New large long-range explorer ship, which can carry small explorer ship for exobiology?

Shane Grimm

S
Dear Frontier Developments,

Thank you for creating more ships for us! This is an idea for another ship.

The idea is to have a new large ship, dedicated for exploring. What would make this ship special, would be that this ship:
  • Would be able to carry another small ship (not the usual ship-launched fighter, but a small explorer ship, perhaps like the Diamondback Explorer?), suitable for exobiology; and
  • Have an exceptionally long jump-range (maybe 25% to 80% that of a fleet carrier?).
This way, explorer fans can use the new large explorer ship to find and map undiscovered systems, then use the loaded small explorer ship for exobiology. From a software-programming / gameplay viewpoint, you could create this new ship to operate in one of two ways (not both of these ways):
  • either like a fleet carrier, be kept in space (i.e. cannot land on a planet); or
  • be able to land on a planet like a large ship.
To make the new large ship, more clearly dedicated for exploring, it could perhaps:
  • Have exceptionally long jump-range, but limited large internal slots, so that this ship would not be viewed as a transport. Can have many internal slots (classes 1 to 4) to enable explorers to carry all they need for exploration; but not many large (i.e class 5 or larger) internal slots, to discourage this being used as a transport. From the gameplay viewpoint, not having many large (i.e class 5 or larger) internal slots, could be used to explain why this ship has unusually long jump-range;
  • FUEL SCOOP: Have an internal slot capable of taking the largest fuel scoop in the game, and restricting this slot to taking only fuel scoops, of any size. Also, maybe specially and only for this ship, create one which is larger than any other in the game currently;
  • FUEL TANK: Have an internal slot capable of taking the largest fuel tank in the game. Also, maybe specially and only for this ship, create one which is larger than any other in the game currently;
  • FRAME SHIFT DRIVE: Specially and only for this ship, create a frame shift drive which is larger than any other in the game currently;
  • FRAME SHIFT DRIVE (FSD) BOOSTER: Have an internal slot capable of taking the largest FSD booster in the game, and restricting this slot to taking only FSD boosters, of any size. Also, maybe specially and only for this ship, create one which is larger than any other in the game currently;
  • DETAILED SURFACE SCANNER (DSS): Have an internal slot capable of taking a DSS, and restricting this slot to taking only a DSS; and
  • etc
This proposed ship would especially help players who do not have a lot of time to spend playing the game, but would like to explore the universe. A new large ship, dedicated for exploring as described above, would reduce “wasted” time travelling away from the bubble into unexplored space. I think the majority of commanders will agree, that the explorer fun is more in exploring unexplored space, than in spending lots of time travelling to unexplored space. This proposed ship would also appeal to players who wish to switch constantly between exploring unexplored space and doing other things within the bubble -- travelling between the bubble and unexplored space currently takes an exasperatingly long time. In short, this proposed ship should enable players to have more fun, which should mean more sales for you -- so everyone is a winner :)
 
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angusmadmac1

angusmadmac1
I'm not sure why we need to carry a small ship ?
Dolphin has taken me all over the universe it's jump range 54( first one in 2017 44)
Mandalay even not optimised gets me 83
Viper mk ? Gets me 50
Krait phantom 60
Asp explorer 60
Clipper 50
You even have the chieftain and Corsair ?
I don't have a dbx ( don't like the boost) and won't fly an anaconda..
And we all have srv's
The only option is to take a FC with you.
You don't have to fill the racks with stuff and huge jump range is definitely off the books for me ( yeah I got the Mandalay) and exploration is never a race go at your own pace. It took me 6 months game time to reach beagle the first time .
 

VVVVVV

V
angusmadmac1 said:
I'm not sure why we need to carry a small ship ?
Click to expand...
He wants small ship to act as flying SRV. You hover mothership, fly out in small ship, and hunt for biologicals. I played games which allow small ship to dock onto medium ship, it is fun. The easiest approach would be to allow SLF landings and SLF piloting in-person. And extend SLF range by 10x or so.
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
VVVVVV said:
He wants small ship to act as flying SRV. You hover mothership, fly out in small ship, and hunt for biologicals. I played games which allow small ship to dock onto medium ship, it is fun. The easiest approach would be to allow SLF landings and SLF piloting in-person. And extend SLF range by 10x or so.
Click to expand...
You could eliminate the range limit completely when flying the fighters yourself, well, aside from fuel limits obviously. Keep the range limit for telepresence only.
 

