Ship systems should wear out on normal use

[Ignition]

Such as... ?

Use spare parts from slavage, EVA to an external part of the ship killing big alien bugs eating your ship wires, a NPC or player in an Engeneering station where you can make repairs

Reseting from a side panel the corresponding module doing "something" like calibrating the pressure of "x" to restore "y", giving more power to "Z" and reducing the overall power of the ship.

This will make you feel like a real pilot, like Anakin Skywalker. (its not real "real" I know)

Improving the condition above 100% could function better, like the Millennium Falcon, an old but fast ship.

You never saw a sci fi movie in your life?

Its not my job to make the game, FD should add the gameplay mechanics for us.

 

[GluttonyFang]

I know there are more important stuff that needs attention , mission payouts being one major one in my books, but this is also something I would really like to see:

Ship modules should wear out and "get old". Even if you take no physical damage. And normal repairing would not make them as good as new again. When the module gets older and older it starts to behave more and more erratically, like for example fsd drive loading would reset from time to time, old sensors would start to show glitches... Maybe needing ship system boot to reset. At some point you should just replace module with new one. There could be also possibility to refurbish modules and that would restore its full functionality and some of the repairing capacity.

This alone would make ship management much more deep and varied, not mentioning richer gameplay and possible tight situations.

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

Hahahaha...

Equipment durability in this game?! RNG module malfunction?!

No thank you.

 

[Trekari]

Absolutely not.

There's already more than enough of a damn credit grind in this game.

 

[CMDR Byr Goefin]

Hahahaha...

Equipment durability in this game?! RNG module malfunction?!

No thank you.

Relax, they are going to assign their best guy to it... same one that fixed Interdiction in 1.4...

 

[Trinity Star]

Seems there are folks who just want this game nerfed to Microsoft Flight Simulator in Space.

 

[DragoonKnight]

I know there are more important stuff that needs attention , mission payouts being one major one in my books, but this is also something I would really like to see:

Ship modules should wear out and "get old". Even if you take no physical damage. And normal repairing would not make them as good as new again. When the module gets older and older it starts to behave more and more erratically, like for example fsd drive loading would reset from time to time, old sensors would start to show glitches... Maybe needing ship system boot to reset. At some point you should just replace module with new one. There could be also possibility to refurbish modules and that would restore its full functionality and some of the repairing capacity.

This alone would make ship management much more deep and varied, not mentioning richer gameplay and possible tight situations.

"You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought."

There is no rational reason for electronics and ship systems wearing out that soon. Properly installed and maintained electronics and mechanical systems can work for years without "wearing out". A thousand years in the future and my standards are set somewhat higher for spacecraft QA and reliability.

 

[Jmanis]

I want to jump on and say "Yes, regular servicing just like in Frontier should be a thing!" but I honestly don't think there's the other gameplay mechanics to support it yet.

Misjumping coz you hadn't serviced your drive serviced in a while, or having your autopilot conk out for a similar reason was fun, in that it gave you an actual mini emergency to deal with. Unfortunately for Frontier, beaconing for help didn't achieve anything in that game if your drive failed in the misjump (as you were in space, unable to hyperspace, and nowhere to dock and repair).

It'd take a fair bit of work to put this in in a fun and engaging way.

 

[Darian]

I see not how it could be done to be entertaining.
Module prices are steep as soon you get into the python sized classes

So we add another grind fest (grinding credits for maintance) to the game?

I am all for realism, but adding the worry that i "make the end of the month" as in real life is not my idea of good gameplay.

As said, I am all for making elite more "realistic" but in doing so we should NOT have to grind more as we already have.

I do not fancy to come home from work to work in elite so my ship does not blow up into my nose.

Or make the grind fun, but that would be contrary to the fun tax, would it?

 

[Ydiss]

For this to be a reality, FD would need to bring back the module resale price loss. And I guess this would be the way that loss was enforced.

I can't see it being a popular change across the board

 

[Asphine Nytrix]

I'm in for glitches, that need reboot. But not for modules replacement. I really really do not want to buy best powerplant for Anaconda again.

 

[Gramps]

All this would do is force cmdr's who fly the big ships to self-destruct in order to get a cheap replacement through insurance, not a good idea imo.

 

[KayAitch]

Ship modules should wear out and "get old". Even if you take no physical damage. And normal repairing would not make them as good as new again. When the module gets older and older it starts to behave more and more erratically, like for example fsd drive loading would reset from time to time, old sensors would start to show glitches... Maybe needing ship system boot to reset. At some point you should just replace module with new one. There could be also possibility to refurbish modules and that would restore its full functionality and some of the repairing capacity.

Over what time frame? I'd expect a space ship capable of interstellar flight to at least match, say, a car. In which case fine - ship systems over 3 years old or so could start having rare problems, and once you've had a ship 10 years it could have regular issues.

I can't really see myself hanging on to one ship for that much time though, assuming that I'm still playing in 2 1/2 years.

