Capital Ships

Edit: I am not necessarily saying *I* support it either, but I'm being pragmatic about the future and the game will need to grow otherwise the end game could get boring rather quickly

I wonder though, why peoples suggested antidote to the game getting boring is to plod across the galaxy in a mindbogglingly slow barge while letting your NPC fighters do all the fun stuff.....
 
I wonder though, why peoples suggested antidote to the game getting boring is to plod across the galaxy in a mindbogglingly slow barge while letting your NPC fighters do all the fun stuff.....

But what if the capital ship is controlled by AI and the fighters are players because it's a force projection ship with hanger bays..... :D
 
I know it has all been said before but...

Well, I was extremely interested in this game until I read that it will not be possible to own or command a capital ship (carrier/cruisers).

So in short I will unlikely be supporting ED with my almighty dollar, I'm sorry Frontier, but I just cant abide once again having my demographic be ignored. Believe it or not there are people out there that are wholly disinterested in flying a fighter or a corvette.

But once again, as ever, people that want capital ships are ignored, probably because it would be too much work for the devs to ballance the game or institute a proper UI to actually command with, not just fly like a giant, slow fighter (or space car)

Any way thats my two cents, feel free to remove this, as Im sure I will be flamed to death over this any way.

thanks for stopping by! it was nice of you to voice your desire to create a new video game! I'm sure publishers across the industry are salivating at the prospect of implementing your grand designs!
 
Okay, let's include capital ships. Now then, let's see.

First of all as a new player you'll need to save up about fifty bajillion credits to be able to afford even the basic ship, let alone buying all those big shiny death star guns and a canteen for the crew (*inserts Eddie Izzard sketch below*).

Let's assume you've spent the five years of continuous gameplay required to save up that many credits.

Now, let's go pick out your new ship! Here we are at Bob's Discount Ships, but he doesn't have a second user capital ship in stock so you'll have to buy a new one. That means commissioning one from scratch, probably waiting a couple of years for a slot to appear in the shipyard's schedule.

But okay, here's your new ship! Isn't she a beaut? Isn't she a ripper?

And now the Federal government are asking you some rather tricky questions such as "can you tell us why you need a ship capable of destroying cities?" It's not like buying a shotgun licence I guess, more like wanting to buy nuclear weapons for home defence.

But alright, let's say you've convinced the feds to let you own your own personal death star. Let's take it for a spin shall we?

Now imagine we've just dropped into Imperial space in a giant city destroyer like the mothership from Independence Day. Do you think the Imperials are going to welcome you with open arms? Or are you suddenly surrounded by Imperial capital ships demanding you leave their space immediately?

The simple truth is that no government would ever allow private citizens to have their own private death star running freely around their space. Capital ships would be the sole preserve of those governments as symbols of authority and they'd have a couple at most. Just imagine how much raw material would be required to build such a thing anyway!

EVE allowed such things because it was an arms race and when everyone has got big ships you have to keep the players interested by giving them bigger ships and then bigger ships. I really hope that ED take a far more rational and realistic approach and keeps such things out of the hands of the players.

Now that's enough rational thought, let's see that Death Star Canteen ;)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw
 
...Even if I had the money, I could not go out and buy an aircraft carrier/battleship. The military/government wouldn't allow it.
...

Its one of the reasons people like OP against the common sense look for such implementations in games. Dont get me wrong I am not saying its bad. But there are people who treat such potential as very illogical to exist and maintain while others simply want to fly a humangos ships in games. I dont believe there are many games where you can control huge capitals ships alone.

Oh wait, there is - EVE. Thats where all the questions and desires come. People have been bored with EVE for a long time. So they are looking for some new implementation of their desires. Star Citizen and Elite:D are the only 2 space sims that can have potential of doing that thats why such desires and hopes.

Its been quite a few people on both SC and ED forums saying - "oh I can't control capital ships alone? Bye..."

But then again they haven't tried ED yet. It is a great space sim finally will be out to break the mass of annoying template level based MMOs following by Star Citizen in some.. well... undisclosed distant future considering that they are already so late even on just a second module. But yeah, ED will be great continuation of ELITE legacy games.
 