angusmadmac1

angusmadmac1
VVVVVV said:
He wants small ship to act as flying SRV. You hover mothership, fly out in small ship, and hunt for biologicals. I played games which allow small ship to dock onto medium ship, it is fun. The easiest approach would be to allow SLF landings and SLF piloting in-person. And extend SLF range by 10x or so.
Click to expand...
I was as an explorer fan saying I didn't see the need for it ?
And I gave examples of small and medium ships which would suit the role and that were engineered as a dedicated explorer ship .
But the jist I got was for a high jump range ship which would also carry a small terrain explorer ?
Why not go for a decent jump range medium or small ship ?
 

VVVVVV

V
angusmadmac1 said:
I was as an explorer fan saying I didn't see the need for it ?
And I gave examples of small and medium ships which would suit the role and that were engineered as a dedicated explorer ship .
But the jist I got was for a high jump range ship which would also carry a small terrain explorer ?
Why not go for a decent jump range medium or small ship ?
Click to expand...
It is not the same thing. As far as I can tell, the idea is to have fast close-to-ground craft for finding biologicals. Because OP mentioned exobio. The usual explorer ships sort of do not quite fit the role, and SLF would be more fun fun, because they can be nimbler even than DBX. That would also give them more practical use than they currently have.

I absolutely see fun in this.
Cmdr. Numa said:
You could eliminate the range limit completely when flying the fighters yourself, well, aside from fuel limits obviously. Keep the range limit for telepresence only.
Click to expand...
Ah, yes, by dismissing the mothership, like it works with SRV. That's a possibility.
 

Nidoboros

N
VVVVVV said:
SLFs have landing gear and pilot seats.
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Sure, but a size 6 SLF bay holds 16 fighters, while a size 6 SRV bay only holds 4 SRVs. So they are obviously too small for actual ship piloting. As remote control drones, they make more sense... certainly more than multicrew telepresence,which works well beyond the 25KM that SLFs need.

... which is why I suggest replacing both with a generic vehicle bay that can hold both, plus new ships, such as a shuttle/flying SRV type vehicle. Would also allow for Mining SLFs and a bunch of other vehicle things.
 

Kissamies

Kissamies
Helmut Grokenberger said:
Carrying a small ship aside: Please not another Anaconda with a hull made of dreams and unicorn farts. Large ship and "exceptional jump range" should not be used in the same sentence.
Click to expand...
But Anaconda has Class 6 FSD. A large exploration ship could have a 7. Still, it should just have respectable jump range, not record breaking. Beating the AspE should be enough.
Nidoboros said:
Sure, but a size 6 SLF bay holds 16 fighters, while a size 6 SRV bay only holds 4 SRVs. So they are obviously too small for actual ship piloting. As remote control drones, they make more sense... certainly more than multicrew telepresence,which works well beyond the 25KM that SLFs need.

... which is why I suggest replacing both with a generic vehicle bay that can hold both, plus new ships, such as a shuttle/flying SRV type vehicle. Would also allow for Mining SLFs and a bunch of other vehicle things.
Click to expand...
My idea is similar: a landing craft that fits in the SLF bay, but replaces a whole set of 3D printed fighter drones.
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
Nidoboros said:
Sure, but a size 6 SLF bay holds 16 fighters, while a size 6 SRV bay only holds 4 SRVs. So they are obviously too small for actual ship piloting. As remote control drones, they make more sense... certainly more than multicrew telepresence,which works well beyond the 25KM that SLFs need.
Click to expand...
Wrong. Fighter bay size 5 holds one fighter, fighter bays sizes 6 and 7 hold two fighters. The bays additionally hold the materials to build new fighters. The size of the hangars determines the available material for rebuilds. And SLF clearly have a pilot seat and are shown with landing gear out in the livery screen. SRVs are not being rebuilt.
 

angusmadmac1

angusmadmac1
Kissamies said:
Yes and my point was that with a larger FSD, the ship can have heavier hull and still have respectable range.
Click to expand...
what would you class as an acceptable range ? mine is anything over 50 lyrs, but have accepted less due to the no engineering early on . So you can get to beagle in a 34 lyr build
 
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