure, again, someone always claims this. It's easy, lazy, unconstructive and takes no thought or effort, just park the brain and run the mouth. Like someone saying pay to win when a new ship gets early access or talking nonsense about shareholders because they don't understand fdev isn't that kind of company. You can practically set your watch by it. I tend to ignore them and wait for the comments with an IQ attached.

So we did lose a couple of long-standing bugs, but plenty were left if memory serves, and remain to this day.

At the time we actually lost most of them. Sadly some came back again with later content and "fixes". When I worked in IT we used to call an update "when they take out the old bugs and put new ones in."

There was one bug they fixed which they really should have fixed a year earlier and that was the high res screenshot bug. Imagine if they had done it before Distant Worlds 2, the shots they would have got. To this day I still think they missed the biggest opportunity they ever had to showcase their own game.

... but, I will agree, it was the perfect excuse for FD to put the game into maintenence mode for 6 months, "on request of the community".

I'm not so sure about that. With the first bug fix in January we also got a whole new twist to the Thargoid attacks and Galnet came back. I still think if the pandemic hadn't happened - the UK went into lockdown in early March, which not even fdev can be blamed for - the superstory that began in September would have begun in January instead.

I still think rolling the second bug fix into the FC update and being able to run a beta for it was a hell of an achievement under difficult circumstances.

Were you a regular viewer of one of the Influencers / Content Creators etc. responsible for the creation of the 'open letter'?
I certainly don't recall the 'petition' appearing on the official forum beforehand. And I was certainly quite active here in those days!

Yes you were, I remember. I was more of a lurker back then. IIRC you posted a lot of good ideas about ship builds which I tried out for myself.

And yes, I did watch a couple of the content providers - Obsidian Ant, Buur and Drew Wagar mostly.

But that wasn't where I heard about it. I heard about it on Discord. It was flying about on the various ones I was part of, including my own.

 

[Shir]

I liked them, strongly dislike the upkeep costs. Use them a lot.

The only drawback is they devalued exploration up to a point. I got to beagle point before them, and it was an accomplishment indeed. Later I got a carrier there, and it wasn't anything special. If you have an alt with a T9, you can take a carrier anywhere without even being there.

But, exploring with a carrier is also fun. So overall I consider it a great update to the game. It's a good thing that the game is changing and being kept alive.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

A few people were a little upset about the costs, but the truth is that we were at a stage in the game where people had consistently abused the various credit exploits that existed (or got incredibly rich by legit means, but mostly the former I think ) and everyone was sitting on billions of credits, so it was intended to be a credit sink. Mining enough tritium in the beginning was rough and the amount of fuel used per jump was adjusted a couple of times, but generally, yeh, it was very well received, it's still something I would find it incredibly frustrating to play without, having a fleet of 20 ships. Probably the best addition to the game over the years. IIRC if you wanted to outfit your carrier with all A parts in outfitting, all ships and all facilities, it was about 15bn

I don't disagree with all of the above however speak for yourself on the abusing credits . After around 4000 hrs in game I only recently (last 2 months ) got my fleet carrier. I reckon the forums (and reddit or what ever) represent a skewed selection of the player base.

also at launch from what I understand the weekly rental costs were pretty brutal. I must admit to not taking much interest back then as I don't think I even had 1 billion in the bank back then.

that said as it stands now......money is so easy to come by now that a fleet carrier is about as easy to get as a python was at launch!

 

[Rat Catcher]

Imagine if they had done it before Distant Worlds 2, the shots they would have got

I mourned the loss of the very high res "for capture" (or something, age is finally getting me!) that EDO launched with, that also made some amazing screenies!

I still think if the pandemic hadn't happened - the UK went into lockdown in early March, which not even fdev can be blamed for - the superstory that began in September would have begun in January instead.

I'll agree entirely with that, everything went to pot for a couple of years, pretty much everywhere in the UK!

Yes you were, I remember. I was more of a lurker back then. IIRC you posted a lot of good ideas about ship builds which I tried out for myself.

I'm glad you tried some out, a lot were fun flying...

But that wasn't where I heard about it. I heard about it on Discord. It was flying about on the various ones I was part of, including my own.

I wasn't lurking on discord in those days either. About the only occasional stream I'd vist from your list was Buur (and still do when something interesting is happening in game) because he tells a good story, and Rheeney is an amazing videographer!

 

[Rat Catcher]

also at launch from what I understand the weekly rental costs were pretty brutal. I must admit to not taking much interest back then as I don't think I even had 1 billion in the bank back then.

I got my first FC soon after they were launched, having been filled in with info of what you could do with them by my similarly criminal-minded squadron members (I was in a different one in those days)
Mine was mostly financed by doing High CZs in a wing of 4 over the course of a couple of weeks of war - and a 'loan' from @yianniv so I could afford to actually kit it out. Shout to him as when offered the amount of the loan in return said "No" - that's a friend!