And now the Federal government are asking you some rather tricky questions such as "can you tell us why you need a ship capable of destroying cities?" It's not like buying a shotgun licence I guess, more like wanting to buy nuclear weapons for home defence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw


You just convinced me that we should have privately owned capital ships in Elite. :D

But then, as you described, I would also like to see realistic reactions of the Federation and the Empire to such ships in their systems, or neighboring sectors.

I bet one would not own such a ship for long. The fun would end when several Federal or Imperial battleships would jump to your location to start a very lively discussion about the matter. And then you reflect on all those wasted years saving up for such folly and you would regret not having spend those multi billions of credits in a much more productive manner.
 
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@Titus Balls
It was not meant personally - life's too short. By the way for the record I am a Prem Beta only so dont know what is on the Alpha forum, but I have been around since 2012 on these forums! Its been great fun.

I am sure the game will morph over its life time. Its been fun seeing it evolve so far.
 
You're misrepresenting both what the OP is asking for and our responses to it. You want to roll your eyes about open mindedness, but you're using a straw man argument which isn't very fair or open minded.

The OP doesn't just want larger ships with a crew, he wants an entirely separate game mechanic specific to capital ships. Maybe it could work, maybe it would be fun, but it is no small request and it would change the game significantly from what many of us think of as Elite. So be that good or bad, let's not pretend it is as trivial as you are implying.

I'm not implying it's trivial or even saying that it should be in the game. I'm objecting to the outright rejection of it as a topic, the don't let the door hit you on the way out level of welcome, and the suggestion that it's just not Elite.

What I tried to illustrate in talking about bigger and bigger ships, is that commanding a larger vessel is already part of Elite. Getting bigger ships and ships with crew was a core part of the gameplay even in Frontier There's just some arbitrary point where you can't get a bigger ship.

To some, Elite games are about being a single pilot in a small ship making his way in the universe. That's a legitimate opinion and interpretation of the games so far. But it's not the only one.

To me, Elite games are about freedom. You climb in to your little ship and there's a whole universe out there, and more than any other game you have this sense of awe that you could go anywhere and do anything.

Of course, that is not literally true. But are the limitations on what you can do key parts of the game? Not in my opinion.

In some games you can only fly a small ship with yourself as the pilot. Is this core to Elite? No, we have long had bigger ships with more crew.

In Elite, you could not land on planets. Some games have argued that space games are about space, and planets don't fit that gameplay. Is that core to Elite then? No. Frontier allowed you to land on planets, and had gameplay which centred around them.

Is it the gameplay then, that Elite is all about having your hands on the controls? No, I would argue. Aside from the significant parts of the game that aren't about flight simulation (trading, navigating, configuring your ship, sorting out passengers and contracts etc.), this game has major plans to allow you to get out of your ship. That's a whole different type of gameplay. But it's very much the same type of game: the type that is centred around freedom. You're an individual making his way in the galaxy in the far future, however you choose.

I agree that a player or players should not be able to buy a military carrier. But I don't agree that the ability to command a large ship - large enough that you don't pilot it like a fighter - goes against the grain for Elite.

Maybe it would be a giant transport ship, like an oil tanker. Or maybe some very large passenger vessel. Or maybe it would be commanding some military vessel for a special mission. I don't know. But I think it's pretty closed-minded to oppose discussion of it. If there's one thing I do not thing Elite is all about, it's being closed minded.
 
This discussion is very interesting on both sides.

I think posters saying FD could not handle the flight model or whatever are totally wrong. FD is fully capable of implementing that in player controlled large ships - as the larger ships in Alpha 4 are starting to show.

The way I view this is as a *different game but one that FD could develop with relatively little investment (compared to the full development of Elite Dangerous) and roll out in 2-3 years from initial release. This would attract those that want this type of play to contribute to the continuing development of the Elite Universe. Essentially it would leverage 100% of the developed assets to speed the new play type. I posted this elsewhere as an idea for FD to extend Elite into more of a franchise situation.

Example: The Billion Credit Battle. Build a naval fleet using 1 Billion credits (variable for different scenarios, including different credit amounts per side and possibly extending into a campaign). Command your fleet from the bridge of a capital ship, possibly with multi-player bridge (as shown in Alpha ships, though not yet active) including co-op play and players in various ships. Do all this leveraging the assets that FD already has - ship models, flight models, AI, Universe, and visualisations.