A better idea would be new vs second hand ships. Second hand ships would have random paint jobs, decals and paint damage. They'd have a 20% discount but also have the problems you describe. Rank locked ships would never be available second hand as only official shipyards would be able to service them (and those reconditioned ones would be sold as new).

 

[Zephyriel]

I'm not againt this kind of idea, but to balance the constant costs, players would need some sort of regular income proportional to their advancement in the game. Something more balanced than we have in powerplay. Possibly to do with fed/empire ranks, or maybe officially joining a faction and doing missions for them to earn a fixed salary?

 

[Hadron-Higgs-Boson]

simple wear and tear and cost adds nothing to gameplay, for gameplay to be fun there has to be a positive impact with some reasonable cost or negative to mitigate it.

I think wear and tear would work great if we had the ability to 'hot wire' modules, for example, instead of magic potions to get a 35ly jump out of your 30ly FSD you would use some 'things', maybe made through crafting or bought, looted, you would hot wire your drive, get better jump range for some time but the cost is it may break down in some way. So you could find yourself having to fix it to get it working, or it may wear our faster, etc. Combined with a proper repair game where you can repair on the fly if you carry 'spare parts' as a consumable thats costs you a bit of cargo space and station repairs that offer repair from 'broken' to 'working' for less than a repair to 'perfect'. There is a good management mini game here, if you choose to ignore it and not hot wire things then you get standard operations with the same no wear and tear as now.

 

[DNA-Decay]

I'm already there.

The Hall Effect Sensor on my vertical thrust controller (Saitek Throttle Quad) has some metallic dust around the halfway mark.

So getting a zero calibration on the vertical speed is quite fussy. I was involved in a photo shoot a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't stay still in the formation. Bouncing up and down like a puppy.

But YES this is an excellent idea that players will hate, but actually enrich their experience.

In MS Flght Simulator you could program failures, but I always wanted a mode where if you didn't do regular and thorough preflight checks your chance of failure would go up with you laziness.

So YES.
But players will hate it.

Also so in this vein: second hand ships.
Cheaper ships with "A rated" parts that turn out to be rubbish once you rely on them.
LeRoy Rui's discount parts shop selling you duds.

Years ago I was repairing a PA sub amplifier and I bought parts from a big reputable supplier (Aus) but the power transistors were Chinese fakes. The amp kept blowing up whenever I ran it up to full power.

Eventually this ripper little service tech out the back of a production company warehouse showed me. Correct brand and spec label, but when you bust it open in a vice, the tranny was no way going to handle the printed power. To find that tech I had to rely on word of mouth from a buddy who told me "this bloke is slow but straight" took him a month to get around to my amp, but when he fixed it it stayed fixed.

So yeah - you can have it: GOOD, FAST and CHEAP pick any TWO.
You want it fixed good and fast - pay a premium.
You want it fixed good and cheap - come back next week.
You want it fixed cheap and fast - don't rely on it for very long.

 

[Iain L]

I can see the concept.

But I've never had a car develop a fault before it's about five years old, and how old is anyone's ship in this game? A few months? In reality, you're all flying ships practically straight off the production line.

 

[Dielos]

I'm all in favor of this. Right now you can only make money, not loose it. Fuel and repair prices are too low already. I miss a money sink, so anything that creates it in a sensible way has my full approval!

 

[MarcusKross]

Running costs should be a thing. Bigger the ship bigger the costs. I am not saying i fully support OP's ideas but still.

 

[Louella]

But YES this is an excellent idea that players will hate, but actually enrich their experience.
In MS Flght Simulator you could program failures, but I always wanted a mode where if you didn't do regular and thorough preflight checks your chance of failure would go up with you laziness.

So, basically, have that "pre-flight checks" function on, every time, or your modules malfunction.

Well, that'll make planetary operations more enriching. What with all the frequent take-offs involved. Many of which are done by the AI, that you have no control over.

 

[Frank]

simple wear and tear and cost adds nothing to gameplay, for gameplay to be fun there has to be a positive impact with some reasonable cost or negative to mitigate it.

I think wear and tear would work great if we had the ability to 'hot wire' modules, for example, instead of magic potions to get a 35ly jump out of your 30ly FSD you would use some 'things', maybe made through crafting or bought, looted, you would hot wire your drive, get better jump range for some time but the cost is it may break down in some way. So you could find yourself having to fix it to get it working, or it may wear our faster, etc. Combined with a proper repair game where you can repair on the fly if you carry 'spare parts' as a consumable thats costs you a bit of cargo space and station repairs that offer repair from 'broken' to 'working' for less than a repair to 'perfect'. There is a good management mini game here, if you choose to ignore it and not hot wire things then you get standard operations with the same no wear and tear as now.

I like this idea.. If you overclock systems you get wear and tear and maybe overheating problems as well. But on the flipside, if you underclock then you shouldn't be bothered by such things, and everything should work cool and smoothly.