ETA: For the OP - FCs came into the game at the perfect time for me and the squadron, we could still operate in the ongoing war (in Colonia) against a much larger group, having lost our base of operation (so naturally were all hostile with the new controlling faction), being able to hold our own fleets in uninhabited systems and still be just a jump away from the action was perfect.
In those days mining Tritium was fruitful, particularly from hotspots in pristine rings. for some months I used to do a regular 'run' between Colonia & the bubble, acquiring plentiful Tritium near Colonia to keep the tanks full.

 

[Aashenfox]

I don't disagree with all of the above however speak for yourself on the abusing credits . After around 4000 hrs in game I only recently (last 2 months ) got my fleet carrier. I reckon the forums (and reddit or what ever) represent a skewed selection of the player base.

also at launch from what I understand the weekly rental costs were pretty brutal. I must admit to not taking much interest back then as I don't think I even had 1 billion in the bank back then.

that said as it stands now......money is so easy to come by now that a fleet carrier is about as easy to get as a python was at launch!

Ah, the days of skimmer murder abuse The funny part is the cash rewards were at the levels we now see in a typical Hazres, but back then it was a massive exploit.

 

[Phill P]

Ah, the days of skimmer murder abuse The funny part is the cash rewards were at the levels we now see in a typical Hazres, but back then it was a massive exploit.

Breadbaking seems to be the way now, unless that's had a nerf.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

Breadbaking seems to be the way now, unless that's had a nerf.

bread baking? are we playing the same game?

I always wanted a bread maker but chances are if i did i would have have had a coronary by 50!

 

[Phill P]

bread baking? are we playing the same game?

I always wanted a bread maker but chances are if i did i would have have had a coronary by 50!

Sorry

Spoiler

breadbaking is where someone stockpiles a lot of gold or something and stores it on their carrier, then takes it to a system where there are lots of wing missions to deliver gold, for up to 50 million or so per mission. They take the highest paid missions, this can mean waiting an hour or more, then share the mission with someone who needs cash fast. They load up from the carrier and hand in. The carrier owner gets their costs covered and a newbie gets a big cash boost.

 

[nemolomen]

I suppose that's quite a running theme with this game...

We all have our own dreams.txt file stored away in our heads. Some apparently think theirs is "more important" than anyone/anything else?

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

We all have our own dreams.txt file stored away in our heads. Some apparently think theirs is "more important" than anyone/anything else?

for me it's nothing to do with the game in my head. no game could ever match that fantasy
however I just want FD to work a little better at making the game in their own design decision forum.

 

[Morbad]

I remember complaints about cost, lack of cartographics, and jump times, among other things.

Personally, I tried FCs for about a day in the beta and found the associated gameplay to be profoundly boring and would never consider having my CMDR get one of his own on live. More importantly, I thought the game was off better without them; even with the hurdles of tedium they introduced the still have an outsized effect on influence by undermining prior logistical constraints. For me the issue wasn't that they failed to live up to my expectations of what a Fleet Carrier should be, it's that I don't think CMDR carriers should be a thing. I don't much like the implementation either, but fussing over the details is like trying to pick exactly which venereal disease I want to rot my genitals off.

 

[nemolomen]

...

Ultimately it was the Thargoid War that pushed me from a single-digit to a double-digit Billionaire, and I think I have about 40 years worth of Carrier upkeep in there just now.

I was lucky to get money to buy a carrier over the course of 3 days during the Golconda CG to fill it with Tritium in June 2022 (3308). This was way before the ExoBio payouts were increased to their current levels...

They were buying Tritium for around 800% of Gal. Ave. (413,656cr / 51,032cr).

I went from 2.2Bil in the bank to 10Bil...

I hauled a lot of Tritium during those three days...lots of players did...

IIRC there was an initiative for players to not join the CG to make the cash cow last longer...

Lots of carriers were bought as a result of that CG...

 

[Gut]

I got my Carrier so i don't have to come back to the Bubble again , i just fly around exploring with my Asp X.

 

[Rebel Yell]

Elite Dangerous introduced fleet carriers in 2020. Back then I didn't even know this game existed, much less did I play it, so I didn't see first-hand what the community response and reaction to this was.

Could someone who lived that time retell a bit about what kind of response it got, particularly in these forums? I would assume that this was probably one of the least-controversial and most well-received updates to the game ever. But knowing the ED community... who knows.

Carriers have been the final nail in the coffin for PvP piracy.

 

[nemolomen]

Carriers have been the final nail in the coffin for PvP piracy.

Oh, how so?

Because players no longer have to fly all over the bubble with all of their cargo in their ship? Or some other reason?