No reason for anyone to be a hater of this idea (more development opportunity for FD and more variety in the Elite universe for players), but it is definitely a far different beast than David Braben envisions at least for the near future.

I think it would be something that would not take so much development once the initial game is done (EVA development not needed), but probably would be lower on priority level until Planetary Landings are done. So 2-3 years down the road it might be a good business decision given the numerous comments about this and Eve players and such. And I personally think using the Elite engine it would look and be a great expansion.
 
But I think it's pretty closed-minded to oppose discussion of it.

I must have missed that. If people do not want the topic discussed at all then I agree with you. Everything should be open to discussion.

But I do not think that anybody wants to prohibit the discussion, or am I mistaken?
 
Example: The Billion Credit Battle. Build a naval fleet using 1 Billion credits (variable for different scenarios, including different credit amounts per side and possibly extending into a campaign). Command your fleet from the bridge of a capital ship, possibly with multi-player bridge (as shown in Alpha ships, though not yet active) including co-op play and players in various ships. Do all this leveraging the assets that FD already has - ship models, flight models, AI, Universe, and visualisations.

Personally I would not like that direction at all. I think stuff like this would dilute the game too much and make it lose focus. Even within the current design philosophy FD has more than enough on its plate for many years to come. I strongly feel this kind of game play would be the beginning of the end.

Somebody else could make a game like that perhaps. It would fit the EVE universe better. And that is a game I do not want to play at all, even though I have been lured by some of its ship designs many times :).
 
I must have missed that. If people do not want the topic discussed at all then I agree with you. Everything should be open to discussion.

But I do not think that anybody wants to prohibit the discussion, or am I mistaken?

Well, it looks healthy to me - we're up to page 10 already! :)


I loved cap ships in X3:Terran Conflict. However, I have a confession to make:

Any time I lost a capital ship in a battle, I reloaded an old save. SHOCK! HORROR! I'm a dirty save-game abuser, yes!

Not sure I could handle the consequences for something so big and expensive as a capital ship in a persistent multi-player game. I'd find it too frustrating when it got blowed up.

And, yeah, Eve is obviously not a good fit for me! :rolleyes:
 
I'm pretty much open minded about this stuff...
While I must admit I'd find intriguing logical ways to introduce Capital ships (as I put it somewhere in this sea of tears, but not necessarily THE WAY I put it...), I can see just as many reason not to implement them.

Funny thing, I guess we will find in time what Mr. Braben thinks.
He was already pretty clear there'll be no Death Stars around...

It's amusing to think what would happen if he dropped in the next years that... Yes there'll be crewable Capital Ship... How many 180°?
 
I'm pretty much open minded about this stuff...
While I must admit I'd find intriguing logical ways to introduce Capital ships (as I put it somewhere in this sea of tears, but not necessarily THE WAY I put it...), I can see just as many reason not to implement them.

Funny thing, I guess we will find in time what Mr. Braben thinks.
He was already pretty clear there'll be no Death Stars around...

It's amusing to think what would happen if he dropped in the next years that... Yes there'll be crewable Capital Ship... How many 180°?

I suggest you bookmark this post now to bring out 2-3 years down the line
 
I would love it after a year or two of playing Elite. I help out a factions military enough they allow me to be a carrier or battle cruiser captain for military engagements (i don't own the ship my self mind you). Then then i sign a mission contract and take a shuttle out to a capital ship waiting it deep space for me. Waiting for my signal to jump in the battle.

After the battle is over i take a shuttle back out to a station, and wait for my next mission. And carry on with my normal pilot life.
 
Thanks for the feedback :)

Thanks for all the insightful replies everyone. Thanks doubly for putting flagship on my radar.

Any way, it is true I only ever intended this to be my only post, but in no way was I trolling.

Sorry to come off like a jerk, but my heart just dropped after I saw what amazing things they are doing here, but limiting it to activities that I am simply not interested in such as trading and mining (its true, I want to work my up the ranks and gain a command of my own). I have been let down so often in the past, I thought I had found it.

Thanks for the consideration fellows
 
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